The indie gaming scene for the PC has really grown over the past few years, to the extent that people are actually earning a living selling their games online – which has to be a good thing for you and I, the PC games consumer. The commercial PC games market may have fallen behind to consoles – in the shops at least – but no other platform comes close to the range and quality of PC indie games.
When I recently interviewed Chris Park of Arcen games, he mentioned that the gaming scene was becoming rather similar to that of the early 80s. Anyone else who, like myself, is in his early thirties (or thereabouts) and has played computer games since they first became popular has probably has plans (serious or spurious) of running his (or her) own software house at some time. It seems that those halcyon days of the 8-bit computer with many a bedroom doubling as the base of operations for a solo game programmer; back then the industry was new, vital and thriving. Today we have a more cynical market, two whole generations of games players who have seen and done it all – but that’s what makes the indie game scene so exciting. With the need to make a real impression on cynical players all over the world, a few individuals and companies are pushing the boundaries of accepted rules within genres (AI War is a good example), and even creating whole new genres. This has to be a good thing as mainstream companies would probably never takes these risks. However the large companies are certainly going to take notice of people’s reaction to innovations in the indie sector, so don’t be surprised to see some of the best (or at least, most popular) innovations making their way to the big league at some stage.
The graphics and other production values are rarely up to commercial standards of course, though there are some exceptions. However even this is usually a good thing in disguise – how often have you played a game that looks and sounds great, but game play is limited or practically non-existent? This rarely happens with indie games for a simple and obvious reason – first and foremost the people coding these games are game players. They know what makes a good game, and their goal is, usually, to create a game that they would like playing themselves. With a plethora of low-cost, high quality programming languages currently available (Blitz Basic and Dark Basic are among the most popular), more and more indie companies are popping up. Many start out releasing freeware titles, either to test the water or simply to gain exposure to the gaming public. Because they have lower overheads than commercial outfits, the games they release when they start charging are usually very good value for money. Everyone’s a winner… except, perhaps, the mainstream PC gaming market. How that turns out remains to be seen…
The old curse says “May you live in interesting times“. As PC gamers we are indeed living in interesting times… however this looks like being a blessing more than a curse.
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