History of video games/Indie games

"Indie games" (short for "independent games") are independently-produced games that are created by a single person or very small team.

1999

In 1999 the first version of the GameMaker engine is released, and later gains popularity among indie game developers.

2000

A pirated English translation of RPG Maker is released by Don Miguel, introducing many to game development.

2002

RPG maker 2003 was a continuation of the RPG maker engine, and had surprising longevity, with commercial indie games still being released that were made the engine as of 2018.

2004

2004 was a seminal year in Indie gaming history, with several high profile releases attracting attention.

N was released as a freeware browser game, and would see a number of notable followup games. Alien Hominid was a browser game that was ported to PlayStation 2 and Gamecube in 2004, making it an early indie game to see a port from web to console.

2004 also saw the release of one notable game engines used by a number of games, including N and Alien Hominid.

Yume Nikki

A Japanese horror surreal 2D RPG.

Cave Story

A Japanese 2D platformer and shooter popular on PC at the time.

2005

• First release of the Unity game engine.

2006

Line Rider

A unique flash platformer game of sorts that allowed players to draw lines which would then be traversed by a character using a physics engine. Players would often leverage Line Rider to create their own artwork, some of which was enormously complex.

DEFCON

A real time simulation of Nuclear War. This game is known for it's simple yet deep mechanics, as well as it's retro vector graphics reminiscent of depictions of nuclear commands in Cold War era popular culture.

Dwarf Fortress

A map in Dwarf Fortress.

Loosing is Fun!

—Common phrase among Dwarf Fortress players, The New York Times Magazine

A text based open world game known for it's extensive systems which lead to emergent gameplay.

2007

I Wanna Be the Guy

A freeware 2D Retro-styled Platformer known for it's notorious difficulty. This game artfully used level design to both increase the difficulty of the game, as well as to parody techniques commonly used by 2D platformer games in the late 1980's and early 1990's.

Jazzuo & B-Games

In 2007 Polish developer "Jazzuo" creates several so called "B-Games", influencing a number of notable indie developers.

2008

• Spelunky
• Meat Boy
• OFF
• Braid
• Mighty Jill-Off
• Audiosurf
• Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden
• Castle Crashers
• World of Goo
• N+

You Have to Burn the Rope

The title screen of You Have to Burn the Rope.

A flash 2D platformer known for it's exceptional simplicity and briefness.

2009

• Machinarium

AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity

A base jumping game between high rise buildings.

Canabalt

Among the first popular endless runner games. It's aesthetic qualities were well received, leading to the game being featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds characters became popular figures. Seen here is Astronaut Donald Pettit demonstrating microgravity aboard the International Space Station in 2012 using Angry Birds characters.

An touchscreen physics puzzler hit on early iOS and Android mobile devices, which lead to an extended franchise.

Bit.Trip Beat

A Wii-ware arcade style music game that found widespread popularity, launching ports to other platforms and a series of successor games.

I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1

An action shooter that proved to be among the most popular indie games available on the Xbox Live Arcade.

2010

Unity Asset Store

In 2010 Unity launches their asset store, making it easier for indie developers to find assets for use in their games. As the decade progresses, other engines follow suit, such as the release of the Unreal Engine Marketplace in 2018.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

A popular melding of adventure and survival horror game genres, and commonly considered among the best horror games of the era.

Fruit Ninja

A mobile game focused on using a touch screen to cut fruit and build combos, while avoiding slicing bombs.

Octodad

A freeware physics game focused on maneuvering an octopus man character through a 3D environment with unconventional controls.

Super Meat Boy

A 2D platformer known for both its difficulty, and its ability to quickly retry levels.

VVVVVV

A 2D platformer hallmarked by replacing jumping with inverting gravity and it's Atari 2600 style aesthetics.

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  Ascending and Descending of VVVVVV.
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  The Yes Men of VVVVVV.
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  The Tomb of Mad Carew of VVVVVV.
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  Prize for the Reckless of VVVVVV.
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  Super Gravitron in VVVVVV.
• 
  I Love You in VVVVVV.
• 
  Sweeny's Maze in VVVVVV.
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  Outside the Ship in VVVVVV.
• 
  VVVVVV featured simple text to advance the plot.

Cart Life

A simulation game focused on the challenges of being a street vendor.

• 
  A screenshot from Cart Life, showing the art style of the game.
• 
  Another screenshot from Cart Life.

2011

• Terraria
• Bastion
• The Binding of Isaac
• Dungeons of Dredmor
• The Stanley Parable
• Hatoful Boyfriend
• Jetpack Joyride
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

Kerbal Space Program

A 3D space action game featuring the green aliens.

To the Moon

A 2D RPG without battle mechanics known for it's plot revolving around the concept of memory.

2012

The 2012 Global Game Jam

• GameMaker Studio

The FEZ dev team at GDC 2012.

• Dust: An Elysian Tail
• Frog Fractions
• Fez
• FTL: Faster Than Light
• Hotline Miami
• Mark of the Ninja
• Plague Inc.
• Slender: The Eight Pages
• Skullgirls
• Thomas Was Alone

Mari0

A notable fanmade mashup of Super Mario Bros and Portal.

2013

Subset Games, creators of FTL, at IGF 2013

• Antichamber
• BattleBlock Theater
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Don't Starve
• Cookie Clicker
• Gone Home
• Papers, Please
• Risk of Rain

Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective

An unofficial fangame of Bubsy 3D, posted online when the domain name for the original game expired.

The game was set in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art during an exhibition of the postmodern work of James Turrell. The game itself delves into strange scenes, perhaps in a postmodern exploration of its own.

2014

Lucas Pope, creator of Papers, Please, at IGF 2014.

• Five Nights at Freddy's
• Shovel Knight
• 2048
• Lisa: The Painful

Lethal League

A 2D fighting game centered around successfully passing a ball back and forth between players.

Freedom Planet

A 2D platformer made in the style of 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games.

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  A boss in Freedom Planet.
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  A time attack level with the character Milla visible.
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  A cutscene in Freedom Planet.
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  The Freedom Planet box artwork.
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  A concept art sketch of the character Brevon.
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  A concept art sketch of the character Torque.

Nidhogg

A 2D sword fighting game known for it's balance and 1980's inspired visuals.

• A trailer for Nidhogg, both showing gameplay and a common indie marketing technique of the time.
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  A gameplay screenshot of Nidhogg.
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  An arcade stick for Nidhogg.

Transistor

Released in 2014, the game Transistor is known for many of its qualities, particularly its unique art direction. While working on Transistor, game artist Jen Zee took inspiration from the Art Nouveau style, as well as the work of 19th century Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The game is also well known for its less direct storytelling methods, as well as it's unique hybrid real time and turn based action system which leads to interesting strategic choices for the player.

Game Engines

Unreal Engine 4 is released in 2014, offering a number of improvements.

The Godot and Xenko (now Stride) game engines are open sourced.

2015

Unreal Engine 4 goes gratis

• Unreal Engine 4 eliminates subscription fees, making it more accessible to indie developers.

Games

• Undertale
• Axiom Verge
• 2064: Read Only Memories
• Crypt of the NecroDancer
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• Soma

Nuclear Throne

A screenshot of Nuclear Throne, showing bullet hell style gameplay.

A top down 2D shooter known for it's difficult bullet-hell style gameplay.

2016

• Furi
• Tattletail
• Job Simulator
• No Man's Sky
• Owlboy
• Salt and Sanctuary
• The Witness
• Rec Room
• Stardew Valley
• Starbound
• Superhot

VA-11 Hall-A

Christoper Ortiz, one of the developers of VA-11 Hall-A, showcases the game at a talk at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

A mix of bartender simulation and visual novel created by a team in Venezuela.

2017

• Cuphead
• Bendy and the Ink Machine
• Hollow Knight
• Doki Doki Literature Club!
• A Hat in Time
• Hello Neighbor
• Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
• Night in the Woods
• Yooka-Laylee
• Pyre

• 
  Gameplay of Getting over it with Bennet Foddy
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  Heart Machine, developers of Hyperlight Drifter, at GDC 2017.

2018

• Celeste
• Baldi's Basics
• CrossCode
• Dead Cells
• Donut County
• Gris
• Into the Breach
• Hades

• 
  Night in the Woods dev team at the 2018 IGF.
• 
  Gameplay of Celeste

2019

• Baba Is You
• Beat Saber
• Outer Wilds
• Untitled Goose Game
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

2020

• Omori

Friday Night Funkin'

Friday Night Funkin' was developed for the Ludum Dare game jam. Some news outlets noted the similarities of Friday Night Funkin' to the sorts of games which were based on Adobe Flash. It's important to note that there was an increased interest in Adobe Flash games, as the time of this game's launch corresponded with the discontinuation of Flash. Notably the game was open source which attracted modders to the game. At the time of release, it was somewhat unusual for original indie titles to launch under an open source license.

2021

Poppy Playtime

is a horror game developed and published by american independent developer MOB Games. The player takes the role of a former employee of toy-making company Playtime Co., who revisits its abandoned toy factory 10 years after its staff's disappearance. The player navigates through a first-person perspective and must solve puzzles, some requiring a gadget named the GrabPack, to progress while avoiding various enemies. first game chapter is released on October 13, 2021, The second chapter is released on May 5, 2022 and the third chapter is released on January 30, 2024.

2022

Cult of the Lamb

is a single-player construction and management simulation, rogue-like action-adventure game developed by indie developer Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released on 11 August 2022 for macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game follows a possessed lamb who is saved from death by a god-like stranger named "The One Who Waits", and must repay their debt by creating a loyal following in its name.

2023

Pizza Tower

Pizza Tower is a 2023 platform game created by the indie developer Tour De Pizza. It follows a pizza chef, Peppino Spaghetti, who must scale a tower to prevent the destruction of his pizzeria. Across 20 side-scrolling levels, the player increases their score by gathering collectibles and defeating enemies to build combos. At the end of each level, they activate an escape sequence and must return to the beginning within a time limit. Pizza Tower does not feature health or lives, and its difficulty depends on what the player chooses to achieve.