How to talk to Indie people
One main part of my research is to get some primary sources to answer my questions; in other words getting indie people to answer a sort of questionnaire about how their company works. To start this off I must first know how to find people to ask questions too.
One of the easiest ways to find people in industry is to go to conventions and talks. Things like EGX (European Gaming eXhibition), VFX (Visual eFfects eXhibition)and Industry workshops. Groups like UKIE (UK Interactive Entertainment), IGDA (International Game Developers Association) and WIGJ (Women In Game Jobs) hold talks and networking events where you can get lots of information and also meet people that are in industry.
Ukie at EGX Rezzed [1]
If you have been on an course about games (College or University) then everyone there is a potential connection. Alumni of that establishment are also a really good way of establishing connections. By using social media you can find a lot of new people and maintain connections with people you already know; websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter are in my opinion some of the best to use.
Here's a list of some of the places people that I know in industry work at or have worked at and that might be able to help me with finding out more information on indie studios. I met them either at university, through other connections or at industry talks.
I either have their email, LinkedIn, Facebook or Skype; I haven't put this online as I don't want to share their information online but I have a form of contact listed down for my own use. I plan on contacting all or most of these people to see if they can help me with my research.
Questions to ask my contacts:
How many people work in the company?
Does the company work in a studio, online or in another way?
Does everyone in the company work on the same game or project?
How are the teams split up? (e.g. Tech and Art)
What job titles/roles do people have within the company?
Does everyone have a specific task or are the job roles broad? (e.g. does someone only do character concepting or does someone do character concepting, character modelling, texturing, rigging and animating?)
Typically how long is a game in production for?
In what order are things done when producing a game? (e.g. Idea, concepting, prototyping....)
Does the company outsource any people?
Where does the money for production come from? (crowd funded etc.)
Bibliography:
[1] UKIE (2016) Ukie. [Online image] [Twitter] 20th March. Available from: https://twitter.com/uk_ie/status/715129703393206272 [Accessed 08/11/16]