Description: This post is meant to explain the importance of indie games and how they affect the game industry.
The Current Situation
Welp, we made it to another year (somehow)! It was hard but we could all push through another year and make it to the end. Now that the new year is here and things are starting to simmer, I thought I would start the year by playing video games. It’s been a while since I’ve seen any gaming news, I wonder what cha-
Ah, well honestly I’m not surprised.
Yeah the AAA gaming world is a mess right now. These game studios are making worse and worse moves over the years. Most AAA studios are more concerned with chasing the bag than actually making a good game. But that doesn’t mean it’s all doom and gloom in the gaming industry. There were a lot of good games this year thanks to the help of-
Indie Studios
Man, I keep getting cut off these days, anyway! Wikipedia defines an indie game as “a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most “AAA” (triple-A) games.” These games are made with much smaller teams than the norm, not only that, but these teams end up having a lot less funding than other companies. This forces the developers to make a game that will stand out amongst its competitors. In that environment, the games made by these studios are often some of the most revered and loved games on the market because of the love and care that went into them.
But sadly, often these games become overshadowed by newer or more successful games, leading to them not getting a proper audience. So this blog post is essentially meant to show off some of these underrated games, while also talking about what makes these games so successful in the first place. Starting with one of my favorite indie games, Hade-
Hades, the Art of the Game Loop
… Ya know what? I’m just gonna keep count of how many times I get interrupted in this blog post. So one of the things that indie game developers have to master (especially if their making an online game) is to convince the players to keep coming back for more. And no other game does this better than Hades. Hades is a roguelike that has you play as Zagreus, the son of, well, Hades, who did you expect, Muhammad Ali? Zagreus in the game has one goal, to break out of the underworld and find his long-lost mother.
But, let’s just say his father is less than happy to let him leave. So now Zagreus has to fight through a bunch of different monsters to make it to the surface. Hades was one of the biggest indie roguelikes to take off and define the genre going forward. For reference, roguelikes are games that pride themselves on their replayability. Every time you die in Hades it sends you back to the start of the game and gives you the ability to upgrade your stats and change out your weapons. Not only that but there’s a wide cast of characters to talk to and learn more about as you progress through the game and learn more about the story.
Making a gameplay loop is hard in most cases. It requires the developers to make tons of content that’s interchangeable and earnable in the game. It means making enough content to convince your players to keep coming back and try finding that content. Of course, just having good gameplay and plenty of content isn’t enough a game also needs to have a good cent-
Pepper Grinder, How to Translate Ideas into a Game
Gees I didn’t even get to finish my last sentence that time. So what I was trying to say is that indie games also need to gravitate towards the central idea of the game. And no other game does this better than Pepper Grinder. Pepper Grinder is a game where you play as a sailor who crashes onto the shore only to have her stuff stolen by the residents. With only a hand drill you travel across the island to get your treasure back.
The game revolves around this drill and the platforming that you can do with it. The drill allows to burrow underground to take out enemies and collect items. You can also plug the drill into certain items to turn them into weapons and change up your playstyle. You also have to plug the drill into a certain place like an elevator or door to move the terrain around.
Having a core gameplay idea is one thing, but actually using that gameplay idea and implementing it into every part of the game as a whole is key to helping your indie game stand out. The idea needs to take center stage and must be experimented with and played with to create a fun and unique experience. However, if there’s one thing that I have to criticize pepper grinder for, it’s the lack of st-
Frostpunk 2, Allowing Players to Make Their Own Story
*sigh* That makes five btw for anybody keeping track… Anyways, story. Games have been used to tell plenty of stories in the past before, especially indie games. Frostpunk 2 is a master at creating interactive and interesting stories from the player’s decisions. But I realize that most of you haven’t played the first Frostpunk, and even more of you haven’t played Frostpunk 2 so here’s a quick recap.
In the first Frostpunk, the world has been overtaken by a HUGE STORM known as the whiteout. You run one of the last cities on the face of the earth (New London) and have to keep the city and its people alive at any cost. It’s a brutal city-builder game that forces the player to make some incredibly tough moral choices. The story in Frostpunk is good but pretty straightforward. It serves its purpose well but beyond that it simply serves as a way to keep the players on their toes. Frostpunk 2’s story is a bit, different…
The game is a direct sequel to the first Frostpunk. New London is now a thriving utopia thanks to the late captain, but now old problems have come back to haunt the people of this new world. The captain is dead, coal (the original fuel source) is running out, and worst of all, people are splitting into different groups and political parties and expressing (very loudly I should add) their opinions on how the city should be run. You play as the Steward, The late captain’s successor. Your job is to solve these problems while also making sure that you can please each group residing in the city.
This environment in Frostpunk 2 creates a great way for players to create their own unique experiences in the game. The moral choices from the first Frostpunk are back and they are even more morally ambiguous. This system tests the player’s moral alignment, and whether they are willing to do what needs to be done for the greater good. And that is the environment that makes Frostpunk a master class at storytelling.
Creating a story in a game can often be tricky, and to counter this, indie games give their players plenty of freedom to create unique and memorable experiences every time they play. Telling a good story in a game is a good idea in general since it convinces the player to want to see how the game ends, and Frostpunk 2 masters this by creating a unique story every time you start a new game.
Conclusion
Oh, I didn’t get cut off this time! Now I know that I’ve been poking a lot of fun at AAA games this blog post, but that doesn’t mean that all AAA games are bad. In my opinion, you should play the game that makes you happy, something that you enjoy playing instead of what everyone else is telling you to play. I hope you liked reading this blog post, especially if you are a new indie game developer who’s looking for inspiration. Anyway, that’s all for me today, I’ll see you all lat-
