You don’t need a billion dollars to make a platformer, but it helps. These folks achieve greatness with less.
The games industry is carved up and divided between publishers and developers. Not all developers, or even all publishers, are gigantic companies owned by even larger companies or gigantic corporations hellbent on world domination. Some teams are small, with credits for their games clocking in at less than ten people. At the same time,some indie companies are what one could call Hugely Successful. The following is a round up of some of the more impressive independent studios around.
10. Camouflaj - Republique
I know I left that spy somewhere!
Camouflaj operates out of my hometown of Seattle, Washington. While I have not worked there, I personally know folks who have. These individuals are charming, competent, and immensely creative. I have a lot of respect for them, even if I don’t understand half of their artsy-fartsy, highfalutin creativity. Camouflaj is mostly known for Republique, a lovingly crafted stealth game taking place in a dystopian future where information is power in a totalitarian state run by an absolute madman. It’s more enjoyable than it sounds! A recent port to VR for Oculus happened, meaning you can get your VR on if you like.
9. Playdead - Limbo
Eternal emptiness involves giant spiders, apparently.
Playdead operates out of Copenhagen, Denmark. They’ve pounded out a couple excellent side-scrolling platformers over the years, with Limbo being the most impressive. Entirely in black and white and haunting through and through, Limbo captures and communicates a sense of intense isolation and loneliness; you know, in between dodging gigantic spiders and other horrors of the imagination who just want to snuggle. As simple as they come and immensely enjoyable. It’s probably quite cheap these days, too.
8. Polytron Corporation - Fez
He is called Fez due to sporting a fez. However, a typo regarding Pez would be just as appropriate. Pez sold separately.
Polytron is a company that may or may not still be around, that seems unclear. Its founder, a fellow by the name of Phil Fish, is a bit of a dramatic type. He’s quit the games industry twice, both times with some kind of lengthy screed on something called Twitter. Before quitting forever for the first time, he produced a game called Fez. Fez is a neat combination of 2D and 3D game visuals and design, making it somewhat unique. While it is unclear if Polytron is still producing games, they did make this one, and it shouldn’t be missed.
7. Croteam - The Talos Principle
It's so fuzzy I'm gonna' die! And then be reborn. And then die. And then be reborn...
Croteam operates out of Zagreb, Croatia. They achieved some notoriety with the development of Serious Sam, an over the top zany sort of first-person shooter. But The Talos Principle is what sucked me into their orbit. As a nerd, I find philosophy to be immensely interesting. I can tell you all about Samsara and the ramifications I think an impermanent world has for eternity. But what I can’t do is make that into an enjoyable puzzle game like Croteam has with The Talos Principle. A sequel to Talos is in the works and while I try not to have expectations regarding an ever-uncertain future, I am still looking forward to it.
6. CCP Games - EVE Online
Just hauling rocks through space, dodging pirates, enjoying the rat race.
CCP Games rockets out from Reykjavik, Iceland where they develop and operate EVE Online. EVE is a massively multiplayer universe where users trade resources and move cargo from star system to system. The game is involved, which is to say, immensely complicated and not for the faint of heart. Over several years, several expansions have been deployed to the game to make it even larger. Easily one of the first games of this type, if not the first, EVE is unique. CCP Games also happens to throw an amazing PAX party. I won’t spoil it, but if someone ever mentions they have tickets for a CCP party, do your best to steal them. The party could involve fire-eaters, like the one I ended up at did. I mean, I’ve thrown raves that were more in control than that party was. Also, an open bar may have something to do with this rosy-cheeked review. I wouldn’t know. I can’t remember. That’s how you know it was great.
5. Thekla, Inc - The Witness
This lush, vibrant landscape poorly conceals a lush and vibrant game.
Thekla, Inc is the brainchild of a fellow named Jonathan Blow, who has been alternatively irritating and entertaining gamers and games journalists for years by now. He is a strange fellow, which is a vague and ambiguous way of referring to someone as unique. His first game Braid, a side-scrolling platformer where the user rewinds time and plays it back over a current timeline, is immensely enjoyable. But his magnum opus so far is The Witness. A first-person puzzle game, deceptively simple yet frustratingly complex, it exhibits a highly crafted environment where sound and visuals and environments mesh into a comfortable and fuzzy quilt. The kind grandma used to make you. Snuggles!
4. Ska Studios - Salt and Sanctuary
The similarity to Castlevania isn't accidental, but also wouldn't hold up in court.
Ska Studios rocksteadies out of New York City, where the salsa sucks but the Salt and Sanctuary is top-notch. Salt and Sanctuary is an excellent mix of Dark Souls and Metroid, producing something which is not completely unique by now, but is uniquely well done. The game is frustratingly difficult, which if one enjoys the Souls franchise and various spin-offs, is precisely why one should pick it up. It is rewarding, should one stick it out and slam their face against the screen just one more time. Then just one more. Then you get impaled by a unicorn. You laugh, you cry, you cry some more.
3. Valve - Portal
Are you checking out your butt? You monster.
But wait, isn’t Valve worth billions? Yes, they are. They operate out of my own neighborhood, though a town over from Seattle, in Bellevue. They aren’t owned by anyone but Valve, making them an independent game studio. Valve is both a developer and a publisher of sorts, having created not only Half-Life, Counterstrike, and Portal, but also the Steam platform all the PC developers and publishers try to get themselves on. But aside from that, Portal and its sequel remain a deeply enjoyable game. I once read a comment from a developer at Valve who mentioned they had to solve some tough problems when it came to the physics in the game; no one else had ever had to deal with objects colliding with themselves in a game before. While my face has collided with walls before, it has never collided with itself. It’s not a normal problem.
2. That Game Company - Journey
I don't know the meaning of life, but I suspect it has something to do with that mountain.
That Game Company consistently pumps out excellent work from their home in Santa Monica, California. Journey is likely their best, but Flower and Flow are also tons of fun. They don’t make massive simulators or violently gory action fare, but focus instead on making the player feel things. While feeling things often makes me uncomfortable and lash out violently at whatever is nearest to me, Journey didn’t do that to me. Instead, I was left with a feeling of wonder as I slid down a sand dune, the sun setting on the horizon with shadows lengthening as I enjoyed my journey. If I ever suggest a game to someone, Journey is it. Simple and compact, it is an excellent example of games as art.
1. CD Projekt - The Witcher
Let's see... three monster heads comes to about thirty bucks cash money.
Oh, Geralt of Rivia, you cold-hearted yet obscenely decent fellow, you stole my heart with the first Witcher so long ago. Since then, you’ve done nothing to give it back and CD Projekt has taken great care with both you and your players. The Witcher 3 is currently the industry standard of excellence for roleplaying games; the same standard countless imitators attempt to reach but don’t always achieve. It is astonishing the level of immersion an independent studio can achieve, but The Witcher series is incredible from start to finish. CD Projekt Red pumped out The Witcher from Warsaw, Poland. The series is based on stories and novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, which accounts for some of the series’ weight; but only a game designer can keep the gravitas and humor up in a game the size of any of the Witcher titles. There’s also a Netflix television series going based on the books and the games, which at the least has a hearty budget.
CD Projekt also has a new game coming up, slated for release November 2020, called Cyberpunk. Assuming the studio keeps up on whatever alchemy they used to get and keep The Witcher going, it should be epic. Please look forward to it. Also, CD Projekt, if you’re reading, call me sometime.
Independent game studios have value beyond our willingness to root for the little guy. Indies often take risks in design and craft tones which massive corporations refuse to take. So, toss a little love to the Indies that get it right.
