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Forums - Gaming - How important do you feel indie games are these days?

SvennoJ on 20 July 2014
Burek said:
SvennoJ said:

I guess they're not indie in the strict sense of the word. They're all $10-$20 downloadable titles, and they have taken over from the $60 B tier games. Maybe Dynasty warriors 8 is a B-title game? I don't know of any others this gen. MotoGP 14? Where have the new B-tier games gone, the fun action adventure platformers.

There are more of those B-List games, but sadly some overestimate their value (Murdered: Soul Sacrifice, which at $40 would have fared much better). I would say Sniper Elite is one, most JRPGs and similar, most superhero games are not AAA, Disney and other movie tie-ins. (Spiderman recently)

Some, like Dead Island and Metro, started as B, but were successful enough to warrant a budget bump to AAA.

So, there is choice, even for those that despise big budget behemoths.

That is very true, I would buy more of them if they come out at $40. I would have bought MotoGP 14 and Sniper elite at $40. Some don't bother to release worldwide, I imported WRC 3 from Europe, tired of waiting for it to come over to NA. It's the fun B-tier platformers that I miss, like Majin and the forsaken kingdom and Sphinx and the cursed mummy.



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Burek on 20 July 2014
padib said:
After child of light I'm getting more and more interested in them.


Child of Light is not an indie game. It is made by Ubisoft.



KLXVER on 20 July 2014
Burek said:
padib said:
After child of light I'm getting more and more interested in them.


Child of Light is not an indie game. It is made by Ubisoft.


Its looks very indie though. It might give people a reason to look into indies at least



Experimental42 on 20 July 2014

The fact that people are confusing indie games and games from a studio that primarily works in AAA titles can only be seen as a good thing for the new wave of indie fans.



Experimental42 on 20 July 2014
padib said:
Experimental42 said:
The fact that people are confusing indie games and games from a studio that primarily works in AAA titles can only be seen as a good thing for the new wave of indie fans.

If you're referring to Child of Light, there is no formal definition of an indie game.

CoL fits almost all the known criteria for being an indie game:

 

  • developed by individuals, small teams, or small independent companies; (pretty sure it's not the Watch Dogs team working on it)
  • such companies are often specifically formed for the development of one specific game. (again pretty sure this is the case)
  • Typically smaller than mainstream titles. (check)
  • developers do not have controlling interests or creative limitations and do not require publisher approval as mainstream game developers usually do. Design decisions are thus also not limited by the allocated budget. (Seems like the game exudes of creative freedom)
  • Furthermore, smaller team sizes increase individual involvement. Small teams, scope, and no creative restrictions have made indie games known for innovation, creativity, and artistic experimentation. (again, seems like creative freedom abounded)
  • Developers limited in ability to create graphics can rely on gameplay innovation. (smaller scope of game makes this true in a sense)
  • Both classic game genres and new gameplay innovation have been seen. However, being "indie" does not imply that the game focuses on innovation.
  • In fact, many games attributed the "indie" label can be of poor quality and may not be made for profit. (not a perfect game but still great)

 

 

and is missing one:

 

  • developers are generally not financially backed by video game publishers (as these are risk averse and prefer big budget games)[10] and usually have little to no budget available.

 


I agree with pretty much everything you've written. Of course CoL's not the WDs team. If nothing else it was a small team told to do something with the engine they made for Rayman, who's dead for the foreseeable future I'd wager.



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bubblegamer on 20 July 2014

You'd have to be blind not to see that indies are the future of the gaming industry. Their ideas are also much more original and fresh compared to the bigger ones.



DevilRising on 20 July 2014

To me, personally, they're very important, because they are quickly taking the place of what used to be hotly anticipated big publisher, retail releases. I still have some companies that put out retail games I like, such as Nintendo, Vanillaware, Way Forward, once in a blue moon Sega (when they actually bother to make something good anymore), Platinum Games, etc.

But some of my most anticipated games were/are:

Shovel Knight, AVGN Adventures, Two Brothers, Another Castle, Heart Forth Alicia, Teslagrad, the Shantae games, Adventures of Pip, Mighty No. 9, A.N.N.E., 90s Arcade Racer, Reven, Rex Rocket, Insanity's Blade, etc.

To me, they are not only making (often) more creative, fun games than most of the big publishers, but many are also harkening back to an era of gaming I prefer, the 8bit and 16bit era, the sprite based, 2D gaming era. And I honestly couldn't be happier with that, because as much as I do love some modern 3D games, I will always prefer old school gaming.



WhiteEaglePL on 20 July 2014

They are the little things in gaming.