I might be the odd man out here at GM, as I’ve never worked professionally on any PC or Console games. I make web games in Flash. In short, I try to make web games that are more original and involved than your average old arcade clone or banner ad button smasher.

Freelancing
I’ve been a freelancer for 6 years now, and sincerely hope I never have a boss again. I am currently looking for office space, however, as working from home has its own set of downsides. A little too blurry of a line between work space and personal space, but maybe that’s got something to do with my small NYC living quarters. Freelancing in the web game world bears more than a passing resemblance to other areas of web consulting. The games I’ve made aren’t published and sold, they are free, and the game design has to answer the goals of the client. Clients are rarely looking for a web game that is simply good design, they are looking for a web game that targets a specific audience, or increases site traffic, or even helps to advertise a particular product. I’m not afraid of selling out.

Background
My game design background prior to 2000 was all hobby. I worked on a few MUDs back in the early nineties, I co-created a Half-Life mod called Science & Industry, that’s about it. Mostly I built web sites. Lots and lots of web sites. Since abandoning ship during the dotcom bust in 2000, I’ve been working freelance, directing most of my efforts at finding clients who are willing to devote the time and budget to web games with some depth.

Through a thoroughly random series of events, I have worked on several games for a client whose audience is primarily teen girls. Since my only experience with this demographic was being terrified of them as a teenager, it has proven to be quite a challenge. I’d be the first to admit we failed as much as we succeeded on these projects, but you learn more from mistakes that successes — or at least that’s what I tell myself. Each attempt has taken a different approach — a Sims-inspired high school game [ah], a card combat/adventure dating game[hu], and a SRPG-style Prom game[ap]. That latter is probably the most successful web game I worked on from a game design stand point (from a traffic standpoint, the dating game gets that honor). We basically tried to answer the question “What if Fire Emblem was set at a prom?” and it all worked out pretty well. Your party is a prom committee trying to cheer up a bunch of hater prom attendees (instead of health bars they have happiness bars, and instead of attacks you do things like flirt or dance, etc). I don’t intend to work on games for girls indefinitely, but the restrictions have been inspirational in a way and the client has given a lot of freedom to explore a variety of game concepts.

I am currently working on a multiplayer Go-esque territory control game for the same client and am in the midst of planning a self-published multiplayer game.

Web Games
I like to think we’re right on the cusp of a new generation of web games. The technology has really reached a point where you can do most genres of 2d games using flash. The real advantage of the medium is the distribution, of course. Nearly everyone has access to the platform, it’s with them wherever there’s a computer, and they never have to install anything. It’s a fantastic platform for independent game development. Right now the majority of companies making original web games seem to be targeting “casual” gamers (i.e. people who like to play card and puzzle games and not much else), but I think it’s high time we start making some web games for gamers. That last point is what inspired me to start planning my own multiplayer game, free from the restrictions of client budgets and timelines. It’s only a matter of finding the motivation to work for myself for free for a while.

Thanks to Brian for getting the site together, and I look forward to hearing the thoughts of grizzled game industry veterans and my fellow freelancers.