While Dear, IndieGames is a relatively tiny magazine outlet in the gaming world, its chief editor Vasco has big ideas on promoting independent games for audience who are not only interested in big titles.
Vasco De Mello has a full-time job as an event manager Picturehouse Cinemas, but once he clocks off and waves good bye to his colleagues, his focus shifts to working on a magazine called Dear, IndieGames.
As the name suggests, it is a digital publication dedicated in reporting current affairs in the independent gaming industry.
“The intials DiG is also a play on word where I dig the smaller indie games,” he says.
Vasco’s weekly issue IndieFix aims to promote more than a dozen of new indie games around the corner. He also publishes an online calendar keeping his readers up-to-date with game releases throughout the year.
“Everyone knows about some of the bigger games like Children of the Sun and a lot of the games by Devolver Digital, but there are so many coming out every month and they struggle to get those reviews.
“They’re aslo slow to get more exposure and I’m there to try and help.”
Vasco is not only the chief editor of the magazine, but is also responsible for the design of the magazine layout, doing researches on new games and creating showcase videos on YouTube. He also collaborates with other content creators and writers for different viewpoints on critical issues in his articles.
He participates in different gaming festivals such as SummerGameFest and WASD Live to have an opportunity to have a discussion with indie game developers.
“It’s always fun to talk with them. These events allow me to to find game titles which don’t have publishers yet and need that push.
“It’s incredible to chat with creative designers and I honestly don’t know how they come up with some of the ideas. Holy Gosh Darn, for example, I love the the humour in that game and the way they were quite creative with mechanics.”
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“I also like RP7 with the whole narrative in the RPG taking place on one screen,” he says.
Small gaming magazines like Dear, IndieGames are not particularly well-known but Vasco still thinks they deserve a spot in the community.
“Video-based publications are always going to be a thing but written media, I believe is starting to grow a lot more. I’ve seen more Indie magazines pop up in recent years like Debug and The Patch. Both amazing reads.”
While Vasco likes reading the big giants such as IGN and GameInformer for insights on the industry as a whole, he believes they suffer from a lack of attention on small games because it is not what a majority of their main audience want.
“But there are titles like Second Wind and sometimes Gamespot which I feel can be better than IGN when it comes to gaming content as well.”
He also recommends small independent game studios to actively reach out to publications to get their products heard.
“It can be very hard especially if you’re a solo developer when you have to do everything yourself, from making the game to promoting it on social media. It’s difficult.
“But we all lift each other and as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. The indie game community works together very well and it’s important to make friends with other people and share your thoughts with them.”
