Contrary to popular belief, games don't always need huge budgets and teams of hundreds of worker drones toiling away under the watchful eye of whip-wielding overlords in order to be awesome. The thriving indie development scene continues to give birth to some of the weirdest, coolest, and most innovative games around. Indie Spotlight pulls back the curtain, taking a closer look at the world of independent game developers and the magic they make.
Big, Bigger, Supergiant
Rapid changes in technology over the past decade have opened a lot of doors in the game development world that were previously bolted shut. You don't have to land a gig at a big-time studio to make great video games anymore. In fact, it's becoming increasingly common to hear of small groups of likeminded individuals quitting their jobs, moving into a house together, and making games on their own terms. That's how Supergiant Games came to be. After working together at EA Los Angeles, Greg Kasavin, Amir Rao, and Gavin Simon eventually decided to jump-ship and set out on their own. Now joined by several other creative comrades, including a former member of Infinity Ward, their small independent studio is getting prepped to launch its first game, Bastion, which is generating some serious buzz as it approaches its summer Xbox Live Arcade debut.
Going from helping to put together big games in well-known franchises to crafting original downloadable games is a major change of pace. "At the heart of it, we just wanted to make games our own way," says Kasavin on the decision to leave EA. "We come from these large teams. I think we've picked up a lot of good habits working at really big studios, but at the same time, we saw a lot of room for doing things differently. It's just really refreshing and feels really good to work with a small group of people and move really fast."
The folks at Supergiant aim to make games that spark the imagination -- like the games they remember playing as kids. It's no surprise that their first project together is drenched in the stuff. Bastion is an action-oriented role-playing game that features a young boy battling monsters and exploring a colorful hand-drawn fantasy realm. While the game's stark visual presentation and carefully crafted combat system are impressive, the unique narration is what really makes the experience so intriguing. "In addition to just wanting to make a game that feels really good and is exciting to play, we wanted it to be more emotionally interesting," says Kasavin, "and that's where our narration and story comes in."
Rather than forcing you to scroll through walls of text, like in many other RPGs, Bastion's story is delivered by a mysterious character that narrates what's happening onscreen as you play. While the overarching tale unravels in a predetermined fashion, minor details change depending on how you play the game. This makes the adventure a more personalized experience. Originally, the team tried using text to deliver the story, but it just didn't work. It wasn't until they brought in actor and long-time friend Logan Cunningham to lay down voice work as the narrator that this new approach really came together.
Bastion is very much a reflection of the individuals working on it, says Kasavin. From the dynamic narration and the art direction to the gameplay itself, entire aspects of the game would not have been designed the way they have been, if not for the different people involved on their project and their specific abilities, he says. Having the flexibility to explore different ideas for the game and let everything gel naturally has been crucial. "As we thought more about the type of studio we wanted to be, the thing that was very important to us was our independence and doing things our own way," Kasavin notes.
Outside advice and information-sharing has also helped tremendously along the way as Supergiant continues to forge ahead with its debut. Other fellow indie studios have been extremely gracious with their time and support, says Kasavin. "I think there's a sense of solidarity between a lot of the studios, because they know that they're sort of swimming in a pool of sharks. They need to stick to together to survive," he says. "We've been very fortunate to have good advice from people who've done this stuff before us. I think we would have made a ton more mistakes [without it]."
Nathan Meunier is a freelance writer and indie gaming enthusiast who likes his pixels jaggy and his tunes blippy. He writes about videogames and geek/gaming culture for GameSpy, IGN, What They Play, Nintendo Power, GamePro, and many other fine publications. See what he's up to at NathanMeunier.com.