Whelp. Yep. It's Happening. Indie Genre is Dying. Or, at Least, the Fad is Ending.

[hulkgor]

So yea, no.

[Arlon]

I don´t care about most indies or most AAA. I want more middle budget games. But, if i had to choose, i would rather put shit like Watchdogs and Call of duty XXI under the bus instead of indie games.

[Migey]

Jim Sterling from the Escapist's 'Jimquisition' harps on about this all the time, but he has a good point.

One very, very easy way to fix the entire problem.

QUALITY CONTROL.

Valve doesn't have enough people to do it? That's not an issue at all. It's Valve, I can't imagine it would be difficult for them to hire, out of the several hundred billion applicants they'd get, a few decent, honest gamers with good sense who don't mind being paid to keep Steam clean by making sure that a game isn't Greenlit until there's evidence that A, it actually works and functions as a game, and B, isn't so shit it doesn't deserve consumer's money. I mean they don't have to be the sole arbiters of which of the many games clamouring to be greenlit are good or not, just sift through some of the crap. Can't be that hard, if the workload is split between enough people.

[Deleted]

<snippity snip>

I read that in the voice of Jimquisition & totally agreed. Only thing missing was the "thank god for me" at the end of it

[Kathandira]

I don´t care about most indies or most AAA. I want more middle budget games. But, if i had to choose, i would rather put shit like Watchdogs and Call of duty XXI under the bus instead of indie games.

Not to go off topic. But what is wrong with Watch Dogs? I was considering picking it up.

[melodramocracy]

Not sure I agree with his assessment about 'too many games'. The alternative (a scenario where the only thing you're fed is big market rehashed bullshit) is far worse than having too much to choose from.

[Hyve]

The Game Industry is very good at promoting from within. Indie Developers often go on to become Lead Developers or Senior Developers in large companies because they have a proven record of success and development.

A dying Indie Genre would mean overall the industry suffers. That said, as an aspiring Game Developer, I'd like to see Indie re-designed. Currently large groups go for the "Indie Style" or pretend to be an Indie developer, yet have a large support network and they pick that style of game(play) because they think it's trendy, rather than because they're limited and need to make the very best of what they have.

Either way, Indie Game Development is never going to die. Even ~25 years ago people were making Indie Games, it's just peaked here because of the Social Media society we live in and the money crazy individuals. I suspect in the next ~5 years we'll see a desire for bigger AAA rated games and we'll move away from Mobile / Indie Games for a short while as the novelty of being able to play anywhere and everywhere will wear off.

My lecturer in Game Design (A professional with many, many years in the industry within a lot of successful game launches and companies) told me the industry reinvents itself every ~6 years, which would be just about right considering the large surge of Indie Games we've seen over the last few years, and with them now dying down a little.

[theWocky]

I confess that I haven't read the article and my response is merely on the title and OP.

I do not believe that Indie games will lose popularity any time soon, but what I do believe will eventually come to an end is "early access" alphas and beta games that people expect you to buy / spend money on. I think Steam will eventually pull a lot of these things and even the greenlit thing will get harder and harder to get done.

In the last year of 2013, I looked at over 50 games that were "Indie" and complete, finished products and they still remain some of the most fun / best value I have in my collection.

- - - Updated - - -

Alright so, I'm actually a user that was permbanned from this wonderful forum full of intelligent people; and I was only checking up quick on WoD news when I saw this horribly stupid thread and against all my better judgements, decided to create an alt to put my two cents in despite the fact it will go completely ignored as people continue to post their retarded, uninformed bullshit, but here goes.

Personally, I can't understand why such a "likeable" individual as yourself would ever get banned.

[Simulacrum]

blahblah...

Edit: And for fuck's sake, seriously. Not every game you don't like is a case of Stalin Versus The Martians. I loathe 100% of video games but I have the human decency and basic intelligence to not sit on a forum all day complaining a game I don't personally like or that has bugs in it is on Steam.

Is your post satire or are you really this oblivious?

[Arlon]

Not to go off topic. But what is wrong with Watch Dogs? I was considering picking it up.

There's plenty of wrong with it on the technical side of things. But that´s not something i particularly care about if the game is good otherwise. Anyway, long story short, the game is a cookie-cutter example of making games as a product with a checklist for features/plot/characters. It´s also the usual Ubisoft ripping out code from their other games, like the running animation. I may be a little jaded, but that was obvious since the first "gameplay" trailer.(Which, if shown a year before release, are almost 100% guaranteed to be target renders that never come true)

If you want to buy a game, id recommend you watch actual gameplay from users on youtube or a stream. Asking opinions is not really the way to do it since there is lot´s of different variables on why someone might like the game.

[Jester Joe]

Everyone whining that "getting onto steam is too easy" needs to stop making posts in this thread immediatelty. Getting onto Steam is not the hardest thing in the world, but getting greenlit for it requires submitting your game to the Steam game workshop and then having the very own Steam community rate and vote on it for it to go to consideration for greenlighting. Steam, quite literally, doesn't greenlight on their own outside of a few major AAA games. Hell, even fucking Saints Row IV had to go through community greenlight.

Except for the point that in the first 20 weeks of 2014, after greenlight was released, Steam released more games than ALL OF 2013.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mor.../1100-6419707/
Yes, very hard to get through I'd imagine.

Also, since when did AAA titles go through the community Greenlight? Pretty sure that goes right through Valve themselves, Greenlight is meant for self publishers, I don't ever recall seeing Saints Row on there.

Stuff like Goat Simulator is fine enough (what are you manchildren crying about? How fucking dare people make a funny, buggy physics game!!!!!! That's not World of Warcraft!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK HOW DARE THEY!!!!!!!!),

From Goat Simulators own page
"Goat Simulator is a small, broken and stupid game. It was made in a couple of weeks so don’t expect a game in the size and scope of GTA with goats. In fact, you’re better off not expecting anything at all actually. To be completely honest, it would be best if you’d spend your $10 on a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe a real-life goat."
http://www.goat-simulator.com/
They're not lying. They barely put any effort into it.

Anyways, you can't just Greenlight whatever the fuck you want and Steam doesn't either. If you're going to bitch and moan that games you don't like are getting onto Steam, take it to the Steam Powered User Forums or something (that forum is just as bad as this one so you'll all fit in very nicely there).

Heh, veiled insults, I'm glad you're making such a intellectual argument!

[Chudah]

Except for the point that in the first 20 weeks of 2014, after greenlight was released, Steam released more games than ALL OF 2013.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mor.../1100-6419707/
Yes, very hard to get through I'd imagine.

It's not entirely indie games that are clogging up the releases but the old shovelware that is being added to Steam. Sure, there have been a lot of indies, but you can't tell me Strategy First dumping their entire game catalog which spans back all the way to the early 90's is the same thing as 10-15 indies releasing every week, because it's not. Now, I have no problem with more games being added to Steam, but the storefront isn't designed for what's happening right now, and that's a major source of discontent among users.

Also, since when did AAA titles go through the community Greenlight? Pretty sure that goes right through Valve themselves, Greenlight is meant for self publishers, I don't ever recall seeing Saints Row on there.

Not sure about Saints Row IV, but unless a developer has a publisher, every game must go through Greenlight.

From Goat Simulators own page
"Goat Simulator is a small, broken and stupid game. It was made in a couple of weeks so don’t expect a game in the size and scope of GTA with goats. In fact, you’re better off not expecting anything at all actually. To be completely honest, it would be best if you’d spend your $10 on a hula hoop, a pile of bricks, or maybe a real-life goat."
http://www.goat-simulator.com/
They're not lying. They barely put any effort into it.

Who are you to tell someone else how to spend their money? The developers are honest, they're not trying to swindle anyone here, and yet people are buying their game. I see nothing wrong with that. I have nephews that love the hell out of Goat Simulator because it's fun for them. Why can't people have fun playing something that you personally don't find appealing?

The fact that indie games are filling so many of these awkward niches is great. When in the history of gaming have we had so many different types of games out there that appeal to so many different tastes? Granted, there are a lot of crap devs peddling half assed games expecting to get a piece of the pie, but smart gamers know to do their research. I mean, do people really buy AAA titles just by looking at the box art? Why would you assume indie fans would do the same?

[Pogs]

Everything is "dying" around here.

Yup, there's only one thing that's not.

[Lyese]

I'd be happy if it got much less prolific, but OMG I'M SO IN LOVE WITH TRANSISTOR BEST GAME 2014! Like, seriously.

[Afrospinach]

but the storefront isn't designed for what's happening right now, and that's a major source of discontent among users.

Yeah they may have a pretty big issue with the sheer volume of games right now, but as per your point here they do themselves exactly no favours. Steam is a PITA to navigate and organise.

[Ryme]

Gametap is exactly what you are describing. It has mainly older games but works exactly like those two services.

Yeah, it just needs someone to be able to push it through with a much vaster and up to date catalogue of games.

[Nerevar]

Who cares? All indie games are the same and boring, only the wrappers are different.

[Edge-]

Who cares? All indie games are the same and boring, only the wrappers are different.

...have you even played any indie games? Thomas Was Alone? Minecraft? To the Moon? Bastion? Amnesia? Guacamelee? Limbo?

[Chudah]

...have you even played any indie games? Thomas Was Alone? Minecraft? To the Moon? Bastion? Amnesia? Guacamelee? Limbo?

No kidding. And if anyone is into horror adventure games, The Cat Lady is probably the best I have ever played. I will be throwing all kinds of money at that dev going forward. The Last Door is also great, I'm not a huge fan of pixel games, but it works here. The vagueness of some of the details allows your imagination to fill in the blanks which works well for a horror game. And the story is awesome if you enjoy Lovecraft/Poe at all. The soundtrack is so good I'd consider it worth the price of the game alone (it will be added to the collector's edition soon).

And on a non-adventure game note, One Finger Death Punch is the most addicted I've been to a game in years. I've logged 35+ hours on that game in 3 weeks and it has failed to lose my interest. Best $5 I've spent in a long time.

[Shinzai]

I can't see indie games dying off. It's pretty much a nonsensical concept as a whole. The entire point of indie games are that they are independently produced, so there's nothing to actually stop people creating them. If anything it's going to just constantly increase as a broader and more diverse group of genres. Some of the most interesting, innovative and original games I've ever played have been indie games. Some of the games I've dumped the most time into ever are indie games.

The argument used in the article about x games and y dollars to spend on them is irrelevant. Good games will continue to be made by indie companies and bad ones will continue to be ignored. The wealth of games being produced by indie developers is simply opening up more opportunities for more people to find the kind of games they want to play. People who spend money on indie games because they want the latest and best indie games out, almost regardless of genre, will still use word-of-mouth and reviews and news, etc, to filter out what they do and don't want.

Steam could do with heavier moderation, yes, but at the same time it is at least opening up the boundaries of what's available.