Your first indie experience.

[RageBurner]

It's undeniable now that the indie space forever changed the landscape, daring to create new experiences or reviving beloved genres in ways AAA companies either fail miserably at doing or refuse to do. It's been a long way and indie games continue to scratch the right itches for so many of us.

What was your first foray into this beautiful, untamed world? for me it was FTL: Faster Than Light. So beloved it is that it contines to be played, challenged and modified to this day, and it let loosea torrent of games inspired by it, to varying degrees.

 

[TarTar]

I can pick something generic like Minecraft especially early Builds, but idk I feel like its a boring answer and I don't think I experienced it fully till years later, I dont think I built it for more than two hours for the first like two years I would say, second one that I do remember and Really Loved it was Limbo it was a this dark weird game that I didn't experience before and very few games managed to replicate that feeling of, unfortunately I also didnt complete that game ,but I did watch a complete walkthrough of it.

 

[Waffles]

I think it was VA-11 HALL-A.

Just a beautiful thing, really.

 

[RageBurner]

I can pick something generic like Minecraft especially early Builds, but idk I feel like its a boring answer and I don't think I experienced it fully till years later, I dont think I built it for more than two hours for the first like two years I would say, second one that I do remember and Really Loved it was Limbo it was a this dark weird game that I didn't experience before and very few games managed to replicate that feeling of, unfortunately I also didnt complete that game ,but I did watch a complete walkthrough of it.

Limbo was quite impactful, a true game changer in many ways. If memory serves, also one of the first games to employ Denuvo.

Post automatically merged: Dec 15, 2024

I think it was VA-11 HALL-A.

Just a beautiful thing, really.

I like it, but I wish you could have more protagonist options.

 

[Clippy]

Hmm... I dunno really. PC has pretty much always had games developed by very small teams without the support of some big shot publisher. The more memorable ones are definitely the likes of MUGEN, Little Fighter 2 and Beats of Rage. Icy Tower and Deluxe Ski Jump 2 also consumed more of my time than I'd be willing to admit.

 

[Firenoh]

For me, I grew up playing flash games and weird Mac stuff. Games like Boxhead, You have to Burn the Rope, Fancy Pants Man, or Submachine are more classic to me than Mega Man or RCT2. As far as full-fledged games go, Bugdom from PangeaSoft was awesome to play during Computer lab in school. That and trying to wrap my head around Toribash.

Born in 1995, to give you some context.

 

[Ikagura]

World of Goo.

 

[burnout2]

The first indie I ever sank a lot of time into was a Minecraft ripoff called Total Miner: Forge. It was available on XBLIG in 2011 and I always preferred it because of how vast and immersive its caves were. It also has the most terrifying enemy in any game ever made.

 

[MistHunter]

...Sky hero adventure.

 

[Bonkers225]

Probably some PSP Mini Game.

 

[Binho]

idk the first one I beat it was Rogue Legacy tho

 

[Karnik]

Nope, no experience; never been to Indie. But I love indien philosophy.

 

[Cu-Neo]

The first time I heard the term: "indie game" was with Shovel Knight and it was also the first one that I finished

 

[BoysenBarry]

Maybe this dates me a bit but Cave Story was (and still is) one of my favorite games back when I was dirt poor and couldn't really play much else on my family's dated (even for the time) eMachine desktop. Still can't believe that such a well crafted game and narrative was made by a solo dev in the early 2000's and released for free, it definitely holds a special place in my heart.

 

[RustySK]

Do Flash games count?

If so, it'd be Little Fighter 2, a pretty neat Beat 'em Up with fighting game mechanics from... I wanna say the year 2000?
It had tons of different playable characters, tons of hidden characters, genuinely pretty great stuff.

I think there's actually a remastered Steam release in the works, might be worth checking out whenever that releases.

EDIT: Looked it up and by the sound of it they're using AI art all over the place in that remaster. Not a fan.

 

[MistHunter]

Do Flash games count?

Technically and historically speaking, yes.
online minigames, along with some cell phone games, are indies (before cave story and minecraft)...

 

[RustySK]

Technically and historically speaking, yes.

You'd be surprised how many people dismiss Flash games entirely just on the basis of what they are!

 

[MistHunter]

I heard from someone, some years ago about:
"the big 5 in videogames.
those are:
consoles (homemade and portable equally)
personal computer
arcade machines
online minigames (yes, flash minigames included. some are as long as a quality console game...)
cell phone games"

 

[Lee__Kanker]

Not counting flash games, mario fangames and other free stuff..

The first commercial indipendent game was hmm...

I was uninmpressed with a lot of the ps3 era ones because they were all flash styles and famicom style and I wanted something like metal slug or ps1 games

..Minecraft? Well I could say Freedom Planet but it's not really indipendent because it has a publisher

Oh! Amnesia the dark descent! At the time I didnt care for it but now...man that game is AMAZING
First of all I love games set in castlea: Devil May Cry , Haunting Ground, Resident Evil 4..

Its so atmospheric, the music is amazing, the voice acting and sound design are awesome! Its like reading an old horror book like Dracula, the flashbacks really spark the imagination. I really really like the story and main character, how much you learn about him over time. Also it takes inspiration from silent hill 1-4 without it being obvious

And its cool how fast paced it is, if you get a hang of the movement system and the really cool physics you can breeze through it and the first chunk has a hub world and you can do stuff in any order you want like mario 64! Which was one of the inspirations by the way
Also the enemies are so memorable thanks to the again fenomenal sounds and how they deliberately dont let you take a good look at them
I was invested, hooked to the screen from beginning to end, and it looks wonderful on a crt monitor with all that darkness

 

[MistHunter]

...Well, like a good example, phoenotopia was a flash game, before it was launched to consoles, you know...
another one, if I remember correctly, crosscode.

 

[Yousef]

It's undeniable now that the indie space forever changed the landscape, daring to create new experiences or reviving beloved genres in ways AAA companies either fail miserably at doing or refuse to do. It's been a long way and indie games continue to scratch the right itches for so many of us.

What was your first foray into this beautiful, untamed world? for me it was FTL: Faster Than Light. So beloved it is that it contines to be played, challenged and modified to this day, and it let loosea torrent of games inspired by it, to varying degrees.

Great topic idea! Unfortunately, This is a shocking tough question to answer in my case haha. It’s because I get the impression I’ve begun my indie journey slightly earlier than most of my peers. Around 2010 maybe? It was likely with Inti Creates. Unfortunately can’t remember what game it was haha.

To add further mud, I unfortunately can’t remember what I played in 2016 (which is where I resumed my journey)

If this answer satisfies your curiosity, I believe it could’ve been momodora. At least it’s the game I consider to have first engaged me like no other indie and left a permanent impression on me.

 

[Ikagura]

You'd be surprised how many people dismiss Flash games entirely just on the basis of what they are!

I don't get why.

 

[RageBurner]

The perception of lower production values, probably, and an assumed lack of depth. It can be true in some cases, but I did have a lot of fun with the likes of the Sift Heads series.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

I don't get why.

And yet The Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy started there...
And spelunky

 

[JustLooking123]

It was probably Ski from win98 era!

Very fun game! and always being eaten by that monster in the end!