(This is copied and pasted from word, it is highly unrefined and unstructured, I got distracted for an hour talking about just Hyper Light Drifter. Still the topic of study here is applicable to both my Hypercasual game research and potentially the essay).
A talking point in Dean’s lecture from a week ago talked about how something that made indie games stand out is how experimental they are as they are often developed my smaller studios less money is on the line depending on their success and can take bigger risks, however he stated that it seemed like many more AAA studios are taking more experimental approaches. Why will I be talking about this? I don’t know I only asked this question 2 hours after writing,
There’s a magic touch that a lot of indie games bring, more passion seems to come into these worlds, Hyper Light Drifter is the most powerful story in mind where Lead Designer Alex Preston, born with congenital heart failure and other life-threatening health conditions inspired him to visualise a world he’d been dreaming about for years.
Honestly, I forgot to even think about the mechanics because the best part of the game is the story telling in both its art and sound design, NPCs tell stories through 3 images instead of words all of which are powerful, the game tells most of its story through exploration through stunning landmarks like the fallen giants and the visuals as the levels are unlike anything we often see in our own world, environments are already colourful like the purple hue of the caves and the red forests but the music breathes even more emotion into the experience, it’s adaptive meaning it changes during certain moments which creates more memorable moments, such as the reveal of a city.
I haven’t played it myself, I would love to, I always forgot to buy it when I had money and even if I did, this is the most work I’ve done at home so far in a while and I’ll ruin that if I launch another game, I’m going off of Resonant Arc’s breakdown of the game which his points ring true to everything I knew about the game before.
Its gameplay was best described as combining the best elements of Legend of Zelda: A link to the past with Diablo.
Travis Lionel from Medium published an article in August 2017 talking about ‘Experimentation and Positive Influence of Indie Games’, initially stating that industries often stagnate and rarely innovate, and suggests the rising number of indie games was thanks to digital distribution and easier access with platforms like steam and humble bundle allowing indie games to publish their own games.
Travis further states that Indie games have become far more artistic than AAA counterparts and suggests that this is because indie lacked the funds to create powerful graphics so instead created powerful visuals to look at instead, and this strength helps make indie games further stound out from eachother (And even if they fall short visually, they are often given the benefit of the doubt just for
Some of the highlighted examples are:
- Darkest Dungeon forcing players to deal with developing mental disorders as they fight strange creatures.
- Superhot’s innovation: “time moves only when you move” but is supported by ample ways to fight with this mechanic.
- Stardew Valley as a farming sim (I know that game was inspired by harvest moon but I’d like to know how it surpassed it’s inspiration)
- Salt & Sanctuary, dark fantasy souls-like metroidvania
[This is not done at all, this is just looking at someones article and almost repeating what they say just worded differently].