Economic Crisis TD 2012 Windows game

ONE YEAR INDIE

One year flew by being a indie developer, busy with my first game. It’s one year ago where I decided to make the big plunge and started Excamedia next to my fulltime job as ICT Specialist. The main reason then was that we had an agreed proposal with how we call it “the big 3”. Since I and my audio producer Dwight went to Games Com in august 2013 things got serious. We heard that Sony accepted our game proposal, Nintendo already emailed the same and we were in the ID@Xbox program. On that moment I decided Excamedia need to have a company identity. That’s when I founded Excamedia on 1^st august 2013. Yes, today one year ago….. Time to do a recap I feel. Normally my blogs are about gaming or games specifically, but not now. Let me start!

At the time we went to Games Com we already had a small team, found through unity forums or social media but it was a team starting to make a game which was a puzzle game. One team-member came from France, the other from Italy and another one came from Nepal just to name a few. We all have passion for games and have the common dream to make games and so we began. And from a puzzle game it went to a platform game, later to become more action packed then first was planned.

While development was going on the early stage I felt we had to have an office. This because it works better when you work in an office instead of your living room. And so Dwight and I started searching, eventually finding our way to the Dutch Game Garden. This awesome group of dedicated people help startups grow in the game-industry and develop their skills if necessary. And they provided offices. We went to one network lunch, where you can hook up with fellow students, investors, fellow developers and build your network. We talked to JP, now the head honcho of Dutch Game Garden, about the possibilities and to make a long story short, in February 2014 we had our first office. In a building where 40+ other developers (like Vlambeer, Ronimo Games, RageSquid) also had an office. This was the ideal hub to gain knowledge and experience in an industry not so well known to me as developer. We started to hire interns, who did our internship with us and had a lot of fun, ánd learned a lot and so did we.

Every month we posted a new build on IndieDB or Gamejolt and got also there a lot of good feedback. Youtubers picked the game up and started to do previews, which was great to see and listen to. After a while we showed our dev build at the network lunch and got a lot of valuable feedback from gamers and fellow developers. Which lead us to a new art style and storyline for our game which we felt more comfortable with. This new build we will show at Games Com next month AND at Tokyo Game Show in September. Which is for me another milestone, as I never thought I would ever go there to showcase my game…. You see, for me making videogames is a childhood dream as I started gaming when I was 6 years old. From that moment untill 2 years ago I dreamt to ever make or help make a game. And now, with my awesome team, it’s finally coming true and I am damn happy about that!

So from the first builds untill the new upcoming build a lot happened, team members left and new ones came, our office at Dutch Game Garden, meeting awesome developers, meeting a dutch writer to make a game based on her book, teaching interns about running a company, the stress of deadlines, the search for a perfect workflow using Scrum method, going to expo’s like Games Com and TGS. Oh yeah, also in October First Look 2014. Oh no, I almost forgot to mention we were nominated for Indie Prize Showcase in San Francisco last month! In between Games Com and TGS I also will go to China to do business there and try to publish our game in China and/or other Asian countries. So far it was a hectic rollercoaster ride this year along with epic tiredness, great moments with the team, stressfull moments during development but I love it although I sometimes hate it hahaha. Devs know what I mean I think…..

I am bound to forget things I had to mention but that doesn’t matter, this is how I feel and what I think about right now. I would like thank my awesome team for working with me, believing in our games like I do, pursuing the goal like I do and the dedication that they deliver every day! I also would like to thank my wife for her everlasting support and patience when I am busy yet again. You are the best!!! Of course I thank my family and friends for their support and understanding my somewhat busy life right now. It won’t take forever I promise J Furthermore I would like to thank JP, Victor, Matt and everyone else at Dutch Game Garden for letting us in Dutch Game Garden but in this way we could enter the (Dutch) videogame industry. We learned a lot from you guys!!!!

If you like my story please share it, if you are interested in our upcoming game A Clumsy Adventure, download the game via www.excamedia.nl At Games Com we will put our new build online.

You can also follow us on (almost) all social media channels, check out www.excamedia.nl/press

At GamesCom we will start our Greenlight campaign, so please support us and give us your vote when we start Greenlight.

Support us like Excamedia supports other indies by using #indies2ways on Twitter