Hi. My name's Michael. I started this series called Indie Bit four years ago, but quit after falling out with a close friend. Finally, I decided to start it up again about a month ago, attempting to inject more humor/skits into the newer episodes. But four years of absence took its toll on my audience numbers.
I'm eager to improve and have gotten slivers of solid feedback but it hasn't been enough to help grow the way I want.
My latest video focuses on Inside (which is definitely part of my attempt to catch up on some "older" indie games). The next one will focus on Everything, a new game.
[video]https://youtu.be/1M0Z3eEyIFU[/video]
If you want, go ahead and mill around the rest of the channel. I'm mainly interested in constructive feedback.
I'll post the one on Everything here if there's enough interest. Thanks for your time.
Edit: Here is Everything.
[video=youtube;Dj3MsxwpfOI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj3MsxwpfOI[/video]
What do you define as "indie"? If you go by strictly self-published only for example, that'd exclude games like Downwell and GoNNER yet include every Valve and Tripwire Interactive game.
[QUOTE=Talishmar;52150243]What do you define as "indie"? If you go by strictly self-published only for example, that'd exclude games like Downwell and GoNNER yet include every Valve and Tripwire Interactive game.[/QUOTE]
That's funny because I was actually just having a conversation about how Valve is technically an indie studio. Four years ago, that question at least seemed a lot more clear cut but now you have a lot of factors that I try to look at when doing research beforehand:
How big is the team?
What is their funding?
If a publisher is involved, at what point in the development cycle did they come in?
How much is a publisher involved?
Then you have cases like No Man's Sky, or even Bloodborne, where the game would not exist in its final form (for better or worse) without either a whole lot of press provided by major publishers or funding.
While I think it requires a lot more research now, it's often a case of "Do all the answers to these factors turn it into a more traditionally developed and published game?
I still haven't made a ruling on Valve, to be honest.
I feel like it's fine to call Valve indie. Just because they're popular doesn't mean their development process is at all conventional.
[QUOTE=FeartheMango;52150391]I feel like it's fine to call Valve indie. Just because they're popular doesn't mean their development process is at all conventional.[/QUOTE]
That's exactly the way I see it. Their structuring makes them still seem like a small group despite nearly infinite resources.
Edit: That and how they tend to essentially adopt development teams when their game begins to show promise.
I think the case of "is Valve indie or AAA" is very much the same sort of thing as whether tomatoes are fruits or vegetables.
Valve is technically indie but nobody really thinks of them that way, so for all intents and purposes they're AAA. It's weird to say "the indie company Valve that brought you Steam, Dota 2 and Half-Life" out loud, so I wouldn't.
I mean if I dabbled in this and actually made content about indie games, I'd judge from the gut what is and isn't indie because most of the audience does exactly that. Nuclear Throne, Hotline Miami, Dust: An Elysian Tail? Yes, they're indies despite having a publisher. Team Fortress 2, Watch Dogs? No, despite being made by independent developers.
/not to mention if you're not Valve and have a game on Steam, you're not strictly indie, Valve acts as your publisher. So... Valve is one of the rare indie developers in the western market?
Well, here it is, as promised. Everything.
[video=youtube;Dj3MsxwpfOI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj3MsxwpfOI[/video]
[QUOTE=Drury;52150453]I think the case of "is Valve indie or AAA" is very much the same sort of thing as whether tomatoes are fruits or vegetables.
Valve is technically indie but nobody really thinks of them that way, so for all intents and purposes they're AAA. It's weird to say "the indie company Valve that brought you Steam, Dota 2 and Half-Life" out loud, so I wouldn't.
I mean if I dabbled in this and actually made content about indie games, I'd judge from the gut what is and isn't indie because most of the audience does exactly that. Nuclear Throne, Hotline Miami, Dust: An Elysian Tail? Yes, they're indies despite having a publisher. Team Fortress 2, Watch Dogs? No, despite being made by independent developers.
/not to mention if you're not Valve and have a game on Steam, you're not strictly indie, Valve acts as your publisher. So... Valve is one of the rare indie developers in the western market?[/QUOTE]
The gut's the only way to go. To be honest, I've been struggling to decide how to categorize Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. It's backed by an actual studio but, at the same time, you can't help but feel like it's a grassroots sort of experience.
I thought the skits felt a little forced in the Inside review, but I liked your review of Everything. The editing and pacing were pretty much spot-on there.
Your commentary reminds me a bit of a more concise Noah Caldwell-Gervais, which is nice. I'm interested in seeing where you take this channel.
[QUOTE=Chaohord;52159065]I thought the skits felt a little forced in the Inside review, but I liked your review of Everything. The editing and pacing were pretty much spot-on there.
Your commentary reminds me a bit of a more concise Noah Caldwell-Gervais, which is nice. I'm interested in seeing where you take this channel.[/QUOTE]
Thanks! I really appreciate the feedback.
For Inside, we actually planned to do some live skits but ran out of time so I had to jump on and edit something together quickly. I guess it shows haha
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