There are a number of reasons why there are a lot of indie puzzle games and remakes.
One is a single developer has a hard time doing everything, sound, art, programming, game design. It's often easier for a coder who wants to make a game to do a remake of a game that he knows and loves. It's much easier to make a game from an existing design then to design your own. A lot of people who have no other game development skills like to consider themselves designer. But creating a game design that is both fun, innovative, and achievable given the developers resources and abilities takes some true talent.
I guess this would be akin to a single musician doing vocals, guitar, drums, base all themselves and write good music at the same time.
Indie developers who are serious about indie development want to make progress towards their goal of becoming full time making their own games. (This was mentioned in some of the other comments) Recently the popular trend has been to make puzzle games, a lot of indies took this as a step towards securing their freedom since this was a segment ignored by the big players.
However as of late this segment has become increasingly more saturated and competitive. It's also attracted the attention of the slow moving big players. I expect things to change in the indie scene very soon. More and more developers are going indie and getting experience making their own games. Production values are going up, more and more of them are going full time. I expect to see indie games breaking out of the current puzzle game trend and start taking on new genera's in the near future. Expect a different spin on them then the retail sector, but they will be more complex and sophisticated then the popcap crowd.
In the end, the real soul of indie development isn't the games, it's the developers. They put their own time and resources into their games, they listen to their customers and make changes to their products (if they are the successful type). They also support their customers in a way that no retail shop can.
I believe it is the heart and soul of the indie developers that has caused them to be so successful with the mass market and traditionally marginalized market segments.
Slashdot Mirror
www.indieGamer.com - Monthy Ezine dedicated to indie gaming.
www.DIYGames.com - Best spot indie gaming news.
www.GameTunnel.com - Lots of indie game reviews.
There are a number of reasons why there are a lot of indie puzzle games and remakes. One is a single developer has a hard time doing everything, sound, art, programming, game design. It's often easier for a coder who wants to make a game to do a remake of a game that he knows and loves. It's much easier to make a game from an existing design then to design your own. A lot of people who have no other game development skills like to consider themselves designer. But creating a game design that is both fun, innovative, and achievable given the developers resources and abilities takes some true talent. I guess this would be akin to a single musician doing vocals, guitar, drums, base all themselves and write good music at the same time. Indie developers who are serious about indie development want to make progress towards their goal of becoming full time making their own games. (This was mentioned in some of the other comments) Recently the popular trend has been to make puzzle games, a lot of indies took this as a step towards securing their freedom since this was a segment ignored by the big players. However as of late this segment has become increasingly more saturated and competitive. It's also attracted the attention of the slow moving big players. I expect things to change in the indie scene very soon. More and more developers are going indie and getting experience making their own games. Production values are going up, more and more of them are going full time. I expect to see indie games breaking out of the current puzzle game trend and start taking on new genera's in the near future. Expect a different spin on them then the retail sector, but they will be more complex and sophisticated then the popcap crowd. In the end, the real soul of indie development isn't the games, it's the developers. They put their own time and resources into their games, they listen to their customers and make changes to their products (if they are the successful type). They also support their customers in a way that no retail shop can. I believe it is the heart and soul of the indie developers that has caused them to be so successful with the mass market and traditionally marginalized market segments.