I'm curious what you guys think about indie games in general.

Personally, I'm contemplating staying the hell away from them. I play around 40-50hrs a week at the moment and have been playing a few indie games the past year after a quick break from gaming (Mark of the Ninja, The Swapper, Bastion, To The Moon to name a few) and lately, I was really unhappy with the size of my library (& backlog ratio) and the amount of money I spent on games so I went ahead and had a look at how much time I spent playing which games and if they impressed me/had an impact on me/made me think and also how much money per hr I spent.

Results were pretty conclusive that despite liking a few indie games like Mark of the Ninja (I think a little above 40+hrs) and Bastion, I never felt really content with the experience. This is a pretty vague statement, but I think you know the situation when a game sucks you in and suddenly you notice you spent way more time than anticipated.

Now, I'm on the fence. On one hand, I think there are wonderful indie games (damn, The Swapper was fine), but on the other hand most of them are short, leave not much of an impact (on me personally that is) and most of the time you can tell them apart easily (for better and for worse I guess). They also come in high numbers, filling your backlog in no time.

Maybe there is a side to them I haven't considered yet or the way I choose the games I buy is seriously flawed, but somehow I really feel it would be better to abandon them.

What do you like and dislike about indie games? How have they changed the way you game? Did they spark the idea to become more of a collector? How do you feel about that or collectors in general?

10 years ago*

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Sadly, as it is, indies are the only games to make an impact on me.

10 years ago
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Why sadly?

10 years ago
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They basically saved gaming.

10 years ago
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99.99% are a total crap, but 0.01% could be gems. But still not worth the time to search these good ones

10 years ago
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Nope. Just around 80%. The other 19% is good and 1% is awesome.

10 years ago
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i like the ones that are not 2D platformers, so like 30%

10 years ago
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What do I think about indie games? Easy, they're boring, they don't look good, indie games will never reach the "fun" level of AAA games such CoD or Skyrim.
OK trolling off, well, indie games are pretty cool, they show that even without big teams and huge budget you can develop an interesting and enjoyable game, for me, the best indie games were Papers, please (!!!), Banished (!!!!), Bastion, FEZ... I'm pretty sure I forgot some...
edit: FTL, Trine, Limbo, Braid, Torchlight, Hotline Miami

10 years ago
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Indie games are okay, some of them have relatively novel mechanics, although most of them are just clones of other games with crappy pixel/voxel graphics and so on.

10 years ago
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10 years ago
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i think indian gems are cold, bra

10 years ago
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I think about them the same way I think about AAA games: Some of them are good and I like them, some of them are great and I love them and some of them are crap and I hate them. There's been equally much controversy and swindling at both the "AAA" and "Indie" departments lately (the line between them is kiiinda starting to blur into a huge mess), so I can't exactly say that one is cleaner than the other... but, personally, I've been disappointed by AAA games a lot more often than by Indie games lately. I guess because with Indies it's usually easier to spot a shady practice and avoid it altogether while with AAA it gets buries in all the hype.

I am not a collector. Every game I get (with very few exceptions due to bundles), I intend to play, no matter how long it'll take... So, yeah, I guess the fact that there are so many Indie games (and so many good ones too) kinda means that I'll just have to live longer or something. :D

Also Indie games are more affordable. I have my standards- no paying over a certain price threshold for a single game.
(Well, I guess that was kinda random... To be honest I'm not 100% sure what you asked for... ^_^' )

10 years ago
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I've "found out" about indie games 2-3 years ago as I installed Steam and I am pretty glad I did. Nowadays I actually don't even bother looking at most AAA games since they normally have a terrible price/playing time ratio. The reasons why I prefer mostly indie games are:

  • They are less demanding for my laptop so I have not to worry if it will run.
  • They are normally a lot cheaper and often offer more then similar AAA titles.
  • I'm not to fond of realistic super HD graphics. I don't know why but they just bore me. Sometimes I get the feeling triple AAA studios try to hide boring experiences behind those polished graphics.
    Also I prefer playing puzzle platformers or platformer in general and I like 2D graphics a lot more (and they can be awesome aswell like Fly'n). Sometimes they are just more charming and some games wouln't even work with "better" 3D graphic .....
    Storywise most of those games are really bland and I also don't think that they are the epitome of creativity. Like AAA games most of them have gameplay aspects seen before but like I said I think indie games are more charming. From the ones I bought I nearly almost got the feeling that they have been developed out of enjoyment and for the enjoyment of playing games and not just for money making (of course often the primary cause for developing is still money making). Through the large amount of available indie games everyone should actually find something he would like to play (if he is not some kind of "needy HD graphic whore") which on the other hand there are a lot of games the same player is not interested in. I don't say those games are bad but people tend to generalize like: If I don't like 99 % of those indie games then 99 % are trash ....

Also I don't agree with the statement that they are shorter then AAA titles. This may be due to me being an achievement hunter. But if you are going for them you get a lot of additional play time. Not only for the grinding but also because they bring your attention to content away from the main game or make you look at the game in a different angle (for example solving a puzzle in an unconventional way). I actually think most AAA games are shorter by play time if story focused. Comparing to a AAA multiplayer game is not actually fair and other then that the only ones having stupidly large playing times often the "RPG" tag (like Fallout 3 or Borderlands).

So yeah I like indies more although I know that most of them don't interest me. AAA are mostly a no go for me for reasons mentioned (stupid price, mainly less play time, boring graphic).

To the collecting: I don't think I am some sort of collector since I should have played atleast 90 % of the games in my Steam library. The only one I can remember right I have not played and not planned on playing is a game I was absolutely unable to NOT get if I wanted another one .... That is also the reason I only bought one Bundle so far and even then I checked that it alteast had two or three games I'm interested in playing and I will make sure I only activate those I wish to play.
For the collectors: I wouldn't say I hate them (it is kind of hobby too) but it is a shame just to get a game and not to play it since there went a lot of afford into creating those. I am especially shocked sometimes here on SteamGifts where people just join every giveaway because they have the points and are not really interested in playing those games reducing the chance for those interested. As sidenote: I am also shocked if people are asking stupid questions like "Game XYZ 1 $ in bundle XY, is it worth the money?" ....but thats another topic.

Hm, I think thats it. I hope it is not as confusing to read through my text as it was writing it.

10 years ago
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I enjoy both AAA and indie titles, however the problem with indie games is that they have to be original. If I come across an indie game that's similar to a AAA title, chances are the AAA is going to be simply better due to the high amount of resources available to the developer. Really the only thing that an indie game can beat an AAA in is story, as with games like Bastion and To The Moon. If story isn't the main focus of the game it must have an original concept, or at least one that AAA developers don't generally create games for as with games like Mount and Blade, Kerbal Space Program, and FTL. If the game doesn't offer something new, there is really no point to it as with most indie strategy, spectacle fighter, and shooter games. There are some exceptions to this, such as with games like Skullgirls and Torchlight, but overall I find this to be true.

10 years ago
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I wasn't sure what to think about them until I saw the Indie Game Movie. I have a lot of appreciation for them after that and find myself looking to play them more than big budget games.

10 years ago
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some are good.
some are great.
some are bad.
and some suck so bad you wanna stab yourself for even considering playing them.

10 years ago
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Closed 10 years ago by miraQlx.