Indie - the next step

"Breaking down all those expectations and then remaking them is essentially the core mechanic of the game" - Alexander Bruce

Indie games. A few years ago, I had little knowledge of the projects and creativity of these developers. Call it situation, call it ignorance, but I was a passionate gamer who had turned a blind eye to any game developed by an indie developer. Its a lot different now. It started with the kickstart project and further went into the steams green light project. Indie games are getting the recognition that I now believe they deserve.

Creativity and innovation only come forward with experimentation, be it a good idea, or bad. Lateral thinking and out-of-the-box ideas are vital in our industry. Think of the 1st game you every played, the atmosphere, the feel, the sense of achievement when finishing your first level, the first time you fragged your first BOT, the first time you learned about a graphics card, and the great OpenGL rush. First-person-shooter, Real-time strategy, Role-Playing games, these genres were made out of bits and bytes, through Object Oriented Languages and Assembly Level Languages. These designers had a level of aspiration and imagination which some of us in the modern era can only dream of. This insane atmosphere gave birth to some of the most heart warming moments of our childhood, and essential defined a part of our lives. From build a safe and profitable city in Sim City, to fraging friends in Unreal Tournament, these games were the infant cocoon which  gave birth to the industry we live by.

Indie developers are those smaller studios who essentially are surviving because of their sheer creativity and cause of the pure passion which their developers have, however due to practical funding problems, they are unable to really distribute games to the level of AAA titles and reach the audience they deserve.

XBL and PSN are now the latest additions to the set of indie distribution tools, with PSN having the edge, since XBL charges really high for some indie games, but this is the next evolutionary step toward a better and more involving gaming environment. Games like Anti-chamber, Monaco, Fez twist the very rules we have been living with for over 2 decades. We are now at a stage where the general laws of a video game have become so routine, that our perception of the desired creative vision is flawed, to a very large extent. Now-a-days games have to really blur the lines between a traditional game and a new experience to really captivate us and provide us with another level of emotional bliss. Many games are able to achieve this but for only a brief moment.

Indie developers are those who should and will lead us to a new set of genres and styles which would give a much needed change to our industry. We as gamers must appreciate and support indie developers. If we don't, who will?