Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[Exhuminator]

Cave Story is like the hipster cred of indie games, because if you had played it prior to its appearance in the console market, you literally knew about it before it was cool.

It was weird for me, because I first played it after AGTP translated the original PC release. I was like "yeah this is alright I guess". Then years later every time I turned around people on forums were gushing and freaking out over this old indie Japanese platformer I had forgotten about. Then it started getting ported and remade and all that. It was just surreal.

I'm not saying I was cool for knowing about it so long ago. I should keep up with more important things then every little video game that gets released. But this shit's like Pokemon or baseball cards or fantasy football for me. Gotta catch know track 'em all.*


*Which given the tremendous amount of platforms and developers these days is not even possible for me anymore.

[Tanooki]

I like most of what IndieBox has put out.

I can't say one way or another if indie games are "good" or "bad"? I mean, are games in general good? Some are, some aren't. Probably a similar ratio among the indies.

On the topic of indie platformers though, I do not like this trend of making them super "hardcore" and nearly impossible to complete.

The only one I have is Steamworld Dig and that's a fun terraria/mr driller type thing going on there so it's fun in bursts. I think Luftrausers would be alright but a bit spendy for what it offers and Brutal Legend looks like it could be fun if you are into the gameplay style as the world and music are solid, but the rest seem meh to me.

I don't like most indie games, but there are some I really do get into, and of that some are even before that term existed. And here's one that took me a bit to find with a screwy set of searches -- Idinaloq http://www.namikaze.org/software/idinaloq/index_e.html Sadly it won't work in Vista/win7 or 8.

The problem with indie games is it's a trend and cool to make them now because it's the hipster cool dude way of flipping the bird to the man (big wigs with their tunnelvision genre releases.) Then you get some of those real douchebags in there full of themselves like Fish (Fez) or others nearly as awful that make you want to just quit. Sucking up to indie just because it's there makes things worse and then some stuff that's legit good gets ignored so it's like a subset of the physical release console abuses coming again.

[marurun]

The problem with indie games is it's a trend and cool to make them now because it's the hipster cool dude way of flipping the bird to the man (big wigs with their tunnelvision genre releases.)

Strongly disagree with your reasoning, here. There's always been a market for smaller games, but software development tools like high-level dev languages and even game engine design kits are more accessible now than ever. Not only that, but PC power (and even phone power) is high enough that games made without low-level optimization can still run fine on most machines, especially 2D games. Further, while the internet really did help get indie games out, Steam and similar marketplaces are suddenly making these kinds of games far more available to the average consumer.

Indie gaming is blowing up right now because these developments have, over the past 10-15 years, lowered barriers to entry into the games market dramatically. And here's the best part: even if you don't like a lot of the games being produced, it is still better for gaming as a whole. Because more people are creating games than ever before. And lots of games are being made to scratch almost every gaming itch. It is very hard to find a down side to this.

[Exhuminator]

It is very hard to find a down side to this.

Over proliferation leads to market saturation and lowered consumer worth perception. Thanks to the ever present bundles sales, indie games have literally become a dime a dozen. So many accessible options in the same field can lead to paradox of choice. With the development entry barrier so low, any one can make a game, which means the standard of quality has a lot of deviation. For every innovative forward thinking indie, you've got a dozen derivative low quality ones. Having a flooded market without much quality control and deflated pricing can lead to a bubble burst. These factors could lead to the bottom falling out of the indie market.

This is not a slant against indies, I enjoy plenty of them, and value their creativity overall.

[AppleQueso]

I don't most indies give a shit about the 'indie market'

frankly if you're making indie games hoping to make money you're doing it wrong

[Xeogred]

It is very hard to find a down side to this.

Over proliferation leads to market saturation and lowered consumer worth perception. Thanks to the ever present bundles sales, indie games have literally become a dime a dozen. So many accessible options in the same field can lead to paradox of choice. With the development entry barrier so low, any one can make a game, which means the standard of quality has a lot of deviation. For every innovative forward thinking indie, you've got a dozen derivative low quality ones. Having a flooded market without much quality control and deflated pricing can lead to a bubble burst. These factors could lead to the bottom falling out of the indie market.

This is not a slant against indies, I enjoy plenty of them, and value their creativity overall.

I think the internet has created too much of everything.

But yeah, it's almost funny going through Steam thesedays. Lots of stuff on there nowadays that looks like you'd originally find next to Farmville on Facebook or something.

[Exhuminator]

I don't most indies give a shit about the 'indie market'

If indie developers do not care about the indie market, then why do the vast majority of indie developers charge money for their games? And even still after an amount of time, they then lower their price to lump their sales in with other discounted games as bundles. That shows there is an economy in place for this genre, and an overall awareness of the lucrative aspect. This is why I don't agree that most indie developers do not care about the market their products reside in.

[AppleQueso]

frankly if you're making indie games hoping to make money you're doing it wrong

[Exhuminator]

Statistically speaking I agree with you. Cold hard facts don't stop people every day from thinking they'll be the next Notch or Dong Nguyen though.

[Forlorn Drifter]

As much as it has been good, I've seen a whole lot of bad come from the indie game market. Similarly related things too, Kickstarter, steam greenlight and early access. Broken games, incomplete games, unplayable messes, things shooting for art and forgetting the game, etc. The first few can be expected from early access, but I don't know why they've become such a big thing, besides the proliferation of youtube videos.

I'm really meh on the whole indie thing. I think all it has done is make for more digging to find the gems in the shit. Its something a gamer gets used to, but I don't know. I do know I'm getting tired of seeing Kickstarter shoved in my face constantly. Its an interesting idea, but if you aren't willing to put your own personal money on the line to make your game, are you really that committed? We've seen great things come of it, but I still don't trust the system really.