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 JODY MACGREGOR discovers the world of independent computer games. It’s like independent cinema, only nerdier.
Small-budget films provide a counterpart to Hollywood blockbusters just as major record labels have independents filling their gaps. It makes sense computer games have an indie cousin tackling subjects outside the norm. While original titles come along even in the mainstream of game design, for every Portal there are a dozen cookie-cutter FPS or RTS or MMO games that do the same thing as last year only prettier.
Indie games began as the pet projects of bedroom programmers in the ’80s and developed into the shareware of the ’90s. Shareware games declined in popularity as hardware improved and small teams of developers became unable to compete in terms of graphics. With Internet distribution it’s become unnecessary for games to compete for shelf space, so developers have stopped competing for market share as well. Indie games now offer a genuine alternative in terms of style as well as content.
The kind of adult themes you get in a game like Masq would get a mainstream game censored quicker than you can say Grand Theft Auto. Without having to worry what parents and media watchdogs think, Masq can aspire to something closer to an interactive HBO soap opera. It’s an atypical idea for a game, playing the owner of a fashion label preparing for a big show. You watch as events unfold, making decisions like whether to seduce your new employee or threaten your bank manager. These are not the kind of problems Master Chief will be dealing with in Halo 4.
Another game idea unlikely to be found outside the indies is the jazz-age girl-gang adventure Dangerous High School Girls In Trouble. It casts the player as the leader of a boarding-school gang, collecting clues to solve the big mystery like a bitchier Famous Five while playing minigames that represent teasing and flirting. In a nice touch if any of your girls manage to snag boyfriends, you can manipulate them into taking the fall when you get in trouble. If your attempts at eyelid-batting fail to hook the object of your affections, a huge silent-movie dialogue card descends over the screen, screaming, “He’s too much!” Then somebody probably faints or has to go to the nurse for the smelling salts.
As well as game settings you won’t find elsewhere, indie games experiment with the form so much they almost go beyond being games. Lost In The Static plays on the human eye’s ability to see patterns in almost anything, creating a simple platform-jumping puzzle using white noise for graphics. At first it looks just like an old TV screen tuned to a dead channel, but if you stare at it long enough, shapes emerge – a stick man here, a ledge there and a sideways flow in the static there that resolves as lava. Eerie music plays as you explore this alien landscape, creating a game that’s more about evoking mood than testing your ability to reach ledges or dodge bullets.
Not all indie games are concerned with being revolutionary. Frets On Fire is a Guitar Hero clone that can be played with a keyboard or a USB guitar controller. It’s a low-budget copy with the distinguishing feature that, rather than being limited to playing along to whatever cock rock comes packaged with it, you can play hundreds of famous songs.
Safely under the radar and safe from litigation, indie games excel at playing merry hell with copyrights. ROM CHECK FAIL is another example, a schizo arcade mashup in which Mario jumps on Space Invaders – until suddenly the screen fritzes and Pac-Man is being chased by the ghosts from Gauntlet, then the ship from Asteroids blasting Goombas in a Bubble Bobble level, and so on.
All of these games and hundreds more can be found via www.indiegames.com or www.rockpapershotgun.com. Some are available completely free, like ROM CHECK FAIL, while others let you download the demo but require payment for the full version, as with Dangerous High School Girls. Masq gives you the full game and a generous 40 lives, but charges if you want to keep playing after they run out, bringing back memories of chucking coins into arcade games.
These games are the tip of an iceberg in an ocean full of them. The indie games scene is surprisingly huge and filled with smaller scenes. There are people making games for consoles, for obsolete systems and genres that have gone out of fashion like text adventures. Whatever your niche, there’s an indie developer ready to scratch it.
PLAY!:
MASQ: www.alteraction.com
DANGEROUS HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS IN TROUBLE: www.mousechief.com
LOST IN THE STATIC: www.silverspaceship.com
FRETS ON FIRE: www.fretsonfire.sourceforge.net
ROM CHECK FAIL: www.farbs.org
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