Seriously? You can almost win an award for THIS?!

[Azaraxzealot]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Graveyard_%28video_game%29

EDIT: I guess all of this brings about a more glaring question... do you play games for yourself or for the developer? Because this seems like a game the developers really made for themselves and we are supposed to interact with it and feel EXACTLY how they want us to. I play games to have fun and escape from reality for a while, i don't play games to feel emotions, that's what movies and books are for.

i could make that game in one day and it gets nominated for an innovation award? what's so innovative about making an old lady walk through a graveyard?!

are the standards for indie gaming so low that they would nearly award THIS with an award? Seriously.

are there ANY indie games out there that blur the lines between AAA and indie? because so far i dont see any innovation in the indie scene. it seems to be just a bunch of sidescrollers and mario knockoffs.

i have yet to play a GOOD 3d indie game, or at least one that i would indeed enjoy for more than 2 minutes before i got bored and went back to Red Dead Redemption or Saints Row 2.

i really want to know if there are any 3D 3rd-person indie sandbox games out there... it seems like they are incapable of that (or even just good 3rd person in general).

and before you all go "SUPER MEAT BOY AND LIMBO!" on me, i played (and hated) both those games because i have no degree of patience for platformers, which it seems like every indie game is a variation thereof (or a Contra/Asteroids knockoff)

EDIT: Forgot about Minecraft and Mods. Because Minecraft is the only exception and everything else that's not a 2d sidescroller, run-n-gun, space shooter game is a mod. Oh, and please stop bringing up "Amnesia: Dark Descent" and Minecraft. I think we ALL know those are the VERY rare exceptions to the indie development scene, whereas the list of AAA games that nail fun on the head can go on longer than my arms. Say what you will about Gears of War and Halo for the trends they started and not being "artistic", but at least they know how to get that fun replay value there.

EDIT3: The whole game. From start to finish.

but this version VASTLY improves the experience

 

[Leviathan_]

How have you not heard of Minecraft?

 

[fenrizz]

That game sounds incredibly boring and dull to be perfectly honest.

Walking trough a graveyard with a small chance that the lady will die?
What kind of silly game concept is this?

I fail to see the innovation here, except for maybe in dullness.

From the dev's site:

The Graveyard is a very short computer game designed by Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn. You play an old woman who visits a graveyard. You walk around, sit on a bench and listen to a song. It's more like an explorable painting than an actual game. An experiment with realtime poetry, with storytelling without words.

 

[bob1052]

How have you not heard of Minecraft?

Minecraft is not even closely comparable to this game.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

Interesting idea, reminds me of...is it called Passage? Something like that.
I get that it probably isn't worth an award, but the scene itself is a sign of good artistry isn't it?

If something like God of War III is the gaming equal of a whole blockbuster movie, then this is equal to a carefully made portrait.

 

[Flatfrog]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Graveyard_%28video_game%29

i could make that game in one day and it gets nominated for an innovation award? what's so innovative about making an old lady walk through a graveyard?!

The innovation is presumably in the experience, not the technology. Still, it does sound like a lot of wank to me.

But to answer your question, surely the whole point of an independent game is that they have to work on a lower budget than the AAA games so they have to compete on a different level. And frankly, you sound like you have a fairly limited set of games you're interested in. It's like asking why there aren't any independent films to compete with Pirates of the Caribbean. If all you like is blockbusters then you're not going to find a lot of independent movies that will appeal to you!

 

[Azaraxzealot]

How have you not heard of Minecraft?

Minecraft is not even closely comparable to this game.

minecraft kind of transcends the indie scene to become its own thing. but then again, how many knockoffs exist? again, the indie development scene is FRAUGHT with knockoffs and 2d games.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Yeah Mincraft is a really exeptional indie game, even though I don't personally like it. But I agree with the opening post, most indie games are either rehashes of classics or gimmicky or just plain boring. And in general they are worse than most corporate games.

 

[Soveru]

Have you actually played it?

 

[Rivers Wells]

In all honesty and none of that passive aggressive snobbery: Am I actually missing something? What makes this a game?

 

[Leviathan_]

How have you not heard of Minecraft?

Minecraft is not even closely comparable to this game.

But it does answer his question.

i really want to know if there are any 3D 3rd-person indie sandbox games out there... it seems like they are incapable of that

Minecraft is an indie game that is pure sandbox, not only that, it's also a really good game.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress. The first is a fairly simple game in traditional 3D, the latter is a difficult and complex game in literal 3D.

No offense, but it seems a bit of a narrow-minded view. Like people who think Passage was just a pointless crappy sidescroller.

 

[Leviathan_]

Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress. The first is a fairly simple game in traditional 3D, the latter is a difficult and complex game in literal 3D.

No offense, but it seems a bit of a narrow-minded view. But then again, you'd probably think Passage was just a pointless crappy sidescroller.

Oh yeah, forgot about Dwarf Fortress, another great indie game.


I guess this kind of answers the question in the OP

 

[Phlakes]

I once saw a painting that was a single red stripe (one brush stroke) on a solid blue background. Its name? Red Stripe. It was being sold for $15000.

It's called modern art, and it doesn't make any sense.

 

[icyneesan]

This doesn't sound like a game, it sounds more like a movie or something you'd see at a film festival. Maybe your suppose to be high when you 'play' it?

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

Hey, Tale of Tales is an excellent developer, the Graveyard included! They make the purest of indie games: ones with no regard for mainstream appeal, purely being made for a niche audience.

They're not trying to blur the line between indie and AAA, they are simply absolute indie in spirit. Evidently you're not of their target market, of course it won't appeal to you.

This goes for most great indie games actually. If you're after AAA style games, you're going to have to go AAA. Indie games don't have the budget, time or manpower to match those standards, so they make their own. They're high-risk (non-financially) and unusual when at their best, because that's their sole area of dominance.

As for a AAA comparable 3d indie sandbox...I can't see that being done. Technology for indies has moved significantly forward lately, so I wouldn't rule anything out for the future, but that's just a tad out of scope.

It's like asking a homeless guy with a crayon to paint the Sistine Chapel and expecting it to match the work of Michelangelo.

EDIT: For clarity, the idea of The Graveyard is to be experimental. It's meant to be an interactive experience, rather than a game.

 

[kuyo]

Well, I can't think of any other game that had a realistic old woman for a main character. (Wynne complaining about aching joints doesn't make her realistic, that goes out the window the minute she starts an earthquake)

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

are there ANY indie games out there that blur the lines between AAA and indie?

No, that would kind of go against the whole point of an indie game.

OT: Argumentum ad ignorantiam, isn't it? There are tons of indie games that are not platformers.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

How about playing an indie game that's not 3D? Like Cave Story, Darwinia, Flow, Dwarf Fortress, Gish, Varicella, The Shivah, Toribash, Knytt, Frozen Synapse, Warning Forever, Facade, Peacemaker, N, Sam and Max, Kingdom of Loathing, Battle of Wesnoth, Fallen London, De Blob, Dungeon Crawl, Death Worm, The Chzo Mythos (Yahtzee's games), Robot Dinosaurs That Shoot Beams When They Roar, Robot Unicorn Attack...

And The Graveyard is actually a very good piece of programming. Whether it could be called a game is difficult, but it's certainly a powerful interactive experience.

 

[Zhukov]

are there ANY indie games out there that blur the lines between AAA and indie? because so far i dont see any innovation in the indie scene. it seems to be just a bunch of sidescrollers and mario knockoffs.

i have yet to play a GOOD 3d indie game, or at least one that i would indeed enjoy for more than 2 minutes before i got bored and went back to Red Dead Redemption or Saints Row 2.

How are indie developers supposed to blur the lines between indie and AAA? They don't have $20,000,000 to spend on graphics.

That said, Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Easily the best horror game of the last five years. Indie. Made by five guys and some contractors.

...

Also, I suspect that you are not the target audience of The Graveyard in much the same way that 16-year-old boys are not the target audience of romantic comedies.