indie game's holy grail

experienced gamers, those who have loved games, know how hard it has become to find games with brilliant gameplay.

in the early days of videogames, when the gameplay was most undiscovered yet, it happened that the innovative and fresh gameplay, was largely the same, that the mass public oriented gameplay. the early Mario games are a clear example. it was simple and enjoyable for the mass public, and was recognized as shining gameplay to the most discerning gamers.

but now situation has changed. discerning gamers constantly look for innovation, and the successful gameplay formulas of the early days, are rarely capable now of delivering the demanded level of sophistication that experienced gamers want. innovation these days is mostly not anymore the creation of new genres. innovation now is product of clever combinations of multiple gameplay elements. and is mostly outside of the sophistication limit of the mass public.

mainstream videogames corporations, immersed in furious fighting for the mass public, have show little interest for the requirement of the smaller group of experienced gamers.

it already has been said before. the internet is now capable of providing cheap distribution. the casual market has taken the lead with explosive grow. the mainstream games are already showing sign of starting a transition to internet distribution. the door is now open, to the sophisticated game market to rise.

there is a mass of gamers wanting sophisticated gameplay, created outside of the limitations, that the mass public products impose. there are passionate creators wanting to create it, liberated of the control of the mainstream corporations. there are places like this, wanting to be the point of gathering of these groups. and as can be easily seen, the quality of the games, and the size of the market is gradually rising. this market eventually will reach its appropriate size. the faster this occur, the better for this market

this is the indie videogames scene. one event can help all this to happen faster. and it is the apparition of an indie killer game. it’s a game that will shock the not yet convinced gamers. that clearly will show that gameplay is over graphics. much like the quality of the very early Nintendo games, revided the videogaming scene after the atari crash, the killer game will serve to drive the kickstart of the indie videogames scene.

this is the indie videogames holy grail, and the quest for it is open now. how many group are at this moment pursuing is unknown. if a game like this will appear, its not obligated to happen. it may happen soon, or it may never happen, and the market will instead grow slowly, gradually, without startles. it is not necessarily one single game. it is also possible that more than one game may fit this role.
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some of the traits that that holy grail game should have are:
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- mass appealing topic: the topic of the game must be of everyone interest, at least of everyone ionside the “advanced gamers” (maybe this could be a good way to call them) group. if the game appeal to only a subsector of the “advanced gamers” then it will be unable to act as a mass driver.

- have a component of innovation: may be not a drastic or dramatic innovation, but some reasonably innovation is required to drive the attention of the demanding gamers.

- it’s a lot of fun: addictively intense fun.

- elaborated gameplay: casual type of gameplay is totally discarded. is impossible that something of simple gameplay, will be able to produce the intense emotion required in the experienced, hard to impress, gamers. so, casual oriented developers, forget about it.

- great, yet simple achievable graphics: necessary to be achievable by indie developers. and many videogame theorists will say that yes, it is possible.
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some possible kind of games, that may be candidates for the holy grail now are:
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- drama games: drama games has been very talked lately as a new area of from wich much innovation could appear. many grops have worked in interactive storytelling engines, and some early examples have already arise. this segmnent undobtely hold much promise to very soon, and perfectly could be possible the holy grail would have elements of this kind.

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I have decided to end this here.