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Forums - Gaming Discussion - What's an Indie Game?

jason1637 on 04 July 2017
Nuvendil said:
jason1637 said:

So then it depends on how much control the independent developers have? A game like Sunset Overdrive Microsoft gave lots of freedom to insomniac. I'd consider that to be an indie game but would you?

Like I said, it is a bit grey.  I personally would probably not give it the indie tag given Microsoft did have considerable control over it.  I would sah 99% of the time when it's a contracted game, it's not going to be indie usually.  Honestly, the Witcher series is a more curious case.  The developer operates independent of publishers up until distribution.  So unless they have a large investment group or something over them, they are technically independent. 

And also, Indie is not necessarily different from AAA.  You can be both.

I agree that there could be AAA indies AA indies and smaller budget indies.



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jason1637 on 04 July 2017
Slade6alpha said:
The Witcher 3Thats 

Wow great answer Not really smh



Cloudman on 04 July 2017
Ka-pi96 said:
If it's bad then it's an indie game. If it's good, then it's not an indie game.

What if an indie game is good??? O: Or what if a AAA game is bad???



 

              

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Lawlight on 04 July 2017
Slade6alpha said:
The Witcher 3

CD Projekt is a publicly listed company. So The Witcher 3 is not an indie game.



Cloudman on 04 July 2017

Well, you said it yourself, it's basically a game made by an independent studio, usually with no help from publishers.



 

              

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monocle_layton on 04 July 2017
Lawlight said:
jason1637 said:

So then it depends on how much control the independent developers have? A game like Sunset Overdrive Microsoft gave lots of freedom to insomniac. I'd consider that to be an indie game but would you?

I wouldn't because Insomniac was still dependent on MS's funding.

An indie game is a game developed by a self-funded video game developer.

What about games which are crowdfunded?



VGPolyglot on 04 July 2017
Cloudman said:
Ka-pi96 said:
If it's bad then it's an indie game. If it's good, then it's not an indie game.

What if an indie game is good??? O: Or what if a AAA game is bad???

I guess Ka-pi is anti-indie games?



Cloudman on 04 July 2017
VGPolyglot said:
Cloudman said:

What if an indie game is good??? O: Or what if a AAA game is bad???

I guess Ka-pi is anti-indie games?

I ain't sayin' nothin.



 

              

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Yerm on 04 July 2017

Indie Game - "indie" being short for "independent"

an indie game is any video game developed and designed independently, or without any assistance from major developers. If the developers behind said game receive any form of help from AAA licensed developers, whether it be help coding the game, funding the project, or providing resources, the game can no longer be considered an indie project.

the only way that AAA development teams can assist with a project without invalidating the "indie game" title is by publishing the game. A publisher only promotes and sells the game, which is a completely separate process.

Super Mario, Call of Duty, and Uncharted are all NOT indie games since they are developed by major AAA development teams.

Stardew Valley, Super Meat Boy, and Terraria ARE all indie games since they were developed in their entirety by independent studios.

No Man's Sky and Cuphead are examples of games that were developed by independent studios, but were published by major AAA companies.

Minecraft is a rare case where the game began as indie game before being purchased by a major company. It is one of the only cases where its current status of being and indie game or not is completely debatable.



jason1637 on 04 July 2017
twintail said:

jason1637 said:

So then it depends on how much control the independent developers have? A game like Sunset Overdrive Microsoft gave lots of freedom to insomniac. I'd consider that to be an indie game but would you?

Well no. Because the game is still funded by Microsoft. 

If Spiderman or Sunset were funded almost entirely by Insomniac then sure you could argue its an indie game. But neither of them are. 

Spiderman i would say isnt an indie because they dont own the IP but i consider Sunset Overdrive an indie since they own the IP and its made by an independent studio even if its funded by MS. In the movie Biz many indie movies are funded by other companies.