In my first blog post I defined my idea of what is the essence of Retro gaming and the Retro gaming industry. In it, I argued that Retro gaming software is not just composed of games made decades ago, but that ROM hacks, retro game mods, and spinoffs of classic Retro games also should count under the Retro gaming umbrella.
I’d like to argue in this post that much of the Indie game development industry is actually a subset of the Retro gaming industry, and many of the biggest recent successes in Indie development have been successful because of their ties to Retro gaming and the philosophy of utilizing simplified technology.
Firstly, to get on a shared basis of understanding, let’s define Indie gaming:
Definition of Indie gaming:
“[An Indie game] is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most ‘AAA’ (triple-A) games”
Wikipedia’s definition of an Indie game
If we recall back to my first blog post, I came up with my definition of Retro gaming as
My definition of Retro gaming
“The Retro gaming industry is characterized by products and services which seek to recreate, enhance, and reimagine classic and nostalgic gaming experiences.”
My person definition of the Retro gaming industry
The Indie gaming industry and the Retro gaming industry describe 2 different, but not mutually exclusive things. The definition of Indie gaming has more to do with the resources of the development team, whereas Retro gaming has more to do with the design philosophy and technological associations of the games themselves.
However, I think the Retro gaming industry and the Indie gaming industry are connected in many fundamental ways:
Reason 1.) Older games ARE Indie games
Most games developed for older generations of consoles, were developed by individuals or small teams, who if they were around today, would be considered “Indie development teams”
Reason 2.) Indie games are very often, relatively simple
Retro games fundamentally utilize simpler, more straightforward technology and distribution methods than teams with extensive resources. Indie development teams, with limited resources, most of the time, are forced to simplify their game design and distribution methods, aligning closely with the classic attributes of Retro gaming
Reason 3.) People who enjoy technological simplicity in gaming, enjoy Retro gaming
Audiences receptive to simplified gaming experiences made by Indie studios, often resonate strongly with the technological simplicity and straightforward nature of Retro gaming
Given the strong potential for overlap between Retro gaming and Indie gaming, let’s explore some cases where Retro gaming and Indie gaming are not the same thing to clarify the distinction.
An example where Retro gaming and Indie gaming is not the same thing, is when a small team creates a game with a complex monetization strategy, or utilizes highly complex game engine technology.
Indie development, but undoubtedly modern game
For example, if a small team were to develop a mobile game with complex, high definition graphics, using a complex game engine like Unity, and incorporating modern and complex monetization strategies like lootboxes, battlepasses, gacha, or microtransactions, with no relation to classic nostalgic characters and IPs, then the game could not in any sense be called Retro, but it could still be considered Indie, if it’s developed by a small team.
At the time of development, the developers of the influential game Honkai Impact 3rd, miHoYo could be considered Indie, due to their small development team. After their initial success, they went on to create arguably the most financially successful modern game to date: Genshin Impact. This originally Indie, now massive development team paved the way for the modern gacha game business model, and utilized advanced graphics, newer characters, and game engines, all distinctly modern gaming experiences.
Retro-modern, yet not Indie
Sometimes, the line between Retro and modern can become increasingly blurred. For example, the original Pokemon Go involved modern, high definition graphics and gameplay, while catching just the original 151 Pokemon conceived 2 decades prior on the Gameboy. This is an interesting mix of modern complexity with nostalgic and classic Retro game IPs. In cases like these, it can be hard to classify the game as belonging fully to a “modern” category or a “retro” category, but I would argue it’s still a reimagining of Retro gaming ideas, and so should still count, even if only partially.
That’s the interesting thing about my definition of Retro gaming, is that even highly modern and advanced systems and technologies can be considered Retro gaming, if they’re based off of and build off of existing ideas of classic, simple technologies, characters and nostalgia.
Niantic, the developers of Pokemon Go could hardly be considered Indie developers due to their extensive resources and large team. Still, it’s reasonable to consider Pokemon Go to have elements of Retro gaming.
Indie development, Retro game, huge success
However, there are much more clear cut cases where a popular modern game is very solidly in the Retro category, even without explicitly building on existing IPs.
Example 1.) Undertale, the modern Retro RPG
One great example of this is Undertale. Undertale, developed almost entirely by the solo developer Toby Fox, is one of the most popular and culturally impactful Indie games of all time. Originally released via a modest Kickstarter in 2015, the game incorporated Retro graphics, classic RPG elements, and a simple yet elegant bullet-hell battle system. This modern take on the classic RPG genre, was heavily inspired by the classic and Retro Earthbound series.
Undertale, despite mostly consisting of graphics and gameplay that look straight out of the SNES generation, is an incredibly popular and influential game with millions of downloads and broad support from a variety of major gaming platforms including Nintendo.
Despite the self-imposed limitations of using mostly retro graphics and gameplay, Undertale stands out due to its innovative take on choice and consequences in RPGs, it’s memorable and lovable characters, unique battle mechanics and narrative depth. It’s a great example of how Retro Indie development has been wildly successful and resonant with many gamers.
Example 2.) Stardew Valley, the Retro Harvest Moon spinoff more successful than Harvest Moon
Another fantastic example of an Indie gaming fully embracing Retro elements is Stardew Valley. According to its creator, ConcernedApe, Stardew Valley was heavily inspired by the classic farming sim game “Harvest Moon”. Originally, Stardew Valley began as a sort of spinoff from this starting point, utilizing simplified 2d pixelated Retro graphics and gameplay. Despite the Retro simplifications in the graphics and gameplay style, Stardew Valley has become one of the most successful Indie games of all time, garnering over 20 million downloads, outselling even the original Harvest Moon the game is partially based on.
This enormous success is not in spite of, but because of the simplified 2d retro style, being a great mixture of simple and engaging. This enormous success highlights the fruitful crossover between Indie and Retro, and the immense potential for success and broad popularity.
Example 3.) Minecraft, the most popular Indie game of all time with blocky, Retro-inspired graphics
The popularity and cultural impact of Minecraft cannot be understated. Originally developed by Notch, a solo developer, this incredibly popular Indie developed game made its creator a billionaire, and is one of the biggest success stories in all of gaming.
What’s truly fascinating about this success, is the fact that Minecraft, on the surface, does not look like a particularly modern game. In fact, the blocky, voxel gameplay, looks quite Retro, like something that could run on a Gameboy Advance.
Minecraft’s success as one of most successful games of all time deserves some deep analysis. I think it’s no mere accident that the game has a blocky, simple, Retro style graphics and gameplay premise. In fact, I think it is exactly these simple Retro features which are part of the reason for its unbridled success.
The technological simplicity and limitations of the Retro style, allow for modern systems to add more depth to the gameplay beyond graphics, while still being able to run on comparatively quite weak gaming systems.
This gives Minecraft a depth which other sandbox games can struggle to keep up with. By embracing the simplicity in the gameplay mechanics and graphics, Minecraft can flesh out their worlds to be orders of magnitude larger than the actual Earth in relative size, where most other modern games struggle to create worlds as large as a single city.
Yet, the size of the maps is only one small aspect of the appeal of Minecraft. Still, we must acknowledge that the simplified Retro graphics and style offers distinct advantages, trading modern graphical fidelity for endless amounts more depth in gameplay mechanics and content, while remaining lean and efficient to run.
This, in my opinion gets to the heart of the appeal of Retro gaming. Retro gaming experiences focus on simplicity and tried and true methods in the core technology, such as graphics and gameplay, but are able to then pour modern advancements into features gamers truly find compelling: interesting content, addicting gameplay loops, and a focus on the crossover between exploration and self expression that gaming provides.
My thoughts and prediction
Retro gaming isn’t just a fading fad, it’s a core element to some of the most lucrative and successful games of all time. I have a feeling one of the next big hits in gaming is not necessarily going to be based on complex monetization strategies, photorealistic graphics and too many core gameplay elements to count. I have predict some of the next big hits in gaming will have the classic Retro elements of blocks, squares, cubes, or pixels, simple gameplay mechanics, and a straightforward monetization strategy.
After all, I can think of at least one more example of a block-based, super simple, popular solo-developed game that’s seen a modicum of success in the gaming industry: Tetris
I’d love to look at this prediction in a few years and see if I’m right. Until then, happy gaming
-Jonah Eskin
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