NOVUS// Going Indie

Reviews & news have been slow for me, life was like, HEY!! DO STUFF! & HIDE IN A CORNER! I'm getting my processing power back but as always, it takes more time to do so than it does to diminish it. But with this I announce that Glitchcraft will primarily be reviewing independent games. Let's start by defining the term with Wikipedia excerpts:

• There is no exact widely accepted definition of what constitutes an "indie game". However, indie games generally share certain characteristics. Indie games are developed by individuals, small teams, or small independent companies. Indie game developers are generally not financially backed by video game publishers and usually have little to no budget available. Indie developers do not have controlling interests or creative limitations and do not require publisher approval as mainstream game developers usually do. Design decisions are thus also not limited by the allocated budget. Furthermore, smaller team sizes increase individual involvement. Small teams, scope, and no creative restrictions have made indie games known for innovation, creativity, and artistic experimentation. Both classic game genres and new gameplay innovation have been seen.

There are several reasons for this... 1, I tend to only play indies as my gaming activity almost exclusively concerns Steam & my pc. 2, I myself am an indie game developer. 3, indie games need more representation in online media. 4, indie games are the heart & soul of the game industry.

To me, indie games are the delicacies of gaming. Triple A titles & mainstream publishers are like McDonalds. I don't eat at McDonalds, but I digress. This is not to say that interesting, original titles cannot come out of publisher-backed developers, but the fervent need for devs to express themselves without any promise of monetary support is a deep, heart-felt sentiment that I find incredibly appreciable.

I feel that the purveyors of indie games are epicures & thus their experience with games is taken more seriously than the majority of 'gamers.' Indie game development is in itself a social commentary, giving evidence to an industrial dystopia of structure created by corporate publishers; the fact that indies have been able to rise above the occlusion created by publishers, through the use of crowd-source funding, is a testament to the epicurean game rebellion... or as I like to call it, the Nerd Revolution. Gamers are willing to throw lots of money at people promising them something new, & I quote Miellyn Fitzwater Barrows & Hilary Heskett Shapiro of Tonic Industries, "The internet is like an endless pot of gold... take all the monies." Fans express themselves with money, & the indie side of the game industry has exploded with support for small-team developers with big dreams in the last few years.

Indies remind us of what huge publishers have forgotten... games inspire us to become better people, to dream of realms otherwise unimagined, to save our own world from apathy & treachery, to push socially relevant narrative or challenge homogeneously acceptable mechanics. Indies aren't out for money, & a blanket desire for "fun" (read: accessible) mechanics is usually opposite their goals. Indie game development is about expression at the heart of it, for when there is no other media that can properly portray the emotions & situations devs are dying to communicate. The whole thing is a love-letter to the human race, & I find it to be a most romantic endeavor.

Join the gaming renaissance... become an epicurean. Go indie.

Haven't seen Indie Game: The Movie? You're doing yourself a disservice. It is absolutely beautiful... & it makes me cry.