You head to the mainstream AAA company.\n\nAs the visionary, you are surrounded by other developers. Some care about the creative vision, others just want their paycheck. You feel trapped and unhappy when you think about some of your own ideas you don't have time to work on. But if you aren't crunching and working late at your job to meet a crazy deadline set by your producer, then maybe you get some time to work on your side projects. Maybe you're an indie at heart, and you are lucky enough to work at a place that lets you release games on the side. Maybe you just like to get your creative energy out through small prototypes. Maybe you're content with the small amount of decision-making you get when you work with so many other people. Or maybe you're able to get away with being a vision nazi- you've gotten seniority or have a strong or persuasive personality, and you easily turn other creatives on to your vision. If so you're lucky and probably happy. If not, well, you're making do. \n\nAs the entreprenuer, you couldn't be more excited. It's really happening- lots of people are banding together to create the next great title. Your marketing research continuously monitors the status of your market, and your IP will draw millions of eager buyers. You check in every so often with the QA department to make sure things are looking good, and correct anything that isn't fitting with the formula. You deal with investors sometimes, or make huge sweeping business decisions other times, always keeping an eye out for the next big thing while churning out whatever is the current cash cow in the market. You might have to deal with a partner company going sour or defaulting on promises sometimes, and you might even have to lay off much of your staff in the worst cases. And if the products start to see dropping sales, you're not worried because you usually have another project in the works, and this one is backed by the latest technology and is sure to become a strong IP. You are happy, but you are especially happy when the sales numbers come in hugely positive, or just after you've closed that sweet deal which lets you walk away with significant capital. \n\nAs the avian, you smash into the large, tall building, attempting to destroy it. Maybe it was already weakened from internal strife or just a weak structure, but sometimes it buckles and breaks completely. In these cases, chunks of concrete and metal fly out, sometimes crushing smaller buildings that were surrounding it. Then the whole building can topple, causing a massive impact and destroying much of the surrounding area. These are the best-case scenarios for your destructive glee. However, sometimes your assault on the large company is not so effective. Sure, you will take out a large chunk, and they will be forced to temporarily reduce costs (usually by canceling a project and letting people go), or perhaps be bought up or merged with another studio. \n\nYou win?\n\n<pre><div id="p">hhhhh O h H h</div></pre>\n
You head to the indie scene. \n\nAs the visionary, your passion is echoed among the others who are also guiding their own vision. It is not glamorous, and in some cases there are lying folk who take your money and run. Some creators work on their projects for free, working on the side. Others make huge sacrifices to be able to work on thier vision, sometimes even hurting others in the process. However you are happy. You get advice and guidance, and find comfort doing what you want to do. You may get burned or disappointed when you finish, but you might, just might, have a final product that both successfully expresses your vision, and resonates with your audience, so much so that, though you did not desire it, you are able to make a living off of their generosity. \n\nAs the entreprenuer, you are a little out of your element. Most of the people here talk about the craft. However you make do, hiring and making small groups with your investor money. You know the business is a huge risk, like any entertainment medium, but it can also have huge rewards. You are tense and poor over the market research daily, trying to make sure the small team produces as big a hit as possible. You believe in the vision, but it's really the market research and the formula behind the vision that is going to make you the big bucks here. You constantly urge your partners to grow the business, so you can take on bigger projects and have hopefully major payoffs. Some that you hire seem to wander off, distracted by other visions, which is super frustrating. Projects that don't keep the same strong developers seem to take forever to finish. You keep telling yourself to stick to your business plan, and ideally your little studio will become profitable and be bought out. If it isn't working out, though, eventually you might consider a different industry.\n\nAs the avian, you happily land on one building, crushing it to the ground in a bitter and complete destruction. Maybe there was a pig there making everyone uncomfortable, or a zealous manager asking folks to work for free. For a one-man studio, perhaps it was simply a change of heart, or a drastic life event that crippled the chances of a final product being made. Whatever the reason, the small company fell apart easily. However, of course you aren't satisfied with taking out just one structure. Your massive bulk rolls through the park, decimating the group. The 10% that survive, seem to do so because they either kept low overhead, released lots of products, or had an already popular IP. \n\nYou win?\n\n<pre><div id="p">hhhhh O h H h</div></pre>\n
\nYou are three main characters at once in this story. \n\nYou are a passion-driven visionary and you find happiness in creating works that share your vision to others and in expressing yourself creatively. \n\nYou are an upstart entreprenuer and you find happiness in running successful businesses and in creating wealth for yourself. \n\nYou are a rotund avian and you find happiness in soaring through the air and in destroying as much as you can. \n\n---\n\nAll three of you find yourself in a city. There are large office buildings, small corner shops, homes, schools, parks, and lots of busy traffic. There is public transit running through it, but no rivers or ocean nearby. It is a clear day, the first day of the rest of your life. \n\n---\n\nTo one side of you, you see a co-op space where a few people are gathered who work on their own projects. Things are very volatile from week to week, some projects making progress consistently, some disappearing, and once in a while some project being finished. Each person you might talk to there would probably have a different story about how they make the rent. However they all seem to talk excitedly about the group's common interests. The co-op space is in a basement of what seems to be a home that was converted to a business. There are several single story buildings around. Head to the [[gathering of hobbyists/co-op space/bunch of small buildings|Indie]]?.\n\nOn the other side of you, you see a large office building, at least 20 stories high. On one of the upper floors, hundreds of people hammer away at their keyboards and bustle about, having meetings and making many small decisions that affect a single large product. Executives in corner offices overlook the city and make hard calls and review progress. Investors and sales make thier world turn, and on good days lots of money is made. The building towers over other smaller buildings, and is made of sturdy steel. Many large glass windows line the walls. Head to the [[bureaucracy/opportunity/one big building|Mainstream]]?.\n\n<pre>hhhhh O h H h</pre>\n
Indie VS Mainstream
<a href="http://twitter.com/vazor222">@vazor222</a>
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