Jay Barnson

Jay Barnson is an industry veteran, both as a mainstream developer the man behind Rampant Games. His blog, Tales of the Rampant Coyote, is always a great source of tales about life as an indie developer.

1. Tell us about yourself. Who are you and what is Rampant Games?

Well, I'm Jay Barnson - founder of Rampant Games. I have done my time off-and-on in the mainstream games business since the mid-90s. I've worked on some ancient titles you might remember like Twisted Metal, Warhawk, and Jet Moto. And even more ancient titles you probably won't remember, and in some cases I'd prefer if you didn't. More recently I've worked on a massively multiplayer RTS (yes, you read that correctly) called Saga, unpublished Wii and Xbox 360 games, and the upcoming multi-platform game The Tale of Despereaux. And when I'm not making games for a living --- I'm making them for fun, as an indie.

Rampant Games is a small indie gaming company. I originally founded it just as a tiny game development studio. Lately it's become something more, and I'm selling a lot of other people's games, and running the Tales of the Rampant Coyote blog where I discuss all aspects of gaming - but emphasizing indie gaming, computer roleplaying games, and adventure games.

2. You're a professional game developer gone indie. What was the reaction from the industry, your colleagues, to this jump?

There really wasn't much of a reaction when I left in 2000. I mean, with all the chaos and layoffs and consolidations and people changing jobs at the time, it wasn't a big deal. Some people didn't understand why I'd want to leave the greatest job in the world, but others did.

Nowadays, the indie thing is usually responded to by either enthusiasm or blank stares. Many of my colleagues don't understand the attraction of working on such low-key, low budget games. Others get really excited about it. So I guess you can't say there's any kind of typical reaction.

3. I understand that over the last few years, you have had to maintain Rampant Games as a 'second job', essentially, after a day at work. This seems to be something many indie developers have to do, until (if) their venture becomes profitable. Is this a big problem or challenge for indies in general, and how did you deal with it?

Based upon the overwhelming proportion of indie games that end up in the graveyard of unfinished projects, I'd say it's a huge problem.

I've found that the more I hate my day job, the easier it is to work on indie games at night. Not that I'd prefer a day job I can't stand just so I can have that level of motivation.

It's been a few years since I had a full-fledged commercial indie game release, so maybe I'm the wrong person to talk to. But for me, it comes down to commitment to the project, and discipline. I'm a terribly undisciplined person, myself, so for me I just have to make it a habit. When I get into the habit of putting 4 hours a night - usually between 9:30 PM and 1:30 AM - into working on a game, I get things done. When I fall out of the habit, weeks go by with very little progress.

Eschalon: Book 1, one of the RPGs hosted by Rampant Games.(source)

4. What are some of the key differences in the way you develop and work on the games now that you are indie? Apart from, say, graphics, are there differences between mainstream and indie games that stem from having a different kind of work process?

Indie games are probably closer to how mainstream games were made about twenty years ago, I'd guess. Most of the differences come from creative control and team size. In mainstream games these days, a big part of game direction comes from a number of people at the top who might not even play games. And while there's still plenty of creativity in the process, it gets diffused through a large team.

With an indie game, there's a much smaller team and creative control is down at the immediate level of the one or few people actively creating on the game. Everyone on the team has to wear multiple hats, is more heavily invested in the final product, so you don't get so much of a "factory worker" mentality.

I think indie games show much more of the personality of their creators. It's sort of the "garage band" effect - it's not been watered down by corporate demands. It's rougher-edged, but a little closer to the source.

5. One of the biggest challenges appears to be that you have to handle the more 'suit-y' side of management all by yourself: but at least you have total freedom. Can there be no compromise? Do you see any prospects for more collaboration or communication between indie development and mainstream developers or publishers, or does indie always have to stay 'one-man-and-his-computer' to retain its rougher, creative side?

I'm really glad you asked that. And no, I don't think the latter is necessary at all. We are already getting some collaborative efforts and joint ventures already, and it would be awesome to see more of it. As much as we make a big deal about "indie" versus "mainstream," it's still the same world.

It's just that the videogame industry, like most other media, has evolved in such a way that it is the middleman (the publisher) who is in the driver's seat now. They call the shots, decide what's being made, decide how hard its going to be marketed, decide when its going to be released (ready or not), what license it will use, and they'll play all kinds of weird marketing, political, and money games as they do it.

All being an indie really boils down to is rejecting this model of how the industry "must" work, and putting the game makers - and their customers - in the driver's seat instead. That's really all there is to it! And when they are done, if the publishers and mainstream guys want to get in the act, too, and the deal makes sense - go for it!

6. In your blog you have often stated that making your own game is not just about being creative: that you also have to learn to market your own games, and so forth. What kind of things did you learn or pick up as you built Rampant Games from the ground up?

I had to learn or re-learn everything from the ground up. I've written entire articles about this. I was totally clueless. Now I'm only mostly clueless. About the only thing I did know how to do was write game software, and see that through to the end of the project. I actually believed that this was at least 90% of what had to be done. Nowadays, I know better, and I mock my less experienced self. Fortunately, we're separated by time, so my younger self doesn't deck me for mocking him.

So what did I need to learn?

Starting from the basics of running a business - how does one form a company? What kind of company structures are there, and what do they cost? What are the fees / taxes / requirements in my city and state? How do I report it on my income taxes? What are the legal dangers a company can run into? How do I set up sales via the website? How do I even create a website that doesn't suck? What's a reasonable monthly cost for a server?

How do you manage a team? What do you do when there are problems, especially when you aren't paying your crew more than the price of pizza? How do you find an appropriate artist, and how much will they cost? How do you find "off-the-shelf" content that works for your game? Will the licenses for all your code and data libraries work together?

Who is your audience? What kind of video card are they using? How do you promote your game? Is advertising on site X worth it? How much should you charge for your game? How do you write a press release? How much gameplay should your demo offer?

These and a zillion other questions become apparent once you start trying to do this as a real business. And for every question you answer, you also discover two more questions.

Void War, Jay's 3D space combat game.((source)

7. Are you able to tell us about some specific steps you take to find out exactly who your 'audience' is and how to keep in touch with them?

I use the blog and my forums for that, really. For Frayed Knights, I've actually posted a bunch of design ideas to the community and received feedback directly on stuff I hadn't even put in the game yet. I even had people sending ME ideas for dialog between the characters - I think a couple of community members had a better handle on the "voice" of the characters than even I did.

It was really the most amazing, collaborative thing I've ever participated in - and I still have a lot more to do. But I think the game is going to be much better because of it.

8. What are some of the common mistakes indies make when promoting their game? Or things they forget? What, in your opinion, can indies do to try and reach more people that might enjoy their game?

I think the most common mistake is that they forget to do any real promotion at all. Or they wait until the last minute to start thinking about it. Or they spend their time telling their peers about it rather than their potential customers. Indie game developers rarely have enough money to buy games, anyway. :)

I think the most important thing - at least to start - is to network. This is pretty hard, as many game developers can be kinda introverted. But getting to know people, knowing who to ask questions of, who to contact for whatever situation you find yourself in, is pretty key.

9. Many Rampant Games titles offer extensive demos. You could pretty much play most of the game with Democracy, though with only one country. Eschalon Book 1 and Frayed Knights also have 'pilot' demos. So are 'big' demos a good thing, then?

From talking to a lot of people about this subject from different parts of the field, I can state definitively that "it depends." Ideally, the demo should be just big enough to suck the player in, and small enough to leave him or her hungry for more. For a lot of casual games, a sixty-minute time limit works great. For other kinds of games, limiting it by content might be better. Or by features.

It really depends upon the game and the audience. For something like an RPG, for example - an RPG is typically pretty huge, and it might take a little bit of time for a player to get used to the gameplay, and warm up to the characters and story. A big demo - like the kind Spiderweb offers with its games - might be perfect. Just as you are getting into your groove, getting invested into both the story and the characters you've been building - bam, you hit the end of the demo and you REALLY want to see what happens next. For a little casual game that you play in ten-minute snatches, a time limit or number of uses might work best. There are new pricing and monetization models coming all the time. Some games just let advertising subsidize your game-playing, and that may work great, too.

It's as much art as science.

The second part of this interview will cover the awareness of indie games amongst the public and the kind of profile they have, as well as whether games are becoming 'easier' and the importance of fan feedback. Check back in a couple of days!