Indie game-makers do it for love of the game
INDIE. For some, the word conjures the Sundance Film Festival and independent movies. Or indie music, where unsigned bands make a name by releasing songs on MySpace. Or maybe “indie” is just one more reminder of the new “Indiana Jones” movie.
If you’re like most people, you may not have even heard of independent video games. Even in an era where a single video game - in this case, “Halo 3″ - can sell $170 million worth in its first day, indie game-makers are out there, chugging away, doing it for the love of the game.
Many of the best indie games will wind up as downloadable games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, the Wii or Gametap, an online game service. But in the meantime, you can play them on your PC - or even just through a Web browser - before they make the big leagues. Here are some of the best:
Downloadable indie games
The people at Telltale Games, an independent game company started by some former LucasArts employees, know what they’re doing. On Friday, they’ll release the latest edition of “Sam & Max,” their entertaining episodic adventure game: “Episode 201: Ice Station Santa” (www.telltalegames.com).
Some of the team got their start on the game “Grim Fandango,” a sophisticated, episodic cult classic. Where “Fandango” used film noir as its inspiration, the “Sam & Max” games infuse every frame with a kitschy reverence for 1960s police detective shows.
Set to a jazzy beatnik soundtrack, “Ice Station Santa” combines the series’ trademark puzzle-solving and laugh-out-loud repartee. The only game on this list that costs a small amount - each “Sam & Max” episode is less than $10 each - “Ice Station Santa” is also the most professional-looking release by far on this list.
Over at Kloonigames.com, a software developer named Petri Purho has a semi-insane mission: to create a new game every month. Like any endeavor with an absurd timeline, the results are a mixed bag. But “Crayon Physics,” created for his June 2007 deadline, has an easy charm that makes the game seem simpler than it really is (www.kloonigames.com/blog/games/crayon). The background resembles the manila paper of kindergarten class, complete with fold lines. Using your mouse, you draw crayon lines to create shapes, causing the pieces to interact with each other. Because of the popularity of “Crayon,” Purho plans to release a “deluxe” version - one that will take longer to design than 30 days - in the near future.
With a soundtrack and main character right out of the “Harry Potter” movies, “Rooms” feels like an homage to J.K. Rowling’s universe (www.handmadegame.com). But even so, it’s one of the most original games on this list - even more impressive when you consider that it started as a student project. (Kim Jonghwa, the game designer, was attending a university in Seoul, South Korea.)
To play “Rooms,” you slide squares around in space like a 2-D Rubik’s Cube and direct your avatar up and down stairs, ladders and through doors to escape to the next level. While it’s possible to play this game through a browser, with such a huge file size, it can make sense to download the game instead.
Browser-based indie games
Games that you can play through a Web browser require very little commitment, just the time it takes to load a Flash-based application. With originality and style, they use very basic tools - generally just your mouse and maybe a few keyboard keys - to provide great entertainment. Be warned, though: You generally can’t save your progress. With these clicky games, you’ll have to keep your browser open to return to the same spot.
The Web site Orisinal is where Ferry Halim creates dozens of so-cute-it-hurts games that share a similar aesthetic. “Cats” has six stylized cute white cats on a black background. “The Runaway Train” puts a cute bearded cartoon man on the back of a locomotive. My favorite game, which commits wholeheartedly to its sweet vision, is “Summer Walk,” where cute wee birds avoid obstacles in time to a plinky folk-music soundtrack (www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal).
Now a downloadable game for the PS3, “flOw” is still available as a free Flash game that’s almost mesmerizing in its design (http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing). Playing as a microorganism, you swim through the ocean, diving lower or higher, quietly devouring other creatures. The goal is to evolve and to add segments to your creature’s tiny white body.
Designed by a Czech student and artist, “Samorost” boasts a haunting woodland-creature soundtrack and a beautiful, slightly creepy, full-screen landscape (www.amanitadesign.com). The same artist also created a recent “Samorost” sequel, as well as a similar game for the band the Polyphonic Spree (www.questfortherest.com).
In all of these games, the puzzles are creative and challenging, sharing a universal sense of humor. In one level, for example, you must find the creature hidden beneath a knot in a tree. You succeed only by clicking on him until he plays a techno record - the music wakes up the sleeping owl on the branch outside, setting off the required chain of events.
Indie games may not have crowds lined up the night before their release, sweaty with anticipation. But their uniqueness and DIY spirit are undeniable and infectious, and full of more creativity than many of the packaged, mainstream games now lining the mall shops’ shelves.
Jennifer Buckendorff is a frequent contributor to The Seattle Times.