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jason1637 on 05 July 2017
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twintail said:

Nuvendil said:

 Actually, as a writer, I can point out your definition of indie for writers is wrong.  It means self published and written.  This is because the relationship between publisher and writer goes way beyond distribution, unlike games where publishers frequently do act more or less purely as distributors.  Shoot there are game publishers where that's all you do.

If a project being sizable invalidates the indie tag than...what's the point?  Indie is a word with definite meaning.  It means independent.  Has nothing to do with budget.  It's a profound oxymoron that indies are more restricted in what they can do and still be recognized for what they are than AAA companies.

Sorry I should have developed the at idea more. I was talking about small scale publishing which in a sense is indie. But of course self publishing is where I should have taken the idea. So yes you are right about that. 

Though I actually disagree and agree. There are combining elements. Indie doesnt only mean that you are independent. It also means not being labelled with mainstream aveneues of the industry you are in. And lets be honest, if you have a production budget on a game of like $50 million theres no way you indie - at least in my mind. But again, its a combination of elements and not just one thing so really it depends on the situation. Self funding for instance is pretty important to that too.

 

jason1637 said:

 Most indie games are intended to hit as much people as possible. Gmaes like Minecraft, Rocket League, and Shovel Knight have hit a mainstream audience and most of these developers want these games to be big and become mainstream.

I think there is a difference between what you want from your project and what the project actually requires. 

Of course everyone wants their game to go mainstream. The more ppl buying your game, the more money you are making. But if you can make a game on a budget of $1million you dont require as many ppl to buy into your game as opposed to a game that is closing on 50 (this is just an example)

I think insomniac can be regarded as indie, but I dont see how something like Sunset makes it a indie game. If nothing about the game is changed but MS was given IP ownership, all of a sudden its no longer an indie game? In both situations, MS is still the publisher. They still funded the game. Insomniac needed the financial help of another much bigger company to get the game made. 

This isnt a small studio funding. Is not self funding. Its not even crowd funding. I just dont see how that makes Sunset indie. There is literally nothing independent or non-mainstream about how the game was made. 

Yes Microsoft funded the game so it could stay exclusive to their platform but I still see it as an indie game because it's an independent studio making their own game. While for Spiderman they are making a Marvel game licensed out by Sony.