Behind Platypus, the fun and charming little claymation shooter, is a tale of woe, one which every indie developer should be aware of. Seriously, this story should be passed around in hushed whispers around campfires. It should be the proverbial boogieman under the bed.
The basic gist of the story: Anthony Flack develops Platypus for a games developer (Idigicon) for around $2000 US, the game becomes a big hit on the internet, Anthony never sees a cent more than his initial flat fee. Now the game is hitting the PSP, minus the original developer’s name in the credits. (Did I mention that his house burned down during the development?)
The worst part is that there’s nothing Anthony can do about it, since he signed away his rights to the game the moment he agreed to work on it.
Read this Indie Gamer thread that Anthony started about it. It’s like watching that movie Scared Straight!, only with game developers instead of juvenile delinquents (although the two groups often overlap).
Here is hoping (with fingers and shoelaces crossed) that Anthony’s next title, Cletus Clay, becomes a huge success for him. It looks great.
(Source: GameSetWatch)