INDIEGAMESSAMY WILKMAN

Independent video games (commonly referred to as indie games) are video games created by individuals or small teams without video game publish-er financial support. Indie games of-ten focus on innovation and rely on digital distribution. Indie gaming has seen a rise in the last few years, pri-marily due to new online distribu-tion methods and development tools. Some indie games have become very successful financially, such as Braid, World of Goo, and Minecraft.

OverviewThere is no exact widely-accept-ed definition of what constitutes an “indie game”. However, gen-erally indie games share certain commonalities. Indie games are developed by individuals, small teams, or small independent com-panies. And, typically, indie games are smaller than mainstream ti-tles. Indie game developers are not financially backed by publishers and usually have little to no bud-get available, thereby generally re-lying on Internet digital distribu-tion schemes. Being independent, indie developers do not have con-trolling interests or creative limita-tions and do not require publisher approval as mainstream game de-velopers usually do. Design deci-sions are thus also not limited by the allocated budget. Furthermore, smaller team sizes increase individ-

ual involvement. Therefore indie games are known for innovation, creativity, and artistic experimenta-tion. Developers may also be lim-ited in ability to create graphics, so they have to rely on gameplay in-novation. Both classic game genres and new gameplay innovation has been seen. However, being “indie” does not imply that the game fo-cuses on innovation. However, in-die game development should not be confused with hobbyist game development, as indie developers are generally more product-ori-ented than hobbyist game writers. Many hobbyist developers create mods of existing games, or work with specific technologies or game parts. Such hobbyists usually pro-duce non-commercial products and may range from novices to in-dustry veterans.

INDIEVIDEOGAMES

is a platform and puzzle video game developed by independent software developer Jonathan Blow. The game was released on August 6, 2008 for the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade ser-vice. A Microsoft Windows version was released on April 10, 2009. Hothead Games ported and released the game to Mac OS X on May 20, 2009 and the PlayStation Network on November 12, 2009. A Linux port, created by Ryan C. Gordon, was released December 14, 2010 as part of the second Humble Indie Bundle.

PlotTim is a man searching for a prin-cess who “has been snatched by a horrible and evil monster.” His re-lationship with this princess is vague at best, and the only clear part of this relationship is that Tim has made some sort of mistake which he hopes to reconcile or, if possible, erase. As one progresses through the six worlds in Braid, storyline text at the beginning of each world provides further insight into Tim’s quest for the princess, and alludes to the overarching gameplay me-chanic of each level. The themes evoked include forgiveness, desire, and frustration. The final level, in which everything but Tim moves in reverse, depicts the princess es-caping from a knight, and work-ing together with Tim to surpass obstacles and meet at her home. Tim is suddenly locked out of the house, and, as time progresses for-

BRAIDward, reversing Tim’s actions, the events show the princess running from Tim, setting traps that he is able to evade, until she is rescued by the knight. Tim is revealed to be the “monster” the princess is run-ning from. Following completion of the game, the player finds addition-al texts that expand the story. The ending of the game is purposely ambiguous, and has been subject to multiple interpretations. One theo-ry, based on the inclusion of a hid-den event and the famous quota-tion stated by Kenneth Bainbridge after the detonation of the first atomic bomb—”Now we are all sons of bitches”—is that the prin-cess represents the atomic bomb and Tim is a scientist involved in its development. Some also refer to the name of the game as both reference to the hair braid of the princess Tim seeks as well as the in-

tertwining of time, demonstrated by the various time mechanics ex-plored in the game. Journalists have considered Braid’s plot to be inter-woven with the game itself, much as the book Dictionary of the Kha-zars and the films Memento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind interweave the narrative in-to the work’s construction. In this sense, some have considered the game to carry a simple credo, such as “You must look back to go for-wards” as suggested by Eurogam-er’s Dan Whitehead. Others have likened Braid to punk rock, de-signed (as explicitly stated by Blow) specifically as a statement against the status quo of the industry; it is considered to deconstruct tradi-tional gameplay concepts, such as jumping on enemies or rescuing a princess from a castle as borrowed from Super Mario Bros.

INDEPENDENTVIDEOGAME DEVELOPMENTIndependent video game devel-opment is the process of creat-ing video games without the fi-nancial support of a video game publisher. While large firms can create independent games, they are usually designed by an individ-ual or a small team of as many as ten people, depending on the complexity of the project. These games may take years to be built from the ground up or can be completed in a matter of days or even hours depending on a, par-ticipants, and design goal. Driven by digital distribution, the concept of independent video game devel-opment has spawned an “indie” movement.

ToolsC++ is the most popular lan-guage of choice within the vid-eo game industry due to speed and efficiency as a system lan-guage, which is critical for 3D processing. However, indepen-dent video games have seen use of a variety of other lan-guages. Notably, C#, the lan-guage for XNA and Objective-C, the language for the iPhone’s Cocoa touch API, the popular-ity of which has grown explo-sively since 2007, due to the accessibility of the App Store to independent developers. Indie games written in Java are also prevalent, due to the wide com-patibility for most operating sys-tems and web browsers.

Licensing feesPersonal computer platforms (such as Linux, Mac OS, and Windows) are traditionally fi-nancially more accessible to independent game develop-ers than video game consoles. Aside from basic development costs, console game develop-ers are required to pay fees to license the required Soft-ware Development Kits from the console maker. Manufac-turers often impose a strict approval process and take a percentage of the game’s net profit in addition to yearly de-veloper fees. As of this writing, to develop for Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, or PlayStation 3 re-quires an SDK license fee of be-

tween US $2,000 and $10,000, in addition to yearly developer fees and profit cuts, although development for Xbox Live In-die Games only requires a $99/year Creators Club member-ship and Microsoft takes 30% of sales. Indie game develop-ers can also use homebrew de-velopment libraries, which are free of charge, and usually open source.

is a sandbox building indie video game written in Java originally by Swedish creator Markus “Notch” Persson and now by his company, Mojang, formed from the proceeds of the game. It was released on May 17, 2009, with a Be-ta on December 20, 2010. The game is focused on creativity and building, allowing players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world. The game is currently in development and Beta is the only continuously up-dated version of the game.

MINECRAFT GameplayThe core gameplay revolves around construction. The game world is es-sentially made of cubical blocks ar-ranged in a fixed grid pattern which represent different materials, such as dirt, stone, various ores, water, and tree trunks. While the players can move freely across the world, objects and items can only be placed at fixed locations relative to the grid. The player can gather these mate-rial “blocks” and place them else-where, thus potentially creating vari-ous constructions. Currently, there are no set goals to achieve in Mine-craft, so the game cannot be won. Minecraft has two currently avail-able gameplay modes, Survival and Creative, both with single-player and multiplayer options. Classic is the earliest free version and ini-tially featured only creative game mode with only building aspects of the game and unlimited block

supply. The game was then split into single-player survival mode, which contained monsters and a much greater variety of blocks and items available, as well as requiring players to mine their own blocks. The game starts by placing the player on the surface of a huge procedurally gen-erated game world. The player can walk across the terrain consisting of plains, mountains, caves, and vari-ous water bodies. The world is al-so divided into biomes ranging from deserts to snowfields. The in-game time system follows a day and night cycle. Throughout the course of the game the player encounters various non-human creatures, referred to as mobs. During the daytime, non-hostile animals spawn, which can be hunted for food and crafting materi-als. Hostile monsters, such as large spiders, skeletons, zombies and the dangerous exploding “creeper” will

spawn in unlit areas, such as in caves or during the night.

VARIOUSINDIE GAMES

FEZ terrariaelfsquadlegend of grimrock

dustforce quiet, pleasecromagnioki

adventure

dark reign trinebastion FIST PUNCHER