Slashdot Mirror
Top Indie Games Of 2003 Discussed
Mr.Wiggin writes "Specialist indie site
GameTunnel recently announced its top ten indie games of 2003. Each game was scored by its regular review panel, and the list highlights the growing craftsmanship and quality being brought to the niche low budget independent games scene. There are also awards for specific genres, such as best graphics, best sound, most original concept, best adventure, etc. Why should we be concerned by low budget offerings like this - isn't it just the usual cliched crop of puzzle games? Thankfully, no, since these are the elite cream of the indie crop. Some say indie games are the home of innovation and the birthplace of future star developers (remember id, anyone?). It is also one of the few remaining mediums where we (the gaming public) actually get listened to and can often make a difference."
Why isn't Puzzle Pirates on the list? How about Star Chamber? And why did Samurai make the list? It's just a computerized version of an already existing board game, not very original if you ask me.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
So: 2D shooter, 2D shooter, 3D shooter, puzzle game, 3D shooter, isometric adventure, isometric shooter, hex strategy, adventure, adventure with lots of shooting.
Maybe it was just me, but seemed as though a good number of those games were just "shooters" of some sort, concerned with kill-or-be-killed gaming. Not that that's not fun...I like blowing the snot out of my enemies as much as the next alpha male...but I mean, how much are we going to trumpet the originality of games that are basically Xevious/Raiden or Robotron/Smash TV with lots of added stuff or a different perspective?
Sure, I'm generalizing, but these games aren't "novel" like that "falling down the stairs" game was a while back. If this is the "best of 2003", then sounds like a pretty hum-drum year.
Feel free to flame. I'm sure you've already started typing your angry reply.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
Small Rockets, the company that did the game in 9th place, Ultra Assault was another one of the European games companies that went down the pan this year.
Well, I say went down the pan - what actually happened was that three days after the team finished the PC Sinbad game (having spent many months working their arses off on it) they were rewarded by all being laid off. The two Directors are now the only remaining employees, presumably keeping the profits for the continuing sales o the games we all worked so hard on for themselves. Of course, they claim that Small Rockets is still alive and well, so as not to damage relations with any of their business partners despite the fact that they only have the MD (who can program) and the other director, the MD's girlfriend. Yup, that's no art, no sound, no mission design...
I'm not entirely sure how they're offering support to all their new customers either, now that they have no offices and nobody who actually worked on the games left...
Ah well. The games are good.
http://www.smallrockets.com/
I recently wrote a game using Perl and the Tk module. It's a tetrisesque game with an awesome variant (I don't want to spoil the surprise), and it has been known to induce motion sickness.
I included the source code and a windows binary (compiled using perl2exe).
Give Spewtris a try!
Don't mind my redundant sig...
OddManIn: A Game of guns and game theory.
as is the attitude in all 'indy' art forms. indy music, indy film, and now indy gaming -- all suggest the mainstream just isn't 'as good'.
Because their market is smaller, the costs and therefore the risk is lower - indy artists can afford to vary more. Furthermore, they get most of their attention for 'new' ideas. Even if the ideas aren't very good, their community and market celebrates 'new', and so innovation itself (despite actual resultant value) is the goal.
mainstream publishers put too much cash into projects to try to 'innovate' the way indy artists can. regardless of subjective artistic merit, if an innovative game doesn't sell, the publisher is punished -- so why should they be revolutionary?
anyway, despite their pretention - indy artists are actually right. most mainstream 'innovation' will actually arrive due to inspiration from the indy product. but not because the indy artists or games are always better, but because of their market realities. they can afford to throw more proverbial shit at the wall to see what sticks.
and again, i qualify the 'value' of a game the only objective way one can: by the number of people who are willing to buy the game.
art is only good if people appreciate it. and there's no other objective way to measure how much people appreciate something, than how much they're willing to spend on it.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
I think the biggest mis-conception people are having is that they don't understand what an indie game is.
Independent means free of the studios influence, but that does not necessarily mean that the game is innovative.
What independent games do typically offer is game play that is easy to pick up and games that are something you can play for an hour, but not have to devote your life to in order to be any good at the game or figure out what you are doing.
Independent is really a niche market, perhaps it is the old arcade market. The type of game you play while waiting in a theater lobby for a movie to start. Most of mainstream gaming is centered around playing games for hours on end. Independent gaming is not.
If you are looking for a game that will take you several hours to figure out and master, and then even more hours to become the best of the best of the best, indie gaming is not for you.
If you are just looking for a diversion, something that you can pick up, IMMEDIATELY be able to play, and then put it down 30 minutes later, then Indie Gaming might work for you.
There is some innovation and cross-genre games that you won't find elsewhere, such as Dungeon Scroll and Pontifex II, but not all games are that way.
I think the major problem most people responding are having is that they are comparing apples and oranges.
Indies don't make FPS games, so why would you play one instead of HL2? Well you couldn't b/c there isn't one that exists comparitively. However, if you play Orbz or even Alien Shooter can you tell me a mainstream game that is similar...that was made in the last year...?
That is where things are different, comparing mainstream and independent is reasonable, but if you are going to do so, make sure you have some idea what you are talking about!