Blow off some steam or shed some light on the current status of the indie game/dev community, It seems a lot of devs have simply stopped caring, and the rest have just plain betrayed the whole point of the Indie genre: To go against the formulation of every single AAA title, for people who are tired of military war/futuristic shooters, or open-world crime games.
But now the current state of indie is as simply put, 1/3 Minecraft rip-offs(Cubeworld,that fps block game), 1/3 Im an ironic simulator(Goat sim, grass sim, sitting sim, etc.) 1/3 Poor design gumbo(Just look at shittykickstarters)
I enjoy more indie games than triple AAAs or even their lackluster counterparts B-tier games, and I respect people for straying from the norm, and what's unacceptable are people who make games that are antonymous to the concept of Indie, independence, not depending on a formula, It's essentially selling out before your career even hitches. Or if they're too incompetent they should learn first, maybe I'm too pissed about this because the successful indie titles are so successful they basically evaporate the inferior market, but I DO know people agree with me.

9 years ago*

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Link to your blog?

9 years ago
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Instantly made me think of this.

9 years ago
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Dont use it as much as my venting blog but: voodin.tumblr.com

9 years ago
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And those examples you mention are probably on the lower 5% of the spectrum. The rest of us are still trying to make real games and not youtube crap. Mind that youtube is nowhere near a valid source of game criticism or journalism. It's. Just. Popular.
And popular stuff is rarely good/masterpiece worthy.

Mind you, this happens with all kinds of media, not just games. Books, movies, anything related to creative products. Either you go with the masses or struggle to do something worthwhile. I'd rather go with the latter.

9 years ago
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I basically ignore youtube, my problem is gaming outlets try to play along with the joke, or some of the genuinely aren't tired of horror games and sims, I know you have to sift through shit to get to gold,but this is more like 60% of the spectrum, the rest is unsculpted masterpeices I'm assured, everything special flies too far under the radar. I didn't know games like Fez were even things until years later when the flack of other crap brushed away.

9 years ago
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Jesse COx if have a really interesting new section called the greenligth that at least TRY to do some transparency...

Now...indie in game developing is not the same than under by the way...Indie is just like the definition of industry is: a project financiated with in independents way (normally for the pocket of the project and some "charity" funds).

Under is...experimental art that is very VERY rare that if become popular(but it can be a trigger of something popular)...

9 years ago
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Is it bad that each time I am off to take a shit, I say I am off to "Make a Steam Greenlight Game!" ???

9 years ago
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Also I really question how rare unique titles are on Indie market. Atleast they should aim to recreate something gone past and not just copy the most recent mega success. Puzzle platformers, retro platformers etc. It all feels so done at this point, there must be something else out there that hasn't been recently copied to death...

9 years ago
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The problem is that most of the indie games you hear of these days either come to your attention because they're amazing or because they're incredibly bad/ popular. And how many super amazing games are there in the first place for you to hear about? A lot less than the bad ones out there.

Indie games in general are thriving, it's just that you're only seeing the worst part of it. Check out indiegames.com. It's full of inspiring indie projects you might want to check out.

If you want to go straight to the heart of it all and get in the midst of it, check out tigsource.com it's where devs discuss games, show off their WIP games, get feedback and even hire talent.

9 years ago
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What if I don't care if a game is indie, triple-A or double-D? What if, instead of its agenda, I actually only care whether a game is fun to play or not?
I believe the "look at me, I'm so wacky" fad will soon bury itself and people will start throwing money at something else. I don't think that will stop talented and passionate developers from delivering quality products.

9 years ago
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If it's fun, its fun but recycled fun is no better than recycled water, it doesn't further anything.

9 years ago
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indie games = copycats or simulators...or both :P

GODDAMN IT Fish i want my Fez 2, you pussy!

9 years ago
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the concept of Indie, independence, not depending on a formula

No, independence is about not doing what publishers want or what some Joe Schmoe on the net thinks should be done. Just because you don't like a particular game doesn't mean that it's not a game worth releasing, and unfortunately all too many people have this self inflated ego problem.

9 years ago
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What if the fact that it's a game not worth releasing is the reason you don't like it?

9 years ago
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exactly

9 years ago
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It's your opinion that it's not worth releasing, so of course what it chimes right in with what I said.

There are lots of very successful games which many people hate. There are games which only have a few thousand fans and most people don't care for. No game is universally loved. That doesn't mean that any of these games aren't worth releasing.

9 years ago
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Look at me I'm Hindi. Wait, what.

Technically, "indie" just mean that they don't have a huge company behind them, but you are right that half the developers don't seem to be trying anymore; it seemed that the indie game market reacher its peak when about when Indie Movie came out.

We know have abandoned ALPHA games that have already made revenue for the devs, and stupid games like those "simulators" that you mentioned that still get greenlit because of the people voting for them just because they want to expand their library or something like that.

Once again, just like DLC, it may be partialy the community's fault because it allowed it (both with Alpha games and upvoting that kind of senseless "indie" games I mentioned).

And don't get me started on Minecraft-esque, pixel """"""retro""""" games, and RPG Maker games.

9 years ago
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people are people. They are different. There are clever, friendly people with brilliant ideas and stupid, greedy etc.

It's not possible that every game will next "braid" or "to the moon" because not everybody has enough talent and perseverance to make gem like this.

Like in any other industry branch there are always few good ideas and hundreds of copycats who want to have their own "cash cow" with minimal investment.

Unfortunately now those "hyenas" came to indie game industrie but don't worry in 2 years most of them will go bankrupt and after 10 years we will have golden indie age again.

9 years ago
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Yeah, but there still are games like La-Mulana 2; Hotline Miami 2; and quite a few awesome flash games being made.

9 years ago
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I have no problem with so-called indie games, but I do think that sometimes, devs use the word "indie" as an excuse for their laziness or for simply not giving two shits about their game.

They know there's a solid chance people will love it, because "indie"...

9 years ago
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