1. Insights to Successful Independent Game Development Presented by: Tyler Olsen

2. Introduction (I'm really just here for the free pizza!) ✔ Brief background about myself ✔ The history behind The Allacrost Project ✔ Keys behind our continuing success ✔ What we've done right ✔ What we almost screwed up ✔ Recommendations for others ✔ Pizza time! Final thoughts

3. About Myself (no one ever cares about this slide ;_;) ✔ May 2004 graduate from Purdue ✔ Enrolled at UT Austin in August 2006 ✔ Began working at Freescale Semiconductor in January 2005 ✔ Been spending too much time on Allacrost and not enough on my thesis ✔ Roles in Allacrost: founder, project lead, engine programmer, writer, crappy artist

4. What is The Allacrost Project? (here comes the viral marketing...) ✔ A collective effort behind the creation of a 2D single-player role-playing game ✔ Available on Windows, Linux, OS X ✔ Not-for-profit ✔ Open source ✔ Modular Releases

5. History of The Allacrost Project (Only ~20% the age of Duke Nukem Forever!) ✔ First began in June 2004 ✔ Initial team was small (5-10 people) ✔ First screenshots released February 2005 ✔ Team size shot to over 20 people in 2005 ✔ Second screenshots released Sept. 2006 ✔ Until recently, the game engine has been the major focus

6. Allacrost Features and Goals (The sexy part of the talk starts after this) ✔ Focus on gameplay and story ✔ Less concerned about advanced technology ✔ Eliminate tedious micro-management ✔ Example: only a single type of status potion ✔ Require strategic thought from the player ✔ MAP battle system is a great example

12. Keys Behind Our Success (Although we still have a long way to go) ✔ The code is simple: 2D and not MMO ✔ We recognize that we are not professionals ✔ The game is not-for-profit ✔ Eliminates stress and publisher demand ✔ Professionalism in our public relations ✔ More important than you think! ✔ Organization of people and knowledge ✔ Critical to have in a number of ways

13. Keys Behind Our Success (Seriously, we're not even close to being done) ✔ We have a good time working on Allacrost ✔ Otherwise, why work on a free project? ✔ A conductive learning environment ✔ People with us tend to improve very quickly ✔ Flexibility and understanding ✔ No lock-in to area of work; real-life priorities ✔ Luck! ✔ Happened to find some damn good people

14. Keys Behind Our Success (“It's done when it's done”) ✔ Design ideas shared by entire team ✔ Not another “make my game” project ✔ Open collaboration and critique ✔ The secret for our high level of quality ✔ Not only artwork, but music, sound, and even code

15. Where We've Screwed Up (Note to self: begin consuming alcohol here) ✔ Keeping the team small ✔ No one is full-time or bound by contract ✔ Neglecting a clear, shared vision ✔ Leads to confusion about how things ✔ Hiring “bad apples” and “do nothing-ers” ✔ Two engine components are very behind ✔ Personal: doing too many things myself ✔ Still in therapy