david burns | period 1 | 9/28/21 | the modern folklore of indie games

  

disclaimer! read this on desktop instead of mobile for full impact!

        artistic vision is a phrase that’s lost most of its meaning in the past decade, specifically when referring to games. you’ll probably notice how this blog is written in comic sans, and doesn’t use uppercase letters at all. now, this isn’t just to be lazy, rather this is what “me” feels like; it’s my artistic vision. nobody else had input on this. nobody was taking my words and doing all the work for me (though that would be pretty sweet). no, this blog is the work of one person, and one person alone, from brain to fingers to document. this is what i would classify as artistic vision, when the will of a single individual sees itself through to a project’s logical conclusion. modern, big-budget games can have dozens or even hundreds of people working on them, causing the director’s intentions to become watered down and muddied by each person who works on it. that isn’t to say, however, that collaborative projects such as these can’t be good, rather that they’re oftentimes not genuine, and can feel almost hollow. alright i’m gonna drop the comic sans all lowercase shtick for the next paragraphs because i think you all got my point.

    That’s better. More professional. Clean. Sanitized. Much like how AAA games can feel, almost as if they’re simply playing it safe so they can cash in their paycheck and call it a day. On the other hand, indie (or independent) games can be much more raw, emotional, and form deeper connections with the player, since oftentimes they’re passion projects made in the developer’s free time, or an idea that’s been brewing in the mind of a young programmer since they were a kid. Games made completely or almost completely by one person have a practically indescribable feel to them, like the developer is thanking YOU specifically for playing them. Maybe they’re struggling at their day job, living paycheck to paycheck, bored out of their minds and feeling trapped. They pour all their free time and energy into the one thing keeping them going and… you like it! Maybe you picked it up as part of a game bundle, or heard some of your friends talking about it, but either way that sole developer’s work wasn’t for naught. It lifted your spirits, comforted you with its characters and its world, and gave you a slightly altered perspective on how you view the world. This is artistic expression. Being able to feel and understand the artist’s motivations and lived experience solely through gameplay and silly dialogue trees. Understanding that the funny bug you found isn’t necessarily a flaw, but a quirk that makes this an experience like no other. Knowing that every little thing is due to a conscious decision on the developer’s end to give you a better understanding of them, yourself, and the world around you. THAT is what artistic vision means to me.

    Indie games provide people with an immensely powerful tool, the ability to communicate with and touch others. Much like how the paradigm of painting has shifted throughout time, I believe games will follow a similar path. As I talked about at the start, in my opinion artistic vision has been lacking in modern “high quality” games. However, at the same time independent games have been gaining in popularity. As our world trends more towards soulless capitalism as a whole, people are finding solace in smaller, warmer, solo-developed games, where the boundless creativity of the human mind can truly shine. that was pretty cheesy, so let's go back to this style for just a sec. maybe you shouldn’t try to optimize the gameplay hours over cost ratio, getting the most bang for your buck. instead, why not try something smaller for a change? a cute little game made with love and passion can be leagues more impactful than the newest game with the best graphics and hundreds of hours of gameplay, and i know this from experience. hell, maybe even try developing for yourself! everyone has the capacity for worthwhile creation, you’ve got this :)