A good example of just how blurred the line between indie and non-indie games is Chucklefish Games. They are referred to as an “indie” games company which develops indie games… when in fact they are also a publisher. This is important because the technical definition of indie states that these games cannot have a publisher, and yet two “indie” games (Wanderlust Rebirth and Stardew Valley) are published by Chucklefish.

Wanderlust Rebirth, published by Chucklefish

“Indie is being able to make what you want without a publisher or client breathing down your neck. There are big indies and there are small indies but as long as you’re making the game for yourself, I think you can still be indie, no matter what your team size is.” – Alex Gold, director of Dark Scavenger

Stardew Valley was developed entirely by Eric Barone, and was planned to be self-published until a little while ago when it was announced that Chucklefish Games would be publishing it. Should Stardew Valley still be considered an indie game?

An interesting thing about the definition of indie games is that it never specifies anything with regard to sales, meaning that even if an indie game outsells a AAA game it is still considered to be indie. Therefore, unlike some people think, there should not be any connection between sales and the indie label.

Stardew Valley by Eric Barone

“An indie game is one which is made by an individual or small team driven primarily by passion. Indie developers make games because they like making them, not because they have to.”  - Andrew Sum, creator of Dungeon Dashers

At least part of the blame for the industry’s confused interpretation of indie is because of companies abusing the term. A great example of such abuse is EA’s “indie games bundle” which was released on Steam in May of 2012, containing Shank 1 and 2, Gatling Gears, Warp, DeathSpank and DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue. All of these games were developed by small studios but published by EA, technically making them non-indie.

I believe that journalists in the gaming industry can help the situation by putting at least a little more focus on how games they’re covering are being funded and what makes them indie if it is claiming to be indie.

EA’s “Indie Games Bundle” on Steam

“It’s not about trying to be professional. A lot of people come into indie games trying to be like a big company. And what those game companies do is create highly polished things that serve as large of an audience as possible. The way that you do that is by filing off all the bumps on something. If there’s a sharp corner you make sure that’s not going to hurt anybody if they bump into it or whatever. That creation of this highly glossy commercial product is the opposite of making something personal. Things that are personal have flaws. They have vulnerabilities. If you don’t see a vulnerability in somebody you’re probably not relating with them on a very personal level. So it’s the same with game design. You know it was about letting me take my deepest flaws and vulnerabilities, and putting them in the game… And let’s see what happens. ” – Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid (Indie Game the Movie)

Perhaps we’re just looking at this in the wrong way. Another way people tend to describe indie games is by calling them the innovators of the games industry, which can be true. Indie games do sometimes innovate, and the top-rated and best-selling ones typically do. However, this isn’t always true. While I’d love to say that indie gaming is all about innovation, often it really isn’t. Indie developers and studios also need to feed themselves, so they are often just as worried about turning a profit as big publishers and studios are. This isn’t necessarily a problem, although it does mean that even indie gaming tends to follow trends, meaning that many of the same type of game are sometimes released within a short period.

Braid sold over 55,000 copies on day one

“In our view, an indie game or indie developer is simply one that is independent from a publisher or a game in which the developers call the shots for how the entire game is made. For us at Superboss Games, that means being able to do things that are riskier gameplay wise and closer to our real vision of how that game should be which we think is important for new gameplay experiences.” – Rob Storm from Superboss Games

One thing I think we can say for sure about indie games is that they tend to be new IPs. Publishers are often focused on milking what they can out of their big money making franchises (ie Nintendo with Pokemon or Ubisoft with Assassin’s Creed). Just think about it… when was the last time Nintendo developed or published a new IP? I can’t think of any recent examples. Publishers are often reluctant to try anything completely radical because it’s outside of their comfort zone and outside of our comfort zone as gamers. Gamers today are usually more comfortable with iteration rather than innovation, meaning that we like (or are at least more comfortable with) things that are familiar to us rather than things that are completely radical and unheard of.

Project Stormos by Superboss Games

Of course, that’s not to say big blockbuster titles are lesser than indie ones, because that’s absolutely not true. A big problem that’s forming right now is this division being created between AAA games and indie games. In the end, they’re really not that different except for the way that they’re created. They’re both designed to entertain gamers, so why would we try to divide the two? It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, the worst of it being the indie elitism that I’ve been seeing in recent history. This elitism is the categorization and segregation of indie games from non-indie games to the extreme by gamers and developers; These people are compelled to separate the two because they feel that indie games are the only good type of game on the market. Indie games and AAA games can indeed exist in harmony, contrary to what some people seem to believe. Both of these types of game creation have value and both of them have produced some pretty amazing games.

I’m going to pose a question to you. You’ve got to answer honestly, otherwise there’s no point in even discussing this. If a game is good, does it really matter much how it was made? Does it matter whether or not a video game is developed independently by an indie development studio or by a big publisher? Does the way the game was made actually have any sort of impact on your experience?

Of course it doesn’t. In my mind, the very notion of that is ridiculous. Obviously a good game is still a good game, regardless of who it was developed by. To me, it doesn’t matter if a video game was made by Electronic Arts or Chucklefish Games. Don’t be a fanboy, if you want to objectively judge the quality of a video game, you must put past experiences aside and only focus in on the now. I say this because although there’s been a lot of uproar and controversy over EA lately, they are still capable of making good games and the judgement of games developed by them can’t be influenced by anything else other than the elements of the game. As gamers, we need to get out of the habit of segregating games. If EA makes a good game it is still a good game, regardless of the fact that they are a publisher rather than an indie development studio. This is also true in reverse, indie games are not necessarily lower quality than games made by big publishers. Elitism (both in indie games and in AAA games) is not a good thing and is rather unhealthy for the industry… something that we need to stop.

Minecraft recently surpassed 10 million sales on PC

“A game made by a large studio that isn’t backed by a large publisher. Since they usually don’t have a large budget they have to rely on creativity to sell their games.” – James Scott, Independent Video Games Journalist

At the end of the day, no matter what anybody says, there really is no universal interpretation of what indie games actually are. Nobody I asked about it seemed to be 100% sure, and all were wary about providing an answer as it’s a very difficult and loaded question… one that requires a lot of thought. One thing that I do want to see stop though is this idea of indie games being superior to AAA titles and vice versa, as it’s absolutely not true and judging a game whether it was made by a large company or small studio is stupid. What constitutes an indie game is subjective, what constitutes a good video game is not.

All opinions represented here are my own unless otherwise noted and do not necessarily represent the views of The Indie Mine or any of its staff.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Each character recruited by the player not only has their own unique abilities to lend in battle, but they also hold day jobs. And the more the character is used in battle, the better he or she is going to get at their craft. For example, some of the game’s player classes will run shops during the day and can eventually provide unique items. Some classes can unlock new functionality like zooming in and out to uncover secrets. Other abilities unlocked make things easier on the player by allowing vehicles or buying items remotely. So not only is leveling up a concern, but the potential to open up new abilities is something to factor in when choosing the current entourage.

If you’re like me, when you play an RPG you tend to find a group of characters that you like and stick with them. It’s simply easier to go with what you know instead of being burdened with keeping alternate characters equipped with the best items. Eden Industries is trying to encourage players to swap characters in and out by including not only the day job system, but also by promising that those alternate characters are ready to play “out of the box”. Equipment does not have the same impact, meaning trying out a new player won’t have the same high detriment to your success as in many RPGs.

Combat allows the player to bring up to three additional party members as they fend off the quirky townsfolk and experiments gone wrong. If the battle starts going south, players can restart at any time and swap out their combatants. The aforementioned vehicles can also be used to take out enemies. Best of all? Despite the throwback inspiration, there are no random encounters. Getting a jump on the enemy can give the player an advantage, but it also works the other way around.

Unlike some modern RPGs, the developers are focused on keeping the adventure short, but broad. A lot of the content included in the game will be optional, but likely well worth exploring. Drawing comparisons to the oft-revered Earthbound series, Citizens of Earth uses a modern theme but introduces a wide variety of bizarre characters and locales to comedic effect. It’s impossible at this point to tell just how humorous the game will end up, but the premise and character design alone are good signs.

Eden Industries is going for humor with the game’s settings and characters

Although Eden Industries is going old school with a 2D isometric view, they’re also promising a lot of razzle dazzle in the visual effects department. Included are hand-painted artwork, bloom lighting, real-time shadows, a day/night cycle, and the distortion effect previously seen in Waveform. Having talked with Eden Industries off and on since the release of Waveform, it’s obvious the studio has a focus on tech in their development, and I think it’ll come through in a big way here.

Eden Industries is promising a lot of interesting ideas in Citizens of Earth. While details have been plentiful, the game isn’t far enough along that they’re willing to share more than a handful of pieces of character art and screenshots. Although the studio has a lot to prove now, it’s certainly whet my appetite for a modern spin on the classic RPG. No official release date has been announced yet, but keep checking back at The Indie Mine for the latest news.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.