Taking the Piss out of Indie Games

[The Crispy Tiger]

So a game was revealed called One Way Trip. You can (and should, if you want to continue reading this post or just skip to the question at the end of all of this) watch the trailer right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqpk4_jqMIw

To me this game looks amazing in it's trippy visuals and intresting concept. I look down to share excitement for this game, and the first thing I hear is that this game is shit and looks like shit.

Which I can't help but think of that as a shame. Then again, IGN members that communicate primarily through youtube tend to be idiots so what should I expect. But honestly, when I see something that takes a unique art style, like the one they use in China, IL (A show that I genuinely love), and has an interesting concept...

To see it get the piss taken out of, it kinda made me wonder if I have bad taste, or IGN users have none. Which I hope it's the latter SO badly. Either way, what I want to know is it okay to make fun of something for being unique? What's your opinion on the game, the IGN community, indie games in general, and PlayStation's push for more unique titles in the indie market? I'd love to know and I hope this sparks an interesting conversation.

P.S:

What is the song in this trailer!?!? PLEASE, HELP ME!

 

[Xeorm]

Trailers are almost always the worst way to judge the gameplay aspect.

But really...I'd say you have bad taste. Cause I'd have to agree, that game looks like shit.

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

Trailers are almost always the worst way to judge the gameplay aspect.

But really...I'd say you have bad taste. Cause I'd have to agree, that game looks like shit.

Eh, trailers are a good way to judge the gameplay depending on the trailer being offered, specifically indie games in general. This looks pretty on the wall for what it is. I grew up on Mike Judge and Ren and Stimpy inspired cartoons, and that animation was horrible. But I knew it was and I was really only in for the story. And the story was great on those things, and when I hear the concept for this...

Everything is clicking for me. I don't know, and I don't see what people other people see about this trailer. I'm so weird.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Eh, I kind of have to agree with the IGN community on this and say the game's visuals look kind of awful.

That doesn't necessarily make the game bad, but it would have to have absolutely amazing gameplay or story for me to care about it, because honestly it's actually almost painful for me to look at it.

The art direction, the color pallet, the animation, it's just not my taste.

 

[diligentscribbler]

I can totally understand trashing the "indie" scene, its not half as creative as it it thinks it is, puts out much more crap than the triple A, is unbearably self aware and substitutes aesthetic for depth of play far too often.

But regardless of personal taste I think trashing any text game, film, novel, whatever from a place of ignorance is just stupidity.

But that's geek culture in a nut shell.

Geek culture hates art that exist in rejection of their fetishes, that's why comic fans consider the Watchmen a masterpiece and Maus poorly drawn and written pretentious twaddle, in Watchmen they still got their superheroes so it's a masterpiece.

One Way Trip seems to have that effect, it seems to want to revel in a rejection of immersion and it's artifice so no surprise game culture wouldn't be happy with it even if we weren't all fed up with the whole indie scene.

Personally the game doesn't peak my interest.

Also I wouldn't expect a maturity from IGN.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Why are you asking us what you like? If that is your kind of thing then go for it.

I know it very much isn't mine, reminds me of all those fever dream janky old cartoons that made no sense whatsoever and would just infuriate me.
And no trailer don't tell shit about gameplay, you saw the style but not how any of it works.

 

[VoidOfOne]

Reminds me of those weird cartoons one would have found back in the days of Cartoon Network, late, or even back with MTV. At least the trailer gave me that vibe, which automatically kills my interest.

Eh, to each their own. But I do think that this is an acquired taste, and since it just seems so off the beaten path it's natural that for those who see it, they will reject it.

If you like it, awesome! Don't worry about what other people say about it, if possible. But I can't imagine much of a game for this, without any context.

 

[Hazy992]

Yeah I'm sorry, but I think that game looks ugly. The visual style, the animation, the colours, everything is grossly unappealing to me and it just looks like another indie game trying to be weird and artsy for the sake of it. It comes off as really pretentious. The gameplay might be amazing but I wouldn't know as it barely shows anything. Just a really crap trailer all round.

If you like the look of it that's cool but my initial reaction is really quite negative.

Oh and the music sucked too.

 

[DOOM GUY]

Well, it's, certainly, um... unique...

I dunno, the style is really offbeat, but in a sorta cool way, but the trailer doesn't really show much of what the game is like... like, I think it's maybe a turn-based RPG, but can't really tell.

 

[NoeL]

Doesn't pique my interest at all. I don't necessarily hate trailers that showcase style over substance, but when it's a style I loathe (as is the case here) it's hard to see anything of interest.

 

[LaoJim]

It's one of those trailers that raises more questions that in answers. So it's what, a cover based shooter with a rough 'childish' art style? I'm not sure why this would necessarily be a good thing, but it might work if there are interesting new mechanics or a particularly strong story or sense of humour running through the game. Unfortunately the trailer does really demonstrate that either is the case or give me any other reasons (apart from its inherent uniqueness) to want to play the game. That said, its the sort of game that I'd be interested in reading the reviews for (positive or negative) when it comes out. As with every game that has ever come out, I hope its going to be wonderful.

 

[Liquidprid3]

Ah, this reminds of cartoons and games that used this style. And they were all shit, because it looks lazy, weird, and awkward as fuck. If you like it, great, but this a weird sore on my eye.

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

I can totally understand trashing the "indie" scene, its not half as creative as it it thinks it is, puts out much more crap than the triple A, is unbearably self aware and substitutes aesthetic for depth of play far too often.

But regardless of personal taste I think trashing any text game, film, novel, whatever from a place of ignorance is just stupidity.

But that's geek culture in a nut shell.

Geek culture hates art that exist in rejection of their fetishes, that's why comic fans consider the Watchmen a masterpiece and Maus poorly drawn and written pretentious twaddle, in Watchmen they still got their superheroes so it's a masterpiece.

One Way Trip seems to have that effect, it seems to want to revel in a rejection of immersion and it's artifice so no surprise game culture wouldn't be happy with it even if we weren't all fed up with the whole indie scene.

Personally the game doesn't peak my interest.

Also I wouldn't expect a maturity from IGN.

BULLSHIT!

Trashing the indie scene because "it's not as creative as it thinks it is" is stupid. Creativity fosters when you only have to work off of a ham sandwich budget.

Of course, sometimes it doesn't and you get Air Control but those are cases of assholes trying to make a quick buck. The fact of the matter, indie's are FAR more creative then the AAA at times. Just in the half a year, we got Paper's Please, Don't Starve, The Banner Saga, and right now The Forest. Games that are highly creative even if they are using familiar gameplay to another game (*cough cough Minecraft cough cough*). So yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about...

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

It's one of those trailers that raises more questions that in answers. So it's what, a cover based shooter with a rough 'childish' art style? I'm not sure why this would necessarily be a good thing, but it might work if there are interesting new mechanics or a particularly strong story or sense of humour running through the game. Unfortunately the trailer does really demonstrate that either is the case or give me any other reasons (apart from its inherent uniqueness) to want to play the game. That said, its the sort of game that I'd be interested in reading the reviews for (positive or negative) when it comes out. As with every game that has ever come out, I hope its going to be wonderful.

It's a strategy game like X-Com. You can see that in trailer, kinda, but you still have to look up what genre it is to have that type of context.

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

Why are you asking us what you like? If that is your kind of thing then go for it.

I know it very much isn't mine, reminds me of all those fever dream janky old cartoons that made no sense whatsoever and would just infuriate me.
And no trailer don't tell shit about gameplay, you saw the style but not how any of it works.

1) I'm not asking you what I like that's stupid. I wanted to know if the Escapist community thought it was shit, if it's okay to piss on indie games and why, and what do you think of PlayStation's push to be with the indie's.

2) I didn't say the trailer said anything about the gameplay, I'm saying a trailer can say something about gameplay. Sorry if those messages are confusing.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

It looks like the unappealing vibe is actually intended, with the badly drawn, little effort 2D artwork, the super contrasting neon colours, short, noticable and repetitive animations, unnecessarily horribly pixelated font and the deliberately off-beat and intentionally out of tune music.

Psychonauts had "trippy visuals and an interesting concept" this is more just purposefully grating, which is a perfectly valid aesthetic choice, just a rather weird one.

 

[Pseudonym]

Why do we have to make this about indies vs AAA? Can't we just argue over how this particular game looks. I've played quite a few indie games and like AAA games some are good and some aren't. To me, this game looks awful, not just in terms of the amount of pixels on screen but in terms of the easthetic as well. It has nothing to do with it being indie. I like FTL, Rogue Legacy, Antichamber, Bastion, Minecraft, Papers Please, The Stanley Parable and Transistor and I believe at least some of those games have gotten a lot of mainstream regocnition as well. (minecraft certainly has) Reading the youtube comments in the video you linked it is clear that the people there actually don't see it as an example of a bad indie game showing how bad indies are. Most of them instead are using it for the console wars, explaining how this one indie game shows how the xbox1 is so much better than the ps4. I'm sorry that you are having difficulty finding other people exited for this game you are exited for but it's hardly just indies that get trashed for the silliest of reasons. Almost all itirations of most strategy franchises I know have been considered a disappointment by some of it's fans because it scrapped feature X that totally set the previous games apart from it's competitors. Most new shooters that come out get criticised for being generic, overly linear and a lot more by people who clearly haven't the faintest interest in these shooters regardless. Any exclusive that comes out is probably going to get some console warring people explaining why it, and every other game on it's platform, can't compare to their platform of choice. So I hope you can find some people who do like the look of this game like you to talk to them but I wouldn't expect the internet at large not to shit on whatever it is you are exited for.

 

[Something Amyss]

I grew up on Mike Judge and Ren and Stimpy inspired cartoons, and that animation was horrible. But I knew it was and I was really only in for the story. And the story was great on those things, and when I hear the concept for this...

From the sound of things, you're conflating nostalgia for old cartoons with the appeal of this game. This seems to be the intent. And that's fine. But when you start complaining about the IGN plebes not having taste because they don't get the same nostalgia boner, that's not fine.

And don't go the "people are hating this because it's different" route. People are "hating" it because it looks bad.

Creativity fosters when you only have to work off of a ham sandwich budget.

Then why don't we see this in action? Most indie darlings are retro titles. You describe this game in those same terms. Hell, it reminds me of Newgrounds games I used to play for free.

The indies aren't the bastion of creativity you're pointing them out to be.

I didn't say the trailer said anything about the gameplay, I'm saying a trailer can say something about gameplay. Sorry if those messages are confusing.

You spoke in defense of trailers demonstrating gameplay, then you immediately said this game looked "on the wall." Don't apologise that the messages are confusing, apologise for confusing them. In this context, it looks very much like you're saying that this game's gameplay is on display in this trailer.

It looks like the unappealing vibe is actually intended, with the badly drawn, little effort 2D artwork, the super contrasting neon colours, short, noticable and repetitive animations, unnecessarily horribly pixelated font and the deliberately off-beat and intentionally out of tune music.

Carefully crafted to imitate the "low fi" days. It's like "indie" music: the game.

 

[The Crispy Tiger]

I grew up on Mike Judge and Ren and Stimpy inspired cartoons, and that animation was horrible. But I knew it was and I was really only in for the story. And the story was great on those things, and when I hear the concept for this...

From the sound of things, you're conflating nostalgia for old cartoons with the appeal of this game. This seems to be the intent. And that's fine. But when you start complaining about the IGN plebes not having taste because they don't get the same nostalgia boner, that's not fine.

And don't go the "people are hating this because it's different" route. People are "hating" it because it looks bad.

Creativity fosters when you only have to work off of a ham sandwich budget.

Then why don't we see this in action? Most indie darlings are retro titles. You describe this game in those same terms. Hell, it reminds me of Newgrounds games I used to play for free.

The indies aren't the bastion of creativity you're pointing them out to be.

I didn't say the trailer said anything about the gameplay, I'm saying a trailer can say something about gameplay. Sorry if those messages are confusing.

It looks like the unappealing vibe is actually intended, with the badly drawn, little effort 2D artwork, the super contrasting neon colours, short, noticable and repetitive animations, unnecessarily horribly pixelated font and the deliberately off-beat and intentionally out of tune music.

Carefully crafted to imitate the "low fi" days. It's like "indie" music: the game.

Well, you got me my friend. I have to say, fair enough. The people at IGN have no fucking taste, and using this as the catalyst to justify your purchase for a Xbox One is stupid. But considering most of the people that have came here have agreed with the IGN community and think it's shit, I'm pretty sure I just have shit taste. Also got me on the trailer thing, don't know HOW I fucked up the messages, but I messed up the messages. Sorry about that!

Also, yes. I think indies are place for creativity that surpasses the AAA. I don't even think that's a question. Whether they're better than the triple A is another question, but more creative? Without a doubt.

 

[kasperbbs]

It indeed looks like shit and i imagine that it also plays like shit, but i can't really judge that from this trailer because it explains nothing and the game itself looks like some low effort java game that you can play for free.