DoubleBear ZRPG Design Updates
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One reason it may seem like indie RPGs aren't coming out is because RPGs have more systems, dialogue, levels, and testing required than any other type of game aside from their relative the MMO. It's an expectation of the gameplay you need a lot of content to be explored to earn those levels. Not saying they're better than other types of games that take a fraction of the time to develop, it's just that going in, the devs should know what they're getting themselves into. Comparatively, RPGs (and indie games) don't take as much as time as you'd think especially when compared to other forms of entertainment.
For example, it's not uncommon for movie script writers to take six months to a year to finish a script (or longer if you're Mitch Hurwitz working on the Arrested Development movie), which is on average about 120 pages of dialogue. I'm not going to say a movie script is EASY (they're easier for me), but I will guarantee you that writing branching dialogue is not easy, and in many cases it can become quite frustrating to balance good dialogue (for every branch) with satisfying player choice and manageable scope. And unlike movies, RPGs have a far greater cast list more akin to TV, which of course, usually has a staff of writers and unless you're shooting for genre stereotype #36, fleshing out these characters and working in decent quests/situations for them is a major task. Throw on minor reactivity to what the player's choices or other NPCs, it's a fair amount of work and words. Not to mention all the support systems that have to be there in the first place for implementation.
A lot of fans will start to panic when a game takes more than a year or two to come out (even factoring in that they may have announced it a year or two after development started). I think around two years is pretty quick for an indie RPG! There are plenty of larger games with nearly infinite resources that take 4-7 years to develop. But when you contrast it against some other creative industries, indie games are sprinting to the finish line. Consider the time it takes for your favorite band to get an album out. We're talking 10-12 songs, about 30-60 minutes of music. Yes, they might spend a lot of time touring during that time and release a few singles, but still, thirty to sixty minutes of content for around three to six people in two years - wow. Autolux, a band whose debut album I quite liked, is releasing their second album this week after starting work on it in 2005. If anything, recording technology has gotten better and less expensive for the music industry. They don't even have to do their own box covers!
