Should Indie Games be the New Framework for AAA Development?
What would it take for big games to match the charm of indie titles?
We’ve all heard it a million times, haven’t we? “When did AAA video games become so boring and bloated?” “Are the only things coming out of AAA development broken and greedy?” “Why can’t AAA developers be more like indie developers?”
Well, why can’t they?
If indie development is destined to release one fantastic game after another, shouldn't AAA be copying them by now?
The image of indie dev is romanticised in much the same way the struggling artist is. Small teams of highly trained professionals trying to make it big with an idea so ground-breaking that it rocks the entire industry. But, as it turns out, there’s a lot more going on under the hood than that.
Let’s take a deep dive into these ideas and work out what AAA could be learning from indie developers and what, perhaps, they can’t.
What do we mean by "indie" and "AAA"?
We need to get one thing out of the way first. What comes under the titles AAA and indie?
We’re going with the broad but familiar definition here. AAA refers to the large studios in the gaming space. Rockstar, Bethesda, EA (yes, even AAAA studios like Ubisoft… I’m looking at you, Skull and Bones). Studios with a long history, substantial funding and recognisable IP.
As for "indie developers," that title belongs to those who work according to their own fruition, anything from passionate game jam enthusiasts, to solo devs hacking away at a game for years, to small teams working around their day jobs.
Indie developers are largely known for their passion towards their craft, their dedication even in spite of (sometimes) little return, and they are responsible for some of the most innovative games across the last decade. Look at Undertale, Celeste, Hollow Knight, Hades, Stardew Valley, Rocket League for examples. All games that started out small but have since become household names.
To find out what exactly is so special about these games, and what AAA needs to learn, we need to dig up the things that make them tick.
What makes an indie game so special?
In speaking with five different indie developers, a lot of common ground was tread. The first, obvious choice for why people love indie games is none other than “innovation.”
“Indie devs are super crucial to the game industry as a whole, because they’re at the forefront of innovation right now,” says the developer of upcoming game Tossdown, Fer. “As time goes by, we have seen AAA companies play it safe and not explore new genres or game mechanics. This is where indie developers shine. They bring fresh experiences and break the monotony.”
Fellow developer and game jam enthusiast, Cí Malone echoes this, stating that indie games have a “massive” importance in the gaming industry.
“Right now, bigger AAA studios are playing it safe with game development and not really creating anything new, not taking risk, very same same. Indie devs really just make what the fuck they want, which is often very new and creative,” says Cí.
And the success of these “new and creative” ideas can been seen in the creation of things such as the immensely popular “battle royale genre.” Adam of Manticore Games and part of the team for Slime 64, explains.
“The entire battle royale genre, which is now a multi-million dollar industry, started its life out as an ARMA mod. Lethal Company was made by a 22-year-old Roblox developer over the course of a year or so,” he says, referencing a player-made mode and one of this year’s most viral multiplayer titles.
But lest not the power of “innovation” completely overshadow the hard work that player-developer closeness and passion does to sell an indie game. There is a special kind of appreciation reserved for those working hard on small projects that is not provided to AAA studios. Just ask Gabriel Colmenares, the Columbian developer putting together cat-parkour game, Hirocato – The Delivery Hero.
“The fact that a small team or solo dev is behind a game kind of shifts the mentality of gamers towards the game,” they say. “Their critiques are different, more empathetic, and I think that also makes them connect better with the games they play.”
The kindness afforded from players is seemingly out of respect for the developer's passion, as Gabriel regularly posts about his love for his craft.
“I’ve been dreaming about this for about a decade,” Gabriel says. “My favourite parts, I would say, are watching others play what [I’ve] created and seeing that they’re actually enjoying it – that’s priceless to me.”
Fer also mentions that the ability to see their ideas come to life is fulfilling, especially when one has control over them.
“In a big studio, you often don’t get that full control because you’re likely just a single cog in a large machine.”
With that said, maybe it’s time to consider AAA studios once more. Because everything mentioned so far; the innovation, the passion and the player-developer closeness, those should be possible for AAA studios to recreate. Right?
Why can't AAA capture that indie magic?
You must be thinking, "Surely AAA studios can do the same things, indie's can? Surely they already have?"
After all, can’t we see it in Double Fine’s use of yearly, internal game jams to cultivate new ideas from all members of the team? Or how about in the creativity of Nintendo’s last few Zelda games? And can’t studios create a closeness with their fans through social media, in much the way that Sea of Thieves has with their thematic, transparent updates?
And the passion of the teams, surely that part, if nothing else, is undeniable? Who else would spend years on a project without being passionate, especially with countless layoffs occurring industry-wide? The people taking that risk must be passionate about what they're doing.
So what is different about AAA? What can’t they do that indie can?
Well, it’s about time we talk about what really motivates a AAA game’s existence.
The first one is obvious, and you’ve probably already guessed it. Money. A factor that impedes both risk-taking and expression.
Talking more specifically about expression, @Undergod_games on Twitter, developer of upcoming game Kaila, explains how the expression in indie far outweighs that in AAA.
“I think [indie devs] are able to and may have the responsibility to be expressive,” they say. “I can make a game that would surely be rejected from every possible pitch because it’s a game that nobody other than myself asked for. I think the strength of [indie games] is precisely that.”
“The [resulting game] will be something unique, for those looking to get away from those comfortable, well-known loops.”
@Undergod_games even acknowledges the effects that a lack of risk-taking could have on an indie game.
“I think overcoming [the responsibility of maintaining a business] is one of the big challenges for indie games, as the safer approach may stand in the way of creativity, the very core strengths of the craft.”
It’s something proven not just in gaming, but across the entire creative board, such as in film. Recently Warner Bros. canned the movie “Coyote vs. Acme,” which was already completed, purely to service a tax write-off. In the gaming industry at the moment, this greed is seen in large studios purchasing smaller companies and them wiping them from existence after a financially poor release. To them, money is everything.
“Shareholders want maximized returned,” Adam says. “Leadership will have strong feelings about the core direction of a game, and all the boots on the ground will also want to express their feelings about the end product to the team.”
“The lack of this process for indie games means they can be rougher, but also far “purer” in vision.”
It must also be acknowledged that both leadership and the enthusiasm of employees in a capitalist system in AAA can be part of the issue. It is easy for one to get bogged down in some of the unpleasantness of AAA development and have frustrations be “part of the job,” as opposed to something that could be self-managed like it would be in indie development.
This lack of agency, and thus the lack of motivation, directly spurs boredom and a stagnation in interesting game design.
The presence of capitalism also puts pressure on some of those “tactics” I mentioned earlier. Remember when I talked about the Double Fine game jam?
Sure, it sounds good in theory, having a bunch of employees come up with exciting new ideas to flesh out with a two-week turnaround, but how beneficial is it in reality?
“A game jam with a pay-check is just crunch and overtime, that sounds terrible,” Ci Malone, avid game-jammer, says. “I know a few people who hate game jams and it just doesn’t work for them. That time pressure could either send you crazy or it could be the motivation you needed to finish something.”
When something becomes work, does it detract some of the “fun” from it? Does this mean that AAA development is inherently flawed? Does it mean that creativity cannot properly exist in such a money-driven world? Perhaps. But perhaps not.
The ups and downs of AAA and indie
It is difficult to truly demonise the AAA process, even though many will try to do so.
“For myself personally, I do think that each side makes me a more capable creator,” Adam says of his work both for a studio and for his indie game, Slime 64. “My exposure to development processes, different disciplines, and extremely talented co-workers at my day job helps me make choices for my indie game.”
As much as parts of AAA work can be harmful to creativity, there are many positives about it. They attract large groups of the most talented people, are able to provide developers with (in good cases) a steady source of income and, from the employees point of view, attempt to foster creativity. Conversely, indie is limited by the talents of the few people part of the project, by their personal time, financial and social constraints, as well as marketing and burnout.
@Undergod_games puts this best when they say, “Being a solo dev comes with the responsibility of being the director of the orchestra but also every performer.”
There are struggles on both sides of the coin. Big studio or small team. People seem to want there to be a clear-cut “this is what indie devs are doing right,” and "this is what AAA is doing wrong" but maybe no such thing exists.
But there must be some sort of answer hidden in here. Should indie development attitudes be given more weight in a AAA development cycle? That is the title of the article, after all, and it deserves an answer.
It's a little confusing, but it does seem as if some sort of distinction can be drawn between the two, and it is this: Indie games have heart.
That is not to say that AAA cannot have heart, but just that the heart in AAA games can be easily hidden and muddled by decisions fuelled by profit and safety over creativity. If AAA is to learn anything from indie, it is that they need to focus on the beating heart of their game over anything else, if they want to capture what makes those games so special.
Additionally, it seems that the restrictiveness of indie development is a key, direct motivator for creating something special. This would prove why a lot of that “indie game feel” and that aforementioned "heart" is difficult to recreate on a larger scale.
It would also suggest that AAA and indie are just that. AAA and indie. They are separate.
“I’m not really sure what AAA and the “indie game space” really means anymore,” Ci Malone says, putting it best. “They have changed a lot over the years.”
“I think when you start introducing money and funding into the question, your freedom of expression dwindles.”
A thought shared by Gabriel.
“I would say we’re going through hard economic times, which translates to AAA studios not taking so many risks. Hopefully, when things turn around, we’ll be able to see more innovative games coming from AAA studios.”
The games made and their "feels" don't seem as much reflective of an ability or "type of game," as they do a product of the socioeconmic and personal factors of those that made them.
Sounding off...
It is easy to compare and to want one thing to have all the perks of the other, but what a lot of gamers don’t seem to understand is that things can’t always be perfect. There are exceptions, sure. There are indie games that dare to be bigger than our imaginations could ever conceive, and AAA that scratches the innovation itch, but they are exceptions for a reason.
So maybe AAA games are inherently flawed in their largeness, maybe they are destined to be built on so many disjointed, soulless elements that a lot ends up being lost in the final release, but maybe it’s not the fault of creativity, not the fault of any specific individual on the development team, but rather the leadership, capitalism and the “job description” that forced it to be that way.
Comparison is the death of the creative, and perhaps we’d all learn to enjoy things a little bit more if, instead of nit-picking all the little details that separated indie and AAA games, we focussed on the wellbeing and expression of the developers themselves.
Layoffs and the cruelty of the internet is a conversation best left for another day, but for now it seems fit to point the most scrutinous of you towards helping indie developers, and to educate you on the difficulties of game-making.
It is not easy for anyone to make a game, to lay down a portion of one's life in sacrifice of something creatively greater, and it is important that we, as an audience, assist game makers if we want the industry to continue to grow.
So, as @Undergod_games says, “[Get] involved in any way.”
“Liking a post, talking about the game, or just being there,” all of it is a great deal of help to those who are trying to bring to life these worlds. @Undergod_games says, the act of “dedicating enough time to understand something [they] put effort into is a flattery that always brightens [their] mood,” and the same can be said about a lot of the other developers I’ve talked to.
Help developers out. Try not compare them to something impossible. And try not to do the opposite for the AAA workers undeserving of your frustration. And with this mindset, the way we talk about games might just get a little better.
With all that said, if you enjoyed this article, it would mean more to me if you were to engage with the interviewed developers and their projects that I’ll list below, than it would for you to provide me with anything.
I want to thank all of them greatly for helping clarify a lot of my understanding about indie development, for taking the time to speak to me, and for inspiring me as a creative person. This article morphed a lot once the writing process began, and I think a lot of that can be credited to how interesting their answers were, and how they were able to point me in new directions that I hadn’t considered before. I wish I could have included more of each of their answers, but I think we all know that this article is already too long.
In alphabetical order of their Twitter names (because I couldn’t think of how else to order this), here are the developers I insist you check out.
@CrayonMelon
Ci Malone is creating a bunch of awesome stuff, a lot of which you can play right now (even in browser) over on their itch.io page. Check it all out here:
https://crayondev.ie/
@theferfactor
Fer is hard at work creating Tossdown. You can learn a lot more about what they're doing over on their Twitter, or at their YouTube page pictured below.
@gabrielocolmena
Gabriel is gearing up for an awesome release with Hirocato - The Delivery Hero. Wishlist their game on steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2445060/Hirocato__The_Delivery_Hero/. Or play the demo RIGHT NOW here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2445060/Hirocato__The_Delivery_Hero/
@Undergod_games
Wishlist the fantastic looking Kaila on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1827820/Kaila/. Or play the demo here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1827820/Kaila/. You won't regret it.
@WaveParadigm
Play Slime 64's unbelieable prologue through Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562410/Slime_64/. And don't forget to wishlist it to know when the full game drops: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1562410/Slime_64/
List of Resources Used for this Article
https://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming/comments/wysz44/with_indie_games_thriving_so_much_why_are_aaa/ - With Indie games thriving so much, why are AAA studios still spending so much money on game development?
https://rocketbrush.com/blog/aaa-aa-indie-games-distinct-paths-in-game-development - differences between AAA, AA, Indie Games: Distinct Paths in Game Development
https://www.nightquestgames.com/the-charm-of-indie-games-are-they-better-than-aaa-titles/ - The Charm of Indie Games: Are They Better Than AAA Titles?
https://gamerant.com/ubisoft-ceo-skull-and-bones-70-price-quadruple-a-game/ - Ubisoft CEO Comments on Skull and Bones’ $70 Price, Calls It a “Quadruple-A Game”
– Double Fine PsychOdyssey – EP12 “Amnesia Fortnight”
https://www.thebanner.org/mixed-media/2023/08/zelda-and-the-good-gift-of-creativity - Zelda and the Good Gift of Creativity
– Sea of Theives – New Ship Speed Detailed and Double Barrel Pistol Buffs: Sea of Thieves News June 12th 2024
– PlayWarframe – Warframe | Devshorts 1: Post-WITW
https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/warner-bros-tax-write-off-coyote-vs-acme-1234925113/ - Turns Out Warner Bros. Wasting Done Writing Off Completed Films