The studio wants to help indies ”build their own community and empower them” so they don’t become dependent on traditional publishers, or even Double Fine for that matter.
Tim Schaffer and his Seattle studio instead offer a ‘tailored’ service to indies depending on their needs, so Double Fine might help with distribution or with a Kickstarter.
”For Escape Goat 2, we’re primary providing promotional assistance and distribution,” explained Double Fine’s chief operating officer, Justin Bailey. “Our goal is to help indies build their own community and empower them with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed on their own.”
They’re using their own experiences over all these years to hopefully navigate indies through the minefield of getting a project on track and out the door to the masses, but they don’t want to become a ‘traditional’ publisher.
“Lots of indies have approached us and asked if we could help them out with publishing, so we knew there was value in what we have to offer,” Bailey says. “They all had a unique request and that’s where we started to see there was a real need for the knowledge we’ve gained over the last 14 years on how to prototype, fund, develop, and publish our own games.”
“We noticed that there wasn’t a publisher offering these service in a flexible format that’s customized to what indies need without also creating a certain codependence.”
New developers will form a relationship with Double Fine organically over time, they believe, and that fits well with offering a diverse and unique form of assistance with each indie team.
”Some will want help with Kickstarters and other funding, some will want development feedback, others will want promotional or even advice porting to other platforms,” he says. “We’re open to working with each developer and figuring out how we can help make them successful.”
The ‘publishing arm’ of Double Fine right now is two people: COO Justin Bailey and senior publishing manager Greg Rice, but this could expand to more people if Double Fine starts getting a lot of indies flocking to their door. “The current focus is just on making the titles we publish successful and something that both the developer and Double Fine can be proud of.”
”That’s the alternative we want to offer – a way for indies to stay indie.”
Escape Goat 2 is available for PC, Mac and Linux and is currently on sale via the Humble Store.
