Indie means 1~2 guy developer, only programmers.
What game indies should make now for survival?
and to where? (platform, STEAM? or Mobile? or? PS4?)
Here “survival” means earning enough money at least he can maintain his(or their) life and his family.
Don’t try to develop games that are trending, that usually means there are already games like it out already. Develop something original. I understand you need money but don’t just develop for the money but, develop because you love doing it.
If you feel you are quite talented with “Programing” try to find contract/paid work on the forums.
Best of Luck!
Trendy? Hmmm. . . What’s everybody playing that a 1 to 2 man team could knock-out, in a reasonable time. Well, it aint gonna be “Fallout”, that’s what everybody (i.e. a lot of gamers) are going to be playin’ starting today. Hmmm. . . this is a hard one. I’m just brainstorming. Maybe while everyone is distracted with “Fallout” for the next few months, you can figure out what they might want after coming out of the Commonwealth wasteland. I’m thinking beaches and lush jungles with boats and hoes. Of course you’re a small team so you need to simplify: make it a low-poly type game. Maybe you’re a lifeguard and you have to save swimmers from sharks; the more you save, the more points you get. The bigger the shark, the more points you get. As you get more points you can level-up to better lifeguarding equipment: bigger surfboard, better rescue can, bigger whistle, etc. etc. . . You see where I’m going with this?
Platforms: As many as you can get your game on.
Bam! Done! That was easy! Jeez. If this is successful, I’ll expect a small cut.
Ok. Yeah, I’m a smartbutt. In all simple honesty, you can try to track trends, but your best bet, is to make the movie you want to see, write the novel you want to read, make the game you want to play. There are to many people doing this to try and game the system. Do what you think is kinda cool.
But. . . VR is coming, you could maybe try to catch something with that wave. I’m sure there are going to be some amazing out-of-this-world games created by hundreds of devs, but I think there might be smaller vr experiences that could be pretty cool too.
Anyway, Good luck bro (or sis, or gender neutral person, or. . . whatever)
Indies should avoid copying trendy games; they don’t generally stand a chance at competing with the big ones.
With 2 programmers you could go for…
You have to try and think about what’s going to do well by the time your game comes out, since trends will change you need to think ahead.
Making video games is tough…like real tough. As mentioned earlier it should definitely be a passion as chances are you won’t make nearly as much as you’d expect (if you get so far as to release something!). So having a project that is personal to you, trendy or not, is important. This will serve as motivation. In the making indie games business it is all too common for motivation to disappear and projects to be abandoned. This will be multiplied if you are not driven by your idea.
If money is your main motivation (let’s be honest, it’s a motivation for all), might I suggest selecting a subset of the many processes involved in making games, getting extremely good at it and then putting the fruits of your efforts on sale e.g. 3D props, blueprints, plugins, characters, animations, music, fx etc. You could even start freelance work with these skills.
See what gaps you may be able to fill, what would make your life as a games developer easier? As of now there is definitely some money to be made from helping to make the lives of other indies easier!