Why Indie RPGs? Indies of the Round Table #1
Welcome to the premier edition of Indies of the Round Table! We've gathered together (virtually, at least) many indie computer role-playing game developers in a virtual summit meeting to discuss a variety of topics concerning their craft. They range from experienced vets with years of experience doing what they do, to new developers making a splash with their freshman projects; hardcore to casual; freeware to commercial; single-player to massively multiplayer game makers; and hardcore to casual.

In short, we've got a nice cross-section of indie CRPG makers here who offer a tremendous range of perspectives. Which they are going to share straight from the gut, without trying to be nicely political for the sake of their publishers and bosses - because they don't have 'em! So we'll be try to keep it real as each month they tackle one topic, question, issue, or controversy.

This month, I decided to hit them with the question of their own existence: Why bother?


Question: Why Indie RPGs? The last eighteen months or so have brought gamers plenty of role-playing games and expansions for computer and console from mainstream developers. And there are tons of Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs (MMORPGs) that are 'scratching the itch' for RPG fans and formerly non-gamers alike. And then there are literally thousands of fan-made modules for the Neverwinter Nights games. In this kind of environment, what does a comparatively low-budget indie computer RPG have to offer the player?

Game developers, take it away:


Jeff Vogel, Spiderweb Software ("Avernum V"... amongst many others):
I would certainly dispute that "plenty" of quality single-player RPGs have been released lately. There haven't been many at all. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is almost two years old. Neverwinter Nights 2 is only a few months newer than that. Outside of Mass Effect (XBox 360 only) or the Witcher (PC only), it's really been thin pickings.

As for user-made scenarios, while some of them are of a quality comparable to stand-alone full length RPGs, it's not a large number, and they frequently run on older (and sometimes no longer available) engines.

Or, to put it another way, we are selling more copies of our Indie RPGs now than at any time in the fourteen years we've been in business. So offering quality games still counts for a lot.


Amanda Fitch, Amaranth Games ("Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest"):
In my opinion, in the end, it comes down to the story. A good story is worth more than a million dollars spent on graphics and art. At least, I've personally found this to be true.


Vince D. Weller, Iron Tower Studio ("Age of Decadence"):
I don't understand the question. Maybe if I rephrase it a bit....

Thank God that Mask of the Betrayer and The Witcher were released, because otherwise it would have been the worst eighteen months or so for the RPG community, unless you count all those shitty action games with stats like Dungeon Siege: Broken World and Titan Quest. In unrelated news, the industry is still obsessed with so-called MMORPGs that are scratching the itch to grind and LARP for people who don't have anything better to do. And then there are at least 10 fan-made NWN modules that are worth playing. How do you crazy indie developers deal with all that?

Well, first, I don't think that the market is over-saturated (or even saturated) with RPGs, second, being an RPG fan myself I don't think that there is a such a thing as too many good RPGs.

As for what the indies have to offer, we can offer players things they won't find anywhere else. Mainstream equivalents of games like Geneforge, Avernum, Mount & Blade, Eschalon or Broken Hourglass aren't in development, yet there are people who want to play such games.

Overall, indies offer originality and creativity. I'm not saying that mainstream developers aren't creative. Obsidian is loaded with top quality, mind blowing talent - Avellone, Sawyer, Mitsoda, Saunders, Ziets, and many others and Mask of the Betrayer proves that beyond any reasonable doubts. Unfortunately, the publishers control the industry and at the moment they want MOAR action, like totally next-generation RPGs. So, if you, dear reader, want something different, well, welcome to Club Indie. We hope you'll enjoy your stay.


Thomas Riegsecker, Basilisk Games ("Eschalon: Book 1"):
There are several things that an indie title can offer over these other options, actually. Indie games cater to a very specific niche market that many AAA developers just don't understand. I'm part of the 1% of the population that didn't like The Witcher despite desperately wanting to enjoy it. It just didn't feel like an RPG to me, as is the problem with many mainstream titles that call themselves role-playing games.

Secondly, an indie title can offer a fresh perspective (new setting, new rules) that you don't get with user-made mods. I've played many NWN mods, and after the twentieth module they get rather redundant. Sure, there are some nice total conversions that are fairly stimulating, but 95% of users mods are just more of the same. Add-ons and user mods are no substitute for a fresh, new game.

Lastly, I think that most indie titles represent a good value. While AAA tiles may cost $50-$60 dollars each, you can get a great indie RPG for half that- plus you tend to get better customer service. When someone has a problem with my game, they can speak to me about it. How many people were able to talk to Todd Howard when they were having trouble with Oblivion?


Josh Engebretson, Prairie Games ("Minions of Mirth"):
The recent offerings from mainstream developers all have one very frustrating thing in common: the system requirements verge on the ridiculous. These games simply run like crap on anything other than the absolute latest and greatest. Furthermore, these titles don't always get released for Mac OSX or if they do arrive late. The Mac platform accounted for 47% of our sales last year. Indies really need to cover as wide range of hardware and platforms as they possibly can. This is a far larger 'niche' than technophiles with the budget for SLI rigs and an unsatiable thirst for pixel shaders!


Jason Compton, Planewalker Games ("The Broken Hourglass"):
We keep working for the same reason novelists and musicians and TV/movie producers continue to work: even in a world full of media choice, we think the audience is still telling us, "No, no, I'm not satisfied. I still want to hear *your* story."

All things considered, we have it pretty good compared to those other crowded media spaces. If you're a television producer, you're competing for attention not only with your contemporary peers, but with about 60 years of published product, much of it available on DVD or for download or on 100+ cable stations. You're also competing with YouTube--even an amateur can turn up 22 minutes of distracting video chicanery online without too much effort.

If you're a filmmaker, you're competing with about 80 years of published product--more, if you include silent films. You also have the same problems the TV guys have.

If you're a novelist... forgive the pun, but on paper, you're totally screwed. You have to fight with literally more than a millennium of competition, from your basic Ancient Holy Books up through Harry Potter and John Grisham, plus all the fanfic and self-published works which have flooded the world over the past decade.

Looking at it that way, I think I'll take my chances against the rest of the games industry any day. There's "only" about 30 years of titles in the gaming world to fight with, and really only a handful of those which tell stories using the devices we use.


Georgina Bensley, Hanako Games ("Cute Knight Deluxe"):
There are a lot of NWN modules. I used to play them. I used to write them. The "90% of everything is crap" rule applies here too. :) A lot of those free modules simply aren't any good. Poor grammar, terrible storyline, unbalanced challenges, sprawling level design... There's always room for another GOOD game.

And there's always room for something different. The bigger the game and the investment, the more tendency there is to lean towards the mainstream and trying to please everyone/offend no one. Which can make many games feel very same-y. Working with a smaller budget means you can target bizarre niches and take wild chances. You may not get WoW's subscriber count, but you don't NEED that many sales either.

How many games are there on the market at the moment where you can play a rabbit? There's a bunch of furry fans out there who might be interested if you make one.


Mike Hommel, Hamumu Games ("Loonyland 2: Winter Woods"):
I feel like, with RPGs more than any other type of game, it's really the individual work that you either want or you don't. The presence of Neverwinter Nights modules doesn't compel me in the slightest, though the presence of WoW does (compel me to not get any work done). I don't see anything about a low-budget game really being less compelling than a big-budget game in the RPG arena. You either are interested in the particular story, setting, mechanics, and style, or you aren't. I mean, a big-budget game can wow you with cut-scenes, but while that might get you to buy the game, it's not going to make you like it any more than the stick figure indie game once you play them both.

So, we certainly lose out in terms of exposure - we aren't going to sell what they are. But in terms of players actually enjoying themselves, the budget is no real disadvantage. It might be if big-budget games were made with the same tech as indie games - then they'd have a lot more content because of the extra man-hours available. But the way it's done now, the lower budget games usually give you more gameplay. Or at least more gameplay with merit. Final Fantasy can take a hundred hours, but 50 of those are watching movies and summoning creatures (oh it's so fun to make that unskippable!!), and 49 of the rest are spent clicking on "Attack" in mindless random battles. A big-budget action game might have amazing physics-driven kung fu, but an RPG of any budget is still going to be about clicking "Attack" and watching numbers pop up. Tech and money won't make you a good story and fun skills and abilities. A single person with great creativity and talent can definitely pull it off (and in a more intense, personal, and unfiltered way than a design-by-committee game).


Steven Peeler, Soldak Entertainment ("Depths of Peril"):
If you ask me ( and since you did :) ), the answer to your question is pretty much in the question itself. To quote you, “there are TONS of Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs”. That’s exactly how the retail market works, one great game comes out and then everyone copies that game until another great game comes out to copy. AAA games cost so much money to make these days that few publishers are willing to take the risk to try out new forms of gameplay, so they simply spend money on better graphics and copy the gameplay from a proven game. This is why we have seen so many Diablo clones that have much better graphics, but have the same gameplay. Actually the sad part is usually the clone doesn’t even have as good of gameplay as the original. So in reality what you end up with is a better looking game with sub-par gameplay. Now of course, World of Warcraft is the big thing, so everyone seems to be working on or releasing MMOs these days.

I will speak only for myself here, but I think many other indies are very similar. I’m a fairly passionate gamer myself. I play the same games that you guys and gals do and I’m tired of playing the same game over and over again. If I want to play Diablo or WoW, I’ll simply go play Diablo or WoW. I don’t need a prettier version that’s not as fun to play.

This is where I think indies fit in. Indie games offer something different. They tend to be much more innovative than their retail counterparts. We try new things, especially with gameplay. Just take our game Depths of Peril for an example. Depths of Peril is an action RPG with some major differences which I will get into in a minute. If you look at the retail market you will find tons of action RPGs, but truthfully how many of them have any new gameplay compared to Diablo 2? How many of them are just sub-par clones with better graphics?

Now back to Depths of Peril. Instead of having a static world that revolves around a character that plays through the storyline at his or her leisure like a typical action RPG, in Depths of Peril the world is very dynamic and doesn’t stand still waiting around for you. First you aren’t even alone. You aren’t the lone hero in the world. There are other factions (called covenants) living within the town walls with you, that would love to kill you off. You see, the barbarian town of Jorvik is currently leaderless and barbarians choose their leaders by fighting to the death. The last covenant alive becomes the new leaders. The dynamic world goes beyond the other covenants though. If certain quests aren’t solved quickly enough an NPC or another covenant might solve it first. Other quests that are ignored might lead to harder quests or real consequences. An ignored uprising of zombies might lead to an attack on the town where some of the town’s vendors or quest givers might die (they will eventually be resurrected). Or a thief might come into town and start stealing the vendors blind. Do you care that the vendors are losing real items that you might have wanted to purchase? Or two monster leaders might get together for a meeting somewhere out in the wilds. If you kill them without anyone finding out about it, you can cause their groups of monsters to go to war with each other. For that matter, some groups of monsters already hate each other and will attack each other on sight. These are just a few of the many dynamic things that can happen in Depths of Peril.

Depths of Peril is just one example of something different that indie games can provide. If you go looking around for just a few minutes, you are bound to find many other examples of indie games with cool new gameplay that the retail market has never tried out and won’t until someone else proves that it is fun and more importantly makes lots of money.


SCF ("The Last Scenario")
What can an indie developer offer nowadays? In two words: something different.

You won't see an indie developer creating successful MMORPGs or FPS games with bleeding edge graphical environments, but that's not all there is to making games. Take a look at the GBA Advance Wars series: there's nothing special about the graphics, and really nothing about the game is beyond the means of independent developers . What makes the series popular is the strong gameplay and nothing else. Sure it benefits from the portability of the GBA, but it still shows that there's an audience for games that are not technologically advanced.

The same goes for RPGs.

When it comes to story and characters, high-budget games can offer far more immersement than a 2D sprite-based game, but in the end, the story and characters have be written well first. Any game with a unique gameplay idea or a compelling plot can work, even on a smaller budget. Will it be a major hit? Probably not. But then again, most games aren't.


Conclusion
It seems there is a need for indie RPGs. Many RPG fans - and potential RPG fans - do not feel adequately served by the increasingly risk-averse mainstream games industry. They have had to make do with a trickle of titles, many of low quality and poor entertainment value, that have been made increasingly generic to be more palatable to a different - albeit larger - audience. But they want something more. Something different. Something playable in native mode on their platform of choice. Something that addresses their own tastes and needs better. Something flavorful they can sink their teeth into. Or - if nothing else - just MORE, to tide them over between the rare mainstream releases. On top of all that, RPGs are one of the best video game genres for storytelling, something which can be more personal and unique for creators and their audience alike.

And that's where the indies come in.



I want to thank all of the participants in this month's Indies of the Round Table. This was a lot of fun, and I'm already looking forward to doing it again in March. If you have suggestions, or simply want to let us know how much you enjoyed it (or didn't), feel free to post in the comments section or over at the forum. Or just email me (jayb) here at rampantgames.com. And if you did enjoyed this article, be sure and support the participants by clicking on the links by their names and giving their games a try.

Labels: Indie Evangelism, Roleplaying Games

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