Indie Gamers?

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Any indie gamers on this site?

Right now I'm going through a frustrating run of Nuclear Throne with Melting.

I love indie games! Super Meat Boy is one of my all-time favorites.

Never played Nuclear Throne.

Yeah, I mostly do indie games myself. I tend not to like most AAA games these days... they have alot of trends in them I really cant stand (like too many freaking cutscenes, or an overload of FPS games).

Nuclear Throne I've played, but I lost interest in it a long while ago. I've beaten it, many times, but there just wasnt much to keep my interest later on.

Currently I'm playing a ton of Crypt of the Necrodancer because it's bloody amazing. I mean, seriously. This may be one of the best things I've ever played. It's also freaking brutal.

I've also had the chance to work with an indie dev group by the name of Arcen. I did alot of testing for them over the last few years (and they've made some of my favorite games, like AI War), and then was contracted to help them develop an expansion for one of their games. That went well, and shortly after, I got another contract to help with a full game. Where for whatever baffling reason they saw fit to give me alot of authority. So THAT was exciting. The game's name is Starward Rogue. Me and a few others have been constantly adding to that one since it's release, and we're working on an expansion for it right now (slowly). There's been some other games I've helped with too (and sometimes am in the credits of), but those are the ones that involved actual contracts.


Other than that, well.... yeah, like I said, mainly indie games for me. I have so very, very many at this point. Too many. Both well known ones like Binding of Isaac (one of my all-time favorite games) as well as all sorts of obscure ones too. There's so many good ones out there that dont get enough attention.

Another really special favorite though, that I'm betting not even one person on this site has heard of: Sumotori Dreams. That one's special to me. It's a really, REALLY simple game. It is this: http://www.gravitysensation.com/sumotori/

Basically, some really blocky sumo wrestlers try to knock each other over in a surreal world. It's a goofy physics game. I've had it for quite awhile and have always liked it... it's fun to jump into for a few minutes randomly (or for an hour, I get addicted to it). But the reason it's special to me is that there was a time a couple of years back when I was put on a hellish medication known as Prednisone. It was a bloody nightmare that then lasted for the next month, and one of the worst experiences I've been through. For the most part, I did no gaming during that month, because I just... couldnt. Except that one. The ultra-simple fun and slapstick humor of those guys stumbling around and falling offa stuff was something that even in that state, I could handle. It really helped in getting me through that, so I'm very grateful.

....Also honestly it really just is a fun game to me. I play it all the time. It makes for a great way to unwind. Normally I mostly play games with very high levels of challenge (shmups, roguelikes) but sometimes I also really like games like Sumotori or Goat Simulator just for sheer fun factor and for the fact that they help me relax. Yes, I'm a fan of Goat Simulator. I must have 80+ hours in it. I play it quite alot and have all of the expansions (yes, it has expansions, and so far they've all been quite good). So I guess Goat Simulator counts as another favorite.


There that's enough of my rambling for now.

I strongly favor indie games over AAA. In my experience, because they can afford to take risks (or perhaps more accurately because they can't afford not to) indie games represent both the best and the worst of the market, while AAA games play it safe and tend to be uniformly mediocre. If I were to list my top 5 favorite games, only Morrowind was made by a major studio--and to be honest Bethesda wasn't a major studio when they released Morrowind (which goes a long way towards explaining why Oblivion and Skyrim were so mediocre). I'm chiefly an RPG and point'n'click player, but I have a strange obsession with platformers even though I'm horrible at them and rarely have the skill to finish them.

(That top 5 list for the curious...)

1. Morrowind: No game has been so successful at creating a living, breathing world with an immensely deep culture and an attitude of just not caring about you. Whereas in most RPGs, the world seems to revolve around the player, Morrowind is very successful at creating an atmosphere where it feels like your character could die and no one would care--until you save the world, that is, but only after being labeled a heretic and hunted across the island.
2. Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons: This game represents the best marriage of gameplay and narrative that I've ever encountered, and it manages to tell a beautiful story without a single word of dialogue. Also for a completely linear platform it nevertheless manages to present a world that feels "lived in."
3. To The Moon: This game never fails to make me cry rivers of tears (pun very much intended). The writing itself is often campy, but the story it tells is one of the most poignant I've encountered. And it's not that often autism comes up in video games.
4. The Deponia Franchise: These four (or two, depending on how you count them :p ) games are easily my favorite point'n'click adventures (yes, better than anything LucasArts made, as much as I love Monkey Island). The reason: the protagonist actually experiences character growth! Rufus starts out as an unlikable, unrelatable jerk, but as the story folds you first begin to feel sorry for him and then slowly begin to recognize there's another side to him. Also it features the voice of Alix Wilton Regan (you might know her as the English Female voice of the Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition or Sam Traynor in Mass Effect 3).
5. The Banner Saga: I love everything about The Banner Saga: the breathtaking art, the grim atmosphere, the story of hope mixed with despair, the characters, Austin Wintory's haunting soundtrack...I eagerly await the third (and, sadly, final) installment.

Some honorable mentions:
Thimbleweed Park: I hate, hate, hate, hate the ending, but the rest of the game is fantastic enough to make me willing to overlook that.

Transistor and Pyre: I'm probably among the few who didn't really care for Bastion, but Supergiant's other two games are nothing short of masterpieces. So far, Pyre is my game of the year for 2017, and I'm not really foreseeing much competition.

The Whispered World: Made by Jan "Poki" Mueller-Michaelis, the creator of Deponia, this is a beautiful coming of age story with a surprising and beautiful ending. Also all hand drawn, like Deponia. Some people hate the voice actor who portrays the main character, but I think he's fine. The soundtrack is also breathtaking. Too bad the sequel was abominable, but I think that was inevitable.

Aviary Attorney: What could be better than a game set in the February Revolution using 19th century woodcuts of anthropomorphic animals for graphics? Oh, and Louis-Philippe is a penguin. :p

The Shivah: Rather short, but an excellent old school point'n'click more in the vein of Sierra than LucasArts. You play a rabbi with a snarky Jewish sense of humor solving a murder mystery.

Primordia: One of the more thought-provoking and literate point'n'clicks I've played. The setting, a post-human world inhabited by breaking-down robots, is very unique, the characters are interesting (and the main character is voiced by Logan Cunningham), and it manages to reference most major sci-fi from Star Wars to A Canticle for Leibowitz.

The Stanley Parable: This game is about as meta as they come, but its tongue-in-cheek commentary on narrative, video game design, philosophy, art games, etc. is incredibly entertaining and mildly depressing. :p

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture: Not for the faint of stomach--while not explicitly gory or scary, the atmosphere is unnerving and there are descriptions of gore. Also strong language. This game received criticism because the "mystery" is obvious--and it is. I solved it five minutes into the game. But that's missing the point, because the game isn't about the mystery. It's about the small town of Yaughton and the people who live there. It was a profound, beautiful, and unsettling experience that haunted me for weeks. (Fair warning: this is the only game that's ever given me motion sickness.) I do love a good walking simulator, emphasis on "good" because there is some crap in the genre (*glares at the pretentious overhyped Gone Home*). Other good walking simulators include Dear Esther, Firewatch (more upbeat than most), and The Novelist (highly relatable if you've ever tried to balance life and creative pursuits). TIMEframe and The Beginner's Guide are both also very good, but best picked up on sale as they are very short. For free there's also Dr. Langeskov, the Tiger, and the Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist--typing the title takes about as long as it takes to play, but it's from the makers of The Stanley Parable and has some very snappy writing.

Eh, I would just say I'm a gamer. I play a lot of games, a lot of them are indie, some of them are good. A lot of people like to criticise AAA games and praise indie games, but most indie games are terrible. For every one that's worth playing there's a few hundred that are total trash. Indie games are generally less averse to risks, but a lot of my favourite indie games aren't particularly original either.

I've been playing a bit of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds recently. Fun game, especially with people you know. Never got much into games like DayZ even though I thought they were interesting on paper. Battlegrounds is like those games but more focused and designed around shorter playtimes which is well suited to me.

I also have played a fair bit of Superhot VR. It's one of the best FPS VR games, very original and makes you feel like a massive badass when you're doing well.

One of my favourite games from last year was Stardew Valley. It doesn't really do anything particularly original. It's just the best Harvest Moon style game to ever come out. It has pretty decent art, a fun gameplay loop and a lot of varied content.

Rimworld was the other indie game I put a lot of hours into that came out last year. It's a great colony management game that's apparently like Dwarf Fortress (I don't really know since I've never been able to play that game due to its obtuse interface) and regularly getting updates.

My favourite indie game of all time? Cave Story. I played this when it first came out over a decade ago and I remember telling everyone to play it... I don't recall anyone ever actually taking my advice so it was something I enjoyed by myself. Again, it's nothing particularly original, but about every part of it is perfectly executed, from the art to the music to the action and level design.

I'm really looking forward to a couple of upcoming indie games, including Wargroove and Budget Cuts.

This is why I say they're both the best and worst of the market. Though honestly I can't remember the last time I was impressed by a AAA title. Is BioShock Infinite considered AAA? That game was solid.


Oh, I loved that one. Such a dark sense of humor, and of course it's from Ron Gilbert. The first time I played it I thought the narrator was the same voice actor as Stan from Monkey Island...

Generally, yeah, I also cant remember the last time a AAA game really impressed me. Just.... feh. There have been a couple of recent-ish ones that I've liked, but no "wow" moments for me. Wheras indie games, there's been a lot of "wow" ones recently (really into Crypt of the Necrodancer right now in particular).

Also your comment there is good: Best and worst of the market.

As someone who has bought hundreds of these, I can say this: There are *lots* of good indie games out there. More than AAA games (which must release extremely slowly, and thus are low in number).

The problem: When ANYONE can release a game, well.... it really means "anyone". This includes the sorts of people that do things like release "games" that are nothing more than piles of free achievements, or things like that. Crap just to take advantage of people. Often, when you see a game that's just unfathomably bad, there's a decent chance that the developer is fully aware of it... and doesnt care, because quality wasnt the point to begin with.

That's the big problem with the current market right now. I mean, good games are releasing at a staggering rate these days. Seriously, there are SO VERY MANY. But this means that junky ones are releasing at an *absurd* rate.

Eventually you get used to this (it only takes me like 5 minutes to decide on a purchase now, and as a rule I dont get it wrong) but for many buyers this means alot of confusion and frustration.

All I can say is: People need to RESEARCH THEIR PURCHASES. Look at the video and screenshots for a game, look at reviews, and even moreso, look at some gameplay videos on Youtube. Do that, and you wont go wrong.

There's sooooooo much good stuff out there that it's a real shame to see the bad ones giving the whole thing a bad name, but... yeah, just a bit of time researching goes a long way.


And yes, I'm pretty sure Bioshock Infinite is AAA.

That's The Cave, not Cave Story. Cave Story is a free PC game that came out in 2004. It's had a bunch of remasters and remakes since.

Ah, yes, I've seen that on Steam, though I've never looked too closely because I'm horrible at platformers.

Also chiming in with Crypt of the NecroDancer. It's addicting and I'm almost embarrassed to say that I've logged 80+ hours.

Hah, no embarrassment there.

So many people on Steam have logged not only way more on that game, but way more on all sorts of other games, both well-known and obscure.

Isaac is a popular one, it's not uncommon to spot someone that has 1000+ hours in it.

One of my personal favorites is a game called Unexplored (which as far as I'm concerned is the second-best roguelike ever) and I not only have 150 hours in it, I also helped with internal testing and wrote the thing that passes for the game's manual.

I definitely get the whole "autistic obsession" thing going with these. And the roguelike genre is by far my favorite.

Then there's Minecraft though... I dont even want to know just how many hours I've spent with that. Must be a baffling number.

i was adicted to a lot of indie games, before moba black hole entered in my life. cave story, eurotruck simulator, stanley parable, to the moon(that one is more fun to watch than to play), and many others. a friend of mine hate it and only play AAA games like gta. he dont know what hes losting lol.

Ok, the response to this thread was much grander than I thought. Lots of awesome input here.

I'm currently on a twin-stick shooter (Nuclear Throne, Neurovoider and a Void Raider) and nostalgia kick (Vampire the Masquerade and other obscure games from the 1990's and 2000's). Occasionally, I'll pluck a title from my massive library, since, ya know, I've bought too many, and play it for a bit just to get my money's worth. But, right now, it's rogue-likes, shoot 'em ups and the vampiest of vamp games for me.

AAA titles, except perhaps Morrowind, don't really hold any interest for me. I'm definitely an indie gamer through and through in terms of taste. It's a shame, too. A lot of cool titles like For Honor and Total War: Warhammer have hit the shelves and I REALLY want to justify shelling out $60 - 80 per game. Sadly, small paychecks mean no samurai sword honor duels or "ORKS IS BEST" on and through my gaming lappy. But, I'm good all the same. Steam sales do favor a guy a with a skinny wallet, especially if he's an indie gamer. And if an already cheap game is even cheaper then, hey, I'll shell out a 5$ bill, or the electronic equivalent if exchange rates are thing, for something that gives me 5 - 10 hours game time.

Closest I've gotten to "autistic obsession" is playing Starbound recently. Darn, I love that game. It makes me wish I could play steam games at work. I could maybe bribe him with some out-of-country brand cigarettes like Bond Street or something. But no, apparently "company time" is a thing and I need to be productive. I guess 8-bit games about space travelling and base building are less important, and less fun, than staring at an excel sheet all day. Seems Tetris (Tetrisfriends.com) is the only thing I can get away with if nobody is looking. IT runs a tight ship, though, and there isn't a lot I can get away with if our lead IT dude decides to do a "remote inspection" of any of our stations here.