Do you think indie games are getting as stagnant as the mainstream?

[AzrealMaximillion]

I've been noticing that I've become a lot less excited for a lot of indie titles that get major attention over the following months. I'm noticing a lot of the same kind of game being made.

Platformer with gimmick (holy hell are there too many of these)
Rouge-like varient (lots of these too...)
Dungeon Crawler


Now we're starting to see more games that are Dungeon Keeper variants. It seems that a lot of indie developers have stopped making creative games and have started making games that are heavily based on nostalgia and old school gaming. Now I don't have a problem with that, but remember when indie developers weren't just making 8-32 bit games and actually making some neat ideas?

Am I the only one who is sick of seeing every indie game that's nothing but a standard 16 bit platformer get excessive (IMO) praise?

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

I've always seen Indie games as 99% recycled shit with usually one or two games every year actually being good. Last year it was Bastion and Binding of Isaac (I think that came out last year) and this year its FTL and something else maybe that Dust game it was pretty cool. But yes almost all indie games are just use old school mechanics and pretend they are being innovative, I can't even think of a indie game that was truly innovative, and the false praise can be blamed mostly on hipsters or the people who think that all AAA games are shit then completely ignore all the shit that comes from indie developers.

 

[krazykidd]

I've always seen Indie games as 99% recycled shit with usually one or two games every year actually being good. Last year it was Bastion and Binding of Isaac (I think that came out last year) and this year its FTL and something else maybe that Dust game it was pretty cool. But yes almost all indie games are just use old school mechanics and pretend they are being innovative, I can't even think of a indie game that was truly innovative, and the false praise can be blamed mostly on hipsters or the people who think that all AAA games are shit then completely ignore all the shit that comes from indie developers.

I agree with most of this post . Only thing i disagree with is the pretentious hipster bit . I see it more as indie developpers filling a niche that AAA developpers leave open . But for the most part i agree . Basically they are taking the scraps the AAA market is throwing at them .

 

[Confidingtripod]

well, a platformer is the easyest to build around a mechanic and alot of these games are trying to take more of an art viewpoint than a "game" one, yet I'll admit alot of them seem to be recycling, it may be that alot of budding companys are going for the indie scene because it will get them praise just for being indie, rather than making something unusual

 

[Smooth Operator]

What was the saying... "90% of everything is shit" I believe.
And that everything does include indies, this was never any different it is only now with such wide distribution that we suddenly get everything in the display case with a price tag where as before only the good ones would get near the watering hole.

I'm about as sick of these rehashed games getting praised as any other, if they made a new mechanic that is great but don't get delusions of grandeur here.

The odd thing is I'm craving more Bastion like games but noone makes em, I'd like to see more Cave Story equals but that doesn't come around either... get the fuck on that you numpties, stop harpooning around for the big innovation and do some refined shit that works.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

What was the saying... "90% of everything is shit" I believe.
And that everything does include indies, this was never any different it is only now with such wide distribution that we suddenly get everything in the display case with a price tag where as before only the good ones would get near the watering hole.

I'm about as sick of these rehashed games getting praised as any other, if they made a new mechanic that is great but don't get delusions of grandeur here.

The odd thing is I'm craving more Bastion like games but noone makes em, I'd like to see more Cave Story equals but that doesn't come around either... get the fuck on that you numpties, stop harpooning around for the big innovation and do some refined shit that works.

Agreed. I'd like to see more platformers actually do something on the scale of Cave Story as well.

I remember the article on this site about that game Mutant Mudds getting rejected by Steam. My thoughts were, "why is this news? the game looks like yet another indie platformer", followed by, "why do all of these samey indie platformers get so much attention."

I kind of blame Braid for at least the platformer stagnancy. It was ok but it was a platformer with a rewind mechanic. Big deal, we played Prince of Persia before. It's story was great, but the game itself was nothing new. Showered with critical acclaim anyways. Why? It was sadly the best that the XBLA had to offer.

I also think that gaming journalists need to tone it down with the undeserved indie praise.

On this site alone there is at least 1-2 articles on Mojang, Notch, or Minecraft everyday. That amount of them that consist of any new game by Mojang? Zero.

Angry Birds articles need to stop as well. Indie successes seem to be the only news stories that gaming journalists can find. Very few gaming websites have writers that write about a game that they stumble upon. Shame too. The only news this site has had about Cortex Command for example has been that its on Steam... no review or even much description of the game.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

There's only so many genres one can do with a limited team and limited graphical resources. They're playing to their strengths. I'm more disappointed at the likes of EA not broadening their horizons beyond brown shooters and sports games, for example.

Look up Kenshi. One guy dev team. The game is a combination of XCOM and The Elder Scrolls. 3D with a massive map. Engine built from scratch. If most indie devs are playing to their strengths, originality is not one of them.

Indie developers can do more than platformers, rougelikes, dungeon crawlers, and Dungeon Keeper rip-offs as well as re-imagining old games.

My point is that a lot of indie developers are relying on familiar tropes rather than original ideas.

 

[Rawne1980]

I see the same with them that I do with mainstream AAA titles....

Every once in a while is a gem but the majority are absolute ferret shit.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

You could quite easilly have included all games into your assessment. The big titles all the way down to indie titles are stagnant and have been for quite some time. As long as all they use to verify success is profit then it will remain the same. Why bother trying something new if the old stuff still keeps food on your table? Innovation, it seems, is only as good as your red-tinted shades

 

[TrevHead]

My point is that a lot of indie developers are relying on familiar tropes rather than original ideas.

I don't know much about Kenshi but I doubt it's this new fantastic thing that's totally original, most genres have already been discovered and until we see any leaps in technology then we won't see many things totally original, atm gaming is going through the a similar thing to music and Dubstep. Ie rediscovering old genres to create something new.

Imo the biggest problem facing gaming is the lack of mid tier games, mostly what we see is small indies and big soulless AAAs with nothing in the middle. Personally I would blame the business side of the industry on this. ($1 iphone games, crappy dashtops means poor discoverability of good indies on consoles, the limits on retail and console digital pricing models that flat out don't favor mid tier games)

On the other hand Steam is great for mid tiers, but considering how much of a bad situation PC gaming was in 3-4 years ago, it's come a long way and is slowly making more strides in to the console scene now Valve are actively going out of their way to bring Japanese devs to the platform.

With all due respect I wonder if the OP isn't limiting themselves in what good games are available. Do you just have a PC? well that's a big problem right there, buy a console or handheld, try new controllers. My point is that you try lots of different things rather than get stuck in a rut with one or two types of games. You also have the option of retro gaming, have you played Nights? thats supposed to be an unique game. If you are a super avid gamer with the cash to buy and play all the good games ever made then I'm sorry.

But yeah I totally get you in been annoyed when the games you want to play just aren't been made, I think most of us feel the same at some point when what you want to play is nolonger mainstream.

(lol sorry for the long post)

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

Not really, we have yet to see an indie Fallout 3 equivalent, something that takes an established IP, rapes it's setting's canon, is filled with plot holes, is buggy and crashes all the fucking time, and is basically the Twilight of video games. Fallout 3, not only content with literally being an EXTREMELY bad fanfiction, threw in fucking vampires, IT. THREW. IN. FUCKING. VAMPIRES.

Ugh why can't you No Mutants Allowed people stay on No Mutants Allowed

I've always seen Indie games as 99% recycled shit with usually one or two games every year actually being good. Last year it was Bastion and Binding of Isaac (I think that came out last year) and this year its FTL and something else maybe that Dust game it was pretty cool. But yes almost all indie games are just use old school mechanics and pretend they are being innovative, I can't even think of a indie game that was truly innovative, and the false praise can be blamed mostly on hipsters or the people who think that all AAA games are shit then completely ignore all the shit that comes from indie developers.

I agree with most of this post . Only thing i disagree with is the pretentious hipster bit . I see it more as indie developpers filling a niche that AAA developpers leave open . But for the most part i agree . Basically they are taking the scraps the AAA market is throwing at them .

Yeah there are some that are just filling a niche and I understand why those tend to be highly praised even though I might not like them, the Hipsters I was referring to are the people who act like Braid, Limbo, or Fez are these amazing, innovative games that have come to save the industry even though they're nothing but 2d platformers with a gimmick. Basically the Jonathon Blows and Phil Fishes.

 

[G32420NL]

After playing ftl i whould have to disagree (curse that game for it's addictiveness), but after watching the trailer for they bleed pixels i think you have a point, reminded me alot of super meat boy. but can't judge the game fully yet until getting a change to play it. Do see alot of standard platformers with color/music gimmicks lately.

 

[Mike Richards]

Honestly I'd say that the ratio of shit to not-shit is probably about the same between indies and AAA, because that's just how these things work. There are always trends and popular styles, and there are always outliers, and there are always good and bad examples of both.

People want to hate the mainstream industry, which is flawed but no where near as apocalyptic or decayed as people suggest, so they ignore whatever diversity or quality does exist. Meanwhile everyone wants to love the indie market, so they focus all the good things to the exclusion of discussing its failings and limitations, and then act surprised when they can't ignore them any longer.

In fact, I'd say that purely mathematically the indie market has more shit then AAA if you want to count things that most people haven't heard of, AKA outside the "mainstream non-mainstream". It's so easy for people to through something together and put it up online somewhere that there has to be a mountain of crap lurking in the dark corners of the internet that most people don't notice. Technically that all still counts.

Not really, we have yet to see an indie Fallout 3 equivalent, something that takes an established IP, rapes it's setting's canon, is filled with plot holes, is buggy and crashes all the fucking time, and is basically the Twilight of video games. Fallout 3, not only content with literally being an EXTREMELY bad fanfiction, threw in fucking vampires, IT. THREW. IN. FUCKING. VAMPIRES.

Sounds like you aren't really here to talk about indie games, huh?

 

[Epona]

When I think of indie games I think of Mario clones with a really ugly art style. So to me, they have always been stagnant.

I know, there are plenty of indie games that aren't platformers but I was being nice not mentioning all the stupid puzzle games that show up on Steam as Daily Deals. In fact, has anyone noticed how Steams Daily Deals just suck these days?

 

[DugMachine]

Yes. Indies aren't the shining example of innovation. If I see one more platformer with a twist ima cap a *****.

Probably the only two 'indie' titles I enjoy would be Binding of Issac because I love the freaky artstyle and the gameplay is a nice time waster. And Minecraft but that was a whole different thing on it's own.

Is Torchlight 2 considered an indie? Not a huge innovative game but it's quite polished and doing some mindless dungeon crawling for awhile is a great stress reliever.