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Invasion of the 'indie' developers?

Dark Drakan

Dark Drakan

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Has anyone else noticed that it seems to be the smaller development companies that are starting to create the more imaginative & innovative games? On top of the popularity of Apps like Angry Birds/Cut the Rope & Plants vs Zombies there are more smaller games trying something new in the industry.

Up until recently I had never downloaded a single XBL Arcade game and now I have downloaded the trials for 3 this week alone and got 2 full games. While the mainstream companies are churning out the same style games year after year there are new companies who are trying something different and grabbing gamers attention in new ways. The three that seem to be grabbing peoples attention currently are Minecraft, Telltales The Walking Dead and Undead Labs State of Decay. Two of which are part of the overly saturated zombie genre but that have tried something different and started to get worldwide acclaim for doing so. So are smaller indie developers actually starting to create more adventurous and ambitious games than the AAA developers?

My list of trials I have downloaded this week:

Minecraft
The Walking Dead
State of Decay (heard its rough around the edges but good)

Full Games Purchased

Spartacus Legends (Free to play)
The Walking Dead Episode 1 (Intend to purchase them all).
Minecraft

Going to purchase Far Cry Blood Dragon too when I get some spare cash from the XBL Arcade (though technically not an indie developer of course).
 
Tsuyu said:
Meanwhile the big companies keep trucking out CoD after CoD, Battlefield after Battlefield....
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That's what I mean, DICE are at least pushing the physics in Battlefield games and Frostbite engine is great but lots of main stream big companies essentially churn out the same games over & over with some minor updates. These smaller companies are attempting new ideas and pushing boundaries in different ways. These games don't have huge budgets or try and promote them based on looks, its all about new elements of gameplay.

Im also happy to hear that Microsoft have scrapped the costs for developers to submit patches & updates for games too. This will help the smaller developers continue to support their games and fix bugs/issues without the costs involved in doing so (rumoured to be around $40,000 per patch).

Microsoft no longer charges developers to patch their Xbox 360 games
 
How can you have not played the Walking Dead yet?! :w00t:

Dude download them all naow!!!! One of the greatest story campaigns I've ever seen in a game, you'll frikken love it! I don't want to spoil anything but lets just say the end is amazing! I can't wait till telltale release that 400 days dlc for it, also these guys(telltale) made a back to the future(PS3 exclusive) game I've played the first episode and its brilliant. :D

Also I did try State of Decay I gonna get it after I finish a few of my older games, its brilliant yeah it has a few bugs but its so innovative & plus its the first game from that company I hear, so you just wanna kiss undead labs after that trial. :P

I tried minecraft, spend a while playing got bored, built a giant penis then deleted it off my hdd. Not my cup of tea tbh but I can see what the hype is about, also you should try limbo & journey really beautiful games! I'll have a look for that spartacus legends not heard of it before.
 
I went to Rezzed last weekend and got to play a crap load of new indie games, and man oh man they're a lot better than some of the triple A titles out there. Hotline Miami 2, Sir, You are being Hunter, Montagues Mount and Surgeon Sim on the Oculus are some were all bloody brilliant. The bar for Indie devs has really raised in the last couple of years.
 
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State of Decay is brilliant. It is a bit buggy, but it's well executed and thought out with plenty to do.
 
Well I really don't have any damn option: Xbox is my only way to fly. (Unless the Wii counts as a gaming console)

I played Far Cry: Blood Dragon. Damn, funny as hell! I was laughing hard when I pressed the melee button just to find a great big "F' you!" haha. Real Mature. State Of Decay is also a really good one for me. The concept and characters remind me of The Walking Dead. It just gave me that certain vibe. Also, did anyone else realize that in State Of Decay, if you play the game for a second time, the items change? Sometimes you won't even find a Shotgun. Persoanlly I found the game highly addictive. I'm currently download Call Of Jurez: Gunslinger. Haven't played it yet but it does look interesting, hopefully it's gritty/dark too.

There was also one game but it's not Arcade it's an Indiegame. It's called: Derp of Duty. Nobody has heard of it I assume? It's got humor in it anyway. But I didn't see much pardoy from COD.

I never found an interest in any of these Genre's but for some reason something has clicked on, and now I'm finally using most of my 100gb's, like you. (Okay that last part probably isn't true)
 
Being innovative is a great(and perhaps the only) way of getting ahead these days. If these indie developers were to shell out more of the same thing, no one would show any interest.

Try out Limbo and Braid if you're interested in more indie titles. Heard great things about both. Limbo's art direction and music score themselves are magical. Same can be said for Braid.
 
Tsuyu said:
What the f---- they really did charge them previously? That's messed up! No wonder a lot of good games died as broken messes....
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Im guessing they charged them per patch to limit the amount of games that released totally broken. The companies would be sure to delay games and make sure most were as stable as they could be to avoid paying the fee to keep patching their games. Obviously some games do still launch broken & require multiple patches but if they have had to pay such a sum it might have made them think twice next time. However it also did limit certain smaller teams from releasing a decent amount of updates for their titles that werent only fixing bugs but adding new features. Which I would wager as one of the main reasons for this change.

Hermes said:
How can you have not played the Walking Dead yet?! :w00t:

Dude download them all naow!!!! One of the greatest story campaigns I've ever seen in a game, you'll frikken love it! I don't want to spoil anything but lets just say the end is amazing! I can't wait till telltale release that 400 days dlc for it, also these guys(telltale) made a back to the future(PS3 exclusive) game I've played the first episode and its brilliant. :D

Also I did try State of Decay I gonna get it after I finish a few of my older games, its brilliant yeah it has a few bugs but its so innovative & plus its the first game from that company I hear, so you just wanna kiss undead labs after that trial. :P

I tried minecraft, spend a while playing got bored, built a giant penis then deleted it off my hdd. Not my cup of tea tbh but I can see what the hype is about, also you should try limbo & journey really beautiful games! I'll have a look for that spartacus legends not heard of it before.
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I had heard great things about The Walking Dead and seen all the awards it had won but wasnt sure if the genre was for me as I have never played many point and click games. However I spotted the demo and tried it and thought it was great so I purchased Episode 1 and loved that too. Its going to be the next series I purchase when I have some spare cash (something which is in limited supply currently).

I have played the demo of State of Decay and has some nice ideas, rough around the edges but the developers are working hard to patch as many issues as they can. They are also very vocal developers with their fans and constantly 'chat' on Twitter to fans answering questions and listening to feedback, something which I have a lot of respect for. I think I shall end up purchasing this too once a couple more patches have been released and ive heard more about the rumoured co-op.

Minecraft seems a little boring at first but its only as limited as your imagination, it doesnt force you to do a lot and can be quite daunting as to the amount of things at your disposal. Also takes some time to mine the resources to create some of the more elaborate structures (dread to think how long this took).

Spartacus Legends isnt great but its ok to have a play around on every now and again, they have having lots of server issues with the multiplayer currently due to overwhelming demand but the single player is ok.

Tyloric said:
State of Decay is brilliant. It is a bit buggy, but it's well executed and thought out with plenty to do.
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Yeah I would agree based on just the demo impressions, its screaming out for a co-op experience (which is rumoured).
 
Digital distribution has been a godsend to indie developers. Now you don't need to pay $43756285628 to manufacture 40 DVDs, make nice little books to put into the case and send them to stores. Just gotta pay (I assume?) to put one digital copy up on Steam, and watch the money roll in.
 
Arseface said:
Digital distribution has been a godsend to indie developers. Now you don't need to pay $43756285628 to manufacture 40 DVDs, make nice little books to put into the case and send them to stores. Just gotta pay (I assume?) to put one digital copy up on Steam, and watch the money roll in.
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It has helped companies slash distribution costs and if games sell really well they can create retail copies afterwards to please those without great Internet connections etc.
 
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Dark Drakan said:
It has helped companies slash distribution costs and if games sell really well they can create retail copies afterwards to please those without great Internet connections etc.
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Exactly. We're seeing the same thing happen in every media industry. It's changing the game completely, leveling the playing field quite a lot.
 
After Microsoft ended the current reward scheme and they deposit all my pending points from the surveys etc into my account I purchased The Walking Dead Episode 2 and wow its amazing. Telltale really do deserve all the credit they have gotten from the series, I was stunned even after 2 episodes. Just wish I had some spare cash to purchase the rest of the episodes because I would get them in a heartbeat.
 
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