Neko Ghost, Jump! Dev, Burgos Games Founder Talks Early Access, Cash Flow, and What it Means to be 'Indie'

gamerant.com:

For many developers, putting together a video game requires years of effort, resources and deep pockets. Studios like Rockstar Games, which poured $260 million into the acclaimed Grand Theft Auto 5, employ thousands of people — not just programmers, but marketing and finance specialists too. Not all game studios have the security of a billion-dollar net worth, though. For devs like Burgos Games, the studio behind upcoming indie puzzle-platformer Neko Ghost, Jump!, it’s an uphill battle for recognition, success, and profits amid the deluge of AAA content.

Burgos Games creative director Victor Burgos feels that pressure acutely. As a Marine Corps veteran and a new father, he has mostly self-funded his indie studio with a little help from crowdfunding service Kickstarter. Although it’s only been available for Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store around a month, Burgos Games’ first major step into the industry is struggling to find its footing. Game Rant spoke with Burgos about its development process, cash flow, and how he believes the definition of ‘indie’ is changing.

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The average person might reasonably assume that an indie developer with a game for sale on Steam would primarily gauge their title’s success based on the amount of cash it rakes in. However, Burgos said it’s a bit more complicated.

“Reviews are also a huge weight on that,” he said. According to Burgos, Valve’s games client assigns “tiers” to titles based on the number of user reviews they have. That determines how visible a game is to someone browsing the Steam store. While a game’s financial success does matter, Steam’s algorithm takes reviews into large account. For Neko