Independant Games (Indie Games) & Limbo

Independant games, otherwise known as 'Indie games' are games created by individuals or very small groups of people without Video game publisher financial support. Indie games often focus on innovation and rely on digital distribution. Digital distribution is when a product such as a game or music album is distributed online, rather than a physical copy that can be bought from a shop. All indie games are distributed online, and have their own section in the Xbox live marketplace called "Indie Games". The majority of them will have a trial run where the user downloads a trial of the game to see if they like it, rather than buying it straight away without knowing what it is like. In the past few years, indie games have seen a rise due to new online distribution methods and development tools. Some of the all time best indie games include Limbo, Brade, World Of Goo, Cave Story+, FTL (Faster than light) and obvcourse the record selling - Minecraft. Minecraft would probably be the most well known indie game and has seen a massive rise in players over the last year. Although i havent played it myself, i have heard that the game itself is very entertaining and good fun to play. Due to the popularity of minecraft on the PC, This led to minecraft being released on Xbox live and becoming even more of a success.

Indie games do not have what it takes to be compete with blockbuster and AAA Games as most people do not feel that indie games take advantage of the new sorts of technology that there are these days unlike FPS Games such as call of duty that take full advantage of the new technology and make the game as realistic as they can. Indie games are not realistic and so not that many people play them because they like to have a sense to as if they are actually in the game themselves. People would rather play a realistic game and feel the experience of it, rather than play a non-realistic 2-D indie game, that gets boring after about half an hour. Indie games are cheaper than big blockbuster and AAA Games to produce, and to buy. They save money as they do not have to pay for physical copies of the product to be shipped all around the world. Instead, people buy them online with a few clicks of a button. With this, they can then afford to sell the game at a low price - Most oftenly half the price as to what an AAA Game sells for.


Limbo:

“The game is a masterpiece.” - Giant Bomb 5/5
“Limbo is genius. Freaky, weird genius. Disturbing, uncomfortable genius.” - The Escapist 10/10
“Dark, disturbing, yet eerily beautiful, Limbo is a world that deserves to be explored.”- Joystiq 10/10
“Limbo is as close to perfect at what it does as a game can get.” - Destructoid 10/10

Limbo is an indie game that is available to buy on the Xbox, Playstation, Microsoft Windows and Gamersgate. The game was the premiere title of independant Danish game developer Playdead. The player guides an unnamed boy through dangerous environments and traps as he searches for his sister. The developer built the game's puzzles expecting the player to fail before finding the correct solution. Playdead called the style of play "trial and death", and used gruesome imagery for the boy's deaths to steer the player from unworkable solutions. The game is presented in monochromatic black-and-white tones, using lighting, film grain effects and minimal ambient sounds to create an eerie atmosphere often associated with the horror genre. One of few games to be made with no colour - (Just black and white) aswell as little in-game sounds as possible yet it has still managed to be one of, if not the best indie game ever created. A very unique and original game that deserves the excellent reviews it gets. The title was the third-highest selling game on the Xbox Live Arcade service in 2010, generating around $7.5 million in revenue. The title won several awards from industry groups after its release, and was named as one of the top games for 2010 by several publications.

The plot of the game tells the adventure of a boy in search of his missing sister. The nameless boy awakens in the middle of a forest on the "edge of hell" and sets off in search of his sister. On his journey, he encounters only a few human characters, who either attack him, run away, or are dead. At one point during his journey, he encounters a female character, who abruptly vanishes before he can reach her. The forest eventually gives way to a crumbling city environment. On completion of the final puzzle, the boy is thrown through a pane of glass and back into the forest. He walks a short distance until he again encounters a girl, who, upon his approach, stands up, startled. At this point, the game abruptly ends.

I have only played the trial game of Limbo and can honestly say it is a great game. It is very gripping and i would recommend it to anybody who enjoys playing video games of whatever kind...
The trial version of the game ends on a cliffhanger leaving the player in question: "What happens next?..." A Very good technique to try and persuade the player to buy the full game to find out what happens next. Anybody who plays the trial version will deffinatley want to buy the full game. It honestly is one of the best, and most intreaguing games ive ever played. It is a 'Puzzle-Platform' game that is sure to have the player thinking. The game requires the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles aswell as solving puzzles such as backtracking in order to drag an obstacle (crate, trap) that they have passed on their way so that they can use it to get past what is blocking them on their adventure.

The game includes an official website where you can buy the game directly from it.
http://limbogame.org/

It is the winner of more than 90 awards, including:
Gameinformer’s “Best Downloadable”
Gamespot’s “Best Puzzle Game”
Kotaku’s “The Best Indie Game”
GameReactor’s “Digital Game of the Year”
Spike TV’s “Best Independent Game”
X-Play’s “Best Downloadable Game”
IGN’s “Best Horror Game”

Reviews:

1UP.com - B
Edge - 9/10
Eurogamer - 9/10
G4 - 5/5
GameInformer - 9/10
GameSpot - 9/10
GameSpy - 5/5
IGN - 9/10
PALGN - 9.5/10
I Would rate the game - 10/10

 By Ryan Jones.