Where the Best Indie Games Are Made

from JoeUser Forums

Arstechnica has a great article up showcasing several indie developers and where they make their great games.  Of course, Stardock is featured!

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/10/bedrooms-boardrooms-and-chicken-farms-where-the-worlds-best-indie-games-get-made.ars/5

 

33,656 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

Stardock is indie?

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Looking at the game on that monitor, how come i get the feeling its Starcraft 2?

WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

Haha... I always assumed Frogboy had his bees out at his own place, not at the office.

I can just imagine some fresh meat showing up at the company for his/her first workday. Frogboy stands looming eerily at the entrance. "Welcome", he cackles, "let me introduce you to my beeeeeeeeeeeees....". And before long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4MqTCIDKhU 

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Great article. lol some places are clean and others... we don't talk about them (hazardous materials). :grin:

 

Stardock- Been there and plan so again next summer. Maybe a closer look at those bees this time.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Heavenfall, reply 3
Haha... I always assumed Frogboy had his bees out at his own place, not at the office.
End of Heavenfall's quote

heh - i think one of his old demigod dev journals had a video of the hives and him playing with some bees in the building too.  :O

Anyway, congrats on some more good press!

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

Nice to see some old friends in the pictures. I know most of the Supercell guys from the days when I worked at Digital Chocolate. The other two studios I've worked at don't exist anymore. I hope that's coincidence, not an effect I've had ;-)

The article is slightly outdated already, though. Supercell just moved to a larger office.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

I'm still stoked about the huge bag of swedish fish I spied in that first picture!!! Yumm!!!

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

The picture with the cat is my desk ^_^

Bara

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting GunslingerBara, reply 8
The picture with the cat is my desk

Bara
End of GunslingerBara's quote


its a cute kitty lol


MEOW!!! IMA KITTY! :dur:

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ARTHANASIOS, reply 10
Personally, I prefer YoYoGames (http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/) and if you love 3D retro games more than most modern super 3D graphics games you should probably agree.
End of ARTHANASIOS's quote


NO! This is for Sins and all its glories. "YOU HAVE FEHLED!" - Indrick Boreale

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Cruxador, reply 1
Stardock is indie?
End of Cruxador's quote

 

Can't speak for anybody else, but it's always seemed to me that if some head developer sits around afterhours discussing the latest game session they've had with their friends, chances are they're indie.  If the head developer sits around afterhours discussing how well their stocks are doing with their friends, they're Game Industry.

 

Of course, this is just a quick and dirty method of evaluation, but as good as any other.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Glazunov1, reply 12

Quoting Cruxador, reply 1Stardock is indie?

 

Can't speak for anybody else, but it's always seemed to me that if some head developer sits around afterhours discussing the latest game session they've had with their friends, chances are they're indie.  If the head developer sits around afterhours discussing how well their stocks are doing with their friends, they're Game Industry.

 

Of course, this is just a quick and dirty method of evaluation, but as good as any other.
End of Glazunov1's quote

Where does Valve fit in? They aren't publicly traded, but I doubt anyone would call them indie...

Bara

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Heavenfall, reply 3
I can just imagine some fresh meat showing up at the company for his/her first workday. Frogboy stands looming eerily at the entrance. "Welcome", he cackles, "let me introduce you to my beeeeeeeeeeeees...."
End of Heavenfall's quote
Old post . . but I wanted to to share one of the new-hire welcome signs we had:

Reply #15 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting GunslingerBara, reply 13

Quoting Glazunov1, reply 12
Quoting Cruxador, reply 1Stardock is indie?

 

Can't speak for anybody else, but it's always seemed to me that if some head developer sits around afterhours discussing the latest game session they've had with their friends, chances are they're indie.  If the head developer sits around afterhours discussing how well their stocks are doing with their friends, they're Game Industry.

 

Of course, this is just a quick and dirty method of evaluation, but as good as any other.

Where does Valve fit in? They aren't publicly traded, but I doubt anyone would call them indie...

Bara
End of GunslingerBara's quote

 

True, but the stocks they discuss don't have to be their company's.  Just their portfolios. 

 

It's a question of what one values in a workplace situation.  A friend of mine worked for a few years for Origin Systems both in its pre-EA days and a year afterwards.  He said that their were staff around all the time, including in the dead of night, playing games and chatting.  The atmosphere was relaxed, and congenial.  When EA took over, the administrative mindset changed.  Goal end dates, which had been flexible, became fixed.  Mandatory classes began in work ethic.  The executives knew nothing about the games; they were a separate tier of managers, as in much industry, who saw employees in terms of resources, only.

 

I'm not suggesting that one system is necessarily better than the other.  But av various companies have shown (Z Theory management, and all that crap), when management share a common knowledge base and drive with other employees whom they manage, channels of communication remain open, morale remains higher, and more creative work gets done.

 

I'm getting too near mounting a soapbox.  Best let it go at that. :)