Still Alive attempts to distil this popular ‘survival sim’ formula, removing some of the more hardcore elements of games like DayZ and Rust and introducing a bigger focus on player combat. By pitting up to 10 players against each other in a last-man standing deathmatch mode, players are expected to scavenge the supplies and weapons necessary to fight against their fellow humans in an attempt to be the sole survivor.

Today’s apocalypse is brought to you by way of a meteor shower raining molten fire and rock-based destruction across the earth. The planet is left scarred, most life has ceased to exist, and everything is generally looking bad for the remaining survivors. What’s worse, the meteor shower seems to have implanted an alien species onto the planet; a hive mind organism that can mutate any life form it is able to inhabit. Naturally, humans become a perfect home for these alien bacteria baddies, and genetically spliced mass murdering humans begin to flood the landscape seeking out the tender flesh of whoever remains.

It’s an interesting concept that I’m surprised we haven’t seen sooner. By amalgamating the best features of a number of games, Still Alive seems to be highlighting a specific element that makes these kinds of games great – the emergent play that comes from conflict between players. However, only time will tell if that alone is unique enough for it to achieve its $45,000 Kickstarter goal.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

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.

It’s morning time in the world of Terraria, as I can see the sun barely breaching the Eastern horizon. My uniquely customized avatar, the aptly named Canyoudigit, is draped in a green shirt and flesh colored pants. Why flesh colored pants, you ask? Because in the 16-bit reminiscent world of Terraria, it makes him look like he isn’t wearing any and that makes me laugh… don’t judge me.

I begin my epic journey by exploring the vast surface terrain. Wooden sword in hand, I decimate dozens of harmless gelatinous blobs in my path and harvest their precious gel. Moments later, passing a cluster of tall trees, I swiftly whip out my copper axe and proceed to furiously hack. I am motivated solely by the thought of building a wooden, pants-optional virtual village of tolerance.

After a few in-game hours of chopping, I am satisfied with my wooden stockpile. Daylight quickly begins to wane as night rolls in. I go back to my starting area and notice a mysterious man named “The Guide” whom I had not noticed previously. He spouts off some seemingly random crafting tip nonsense and I reasonably respond by attempting to chop him up with my wooden sword of gelatinous banishment… no effect. Oh well, I think to myself, it’s time to build my Utopia.

I quickly finish crafting my first house. Shortly thereafter, the screen takes on an eerie hue and the game notifies me that “The Blood Moon is Rising…”. The sky turns blood red and the music takes on a dramatic tone. Without warning, I am sieged from both sides by an onslaught of flying eyeballs and charging zombies (one of which is wearing a top hat, oddly enough). I sprint to my newly created house and securely close both doors. Then suddenly, with a sense of unparalleled comedic timing, “The Guide” opens the door to my house (with a dumb smile teeming with computerized vengeance) and stands there as the demonic flood engulfs us both. Welcome to Terraria!

The first thing you will notice about Terraria is the art style. Anyone who was gaming during the SNES and Sega Genesis era will immediately recognize the game’s colorful 16-bit sprites and tile-based architecture. Each randomly generated world can be configured as small, medium, or large; small taking approximately one game day to run across and large taking several. While exploring the world’s terrain, you will encounter jungles, deserts, lakes, grasslands, forests, and the dreaded “taint” (insert immature joke here). Each area presents unique environmental challenges to overcome and monsters to banish, including three world bosses that require actual planning to defeat. These random elements add considerably to the game’s appeal and replayability.

Another positive attribute of Terraria is the expansive crafting system. It features hundreds of items to create from a host of raw materials that you will acquire through mining, monster drops, and chests. Items include weaponry, armor, and household decorations that add a sense of design to your humble abode. The challenge intensifies as you dig deeper to harvest the rarest materials, however so do the rewards. While you have the standard copper/silver/gold adventurer faire, the game differentiates itself by displaying its humorous side with unique items like the “Minishark” (part mini-gun, part shark) and the “Ball O’ Hurt”. With no storyline to bog it down, Terraria has a lighthearted appeal that adds to its charm and accessibility.

That being said, Terraria is not a game that will appeal to everyone. It lacks a tutorial and does not direct you where to go next. It is the epitome of a sandbox game. When you die, you drop all of your money on-hand (although some can be stored in your house) and respawn on the surface. So when you go “splat” unexpectedly on to a pitch black cave floor 1,200 feet below the surface because your grappling hook wasn’t quite long enough, or you drown in a massive underwater lake, it can take hours to find your dropped money if you weren’t paying attention. In an age of GPS units and waypoint indicators, this will undoubtedly frustrate some players. Fully expect to have a “Wiki” page or forum open in the background as you play. Don’t expect this to change either, as developers have been working on making the game even harder in recent patches.

In an age of skyrocketing game budgets that rival those of major motion pictures, it’s good to see independents like this one becoming a success. In its first week alone Terraria sold 200,000 copies, beating the likes of Portal 2 and The Witcher 2 on the Steam game service in weekly total sales. While it may not be completely original, borrowing heavily from the Legend of Zelda and Minecraft series, it goes far beyond “clone” status. With dozens of hours of game play at the bargain price of $10, this game comes very highly recommended.

© 2011 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.