What actually makes a game an Indie game? [Poll]

[Breakingthegreen]

Dave the Diver has just come out on PS5 and I'm seeing some folks refer to it as an Indie game, and this also happened at the Game Awards last year where Dave the Diver was nominated for 'Indie Game of the Year'. Here's the thing though, that game is produced in house at the 42nd largest company in South Korea, Nexon, so why was it called an indie game by so many?

 

This begs the question of what is an indie game? Is it an objective checklist based on the game production, or a vibe you get of the game?

 

To see if this will change your mind, here's some Non-indie games production-wise, that I think vibe as indie titles.

• Dave the Diver, Developed by Nexon
• Song of the Deep, Developed by Insomniac
• Tembo the Badass Elephant, Developed by Gamefreak.
• Entwined, Developed by Pixelopous
• Child of Light, Developed by Ubisoft

 

And now the inverse, games which (according to wikipedia) are indie games, but don't feel like indie games.

• High on Life
• Hell Let Loose
• Stray
• The Medium

 

Personally I'm on team Production.

Edited April 19 by Breakingthegreen

[Beyondthegrave07]

I voted production with "game budget" as my main reason, but I really think it's a bit more than just that. I think a lot that makes it indie is the commercial advertisement of the game (which technically is part of the budget) and the actual size of the development team (which also fits into budget as well). I know there's an option for the size, but I think it's more of the games that have small teams and aren't commercially advertised (meaning you aren't going to see them on TV or banners of them at gamestop) vs just having a small team. 

 

I'm probably explaining this horribly. 😂 

 

Ok, let me try this again... There's probably not a one definition fits all for this as I feel the term "indie" is more of a perception of the individual than it is a "yes/no" answer where one size fits all. I perceive indie as smaller teams with little commercial advertising that have relatively small budgets. However, the budget typically  controls everything else... Better?

Edited April 19 by Beyondthegrave07

[Trumpet_Boi_208]

I think it also depends on the recognition they get that give people the "indie" feeling. The games that you mentioned having an "indie" feeling are games that had relatively minimal presence in the mainstream, whereas games like High on Life and Stray don't feel as much like them because they garnered a large degree of attention from the masses, whether it be because of affiliation with a well-known creative or because it sells itself on a concept that would sell well on a YouTube video, respectively. I think the idea of an indie game for a lot of people have molded into games that are generally different from and overshadowed by the bigger games released, at least based off the examples you listed. 

Edited April 19 by Trumpet_Boi_208

[mephisto3dg]

Well, to me indie by definition refers to a game published without  a major publisher, this also more often than not implies limitations with budget and development team size.

 

I agree some games may feel indie just because they are of a specific genre like 2d metroidvanias (first which comes to mind) but that doesnt really make it indie, it just that it "felels" similar for sharing some common aspects.

 

Also I believe there are a few cases of games which started its development and creative procces without a major publisher backing them and as the project advanced the studio managed to get a deal, so in that case it can be argued that is still an indie game depending on how much funds it received from the publisher and the impact it had on the actual game (how much it changed or deviated). I.e if most of the publisher funds were spent in marketing, i believe the game has its indie essence preserved but objectively it cant be called indie anymore.

 

My english is awful, hopefully i made my point clear.

Edited April 19 by mephisto3dg

[nyx770]

1 hour ago, Breakingthegreen said:

Dave the Diver has just come out on PS5 and I'm seeing some folks refer to it as an Indie game, and this also happened at the Game Awards last year where Dave the Diver was nominated for 'Indie Game of the Year'. Here's the thing though, that game is produced in house at the 42nd largest company in South Korea, Nexon, so why was it called an indie game by so many?

 

This begs the question of what is an indie game? Is it an objective checklist based on the game production, or a vibe you get of the game?

 

To see if this will change your mind, here's some Non-indie games production-wise, that I think vibe as indie titles.

• Dave the Diver, Developed by Nexon
• Song of the Deep, Developed by Insomniac
• Jumbo the Badass Elephant, Developed by Gamefreak.
• Entwined, Developed by Pixelopous
• Child of Light, Developed by Ubisoft

 

And now the inverse, games which (according to wikipedia) are indie games, but don't feel like indie games.

• High on Life
• Hell Let Loose
• Stray
• The Medium

 

Personally I'm on team Production.

Dave the Diver has the Indie feel for sure even tho like you said it isn’t. Stray feels  better then some triple A games . I play alot of titles that are labeled indie on ps . I prefer these smaller games overall as they often hold a unique experience. There are many hidden gems  made by indie developers that dont get much attention. Thankfully there are dedicated youtube channels sharing info on alot of the smaller games .

[Zid960]

Basically it's all about size/feel. There kind of tied together.

Child of light is a great example. It's a big publisher game. But it had a small team. And there were given the freedom to just make something. The games feeling does well feel like it wasnt made by hundreds of people.

 

Even in in the past. PS2 and older. That's feeling of a set vision was always present. Didn't matter if it was AAA , AA or some b rate. That feeling persistent. Unless it was some soulless game mill or corporate paint by number game. Which where rare or quickly died off.

 

Now nearly every single game in the AAA space are either soulless or you can clearly see it was made to suck money out of you. To the point most of us can see the obvious problems.

 

Independent game however are that is distilled feeling. As till recently they were small groups without the capital to fail and they can't build super big teams. So that feeling shinyed though. As it wouldn't get lost. Or course there are tons of trash games too. But even some of those. You can see someone tried. It just wasn't good.

 

Also because of game like Dave, or child of light exist. Mean AAA can make this fun soulfully game like they use too. But keep choosing to make money hungry soulless trash instead.

 

Edited April 19 by Zid960