Interview: On The Future of Devolver Digital And Indie Games Publishing

Devolver Digital has made a name for itself as a publisher of high quality indie games, including Hotline Miami and Serious Sam.

Last year, the studio set up what they call the "Pitch Fork Parker" program. It’s a biodiesel “bus” at GDC that invites indie game developers to sign up for a ride on the Devolver bus, during which time they can pitch their games to Devolver Digital.

I’m told Dungeon Hearts was signed almost on the spot last year, and Devolver sparked up conversations with Dennaton Games and Vlambeer for titles that they would eventually go on to publish, including Hotline Miami, and the upcoming Luftrausers from Vlambeer.

Unlike many large publishers, Devolver keeps a relatively hands-off approach when it comes to game development and allows the developers to work on their games as they please. Devolver provides them with the financial support that they need, and does the marketing and PR for the game.

I decided to speak to Nigel Lowrie from Devolver Digital to talk about the indie gaming scene and what their plans are this year.

For our readers who aren't familiar with the "Pitch Fork Parker" program, can you tell us something about how you fellows came up with the idea?

Nigel Lowrie: The team at Devolver Digital genuinely love indie games as we believe they are the most creative, most daring concepts in game development are taking place. While working with the teams involved in the Serious Sam Indie Series we realized that there is a place for Devolver Digital in that space. With our combined industry experience we can offer something incredibly valuable and substantial to smaller studios that need someone to be constantly thinking about their games from a marketing and distribution angle.

There were a few projects at that time we had been looking at and discussing with developers, like Hotline Miami, that we'd already signed on, but we ideally wanted to find a venue to tell our story to developers and have them in turn tell us theirs. What better place to do that than GDC, right?

NL: So we decided that we needed to make the pitch process to Devolver Digital at GDC more casual to fit our personality and give developers a chance to be comfortable and act naturally so they could focus on telling us about their games. That's where we came up with the idea of pitching on a bus that rode around GDC – which actually turned out great. In fact, the response was so positive that we didn't have enough time to meet with everyone on the bus, so quite a few meetings took place just sort of hanging out in a remote corner of the convention center. I know it sounds off the cuff, but the casual atmosphere really ended up being ideal for everyone – we’re not “suit and tie” kind of guys, and neither are the developers of the types of games we’re looking at.

Devolver Digital has made some major strides in the game industry as of late, especially with with Hotline Miami and Serious Sam. Is the plan to keep signing on small indie titles, or are there any plans to go big with AAA titles?

NL: The team at Devolver Digital like to make a plan but only to a certain extent - it's important that we are always flexible and able to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves. The past year or so has been a pretty fun ride with the release of Serious Sam 3, the handful of smaller Serious Sam indie games, and Hotline Miami so partnering on games within that scope is going to be important for us over the next few months and years. This year alone Devolver Digital will launch several games with smaller independent studios like Vlambeer (Luftrausers), Cube Roots (Dungeon Hearts), and Dennaton Games (Unannounced). We're also going to be unveiling new games around E3 that some might consider bigger in scope.

We've got games of all sizes in the works but nothing on the scale of an Assassin's Creed or a Dead Space. We love where we are at right now as a company so we don't see a need to change that or compete with the larger publishers that all seem to be losing money at this point. The games we’re associated with right now do a great job of telling the story of who and what Devolver Digital is.

There are going to be a good number of independent developers showing off their games to prospective publishers at GDC. Is there anything you're looking out for while you're there? We're looking for smart and original game design – it’s as simple as that. Our tastes are pretty versatile, but off the top of my head it would be great to see some games in genres that are a bit underserved like point-and-click adventures or more exploratory first-person games. I've really been digging low polygon art lately, so hope to see something interesting using that style.

Let's pretend I'm an indie game developer (which I'm not.) What would you like to hear from me if I wanted my game signed on by Devolver?

NL: The first thing we look for in a developer is their passion for the project and how well they've thought out each and every element of the game. It's important that we partner with developers that are passionate about the artistry in game development and want to create something original that people haven't really seen before. We are also looking for a relationship more than just a one time business agreement - someone that we can buildinto a more long-term brand and become trusted partners. Finally, we're looking for good people—jerks need not apply.

What do you think of Kickstarter and how it affects the indie game dev scene, and what effect does it have—if any—on Devolver?

NL: Crowd funding platforms like Kickstarter, Gambitious, and Indiegogo have been a fascinating movement in game development and has clearly provided a whole new avenue for independent developers to fund their games while also building a community. It will be interesting to see how it matures over these next few years and if gamers will start to fund larger, more risky projects rather than reboots of old franchises or new projects from established developers they already know.

There are definitely some avant-garde games being funded through crowd funding—we've backed quite a few—but most of the attention from gamers and press has been focused on the big names pitching nostalgic projects. It just feels like it's all falling back into the status quo, but it's still an immature model and I think there is room for improvement and growth by developers and users. As it relates to Devolver Digital, crowd funding is great and can serve to fund games to a certain point and we help out financially where needed in addition to all the other services we provide developers and their projects. There are plenty of great projects that have "failed" to meet their goal on Kickstarter for one reason or another but most are still fantastic concepts that just didn't get have the awareness they needed to garner any real momentum and we've spoke to a few developers about how we might be able to help.

So here's an offbeat question: The "Pitch Fork Parker" program seems like it has all the right elements to make it into a reality TV series, following the development of a game from its inception to release. Could something like that ever happen?

NL: That's an idea we've actually discussed and would love to make it happen for the right project. We'd love to produce a web series following a game's development from pitch through launch capturing all the highs and lows. Or maybe just make something trashy like Real Housewives of Game Developers. That might be even better.

And finally, what's up with Serious Sam? We've seen him star in a huge first person shooter, and he's about to be in another side-scrolling action game. So, what's next for Croteam and Mommy's Best Games?

NL: The Devolver Digital team was just in Croatia visting our friends at Croteam to discuss the next project and hope to share something this year on what they have planned next. As for Mommy's Best Games, we're working with them to launch Serious Sam Double D XXL on XBLA on February 20th and then after that we'd love to see about what's planned next!