PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
Hi! I’m Tim Krief http://timkrief.com . I'm a French indie developer.
I graduated as an engineer in late 2019. I was offered to work in big tech companies but it was obvious I would not be able to work there for ethical reasons even if the offers were really attracting and almost got me. I said no.
Since then I'm working hard to try and become a proper independent dev/artist. I know this will be sustainable one day without having to spend time on contract work and side jobs, and without having to count every penny. I worked on ambitious prototypes for the last years but now I'm finally actually releasing my first game on Steam.
TELL US ABOUT FALLACY QUIZ.
Fallacy Quiz https://fallacyquiz.com is an upcoming game for PC, Mac and Linux, that tests your ability to identify misleading or incorrect reasoning, also known as fallacies. Players can improve their critical thinking skills and better recognize deceptive arguments in everyday situations.
They’ll be presented with various statements and must determine if they are valid or fallacious, or even identify specific fallacies in expert mode.
I've known about the concept of logical and rhetorical fallacies for years but I really deep dived into that topic at the end of last year, trying to learn and understand all of them for my own sake and it was really tedious. Definitions are complicated and sometimes there are only a few of practical examples. The dedications needed to continue learning about them when there are more than half an hundred types is so high that I doubt many people actually do it. But when I did, I started to be able to identify those fallacies more and more in my daily life, from people around me but also from representatives and company spokespersons. I really think that the fact that people can't always detect when this happen is a big reason why some situations are as bad as they are today.
Knowing that this knowledge is so important I wanted to share it. The thing is, there is already a lot of articles, illustrations and videos about this topic. And even if this is valuable material for people that really want to learn about all it, most people would add those sources to their bookmarks after reading about one or two fallacies and hope future them will deal with it.
I make games, so it felt so right for me to gamify this learning process and find a way to get people to stick to it. After testing a quick prototype it was really promising and I had to make it a full game!
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
I learned a lot from my previous projects and it helped me this one have a smooth development. I decided to get as fast as possible to a viable version of the game and release it on itch https://timkrief.itch.io/fallacy-quiz as early access at an early access price. That way I got people to try it fast and to get valuable feedback. People really liked the beta and it motivated me to continue. Working on what could be seen technically as a simple project allowed me to polish it and to get a bit ambitious without making the project to big to finish.
I introduced a realistic 3D book, added a local multiplayer mode with full controller support. This is what's making the game interesting to make, I can really take it to the next level. I'm now working on Steam related features and it's a bit slower because it's my first time doing this, but the core of the game is now ready.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
It makes no sense to me to work on a project for years, calling it my own, and not having all the rights on the code needed to run it. This is why I wouldn't use a game engine that is not properly free and open source. I'm not talking about being able to read the code, I'm talking about being sure the code has an open source license that makes it so that I can do most of what I want with my project without being dependent on the will of a company.
The open source engine that I'm the most experienced with is Godot Engine, I've been using it for five years now, seven if you take small game jam projects into account, and I never had to search for alternatives. It really is a great tool.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
Releasing updates. Developing is getting easier and easier for me, but getting what I made to people's computer without any issue is new. Fallacy Quiz is already my most downloaded game ever and I have to make sure each version works on all platforms. One time I had a working version and decided to ship it without running it and it ended up not working for windows users. I had a long night fixing it in panic.
Each release, each update is a lot of work. On top of that I'm now adding Steam as a supported storefront which is going to add some complexity to each update. However, I'm learning a lot, I'm creating processes, checklists, I'm automating some parts of the work. But I'm learning. The process is getting better and better, the last update where the multiplayer and controller support features were added was published without any issue.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
It's hard. It will likely take more time than expected. People likely won't be interested by the game once it's done - even if it was hard to make and even if it's really cool when you actually play the game - They likely wont care if it doesn't have an easy to grasp premise and if you didn't get people to know about it during development. If you already have an audience and can share a demo, then you can work on more experimental stuff.
But if you don't already have that audience, I would recommend to stick to ideas that can be easily understood without having to try the game, something you could get someone interested into just by talking about it for a minute or showing seconds of gameplay footage. If you want people to enjoy your game, you have to get them interested enough to give it a chance, and you might have to think about that before starting working on it.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
With all the lay offs from triple A game makers, with all the uninspiring projects being made that are record flops, with all the live service micro transaction exploitative games, with all the gambling addictive attention-grabbing empty mobile stuff, with all the lie-infused over hyped under-delivering corporate projects, with all the reactionary sexist, racist, bigoted hate campaigns and with all the stupid and ill-informed excitement around generative AI and LLMs, I think our mission is to make gems.
We work with passion and dedication on art pieces that aim to be free of all that kind of unethical or corporate soulless stuff. We release those gems in a sea, no, in a torrent of other titles, spending more time and effort, focusing on what we want to share not on what focus groups would tell us people might want. It's a statement.
We have to bet on people finding those gems, we have to bet on people making the difference. And with the ones who do, with the players who support us, who buy our games, who try to spread the word about them, who try to make people know about indies, we make that industry live when all the odds are against it.
People making great games independently, sometimes alone, with close to zero budget, and some players finding them and making them hits is against all odds in the sea of all other corporate and soulless games that are boosted by massive marketing campaigns and insane budgets.
But it happens, it humbles the big players and it inject life and novelty in the video game world, it actually makes people spend quality time and have a better day to day life. It inspires. It's what making us persevere, against all odds.
-Tim
❤️
