The Indie Game Magazine June 2014 | Issue 38 | Page 6

EDITORIAL
From Sidestream to Mainstream
It’s great to see the rise in popularity of the independent game community. Whether it’s due to the
decaying AAA development cycle that’s no longer sustainable, the over-saturated sequelitis/reboot market,
or whatever other argument we attribute these days to the rise of indie games, the fact is, indies are going
to be around for awhile. Yet, there’s still something holding the indie scene back from truly breaking into the
mainstream market, and grabbing the attention of the gaming population at large. Something that, I think, is
going to change very soon.
This month, we feature a guest article by Lance James, the community director of indie publisher Versus
Evil. He talks a bit about how being indie doesn’t have to mean appealing to a niche audience, and that’s
certainly one side of the equation. But I’d like to come at the topic from another angle. While developers
can certainly start to expand their horizons and broaden a game’s appeal, indies won’t ever truly hit the
mainstream scene until public perception shifts a bit. The reason being, the general population still doesn‘t
know what indie games are, or think they‘re worth looking into. Games like Angry Birds and Minecraft
certainly caught mass-media attention, but even the gaming community’s chosen indie champions, like Fez
and Super Meat Boy, have yet to make themselves known to aunts, uncles, and grandparents the world over.
The question is, why? What’s holding indie games back? If the gameplay is solid, and the press isn’t shy
about coverage, why won’t the general public try these games? I think the answer is a mountain core gamers
conquered long ago: Graphics. It seems to me that the reason the indie gaming scene hasn’t caught fire yet
is because most games just aren’t “pretty enough.” Sure, seasoned gamers and artists can appreciate great
pixel art, but kids don’t want games to look dated or “old,” and neither do entry level gamers who were
introduced to the gaming scene by the Wii, Madden, or Call of Duty. It’s not their fault though, they can’t
have nostalgia for games they weren’t exposed to. To them, most indie games just look “cheap.” Speaking
from an American perspective, we’re obsessed with graphical fidelity: HD, 4K, Megapixels, the works! If it
doesn’t look photorealistic, it doesn’t seem new (read: Appealing).
The reason I say things are about to change for the better is ]]