Will 2015 Be the Year of the Indie?

[rspencer86]

Some great responses in here so far.

Quote: Originally Posted by jpollack34

Nothing would be greater than to see the rise of the indies. It would provide much needed juice to a lagging genre. More than anything I would like to see the growth of customization. The sports genre is lagging behind and you can sense it. Not sure if it's fear but one senses the developer's lack of providing the users with any real options. It's palpable, and runs contrary to what's happening pretty much every where else - providing users with more power.

Agreed. Essentially what creating a "closed" game with few options does is limit the number of people it can truly connect with and appeal to.

Quote: Originally Posted by tarek

Whilst licensing is a massive issue which limits authenticity with indie games I personally believe it provides a very interesting opportunity in the area of customization and community content.

A lack of licensing can be overcome if robust editing options are provided. Moreover, a lack of licensing offers some very intriguing possibilities. Think of all of the things that get left out of sports games due to the tight leash the leagues have on the content:

• Fighting/suspensions
• Drug use, steroid use, and other forms of "cheating" (could make for a fun and strategic risk/reward system)
• Realistic injuries (leagues want to create the image that their sport is relatively safe)
• Trash talking

Quote: Originally Posted by Fresh Tendrils

I don't really care in what form it comes, but I really need something similar to NBA Street and NBA Jam in my life. Hell, even the NFL Street game was entertaining. Maybe some independent companies can hammer out some skating and snowboarding games while we're daydreaming here.

YES. Really am missing the pick-up-and-play type games. Not sure why those went away, as they would seem to appeal to a wider base than the hardcore simulation titles that are left standing.

I love the realistic sim games, but they require a lot of time to learn controls, games take between 45-90 minutes to complete, etc. It would be nice to play a friend in NBA Jam, have the skill level be mostly level (not such a huge barrier to entry for beginners in arcade titles), and be able to get a few games in all in a 15-30 minute time frame. And best of all, there's no worrying about accurate stats, fiddling with sliders, and all of that.

[tarek]

Quote: Originally Posted by rspencer86

Some great responses in here so far. Agreed. Essentially what creating a "closed" game with few options does is limit the number of people it can truly connect with and appeal to. A lack of licensing can be overcome if robust editing options are provided. Moreover, a lack of licensing offers some very intriguing possibilities. Think of all of the things that get left out of sports games due to the tight leash the leagues have on the content: Fighting/suspensions Drug use, steroid use, and other forms of "cheating" (could make for a fun and strategic risk/reward system) Realistic injuries (leagues want to create the image that their sport is relatively safe) Trash talking YES. Really am missing the pick-up-and-play type games. Not sure why those went away, as they would seem to appeal to a wider base than the hardcore simulation titles that are left standing. I love the realistic sim games, but they require a lot of time to learn controls, games take between 45-90 minutes to complete, etc. It would be nice to play a friend in NBA Jam, have the skill level be mostly level (not such a huge barrier to entry for beginners in arcade titles), and be able to get a few games in all in a 15-30 minute time frame. And best of all, there's no worrying about accurate stats, fiddling with sliders, and all of that.

@rspencer86

I totally agree with the additions that can't be added due to licensing including suspensions, etc.

OOTP currently does this quite well with their storylines and having players sometimes retire unexpectedly, or take a few days off for a personal problem, or get suspended.

The other text sim which does something like this is Bowl Bound College Football and Draft Day Sports College Basketball which tracks academics and student athletes can be suspended for bad grades and you have to provide tutoring or encouragement, and even in DDS:CB you have the issue that recruits list their current GPA and then get an SAT score later down the track, so if your school has a minimum academic entry requirement, and you have a top recruit who loves your school but has borderline grades, you have to decide whether to pursue and risk him not meeting the minimum academic score, or move onto a student who might not be as good but looks like he will have no problem meeting the academic requirement.

I totally agree that these additional intangibles add much more to the experience of these games.

[GOBLUE_08]

@tarek

How is the support for Bowl Bound and Draft Day? Like do they have a decent following/community.

I've always been interested in trying them out but I was kinda sketchy about dropping the money for them. I've bought a couple different ones on steam and they were just terrible

[redcoffe]

I've bought a couple different ones on steam and they were just terrible









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