Sometimes, when developing a game, you come across a really good idea (or a lot of really good ideas) that you just can't incorporate into the game at release. Or maybe after release you find that your game is absolutely ridden with more bugs than a graveyard gone fallow. You have two options: Leave it alone, or bring your considerable developer muscles to bear against the problem. While each game should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, the general consensus is that no matter your position as an indie or accomplished developer, you should take control of your project after release and guide it. After all, if all developers simply abandoned projects immediately after completion, we wouldn't have such great games as World of Warcraft or Team Fortress 2!
Now, this isn't to say that for an independent developer there are not benefits to simply washing your hands of a project and moving on upon release. Some of these benefits include added freedom to continue on with your projects as well as the ability to ignore player feedback on how unbalanced or unfair your game is. After all, if you never plan on changing it, what can you do about the balance or fairness levels of your game? Nothing. This mentality is perfect for the concept developer, as it enables him to churn out quick little games without feeling obligated to provide support for every little problem in a game that took him 5 hours to make. However, for the developer that plans on building more complex games, you should abandon this train of thought immediately.
The first form of continued support, and the most common, is that of patches. Patches fix what you couldn't fix in your game before you had to release it. This could've been because you missed the bug in testing or because you just didn't have the time to fix the bug, but either way, you need to fix the bug and patch up your game so that your player base doesn't murder you. You can somewhat dull this patching problem by holding an open beta to find issues that will occur with a more widespread populous, but chances are you will be patching for a while into the game's lifespan. Most games stop being patched around two years after launch, with only the exceptional ones gaining continued functionality updates to ensure that everyone can play.
The second form is that of continued content updates. These can be released as stand-alone items or within patches, and they always introduce new content to your game after the game is complete. Good examples of these updates are the major patches in pretty much any MMO as well as the class updates for Team Fortress 2. These tend to be the updates that get the largest amount of attention, because they show that the developer has a dedication to keeping the game alive with continued updates to the formula and content that made the original a success. The only problem with this form of support is that it has a heavy time cost on the developer and may stall over games in production.
The third form, which is really just a variant on the second form with a little bit of the first mixed in, is the episodic game. I'm not talking about Half-Life 2: Episode 1, but rather Sam and Max. Games whose development times are so short that the desired content can be put in, and further content can be elaborated on in the sequel released a month or two later. Any patches will apply to all the games, as they all use the same engine, and your content updates are covered by the fact that your game is episodic. The one problem with this is that it is even more focusing than patches or content, and will suck away all your time as a developer until the game/season is finished. So go into an episodic game expecting to stay on that game for quite a bit.
As always, the distribution of these updates is very important. My personal favorite platform for continued updates is Steam, thanks to the seamless DRM and updating system, but some may have troubles with it. There's quite a few digital distribution platforms out there, like Impulse or Direct2Drive, but when worse goes to worst, you can always distribute your patches and updates through the internet at large. Downloading patches was a common mainstay of the PC experience for a long time, and a lot of users never forgot those times. We even have a patches section here on Big Download, and most file hosting sites have a similar section that you can negotiate hosting for your patches in.
No matter which method you go with for support of your game, or whether you choose not to support your game at all, people will play it (or attempt to). While content updates and even user-generated content can lengthen a game's lifespan considerably, sometimes you just have to move on to bigger and better things. In the end, there is only one rule of support, and that is to not let it prevent you from exploring new concepts. Whether this means a new update or a new game is up to you and your imagination.
For more coverage on indie games and the scene, keep an eye out for Indie Showcase at the same bat time, same bat channel. Also check out Freeware Friday and our indie category for some excellent freeware games and indie news, respectively.
The first form of continued support, and the most common, is that of patches. Patches fix what you couldn't fix in your game before you had to release it. This could've been because you missed the bug in testing or because you just didn't have the time to fix the bug, but either way, you need to fix the bug and patch up your game so that your player base doesn't murder you. You can somewhat dull this patching problem by holding an open beta to find issues that will occur with a more widespread populous, but chances are you will be patching for a while into the game's lifespan. Most games stop being patched around two years after launch, with only the exceptional ones gaining continued functionality updates to ensure that everyone can play.The second form is that of continued content updates. These can be released as stand-alone items or within patches, and they always introduce new content to your game after the game is complete. Good examples of these updates are the major patches in pretty much any MMO as well as the class updates for Team Fortress 2. These tend to be the updates that get the largest amount of attention, because they show that the developer has a dedication to keeping the game alive with continued updates to the formula and content that made the original a success. The only problem with this form of support is that it has a heavy time cost on the developer and may stall over games in production.
The third form, which is really just a variant on the second form with a little bit of the first mixed in, is the episodic game. I'm not talking about Half-Life 2: Episode 1, but rather Sam and Max. Games whose development times are so short that the desired content can be put in, and further content can be elaborated on in the sequel released a month or two later. Any patches will apply to all the games, as they all use the same engine, and your content updates are covered by the fact that your game is episodic. The one problem with this is that it is even more focusing than patches or content, and will suck away all your time as a developer until the game/season is finished. So go into an episodic game expecting to stay on that game for quite a bit.
As always, the distribution of these updates is very important. My personal favorite platform for continued updates is Steam, thanks to the seamless DRM and updating system, but some may have troubles with it. There's quite a few digital distribution platforms out there, like Impulse or Direct2Drive, but when worse goes to worst, you can always distribute your patches and updates through the internet at large. Downloading patches was a common mainstay of the PC experience for a long time, and a lot of users never forgot those times. We even have a patches section here on Big Download, and most file hosting sites have a similar section that you can negotiate hosting for your patches in.No matter which method you go with for support of your game, or whether you choose not to support your game at all, people will play it (or attempt to). While content updates and even user-generated content can lengthen a game's lifespan considerably, sometimes you just have to move on to bigger and better things. In the end, there is only one rule of support, and that is to not let it prevent you from exploring new concepts. Whether this means a new update or a new game is up to you and your imagination.
For more coverage on indie games and the scene, keep an eye out for Indie Showcase at the same bat time, same bat channel. Also check out Freeware Friday and our indie category for some excellent freeware games and indie news, respectively.
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