Derek Yu sees indie development blossoming thanks to platform competition
The creator of smash indie hit Spelunky, Derek Yu, has said in an interview with GamesIndustry International that developing a successful game for a mobile platform is like “a lottery” and doesn’t have the potential rewards of a PC or console release.
“It’s just kind of intimidating,” says Yu. “It’s a very finicky business, too, in terms of what succeeds and what doesn’t.” With Spelunky‘s success on Xbox Live Arcade after years as a free PC game and with its arrival imminent on PS3 and Vita, Derek seems to have a good grasp of developing for consoles. He also praised Microsoft for its support whilst developing Spelunky for the Xbox 360 but admits console developers could be a lot more supportive to indie devs.
“Just making the process as easy for indie developers as possible, removing as much red tape or paperwork from the equation would be the thing to do.” With Sony courting many indie developers for the PlayStation 4, it will be really interesting to see how Microsoft responds with a newer XBLA marketplace on its upcoming console.
Mobile “just too scary” for indies, says Spelunky dev [GamesIndustry International]
