Indie Game Exam Question 3 (FINAL) (Gaming)

by marmot 1333 , Monday, October 14, 2013, 13:49 (4057 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Why is the notion of 'indie' a myth? What makes this distinction for video games non sensical? How does this contribute to the decline in the way we talk and think about video games as an art form?

Indie as myth: Because games are games are games.

Since the age of reliable internet distribution, XBOX Live indie game marketplace, Steam: Greenlight, desure, indiecity, etc, the term indie games has gotten popular. But what is the difference between an 'indie' game and a non-indie game? Nothing. A video game is a video game, and as such, should be judged by the same metric.

But you can go back further: iD software started with a handful of guys and at some point in the late 80s/early 90s Doom ended up being installed on more computers than Windows. (I got this from an interview with Gabe Newell a while back, too busy to cite sources right now.) By todays standards, they would be indie--people say Minecraft is indie all the time, but it has sold millions of copies.

So what is the purpose of the indie tag? For me, it adjusts the buyer's expectations. I go into GTA V and I think, there is going to be this huge world, tons of cars, NPCs, guns, cool AI, a huge story, voice acting, the list goes on.

If I pull up the XBLIG marketplace (which I don't do as much anymore, honestly), I'm not going to have those expectations. I will be pleased if I see a game that ISN'T about farting, or maybe it will have graphics that don't make my eyes bleed, or maybe it looks like the game is done. Oh, and maybe I'll enjoy it--but I wouldn't hold my breath.

As far as art? People spend years arguing about what art is--artist and art historians (Source: Art Major, liberal arts college). Is sculpture art? Is photography art? Are installations art? Does Banksy make art? Is the guy from Exit From the Gift Shop a Real Artist or is he Faking It?

My personal opinion is that having some kind of divide between indie games and games is just a distraction in the bigger question of "Are Video Games Art." For me, if someone can say a film (or, god forbid, a MOVIE) is art, then yeah, you can say that video games are art.

Now to let the cat out of the bag: I made an indie game. It's not a great game, but I have played worse. I made it in about 5 weeks with C# & XNA last winter break. I made all the music and graphics too. Here it is: Interstellar Flower Power.