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the Pay Full Price manifesto

A long time ago in 2014, an indie developer who wrote spaceteam also wrote a manifesto based on some positive tenets. IndieDEV.space presents to you the PFP Manifesto, a guide to help indie games flourish by supporting their artists.

First Tenet: Pay Full Price

It's a very easy manifesto to follow. Pay for the games you love from creators who need the encouragement and compensation it brings. Give back to the game developers who gave you the game by paying full price for it. It's that simple. Show your love for the game developers by buying their games at full price, no discounts, or if they are offering a discount, then buy a second copy to give to a friend. And, once you've played the game, give them an honest review on Steam or other platforms where, unfortunately, metrics like number of reviews keep us hidden if we are below a certain threshold.

Second Tenet: Don't Buy Bundles

Unless you're eating instant noodles for every meal and heading out to the soup kitchen, you don't need to pay 80% or 90% off the price. Companies like IndieGala and Humble Bundle are driving the prices of games through the floor, making it harder and harder for game developers to make any meaningful wage. Fun fact: more than 50% of indie games never surpass $4000 in revenue, yet cost hundreds of hours of labor to produce. That's why they do it out of love! It's our only way to compensate themselves! Two thirds of games do not exceed $10000 in lifetime earnings. Don't believe the ZipRecruiter hype that "remote indie game developer salaries are $81000 and up" - most game developers receive no salary, are doing it on the side, and work a day job. According to the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research Institute, only 4% of games that go into production will turn a profit and only 20% of titles that make it store shelves acheive profitablility, and these numbers are from 2008 when there were far less games and far less developers! (and far more store shelves!)

Third Tenet: Give The Underdogs a Chance

Buy games from no-namers if the games look cool. We are not asking you to buy bloatware fake games that don't appear to be made with love, on the contrary be careful out there. Still, you shouldn't rely on the familiar brands and authors as your only safe gaming source. If the game is absolute trash, see if you can get a refund. No one is asking you to buy bad games, but if you do buy a bad game, and you don't ask for a refund, perhaps provide some feedback so that developer can learn from their experience. Sure, Markus "Notch" Persson is worth $1.3 Billion, but he's just one person. Right below Notch is Mark Pincus, Ilkka Paananen and Tim Sweeney. I don't think these people really deserve to be called "indie", since an "indie" doesn't have millions upon millions. The moment Notch sold 100,000 copies I think the "indie" title should have been dropped, yet the gaming press, business press and Wikipedia still calls these people indie developers. Let's face it, they aren't. This is like IBM launching a "startup" - it's simply not a startup when it is birthed from a Blue Chip. Back when Indie Game: The Movie came out, a certain group of developers were "locked in" as being "indepedent game developers", and they took all the press and got all the rewards, awards and money. There were and are hundreds of other people making games and they all are hoping to get a chance at being your afternoon or weekend fun. Please give them a chance.

Fourth Tenet: Have Fun Exploring!

There are so many great ideas in software and gaming that we need to train the industries to stop making absolute rubbish. From UI tropes to shovelware nonsense, there's a lot of crap out there, but every now and then there is a hidden gem that you just love and want to tell others about. We hope you will have as much fun on the journey to discovery as actually finding that diamond in the rough!

Fifth Tenet: (for indie developers only) Support Other Developers!

Support your colleagues. If your friend makes a game, buy it, try it, provide feedback and give it a review. If you are in a chat with a new developer and he is releasing his first or latest game, give it a go! If someone is willing to give you an honest review, offer to do the same! Give back what you get from those around you. Don't feel like you are in necessary competition! There is no reason we shouldn't be able to collaborate, cooperate and syntonate. Extend a hand and take one in kind.