so indie that my shoes don’t fit
First, some music. As you can see, Proton’s been doing some good stuff.
Pole Folder – Mona Kea [Proton Music]
Benz & MD – Signals (AFK’s Ogopogo Remix) [Proton Music]
Benz & MD – Signals (AFK’s Dragon Dub) [Proton Music]
Sam Fraser – Little White Lies [Proton Music]
King Con – Jemidepemig [Bellarine]
Now, on to video games. I hate to get even MORE indie here, but Passage is really quite good. It is tricky, heartfelt, overly pixilated, deeply affecting, has sappy 8-bit music, and is filled with wonder and wisdom. It is also free from the above link and takes five minutes too play. You should try it.
Now, with that glowing recommendation behind me, let’s start splitting hairs. I’m not sure if Passage is a game as much as it is interactive art. One of the other indie darlings at the moment, The Marriage, is absolutely a game. It has a distinct goal, actions you can take that affect the goal, actions from the game engine that affect your actions, and so on. (It’s also amazingly frustrating and overwhelmingly cryptic – which might be the point.)
But anyways, Passage has no set goal, and an arbitrary ending condition. It is, as Sid Meier said, a series of interesting choices…but those choices barely impact the game world at all. What they do impact is the player. That is to say, you. “Art” is about as ill-defined as “game” and “fun”, but if Passage isn’t art, then art is poorer for it.