Gaming The World of Indie Games

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/08/17/the_world_of_indie_games/1

Indie games are the future, says Joe. Prove it, says everyone else. Okay, says Joe and launches himself into a feature discussing the best independent games on the Internet and the effect of indie developers on the industry.

 

realy interesting article, going to try and download facade if torrent will work!

 

Just finished Darwinia today, and along with Uplink and DefCon, those are truly unmissable games.

Uplink + Darwinia are on steam atm for $20 - £10 for two of the best alternative games I've ever seen, with MASSES of gameplay too. Darwinia took me about 12-15 hours to complete (properly), and Uplink is longer still, probably closer to 20 if you do it right and don't get caught.

 

Great article. I'm definitely going to have to try some of these games out. I certainly recommend Wik and the Fable of Souls as well as of course Gish. I really like those sorts of games that require skill and physical dexterity.

If anyone wants to try out my own indie game, you can find it in my sig.

 

How can you guys not include Cave Story?!

http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=cavestory

Translated and everything, one of the best Indie games I have ever played.

 

Hmmmm, I'm not too sure of your definition of indie games by their innovative content. Why call them indie games if that's what defines them? Personally, I believe innovative content is a common feature of indie games, but not a defining characteristic.

Personally I think defining what is and isn't an indie game is like saying what is and isn't a Web 2.0 website. It's an idea, not a set of rules, so is rather difficult. I would lean towards saying that most indie games are created by people to whom the end is the game, as oppose to the game being a means and the money being an end. Many, many indie games are neither original nor innovative, the only reason you haven't mentioned them here is because they're not as well known. I've played countless sideways shoot em ups or scrolling arcade blasters that are nothing new in terms of content, but are still developed by individuals or small groups simply for the fun of creating a game.

I think THAT's what defines an indie game, the reason behind the game. From super-famous indie games like the actually-quite-overated Facade to forgotten mini games of old, all were made for the sole reason of making the game, or to achieve recognition for making it, as oppose to selling it and making money. The article is also somewhat contradictory, how is Portal not indie due to its development by established developers doing nothing new, but Rag-Doll Kung Fu, which was hardly original or made by indie developers, is an indie game. Personally, I think Rag-Doll Kung Fu is an indie game, but not for the reasons you mention, but because the final end goal was a fun game, and that was it.

Arguably, all mods for games are indie in definition, they're certainly not mainstream, but they are hardly all original or innovative. One of Doom 3's best total conversions, Classic Doom, is actually the total opposite, recreating the old Doom in the new engine. So here's to all the unorginal, none innovative, really quite good indie games you so meanly left out of your article.

 

Digg to share boys and girls - support always appreciated.

 

Interesting article. Just the other day i stumbled on this website: http://www.tigsource.com/features/games1-10.html?source=videogames

50 of the best indie games apparently.

 

So it appears Joe is done with his non-indie Bioshock ?
Nice writeup. Uplink had me spend a LOT of hours on it...ahh the nice in-game music !

 

That G-Man at the end was scary.

 

I don't agree with the statement that innovation is what defines an "indie" game.

Studio/publisher-backed and independent developers alike can produce innovative games, but the former are less likely to do so because they have to meet the expectations of the publisher (sales). However, that doesn't mean that any innovative game is an "indie" game, or that any "indie" game is innovative (the vast majority isn't).

I tend to apply the same standard that is commonly used for movies: If it's produced without the financial backing of a studio (publisher), it's "indie".

 

... Egg on my face... Facade is free... But why use torrent to download it? I looked up Facade and found it to be free, I will leave my comment up so you can see my error

 

Gamester, it's a free game. Torrenting saves them money because they don't have to spend money on bandwitdh

 

Dude...chill out, Facade is freeware. Free to download or torrent from the homepage, interactivestory.net

 

I just noticed, and I was going to reply to my self... Using a peer-to-peer file sharing program like torrent is a red flag to me... Creating Indie game is how I got my start in the industry, so it hit a cord, not knowing that Facade was free...

 

It's what torrenting was designed for, it saves bandwidth costs.

 

Cool - send me a PM letting me know who you work for, what indie game you made etc. Maybes we can work on something...