It has never “shifted,” independent has always meant the freedom to create whatever you want without input from anyone else. Money to support the team has to come from somewhere, even Stardew was bankrolled by his partner for a decade while he worked on it full time.
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calliope@retrolemmy.com 2 months ago
It’s interesting because the meaning of the word “independent” is shifting for games, in the same way it shifted for Hollywood movies.
Essentially one guy made Stardew Valley, and funded it himself. Most of the development of Clair Obscur was funded by a publisher, Kepler Interactive.
So… “independent” now means “not funded by one of the major game studios.” Not really “independent.”
GammaGames@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
t3rmit3@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
independent has always meant the freedom to create whatever you want without input from anyone else.
Yes, and if a publisher is present, you cannot as a consumer ensure this is the case. No publisher actually puts their contracts with dev studios public for review, or allows people to review their internal communication.
t3rmit3@beehaw.org 2 months ago
Yeah, I refuse to call anything ‘indie’ that is not in fact “independent” of a publisher. We already A, AA, and AAA to denote budgets. Rebranding ‘indie’ to mean ‘A’ or ‘AA’ games from third-party studios is drinking the publisher kool-aid. Sony especially pushed this angle.
GammaGames@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
This distinction only perpetuates the silly (and often misleading) idea of the “tortured artist” grinding their soul to dust to make something true to themself. It doesn’t have to be that way.
So may people’s understanding of indie games begin and end at Indie Game: The Movie
t3rmit3@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
No, this distinction prevents large studios from co-opting “indie” as a label, which people support because of that artistic discretion, and hiding it behind their opaque promises of such independence that no one can verify. You cannot trust a dev hasn’t been influenced by a publisher when they’re present, so the only way to ensure that is to not have a publisher present.
I don’t know that movie, but I do know actual indie devs who use e.g. Patreon for funding. It’s not about not having money, it’s about who your money comes from, and whether there can be hidden stipulations on it. With publishers, there always are.
GammaGames@beehaw.org 5 weeks ago
I just can’t see it that way.
Yes there are bad publishers out there, they’re probably the majority. Not all of them are