The tragic and sudden death of the legendary comedian and actor Robin Williams has affected us all, and that includes indie developer ‘The Quinnspiracy’, a two man duo of Patrick Lindsey and, Schankler. Today was supposed to be the big release of their new game ‘Depression Quest’, which offers a very unforgiving look at what life is like living with the crippling condition, but the untimely death of Mr Williams have prompted them to change tac a little, and instead released the game for free on Steam to mark the tragedy.
The developer actually appeared very torn on the issue, and was ready to hit the big red submit button minutes before the breaking news came out. Previously the game was going to follow the tried and tested classic shareware model, letting people download a basic version of the game for free and adding in-app purchases to support the devs and various anti-depression charities. That’s changed following lots of back and forth with friends, and personal soul searching. Instead the game will be free in its entirety, presented as a tool to help people and prevent further tragedies. From the developer’s personal blog:
Depression Quest has always been an attempt to make a tool to help people understand depression and reach out to others living with the reality of this disease.
There is no way, in my mind, to ethically put something intended to be a tool for helping people behind a paywall. None.
…
So I am launching the game. Quietly. I will not be promoting it until a respectful time later. But I want it to be out there and available in all the ways I can make it be available so that if someone needs it, they have it. After agonizing over it and asking the general public, they’ve overwhelmingly responded with pleas to release it. Especially among depression sufferers.
I never feel like I know what I’m doing, and like all I can ever do is do what feels right after consulting with people for outside perspective. This isn’t an easy choice, but I think it’s the right one.