Tag: indie
Japanese PC doujin are keeping indie games creative at Tokyo Game Dungeon
To track the public understanding of modern-day indie gaming is to look at the small-scale independent development scene through an Anglo-centric lens. While it would be unfair to ignore the hobbyists programming experiences in BASIC on their ZX Spectrum or similar, it’s commonly accepted that indie gaming as we recognise it today has its roots in the early days of the internet and the Y2K boom, when Flash, Gamemaker Studio and similar tools allowed things like Cave Story and N to grow. With online distribution further helping games like Bastion, Journey and World Of Goo to flourish, the definition of the indie game became: a title with big ambitions and creativity grown from small budgets and teams.
It’s not entirely wrong, but it has obscured decades of hobby development that was once at the forefront – not just the stories of BBC Micro solo-development stars, but similar ones of hobby development from around the world. In Japan, the doujin markets of Comiket and beyond serve as a home for hobbyists to make, sell and share their creations. It is the doujin gaming scene that helped major studios like Fate/ studio Type-Moon, and franchises like 07th Expansion and Touhou Project, flourish in a way that would never be possible otherwise.
Creepy-Cute Indie Adventure Meg’s Monster Now Available on Xbox Series X and Xbox One
Here’s One Last Round of Indie Games Crowdfunding During Zine Month
Zine Month always sees a slew of creativity in the space, from TikTok filters to clever reveals when funding goals are hit, and while we’re wrapping up ZiMo, we still have a ton of great games that deserve your attention. There’s been a lot of movement in the TTRPG space and I’m excited to get back to reporting news…
One of Korea’s best indie studios released a free-to-play game about a bus ride to hell
The indie animated movie Lamya’s Poem is a hidden gem
A story that weaves fantasy and poetry into real-world catastrophe makes this small project stand out
Your next Indie obsession drops in a few weeks, and it ain’t on Game Pass
Dredge is one of those games that comes along that almost defies conventional description. It’s a trading and exploration sim like Elite, but with a tropical Wind Waker aesthetic, and a page-turning horror story told in the style of a visual novel. It’s all of those things, and yet, nothing you can compare it to really does it justice, because it’s really about the atmosphere.
Each component part of Dredge is highly competent in its own right: the bulk of the minute to minute gameplay is concerned with you operating as a jobbing fisherman. You fish, you earn money for ship upgrades, you fish more. Then there are special contracts and sidequests concerned with obtaining items of note from the depths, which could be a rare type of corrupted or mutated fish (more on that later), or a piece of treasure from a sunken galleon – the titular activity coming into play.
This all feeds into a fascinating main quest concerning the hunting of artefacts, which gives you cause to venture further and further from the tiny vestiges of civilisation that cling to this doomed region, to explore the outer reaches of the five island groups. The more you travel, the more exotic the plunder, and more specialised the equipment needed to harvest it.
Indie city builder removed from Steam after angry fan claims ownership of a game mode
Check Out Even More Indie Games Crowdfunding During Zine Month
Zine Month—or ZiMo—is in full swing, and even more games were released this week. We’ve got a whole slew of new indies for you to check out. Again, you can read through our first roundup here, which goes over some of the history of ZiMo, and you can peruse both Kickstarter’s Zine Quest and Crowdfundr’s Tabletop Nonstop