I am so very young and my knowledge of this world is limited. So then is my knowledge of the human being equally as limited. Everyday I meet people who I assume details about. I look at them and project a past of which I know nothing. They could be someone who would become a lifelong friend, a love interest, or a critical teacher; yet, they are instantaneously projected by my mind to be something less. They are humans too; ones who have lived full lives and experienced life entirely different than I. If I could only see their past maybe I could better understand their present and fall in love with their perseverance, convictions, and passions. Kan Gao takes this notion and challenges the gamer to open their mind to another’s life in To the Moon and in doing so challenges the notion that the human being can ever be fully understood, no matter what we know.

In To the Moon, we join two doctors, Dr. Watts and Dr. Rosalene, as they help a dying man named Johnny fulfill his final wish of going to the moon. To do so they must travel back and navigate through Johnny’s life to attempt to plant the idea of being an astronaut into his memory. The concept teems of sci-fi ridiculousness, but it is far beyond the point of the effort. As the doctors travel back through time, they learn about Johnny’s life and relationships, only to find an understanding of Johnny which none of the people close to Johnny, nor did Johnny even have. To the Moon is an exploration of the human life, through an exploration of one fictional dying man’s life. The exploration poses life lessons throughout the 4 hour experience.

One of the more important lessons I was able to take away was how To the Moon posed Johnny’s most important memories. Through backtracking our player experiences the critical moments of Johnny’s life, of which 90% center around his relationship with his deceased wife. I never knew of Johnny’s job, nor had I thought about what Johnny or his wife did for a living until long after the credits rolled. To the Moon made me reflect on my fondest memories and reminded me that love stands out distinctly amongst other experiences. I have been strongly affected by many moments in my life, but likely none more than love and love lost. Johnny is no different and love not only affects his life, but holds it steadfastly in place. It is idealistic, I know, but the love is realistic and imperfect all the same, which adds a needed aspect of realism.

The realism comes in that Johnny’s love is flawed and never understandable. I could not tell you why Johnny and his wife were in love nor could I tell you why they were initially drawn to each other. Despite viewing Johnny’s past openly and without restraint I could still not understand his emotional draw towards this girl. Surely there was reason, but I could not truly know why, and I think that is an important lesson to take away from To the Moon. We can know and judge others based on their actions, but unless we truly understood their reasons and emotional state we truly know nothing about them. That is why it was impossible to understand the draw between Johnny and his spouse and too impossible to understand why people do what they do. This led me to come to the conclusion that I could never understand the characters. I could not understand their decisions, loves, hatreds, and wishes and I was not meant to. I was meant to learn but never understand, because people are a complex and distinctive animal with depth beyond any of our capability of understanding.

To the Moon constantly questions the depth of the human being. To the Moon posed a story, but not a simple one; it was a complex narrative which challenged the way we view of strangers. That which we assumed about every character was not necessarily true and it reminded me I need to work harder to get to know those I love without assuming things about those I do not know. It taught me that video games as a whole can be moving and thoughtful, while being direct and full of conviction. To the Moon was linear, so I assumed nothing because all I could know was given. The game strictly unwavered from its story while keeping details about the characters abstract, in a way starkly and beautifully contrasting itself. Most importantly, it taught me that no matter how much I truly want to know or even come to learn, I can never understand why another human being does what they do. Despite all of this, I know now that I want to learn more about everyone, because it helps, even though I will never truly understand. This alone can free me from trying to understand, and rather accept the beauty of what I know of a person. I will carry that lesson with me for the rest of my life.

Go check out To the Moon when you get a chance. You can find it on its official website and on Steam and be sure to look at what Freebird Games is up to on their official website or on Twitter. Stay tuned next week for another The Why of Indie Games, where I will cover another indie game’s importance to life or to gaming. For all your other indie gaming news keep with Indiegamemag.com.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The Why of Indie Games: ‘To the Moon’

9/11 is a time for reflection and in that reflection reminds us of the sheer magnitude of the world around us. It is also a day which reminds us that there are always current events happening, and that we often are uninformed on worldly tragedies. I am probably projecting, but that is how I judge myself to be often ignorant of world events. Instead of reading a newspaper or online news I spend my time writing about and playing video games, as many of our readers do. To rationalize with my choice and reflect upon my reasons I have been thinking about why we as a community, game.

One of my first true memories of why I game was on September 11. I remember where I was when it happened, but that is not all that important; rather what I did when I arrived home from school sticks out in my mind. I was really young when the tragedy occurred and I believe that although I hate the date myself, I was in 5^th grade. I came home from school and found my mother crying, and I could not help but be confused because although the tragedy was announced, I was too young to truly understand what had happened. Seeing my mother in tears brought me to tears and I recall a brief period of time where I simply sat down baffled. I eventually got up and the day went on as normal, with the news on in the background.

Me. Around 5th Grade

The story seems mundane and it is nothing heartbreaking, but I would imagine 99% of Americans my age have a similar story; except their story may have ended with a different coping mechanism. I went into my basement and popped on my PS2. I played Tekken Tag Tournament (TTT) for a solid 4 or 5 hours that night and never stopped to watch the news or learn anything about the attacks, I immersed myself in the TV and pulled myself away from the real world.

Today, I still game with a similar fervor to my past self and still play as a coping mechanism. Gaming is, as most things in life are not just for the plain purpose of having fun. We are too evolved for that to be the end reason for playing video games. I played 4 hours of TTT that day because I was too young to face the crisis. My brain was nowhere near mature enough to know I should have comforted my mother so I did what was safe; I gamed.

Over time I have grown as a gamer and I now game for different reasons. I no longer game because it is safe, but rather because it helps me grow as a human being. I have played video games to help deal with breakups, to come to terms with family loss, to learn, to be amazed, to participate in a community, and for so much more. Gaming is so versatile and fosters such a tightly knit community that figuring out why we game is important to not only our growth as a gamer, but to our growth as human beings.

We could grow our being through other means, but we do not. Every day we choose gaming over everything else life has to offer. Sure, we have hobbies outside of gaming but we choose gaming as one of our main activities. We do so because it offers an experience individualized to each and every gamer. We each can take different qualities out of the same experiences, and more importantly are able to interact with another person’s artwork, which they may feel fully different about than we do. We each game for different purposes, but I refuse to believe we game with no deeper purpose.

I game for so many reasons that I could not possibly list them, because many of the reasons I play video games are still unknown to me. I know I game for comfort, for coping, for exploring, for  interaction, and for philosophy. But why do you game? Why do you choose gaming as an activity over other possible pastimes? Please comment below and we can discuss and learn from each other.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Gaming As An Integral Part Of Life: Why We Game

Update: Now with additional speculation on the next 10!

Drama, controversy, yelling and flailing and confused arguments over classism, poverty and financial stability seem to have been the only things to come out of Valve Corporation’s indie fast-tracking system, Greenlight, in recent days. That seems to have finally changed today, as the first wave of games to get official distribution deals on Steam via this new system have been chosen. It’s an interesting set, including a couple of non-commercial entries as well. Here’s all the ones that I’ve been able to pin down:

• Black Mesa by The Black Mesa Team – The legendary (and much-delayed) fan-made remake of Half-Life 1 is officially comes home.
• Project Zomboid by The Indie Stone – The gritty and realistic zombie survival sim/RPG has proven the size of its audience.
• No More Room In Hell by the NMRiH Dev Team – Yet another mod, and yet more zombies. This time of the competitive sort.
• Routine by Lunar Softworks – The gorgeously pretty retro-futuristic lunar survival horror game hits the big leagues.
• Dream by Hypersloth – A first-person game of exploration, interpretation and even a dash of horror. Looks interesting!
• Towns by SMP – Dwarf Fortress too complex? This is similar in style, but geared towards easy, accessible management gameplay.
• Heroes & Generals by Reto-Moto – An ambitious blend of WW2 action, strategy and even long-term grand strategy elements.
• Cry of Fear by ruMpel – Possibly the most enduring Half-Life 1 mod out there, and recently expanded. Now officially on Steam.
• McPixel by Sos Sosowski – Wario Ware meets point-and-click adventure with a crude, lewd sense of humor. Endorsed by pirates!
• Kenshi by Lo-Fi Games – Post-apocalyptic samurai roleplaying with a focus on realism. Still early in development, but looking strong.

There may be more, but those are the only ones that I can see bearing the official Thumbs Up from Valve themselves. Interestingly, a few of the highest-voted games, including Slender: Source have been passed over, highlighting that Greenlight isn’t just a mere popularity contest, but rather a shortlist for Valve to hand-pick games from. There’s also several non-commercial entries they’ve picked out, which suggests that freeware games may well be admitted to Steam, if enough people want it.

Congratulations to the developers chosen, and best wishes to those still in waiting – with the most wanted skimmed from the list, it frees up the rankings for another set to rise to the top. It appears that almost all the ten chosen games were picked from the highest-percentage-boasting games. Based on current figures and trends, this would make the next potential ten an… unusual set.

We might well see Eve Online-inspired MMO Perpetuum added soon, as well as retro platformer revival Project Giana. Much-vaunted ‘AAA Indie’ FPS Interstellar Marines is high in the rankings, and third-person RPG deathmatch game Forge is in the running as well.

It gets weird as we hit Postal 2 – the infamous shock comedy (reminiscent of Troma films) FPS – which seems to have a fair few fans. Weirder still (but in a good way) is Octodad 2: Dadliest Catch, which is something I’d love to see hit the big leagues.  Creative and classy shadow-based puzzle/platformer Contrast seems a likely choice, and the extended re-release of third-person horror shooter Afterfall InSanity is up there too.

At the tail-end of the next ten potentials is another internet phenomenon – the Yogsventures game – a standalone action-adventure based upon the ridiculously popular Minecraft podcast. Last of the likely next few is Miasmata, a first person survival sim. It’ll be interesting to see whether any of these make the final cut when Valve pick the next set, but I’d be very surprised if they all slipped under the radar.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Greenlight Bears Fruit: The First Wave Of Approved Titles Revealed

I pride myself on looking for innovation, however I often fail to find what I am looking for. I truly am willing to try anything, but instead of venturing I often find myself returning to known genres and areas. Often it is easier to just rifle through games until I find another RPG rather than find something I am uncomfortable with, but would no doubt provide captivating gameplay, for me it’s a matter of entry barrier. It would be so very easy to pick up a game I could quickly become familiar with and engross myself in, rather than a game I would need to think about and learn from.

This, I feel has become the attitude of many developers I am not trying to generalize, however it is not all that often I see a revolutionary title being released. It seems that ideas are being recycled, which is fine because often the best ideas are those built on the basis of others. There would be no Braid without Mario; there would be no Dust: An Elysian Tale without Castlevania. Those games built upon those original ideas, then deferred from certain areas to create a uniquely innovative experience. It would appear developers have figured out it is easier to take a good idea recycle it and sell it, than it is to conceptualize something new with the risk of it failing and lose more money than a recycled idea would.

This is where my disappointment in the current development of a genre comes from. Horror games evolved for about a solid minute then proceeded to once again stagnate and become a series of similar clones. I cannot describe to you the disappointment I have been feeling whilst looking at the Greenlight page. While they are harder to find now that the format has changed, Amnesia: The Dark Descent clones are infesting the horror section. There are so many physics-based, weaponless, first-person horror games that it is difficult to even figure out if one is possibly innovative that is unless you spend the time looking at the dev pages for each and every game.

So, I suppose my formatting is different than most weeks and I have not yet said why Amnesia and Lone Survivor are important. Their importance comes from the fact they are good games, but they both shine a light on the good and bad of innovation. Let me set this straight before I move on to anything else, Amnesia and Lone Survivor are excellent titles and both innovated the horror genre in different ways. Amnesia’s brand of horror caught on, whilst Lone Survivor seems to be an innovation of which no copies have been made, however they both were innovative and show distinct effects innovation can have.

Lone Survivor shows a less rippling innovation or a sort of huge splash in a pond which has hardly any lingering effects. Perhaps it was due to the odd styling and heavy dialog, but Lone Survivor was a difficult game to make, it took the devs 4 years to get the game to market and has two distinctive branching storylines. The horror of Lone Survivor is psychologically based rather than based on cheap thrills and sudden jumps. Horror such as this is executed through solid writing and tense environments with these qualities requiring a great deal of work, time, and money to create; all things of which indie devs do not always have a great deal of.

Amnesia operates differently to Lone Survivor, it was no less innovative than Lone Survivor but offered a different type of terror to the player. Amnesia approached horror with dialogue, but to a much lesser extent. There were not many characters, and the graphics engine was nothing unusual or innovative it created something new, but relatively easily to copy. Physics-based doors, which required the user to actually open the doors using the push or pull of a mouse was a very cool concept, equally interesting was the sanity meter for the main character Daniel. These aspects were innovative but they are easily recreated as developers knew that these could be reused and still offer a palatable horror experience.

I suppose I am approaching this from a philosophical approach. The importance of both games goes way deeper than just as successes which had different effects on the genre, but the most learnable lessons of both games comes from what they say about the development of games. Amnesia is a revolutionary idea, but one that is easy to build again and a copyable experience. Lone Survivor is a first of its kind and last of its kind type of game, rather than build the next revolution by creating new mechanics like Amnesia and Lone Survivor did, there is a trend of leeching on to the ease of Amnesia. Amnesia and Lone Survivor are important because they show which ideas will be borrowed and which will be lost respectively, the graspable and the difficult.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The Why of Indie Games: ‘Amnesia’ and ‘Lone Survivor’

There is a natural barrier in the video game world. We are limited in our control, the gamepad and keyboard only allow us to do so much. Much the same is true for life. Only so much of what we do is in our control. To survive we need to work and eat. We need to take care of our shelter and pay bills. We control only so much about our lives. Video game developers have a unique role in the creation of video games in which they choose what the player controls.

Journey utilizes this notion of minor control. You see, Journey is linear. You cannot vary from the path at hand. You are travelling for the light at the top of the mountain. You are not sure why but you know you must reach that destination. The player can do nothing but move, jump, and sing. Journey leaves the player as a robed figure who has the chance of finding another robed figure to assist each other on the adventure.

Those players have no means of communication beyond a singing voice which acts in tune with the background music. The musical notes are the light form of a gesture. The gesture is unfamiliar, allowing two players to communicate in a way unfamiliar to the both of them. It can be likened to having to communicate with someone who speaks an unfamiliar language. All we have to communicate with are broadly interpretable gestures. The control of communication is stripped from us, and we are put behind a screen, unable to see the person who will assist us.

Truly, Journey is as close to real life as a video game can be. Okay, stick with me. Journey is an explanation, in an hour or two, of our lives. One aspect of Journey, which truly captures a portion of the human experience are the other players one meets online. They are temporary and fleeting. A player may lose their partner and never know who, how old, what race, or what gender that player truly was. But perhaps that player helped us in our goal of reaching the light. In the same vein our connections with many people are small but purposeful. They come along and we form bonds, though often short-lived, which allow us to have a better understanding of people and the world. They may not be a lasting memory but they were important in the big picture. They help us toward our end.

The end is what Journey may capture best. The light is this mysterious end. Be it to you what it may. Regardless if your ultimate end is simply heaven or death, Journey reminds us that we have no reason to work towards that beyond that it is the only end we know. It is our forced destination and is somewhat out of our control. Not only do we not know the purpose of our destination, other than that the mysterious place is where we will end up, but we try to rationalize why we must get there. Even though we do not and cannot truly know. We can only postulate.

So why is Journey important? I only ask myself because I believe you should ponder the question for yourself. Journey is an expose of small life lessons. Perhaps they are assumed by the player, but regardless they are important for reflective pontification. I am not here to tell you what I said is true. I am not here to teach you about life. But I believe Journey is purposeful and valuable to reflection. I know I found myself asking the following questions: “Why do I work toward the light? Why do I care about this person who is only a temporary fixture in my life? Why do I continue my journey, unknowing of the end?” The answers to each are so very personal. But Journey is incredible because it makes the experience similar to each player, no matter what your answers to those questions are.

Check out Journey on PSN, on Journey’s official website, or on Facebook. Also, check out developers thatgamecompany at their official website.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The Why Of Indie Games: Journey

User Created Progressive Field Off of Planetminecraft.com

Developer Mojang’s Minecraft is an undeniable hit. I surely do not need to go into details about the game. It is infinite building blocks. If you are reading this and have not seen nor heard of Minecraft, I do not understand what you are doing on this website. You may be lost. For those 7,000,000 of you that have heard of Minecraft, this article is meant to address the importance and significance of Minecraft to the gaming world, because I think it opens up ideas for indie games in the future. Here are four Minecraftian qualities that can be used for future games:

Give Control to the Users: This is an obstacle as well as a possible genius move in developing. Minecraft succeeds in allowing the controller to be creative by keeping everything simplistic. It allows building blocks, not long codes of programming, to support the user’s creativity. Game developers want to be inventive, but if they are too ambitious, they will scare gamers away with a high learning curve. Minecraft keeps the learning curve low, but still allows for incredible possibility.

Nordic Village Plan from Planetminecraft.com

Simplicity with High Variance: As mentioned before the barrier to enter Minecraft is almost nonexistent. The low barrier could be a limiting factor to Minecraft‘s widespread success, but because of the high variance of items in the game, Minecraft allows for vast creations. This allows for accessibility, as there is no necessity for what is created. Creations can vary from the simplest of houses, built by 7th graders, to the most complex works of art, like the Nordic Village above, which are built by a man or woman in their thirties. Developers could take this idea further, because anything else may please a niche group, but be too difficult to access for the average artist, such as myself. Simplicity is less important in this case than variance, but simplicity is the key to accessibility.

Give Gamers a Simple Task and Allow Them to Do the Rest: This is a pretty significant and amazing one. Minecraft gives you two simple goals: Build shelter to avoid the monsters and do not starve. There is no true end goal. The world renders forever (on the PC version) so you cannot even mine the whole world. The goals are all personal. That is almost a recipe for disaster. But in Minecraft it is different, because you work only for you. The mining you do is to build what you want to build, but you do have to mine. You have to work, unless you use creative mode (cheaters). To create your idea you must work. You must simply mine. The initial task is simple, but the task you burden yourself with can be much more ambitious, while never forcing you to do much of anything.

The Planet Earth Incarnate

Unity is Formed When Everyone is on Equal Footing: Minecraft‘s community is forceful. Because the amount of people which play Minecraft numbers is the 7,000,000′s, there exists large quantities of content. But the community is shared and adored by nearly everyone who plays. I would argue that the reason why is because we are all using the same system for our creations. Whatever I see when I look up Minecraft videos I have the capability of building. The same goes for nearly anyone. It is nothing but laying blocks to which each and every Minecraft player has access. We all hold the same material and abilities, and what the community sees the community can create.

These four are what I consider the key qualities to the success of Minecraft. They are also what make Minecraft such a blast. Minecraft can be learned from and can spawn a new genre of creative games. It is not the first implementation of its kind, but it is surely the most successful.

Check out Minecraft over at Minecraft.net if you have not already. Maybe you could join the phenomenon.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The Why of Indie Games: The Lessons of Minecraft

An Incredible Indie Effort

I was introduced to the indie community awhile ago. My obsession with indie content began with music and bands like Animal Collective, Battles, Grizzly Bear, The Microphones, and No Age. So maybe it was not awhile ago, but rather four or five years ago. Shortly after I began discovering the world of indie gaming, once it became more accessible because of the internet and console marketplaces. I have received much more criticism for my music tastes than my gaming tastes, but both are undeniably more on the side of indie than mainstream. Concordent with that tendency is my feeling that both have more heart. Indie musicians and indie developers alike do what they do because they love it, not for the money it brings. However, I think the gaming side of development may have become a bit too accessible to any one who can put pixels on a screen and call it an indie game. Just because one dude programmed a few lines of code does not mean he put everything he had into it.

I have seen a lot of games come and go. I play both indie games and AAA games alike, I am not biased, I just want to play good videogames. I am willing to try anything, but the same problems that sometimes haunt the AAA companies can ruin an indie production all the same. There is just less money thrown at the game. A heartless shooter that cost a company $500,000 and is poorly developed is no different to me than a shooter which cost $50 and has no heart. In that same path of thinking I find that a poorly thought out or developed indie game is just as offensive to the player as its AAA counterpart.

At this point it seems as though a cooking metaphor is only fitting, developers will be cooks. You see, cooking has become a popular trade. Cooking was a novel idea at one point. Because it was so novel, the few who ventured into the profession made the finest, although short, meals possible despite fairly poor means. These meals are what we call indie games. Other people then became aware of cooking. They said, “Hey, I know a little about cooking.” Using that knowledge, hundreds of cooks began taking a little time to cook very small, poor quality meals, but marketed them as the same or better than the traditional alternative. Soon enough everybody was confused about what even constituted a proper meal.

A Fine Cut of Indie Game

What I am getting to is that Indie games are not always full of heart. Some of them are just the same processed crap we have been eating for the larger portion of our lives, with a smaller budget. I think as a community of players and developers we have to not just accept run-of-the-mill games, and I would be inclined to say that most players do not. What instead needs to be done is to foster an evironment which supports indie productions becoming what they are fully capable of being; your few and far indie phenomenons. The bar needs to be raised.

The result of these mediocre indie games is eerily similar to that of the AAA gaming environment. The percentage of solid indie outings as compared to junky indie outings seems to be tipping more toward the negative side of the scale. It could ruin indie gaming. In fact it may come to a point where indie games simply sell as cheaper video games. There is a reason why the indie gaming community does not get alot of respect, and it is because fantastic titles are too sparse. Good should not be the goal. Breathtaking is worth working for, and quite frankly there is a need for more breathtaking games. We should not be playing indie games to play indie games, but rather we should be playing indie games because they are better. Why should I play an indie game if there is a better AAA title on the market?

In fact I only count 4 in my top 30 games of all time. Sure, the sample size is smaller, but I want more to love. I am greedy, and I want the most out of my games. Indie games can get there, but they need to keep moving forward, and it now feels that so many mediocre games are coming out that the good ones should be separated into a different category. In lay-men’s terms, I crave 9′s but play alot of 6, 7, and 8s. Maybe none of this means anything to you as a gamer, but it upsets me and I hope for improvement in the genre so we can truly call more indie games incredible instead of making excuses for them. We should expect big budget heart from everything we play. Indie game of the year should be aiming for video game of the year, and nothing less. Because if it is aiming for less than that, it truly does not have the heart we so often give it credit for.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Food For Brains: Indie Games And Heart

Every day I get the same question asked a minimum of five times, “Can you review my game please?”

Here at IGM, my goal over the last year has been to treat our readers as customers and our developers as clients. Our client base has been growing steadily over the years, but the problem seems to be that there are so many new developers that they are always all new. Being new, they don’t really know what we do; therefore I continue to be asked the same question.

What I decided to do is take a little time and talk with you about what IGM does and how it benefits you directly. The very first thing that I would like to talk about is the answer to the above question:

YES!

All Indie Developers who live on Earth are qualified to have their game promoted, previewed, reviewed and even advertised on IGM. If you are developing a game without publisher funding, then we want to cover your game. That is how we define ‘indie’. Not long ago, I cornered Mike and threatened to make him watch Chris Priestman dance through the IGM offices on the back a rainbow colored unicorn if he would not define for us, and our community, exactly what we define ‘Indie’ as. So, as far as IGM goes, here is the big man’s official definition of an indie game:

“We define indie games as any game that is produced independently without publisher money and input upfront. Indie Games are video games which are made by passionate game developers who typically publish their game on their own via the internet. Indie Games are typically not funded nor published under major labels and therefore the developers are not limited in their scope of creativity. Indie Games will typically stretch the boundaries of what has been done already and often feature experimental gameplay mechanics and unique visuals. The one thing that they all have in common is the level of passion poured into the game by their developer, as these games are made out of a desire to make a game rather than making money.” — Mike Gnade

Do you qualify as an indie developer?

If so, great! Let’s take a quick look at what IGM can do for you to help your game’s success.

Indie News:

First, I would like to tell you about our mission. Our goal is to be the goto, one stop shop for all of your indie game news, previews and reviews. However, in order to publish news, we need the news! It is easy to keep up with the bigger guys news since they are well versed in promoting themselves, and let’s face it… a couple thousand Twitter followers doesn’t hurt their case much. But that doesn’t help the small, unknown developer who doesn’t know a thing about a press release or even a media kit.

In order to help these guys, we need you to send us your news. Don’t be shy. Don’t think that we don’t care about your game (because we do). Don’t think that your game is not worthy (because it is). Have courage and pride! You put a lot of time and effort into the game, now you should put that same energy into promoting the game. You can start by sending us your game progress updates every so often.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying to send us weekly updates. Rather, send us an update every other month or so during your alpha-beta stages when you reach a milestone achievement that you believe is noteworthy that our readers would like to know about. We will then pass the news on to our audience. My directions to my staff concerning news are to report on the news and only the news — do not provide your opinion; just the facts and only the facts. It should be around 250 words and contain a picture, a trailer, website / Twitter / Facebook addresses of the product. So that is the information that we need you to send us.

Example: “Hey, I just got multiplayer functionality finished up and we are looking for beta-testers. Here are some screen shots and contact information.” (Send us this one.)

Example: “Hey IGM, we just reached a milestone of having wandering NPCs who speak Latin!” (Don’t send us that one.)

Example: “IGM, I just finished up creation of two more characters for my game and want to share with my followers. Here are some screen shots and a YouTube trailer.” (Definitely send us that one!)

In general, if it excites you, it is going to excite us too. Let us share that excitement with our readers.

Previews:

A preview is a short review of the game BEFORE it is released. It is not a review and is not intended to tell everything about the game. It is the result of the developer sending us a copy of the game — well, in advance of its release — and we will write up a 500 word preview of the game. This preview is a promotional service and is intended to let the readers know that your game is coming down the chute and is close enough that we got our hands on it.

Reviews:

A review is a normal game review – self-explanatory.

I would like to point out here that IGM is an indie company as well. We are not owned by a publisher or network, therefore we are completely unbiased in our reviews. We will not be accepting payment for a positive review. By submitting your game for review, you understand that it is equally possible for your game to get a 100 rating as it is to get a 0 rating. What I have instructed my staff to do is never slam a game or developer. In the past we have had renegade writers doing this. I have taken down such reviews that are brought to my attention. This is not IGM policy. Rather, I would prefer that my writers decline to review the game rather than bash the game. In that case, I will either have another writer review it or we will contact the developer and let them know that we have decided to not publish a review for the game.

Interview:

You are cool and you know it. But our audience may not know it. So let’s get together and talk about your company and product. What I want our interviews to turn into is a dialogue that in complete and not just a series of questions followed by a series of answers. What would be the best method would be for you to schedule a Skype voice interview with the writer.

Promo Give-a-Way:

The best way to build a fan base is to give them free stuff. By partnering with IGM, you benefit from our established reader-base. By supplying us with 10-15 codes we can give them away via Twitter as a way to raise awareness of your game.

Advertising:

I could easily write an entire article on how you should be advertising indie games, so if interest is high enough, I will write that article. However, the bottom line here is that you need to advertise. This is not ‘Chris the guy selling ad space’ talking here, this is ‘Chris the guy studying the industry’ talking. Social media is good, but limited. Social media broadcasts (basically) to people who already know your product; but you already have that purchase. You need to get more eyes in order to succeed.

I personally designed IGM’s advertisement plan with you, the developer, in mind. It is more important to me that my ads are indie games and indie development companies and not Pepsi and soap ads. I have set our ad rates extremely low to ensure that you can afford it. I think once you see my rates, you will agree that they are very affordable and most likely way under what they could be and our competitors’. Want to see the rates? Check out the link for yourself and get a feel for how simple advertising with IGM really is.

www.indiegamemag.com/advertising

I am well over my word limit for articles, but I felt that this was an overdue article and important for our relationship with the industry developers. If you have any questions about promoting your game and company with us, or have any ideas for partnership opportunities, do not hesitate to contact me directly at cnewton@indiegamemag.com.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – How IGM Can Assist Indie Developers?

Today I would like to introduce a new column. I have always been an avid reader of game industry articles, both mainstream and Indie. There is a common trend in these articles. There are previews, news, and other fact related articles. Then there are your opinion pieces; reviews and editorials. They are all fantastic and serve their purpose. We need news and everyone loves reviews. Editorials, on the other hand, are an interesting beast. As a part of the ‘Magic: The Gathering’ community I came to understand that editorials are a subject of much controversy. People dislike other people’s opinions, because they are founded and strong in their own. Well, I would like to introduce a new type of editorial named “The Why of Indie Games.” Each week, on Saturday, I will present a game that I have played, either in the past or recently, which I feel deserves further discussion beyond that of a review. It is my personal opinion that games should not just be played; rather, there is a reason beyond fun for their creation. This stems from my belief that some games have greater purpose, and as with anything that has greater purpose, it creates a need for discussion. I also want to support discussion in the comments box below, as my opinion will only be the opinion of one man. Therefore, I will simply serve as a jumping off point for all of you, not as a final word. So pour yourself a fine glass of brandy, carbonated beverage, and a cigar if you please, and enjoy the first discussion topic: Dear Esther.

I have spent good hours with Dear Esther. After my recent surgery, I decided to delve into the mysterious ‘Half Life 2′ mod. I had read about Dear Esther. My eyes had glanced over reviews. I was prepared to not play a video game. I was still woozy from medication, and shooting enemies in ‘Bastion’ seemed like a nauseating affair. So, as I could not possibly take a stroll, I played a game which gave me that ability. But one does not so much play Dear Esther. Rather, it exists a literary work, or a personal interactive story. Even if it presents a broken one at that. Much of the explanations of Dear Esther‘s purpose are the reasons for the criticism it has received. Does the world need these interactive experiences?

One reviewer was especially critical of Dear Esther‘s use of the video game medium. The Chinese Room’s mod is posed as a classic case of right story, but wrong medium. But why must the video game medium be pigeon-holed? Are there not room for personal pieces of work in the world of games? Dear Esther‘s is conceptually foreign in a medium which takes pride in “play.” But just as people enjoy music and paintings that are personal to the artist, there must be room for that in the video game medium somewhere. People who have complained about Dear Esther have often complained about the fact that it is not a video game; however, if one is to go to a concert they are expecting to see music, but if they find they were rather headed to an art gallery they will likely be unprepared and upset. In the same vein if one expects to turn on Dear Esther and experience a traditional video game experience they will be sorely unprepared for what Dear Esther attempts at expressing.

Now, if I was to pose as understanding or having concept of what the narrator in Dear Esther wanted to convey to Esther I would both appear foolish and be acting fraudulently. I do not have the insight or knowledge to know the exact message the developers wanted to purvey to you and I. What I do know is that there were emotions, to which I can relate, that the narrator expressed; regret, anguish, and longing. Throughout my history gaming I would be hard pressed to find a game which pulled those emotions from the chamber of my conscience I feebly attempt to hide them. Dear Esther forced me to reflect. There stands the true triumph and purpose of Dear Esther. It exists as a reminder of reflection in a medium which all to often serves to pull us away from reflection.

I could easily congratulate The Chinese Room on the graphics and soundtrack, which are astounding; however, I cannot help but revel in the moments where I remembered how human I am, in a genre which often aims to make us feel more than. Dear Esther is an experience all its own. It is the developer’s reflection. Perhaps taking the hour and a half to play only reminds me of the power of self-analysis, but that reminder has taught me that while video games are fantastic, it is nice to lean back and think about my life, whether good or bad memories arise.

While Dear Esther may be an unusual medium for the expression of self-reflection, it may also be the medium that needs it most. Because regardless of how often we game, we still have a life and consequences to live with.

If you have yet to play Dear Esther you can check out The Chinese Room’s official game website where it is available for sale.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The Why Of Indie Games: An Introduction/Dear Esther

The video game world is an ever-changing phenomenon. Every year it seems that someone innovates, then someone else takes that innovation and warps it to either transform the idea into a game all the more original or catapults that idea into the mainstream’s all-seeing eye. Those innovations, ever so slight as they may be, have led us to the nature of today’s games, which I would argue are often more style than substance when it comes to the big name companies and their super titles, with a few exceptions (Dark Souls, Skyrim, etc.). Big release $60 games have become a sort of odd hybrid of thirty minute cut-scenes,which rival movie type production, and the root principle of video games. Sometimes one is overshadowed by the other. Namely the movie aspects overwhelm the video game qualities. Even so I cannot help but wonder which path gaming will favor in the coming years. One thing is for certain; Indie developers have recently made it a point to go one direction or another in design.

Some Indie developers have turned primarily to taking gaming in the “experience” direction. I am not arguing that these groups are interested in making movie-like games, but rather are making stories with gaming elements. A perfect example of such would be the Half Life 2 mod Dear Esther, which has become somewhat of an indie darling. I have played it, and verily rejoiced at the idea of its non-linear poetry-styled storyline. But many people questioned whether or not Dear Esther is even a video game, so much as it is an interactive storybook. Many adventure games live in the same realm. Recent indie adventure games like Hydrophobia: Prophecy and  Resonance are fairly straightforward in a point and click nature. They hearken back to the classic adventure games, and that is largely the point of their existence. For people to casually play through them at their leisure and content. They are as accessible for someone such as myself as they are to my non-gamer sister. I cannot count on my two hands the number of Nancy Drew adventure games she has blown through. Not that I would liken a Nancy Drew game to an adventure game classic like The Longest Journey. But they are strictly purposed towards the experience, not the gameplay.

The quintessential example of a game which is purely focused on the “experience.”

The other side of the proverbial coin is the current indie trend toward gaming returning to its very roots. I believe they are referred to as a gamer’s game. All too often when I was playing Super Meat Boy and Dark Souls simultaneously I was told I was a true gamer. Please, hold your applause while I continue gloating as my gloating will just drown out your applause. But seriously, there are some games which are meant to be played then never spoken of again. There is no deep philosophical discussion to be had about Contra. All you can say is “Contra was sweet. I spent three years trying to beat that game.” Which is great in its own regard. Indie developers have decided to be pure energy and no frills, and in many regards, that is a very refreshing stance on gaming. You begin the game. You have three lives. You better be careful. Checkpoints tend to be brutally far back in these types of games, or in extreme cases you die and are just dead. I play Bit.Trip Beat and chase high scores, because there is such a thing as a score. The ideas are novel because they are classic, but died out, and are seeing a revival.

It’s like 1988 all over again.

So, what do I prefer? Puzzle games, Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization, and ribs. But in terms of gaming sustenance I cannot help but think the novelty of the extreme will wear off. How much more can the experience of games be stripped down until we are simply playing pong and calling it a revolution? And on that note when will games strip me of my gamepad, mouse, and keyboard and simply shove their ideals into my mouth cavity. I am probably wrong, as the indie community is strongly influenced by nostalgia. Perhaps there is no middle ground. Perhaps indie gamers are extremists. My fear is not of the current generation of games; however, it would appear the extremes will continue toward their respective outlier. I for one hope that the trend settles and new innovations are prized more than recycled ideas.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Game Philosophy: Two Extremes