Wow, how long was I out for?

So, since my last post, quite a bit has happened.

On the family side of things: I now have another son who is 9 months old, and he's awesome just like his big brother. My oldest son has almost finished Kindergarten now, and he's doing awesome academically.

I've changed jobs twice, both were professional programmer positions. I'm paid to write code and reports currently, using X++, .NET, and SSRS.

I've also been more into programming indie video games. I'm still working on a game project with Andrew, and it's been fun -- I'm stuck on a spot right now, but it should be fine here soon.

I want to talk about the game industry for a moment. I think we've hit a rough patch as far as the industry goes. Yes, sales and revenues are up, but the industry's output is a mucky blob of mediocrity. The market is flooded with 2 distinct types of titles: the short, lack-of-depth game that appeals to casual gamers and costs nothing to cheap; and the AAA title that is almost CERTAINLY a sequel to some big franchise. We're heading the way of Hollywood, and it stinks. We only pump serious cash into a "sure thing". Games are designed with "add-on revenue" in mind (DLC, in-app purchases, avatars, themes, collector's editions, etc.). Some of these are reasonable, but most are tacky underhanded means of stealing your pennies.

Now, I must acknowledge that the gaming industry is a business and by definition is here to make some money. However, my beef is with the barriers to entry in the market. Steam is a viable option for indie developers, but it is not a channel into every person's home -- potentially it is, but if you take 100 random PC owners and put them in a room, my guess is that 5-10 of them might know what Steam is. To develop for the 360, you can get in on that for $100/year, which is actually the easiest market to get into. It is not completely clear to me how indie developers get in on the PS3/Wii/Wii-U platforms. All of those platforms market "indie games" through their online stores, but nobody ever talks about developing indie software on those platforms. Yes, we can download toolchains for those systems, and if we jailbreak them, sure we can develop our own indie game, but then how do you get it to the masses? I wish there was a legal Cydia for the console systems. You know, an open market where you could sell your stuff for a price that you set?

I'm hoping that Kickstarter will start to make a larger impact on the industry as a whole. I would love, Love, LOVE to see more stuff created in the manner that Double Fine was able to pull off. It was beautiful to see the masses speak directly to a developer of quality content using their hearts and wallets, literally cutting out the big bully publisher that always stands in the way of artistic vision. I kind of think of publishers as somewhat akin to the RIAA. They're money-grubbing leeches, whose only input is to drive up the amount of money that will be captured, with little to no concern about the consumer, thereby increasing their cut.