Quote:Here's a side question: Indie developers will increasingly not be able to keep up with the graphics firepower of mainstream games. So if genre is so strictly segregated among players, how will indies distinguish themselves. I can't imagine a doomed future of making nothing but Bejeweled clones (not knocking those, they make money, but does this mean that the window for complex games is closing?)
Not at all. Indie developers make themselves known by making FUN games and by getting into a uncommon NICHE. As in, we make games that are so fun that the graphics don't have to be as top notch as the big guys. If I make a 3d shooter that is actually really fun, has an awesome multiplayer, good gameplay overall, it won't matter too much if the lighting is dynamic or if the models are 10000 tris each. Rather I want to say that there are still many gamers that base what they like on what is fun. About the NICHE, if an indie game is of a genre that there are very fiew of, or is put where there are very few games, it very well could be successful. For example, edu-tainment and gambing games are far and few. If one was made that served well its purpose, it could be successful. Also, putting games where games usually don't belong but there are gamers also works. I read an article of Diana Gruber's that said She had her games playing on airplane seats. If her game is the only one there, and we know there are people on planes who want to play games, then her game will get played.
Point is, Indie developers as far as I know will always have an audience, as long as they do the right things to get it.
