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Independent video game development is the process of creating indie games; these are video games, commonly created by small teams or individuals and usually without significant financial support of a video game publisher or other outside source. These games may take years to be built from the ground up or can be completed in a matter of days or even hours depending on complexity, participants, and design goal. Driven by digital distribution, the concept of independent video game development has spawned an "indie" movement. The increase in popularity of independent games has allowed increased distribution on popular gaming platforms such as the PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop, Xbox Live and Steam. ==History== The origins of indie video games may be traced back to the 1970s, when there was virtually no established computer gaming industry. As video game firms developed they employed more programmers. Nonetheless, independent programmers continued to make their own games. During the 1990s, indie games were most commonly distributed as shareware or shared from friend to friend and therefore known as "shareware games". As the industry grew during the 1980s, publishing a game became more difficult. Chris Crawford said in late 1984, Before the mid-1990s, commercial game distribution was controlled by big publishers and retailers, and developers of indie games were forced to either build their own publishing company, find one willing to distribute their game, or distribute it in some form of shareware (e.g. through BBSs). The increased production costs at the beginning of the 2000s made the video game publishers even more risk averse and let them reject all small-size and too innovative concepts of small game developers. By the mid-2000s, some indie (computer) game developers have also taken the opportunity to make their games open source, thus rendering the group of possible participants much larger depending on the interest a project generates. Other developers decided to make their games open source on end of commercialization phase to prevent that their work become Abandonware.〔(Lugaru goes open source ) Wolfire Blog, May 11, 2010〕 This approach allows the game community also to port the game to new platforms and to provide software support〔(Unofficial update packs! (1.1.3+)(Updated 14th Oct 2012) ) on bit-blog.com (October 2012)〕 (community patches) by themselves, when the developer ends the official support. Several online communities have formed around independent game development, like TIGSource. Ludum Dare, and the indiegames.com blog. The digital distribution available since the 2000s offers new possibilities for the whole video game industry, especially for independent video game developers who can now bypass the big publisher for game distribution. Gabe Newell, creator of the PC digital distribution service Steam, formulated the advantages over physical retail distribution for smaller game developers as:The creator of Oddworld, Lorne Lanning, expressed his desire to only make games independently instead of going through publishers. “I’d rather not make games than ... be a slave for public companies who care more about their shareholders than they do about their customers."〔http://www.vg247.com/2014/03/25/oddworld-new-n-tasty-its-not-a-fucking-hd-remake/〕" With the rise of online shopping and digital distribution like the Steam platform, gog.com, and the Humble Store), it has become possible to sell indie games to a worldwide market with little or no initial investment by using services such as XBLA, the PlayStation Network or PayPal. Also since the 2000s, the new trend of crowdfunding platforms (like kickstarter.com or indiegogo) allows smaller developers to fund their work directly by their fans and customers, bypassing traditional and problematic financing methods.〔〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Independent video game development」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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