"Indie" video games tend to bring to mind images of brilliant developers forsaking the crass commercialism of the gaming industry to strike out on their own and make fearless new games that aren't just another rehash of the same old ideas. The sort of games that would exposes the shallow, insipid and repetitive pretenders for what they truly are.
Of course, this is only possible if "Indie" games are that good. They're not. Not even remotely close. The worst would have been still unpublishable an entire decade ago. The best are somewhat entertaining casual games.
That's right. The best are nothing more than games that are 'casual', a epithet for something that occupies the same social niche as Solitaire. Which, strictly speaking, is not a bad game. However, solitaire is the bottom rung of the gaming world and everyone knows it.
A game is worth how much entertainment it delivers to the player. No less and no more. If its weight in entertainment value is less than every other mainstream commercial game out there, than an "Indie" game is a total failure by the only standard that matters.
Check out www.manifestogames.com - a vendor that specializes in selling "Indie" games. What sticks out about those games? Not a single one is worth selling for any serious commercial vendor. Why? Because they can't sell refuse and make a profit! No one can!
Where are the good games that this movement was supposed to engender? They simply don't exist as anything other than an exception to the rule at the moment. The production values, compared to the main gaming industry, are completely mediocre. Why? Because there's no reason for people who are good at making games to make "Indie" games. The mythical demand that brought them about is exactly that - mythical. Could the commercial "AAA" games that are coming out now be better? Certainly! Are they bad enough to make "Indie" games a viable sub-industry? Nope.
And this is why "Indie" games suck at the moment.
Edit: Cris Crawford says much the same thing, but with better words here: http://gamasutra.com/features/20060612/murdey_01.shtml
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1 comment:
Good for people to know.
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