hurrengoa
indie videogame julen biguri   It’s high time we spoke up for video games made by geeks and non-large companies. There have been indie video games like this made in California in recent years. In fact, they are quite freaky, but then what would you expect from a video game creator called Super Meat Boy ?

Some creators believe that today’s indie video game scene came together in the same way as the hardcore scene in the 80’s. It’s too early to say, but it looks like there are cult productions coming along. It’s impossible to quote all the names, but let’s say that Super Meat Boy (2008), Braid (2008), Fez (2010) and Limbo (2010) are the best known ones.

The first three Indie Games: The Movie (Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky, 2011) is a documentary about them. It shows you the creative process, sales and creative geeks’ quarrels from a close, well-prepared point of view. Super Mario and PacMan’s objective takes you to the design of the imaginary world and programming lifestyle of Do It Yourself. You have to admit it’s well done. Above all, they move away from the repetitive nature of commercial video games, but without forgetting what’s good about them. Super Meat Boy is a better, gore version of Mario. Braid, too, seems like Mario at the start but, suddenly, it turns another way and literally breaks the boundaries between poetry, time and space. In Fez, on the other hand, you have to try to break the impotence which characters who live in 2D feel. Lastly, in Limbo you make a child who’s lost in a dark world which is neither heaven nor hell come true.

Of all of them, Team Meat’s Edmund McMillan is the creator of Super Meat Boy and the creator of the largest number of indie video games. As well as the bloody version of Mario, he has made many other flash games: Gish (2004), Aether (2008) and The Binding of Isaac (2011). The latter makes you scared and laugh at the same time. In fact, the main character starts off on a terrifying autobiography: Issac’s mother wants to kill him because God has asked her to sacrifice him and Issac tries to escape from the basement. But ha finds brothers and sisters and other creatures he doesn’t know there. It’s the best gore comedy I’ve seen for a long time. All of these games open up an amazing new dimension for us. While PacMan and Super Mario were entertaining, I would give anything to have had these while I was a child.