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What’s The Future For Indie Games?
In this latest Ask Indies, where we ask indie games developers one question related to indie games. We asked: What’s the future for indie games? The Ask Indies series is a great chance to get the answers straight from the experts on indie games. It’s also an opportunity for indie devs to update the community on their projects and progress. If you are interested in putting a question to the community then make sure to leave a comment, we’d be happy to put it to the devs. If you’d like to join our community of devs to answer Ask Indies in the future, drop us a line. So let’s put it to the guys who will know: What’s the future for indie games?Julian Jones, Chief Publishing Officer, Exient. Currently working on: Lots of Lemmings DLC
“Indies are always going to be on the cusp of creativity via democratised platforms and emergent play patterns. Whilst there’s consolidation amongst the mid-size developers being acquired by bigger publishers and developers, the indies flourish via their smarts and intuitive feeling for audiences.
Exient has been an indie for 20 years, has travelled the path from being solely work for hire to co-dev/co-pub and most recently fully publishing and funding our own productions, including marketing and UA.
We see an exciting future for indies, no one thinks and can react like an indie. Take Lemmings, for example – even though the game is approaching its 30th anniversary, we’re keeping it relevant with monthly updates of highly topical Lemming’s characters, based on events currently happening around the world. That’s our passion.”
SOFI NAYDENOVA, CREATOR OF HAPPYDOGGOSTUDIO, I CREATE GAMES ON MY OWN AND I WRITE ARTICLES SOMETIMES. CURRENTLY WORKING ON: A SECRET PROJECT!
“In the future, there will be for sure more interesting projects, also, the border between indie and big games will blur, as the technology is developing and there are more possibilities for a small studio to make a really cool game.”
BRADLEY SMITH, CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER AT MIRACLE TEA. CURRENTLY WORKING ON: ALULA
“I feel as though creations like Dreams by Media Molecule and the democratisation of creativity is a big part of the future for indie games. They have gamified the act of creation and sharing without letting money get in the way. Easing the barrier to entry to people from cultural and social backgrounds by the act of inviting more people to create using computers it’s a matter of time until Dreams will lead to new discoveries of genres in video games.”JULIA NOLAN, INTEGRAL STUDIOS, GAME DEVELOPER. CURRENTLY WORKING ON: EIDOLON.
“With lower barriers to entry, I think we’ll see more great indie games coming to market. On one hand, this is great (more games! More innovation!). But I think it will be harder and harder for games to stand out in a crowded field. This will be made more difficult by that a number of studios will churn out lots of “chaff” if you will, in an attempt to make money through sub-par games. (This is similar to how Amazon, by lowering the barriers to publishing, enabled a number of really terrible books to be published. There are great self-published books, but they can be really hard to find in such a crowded field.)”MARCOS CEVALLOS, DEVELOPER AT LINKUP GAMES. CURRENTLY WORKING ON: ULTIMATE REALITY, A 2D PIXEL ART PLATFORMER FIGHTER.
“The future for indie games is very bright one. Games such as Dreams, by Media Molecule, have made it possible for anyone to make games in a matter of minutes. Game engines, such as Unreal Engine and GameMaker Studio, have also made it possible for anyone to develop games by using more user friendly options. Unreal engine has a unique feature named blueprints that allows for easy prototyping without any coding required. GameMaker Studio on the other hand, has a feature named drag and drop that has a very code-friendly interface. This very accessible and low barrier entry has made it so aspiring artists, gamers and anyone to make their dream games come true.
This is very good news for indie games because there will be so many talented developers coming out with many different stories, game mechanics and characters that have never been seen before. This will also grow the market for indie games, allowing more investors and publishers to take risks and publish many more games than before. Not only that, but store fronts have made the barrier to share and sell your game very easy. The amount of great games published daily on different stores have made it possible for even the obsurest of games to gain a following. The future for indie games has not looked any brighter!”
DOMENEC CLARET, INDIE GAME DEVELOPER. CURRENTLY WORKING ON AN UNAMED TITLE
“Independent games will always be there. There needs to be people who can create what they want and how they want. It is necessary that the big companies in the sector pay attention to the new programmers and games that in many occasions represent a fresh air far from the remastered games and the thousand and one versions of the same game that many publishers release again and again.”
Morten Rongaard, Co-Founder, Reality Gaming Group. Currently working on: Making our Digital Asset Trading (DAT) Platform available for other indies to use!
“The future for indie games is, to my mind, the future of games. That’s certainly true in terms of raw talent – the development stars of tomorrow often get to cut their teeth at an indie (and by creating their own titles) before finding their path in the wider industry. And for that same reason we often see increased creativity, both in terms of game design and technical R&D, within the indie environment. If you’re lucky as an indie, you’ll be able to run an agile system of game development, which is how we iterated first Reality Clash (a mobile AR combat game) and, from that project, our Digital Asset Trading (DAT) Platform, which helps studios create digital collectibles on the blockchain. Of course, funding is important too. But even in the current climate we managed to close a second round. And I believe there are investors out there willing to back indie studios given the groundswell of success games are enjoying as an entertainment category during the pandemic (and beyond!). That’s not to say there aren’t market challenges for indie studios like us, because there are many – but a focus on talent and creativity will go a long way.”DAN BERNARDO, GAME DIRECTOR PLAYTRA. CURRENTLY WORKING ON GRID FIGHT, AN ACTION/STRATEGY GAME FOR SWITCH
“What’s the future for indie games? I think the future of Indie games will continue to be what has always been: To create new game genres and unique experiences. Nobody else is willing to risk as we do. To come up with crazy game combos and bet their future on something untested and uncertain. That is the almost sacred mission of indies. Now, what I want to see in the near future is indies being rewarded for that risk, even if the games they create don’t become necessarily hits. More recognition and support for indies is something I’m not sure is in our future, but I can definitely hope for.”Thanks for reading What’s The Future For Indie Games? For more interesting articles on the indie games industry, check out the links below.
INTERVIEW WITH BERGUR FINNBOGASSON CREATIVE DIRECTOR EVE ONLINE
WHAT ARE THE BEST INDIE GAMES TO PLAY ON XBOX GAME PASS?
BRAMBLE THE MOUNTAIN KING WALKTHROUGH – NAECKEN’S POND PART 1