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In a nomenclature reminiscent of George Costanza´s fake charity, "The Human Fund (Money For People)", comes something genuinely good and authentic, the Indie Fund. The creators of some of the most commercially successful, independent games to rake in six-digit unit sales and six-to-seven-digit revenues on console-downloadable platforms (with PC sales often making up a large minority) have banded together and pooled funding in an ostensibly for-profit venture capital fund for independent games. Like a traditional publisher, they will give people cash to spend while developing games, and will benefit from a share of the net revenues on said games, but unlike a publisher they´ll refrain from owning the resulting intellectual property and from holding veto power over creative decisions.

There are probably more details to it and I should look forward to the GDC talk that Carmel is giving. This is something I´ve wanted to do since the start but, you know, didn´t have the cash-o-la.

I do want to note that the successes of all the individuals boarding this fund comes from for-sale games which have a distinct design M.O. than free to play games, and some expertise in the latter may be useful. (On second look I´m reminded that the CEO of Flashbang Studios is involved, so the balance in the force may be there after all). I´m interested to see what kind of standardized submission process they provide, because I can tell you the deluge of "here´s my great idea!" emails you get when publicly stating that you want to invest in game projects can be quite formidable.

[Just a note on my colleagues' new Game Developer Research report - probably a bit expensive for GSW readers unless you're a senior tool company exec, heh, but with some interesting public conclusions anyhow if you're reading for free.]

GameSetWatch sister service Game Developer Research has debuted its latest report, the 2009-2010 State of Game Development Survey, revealing among other things a surge of iPhone developers and a lull in those making games for the Wii.

The 100 page report is a result of a survey of more than 800 video game professionals from North America and beyond who read Gamasutra, subscribe to Game Developer magazine, or attend Game Developers Conference. Those complete results are available as a 100-page report from Game Developer Research, and more information from the survey is also available in the February 2010 issue of Game Developer magazine.

The results of the comprehensive 55-question survey help to illustrate which platforms Western game creators develop for, which market sectors they work in, which tools they use and how much they spend on these tools, and sheds light on which factors determine the target platforms for game development.

As a reflection of recent economic difficulties and resulting layoffs, this year’s survey reveals that many experienced developers have founded smaller studios, or have begun developing games on their own.

This trend is marked by a 7 percent growth in the proportion of developers employed by companies of 50 employees or fewer, while in sharp contrast, the proportion of developers at companies of 500 or more employees has fallen by two percent since last year’s survey.

As shown from the results of the survey, another increasingly prevalent trend has been the growth of the mobile space. Due in large part to the success of Apple’s iPhone software platform, mobile support shot up to 25 percent of developers, more than doubling last year’s 12 percent.

Of these mobile developers, nearly three quarters of that group are targeting iPhone and iPod touch development, a number more than twice the reported support for traditional handhelds like Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

Meanwhile, the choices of development platform showed relative stability. Just over 70 percent of developers said they were developing at least one game for PC or Mac (including browser and social games), rising slightly from last year; 41 percent reported working on console games. Within that latter group, Xbox 360 was the most popular system with 69 percent of console developers targeting it, followed by 61 percent for PlayStation 3.

While those console figures stayed within a few percent of last year's results, the change in Wii adoption was much more significant: reported developer support for the system dropped from 42 percent to 30 percent of console developers, supporting numerous publishers' claims of a recent softening of the Wii market.

When it comes to choosing target platforms, more developers cited ease of development and market penetration as incentives, more than any other factors. Other important considerations included team members’ existing skill sets, portability of code to a given platform, and the acquisition costs of development kits and materials.

“Like any other medium of entertainment, video game development is subject to change with the ebb and flow of the economy and any hot new trends, and this year’s survey continues to reflect this evolution,” says Simon Carless, global brand director of Think Services Game Group (and publisher of Gamasutra).

"The full, detailed survey document, with its plethora of raw data and wealth of insight, is an important resource for any industry-watchers looking to navigate the changing seas of the games industry."

The full 'State of Game Development 2009-2010 Survey' includes dozens more data points about the preferred software, hardware, and tools of game developers across game engines, AI tools, production machines and beyond, as well as game genre and sector statistics, geographical breakdowns, budgetary information for the past year, and upcoming product purchase intent.

The survey was conducted with a sample of 814 users of Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra, and attendees of the Game Developers Conference, and can be projected to the overall game development community with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.

Those complete results are available as a 100-page report from Game Developer Research, alongside numerous other reports delving into the key facts and trends that define the modern game development industry. More information from the survey is also available in the February 2010 issue of Game Developer magazine.

As we continue to round up some of the notable long-form pieces of writing elsewhere on the network, here's the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

This time, we start things out with iPhone and indie developers reacting to the iPad (something that took the site down briefly after it got featured on the front page of Google News, ohdear!), and an interview tying in with Mass Effect 2's release, plus a WiiWare postmortem, an in-depth design piece on gameplay and narrative, and a GCG postmortem, among other things.

Go stop go:

Developers React: The iPad's Future
"Developers and technology providers ranging from Tiger Style's Randy Smith to ngmoco's Neil Young and Unreal's Mark Rein weigh in on the prospects and realities of developing games for Apple's newly-announced iPad."

The Next Big Steps In Game Sound Design
"Technical sound designer Damian Kastbauer breaks down the current generation's innovations in sound design from a technical perspective, outlining what current games can do aurally, and speaks to other developers to find out more."

Postmortem: Over the Top Games' NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits
"The tale behind the Spanish-developed, Ancient Greek-themed WiiWare platformer, full of common but important lessons for indie developers taking a chance on something new."

The Uneasy Merging of Narrative and Gameplay
"Developer Ara Shirinian picks apart the gameplay/narrative question by examining how games handle cinematic interactivity, how movies handle fight sequences, and how XEODesign's Nicole Lazzaro's list of gameplay emotions apply to one medium and not the other."

Back In Space: BioWare On Mass Effect 2
"Lead producer Adrien Cho discusses the evolution that the studio, series, and genre is going through in this comprehensive interview about the creative process behind BioWare's anticipated shooter/RPG sequel, Mass Effect 2."

GCG: Moving From ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3
"Having trouble transitioning to the latest version of ActionScript? Arkadium developer Michael Greenhut walks you through some of the most common problems that arise when making the switch."

GCG: Student Postmortem: Drifters
"What does it take to create a multiplayer online game as a student project? Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy student Steve Durst here recounts the process behind the demon-possessed Drifters."

Continuing our trawl through 2010's video game munificence, let's examine the top full-length features of the past week on big sister 'art and business of gaming' site Gamasutra, plus our GameCareerGuide features for the week.

This time, we've got some rather neat interviews (a fascinating chat with Shanghai-based veteran American McGee, and a rare talk with Nintendo of Korea's preseident), analysis pieces (Matt Matthews looking back on U.S. retail sales for December and all of 2009, with lots of gorgeous graphs), and rather more alluring design, business and programming articles besides.

Here's the top stories of the week:

American In China: McGee On Making It Work In Shanghai
"The ex-id and EA employee speaks out on how developing games in his Shanghai-based studio Spicy Horse has given him a new perspective on development process and teamwork, and whether or not those insights could work in Western studios."

Nintendo: Sticking With Korea - NOK President Mineo Koda Speaks
"Nintendo of Korea was just formed in July 2006, but in a short period of time, it's been able to find success in a market notoriously difficult for non-PC platforms. NOK head Mineo Koda explains how."

Designing Fast Cross-Platform SIMD Vector Libraries
"Performance is key in games -- here, experienced games programmer Gustavo Oliveira delivers a comparison of libraries that should increase your performance and cut down on code bloat, and contrasts different compilers."

Meet Your New Fans: Promoting Your Indie Game At Live Events
"Getting your game in front of fans is both increasingly possible thanks to the events springing up around the globe -- but should even indie developers run real-life promotions? UK indie developer Mode 7 Games details a real-life example."

NPD: Behind the Numbers, December 2009
"Gamasutra's in-depth analysis takes a look at what brought 2009 U.S. video game revenues down from 2008, including contracting Wii revenues, rapidly sinking PlayStation 2, and an Xbox 360 that kept getting cheaper."

GCG: Student Postmortem: Sultans of Scratch
"A full postmortem of the student-created music game, including discussions of working with outside talent and keeping the project running amidst production problems."

ChevyRay has created a new 2d Flash game library called FlashPunk (v0.73).

The library is released as an alternative to Adam Saltsman’s Flixel framework, which is also geared towards 2d, sprite-based Flash games. You can read a list of differences between the two libraries here, in ChevyRay’s announcement thread.

The video above depicts a game that ChevyRay is creating using his engine, called Fight! Mechanical Shooting Device. The graphics are by Pietepiet. Jumper creator and RunMan: Race Around the World co-creator Matt Thorson has also announced that Jumper 4 will be developed in FlashPunk. Continue reading

If your looking for an alternative to the Flixel framework for developing 2D Flash titles, Chevy Ray Johnston (Beacon, Skullpogo) has released FlashPunk, his own ActionScript library designed to offer "a fast, clean framework for prototyping and developing games". He's not only put the tool online for free, he's posted some online documentation, written a beginner's tutorial, and setup forums.

FlashPunk is specifically geared toward creators who like to work with with 2D raster/bitmap graphics, as opposed to vector graphics. "It can manage thousands of animated bitmap sprites on-screen at a time without slowing, a lot faster than Flash normally could, because it operates under the assumption that your game primarily uses bitmapped graphics," explains the developer.

As for why you'd want to use FlashPunk over Flixel, Johnston has also shared technical details on the differences and even weaknesses of his framework so coders can decide which tool to use based on the merits of each. There are at least two projects underway using FlashPunk: Johnston's own Fight! MSD (in collaboration with Paul "Pietpiet" Veer) and Matt Thorson's Jumper Four.

Chevy Ray Johnston, the indie developer behind Ludum Dare 15 highlight Beacon and addictive iPhone game Skullpogo, has been working on a neat project called FlashPunk, a free ActionScript library designed for creating 2D Flash games.

It reminds me of Adam "Atomic" Saltsman's Flixel, the ActionScript library used to create titles like Canabalt and Queens. Johnston says his goal with Flshpunk is to provide "a fast, clean framework for prototyping and developing games", handling elements like sprite rendering/animation, player input, collision detection, framerate, and more.

He hasn't posted the library yet, but he's posted regular updates on Fight! Mechanical Shooting Device, a arena-based survival shooter that shows off the engine. Johnston is working with Paul "Pietpiet" Veer (Flipper for DSiWare) and composer Magnus "SoulEye" Pålsson on the Game Boy-esque title.

[Via Pixel Prospector]