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What Was the Greatest Age For Indie Games?

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-was-the-age-that-gave-us-star-control-2 dept.

jonyami writes: "Indie games have existed for as long as there's been something to play and something to play it on. From the humble Apple II to modern PCs, Xbox Live Arcade and the Kickstarter revolution, just what was the greatest age for indie games? A new article takes a look at the various eras, the top indie games and the future — which one do you reckon is on top?"

9 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. I'd say "right now". And it's getting better. by Ihlosi · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Never before have documentation and good tools been so available to even indie developers.

    Never before has it been so easy to actually earn money with indie game development.

    And things might be getting even better.

    1. Re:I'd say "right now". And it's getting better. by bluescrn · · Score: 5, Interesting

      But 'right now' is possibly the hardest that it's ever been to *make money* from indie development - simply because there's so many people making games (due to much-improved tools), it's incredibly hard to get noticed, and the bulk of the media attention goes to the already-successful 'super-indies'.

      And even with all the digital distribution options out there, there are new all-powerful middlemen controlling what has a chance of real success - Steam, Humble, Apple (featured content), etc

      Personally, I loved the 90s, when the technology was really exciting and evolving fast. The indie boom of the late 2000s was cool too, but now we seem to be facing oversaturation and race-to-the-bottom pricing (even beyond mobile).

    2. Re:I'd say "right now". And it's getting better. by craklyn · · Score: 4, Informative

      Faster than Light Binding of Isaac Super Meatboy Kerbal Space Program Minecraft Rogue Legacy Fez Bastion (developed by an indie team, published by a big name) Papers, Please The Stanley Parable World of Goo Little Inferno

    3. Re:I'd say "right now". And it's getting better. by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "make money" as in become rock star rich? yes, and That is a good thing. Sorry to burst people's bubbles but programming and game development is not the lottery, you dont get a big payout.

      Make money as in cover your costs and turn a modest profit? that is more reasonable, and if these Indie people are going into business without a business plan and fully researching the market as well as costs and other financials as well as research as to their lower price to sell at as well as what price that will not scare people away from their game.

      If you are an indie company and think you ca get $60 for your game you are insane, $16.00 to $29.00 for a professional quality game (as in better than the buggy untested crap from bioware) is easily achieved as can be seen by the success of a lot of indie games out there.

      But if a developer thinks they will get rich or start living the 6 digit income levels? They need to stop now and work on something else, as they have zero clue as what it's like to sell software let alone games.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    4. Re:I'd say "right now". And it's getting better. by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      6 digit income levels? $100,000 a year is a 6 digit income. That's not a huge amount of income to ask for as a developer. Then again $500,000 is also a 6 digit income, but that's actually a large amount of money to be making.

      Personally, I think that game programming is like the lottery. Notch basically won the lottery with Minecraft. There's nothing particularly amazing about the game, but for some reason, it caught on, and now he's rich. It's hard to pin down what makes one game sell millions, while other games struggle to sell in the thousands.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    5. Re:I'd say "right now". And it's getting better. by Ranbot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You must be young. Almost all indy titles today are shovelware using asset stores for their code, art and sounds. Games are being thrown together by everyone with a view of creation lots of titles hoping one is a hit

      I used to scour BBS on my 14.4 modem looking for indy games to download, so I think I'm old enough to tell you to stop looking at the past with rose-tinted glasses. There was an indy PC game movement in the 80's and 90's that created some great things but there was plenty of forgettable shovelware too, you just forgot about that (go figure). Those old games also recycled plenty of their own code, art, and sounds. Also, 80's/90's indy developers were almost completely shut out of the console markets, but not so today. 80's/90's indy developers were also much more limited by the technology available, and not just graphics, but also the interface was mostly limited to keyboard/mouse and maybe a joystick. Today's indy developers has so much more available to them to use creatively. Graphics is obvious, but also things like Wii-Mote, Kinect, mobile phone capabilities (cameras, GPS, etc.), and new VR tech. Then you've got Kickstarter, digital distribution, and flexible pricing to get indy developer ideas/projects off the ground. Yeah there are going to be plenty of indy game turds, but there always have been.

    6. Re:I'd say "right now". And it's getting better. by Githaron · · Score: 3, Interesting

      While I don't know what made Minecraft initially popular, I think its prolonged success was a happy accident. Notch decided to write the Minecraft client and server in Java which is a relatively easy to decompile language. This encourage a few hacker types to make their own mods. This eventually evolved into third-party mod APIs like Bukkit and Forge which further encouraged third-party content. I don't know what the percentages are but I would guess there is a lot more people playing modded Minecraft than vanilla Minecraft. Since there is not an official modding API, I don't think Minecraft would be nearly as popular today if it had been written in C or C++ because there would much less likely be such a rich modding community for the game.

  2. Now is the time, seize the day... by Tronster · · Score: 5, Informative

    What constitutes indie is one questions (and AAA is even harder to come to a consensus, even among my work peers) but that said...

    As a child of the 80's, who adamantly played video games (e.g., Apple ][, arcade, 2600, NES, etc...) and got into professional game development over 10 years ago (I work for a AAA studio and my have my own gig for nights/weekends) I'd agree with those who say now, 2014, is the best time for indie game development.

    Powerful engines and Middleware tools are accessible with licenses that fit indie budgets (e.g., Unity3d, Unreal4, etc...) as well as a swatch of free software for development. (e.g. Phaser: http://phaser.io/ Blender http://www.blender.org/ Love https://love2d.org/ Flixel http://flixel.org/ Haxe http://haxe.org/ )

    The internet, as-is, provides indies with a way for
    - distance-collaboration (Skype, E-mail, Groups, etc...)
    - community building (Twitter, CMSs, Facebook, etc...)
    - fundraising (IndieGogo, Kickstarter, HumbleBundle, Paypal, custom web-based donation system, etc...)
    - advertising (game communities, news outlets, etc...)

    Organizations, such as the International Game Developer's Association (IGDA, http://igda.org/ ) and events like the Global Game Jam, PAX (IndieMegabooth), and MAGFest also contribute to the community of indie game developers.

    It is a great time to be an indie game developer in terms of accessibility and ability to achieve a sustainable income.

  3. late 80s into the 90s by crossmr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Say what you will about all the access devs have now, but it was that time when things were greatest.

    People were still experimenting. Not just with concepts but core mechanics. Interfaces, everything. It was the wild west.

    People weren't yet dumbing things down to make them more "Accessible", when you got a game there wasn't going to be another one in 5 minutes. The internet wasn't everywhere. People still had slow connections when it came around. You read magazines, hunted for games and traded with friends.

    The early days were really the best for the entirety of computing. Sure, things are flashy, we have such powerful machines now. Those were the days of great games and great indie games.