   indie games
  hey, I'm new to these forums but this site seemed like the best one to get involved with. I'll be honest, I have dabbled with a bit of programming, but I virtually know nothing. I don't think this specific question has come up before but if it has I apologise. Basically, I've become very interested in the idea of indie development, but it doesn't really seem viable. I don't want to make huge games; does anyone know if there is a reasonable path I could take to make some very low tech games with a few friends or on my own, and then, what the process of getting published would be if I came up with something good; if I've missed a previous thread on this I'm sorry, beacuse it seems like the sort of thing that would come up a lot:/ thanks.   
  One path that's become popular recently is releasing iPhone and/or Android games, the most popular of which can get publishing deals for other platforms.  For more traditional methods I'm sure sloperama has some FAQs for you.   ;  Well it is tough for someone who has not that much knowledge of programming or game programming, has no professional experience, and has no contacts with publishers or development studios.However there are three ways I can think of that should be pretty viable for you (:1) XNA - You can make games for XNA.  You write them in C# using the XNA sdk / libaries and in the end can have a game that runs both on PC as well as xbox 360.  You can put your 360 version up so that it actually appears on xbla and people can buy it and download it.  You can also put your pc version up on a website (or steam or stardock etc) if you want to and try to sell it that way but xbla is probably going to get a ton more exposure.2) iPhone - You can make games for the iphone and publish them on there.  People can browse the iphone apps store and buy your game.3) Flash - You can make games in flash and then try to get them up on sites like armorgames.com where I believe you get a cut of any advertisement revenue generated by your games?Going "truely pro" and having a game box on the shelves at stores is much harder though.Hope this helps!   ;  thanks for the replies. Yeah I was pretty clued up about that pro games take huge teams of crazy good people - thanks for the pointers towards xna and that though. Although I'm more interested in doing this for myself, if I did want to publish on xbla/iphone store etc, is there money involved in paying for a development kit or publishing or is it quite indie friendly. thanks :).   ;  Yeah development kits are uber hard to get and way expensive... it'd probly be like 10-20k cost to you in the end and youd have to convince them you were a legit game dev company.Luckily you dont need a dev kit to do XNA, or make games for the iphone (:   ;  Awesome well over summer I'll see if can do some xna/iphone cheers for the help   ;Quote:Original post by Rizlarrr1. I don't think this specific question has come up before but if it has I apologise. it seems like the sort of thing that would come up a lot:/2. does anyone know if there is a reasonable path I could take to make some very low tech games with a few friends or on my own, 3. and then, what the process of getting published would be1. It does come up a lot. Usually on a different forum, like frinstance the Business forum.2. Read http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson16.htm and http://www.igda.org/games-game-august-20043. Read http://www.sloperama.com/advice/article60.htm;  also don't forget that people blog a lot these days, and many do so telling of how they've become successful as indies. Research successful indie games and hunt down the blogs/dev sites of their creators for additional insight. Even more, contact them directly - the indie community is crazy open and helpful and just all-around friendly awesome. Be concise and respectful of other people's time and they'll help you out.   