Charting the rise of a genre: from madcap developers, broken promises and the strokes of genius between it all.

The vibrancy of gaming’s indie scene has proven itself as an evolving medium whose impact is not to be understated, nor underestimated. Its fledgling beginnings can be traced back to the advent of the 90’s era and the studios who arose during this time who have gone on to become monoliths of gaming. Or the advent of the internet and the boundless possibilities it unlocked for developers to the modern era where indie titles are often equal in quality to those released by AAA companies. Yet its journey and evolution that the genre had to undergo in order to reach this point is one of strife, madcap developers, the genius of solo developers, false promises and game of the year contenders. What initially began as an embryonic medium striving for a foothold in the mainstream has now become a vital bastion, a key antithetical to the AAA industry. But just how did the genre come to be?

In the era prior to the advent of the internet, indie games were a rather niche and financially unfeasible undertaking. Most titles began as independent projects by ambitious development teams who were forced into seeking distribution from a larger publisher, thus, with any success that ensued from the sales of their project came the acquisition of said studio. Such was the case for the likes of Origin systems who released Ultima and Maxis studios, known for their acclaimed titles The Sims and Spore both of whom found themselves being acquired by EA. Or be it ID software who found themselves being absorbed after the release of their title Doom proved itself to be a revolutionary entry in the gaming sphere, altering what a shooter could be and birthing the ‘boomer shooter’ genre. A genre later iterated upon by modern indie titles. Though without acquisition from a larger company an indie company seemed destined to fail. 

Yet as dawn rose on the 00’s, the indie genre found a foothold in the continuing evolution of internet accessibility and the indie genre began to blossom into a financially viable enterprise.The accessibility to game creation began to evolve alongside the internet itself, unity, RPGmaker, Twine and the source engine all allowed for eager developers to try their hand at game creation. Lest those be the likes of browser titles as seen on the of newgrounds and java which guaranteed a degree, be it large or small of some eyes upon the game or in the case of the console world a whole new store which would serve to accommodate these new indie games. For those who created titles for PC there came Steam which negated the need for a publisher and physical distribution and for console titles there came another development which occurred in 2005. Microsoft unveiled the Xbox 360 and with it came the birth of the xbox live arcade. What was first perceived as a novel addition slowly revealed itself to be an ever evolving beast which yearned to grow beyond the confines of even Microsoft’s expectations. The arcade storefront allowed developers to upload their titles to a designated marketplace (so long as it did not exceed 50mb) resulting in a degree of guaranteed eyes upon their project, whereas in years prior there was no degree nor guarantee of any happening upon your game. Microsoft’s commitment to spearheading the bloom in indie titles led to such games as Alien hominid, castle crashers and super meat boy to gain traction where previously they had faded into obscurity, now the aforementioned titles were granted visibility and led to each one surpassing one million sales on the console and became indie mainstays, firmly cementing them as pertinent titles in the annals of the genre.

In the following years the recurring ‘summer of arcade’ brought forth deals to the virtual marketplace which drew attention to titles Limbo (2010) and Braid (2008), both familiar names to purveyors of the genre. Microsoft had proven themselves to be a company who grasped the value of the indie scene as their dedication to granting prominence to an overlooked genre was unwavering throughout the Xbox 360’s lifespan. The tribulations of self publishing were streamlined by their approach to the marketplace, thus lowering the entry point required for an ambitious developer looking to gain traction. The development team behind a project merely had to be willing to upload their game to the marketplace where once they had to seek a publisher and find a viable format to share their game.

The floodgates had been opened and the commercial viability of self-publishing was now more evident than ever before. Yet the moment which altered it wholly was the release of a project by a one-man developer named Notch, whose game you may know as Minecraft (2009). What first began as a furtive undertaking created for the enjoyment of his close friends became a worldwide sensation and still remains as unflinchingly prominent within the pop culture zeitgeist. Not only did the game spawn multiple spin offs including Minecraft story mode, developed by the renowned Telltale studio, known for their adaptation of AMC’s The walking dead which saw them win multiple BAFTAs. The game had proved to those spectating the genre’s evolution with scepticism that these titles were not merely one and done experiences or pulse racing thrill rides in the case of The Behemoth’s Castle crashers, but they could provide the player with endless possibilities and an equal measure of hours to meet that. What began as a phenomenon in the sphere of PC gaming found a firm foothold in the console space, seeing exclusive editions released for both Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. The ubiquitous word and mouth and the accessible nature of the internet is where Minecraft bloomed into what we know it as today, a cultural monolith that has since seen sales that place it as the second best-selling game of all time. It was propelled so far beyond what could be deemed a game by its passionate fanbase who created content both within and about the game, thus aided by the rise of Youtube and Twitch’s popularity, the symbiotic relationship between indie games and virality began.

Virality and the indie scene share an intrinsic connection which became more entwined throughout the 2010’s and up to present day. Not only had Minecraft proven to be a sensation in terms of sales, its nature as a viral spectacle was first established on Youtube. The community which surrounded the game catered to adult and teen viewers in the case of the Yogscast and their individual members who created their own individual series pertaining to the game but also catered to entertaining younger audiences in the case of youtuber Stampylongnose. The malleability of the game as a sandbox became evident in its community’s approach to content creation and mods which continue to extend its lifespan. Yet Minecraft was not the only game to gain such traction online during this era.

The youtuber Felix Kjellberg, whom you may know as Pewdiepie and the likes of Mark Fishbach, aka Markiplier, were amongst those who popularised the horror game genre through their blending of reaction content and gameplay, granting them millions of subscribers along the way. The likes of Amnesia (2010), Five nights at Freddy’s (2014) and smaller RPGmaker titles such as Corpse Party (2010) and Mad Father (2012) were popularised by the play throughs of these aforementioned youtubers. The symbiosis of youtuber’s drawing visibility to a project also began to benefit the likes of Toby Fox’s pacifistic approach to the top down RPG genre in his title, Undertale (2016) and ConcernedApe’s Stardew Valley (2016) and the sardonic commentary on player agency as seen in Galactic Cafe’s The Stanley Parable (2013) all benefited from the virality which can be attributed to their success.

Yet with such abundance and ease of access to indie game creation, publication and purchase, so too came the issue of overabundance, an issue that came to be coined as the aptly bleak ‘indiepocalypse’. Which refers to what has been deemed an inevitable breakpoint whereby indie titles will become so saturated by other releases within the scene that their newfound visibility will come to harm them. An issue which is not to be understated. For those of you who attempt to discover new titles, the commonly accepted route of doing so consists of sitting through short form youtube content highlighting upcoming indie games as opposed to the innumerable hours it would take to trawl through the unquantifiable lists available through the store pages on consoles. As the evolution continues only the most magnificent seems to rise amidst the rest, yet for every Hollow Knight that we know of, for every Undertale, how many more potentially great titles fade into the abundance of the storefront. 

This is not the first time that many have branded the rise of indie titles as a double-edged sword, for the initial beginnings of kickstarter drew criticism for this very reason. The over promise and under deliver model became commonplace, despite the likes of indie bastions Shovel Knight (2014), Undertale (2016) and Hollow Knight (2014) all receiving backing from the site. Yet for every Shovel Knight there came a slew of projects that abided to the aforementioned formula and thus saw backers either receive half-baked releases or the deafening silence of developer ambivalence as the game entered development hell and faded from the consciousness of all involved. Though each title I have listed laid the foundations for the modern age of the indie scene in which we now find ourselves and from the dualistic nature of kickstarter came the aforementioned trio which would push the boundaries of that which can be defined as indie. Now the era had begun of the genre challenging jaded preconceptions and equalling mainstream AAA titles in popularity. 

The release of the seventh generation of consoles saw the scope of AAA titles increase exponentially alongside an uptick in both developmental times and budget. The inevitable impact which ensued led to games being designed and released to cater to widespread commercial appeal alongside a degree of expectation that they shall generate profit for the publisher, thus came a reduction of risk that developers and publishers alike were willing to take. Whilst the Indie movement of the 2010’s stood in stark contrast to this with their smaller budgets paired with development teams who were unafraid of risk due to them not having to recoup such monumental production costs. Now what began as an offshoot, so easily defined by its inability to mimic the AAA experience had found a foothold as a viable alternative to a production schedule which hampered the mainstream industry’s ability to create games on a yearly basis. The likes of Fifa and Call of duty were able to abide to the yearly release schedule to mixed success, yet the realm of indie titles created no demand for such a model. Instead what followed were titles like Hades, Hollow Knight, Darkwood and Outer wilds all featured innovative gameplay, twists and breathtaking presentation whilst delivering complete gaming experiences. Whilst AAA developers seemed to sag under the bloated weight of increased budgets, scope and development. The indie scene had refined its craft and shifted its focus toward honing their refined gameplay loops and narratives which remained true to the developers original vision.

What could be defined as indie became increasingly more opaque with the aforementioned titles being but a few of the standouts from this era. As a fan of survival horror I have seen the greatest titles of the last decade be released by indie dev teams. Be it Signalis, Darkwood or Tormented souls. All the aforementioned games pertain to archetypal mechanics established in the late 90’s and early 00’s in the Resident Evil and Silent Hill franchises respectively. Both of which have either dwindled into the recess of my nostalgic recollections or morphed into a different style of gameplay. Yet the aforementioned indie titles remain true to established mechanics like fixed camera angles, inventory management and puzzle solving all of which have been largely abandoned by the flagship entries in this genre. The spiritual successor had become commonplace and the innovative twists the indie developers had put upon previously cemented gameplay tropes.

The term indie no longer seemed derogatory as those titles which floated to the surface amidst the ocean of abundance were so near to flawless in their execution that they challenged the term and forced journalists and players alike to re-evaluate what the term indie referred to and whether in their coining of this title their dwelled an element of the derogatory. The likes of Supergiants Hades is now considered to be a GOTY contender,, same with outer wilds and its cyclical revisitation and utilisation of time as an intrinsic motivator for exploration and puzzle solving. The evolution of the term indie in the modern era of gaming now no longer evidences a stark difference in presentation, gameplay and scope. Now an indie title is often emblematic of an undertaking which retains its alternative nature yet possesses polish akin to that of AAA titles and in the case of some AAA games, actually surpasses that which they released.

The rise of the ‘cosy’ game genre found its roots in the indie scene with ConcernedApe’s ode to retro farming simulators, Stardew Valley and last year’s surprise success of Stray which saw the player taking control of a cat who must navigate their way through the streets of a cyberpunk city. The genre also proved itself a viable medium to tackle heavier themes of mental health and morally complex or grey ideas in the case of Omori, what remains of Edith Finch, Disco Elysium, Celeste, Signalis and Papers please. Each of the aforementioned titles addresses these with earnest or a degree of intellect which details the capabilities and risk-inclined nature of the developers behind them. So unwavering were these teams when faced with topics and themes related to heavy subject matter yet they handled them with such tact. This is in part due to their freedom from the shackles of widespread commercial appeal, yet the term ‘indie’ no longer appeared to pigeon hole a title but rather suggested a focused project with a narrower commercial appeal, despite each title listed above being a critical and commercial success. The indie had become a monolith, when once it was a mouse.

It is hard not to feel a degree of inspiration when retrospectively viewing the arduous journey that the indie scene has undergone. From a mere label which was applied to those madcap developers of the 90’s then blossoming into the era of the internet and those willing to publish online and ultimately pursuing the developers all the way to the apocalypse and back. Though to others considering a foray into this medium or even looking to encounter a new experience, look toward those individuals who have shifted the boundaries of what was previously deemed unobtainable by a team of such minute size. Now depth, scale and refinement are terms which can be moulded and the confinements of which dwindle in their once concrete nature. The scene is a bastion of innovation, a concoction of chaotic development, ingenious developers and pipeline dreams realised by those dedicated enough to birth their vision through the medium of gaming. As technology evolves and the scope of projects increases the indie scene has proven time and time again that it is willing to shift the goal posts just that little inch farther. The embryonic nature of games as a whole means that the indie scene is only just blossoming. 

It has proven itself to be a viable medium for the address of mental health, the dissection of trauma, the narrativity of a compelling tale and forever shifting and engaging gameplay bolstered by an expansive tapestry of visual styles. Indie games have fulfilled demand for franchises we, as an audience yearned for, for those who were lost to ill-conceived iterations on a stagnant formula. Birthing spiritual successors or wholly new experiences, the indie genre has proven itself to be one of the most fascinating evolutions in the gaming zeitgeist. Now we are at a point where indie titles seem to be an increasing alternative for those fatigued with bloated runtimes of AAA titles, myself included. It has been a wild 30 years and there is so much road that lays ahead for both gaming and the indie genre itself. What more is to come? And could anyone have predicted that we would find ourselves here in the present day? And who can predict where we shall find ourselves in another 30 years from now, when it seems that only in the last decade that the term ‘indie’ has come to describe a title created by those possessing such passion for their project that they are willing to forego the mainstream and spearhead their own projects and not merely a derogatory term for arcade shovelware. The evolution of the indie is an unstoppable force. I beg you to enter its slipstream and embrace an indie game, be it for a desire of locating a spiritual successor or a new experience, it is a genre which has reinvigorated my love for gaming and opened my eyes to the possibilities and viability of gaming as an artistic medium. I hope it will for you too.