The indie title graduated Greenlight in August. There are of course ”exceptions to this”, like Minecraft, but ”statistically speaking” Steam means bills get paid.
Stocker was on the brink of giving up on the PC scene and solely focusing on consoles instead, but then along came PAX and Greenlight to save the dreary day.
Escape Goat put its bid on Greenlight just three days after launch and was approved for a full Steam release in late-August. ”To survive as a PC indie dev, you really have to have your games on Steam,” Stocker said. ”There are exceptions to this, like Minecraft, but statistically speaking, you’re going to need to be on Steam to make a living.”
”Before PAX, and the whole Greenlight thing came through for me, I had just about given up on being a PC-centered developer, and planned to put all my efforts towards consoles.”
”To have the process over with is a huge relief,” Stocker told Polygon. ”The biggest relief came when Valve directly offered me a deal for the sequel as well — Escape Goat 2 was chartered from the beginning to be something more Steam-friendly (improved graphics mainly).”
Stocker wants to bring Escape Goat 2 to consoles because it’s ”definitely a living room type of game.” Originally it was meant to release September 10th on PC but got pushed back because of the game’s map system.
”Speaking of the living room,” he continued. ”Valve is suddenly making a big appearance there, and I’m hoping their next moves create a healthy hunger for controller-based games like mine. It’s definitely a good time to be indie.”
”It was encouraging to see Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo suddenly become so indie-friendly, with self publishing on their new consoles and stuff like that,” added Stocker. ”That’s really where I was looking — finish the PC version of Escape Goat 2, get it on a few PC marketplaces and make a small bit of cash, then focus on porting to the next-gen consoles. Now it’s a new landscape — it’s like I have options.”
Check out puzzling platformer Escape Goat on Steam for more information.
