Indide games are RR of gaming world.

[RepresentingWrath]

Once I noticed this similiarity I couldn't unsee it anymore. It started out as something great, new, a breath of fresh air. Yet what do we have now? Pixel art of cel shading only always 2D or isometric. Roguelites on top of roguelites. Survival, survival, survial, crafting! Vampire likes on top of vampire likes. Stardew like games! Farming, yeah! All kinds of boomer shooters. Same genres again and again, regurgitated till they blur into one game. "Dude, you are just looking at the wrong indie games!" Yeah, yeah. And RoyalRoad isn't about LitRPGs only, suuure.

 

[Empress_Omnii]

I get it... but I don't think I'd get bored of playing games like that

 

[l8rose]

That's because we have things like free Unity, Ren'py, Smile and RPG Maker (well there's more but I'm lazy).

And then there is Itch which is an easy platform for selling games. Choice of Games too for straight writing stuff.

You know... this almost makes me want to go and actually look at Royal Road as I've never even heard of it til I came here...

 

[Tempokai]

Both suffer from extreme competition, unlimited choices, and sheer indomitable human spirit of stupidity. No wonder your pattern recognition had flared up lol

 

[Jerynboe]

They are what an organic market made them to be… and that’s still frequently whipping triple a development. Tbh that also holds up.

If I had to choose between reading something of my choice on RR or half of the things on the NYT bestseller list? Time to read some LitRPG I guess.

 

[Valmond]

There are countless indie games out there. With many also doing their own thing. I have a mountain of load of games.

Top of my head.

1. Phantom Rose Scarlet/Sapphire.
—> Rougelike deckbuilder, also a VN.

2. Chrono Ark.
—> Roguelike deck builder, but also a VN.

3. Marchen Forest.
—> An action centered game requiring precise timing. It is somewhat like real time turn based. Pretty depressing game really.

4. Little Witch Nobeta.
—> Think of like Dark Souls kinda thing.

5. Noel the Mortal Fate.
—> Extremely good VN.

6. TEVI.
—> A high speed, action focused, story driven platformer.

7. Shantae series.
—> Pretty long series, but it is a platformer.

8. Faraway Qualia.
—> This one is more about alchemy, turn based combat.

9. Faye/Sleepwalker.
—> Action focused open world game.

10. Tower Hunter Erza/ Frontier Hunter.
—> Combo centered platformer, second game has much more story to it.

11. Helen’s Mysterious Castle.
—> Turn based based dungeon game.

12. Eternal Senia.
—> Extremely good VN, with an action centered battle. Second game concludes the series, that one is a clicker.

13. LunarLux.
—> Think Battle Network.

14. Momodora series/Minoria.
—> More of a dark series, action platformer with an emphasis on reaction time.

15. Touhou series. Luna Nights, Scarlet Curiosity; New World, etc.
—> Many different styles in this series. Each has their own story, but somewhat connected.

16. Diary of Lucie.
—> Precision dungeon crawler, probably the hardest game I ever played.

17. Gastova.
—> A simple platformer, but has a multitude of commands.

18. Witch Spring Series.
—> Pretty long series, which is a turn based system. It has a focus on crafting and finding materials to raise stats.

19. Virtua Unlimited Project.
—> Think Mega Man X series, with tighter commands and more fun.

20. Wildsilver.
—> A turn based game, with more focus on team strategy.

21. White Blade
—> Turn based game, with somewhat like a card focused system with the attacks.

Etc.

Just gotta look for them.

 

[PancakesWitch]

There are countless indie games out there. With many also doing their own thing. I have a mountain of load of games.

Top of my head.

1. Phantom Rose Scarlet/Sapphire.
—> Rougelike deckbuilder, also a VN.

2. Chrono Ark.
—> Roguelike deck builder, but also a VN.

3. Marchen Forest.
—> An action centered game requiring precise timing. It is somewhat like real time turn based. Pretty depressing game really.

4. Little Witch Nobeta.
—> Think of like Dark Souls kinda thing.

5. Noel the Mortal Fate.
—> Extremely good VN.

6. TEVI.
—> A high speed, action focused, story driven platformer.

7. Shantae series.
—> Pretty long series, but it is a platformer.

8. Faraway Qualia.
—> This one is more about alchemy, then based combat.

9. Faye/Sleepwalker.
—> Action focused open world game.

10. Tower Hunter Erza/ Frontier Hunter.
—> Combo centered platformer, second game has much more story to it.

11. Helen’s Mysterious Castle.
—> Turn based based dungeon game.

12. Eternal Senia.
—> Extremely good VN, with an action centered battle. Second game concludes the series, that one is a clicker.

13. LunarLux.
—> Think Battle Network.

14. Momodora series/Minoria.
—> More of a dark series, action platformer with an emphasis on reaction time.

15. Touhou series. Luna Nights, Scarlet Curiosity; New World, etc.
—> Many different styles in this genre. Each has their own story, but somewhat connected.

16. Diary of Lucie.
—> Precision dungeon crawler, probably the hardest game I ever played.

17. Gastova.
—> A simple platformer, but has a multitude of commands.

18. Witch Spring Series.
—> Pretty long series, which is a turn based system. It has a focus on crafting and finding materials to raise stats.

19. Virtua Unlimited Project.
—> Think Mega Man X series, with tighter commands and more fun.

20. Wildsilver.
—> A turn based game, with more focus on team strategy.

21. White Blade
—> Turn based game, with somewhat like a card focused system with the attacks.

Etc.

Just gotta look for them.

Visual Novels are not video games.

 

[Valmond]

Visual Novels are not video games.

Oh, they can be. For a while now, part of the mix with the VN genre, is mixing in compelling gameplay with it. Except Noel the Mortal Fate.

Either way, point is. You gotta look, I just listed 21 games off the top of my head. And all of them had good gameplay, except Noel the Moral Fate.

Some more examples would be the Death End ReQuest series. It mixes in its gameplay with the VN.

The gameplay revolves around controlling each character by the turn, and mixing together combos in order to learn new skills.

With the end game forcing you to learn how to effectively use Glitch mode. First game was similar to an MMO style travel with you transitioning between the real and digital world to follow the really long story. Second game is contained to a town, with events both in the night and day.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Oh, right, forgot to add fucking deckbuilder games. The bane of my existence. After slay the spire everyone want to make a fucking card-based roguelite or roguelike.

 

[Deleted member 266]

Why don't you tell us what you are looking for and we will make it for you @SailusGebel

Yes, I represent the entirety of the indie industry.

I am itch.io

 

[Valmond]

Oh, right, forgot to add fucking deckbuilder games. The bane of my existence. After slay the spire everyone want to make a fucking card-based roguelite or roguelike.

Deck builders are good though. I don’t see the issue. I tried Slay the Spire, and personally couldn’t get into it, but the majority of deck builders I played? I liked em.

Why don't you tell us what you are looking for and we will make it for you @SailusGebel

Yes, I represent the entirety of the indie industry.

I am itch.io

True, I got a whole catalogue of games. I can probably find something they might like.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Why don't you tell us what you are looking for and we will make it for you @SailusGebel

Yes, I represent the entirety of the indie industry.

I am itch.io

I do think indie devs are extremely narrow-sighted, but it is not AS bad. The similarities between the two are fun, it amuses me.

 

[Valmond]

I do think indie devs are extremely narrow-sighted, but it is not AS bad. The similarities between the two are fun, it amuses me.

If you say Roblox recommendations, someone ain’t making it out of this thread guaranteed.

 

[Deleted member 266]

I do think indie devs are extremely narrow-sighted, but it is not AS bad. The similarities between the two are fun, it amuses me.

I think a lot of indie game devs are like indie film makers, we make what we want to see or play, and what want to see ARE what is popular. AAA and big studio makes what sells.

The two sounds the same but also slightly in different motivation.

That's my thought on that.

 

[LilRora]

In the end, games and stories both suffer from the same problem. To find gold, you need to wade through heaps of trash.

I've played a number of demos on Steam in the past year (maybe about 50, I don't keep track), I only tried those that really interested me, and even from those I found maybe 5 that were actually good, not a copy with different graphics and one or two new mechanics.

The issue is, this isn't really possible to avoid with something as big as writing or games. There is already so many of them that attempting to create something original is difficult - only so many games or stories can be original, and after that there's just no new simple concepts and ideas, you need to search wilder and more unusual solutions. If someone's not trying to find that solution but looks for money, they're not gonna stumble upon it accidentally. There will obviously be a rare exception from time to time, and that's the gold you may find in the mountain of trash.

Oh, right, forgot to add fucking deckbuilder games. The bane of my existence. After slay the spire everyone want to make a fucking card-based roguelite or roguelike.

I actually watched a video that mentioned this, I don't have the link unfortunately. Iirc, there was something of a 10x increase in the number of deckbuilder rougelikes after Slay the Spire. Ironically (or not), though many became very popular, not even one surpassed Slay the Spire. To me, that's not surprise. Kinda like, dunno, Solo Leveling and every story that imitated it? There's a lot of parallels.

 

[Valmond]

I think a lot of indie game devs are like indie film makers, we make what we want to see or play, and what want to see ARE what is popular. AAA and big studio makes what sells.

The two sounds the same but also slightly in different motivation.

That's my thought on that.

It is more complex than this. As you said AAA, they make what sells. That is, what is safe. As a result, the AAA market stagnated.

Indies on the other hand, given that they typically don’t have a backing or much of one. They have to stand out, so their games are more likely to have features you wouldn’t typically see.

They have to be more creative to try and stand out, and while most fails. Some do make it up there.

Chrono Ark is an indie that gathered a decent size following. Their motivations are different as stated, but at the end of the day. Both want to sell as much as they can, but the real difference is how.

AAA is very safe, Indies can be very risky.

 

[Deleted member 266]

That is, what is safe. As a result, the AAA market stagnated.

Yes that is more accurate

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I think a lot of indie game devs are like indie film makers, we make what we want to see or play, and what want to see ARE what is popular. AAA and big studio makes what sells.

The two sounds the same but also slightly in different motivation.

That's my thought on that.

I think they make things that sell. Same for RR authors. I think not a lot of them are willing to risk. I know how it sounds, but why do we get constant sequels and something-like? And even if it's something like vampire-like or hades-like, where are, for example, spore-like games? People didn't like Spore? Where are Prince of Persia likes? People didn't like PoP trilogy? Where are ricochet-like games? And the list goes on. Sure, there are some outliers. Same as RR. There are some works that aren't litrpg, don't have any systems, and they are fairly succesful. But vast majority is the same stuff over and over again. Same gameplay, same look, etc.

 

[Valmond]

Yes that is more accurate

Sony was extremely dominant in the gaming market back in the PS1 and PS2 era. The type of games, how different they can be. There was always something fresh to play.

They dipped in PS3, got worse in PS4/PS5. Hopefully the change in leadership, with how they are moving to smaller teams and whatnot.

That they manage to make a turn around. Sure, there are some good games, but really? I can’t think of much that really stood out that is not Final Fantasy, and even then Final Fantasy has been kinda mixed for quite a while.

I think they make things that sell. Same for RR authors. I think not a lot of them are willing to risk. I know how it sounds, but why do we get constant sequels and something-like? And even if it's something like vampire-like or hades-like, where are, for example, spore-like games? People didn't like Spore? Where are Prince of Persia likes? People didn't like PoP trilogy? Where are ricochet-like games? And the list goes on. Sure, there are some outliers. Same as RR. There are some works that aren't litrpg, don't have any systems, and they are fairly succesful. But vast majority is the same stuff over and over again. Same gameplay, same look, etc.

That’s pretty much everywhere. Look in the AAA space, and you’ll see the same thing over and over again.

I think this is just how things are, you gotta look for the ones that stand out. They are out there, it just can be a bit of a pain to find.

However, there are a lot that do stand out. Took me a while to find them, mainly because I don’t get recommended them, so I dive in and see what I find.

I can likely list a hundred more if I go digging down my list of games.

 

[Mystic_Grasshopper]

This shit post gave me a visceral reaction. Half of RR is stealing ideas from videogames and making up for the lack of good story in them in the other half. At least what gets popular. That's assuming they don't do the over done and sloppy meta narrative version for it. Which at this point is lazy lampshading for Authors that can't make a protagonist that isn't basically just a stand in for the author and their "gamer" mentality.

But yeah no, indie games predate RR just like video games predate litrpg. But tabletop predates videogames, yet storytelling predates written medium entirely.

If I had to put it in words, RR went from being the coolmathgames, to newgrounds, to devolver digital(though not as fun). If we continue with the analogy, Kindle Unlimited is the Steam of indie books. Patreon paywalled web serials are the live service of the novel world. Sites like webnovel or anything that uses coins and fast passes are the mobile games with heavy mtx. Shout outs and the like are unpaid ads, not that RR hasn't already dropped the ball by making it necessary for authors to pay for ads to promote their "free" novel feeding back into the live service model.

Calling indie games the rr of the gaming world, elevates RR undeservingly while making it seem like indie games are all following saturated markets. You quite literally aren't looking at all genres so how would you know? Litrpg is fed from the same cash cow as rpg fervor is. The whole idea of a system based story isn't unlike a random kid picking up rpgmaker, some people can do some incredible stuff with it, but everyone else just uses what's on it to tell the same story.