Although independent game development is probably as old as PC gaming itself, indie games have been exploding critically and commercially as of late, and indie development is slowly becoming a more popular and accessible activity.
Services like the XBox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, WiiWare and Steam are creating a niche for smaller, artful titles that are far less expensive than average triple-A gaming fare and allow indie developers to gain widespread visibility and make a name for themselves. Games like Bastion, Braid, World of Goo, Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac and Limbo started out on these services and eventually achieved great success.
Valve's Steam Greenlight, in particular, is a project through which the gamer community itself can help promote and support games they feel are worthy. A notable example is the recently-released viral hit Surgeon Simulator 2013. Some developers are looking to Kickstarter, as well, as a means to fund their ventures directly through the community and bypassing big-name publishers entirely. FTL: Faster than Light is an example of this.
IGN named the indie PSN title Journey as their best game of 2012, beating out, among others, indie critical darling The Walking Dead. But perhaps the most notable independent game of recent times is Minecraft, an addictive sandbox which started as an idea in the head of one Swedish game programmer and has since become ubiquitous in gaming culture.
What are some indie games you all like?
Off the top of my head, I'm particularly crazy about Bastion, World of Goo, Psychonauts, Hotline Miami, Amnesia: The Dark Descent and FTL.
I'm really into games that generate gameplay from audio files you feed into them, with both Audiosurf and Beat Hazard at the very top of my list. For me, those two are the perfect lunch break games, because the particular song greatly influences both the speed and the difficulty of the gameplay, so you can have a fitting experience for whatever mood you're feeling right now (assuming you have a piece of music for it ;P).
Other notable mentions include Super Meat Boy, Binding of Isaac, Minecraft (atleast back when it was still in alpha), SpaceChem, Auditorium (which has some ridiculously good music) and Magicka.
Bastion was also fairly amazing, but for me it seems like the kind of game you'd only play once, because subsequent playthroughs won't be nearly as impressive.
Bastion is almost certainly in my top 10 games ever. It just oozes atmosphere, with one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in a game and that gorgeous art style. Everything about it is great, from gameplay to story.
I actually think it has a fair amount of replay value with the New Game+ mode, that lets you keep your weapons from the first playthrough, as well as the customizable difficulty level through the idol system. Those idols are one of my favorite things about the game. Play as hard as you'd like, change difficulty any time you want. That's how difficulty settings ought to be in every game, if you ask me.
And joking about what? I know Lego Indiana Jones isn't the greatest..but I like it the best. Simple gameplay..and gives me the feeling as if I were a child again
pang, Indie games are games that are produced and published by individual development companies, who are usually small time. And the word Indie comes from the word Individual.
The Lego Indiana Jones games are developed by Lucusarts, which isn't an Indie company.
The Lego Indiana Jones games aren't "Indie" games so as to speak...
I think both you and I got a little confused here...
As for Bastion, the developers are Indie but the publisher on the other hand, is Warner bros. Publisher =/= developers.
I think both you and I got a little confused here...
I guess I'll end my fun
I know what Indie games are..and I know the difference between Indie games and Indy (Indiana Jones).
Alas..I was doing a technique called trolling, you might have heard of it? Though..it can hardly be called trolling now, as I've broken character as well as announced what it was I was doing
