Hiya, stupidlikeafox here. For those of you who don't know me, I am an independent Flash game developer. I've been developing my own small games since 2006, and in 2008 started a partnership with a like-minded developer which ended up being our label ArcticArcade.

_{It's only cool having matching shirts if we wear them the same day!}

When we decide to make a game, we traditionally have opted for choosing smaller titles. Sure we'd like to make a top-down RPG, spend weeks on the story and make it polished to a AAA standard, but realistically we're just two guys. This is my sole source of income, and Andy's got a family to think of, so being able to monetize projects regularly has always been a major factor in our decision-making.

The usual project would usually take weeks to months, so keeping small has been beneficial as a game tends to start dragging after the first month of work. Productivity can become a major problem later down the road so with smaller projects we can pump them out and forget about them. Even then, productivity can fluctuate and what should take weeks, could end up taking months.

This has been adequate enough for the most part, but lately we have been considering taking things up a notch. Make bigger, better, and prettier games that may take longer, but overall perform better due to greater polish. This pretty much means taking all our eggs, and putting them in one basket. It's a tougher decision than it seems though, as there are several pros and cons.

Pros

• Higher quality games fetch larger sponsorship bids
• They also get more views, which in turn helps spread our brand
• They are also more likely to succeed on other markets (like iOS)

Cons

• Development cycle  increases significantly
• Increased development cycle may impact productivity
• Under performance results in higher losses

So if we're undecided, what's the plan? Do we stick with what we know and bring out shorter games, or do we risk it all and make something that stands out better? Our overall goals do include improving our brand's image and eventually trying other markets again, but can we really afford to risk banking on a possible flop that has taken months? Would we even be able to actually finish the thing in the first place?! I guess the only real way to find out is to suck it up and try it out.

If it succeeds, we re-evaluate our business model and dance. Merrily. If not, I guess it's back to working on smaller projects. The bright side is that either way, we get more experience and expand our code library. Sure, I'll probably be sifting through your trash for my next meal, or walking the streets at night if things don't go well, but at least we'll know for certain...