What does "indie games" mean to you guys?

[JeremySpillmann]

Hey escapist people,

I've been working with and making games for 5 years now, playing since about 19... Ever since I've been studying it and making games for medicine and advertisements, doing indie stuff sounded more and more delightful... the innovation, the graphics that lie somewhere between retro and "on point" modern, the skurrile settings, the meetings at game jams, the possibility to create games on your own (or in pairs)... I decided to make the Topic of indie games my Master in Design topic at the university I'm in.

However, "Indie" as a term seems to become more and more a subculture like it has been in movie and music. Is it still about just publishing games independently from publishers and restrictions? is it more about values like honesty and innovation? Is it about the border of game art (in which I mean art with ludic elements) and game design where the focus is on the artist?

What is Indie for you?

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/68DS3R8 <- Whoa, a survey.. where did that come from ?

I understand that not everyone likes to fill out surveys, I agree they are stupid. But for me they are currently one of the best ways to get some results on what everyone feels about the topic. I'd also like it if there is just a discussion going on.

I can't really offer something for it right now for your help, I do plan on publishing the paper in one and a half years free for the scene though, so it might help developers starting out and trying to establish an indie label or site. So any help will eventually flow back I hope.

Thanks a lot for your time!

 

[Knight of Cydonia]

Why is some of the survey in German?

OT:Gladly filled it in.

 

[JeremySpillmann]

Huh?

You're right...I guess because I used a german site for the surveys. I live in switzerland and german is my native language. I didn't know it would use german terms though, heh

Thank you!

 

[Realitycrash]

Indie-gaming would be a game produced by a very small game-company without that much funds.

 

[PlasmaFrog]

Independent development without the pressure of business motives.

 

[Wes1180]

When I used to play on the xbox I figured that the xbox live indies were just crap, but then when I started on the pc I realised how good indies actually are, how they help innovate etc.

p.s. Gladly filled in the survey

 

[Azaraxzealot]

to me? "indie games" usually brings back bad memories of catching my brother jacking off to hentai games on newgrounds. or else a metric fuck-ton of sidescrollers that are trying to be nothing more than Mario with a twist.

i've only played two good indie games. Minecraft (which transcends "indie" since it makes so much damn money) and I MA3D A GAME WITH Z0M13S IN IT!!!111

other than that, i've tried over 300 indie games, but not one of them has made me want to play for more than 5 minutes. i've yet to find one that catches my interest and makes me want to sink as many hours into it as i have Warcraft 3, Fallout 3, or Red Dead Redemption.

 

[veloper]

small budget &
not owned by a publisher

 

[kortin]

Well, I've only played on game that was made by an Indie designer (minecraft) other than that, I find most of them (actually, most games in general) a waste of money if I don't know anything about it. That typically means that if im playing a game, its because one of my friends was playing it and I thought I could try it out.

 

[DustyDrB]

There are a very few creative indie devs and a whole bunch of trend-capitalizing copycats. That means there's little-to-no creative and business difference between indie devs and publisher-backed devs.

I've only played a few indie games, mostly just because they haven't made many games that appeal to my interests. I'm not interested in 2D platformers (SMB3 is still the zenith of the genre) or tower-defense games. I played Minecraft and it was incredibly boring to me. Some of the physics-based games (like World of Goo) were fun. I also like the Bit.Trip series. That's it.

Most of the indie games I've seen try to rely way too much on quirkiness and have extremely tired gameplay.

 

[Katana314]

They haven't always been short for me. Some become timeless, potentially going on infinitely (mount and blade), while others are singleplayer storylines that stretch much, much longer than a Call of Duty playthrough (Aquaria).

 

[PessimistOwl]

While I'm a bit lazy (yes you can be too lazy even on the internet) to fill out a survey, I will give you my opinion on what I feel indie games are. It's a double edged sword. On one hand, you have the freedom of creativity, no matter how crazy your idea is. Provided you have the money and a team of friends that will work with you, you can come up with something possibly innovative and fun at the same time. Something that is just weird or new enough but also have an appeal. What's more, is you don't really have to look for major success. Sure, it would be nice to be successful at what you do, however, it you can also consider this as a "workshop" to mold your ideas into something more workable. At the same time, you don't have to deal with all of the popular bs that people subscribe to (i.e having a leveling system of some sort or creating yet another shooter that will just mindlessly entertain audiences). The downside is this however, you can't expect to make too much money, and at the same time, even if you do have your chance in the limelight, you can't expect it to be too long. even if your game is one of the best things since FF seven it will soon be drowned out by the hype that is main stream gaming. The consoles and computers that people play on are funded by the companies that would make more money, and therefore rather promote games that would be more profitable to them. Still, you can use indie gaming to either have some fun, or try something new. And then base your response on what the community thinks of your idea.

 

[Vausch]

Indie to me means a game from new or small developers that isn't tied down by the publishers' regulation.

 

[Turkish2]

indie games= indian games?

Joke/

Indie games= games like Braid and stuff no?

 

[JeremySpillmann]

indie games= indian games?

Joke/

Indie games= games like Braid and stuff no?

Technically, yes and no. Actually the term used just to describe independent games, meaning games which are self published by the team that did the game (for example Braid, Audiosurf but even Gears of War since Epic publishes independently).

However, since there is also terminology like indie as in indie Rock or the indie dogma movies, indie games started to be a term for stuff like "small games", or "innovative, crazy games" or "iPhone crap"... I'm trying to find out what the term means for people from different gaming backgrounds

 

[Hitman Dread]

Indie means self published. That's what it means in all other fields and should in games as well.

This also means that it includes Valve from tiny homebrew developers.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

There are a very few creative indie devs and a whole bunch of trend-capitalizing copycats. That means there's little-to-no creative and business difference between indie devs and publisher-backed devs.

I've only played a few indie games, mostly just because they haven't made many games that appeal to my interests. I'm not interested in 2D platformers (SMB3 is still the zenith of the genre) or tower-defense games. I played Minecraft and it was incredibly boring to me. Some of the physics-based games (like World of Goo) were fun. I also like the Bit.Trip series. That's it.

Most of the indie games I've seen try to rely way too much on quirkiness and have extremely tired gameplay.

i agree with you. i don't see why everyone sees indie development as the paragon of videogame development.

 

[JeremySpillmann]

There are a very few creative indie devs and a whole bunch of trend-capitalizing copycats. That means there's little-to-no creative and business difference between indie devs and publisher-backed devs.

I've only played a few indie games, mostly just because they haven't made many games that appeal to my interests. I'm not interested in 2D platformers (SMB3 is still the zenith of the genre) or tower-defense games. I played Minecraft and it was incredibly boring to me. Some of the physics-based games (like World of Goo) were fun. I also like the Bit.Trip series. That's it.

Most of the indie games I've seen try to rely way too much on quirkiness and have extremely tired gameplay.

i agree with you. i don't see why everyone sees indie development as the paragon of videogame development.

Well my guess would be that it is mostly people who are in their "gaming has gone downhill"-phase who praise indie games broadly. I'd say quality is on average lower than on mainstream, but there are a few that surprise a lot more if they are wonderful gems