Capitalism, last actual good indie game was Disco Elysium

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>>695157791
>Disco Elysium

>>695157687
Those games became successful because 99.99% of indies are either 2d pixel metroidvanias or RPG maker top-down JRPGs; anything different will be praised.

>>695157687
Only one I heard of from here is buckshot roulette.
I hope this was only like a 5 dollar game.
I'm afraid to see how much this costs and how much it sold.
It is literally just Russian roulette with very little gameplay.

If you have a budget of $50k and are going up against budgets of $100m why compete directly? Your advantages are small team size and higher risk, use them.

>>695158169
>>695157687
Can't speak for bottom 2, but neither of top 2 were chasing meme stardom and that's not why they succeeded. MW is a stylish suspenseful thriller/horror game, it spread by word of mouth and deserves its success. Buckshot also does for its unique concept and stellar execution. Quality rises. Even pixel jrpgs and metroidvanias can succeed if they're GOOD, just look at Animal Well.
Or find me great games that were ignored why don't you.

>>695158886
>MW is a stylish suspenseful thriller/horror game, it spread by word of mouth and deserves its success.
lol
>Buckshot also does for its unique concept and stellar execution
lmao

>>695158886
>Even pixel jrpgs and metroidvanias can succeed if they're GOOD, just look at Animal Well.
Then play those instead of bitching about indie games that became successful because they tried to do something different than being just another 2D pixel metroidvania RPG Maker RPG roguelike deckbuilder walking simulator.

>>695159207
I'm not bitching about shit, I'm saying good games succeed and OP should stop whining and make one. Even if you're like >>695159034 and you think those games suck, you should be able to see why they're wheat and the rest is chaff. Indie games are a meritocracy.

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>>695160249
>Indie games are a meritocracy.

>>695157687
Why are you too stupid to make your own indie game that you want to see?

>>695160442
Find me a counterexample then. A great game designed for broad appeal that totally failed to find an audience. If you go digging through the itchio bins and the depths of steam you don't find hidden gems. Every time you find something good with original ideas, it's at least moderately successful.

>>695157687
it was inevitable. still would prefer them over any 2d pixel platformer clones. at least the developers on these have some passion.
come to think of it i don't remember which game was the pioneer of prententious ps2 graphic indies

>>695160531
If you really want to play a certain type of game, why would you rob any enjoyment from it by making it yourself? You think indie devs work on something for 5 years and then are like "Now I can finally play this game?"

>>695161836
An anon is making a Diablo clone. Do you know what was his answer when someone asked him why was he making a Diablo clone?
>"I wanted to make a game I wanted to play".

You literally have no excuse to not make the game you want to play if no one is making it.

>>695161609
>>695158169
Pixel games can succeed if they have new ideas. A pixel roguelike called Random Access Mayhem came out yesterday and it already has >100 positive reviews.

>>695162541
>new ideas
>pixel roguelike

lol
lmao even

>>695162706
It has a unique mechanic based around all of the enemies being playable characters that you can swap into at any given time. It's a new idea.

>>695161836
>You think indie devs work on something for 5 years and then are like "Now I can finally play this game?"
Indiedev here.
Yes, playing my own game is such a joy because it's good and made for me.

>>695160702
Why would meritocracy apply to obscure literally who indies when it doesn't apply to AA games which bomb all the time

>>695163914
No it's not you subhuman, there's another pixelshit indie game a few years back that did the same exact thing

https://store.steampowered.com/app/793830/Kharons_Crypt__Even_Death_May_Die/

>>695158169
Keylocker
Declines drops
Long gone days
Goodboy galaxy

None of those games even got a launch thread here. inb4 "they all suck" - no, they don't.

>>695158457
>I'm afraid to see how much this costs and how much it sold.
It's $4.50AUD.

>>695167902
Oh come the fuck on, watch the trailers for both games and tell me they're the same

>>695166635
Different standards of success. An indie game by a few people only needs a little success for the creators to feel good about it.

>>695170868
I have played Keylocker, I'll assume the other ones are of similar quality. It was fine. Fine has no guarantee of success. Good enough to be REALLY exciting to the people that play it is the bar here. If the median score from players is below a 9/10 you're fucked.

>>695157687
Sorry, but we can't compete with AAA in gameplay.

>>695171406 (me)
Eh, this might be off base a bit. Most people wouldn't give Buckshot a 9. The specific score matters less than that the game feels "special" in some way to the people that play it. That quality (often achieved through storytelling or unique aesthetics) is what propels a modern indie game to success through word of mouth and shilling to youtubers and discussion on social media sites. Games like mouthwashing achieve it through storytelling, others through unique aesthetics of gameplay. But this quality is selected for. I believe that. None of these >>695170868 games have it, you can tell from all the lukewarm positive reviews.

Never noticed that these four games have the same sort of grimy aesthetic. It's like the 'analog horror' of aesthetics for indie games. Not quite PS1 style but something evoking the edge of that era.

>>695172104
Sort of agree. You need a strong hook to grab a niche more than you need to hit an overall quality bar.

>>695157687
nobody ever shits on short films for being short, i dont get being angry over this when actual shit slop like Veilguard is constantly trying to be fed to us. theres plenty of room for short walking sims and "real" games

>>695157687
I like it when a game is short and sweet and isn't padded out with a bunch of pointless bullshit

duno, do you guys think my game can succeed in this day in age?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67YiVXf6SIY

>>695173374
uh, probably not desu. you need something that people will come away excited about. this seems fun but i'm pretty sure it'd just sink back into the morass if i stopped playing it and i'd never think about it again.

I love Book of Hours so much it's unreal.
I think it's pretty unique as well.

Yes I do have diagnosed autism.

>>695157687
I'm mostly upset because actual good indies that I personally like are ignored while these insipid slop games get all the fame and credit.

>>695173752
What are they? I'm the meritocracy crank from further up the thread please disprove my theory. I wanna find hidden gems.

>>695173752
>actual good indies that I personally like
let me guess, they are some tranny shit

>>695173752
If an indie game isn't popular, then it isn't actually good. Sorry, that's just how it is. Steam is a perfect meritocracy.

>>695170868
>2D pixel metroidvania / platformers
>Top-down JRPGs

>Why those games that are exactly the same as the other 1497834789432789032478903247890324178903241789032 millions of indies on Steam got no attention?
Truly a mystery

>>695157687
Idk, but I'm tired of seeing Vinny copying ManlyCuckassZero's schrick all because they're friends trying to ape those views.

>>695174134
wrong

>>695174675
name a dozen indie games that are good but not popular

>>695157687
At least the games in the picture have a distinct artstyle and (except buckshot) a story they try to tell.
Meanwhile all other indie horror style games takes place in a unreal engine asset store house where the ghost of a woman jumpscares you every 3rd minute but she actually symbolises your guilt for killing a woman in a traffic accident a month ago. How original. The bar for making a successful indie game in this genre is so fucking low.

>>695173752
Probably they're so extremely generic they get buried by the millions of extremely generic games of the same type published on Steam every day.
I'm willing to bet a Steam gam- sorry, license, that those games you like are RPG maker projects or Metroidvanias.

Don't post them because I don't want you to shill them. A yes or a no is enough.

>>695174675
I'm not some delusional consumer, I'm an actual indie developer who released a game to zero sales. I'm speaking from experience: if a game doesn't succeed, it's not good.

>>695173752
Don't listen to >>695174874 please do shill these supposedly "good indies" so that we can decisively prove that they are incredibly generic and in fact not good.

>>695174858
>Meanwhile all other indie horror style games takes place in a unreal engine asset store house where the ghost of a woman jumpscares you every 3rd minute but she actually symbolises your guilt for killing a woman in a traffic accident a month ago. How original. The bar for making a successful indie game in this genre is so fucking low.
I mean that's slop you wouldn't even expect anything out of, like how people don't care FIFA and Madden keep outselling actually good games, the games in the OP are getting actual acclaim and taking up actual vidya discussion spaces

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>>695173972
Like I'm telling you! I don't want my favorite game to get picked up by a streamer or some shit and get normiefied. I shall stand firm before the gates.

>>695174790
>Cavern of Dreams
>Teleglitch
>Gateway Trilogy
>Looming
>You ;)
>Jackie Chan
>Sayonara Wild Hearts
>Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara
>Hell Pie
>Korn Kidz 64
>Marble It Up
>Kings of Hell

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>>695175381
>Sayonara Wild Hearts
Jesus fuck, this looks like a textbook example of a developer being high on the smell of his own farts.
No wonder no one wants to play this shit.

>>695175381
10 of those are complete shit

>>695175618
>>695175734
I'll take that as a concession. Thanks for playing.

>>695175381
>Korn Kidz
That has >1000 reviews what are you talking about? By the standards of a solo dev that's a success.

>>695175381
You're proving my point. Anything from a tiny indie dev studio with over a thousand reviews has made a profit guaranteed unless they were retarded about taxes. (1,000 reviews means many more sales because >90% of players don't leave reviews) All of the good games on that list are comfortably in that margin.

>>695175850
you lost albeit
those games suck, which is why no one cares about them

>>695176212
>>695176341
>>695176371
>UHHH UHHH NU-UH
Sage

>>695176341
Rule of thumb is that 1 review is about 30 sales. So any indie with ~1000 reviews has about ~30,000 sales and has a decent chance of at least breaking even, depending on their budgeting ability. I was an idiot with budgeting and would need ~2000 reviews. I have zero.

>>695176212
Success wasn't the argument, it was popularity, which wasn't defined. The anon was arguing in bad faith anyway so there's your free indieshit reccs. Enjoy.

>>695158457
There's a Mouthwashing thread on here every day

>>695157687
These games are successful because they're cheap novel concepts you can throw a few bucks at and get something quick and different. It's like paying a few bucks to go through a haunted house.

Also word of mouth is not a thing. All of these games had paid marketing and promotion on steam store and here. Big Youpoopers and steam front page don't just pick something they like and show it to people

>>695176514
lol he actually started crying

>>695176341
>Anything from a tiny indie dev studio with over a thousand reviews has made a profit
That wasn't your initial argument.

>>695176820
What is this schizo theory that tiny indie games are funding massive multiplatform shill campaigns? You think all those mouthwashing threads are paid content and not people who want to talk about rape and post smutty fanart?

>>695176950
Posting on 4chan is free, my friend.

I'm at the point where I'm convinced the main reason games get popular, especially indies, is because of streamers.
I sincerely doubt Mouthwashing would have had the traction it did if not for all the horror game Youtubers doing reacts to it, which it was well suited for due to its bizarre imagery.

>>695176941
I said good games become popular and popular was never defined. I define popular as "popular enough to have made a comfortable profit for the dev." How do you define it?

>>695176941
>You think all those mouthwashing threads are paid content and not people who want to talk about rape and post smutty fanart?
Yes. Someone is putting in legwork to make sure that a thread exists on the catalog at all times for these crappy ass """""games""""" to plant the seed in people's minds so that it's something they're more likely to look up or click on if they see it. It's clearly a concerted effort and it's the reason that this board needs crackdowns on "general" threads.

>>695176998
You can't pry many sales out of this shithole it's a waste of time. /v/ is small and cynical, spending days bumping your own threads to create artificial interest from anonymous internet racists isn't something the fucking swedish mouthwashing devs need to be doing, especially since their game's already blown up.

>>695177025
>>695177106
see >>695176941

>>695177025
>popular enough to have made a comfortable profit for the dev
Yeah, after the fact.

>>695176820
>and here
Nah, this place is just being replaced by zoomers who grew up watching youtubers play these "games"

>>695177328
>after the fact
What do you mean? If a game makes a profit it makes a profit.

>>695178082
I meant you defined popularity after the fact of your initial argument.

>>695178253
That's what I meant by popularity initially, I just never clarified.

>>695157687
What's wrong with making short and simple games? Does every game have to be a massive 80 hour story or something that's meant to be played forever?
This is the kind of thinking that leads to 500 million dollar live service flops.

>That's what I meant by popularity initially
No you didn't.

>>695179690
I am an aspiring indie dev myself, and this philosophy is how I stay optimistic. So, yeah, a success from the dev's perspective is what I meant.

stop caring about what others are doing and do what interests you. if its good enough, it will find its audience

>>695157687
>indie devs make a game that they want to make (and to play)
>NOOOOO why are they chasing stardom?!

>695181246
Whoa totally worth the reply bump.

>>695174790
>due process
>intruder
>intravenous 1&2
>stealth bastard deluxe
>maximum action (despite being short)
>straftat
>shady knight
>echo point nova
>akimbot
>gori cuddly carnage
>the ninja saviors : return of the warriors
>the operator
selaco
>mullet madjack
>fortune's run
>sprawl
>my friendly neighborhood
>vividlope
>fashion police squad
>hell pie
>filcher
>wave break
>the greatest penguin heist of all time
>journey to the savage planet
>hypercharge unboxed
>hyper jam

>>695177715
>replaced by zoomers who grew up watching youtubers play these "games"
>suddenly realize most complaints about games are from people who saw their favorite lolcows fail on purpose for views, which lead to assume them being real faults and not simply lack of skill
terribly grim

>>695182529
Is this a joke? Pretty much all of those are insanely popular.

>>695184003
not really, aside from maybe a few games but still i think none of them have more than 5k or 10k reviews which is a very low number

>>695157687
>There's literally no reason for indie devs to try to make legitimate full games instead of chasing meme stardom
you're right - the economy is so shit right now you cant really afford to take risks, making games is already risky, let alone taking a bet on a new idea.
any gamedev with half a brain knows that in order to pay the bills they've gotta make horrorslop or rip off vampire survivors or something, new and original ideas statistically wont pay the bills.

imagine being able to do this shit back when single income households/homeowners were possible, I could work part time at a grocery store and earn enough to game dev the other half as well as pay rent have a wife and 8 kids.

>>695174790
Marmoreal x12

>>695185191
for an indie dev, that's not a very low number. remember 1,000 reviews is roughly 30,000 copies solid.

>>695185703
>Marmoreal
Looks like slop, but I'll grant it's actually unpopular.

>>695185191
On average a game gets 1 review per 30 sales. A game with "only" 10k reviews likely has 300,000 sales. That's a "very low number" to you?

>>695185703
>>695186212
Marmoreal is made by a 4channer so it sometimes gets memed by 4channers. It's unpopular because it's genuinely a bad game.

>>695186351
It’s way more fun than Vampire Survivors

>>695186693
It's clearly not or it would have sold more than Vampire Survivors.

>>695157687
Buckshot is a good game.

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>>695173752
>>695174675
>>695174790
There are still good innovative indie games being made by lone autists. Pic-related just popped on my Steam:
>RAVENSBURG is a haunting RPG where you play as a vampire. Here Lovecraftian Horror meets Anime. Liberate a cult-ridden city, uncover mysteries, and fight horrors beyond imagination while befriending attractive companions.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3314710/RAVENSBURG/
Mixing Lovecraft with anime vampire goth girls with a dating-sim element is certainly novel.

>Indie dev makes small scale game that turns out to be a big success and a lot of people have fun with it
This is so demotivating...
>There's literally no reason for indie devs to try to make legitimate full games instead of chasing meme stardom
If someone chases "meme stardom" that means they are hacks and never had what it takes to make whatever you're qualifying as "legitimate" "full" games in the first place. Any indie game worth its salt will come from a dev who has a defined vision and the ability to execute that vision.

>>695187175
No its not IDIOT op doesn't like it and its successful so that means we didn't get a 140 hour RPG the dev would have made otherwise is Vampire Survivors never came out!

>>695188806
Brazen nigger. You made this game. Some cheeky shilling eh. I'll bite.

>>695157687
>make something you think is good
>some retard on an anonymous Peruvian tapestry weaving forum claims you did it to "chase meme stardom"
I pray that you people once in your life try and create something of your own making

>>695157687
>threshhold
>become successful
Bro that game has 150 reviews it needs all the help it can get!!

>>695190067
>Bro that game has 150 reviews it needs all the help it can get!!
That's like 5000 sales. It doesn't need help.

>>695158169
Nah its majority of indies being roguelites or have roguelike elements in it

>>695184003
>Pretty much all of those are insanely popular
never heard about a single one of those games
have some perspective retardbro

>>695190147
Oh shit it came out yesterday lol im retarded