And releasing The Escapists in a box is something that has delighted Davis. ![]() This is the main reason I agreed to go with a publisher, because I could leave all that to them while I get on with the development side.”įor all the hype about The Escapists launching on Steam and Xbox Live, it was a bit of a surprise to discover last month that the title was also getting a physical release – courtesy of Sold Out. The things indie devs need to do, such as social media promotion and marketing, get neglected. Once I get into my ‘dev mode’ my mind is focused on that. It’s a different ball game to Early Access in terms of what help and support Team 17 can offer. I wouldn’t say it’s important or essential that indies need a publisher, as it all depends on how they prefer to work,” Davis says.īut I’ve found Team 17’s role of raising awareness, setting up exhibits at gaming shows, arranging interviews and coverage, sorting out sales, campaigns, internal QA and so on, very helpful. ![]() As a result, The Escapists was taken to trade shows, and received media attention it might have otherwise missed. But Davis decided to not go it alone, and instead partnered up with publisher Team 17. In this modern era, a developer can make and release a game single handedly. It’s been invaluable feedback and The Escapists is a better game for it.” It’s been a refining process really, having a mass of people alongside while you’re developing it, saying what they think works and what doesn’t. I can’t imagine what The Escapists would have been like without it. And Davis says Steam Early Access played a big part in that.Įarly Access is great,” Davis says. The Escapists has already picked up plenty of critical plaudits. "Early Access was a refining process.It’s It doesn’t hurt that the biggest game for the last few years – Minecraft – came from the indie scene either.” Indies tend to go out of their way to break new ground and explore unique concepts, which is what the gaming scene has needed for a long time. Any company embracing the indie scene is a sensible move. Team 17 has a good relationship with Microsoft, and getting into the platform holder’s programme came along through that. Once the feedback on the game started coming in it became quite clear that it shouldn’t just be a game limited to PC,” Davis says. ![]() The title was initially a PC-only release, coming out on Steam’s Early Access programme in August, before launching ‘properly’ on both Xbox One and PC on February 13th. Once it started gaining momentum and a publishing deal was put on the table, I dropped my roofing job and focused on development.” It started off as a hobby that I didn’t think many would be interested in, so it was quite surreal seeing the volume of support that stemmed from having The Escapists included in Microsoft’s conference.ĭevelopment was an on-off hobby until a couple of years ago when I started putting a couple of my projects on Kickstarter – The Escapists being one of them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |