Automatic translation of the archived Russian text. Recordings and text within images remain in their original language. Read the Russian original
About this material
A snapshot of Russian-speaking indie development in 2015, focusing on games choosing a paid model despite free-to-play’s popularity. It combines a brief comparison of the models with projects, teams, publishers and links, including Message Quest, Pathologic and Braveland.
Key points
A historical survey of premium indie games made by teams from the Russian-speaking development community and nearby countries. The starting point is the feeling that a paid project such as Message Quest is isolated in a market dominated by free-to-play games. Yaroslav counters that impression by gathering examples and naming the people or studios behind them. The release statuses and market context belong to the article’s original period.
Free-to-play offers an easy first step for players and does not place the same fixed ceiling on spending as a purchase price. The article recognizes those business attractions without treating them as the only viable creative model.
The list demonstrates the range of projects sold for an upfront price, including Braveland, Gremlins Inc., Message Quest, OVIVO, Punch Club, Party Hard and Scrap Garden.
Its practical value is partly social: identifying teams with relevant experience makes it easier to find peers who understand publishing, platform releases and the problems of paid games.
The catalogue should be used as a snapshot of an ecosystem, not a current buying guide or release calendar. Statements that a game is forthcoming describe the situation when the original article was written.
Once upon a time, in the distant past, when Masha and I were just starting development on Message Quest, we felt we were going against the entire industry. Making a paid game when everyone had switched to free-to-play seemed outrageously bold. But that was ignorance. Here is what I have managed to learn over the past year.
First, a few words about f2p. This approach has two main advantages that developers love. First, there is no upper limit on revenue. With a paid game, a player cannot bring in more than the purchase price, whereas a free game has no such ceiling. There are examples of players spending amounts many times greater than the price of paid games. When your company has a hundred hungry mouths expecting their salaries on time, and most projects only lose money, revenue becomes quite important. The second f2p advantage is easier player acquisition. Installing a free game is much easier than deciding to buy a paid one. You can therefore bring players into an f2p game by buying traffic, such as banner ads, but the same trick does not work with a paid game. And frankly, on some platforms advertising is the only way to reach players. Odnoklassniki users are not going to read a review of your game in a gaming magazine. Of course, one could discuss paid versus f2p forever. So much energy has been wasted in endless arguments. But I do not want to argue. I am just outlining the main reasons why paid game development is currently out of favour. Yet the fact that most people do not make paid games does not mean nobody does. Quite the opposite: I would even say this area is on the rise. All right, enough philosophizing: I will simply run through some people currently making paid games. At the very least, you will know whom to befriend and ask for advice if you suddenly decide to abandon all the advantages of the f2p model: how to get through Steam Greenlight, whether to register as a sole trader or a limited company, whom to know at Apple, which yacht to buy. To clarify, I am talking about Russian-speaking developers in the CIS and Baltic countries, and games currently in development with a release planned for the fairly near future, or only just released. Both publisher-backed and self-published games are included. If you spot a mistake, write in the comments. The projects are listed in no particular order. Braveland (game series) Developer: Tortuga Team Website: http://www.tortugateam.com/ru/
This is only a small list, compiled from my modest knowledge and friends’ suggestions. If you think a game has been unfairly overlooked, write about it in the comments.
