DDNet's Games of the year 2013: Indie Game of the Year

A couple of months ago we asked you to vote on your favourite games of the year (up to the end of October, except for the blockbuster of the year award, which is still running now on the site). You've voted and now, in the coming weeks, we will unveil the results.

The process: Earlier in the year we asked you, our readers, to rank nine different games per category in order of preference (or how interested you are in a game, if you haven't played it before). We have taken those rankings, averaged them up, and the resulting list below are the top four games - three runners up and the winner.

Indie games provide us with a wide range of experiences that the larger publishers would never take a risk with. And as a consequence the indie game industry provides us with some of the most creative an innovative experiences that you can find.

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Review: 99 Spirits (PC)

Review by Harvard L.

In Japanese folklore, a tsukumogami is a household object which has gained sentience, turning against humans to wreak havoc upon the unsuspecting. 99 Spirits is an RPG revolving around this phenomenon, chronicling the journey of a swordswoman named Hanabusa through medieval Japan to uncover the mystery behind these apparitions. Combining elements of puzzle, strategy and role playing, TORaIKI and Fruitbat Factory offer up a quirky and interesting game full of fresh ideas, but not without missed opportunities.

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The indie development bubble; when will it burst?

Opinion by Matt S.

Jeff Vogel, one of the true veterans of the industry, has survived as an independent developer for longer than most AAA-studios have been around. His company, Spiderweb Software, was founded in 1994, when shareware was still king and the games industry looked very different to it does today.

So when Vogel writes a blog about his observation that the indie games development business is in a bubble, I'm inclined to suggest that every indie developer (or aspiring indie developer) read closely. Because he knows what he's talking about.

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Review: Proteus (Vita)

Review by Matt S.

I sat in the middle of a ring of stones, on the top of an icy mountain. Roughly humanoid in shape these menhirs told no story of their own, and so I was left to sit there and puzzle over them. And so I sat, with nothing but the freezing wind to keep me company.

At length I decided to descend from my perch to explore the world beneath me. I approached a tree, and the noise started. At first it was one note, but as I made my way into a thick forest of pink leaves that one note became a cocophony, somehow jarring and at the same time serene. This soundscape was my own; I created it through my own movement, and that sensation of ownership connected me to the unique soundtrack that only I would ever hear.

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Review: Avadon 2: The Corruption (PC)

Review by Matt S.

If you've ever played a Spiderweb Software game then you'll know what the one-man (Jeff Vogel) studio does. Each of his games follows a very specific formula - isometric top-down classic RPG questing in the vein of such works of art as Baldur's Gate.

Breaking it down further it means reams of text to read through because the narrative can't be told through voice acting, 3D cut scenes or even facial expressions - these features cost too much to produce as a developer and therefore Vogel relies on what he does best; the written word. 

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While Australia's game industry has been shrinking, New Zealand's is growing

News by Matt S.

Some impressive data has come from the New Zealand Game Developer's Association (NZGDA); the development community has seen a massive increase in revenue over the past year.

For the 2012 year through to March 31, 2013, the NZ industry grew 86 per cent, to $36.3 million. Of that, a vast majority of money came from smartphone and mobile games, which saw $31.4 million in revenue.

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Square Enix's crowdfunding initiative is genius

Earlier today Square Enix announced its own crowdfunding initiative; Square Enix Collective. In partnership with Indiegogo, Square Enix is offering independent developers the ability to post up their game ideas, and if they're popular enough they'll gain funding via Indiegogo, and publishing support via Square Enix.

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Interview: The man that made a game about suicide

Interview by Matt S. 

Recently we reviewed Irritum, a game that had its fair share of faults, but one thing was undeniable; its concept came from a very serious, and very dark place. And in making a game about suicide, the developer, Nick Padgett, has furthered the idea that games can be art.

The issue that the games industry faces as far as the idea that games can be art, is that games are also restricted to being entertainment in the eyes of many. If a game isn't "fun," then many would argue that is loses its value as a game.

Games like Irritum make a counter-argument; that games can have value in exploring themes, or being a personal exploration into a serious theme. We had a chat with Padgett about his thoughts on games as art, and the life of being an indie.

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Review: Irritum (PC)

Sometimes one, single, interesting mechanic can be the reason to play a game. Without its bullet-absorption mechanic, Ikaruga is another unremarkable Japanese 2D shooter. Without its dimension-flipping mechanic, Fez is a pretty but mostly unremarkable 2D puzzle-platformer. Without puck manipulation, Scatter is a breakout clone that is successful at cloning frustration.

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Gone Home; when the narrative respects the player, everyone wins

I wanted to write a brief piece to highlight Gone Home, and specifically its narrative. The way this little indie title goes about the business of creating narrative is something that every game developer should take note of, because it's a rare example of a developer taking advantage of the unique narrative opportunities of the game form.

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Interview: The mind behind SteamWorld Dig on Nintendo and indie development

A few weeks back developer Image & Form released a rather spectacular little platformer on the 3DS eShop. SteamWorld Dig is a hugely creative and charming game, and promises some great things for the SteamWorld franchise into the future.

While Image & Form doesn't restrict itself to Nintendo platforms, it does have a clear preference towards such hardware. It's produced iOS games, but sold a part of its business to the company that has acted as the distributor for Nintendo products throughout Scandinavia for the past 30 years.

The studio's CEO, Brjann Sigurgeirsson, took the time out to have a chat with Matt S about the SteamWorld series, working on Nintendo platforms and why it is so hard to be a genuine indie developer.

And chess. Sigurgeirsson has a love for chess, and we're calling it now - the next SteamWorld game will surely be a strategy title.

Enjoy the full interview below:

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Review: Divekick (Vita)

I get that Divekick is meant to be more parody than in-depth game, but I also didn't find myself laughing.

With that said, the premise is an interesting exercise in minimalism. Just how far down can you reduce the fighting game, in terms of both buttons and complexity, while maintaining a game that is indeed a fighting game? Divekick makes a compelling case that two buttons are enough to create a game in the genre, and yet also manages to demonstrate just why the modern fighting game needs that complexity.

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Review: Shelter (PC)

When developer Might and Delight decided it wanted to do something different coming off its successful release of the demanding platformer that is Pid, it wasn’t joking. With the gaming industry so overly saturated with shooters and retro, well, everything (including shooters), - where does an indie developer turn to offer fresh new gameplay concepts and experiences?

By thinking far outside the box, Might and Delight’s emotional new title Shelter offers gamers the chance to take on the role of a vulnerable mother badger whom is being forced out of her nest and into the wilds of nature. It's a game that channels classic literature like Watership Down, and through it we are encouraged to think on issues such as environmentalism and sustainability.

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Nnooo looks to build Australian games development through publishing

Nic Watt (left)

Twitter has proven to be a great resource; both for finding news and for finding like-minded people. For Australian independent developer, Nnooo, Twitter also found it its first business opportunity as a publisher.

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Small and independent publishers see good business in the Nintendo Wii U

Phil Gaskell

To hear the small and independent publishers talk about the Wii U, it does not matter that the console has only managed to shift a couple hundred thousand units in the last quarter; it’s still a big opportunity.

In fact, it works to their benefit that the likes of EA and Ubisoft are scaling back their interest in the platform.

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Preview: Shelter (PC)

Shelter is a game that’s going to be hard to put a score on. An artsy exploration title which to my hands plays as more of a tech demo than an actual game (not dissimilar to the likes of Dear Esther) means some people will find themselves loving it just for being that little bit different to your average game. And by the same virtue others will find themselves simply not being able to click with it, and so come the time to review it a finite score is bound to polarise opinions. Luckily for me, however, this is a preview, so I don’t have to stamp a score on it.

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Preview: Conquer Mars (PC)

Let me begin by saying that I'm always a little wary of browser based Real Time Strategy games. I'm a big fan of the genre and yet many RTS games aimed at casual audiences abandon strategic depth for accessibility.

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Interview: Developer of Black Annex on making a game as a hobby

At PAX Australia, Digitally Downloaded’s Sam caught up with Lance McDonald, the man who has somehow managed to build a game engine from scratch using QBASIC while also managing a full time job, with a wife and two kids at home. Lance talked about how important engaging with the player was through gameplay mechanics implemented, creating emotion within the player, being a indie developer in Australia and looking up to other indie studios for inspiration.

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MAJOR FEATURE: Independent developers and IP; Trials, Tribulations and Opportunities

Being a startup or independent developer is a significant business challenge. Many of the experienced game developers in the industry are joining people just out of university to give the indie life a go as it does offer a great deal more creative control over the projects that they undertake, but by the same token it offers no real job security, and freedom aside, there are challenges in building games as an indie.

One of the greatest of these challenges is one of the first decisions that needs to be made before starting a game project; where does this game come from?

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Review: Towncraft (iPad)

Towncraft is one of the most likable games out there simply because the developer is one that you want to succeed.

If you ever want to get a sense of the trials and tribulations of being an indie developer, go and check out Flat Earth Games' website. It's an eye-opener, for sure. But, as much as I'd like to see Flat Earth Games' first project, Towncraft, succeed, I also can't go giving it a positive review if it isn't a game worth playing.

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