Does anyone know if there are any magazines geared toward indy developers? :confused:

there is one in the uk called if im not mistaked Indie.

Its a load of crap tho. Read two issues and haven't found anything useful, looks more like a way to push advertised products than begin a real indie mag.

Well, the reason I'm asking is because I'm considering starting one up... ;)

My current favorite indie mag is actuallly the online mag www.indiegamer.com

I know Greg from DIY games discussed print media in these froums, you may search for that discussion...

In terms of real paper magazines in distribution there's...

http://www.gdmag.com/homepage.htm

- S

DO IT

If you have the resources, a paper indie mag would be very cool. It would have to be something with low overhead so that small subscriber amount wouldn't mean the end. I'm actually unsure how the financial aspect would work, but if you decide to do this and need writers, I'd be interested. There's a lack of print magazines on interesting subjects ;)

GameDesign magazine is not really geared towards Indies at the moment. I talked with the editor about that a couple o' months back, and she likes the idea of more content aimed at Indies, but doesn't currently have the space in the mag for thier current articles planned plus new stuff geared towards the Indies. (Her comment was also followed with 'unless we suddenly sell more advertising').

Still a good magazine though :-)

I'd say study it out and see if it is feasible.

Likely you will go in the hole on every issue the first year. I looked into doing a magazine for a different area, even had subscriptions set-up, stores ready to sell, and a printer ready to print. However, it was clear I would be losing $5,000 a month to printing and mailing due to the fact that MOST magazines make nearly all their money by selling advertising, and the field I was working with was going to take a wait and see on advertising. I had a few advertisors...but needed more, they are the key to not losing money on a magazine.

Indie companies have little money to advertise. Charging $4/issue at the newstand means you are charging $2/issue to the store carrying the magazine. That has to cover all your printing fees and shipping.

If you can do it without losing your neck, go for it.

I would instead enjoy seeing a print magazine that was geared toward shareware..not shareware development.

It would be purchased by people who play PopCap games, or the like. Highlighting cool new independant or casual games, have a more hardcore section, etc. etc.

You cant make money selling to developers. You make money selling to the people that developers want to sell to.

Alex

I totally agree with Sirus on this one.

Ah...but the people who play PopCap games...or Dexterity's games...or even Samu Games's games don't think of themselves as people who buy shareware or independent games.

They just play games they like.

"Shareware", "indie", etc., have no meaning to them, in general, so they don't consider themselves as anything other than "people who buy games they like".

Indie is not a brand.

-David

If you called the mag Shareware Gaming Today or Indie Gaming Magazine, I completely suspect David's comments would apply. He's completely right that Indie isn't a brand (however, if we were all PR whizes, I suppose we COULD make Indie a brand, but, it would end up being so diluted it would just revert back to what the term is now.)

A magazine about Indie / Shareware games is completely possible, IMHO, as long as you aren't trying to cram the idea that it's about Indies down people's throats. Sell a magazine about games, but, cover games that are indie and sell ad space mainly to indies. Then you could have a magazine that people might pick up without knowing what 'Indie gaming' is.

BUT... I don't think stuff like I write (geared towards casual gamers) is going to be worth putting in there. I don't think (and this is just an opinion, no serious facts to put behind it besides some of the people I know) that most casual gamers pick up many game related magazines to read reviews, select new games, etc. Just an opinion.

And would you be successful? Hm. The more I think about it, the more I think 'no' is the answer. It's hard for PC game based mags to survive these days anyway.

I wonder if anyone's tried moving PC games through puzzlegames catalogs?

(I had a brief fascination with bizarre niche catalogs. Puzzles, jigsaw and otherwise, was one I'm not really sure how I ended up on the list for, but at least I can say it exists. No idea how hard it is to get into a print catalog or buy their mailing list, though.)

Papillion: That's exactly something I'm getting ready to look into after the next major revamp of my Panic! games line. I love puzzles (which would be why I write 'em I suppose :-) ) and get thier catalog. I buy stuff outta it probably once every 6 months.