Gaming Trends Part 3: Rise of the Indies

by Roly Reyes on March 3, 2008 at 6:18 pm

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been noticing quite a few themes that have been making their way through the industry. Throughout GDC, many of these took center stage in a variety of forms. Today, we examine the rise of the indies.

Audiosurf, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Fez, and World of Goo– all of those titles have at least two things in common.

They’re all indie games that went on to be finalists at the Independent Games Festival, and they share an ability to garner an exponential amount of interest and engagement from me, as opposed to the new level of Ninja Gaiden II or chainsaw battle in Gears of War 2 that were revealed in the Microsoft Keynote.

All the love that is poured into indie games is evident through the creativity and innovation that comes from them. A tiny amount of people (or just one person, in some cases) work very hard to make games for the sheer love of the medium.

In turn, this leads for original games with concepts so undiscovered that many of us wouldn’t be able to fathom, until we’re actually in front of the game, playing it ourselves.

There’s a gut feeling in me that says that indie games will play a much bigger role than ever intended by most of their creators.

I’m predicting that Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony will all attempt to court independent game makers to go exclusive to PSN, WiiWare, and Microsoft’s XNA initiative to help gain some leverage in their favor throughout the continually rampant console wars.

I’m going to keep my eye on this new and interesting little communal segment our gaming world. Good things may come of them.

If any veterans of the indie gaming scene are reading this, feel free to school me on the best of the best and teach me what’s what in the comments below or our forums.

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