IGN: "INDIE" IS A FAKE GAMING CATEGORY!

[Sephychu]

How is it fake? You can't seriously tell me that all the games that fall under the term 'indie' don't share a similar set of traits. That's what a category is. The name is totally arbitrary.

 

[No_Remainders]

WHAT IS INDIE? WHAT IS CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE? DO WE ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT WE ARE DEMANDING OR PRAISING WHEN WE BLURT OUT SUCH TERMS?

My first point is this:

CAPS MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A MORON AND DO NOT HELP YOU TO GET YOUR POINT ACROSS! SEE?

My second point is this:

Of course indie isn't a gaming category. It's a type of game developer. I don't call a game "indie" because that's just stupid, I'll call it by whatever genre it is. Indie devs, however, are fantastic. I love them. They make games on smaller budgets which, a lot of the time, are actually better than the newest biggest money-pumped game. Yes, I'm looking at you Black Ops. You couldn't keep me occupied for more than one day in total, and so far I've spent almost a week on Minecraft.

Yeah, no, indie devs are great people.

 

[robinkom]

More hipster bullshit.

"Indie" at the most basic level really can only mean "Independent Developer." It's not some "scene" or state of mind or whatever philosophical dickfart meaning they attach to it.

It means a studio that is too small in size and funds to produce the typical bland gray-a-thon cookie-cutter Triple-A titles. So they tend to rehash mechanics and themes from 20 years ago and make what is essentially a Flash game and get it sold as a tiny budget title on one of the current 3 consoles download services.

And there's nothing at all wrong with that.

 

[Heart of Darkness]

I do agree here. "Indie" is a descriptor, not a genre, unless "game made by three people in their parents' basements on a limited budget" suddenly became a genre when I wasn't looking. Besides, there's such a wide variety of genres covered on the indie side of gaming--roguelike platformers, shoot 'em ups, "experience" pieces, text-based adventures, you get the point--that lumping them under a single genre makes about as much sense as calling "AAA" a genre.

"Indie" is more of a reason to do something. If you're making a game hoping to make money on it, then you're probably not in the "indie" category. If you're making a game because you love the act of making games and hope that maybe somebody plays it, then yeah, congrats, indie.

Because those two concepts are completely mutually exclusive and also don't apply to the people working on big budget titles, am i rite?

 

[mikev7.0]

If there needs to be an actual means of indentifying independant developers why not set a bar based on annual net profits as well as those of subsidiaries?

That way whatever benefits (publicity) a developer gets from being on a shoestring budget can't be stolen by the big corporations since the question of "What IS indie really??" would have been objectively answered.

 

[zHellas]

"Indie" is more of a reason to do something. If you're making a game hoping to make money on it, then you're probably not in the "indie" category. If you're making a game because you love the act of making games and hope that maybe somebody plays it, then yeah, congrats, indie.

What about both doing it to make money and loving making games that people might play?

OT:

Indie is like an umbrella term for games made by one guy or a small group of people or a company without a financer.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

The same can be said for the genre "action" or "adventure" or god forbid "action-adventure", and that's where a lot of big games fall.

 

[AlternatePFG]

I think it's fine as a secondary genre tag personally.

The article was so boring though.

 

[Rpground]

IGN isnt even creditable anymore,alot of games they review are terrible,yet they say its awesome and give it a 7 or a 9,im not kidding i havent seen a bad review from them in...when really? even if they do say terrible things and even when they say its a terrible game its always a 5 or over...never under,do they not even know numeric values anymore?

This coming from famed internet site IGN "They don't pay us enough to review them" [no last name] I'm sure it's totally credible, I mean I can see the comparison between minecraft and Uncharted 2 clear as day.

and to add to it,what arragonder said. ^^^

 

[EricBC]

"Because those two concepts are completely mutually exclusive and also don't apply to the people working on big budget titles, am i rite?"

Eh, I guess not. If you're working on a big budget title, you're probably getting a paycheck that has a studio name on it. If you do it without the occasional check then yeah, my point still holds. At least that's what I think, as an indie developer myself.

 

[Firehound]

I have to agree. Indie seems more a way for companies to ignore the little guys who proide more bang for the buck while they produce their a dime a dozen copy-pasta games. Games should be judged not by studio, but for worth of their games as opposed to the cost.

For example, I buy a game that' thirty dollars from Mainstream company X. I play it, find it mildly amusing, but then play a game made by Indie company Y in the same genre for $10. The game is as good when cost isn't taken into account, but when it is, I definately hold Company Y's game in higher esteem.

I can understand Indie being used as a term to classify a company, but a game should be judged by it's merits in the same pool as everyone, not pulled off into a kiddie poolin case they can't swim with the big boys. Since the good ones can and do. Minecraft comes to mind.

 

[teknoarcanist]

Personal rule of thumb: if the creator of this game, while designing it, had a day-job not related to gaming, this is an indie game.

 

[Tenky]

I sum up indie as "Self-Published"... and I dare include the giants such as Valve Software and all the likes... It's about studios/offices/basement being self-funded without any higher-tier supervision from a Publisher or Corporation of any genre really.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Aw Bro, you can play games on a computer?
Does it have Halo, Bro?

Categories are an unfair classification? Wow, how forward thinking...

 

[Trolldor]

Indie isn't a category if you're going to disregard major players who are still independant.

I can judge a game based on what is possible, and having been very interested in mods for a long time I've seen some impressive feats from people who aren't even 'indie devs' producing some impressive pieces of work using domestically available tools.
And when there isn't a tool available for the idea they want to work? Well, they make one.

Meanwhile, someone releases a glorified flash game like Limbo to critical acclaim.
Most indie games are simply prettier version of games I have already played - on sites like Kongregate, or Armorgames, or even new grounds.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Indie is a development studio that doesn't have a publisher. They're "independent" of a publisher. What people usually mean when they say indie though, is garage-developers or bedroom-programmers. Like Introversion.

 

[octafish]

Independent and small time developers usually have their own say regarding creative decisions and directions; they can make their game as they please, without conforming to "tried and true" formulas that will simply sell shitloads to the brainwashed masses.

The best word for it is "Indie". It isn't a genre, but the state that the developers are working under completely change the way they create the game and the final product. They don't have the resources for orgasm inducing graphics or massive multiplayer content, so they substitute it with creative mechanics or art that isn't expensive to produce.

And the best way to describe the result, is "Indie", while officially it's a platformer or a sidescroller or something.

I think you forgot something, I'll add it for you now...

"/thread"

 

[archabaddon]

IMPO, it's pretty unfair to compare a title created by such small groups to those backed by millions of development dollars and an army of developers and programmers.

It is a comparison which must be made though, because we have to decide how to spend our money. Is it better to buy an indie game, a budget game, or put the money towards an AAA title?

Might depend on how much one wishes to spend. By and large, indie titles are far less expensive than AAA titles. For the cost of one new AAA title one could easily buy 4-6 indie titles.