This blogpost is about something that bugged me for quite some time and recently I stumbled about this again and thus decided to write this post. I'm talking about the AAA wannabe-ism that mostly catches young indie game developers.

AAA is not the holy grail!
So, what exactly am I talking about? I'm talking about the apparent urge of young game developers to copy bad ideas of big studios or companies just so their games look AAA-like. This already starts with small and little things, eg. the nightmare of UX concepts; A launcher. They have no use case whatsoever, because everything they offer could also be done ingame, the only use they have is to annoy the user. I don't want to view your fucking website when I double click awesomegame.exe (or .app) and I don't want to enter the options (something I need to do only once if ever!), so stay the hell away from me with this launcher crap! But hey, big titles like Mass Effect or Skyrim have them, they can't be that bad, can they? Oh by the way, did you know what they also have? Longcat like long loading screens for tiny levels and here is a small anecdote taken from my youth (aka just a few years ago); I was in the process of working on my first bigger project called Die Händler and one day I figured that my levels loaded way too fast compared to big games. But my project was a big game, it was epic, it was awesome, why was it so fast? I decided to pause the level loading for just five seconds to make it look like it was doing something really incredible complex (while it just wasted CPU cycles like a boss). A horrible idea in retrospect, ripping out something that should be considered awesome, fast level loading, to look like the standard bloatware from the shelf.

If only this was everything a indie developer could copy, but the worst part is this Shader fetish most people developed. If it doesn't look like the most artificial plastic, its considered not photorealistic and crappy looking. This starts with glossy looking bump mapping on every surface (most of the times with a non fitting bump map generated from a low resolution texture) and ends with post processing effects that just vomit into your face (depth of field that defines depth as anything further than 5cm away from your face for example). Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to drown everything in shaders? It almost looks like people forget that a good atmosphere isn't the same as great graphics, but most indie titles with superb graphics have a horrible atmosphere. Luckily there are great projects which are doing it right, Amnesia: The dark descent for example, or Superku. Those projects use shaders too (its impossible to not use them), but they use them to create a great atmosphere and not try to just add everything that the next best AAA title has. So don't get me wrong, shaders per se aren't bad! Depth of field can be a really great effect, as long as its not completely shoved into my face. But don't think that more equals better!

You are indie!
I could continue this post for quite some time, listing only the stuff that I think isn't worth copying, but I guess you too know that copying isn't the best idea. So instead, let me encourage you; Be different! You are indie for gods sake, you are free to do whatever you want, experiment with the genres, styles, graphics and everything you want! Don't copy, impress by being unique and telling your story the way it is great for you and your game, not the way its done over and over again in the industry. This is your chance to do something very impressive, it became unbeliveable easy to get started with creating games, even if you never programmed before. Even if you don't have access to any assets, all you have to do is to be creative. But being creative requires to think out of the box, so please don't try to hide yourself inside the big AAA box.

Beside that, you mostly don't have the resources a big company has. You can't afford high polyogn models with photorealistic textures and everything and you certainly can't do it alone. Its impossible to compete alone against a large studio with up to hundreds of professionals, each one having one very specific task. As you don't copy this aspect, don't bother with copying just the bad stuff they do.

Beside that, you mostly don't have the resources a big company has. You can't afford high polyogn models with photorealistic textures and everything and you certainly can't do it alone. Its impossible to compete alone against a large studio with up to hundreds of professionals, each one having one very specific task. As you don't copy this aspect, don't bother with copying just the bad stuff they do.

"I decided to do serious game development after i have played Silent Hill 2.
For the following reasons:
-This game had a deep scenario, which not many movies have
-Although there were not too much action or many characters, the game had a great atmosphere,
which really frightened

And after playing this game i decided to do my own one. I don´t know what you think,
but for me a game does not only consist of entertainment. Making a game is a way to express
ourselves and our fantasy.

So how could i possibly create a successful game?
While searching for this answer i discovered Penumbra.
It was done by two people.
Although it did not have many enemies and poor skinning it was entertaining,
because the atmosphere was great and it was fun to play.
Penumbra is the best example to show, that serious game development does not need AAA quality.

Thus was the starting point of my game. This is the way i set my game up, and (though i have not
completed) managed to complete at least a demo.

In 2007 i started to develop the game, although i didn´t even know what a polygon was.
And to make a game like this was a great success for me.
But there was something i was missing.
I integrated nearly every game mechanic from Penumbra, like holding objects with the mouse and so on.
Finally my game was almost a copy of Penumbra.
This did not bother me when i was a newbie, but now it annoys me.
Even when get positive responses like "It´s like Amnesia!" it annoys me.

Do you know why i did not open a thread for my game in the showcase?
If i would have done that, you would have appreciated me, because i´ve done that myself.
At the same time you would gave me suggestions, and maybe some assistance or even contributions.
But i´m sure most of you would have used this sentence "It looks like Amnesia".
I would have accept this as beginner, but now it´s impossible.
Even if my scenario is original, if you don´t feel like it´s original, it´s a failure for me.
This should apply to all game developer.
Because of this i used the term "Dead End" before.

JustSid wrote a nice post. Penumbra and Amnesia are great examples. We could also add Call of Cthulhu.
Although the graphics are bad, it had a great gameplay.
And the most original game i´ve seen in this forum is Superku.

Now i want to give you an advice as your friend.
By drowning your game with shaders and trying to reach AAA quality you´ll get nowhere.
A good game consists of atmosphere, gameplay and most important, uniqueness.
Keep JustSid´s examples in mind and don´t make my mistake.
Don´t imitate the style of another game. Your game should not be a copy.
It may sound great as a beginner, but keep in mind that you won´t finish it.
And even when you get professional and your game is great, it will stay in the shadow of the copied game.

As an Indie you have the freedom to do whatever you want. Find something new.
If you can´t find a new idea, do brainstorming with your friends.
Be different, so your work does not get wasted."