By Jeff Fulton

Shay Pierce had a solid job working for OMGPOP up until last week.    Then a large social game outfit bought the company so they could get access to OMGPOP’s top-selling game, Draw Something.   Pierce was not working on Draw Something, but he had the option to join the big company.  However, as he describes in an article for Gamastura today,  he decided to not sign the contract because he could not be assured that he would not lose the right to an indie game he created for iOS last year named Connectrode.  A game he wrote (in part ) for and dedicated to, his wife.

The interesting thing is that Connectrode is not any kind of top seller.  It has some good reviews, and it plays well, but ,like 10,000’s of other iOS games, it got lost in the avalanche of apps and never really came back up for air.   However, the game is Pierce’s own creation as an indie developer, it was a labor of love, and it was his.  So he took the stand to not give it up.

In a very big way, Shay Pierce’s actions are the epitome of an indie developer.  He has ideas and he doesn’t want anyone to claim  ownership for them except for himself.    We here at 8bitrocket.com  100% support and understand Pierce’s actions and why he did what he did.   All indie game developers have games they want to make, and they want the freedom to make them.  That is why we are indies.

So after reading about Mr. Pierce’s action, I was compelled to go buy his game.   It felt good to do so, like I was supporting something bigger than just my own ideas or games.   I encourage you to do the same.   Buying Connectrode and making it a top-seller might just send a message out to monoliths of the industry that there are 1000’s of developers out here that truly LOVE games.  We love to play games.  We love to make games.  We think about making games all day long, every day. We have always wanted to do it, ever since  we were kids.  We have ideas that we don’t think other people should own.   We didn’t get into “games” because it was the next big thing.  We got into it because we wanted to create things that other people might enjoy.   We don’t necessarily like the way the industry is going, and we would like to see more games made that have intrinsic value formed by the game play itself, and not what can be purchased inside the game to cheat along the way.   We might never get rich, but if developing indie games keeps us happy and healthy, that might just be enough.