Indie games are all the same?

Just a quick post to say I am still alive! Been busy with my daytime work and writing my novel and have neglected this blog unfortunately.

Thankfully other people have been keeping theirs more up to date, so here is a link to a recent post from Rampant Games about how Indie game makers should try and do more than just copy game designs from the 8 and 16-bit eras:   Competing against the past

Just looking at games like Journey (on PS3), To The Moon and Thirty Flights of Loving (Steam) you can see just much more interesting and meaningful games can be, and yet so many indies rehash twenty-plus year old games designs despite having the freedom to create anything.

I would also like to add that I wish Indie games developers would stop copying from each other quite so blatantly when one finds a successfully game mechanic or visual style. You want one silhouette style indie game like Limbo? Well how about: A Walk In The Dark, NightSky, Q – Compressing The Heart, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet? Yes it’s a nice and (relatively) easy artistic route to take, but if you really want to create something meaningful it has to come from your heart. It has to look and feel and play like you want it to