[RampantCoyote]

I have an interview with Indinera Falls of Aldorlea Games up at TotRC:

Indinera Falls Interview

Aldorlea Games is basically the single most prolific creator of commercial RPG Maker titles. While I tried to focus the interview on topics of interest to gamers, I couldn't resist a few questions about his process as an indie RPG maker. No real big secrets revealed there, and he keeps his answers pretty safe, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.
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Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

[tcaudilllg]

Yeah it read like an SE interview. Not that you didn't try. "Exciting", "unique"... bummer man.

I've not played any of his games yet, to be honest, so I'm not sure how good his characterizations are. But creative, highly entrepreneurial people tend to hold their secrets close to their chest. They also tend to develop them for a long time -- where most of us start developing real awareness in our 20s, they start from the very beginning.

But I don't think he's really that far ahead of anybody else. I do think he should be more open with the community though, because the indie market is decidedly young adult and young adults appreciate transparency. On the other hand, it's not impossible that he dislikes being indie -- he seems like a big business guy rather than a small business, "get to know you" kind of guy. But then, he's also putting out six games a year through his company -- he cannot possibly have detailed knowledge of all of them.

[Malignus]

Linked from IndieRPGs.com. :)

[RampantCoyote]

@Malignus: Kewl. I need to write up a review of Din's Curse for you, too...

@tcaudilllg: What's "SE"?

Some people are just better at expressing themselves than others, I think. And sometimes it just depends on... timing. I've had a couple of interviews that I've given that really came out super-dull sounding, too.

In Indinera's defense, English is not his first language, and he probably didn't have anybody helping him with the translation for the interview. That probably played a big role in how his answers came out. I liked the interview and really enjoyed his comments, but I thought they came out a little low-key and general. He's probably a pretty low-key guy, too. And has a work ethic that puts me to shame. :)

He's selling a lot of games, though, and has a lot of fans. I'd say he's doing something right. He's got my respect as both an artist and a small business owner - as does anyone who can turn their passion into a viable livelihood. That, to me, is success.

However, going back to your points:

I think what really happens is that as you transition to being a business, especially when your livelihood becomes dependent upon your publicity, there's a natural tendency to be pretty conservative with your presentation and to try and smooth over the rough edges. Avoid controversy or any risk of offending or shocking anyone.

BUT - I think that natural tendency is wrong. I look at many of the more successful indies and other entrepreneurs out there, and they are anything but that. They let their freak flag fly, so to speak. I think they understand that while offending people isn't good, it's far worse to bore them. You want to be interesting and entertaining. That gets you more interviews, which means more publicity, which generally means more sales.

While it sounds kind of contrived and coldly calculated, it's really a roundabout way of saying that the best policy is to BE YOURSELF - maybe yourself cranked up to 11, but still yourself - for these kinds of things.
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Tales of the Rampant Coyote - Old-School Game Developer talks Indie Games, RPGs, and the Games Biz

[tcaudilllg]

Square-Enix, sorry.

I think you pretty much nailed it. I think I have a better understanding of his motivations and his situation, now. Still, it aggrivates me that the tendency among writers is to hide everything. I think I know how creative writers think, that they build up an inventory of human nature that they basically keep to themselves as a competitive edge. On the other hand, it sounds like this guy may have been more in the business end so, hmm I'm going to have to play his games to figure out where he actually is in the mix. I've got a hunch that he hires people to do the stories.

But I'll tell ya, I'd like to see a real writer get interviewed. I don't think I've ever seen such a thing in my life. Not just "a" interview, but a real interview where they go in depth to how they created the characters without mentioning such irrelevant factors as influences. I'd like to see someone reflect on the actual creative process of a real character. You get bits and pieces of it today, but never something that really makes sense. Now like you observed, character designers are often not verbose people. But still yet they are a lot wiser (that's the word) than they let on, and scenario writers are probably wiser still.