Independent games developers have it hard these days. 2K Australia/2K Boston (formerly Irrational) had to throw their hand in with 2K Games, and Bioware and Pandemic decided to join forces with backing from investment house Elevation Partners. Add in an out-of-the-way locale like Australia, where the Government seems oblivious to the existence of an entire industry, and the thought of firing up your own coding factory looks more insurmountable than two Everests piled on each other.
The best place to get advice? From someone who’s done it.ANZ developer portal Sumea has an interview with Lewis Strudwick, one of the managing directors of Melbourne-based Archeron Design. Strudwick shares a great many of his experiences as an Aussie indie dev in the chat, and is well worth a read. One of his comments I feel is particularly relevant to the events of the last few days:
I think the Federal Government has really missed a golden opportunity to enhance the industry in Australia, by not extending the tax rebates from films to games. Games are expensive to make, and investment in development is something the industry needs in order to compete on a global scale.
Sumea Interviews Lewis Strudwick from Acheron Design [Sumea]
Leave a Reply