The just look dull, the only few games I do like are just surrounded by an ocean of dull, generic, uninspired, dare I say it shovelwere look at these games in Steam Greenlight especially this one:


http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=115315981&searchtext

Though the game looks cool and I would probably try it out, it just looks uninspired like I already have Dragon Age: Origins for that, and it does not look story driven just gameplay driven like other rpgs I played before.

My problem is that I just feel alienated by these indie games because I don't know which games are good or bad, thats not to say they are all bad I like Primordia, Amnesia (I bought Amnesia just recently), Mark of the Ninja etc. but a lot of them just does not interest me.

Also another thing is that most of them don't seem memorable, it's like most of these games don't have any characters people will remember like I don't remember there faces like I remember Mario, Shepard, Cloud, SHODAN, etc. etc. etc.

Indie gaming imo does not have any iconic faces in gaming history except a few like the Minecraft guy, and if this counts Slenderman.

True, but indie gaming has also shown us some of the most innovative gameplay/story/atmosphere to ever exist. Indie games aren't really as popular as mainstream titles (Even Minecraft is to the point I don't think it's indie anymore) so they will probably not have mascots like AAA titles.

Well, Indie games follow Sturgeon's Law, like almost every other class of entertainment products. (For people who have never heard of this excellent SciFi writer: Sturgeon's Law states, basically, that 95% of everything is crap. Google it for further information.) The point is that the remaining 5% are worth it.

This has never been different. Even 30 years ago, when I was buying Atari VCS games, there was a ton of shovelware next to the gems that we still remember.

Or just enter any video store ...

Many Indie games are true gems. You don't even have to look hard to spot them, they are usually the ones getting the most attention. Enjoy the gems, don't care about the rubbish, just as with other entertainment media.

Ah, good, I am not alone. There's only a few indie games that I have enjoyed. Indie seems to be the current craze and when someone does not like indie games with a fierce passions, s/he'll be easily marked as a ignorant player who does not know quality. It seems that it's proper to praise indie games and bash most of the bigger ones. I don't know why, really, as it makes no sense.

Well, that's my opinion at least.

This issue is not limited to indie games, in fact, I'd say it affects big publishers even more. It is safer to sell a game that looks and feels like some other game that the audience already knows and loves than to take a huge risk and come up with something innovative.

Yes exactly, imo Indie gaming is Atari all over again so many games that I cannot tell which is good and bad I cannot believe I am saying this but Nintendo had good reason why they were so controlling of third party developers with its seal of approval thing.

Well... S.P.A.Z is pretty good, try playing that.

I also don't like the hipsterness of indie fans are saying" this is the new golden age of gaming with no more publishers spewing sludge we can finally have new, creative, original, and unique gameplay and stories."

To me this is not a new golden age, its slowly starting to look like a second dark age for me :\

Well ... if you're proposing that the owner of a gaming platform should drastically limit the number of games appearing on their system, blocking out experimental or original games that might not be everyone's cup of tea, just so that you don't have to make a choice that might end up having been the wrong one, then I wholeheartedly disagree.

If you're content by being served the same "iconic" stuff again and again and again, then feel free to just keep buying it - but I _really_ value the broad range of choices that PC gaming is giving me.

Games like Super Meat Boy, La Mulana and Cave Story have awesome characters and wipe the floor with most mainstream games launched nowadays. Super Meat Boy even lets you play with other iconic indie characters like Tim from Braid , Goo Ball from World of Goo and Captain Viridian from VVVVVV, and pays homage to older games like Mega Man 2 and Pokemon Red/Blue with some hilarious scenes. It's that great.

Of course there are also tons of bad games, but then again aren't most mainstream games horrible, as well? You have to watch some gameplay footage and read player reviews carefully before diving into any kind of game unless you don't mind spending money in crappy stuff from time to time.

So what? Just scrap the idea of "Indie gaming" and just play whatever appeals to you regardless of label.

All AAA games aren't good either, they just have higher hurdles to overcome to get funded and published because they need to put so much money into graphics and effects and can't get away with the excuse of being just a poor indie developer working for a niche market.

Also, if you prefer others to preselect and single out the gems for you, what are you doing browsing the Greenlight pages? ;)

Indie games aren't inspired/ memorable because they don't have much in the way of marketing budgets. :o)

We are currently more or less in the same circumstances as the game industry in the 90s. Small studios can make a game, and they don't have too many inhibitions to try new things. On the other hand, as long as games existed, there were too many who said "What game is succesful? Let's copy that".

So yes, it's a new golden age, but most people forget what shovelware we had in the previous Golden Age.

I'd say Meat Boy and Tim from Braid have reached a high level of recognition, for indie games at least. Also Notch did say himself before that he doesn't consider Minecraft small enough to be indie anymore. That seal didn't mean much in the Wii's lifespan. The best thing to do is see what is popular, try some of them, and get recommendations from people that tried other games. Indie games aren't immune from the same problems AAA games have where the game can still suck badly.

Also, I don't care how flooded the market gets, having an open platform viable for anyone to sell on is better than having it go closed under the thumb of a single distributor.

Most of these faces you've mentioned are memorable because they've been shoved down our throats for quite a time, so you'll remember them.

How many Mario or FF games exist? Shepard and all the ME hype and advertisements..... Also just because you remember them, it doesn't mean that they're actually good characters.
(no, FF, Mario, Sonic and other games could pretty much die off, for all I care - feel free to hate me for this)