New Technology and Video game distribution

Before designing and creating my character, I decided to do a little research into distribution, something I have already touched on a little in my ‘Indie game and development’ blog post. I decided it would be a worthwhile choice to go a little more in depth on how video games are distributed and how new technology is helping to shape the industry. This research will be key when it comes to designing my final product
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Distribution of video games has changed drastically in the last five years. These changes are revolutionising the gaming industry by allowing independent game developers as well as much larger ones to make profit and effectively get their games onto the market.

Digital distribution is one of the main aspects in which new technology is affecting the industry. In the past, games would have been transferred onto a cartridge or disk, packaged and then sold to stores. The cost of doing this meant that only developers with a publisher could reach the main market of gamers by selling their games on the high street at shops such as HMV or GAME.  For an indie game developer, this would be far too expensive and therefore it would not be viable for them to sell their games this way, and if they were to, it would be very small scale with not very many stores stocking them.

Digital Distribution such as itunes, Steam, Xbox Live Market Place, Nintendo Channels and the Playstation store have allowed indie developers such as Re-logic, Mojang and many others to distribute their games and become popular and established.

 Terraria, released in May of 2011 and developed by Re-Logic, and Minecraft, released in its Beta stages in 2009 and which is soon to be released in full are both very good examples of how digital distribution is slowly helping shape the industry.  Both of these games I have previously mentioned in my ‘Indie game and development’ blog post, due to their large scale popularity, even going on to overtake some commercial games.

Portable gaming is something that has become increasingly popular lately, iPhones and iPods are being used to host games such as Angry birds, this game has gone from success to success and is even producing a soft toy line now.

Following the brief, I will be producing my game as both a developer and publisher, releasing it to the market as a packaged disk, although, technically being an indie developer it would be more advisable for me to only distribute through Steam or another direct download website. Braid is a good example of an indie game that is both publishing through digital distribution, but also being distributed traditionally as a packaged disk. I think following the direction Braid has gone in would be the most advisable route for my game.

Next, I will be designing the main characters for my game, ZED900 and Wren. I will need to think carefully about character designs, making sure I meet my target audience.