When It Comes To Videogames, Go Indie And Thank Us Later
They say that the period of the smaller game publisher is no more. As video games become a more gigantic market every year, overtaking things like music, and selling an unbelievable amount of units with each new huge event, the industry has fallen prey to a variety of Hollywood mindset.
Grand Theft Auto Takes a Long Time to Make
To create again the incredible experiences and 30+ hours worth of incredible gameplay inside a game like Grand Theft Auto 4, squads of legions of game developers are obligatory. Budgets are huge, and profits are expected to be big, too. While games like this are indeed spectacular, they take up a strangely gigantic amount of the market, in the same way Hollywood spectacles do, and they tend to shift the rest of the industry in unexpected ways.
Films are a good think to look at here, because it comes down to the same thing: a great movie is a top movie, quite separate from budget, and the same works for the gaming industry. There are tonnes of little top games out there that simply don't have a way into the top distribution channels. And how many bad films or useless videogames from major publishers you have seen or bought in the last several years?
Hollywood Models Can't Always Apply to Videogames
One of the principal issues with making videogames on the blockbuster model is that a useful concept of good, fun gameplay is lost under all the other obligations that have to go into a major property—just like the narrative of a big event film can often be obscured beneath layers of spectacle. With a small development group, this doesn't happen as it's all about the game itself, the level of the play and whether or not it's great to play, well made, and gives you a reason to come back is really all that matters.
The point is that just because it's extensively hyped up in the store doesn't mean it's great. And so the issue is: how do we discover those little games, those mid-sized publishers creating great, tried-and-true titles that aren't getting advertised on the internet or continuously chattered about?
Can Indie Games be Found Online?
Looking online is still the top option. You can find publishers selling great games that are built on real foundations: like good gameplay that keeps you coming back for more. Lacking the gigantic amounts of money, official trademarks, and big development teams that the conglomerates use, independent publishers are coding games that don't have the luxury of exciting you through excessive visuals alone: they need to be enjoyable to play above anything else.
Although a select few big publishers have seen the light, and have started fostering small development teams to go crazy with their wildest notions, most of the top, small, enjoyable games are being released by companies you've never seen before.
Classic Distribution Still Works
While the talk is of new ways of sending out material, the ones that are already set-up are still completely relevant: many of the best, most under-appreciated small films can still be found sitting at your neighborhood DVD shop, and many of the most amazing, independent games can be tracked down online, coming to you at amazingly low prices and you get all the pluses of a box, a set of instructions, something tangible to grasp, but you aren't shelling out insane prices.
Next time you're hunting down a memorable game experience, don't just go to the big names. Remember that big companies put out their fair share of high-concept crap, and that indie designer you've never heard of might have just developed your next top game.
