Why is nobody talking about it in Latvia, while such big foreign media as “Bloomberg“, “The Guardian” and many prominent niche publications praise the borrowed? After reading it in a “Twitter” discussion, I looked into the situation, and really. Why? Brothers Andrejs and Ernests Kļaviņi found their way to ” for gamers” with the soul of a detective, both broke in in several the prestigious best games of the year topos. In addition, the project has also proven to be commercially successful, which is not a given for independent developers. As Andrejs admits, at the moment, finances allow him to devote all his time to future video game projects, and no longer spare moments in the evenings from daily work.
It can be done, but is anyone interested?
When I connect to “Steam” or “PlayStation Store” and I have decided to browse the digital shelves, the algorithms first offer blockbusters from big developers – games with a grand budget and equally grand graphics, the so-called “triple A” category products. However, a pretty facade doesn’t always come with an equally exciting story and game mechanics. Having often played “Play Station” adventure and “action” genre games myself, I noticed – sometimes only the visual outfit and story decoration change from game to game, but the story development dynamics and game mechanics are the same old board in a new cover. Indie games can’t compete with big-budget studio products in terms of graphics and scope, but their trump card can be an excellent story or a fresh approach to how the player experiences the story. However, finding something unique in the “indie” category is becoming more and more difficult.
It’s now easier than ever to make a game. Also to publish – you no longer need a “hard” medium like CDs used to be, which you have to physically get on store shelves. The Klaviņi brothers also prove this. If you exclude everyone involved in publishing and testing, the game was developed by the two of them, and the music was composed by Kyle Mishko. They are not beginners. Andrejs has been in the industry for more than 10 years and in 2010 was one of the founders of the “Next Level” studio. Ernest’s drawings can be found on the pages of “Ir” magazine, but his heart is also in video game design. Ernests has participated in more than 20 artistic and commercial game projects.
However, with all the experience and entrepreneurship – isn’t creating a video game for two a burden that you can maybe lift, but not really bear, I asked the brothers. “A good analogy would be: isn’t it too much of an undertaking to make a film? The answer is – what kind of film exactly? You won’t shoot “Avatar” with two people, but you can shoot an “indie” film in an apartment. Computer games can also have a huge scope and can be made in a few in weeks,” Andrejs compares. In addition, there is no shortage of those who develop games themselves. For example, “Return of the Obra Dinn” was created, which is most often cited as the source of inspiration for the game created by the Klavinas brothers.
So it’s clear – various convenient tools nowadays allow even those who don’t really know how to program to make a game. Another question is – will anyone be interested in your product?
