Thursday, October 8, 2009

Braid and 2D Boy Blog Beyond "just blogging"

How many people haven't had, or at least thought, about having a blog? It seems like everyone has given blogging a try, but are they getting anything done with them? As an indie developer, you need to have the best content as possible to bring people in to read your site. The truth may hurt, but an independent studio certainly wont draw the regular attention the big guys are getting. So how do you make a blog a worthwhile venture? How do you use it?

Two developers who have done well with their company blogs are 2D Boy and Jonathan Blow, developer of critically acclaimed Braid. They've not only used them for basic updates and news, but have actually been able to create brand value.



Braid developer Jonathan Blow turned the "Braid Blog" into a complete independent gaming source. He organized an independent gaming mailing list in addition to in-depth reporting of independent gaming news, making his blog an inside source for independent gaming news.

Blow reported that the controversial independent game Super Columbine Massacre RPG had been dropped from the Slamdance independent gaming competition, and Blow's withdrawal of Braid drew attention. Though he did not support the game, nor believe the reasoning of the developer was sincere, he didn't believe that removing it from the competition was a smart "direction" to go in either. Other independent developers followed, and withdrew as well, giving Braid plenty of free publicity. He took and chance and showed his values, and the community and fans responded.


2D Boy used their blog to report on other independent games and gaming news in addition to reporting World of Goo's progress. The developers were also able to keep their studio in the spotlight through the use of their blog by creating content to deliver to the indie community.

Robust features such as the "How to Make a Game in 48 Hours" keynote and the art series “The World of Goo Wasn't Built in a Day” gave reasons to return to 2D Boy's blog, even while they had no new games in development. They also showed their commitment to the community by providing advice to asipring developers on their blog, putting their stuio in a favorable light.

In both blogs the developers showed their company values through the content and causes they took on. They were "laser focused" in their gaming related content andwent beyond general development and product news and gave support to their consumers and their industry.

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