The purpose of an indie game should be to show you something you wouldn’t have otherwise seen. By virtue of not being beholden to focus testing or corporate meddling, the indie game exists as a raw expression of creativity in games. But, it comes at a price.
Despite what an anime profile pic might say on Twitter making games is actually really hard- the fact communities can put playable prototypes out in 48 hours part of game jams is like the equivalent of watching Shaolin Kung-Fu: you’re witnessing a skill honed to its maximum. And unfortunately, that honing requires funding and guidance, lest someone accidentally think they’ve invented Super Mario.
I’d gotten to check out the children of two major Japanese initiatives to help the indie games scene- Indie Game Incubator,iGi, an indie game mentorship as well as So-Fu Accelerator Program, a Government-backed accelerator fund. Working with industry veterans, it’s great to see genuinely fun ideas refined and molded by mentors interested in seeing the state of indie games as a whole improve.
Indie Games Take A Simple Idea And Make It Amazing
One of these games is MotionRec– a quirky little platformer that hinges on a single gimmick: you can record a series of actions then play them back, regardless of where you are during the playback. This lets you fly over gaps and even up walls, with a lot more potentially big applications.
Speaking with the game’s developer, HANDSUM, he talked about how iGi had set him up with NamaTakahashi, developer of ElecHead. It’s a match made in heaven- NamaTakashi has experience in developing exactly this kind of quirky platformer, being able to guide HANDSUM through their own one-year development to push the game around its core mechanic, making every level a clever application of that same mechanic.
Sometimes, it can even be about rethinking what games have to look like: for years, the Metroidvania genre had been dominated by gothic visuals, making you think broody characters and candelabras were a core part of the genre. Yet, Reso-Seeker by R-TA Games aims to change that. Mixing his love of classic Metroidvanias with a fascination with luxury hotels, his game has you exploring a mega resort, as you swap between characters to navigate pools, lobbies and more.
It’s great because the game isn’t trying to say it’s an “Evil hotel”. It’s just… a hotel. I’ve had the same feeling of wonder growing up- what do all these massive halls do? It’s no wonder that years later someone would decide that it’s for backtracking in a metroidvania. It’s residents aren’t evil, they’re just trying to go about their days.
On the So-Fu side, I could see equal levels of ingenuity on display. Rope-Kun Adventure has that same compelling simplicity to it as Motion Rec. Here, you’re unspooling a massive rope, using it for everything from connecting objectives to choking out enemies.
It’s the kind of romantic appeal indie games are built on: Very simple idea, executed in a way that every new level just builds on how well you understand the concept of rope. Sure, it looks like a SNES game. But I think that’s part of the appeal- you never have to think the solution is going to be more complex than it really is.
However, that doesn’t mean that all indie games have to be simple. Sometimes, you can see one go full maximalist out of spite, like the last game i managed to check out: Rukimin’s Disappointing Adventure. Normally I don’t care much for rage games- Bennet Foddy and me have fundamentally different ideas on what fun looks like.
But as I watch RUKIMIN’s smile curl up every time I’m sucker punched by another sudden death trap, on some level, you have to respect it. It’s a master class in messing with your expectations- relying on your knowledge of platformers isn’t a skill, it’s a piece of knowledge you should be punished for having. As the stage disintegrates around me to unveil all manner of game over, its the work of a grade-A master troll.
Over the years there’s been a lot of discussion over what makes a game indie. If a game isn’t self-published, is it still indie? Does Baldur’s Gate 3, a massive game that defied the odds in every metric count? But to me, I think it’s this exact vibe these four games put out: a collaborative effort to develop ideas, that most resonates with keeping games indie.
That’s not to say all indie games have to be gimmick platformers, no- but it’s that pursuit of creativity for creativity’s sake that’s the beating heart of what an indie game is. Programs like iGi and SoFu are great because they create a space for these games to thrive, as well as a chance for new developers to collaborate with industry veterans in helping realize their creative vision.
