Indie Games

[swiftzx]

I've been following the Indie Games blog lately myself. It's nice to take a little break from playing commercial releases.

Been enjoying Genetos and Mr. Kitty's Quest this week.

http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2009/12/ ... s_tat.html

http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2010/01/ ... tys_q.html

I love Genetos! It's such a great shmup, if you haven't played it, then it is a must have download.

[J T]

ACKGH!! I wrote a really long post with lots of links and write ups about each game and then my browser crashed and shut down! Sorry dude, but I'm not doing that again. Here's some of the games I mentioned.

FREE GAMES
Synaesthete
Ben There, Dan That
Knytt
Saira
Cave Story
Iji
I list the URLs to a lot of these games here.

FLASH GAMES
Minotaur China Shop
Fancy Pants Adventures
Canabalt
Scary Girl
Icycle

GAMES YOU BUY
Braid
World of Goo
Crayon Physics
The Path (and other Tale of Tales games)
Aquaria

[jfe2]

There are too many good commercial games to play indie games,
indie games are good,
but now with the amazing emulation, backward compatibility, steam, and 20+ years of PC ,
There simply too many good commercial games to make time for indie ones.

Although they are good, its your choice really, but every one has only so much time in his life

Man, you are going to miss out on TONS of great games with that attitude. I'm just curious, but what makes commercial games more worth playing over indie games in your opinion?

ACKGH!! I wrote a really long post with lots of links and write ups about each game and then my browser crashed and shut down! Sorry dude, but I'm not doing that again. Here's some of the games I mentioned.

FREE GAMES
Synaesthete
Ben There, Dan That
Knytt
Saira
Cave Story
Iji
I list the URLs to a lot of these games here.

FLASH GAMES
Minotaur China Shop
Fancy Pants Adventures
Canabalt
Scary Girl
Icycle

GAMES YOU BUY
Braid
World of Goo
Crayon Physics
The Path (and other Tale of Tales games)
Aquaria

I hate when that happens!

The games that I have played on this list are all excellent games, so I'll have to try the others that you have listed. I did just buy Aquaria from Steam last night. I figure I'll play through that once I've finished Cave Story. I did try it out for about 15 minutes yesterday and it plays like the bizarre love child of Super Metroid and Ecco the Dolphin.

[RCBH928]

There are too many good commercial games to play indie games,
indie games are good,
but now with the amazing emulation, backward compatibility, steam, and 20+ years of PC ,
There simply too many good commercial games to make time for indie ones.

Although they are good, its your choice really, but every one has only so much time in his life

Man, you are going to miss out on TONS of great games with that attitude. I'm just curious, but what makes commercial games more worth playing over indie games in your opinion?

When i said indie I meant free ones, I didn't mean stuff like World of Goo. Like a free FPS Linux game, or a free platformer , they are usually worse than commercial ones, usually not always so don't start a war on me. I am all for World of Goo and the like, but with a bazillion games to play its hard finding time, World of Goo is one game I would like to play but with stuff like Mario Galaxy, Zelda, Bully, Assassin Creed, FF7, Oblivion...I really don't think i got much time:(
I just saw an amazing looking indie game, its a puzzle and its based on old movies theme, I forgot what they call the ones with no speech, I think u know the game I mean.

[lisalover1]

Like a free FPS Linux game

Don't hate on Openarena.

Anyway, there are tons off great Linux games [that are obviously free]. There's Supertux, a great Super Mario clone that's been ported to a ton of consoles. I've been playing it on the Gamecube and Dreamcast a lot. There's also the aforementioned Openarena, an FPS that succeeds on having lots of levels, great control, and fun weapons. Another good linux game is Xmoto, a physics-based bike game with a level editor and tons of user-made levels. Which Way is Up is a fun platformer where you rotate the room to solve puzzles.

[jfe2]

When i said indie I meant free ones, I didn't mean stuff like World of Goo. Like a free FPS Linux game, or a free platformer , they are usually worse than commercial ones, usually not always so don't start a war on me. I am all for World of Goo and the like, but with a bazillion games to play its hard finding time, World of Goo is one game I would like to play but with stuff like Mario Galaxy, Zelda, Bully, Assassin Creed, FF7, Oblivion...I really don't think i got much time:(
I just saw an amazing looking indie game, its a puzzle and its based on old movies theme, I forgot what they call the ones with no speech, I think u know the game I mean.

No harm meant! I was just curious as to why you thought that way. I think the game you are referencing is P.B. Winterbottom. It's supposed to come out next month for XBLA, IIRC. You are right about that one, it does look amazing!

[Gamerforlife]

kingmohd84 makes some good points. Aside from some PSN/Xbox Live Arcade games and the occasional PSP homebrew, I generally don't play indie games. I hate to say this, but the cold hard truth is...indie games don't matter in the grand scheme of things and with only so much free time, I play the commercial stuff. Although I do pride myself on having an interest in a lot of the unconventional, niche and retro commercial stuff. Hence me being on this site, but indie games...just don't have the time to devote to them with all the high quality commercial stuff out there.

Also, the little experience I have had with freeware, homebrew, etc. much of it is pretty derivative anyway

I will admit though, Cave Story is pretty awesome from what I've played of it and I may occasionally try an indie game if it's talked about here or on hg101, but I don't go seeking them out.

[jfe2]

kingmohd84 makes some good points. Aside from some PSN/Xbox Live Arcade games and the occasional PSP homebrew, I generally don't play indie games. I hate to say this, but the cold hard truth is...indie games don't matter in the grand scheme of things and with only so much free time, I play the commercial stuff. Although I do pride myself on having an interest in a lot of the unconventional, niche and retro commercial stuff. Hence me being on this site, but indie games...just don't have the time to devote to them with all the high quality commercial stuff out there.

Also, the little experience I have had with freeware, homebrew, etc. much of it is pretty derivative anyway

I will admit though, Cave Story is pretty awesome from what I've played of it and I may occasionally try an indie game if it's talked about here or on hg101, but I don't go seeking them out.

See, I can see where you guys are coming from, because there is a ton of garbage in the indie game scene. At the same time, there is an equal amount of garbage that is commercially released by the big companies.

Really, the only thing that separates the indie games from the commercial games is a big company throwing money at the development team. In the case of games like Cave Story, Braid, World of Goo, Machinarium, VVVVVV, and Knight 'n' Grail, you can actually feel the love that the creators put into the game. I think these games are just as valid as ones that were developed by big name companies, and you are really only cheating yourselves if you don't think they are worth playing.

[J T]

I hate to say this, but the cold hard truth is...indie games don't matter in the grand scheme of things

I don't think that's fair to say. I think some of the heavy-hitters in the indie scene matter as much if not more than a lot of commercial mainstream releases. The reason for that is that there is more room for real innovation when you only have to worry about making the game you want. Mainstream games have not been as innovative lately, relying more on tried-n-true formulas. The innovations that have happened have largely been in the areas of graphics and refining existing play control schemes. Indie games on the other hand may have less graphical "WOW", but they frequently experiment with game mechanics. There is nothing like World of Goo or Crayon Physics in the mainstream. Nobody tells a nonlinear story or bends time like Braid. No mainstream music game would let you use your own MP3 collection like Audiosurf or Stepmania because they wouldn't be able to dial in a slew of sequels with a new track pack and a few new skins to make more money. And a "game" like The Path that challenges the very notion of controlling your character, would never be released. Mainstream games have to be fun. Indie games are often fun, but they can also move into the less comfortable area of games that are not so fun, but are still engaging and intriguing experiences. Indie is where the experimentation really happens. It will just be a matter of time before these innovations worm their way into the mainstream, so it's not fair to say they don't matter.

[jfe2]

I hate to say this, but the cold hard truth is...indie games don't matter in the grand scheme of things

I don't think that's fair to say. I think some of the heavy-hitters in the indie scene matter as much if not more than a lot of commercial mainstream releases. The reason for that is that there is more room for real innovation when you only have to worry about making the game you want. Mainstream games have had some innovations, but they have largely been in the areas of graphics and refining existing play control schemes. Indie games on the other hand may have less graphical "WOW", but they frequently experiment with game mechanics. There is nothing like World of Goo or Crayon Physics in the mainstream. Nobody tells a nonlinear story or bends time like Braid. No mainstream music game would let you use your own MP3 collection like Audiosurf or Stepmania because they wouldn't be able to dial in a slew of sequels with a new track pack and a few new skins to make more money. And a "game" like The Path that challenges the very notion of controlling your character, would never be released. Mainstream games have to be fun. Indie games are often fun, but they can also move into the less comfortable area of games that are not so fun, but are still engaging and intriguing experiences. Indie is where the experimentation really happens. It will just be a matter of time before these innovations worm their way into the mainstream, so it's not fair to say they don't matter.

Couldn't have said it better myself.