What’s the current situation?
As for video games, what is an Indie? There are sure different ways to answer this question. From a human perspective it can be a small group of people creating the game they really want to make. From a material perspective it can be a certain type of game featuring long since forgotten genres or game aspects or never even considered principles (time manipulation). You can also see “indie” as a concept that carries emotion, some sort of connection that defines the way how you feel about a game.
In terms of indie games the U.S. and Europe have developed a strong community of supporters during the last couple of years. This community has developed an own identity and a clear profile what it means to be “indie”.
Various kinds of organizations, conferences and game design schools have taken the path to support the indie movement, and to encourage and cultivate innovation and artistry in games. Public perception is more and more changing seeing games not only as entertainment but as a rich, diverse, artistic, and culturally significant medium. Whereas the wider Japanese public still seems looking for a general consensus and acceptance of this gaming culture.
The most prominent example in the world is probably the Independent Games Festival (IGF), which brought into the spot light some of the most successful indie games of the last years. (Minecraft, Limbo etc.) One of the first independent game exhibitions, and one that focused the relationship between computer games and art, was held in the year 2000 at The University of California, the so called “Shift+Ctrl”. Since then about half a dozen annual festivals and other events have emerged featuring independent games and interactive media, including The Eurogamer Expo, the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival, The Slamdance Games Festival or on the verge of the BAFTA.
Meanwhile indie developer find supporting structures and organizations to team up with each other, combine strength, and foster the creative as in case for the Copenhagen Game Collective in Denmark, The Hand Eye Society in Toronto, or the Digital Games Research Association in Vancouver. Another strong promoter, The Experimental Gameplay Project, holds monthly competitions to build an innovative game in no more than seven days. Similarly motivated workshops, e.g. The Experimental Gameplay Workshop, plenty of game jams get developers together to prototype new ideas.
Meanwhile not only fans but also big publishers cast an eye on the indie scene. (e.g. Limbo from Playdead Studios is being published on XBLA by Microsoft Game Studios.) However many independent game developers successfully set on self-publishing, since digital distribution via PC, console and mobile phone, making it progressively possible to create games easier and cheaper, probably the main reason of the rise of indie games in the west while still being able – unconstrained by directives from publishers – to focus on creativity and innovation.
In general the indie scene in the west is currently characterized by certain trends as follows:
- Digital distribution - Pre-orders to fund full game development - Development team size of 3-5 people - Growth of influential “trendy” indie-game-friendly press - Acceptance of “play”-based games with a less clear game - Viralty as a design key leads - Community based development and legitimacy via social networking sites
Japan also always had its own independent game scene. However the western definition of being “indie” probably doesn’t apply to the Japanese “dojin” term. Japanese and Western developers may have in common that their priority is not to sell but to create games they like to make, but the difference in markets being actually able to commercially sell games in their domestic markets – due to differences in gamer audiences – make those two scenes incomparable. The Japanese dojin scene – widely active since the mid ’90s but with its roots a decade earlier – carries a certain unfamiliarity for the average western gamer and is characterized mainly by visual novels or games with adult content, or the reimagining of existing game titles distributed as amateur ware. It never had the same amount of experimental flair as in the west, where gamers – despite the major image by Japanese of big-breasted women and explosions in games – are looking for new experiences. The development philosophies of Western regions and Japan, and so do their games, vary very much. Independent game development in the West is commonly geared towards the “artsy” and wildly experimental, “adoring” the simple freedom of development. Common doujin games tend to be less esoteric, focusing more on putting one’s own spin on established game genres and conventions. But even among Western developers themselves philosophies split up into different directions. While western game makers due to differences in user acceptance go mainly digital for distribution, Japanese doujin creators still tend to pack their games into DVD boxes or alike. However some Japanese indies seem breaking out of this circle, mainly traditionalist building up on the games of their childhood, – 2D jump and run, top-down shooters or fighting games – and a handful of those taking advantage of digital distribution via popular platforms (PSN, WiiWare, XBLA). Part of those indie developers are??????????(Qualia series), Daisuke Amaya aka: Pixel (Cave Story), Kenta Cho (Gunroar), Capricorn (Rockmen R: Dr. Wily’s Counterattack) or the first indie game developer on Steam EasyGameStation (Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale).
How can Japan learn from the Western indie scene?
In Japan the gaming industry is, as the Western gaming industry as well, stuck in a creativity gap, only different by Western developers increasing their market share where Japanese games once have ruled the market. The common practice for publishers steering smaller developers and tailor games towards the special taste of Japanese players, trying to receive similar success abroad afterwards, destroys creative energy seething among some studios and possibility of worldwide recognition.
What works well abroad is not unimaginable in Japan either, organizational and financial structures that give individuals or groups of people a hand to ripen their indie game ideas. Places are needed where creative people can meet to reflect on the diversity of games, and build a network of developers and collaborators to collect and focus creative engergy, a place where creativity can breed more creativity. But before a healthy indie developer scene can even emerge, the public at large needs to form a general understanding of games being not only mere mass entertainment but bearing the potential of being part of the art world through education.
Setting up the Sense of Wonder Night (SOWN) at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) in 2008 was a giant step into the direction to match up with western levels, and a good chance for Japanese and Western indies game innovators to present together.
The Western meaning of the term “indie game“ detached from the dojin scene has already found its way into Japanese media as an own section resulting in introduction of popular game titles, and so slowly is leaking into the public awareness. Time will show how Japanese consumers will respond to this art form, if indie games can create a even commercially successful niche among Japanese players, and how the Japanese gaming industry responds to that.
video game localization, quality assurance, and game marketing