IROG'S PROFILE

author=Gretgor
My thing with indies is more related to my ideals than it is to game design. I feel like indies understand what I want out of games in a way the mainstream industry no longer does.

See, indies are developed to be fun, interesting, or otherwise compelling experiences, usually made by fans of video games for fans of video games, and usually made with love and a cohesive artistic vision.

In contrast, the mainstream video games industry nowadays has gone in the complete opposite direction. Microtransactions up the wazoo, "live service" mentality, design by commitee with no clear artistic vision, and games sometimes being purposefully made to be slow and obnoxious in order to pretty much force the player to buy "time savers" to actually be able to enjoy the game that they have bought. They also rely on tons of "FOMO" to make people want to play games even when they would normally not.

That isn't to say the mainstream industry does not occasionally launch good games without those predatory schemes, but they are becoming ever more rare. It feels like the mainstream industry has shifted focus from creating entertaining experiences to optimizing how to psychologically manipulate people into spending as much money as possible on their games.

So nowadays, if I want to play a fun game, I play indies. If I want to play a game with a deep narrative, I play indies. If I want an original gameplay idea that the mainstream industry would never dare try out of fear of losing revenue, I play indies.

Now, if I want a fast way to get a large sum of money out of my wallet as fast as possible, I just place my vacuum cleaner directly inside it. If my vacuum cleaner is being used, then I buy a triple-A game.

Call me an indie purist or whatever, but the mainstream games industry is losing me as a customer fast. Indies have been filling the game shaped hole in my heart in the last few years, and they'll probably be more necessary than ever down the line. The mainstream games industry is the reason why I do not call myself a "gamer" anymore.

author=eevee93
I didn't like Antigone's extra THICC and bouncy map sprite. Not fair to the other girls in the game :P