Indie and its future, but you wouldn’t know anything about that…

Indie has always been a fascinating genre with me. I know its not technically a genre but, I feel as if we are at that point in gaming where it kind of is. More or less, whenever I hear someone talking about an Indie game, its usually in the context of it being an Indie game instead of arcade, or action, or RPG, and so on and so forth. I recently went to PAX Prime and among the many things I learned there, Indie and its HUGE following, is up and coming, but to what end?

If you’ve never heard of Indie before lemme break it down to you real quick. Indie is short talk for Independent. Indie games are done by, you guessed it, Indie companies or developers. Who are more or less, a small business company that has dreams and aspirations of taking over the world via their video game creations, and let’s face it, who doesn’t want to get paid to make video games for a living amiright? You’d be surprised at the actual answer most give after talking to the Indie companies. These people put A LOT of personal time and effort into their games. See most of these companies are either running on grants, loans, or straight outta pocket expense, which means they fork over some of the money they make from a software type hourly/salary job, to even flipping burgers to fund their life long quest to create that one special world that’s gonna make them rich. or at least enough to leave it all. To do nothing, but create those special worlds they’ve dreamed up, but not after some VERY hard lessons in not only fiscal matters, but business matters, all so they can offer you their labor of love game, at $5 a pop.

Knowing information like this makes me love the Indie game scene so much. These really are the hardest working people in the industry, but why do only a few people know about the Indie scene of gaming? This is changing and it was VERY apparent at PAX Prime. While the main floor, with all the big names was packed shoulder to shoulder to play Playstation 4 and Xbox One, the Indie floor was jam packed! Indie is one of those things that the trendy folk end sentences with “but you wouldn’t know anything about that” cause most people don’t, and they have a special place in their hearts for the Indie scene. they are also those people (what do you mean THOSE people? o_O) that keep said companies going. Most Indie games cost anywhere from $.99 to $20-ish dollars and are enough to keep the companies afloat for the time being, but they could be doing better, and they are!

Indie sales have EXPLODED in the last year as websites and companies like Steam GreenLight, Playstation Mobile and Xbox Marketplace have offered these titles on their respective market platforms. Some at $1 some at $10, but all are being sold and in record numbers, but why? The beautiful thing about Indie is that there is a genre for everyone tastes in it. You like Old School? Super Meat Boy! You like action RPG like Zelda? Gheldia! (See what i did there?) You like Scary!? Outlast! There is nothing Indie can’t provide you for full blown entertainment for your genre of choice. Is it going to cost you $60? No, try $5-ish. Is it readily available? With Indie games being put onto every form of media you can think of, from your phone to your PS Vita, yeah its available. Do you want it? YES! You just don’t know anything about it…yet!

-Jack Trauma

[s45gr32]

Interesting blog. I am a huge fan of indies check out "to the moon", "Lucius", or Miasmata. ......

[Jacktrauma]

I will check them out for sure, thx a lot!

[memots]

One thing that's bothers me is that Indie is now being used by Fanboy in a negative connotation, As if if its an indie game its not good enough or low class.

I even read many comments snubbing indie title and even someone trying to downplay how awesome puppeteer looked by calling it an Indie game( never mind that its made by one of Sony premier 1st party studio ) His comment did surprise me, but even more so the response he got by people defending the title as if calling it an Indie was something negative.

Indie is a force to be reckoned with and i think variety is awesome.

I think what people fear is the flooding of low quality/budget game that we might we showed/spammed everywhere and this in the long run could hurt showcasing real gems.
Unfortunately the rating system on most online store is broken and doesn't mean much and most of the title that are actual gems might not be able to buy time on the front page.

[nukeitall]

I'm past adoration of indie games, but recognize it's importance.

That said, there is just too much crap digging to find that one gem. They exist and sometimes wow what a gem, but they are very very few and far between. That is the main problem.

Also, all indy games I have seen have very crappy storylines and mood. They mostly stick to fun game mechanics, and that is fine, but I gravitate towards more compelling experience with storytelling.

I by far prefer AAA games.

[memots]

I don't adore them, I simply dislike that it's being looked at like it's a lesser form of gaming.

I like my aaa games as well but they are not all that matters.

[nukeitall]

"I like my aaa games as well but they are not all that matters."

To me AAA games is what matters the most. Otherwise, I could just play the myriad of smartphone games on my existing Windows Phone or get a dirt cheap Ouya.

I don't, because they don't hold my attention very long.

[Cat]

I love 'em. So much great stuff can come from developers and teams with lower inertia. We may see big budget cinematics in AAA titles, but innovation belongs to the indies. Hecker, Rohrer, Cuthbert, Blow, Chen and their ilk are geniuses.