44 réponses à ce sujet

[Riven326]

With AAA games being so bloated, expensive, buggy, incomplete, and full of fluff lately, I began to look elsewhere for my gaming needs. For the most part during my time playing games since the early 90's, I pretty much ignored the indie scene, even when things started to take off with Kickstarter. You could say that I relied almost entirely on the AAA market for my gaming needs. However, after many months of being dissatisfied with what the big publishers are pushing out the door these days, I decided to give some indie games a go.

 

Now, I will be the first to say that a lot of them, if not most of them, are pretty ****. But I did find a handful of games that held my attention and were a blast to play. In some ways they remind of me of the great Nintendo games that I still love. Far Cry 3 was the last AAA game I played and I ended up not finishing it because of the sheer amount of fluff, rinse and repeat, gameplay elements that seemed to be getting in the way of the fun.

 

Combine that with triple A's idea of what makes a good story (middle-age white guy with dark hair and stubble saves the universe... again) and honestly, I really just could not deal with how ridiculous the whole thing is. Earlier this year I gave Assassin's Creed Unity a go after being a fan of the franchise who was admittedly a bit fatigued by the time I got to Revelations. Nonetheless, I gave it the benefit of the doubt. It is easily one of the most boring games I have ever played and I am not exaggerating. The main character is a 30 year old white guy, dark hair, with the charisma of a bag of hammers and just about as dumb to boot. Seriously, why is the game industry so fascinated with this character that they keep using him over and over again in every game and it's sequels?

 

I digress. The point is, AAA has become very expensive, very bloated, and honestly, very boring for me. Indie picked up the slack and got me back into playing games again. The best part is the games don't break the bank, offer hours of enjoyment, and are far more creative than anything going on right now in the AAA space. That's something that I expect will continue and will likely get worse as time goes on and games become more and more expensive to produce. We will likely see only a handful of AAA games (Halo, CoD, Battlefield, etc.) in the future that can sustain themselves with no middle ground for games like Dishonored or Deus Ex.

 

Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts of course on the Indie scene and what you play, as well as your thoughts on what's happening in the AAA space.

[Jehuty]

New ideas are like the plague for AAA devs.

 

The Yandere sim though... I want it.

[Kaiser Arian XVII]

Both AAA and indie suck!

I don't even know anymore...

[slimgrin]

I only endorse bay area hipster games as the way forward. Everything else is misogyny.

[mybudgee]

The gaming industry as we know it is doomed

[Vroom Vroom]

The gaming industry as we know it is doomed

Mobile Gaming and Freemium is the future. When that time comes I will have to find a new hobby; woodworking, perhaps? 

[metatheurgist]

Combine that with triple A's idea of what makes a good story (middle-age white guy with dark hair and stubble saves the universe... again)

You should try some Japanese games. It's all about teenage boys that look like girls saving the universe...for variety.

[Inquisitor Recon]

People should make the games I tell them to.

[Jehuty]

People should make the games I tend them to.

Like the clop to Luna simulator for MLP? 

[Inquisitor Recon]

What... why would anybody make that?

[Jehuty]

What... why would anybody make that?

Because you told them to do so. 

[bmwcrazy]

You should try some Japanese games. It's all about teenage boys that look like girls saving the universe...for variety.

 

That's weird.

 

Most of my Japanese games are about a teenage boy trying to deflower everyone in his high school.

[Inquisitor Recon]

Because you told them to do so. 

Why would I do that?

[Jehuty]

Why would I do that?

Because you clop to Luna. 

[Inquisitor Recon]

Because you clop to Luna. 

There is no truth to that. I have no idea why people always try to ship me with her.

[Jehuty]

There is no truth to that. I have no idea why people always try to ship me with her.

Because it's true. 

[Inquisitor Recon]

Because it's true. 

False, ask anybody.

[TheChris92]

I'm not big on all these 2D platforming indie titles, but there are some that look interesting to me -- Mostly, I just tend to look backwards these days for old games I've missed out on which probably explains why I've pledged to a few Kickstarter titles myself. The industry belives there isn't a demand for more classic 3D platformers, well they are provenly wrong and I'm glad to see it.

 

So yeah, there are a few Kickstarter titles I'm excited about -- Might give Transistor a shot too. Otherwise, I'm not that big on the indie scene yet as I feel they haven't done anything remarkably great that holds my attention.

[Rorschachinstein]

the modern day "indie" scene produces garbage that would have been uploaded to New Grounds in 2006. The only difference is, at least New Grounds didn't have the audacity to flood the market with their garabage. Not only did they slither into the gamer scene like leeches to make their stupid club, but have been sucking the culture dry for years and trashing all the other gamer scenes as if they have no righ to exist. 

[mybudgee]

Mobile Gaming and Freemium is the future. When that time comes I will have to find a new hobby; woodworking, perhaps? 

[metatheurgist]

That's weird.
 
Most of my Japanese games are about a teenage boy trying to deflower everyone in his high school.

But he looks like a girl and he's doing it to "save the world" right? Otherwise some kind of tentacle monster would deflower them anyway?

[Dominus]

Anyway, I'd like to hear your thoughts of course on the Indie scene and what you play, as well as your thoughts on what's happening in the AAA space.

It's become increasingly prevalent for the last 10 years, and for good reason. It'll typically have less of a budget, but more creative control, etc etc.

What I've played and reccomend:

Spoiler

• Guacamelee
• To The Moon
• Transistor
• The Banner Saga
• Ori and the Blind Old Bastard
• Shadowrun: Dragonfall
• Pillars of Eternity
• Machinarium
• Stacking
• Shovel Knight
• Hand of Fate

What's happening in the AAA Scene? A lot of stellar titles in one year. Witcher 3, Bloodborne, and other games living up to their high expectations.

[Torgette]

You're missing out on tons of awesome games if you're ignoring indies or early access games, hell I have lots of fun with mobile games too so long as it's not named angry birds or clash of whatever.

[A Crusty Knight Of Colour]

AAA is all about spending big to make big money. The result (over time) are games that are very derivative and unwilling to upset people in order to catch the widest net.
 
I think it's reaching a tipping point though. It's a fairly good time to be a PC gamer if you can exercise a bit of discretion with anti-consumer companies. There are a decent chunk of studios that produce games with decent production values (beyond pixel indie) that make games that don't fit in with the AAA mold. Beyond the usual Kickstarter RPG studios mentioned frequently (Obsidian, InXile and Larian), you've got:
 
Amplitude Studios, who make the Endless (Legend, Space) strategy games.
Stardock Entertainment, that make primarily Sci-Fi strategy games (GalCiv III is their latest, a 4x game).
Daedalic Entertainment, a German company that produces Adventure games (Deponia and TDE games).
Supergiant Games, the studio behind Bastion and Transistor.
Codemasters recently released Dirt: Rally, a well received Rally Racing game.
Telltale, who are making an inordinate amount of games now. Borderlands and GoT their two biggest projects.
 
Those are just a few studios that have professional grade production values (not garage indie grade) and games that aren't suited to AAA. They are also studios that have released PC-exclusive games in the last 12 months, so it's all current. I'm sure there's more, but I'm just thinking off the top of my head.
 
There are many problems that come with PC Gaming right now. Specifically, Valve. Biggest one right now. They don't curate their store so a lot of crap gets in, and there's no real competition to Steam so they can almost get away with anything. But there's a lot of quality games out there if you take the time to look. So yeah I am fairly happy with PC gaming and non-AAA gaming right now. Much happier than I was 2-3 years ago, that's for sure.
 
That said, there's nothing wrong with garage indie grade either if you're willing to exercise even more discretion and do a bit of research. Dankest Dungeon is a pretty fun game. Also, the 500 odd page thread about Witcher 3 suggests that not all AAA gaming is beyond hope.

[Fast Jimmy]

Those are just a few studios that have professional grade production values (not garage indie grade) and games that aren't suited to AAA. They are also studios that have released PC-exclusive games in the last 12 months, so it's all current. I'm sure there's more, but I'm just thinking off the top of my head.

There are many problems that come with PC Gaming right now. Specifically, Valve. Biggest one right now. They don't curate their store so a lot of crap gets in, and there's no real competition to Steam so they can almost get away with anything. But there's a lot of quality games out there if you take the time to look. So yeah I am fairly happy with PC gaming and non-AAA gaming right now. Much happier than I was 2-3 years ago, that's for sure.

While I get why Steam not regulating their stuff is bad, I feel like there is also an up side in their hands off process. Look at how Sony and Microsoft have an iron grip on any content for their machines - this certification process slows down releases, patches, DLC, updates... it essentially holds up the entire development process to get the right stamp of approval. Yes, it usually results in a less buggy product, but at the expense of handcuffing developers to how they push content out. Which I think is a bit silly.

That said, there's nothing wrong with garage indie grade either if you're willing to exercise even more discretion and do a bit of research. Dankest Dungeon is a pretty fun game. Also, the 500 odd page thread about Witcher 3 suggests that not all AAA gaming is beyond hope.

AAA gaming will never be in danger as long as consoles make up such a large chunk of the market. When more than 2/3's of your fanbase don't have access to play indie games, there's little chance that indie games will put the AAA publishers and developers out of business. I think both sides of the industry are reaching an interesting equilibrium.