Adinda van Oosten
Adinda van Oosten combined her bachelor's degree in China Studies with a degree in Game Design and Development. Leveraging this combination she landed a full time internship as a game designer at 宇峻奧汀(Userjoy) in Taiwan and at Pillogames in the Netherlands. After joining a Game Jam in Guangzhou she came to realize that she enjoyed teaching more than making games and continued her studies with a game design and research Master in Germany.
She relocated to Asia again as a service learning tutor at 嶺南大學 (Lingnan University) in Hong Kong, managing her own courses and organizing the Global Game Jam at Lingnan University. In 2019 she started the channel « Acreates » on Youtube providing tutorials for game maker enthusiasts and interviews indie developers from all over the world. Next to her digital teaching journey she is also a coach and teacher teaching at different institutions.
This talk is inspired by Indie developers Adinda has interviewed, weaving unique stories of similar and sometimes contradictory challenges and achievements during the indie game development journey. Indie Devs from all different kinds of fields and expertise’s setting light on the less common realities of being an Indie Dev.
Some succeed by following well known practices, others are challenging key strategies. The wide variation shows that there is no set-in-stone recipe for becoming a successful Indiedev.
As this talk takes the main takeaway from 33 different interviews, it is a summary of the best techniques, discusses contradictory methodologies, and shares proper examples.
The main takeaway is that making the game is one part of the puzzle. Becoming a known indie developer is a journey, and you should understand the importance of being present, productive, and passionate to succeed.
