ahem,
it’s frustrating to see people look down on indie mediums like visual novels and accessible engines like rpg maker
they often compare indie games unfairly to the spectacle of aaa games and discuss engines as if it’s just about specs
there’s a lot of dumb arbitrary standards

for example, what does production value look like to a player? a vn doesn’t have much to offer compared to the likes of an aaa game that uses mo-cap
so obviously to these players, this is a “budget” decision — just get more money then
so they ignore the efforts put into cgs

players ignore the amount of labor put into making the sprites work in rpg maker, in balancing the difficulty in game maker, and in designing 3d objects in unity
because the engine isn’t as spectacular
the gap between aaa and indie is so big indie games are devalued all the time

indeed, people just seem to take the marginalization of these niche mediums for granted
that’s why you see people don’t treat indie games as seriously as they do with aaa games
the way folks talk about indie games sound like they’re disposable hobbies while aaa games are Real

if you want to be treated “seriously” according to this arbitrary criterion, you should be making aaa games right now
stop working on passion projects and go make the next cinematic adventure game or some shit
it’s fucking nonsense and yet it’s peddled everywhere

this ideology is just some weird ass gatekeeping and game dev elitism perpetuated by players and writers of all kinds
i don’t understand how engines like unity have a bad name when so many things are in unity for example
but a game made in unity? oh, must be some crap indie game

i am also fond of rpg maker engines but people just, look down on them. no one cares about the games besides maybe ib and yume nikki
devs working on this engine for years are apparently not serious enough.
this maddens the hell out of me and again, is just fucking gatekeeping

vns basically don’t sell if there’s no fucking
the efforts behind vn dev are so unrecognized we get HILARIOUS parody dating sims about a FUNNY concept some GENIUS thought of
the medium is so fucking devalued by obnoxious people who think this isn’t some Big Game

these standards are so fucking arbitrary that i can only think they are made in order to justify aaa games being like this
people seem to really want to elevate aaa games by stomping on indie games for not being aaa enough
and it’s so fucking disgusting

i honestly feel like people just don’t treat indie games as games or even media at all, just a Fun Little Curiosity and not iunno some fucking livelihood and hours of passion distilled
meanwhile AAA Games Are Art, let’s be loyal to these franchises, woohoo

thanks to aaa games, video games have become a commodity sold to help get investors some nice returns
labor in games is essentially devalued
and i think this is where those arbitrary standards come from: nobody cares about who made the games and the contexts behind the production

we have tons of articles now reporting on crunch time but also people seem to either be confused how this could possibly exist or chalk it up as a necessary evil
with indies, we see this ambivalence epitomized in this bizarre criterion of “do you use babby engines; if not, cool”

game production is apparently just choosing a “good” engine and then putting some nice graphics
that’s it
indies, step up your game and learn from the aaas
now you see why people don’t care about indies at all, they don’t care about who worked on aaa games either — just brands

and this is just one of many things indies get shit on: they deal with sensitive subjects, they do non-action gameplay, they use 2d sprites etc.
i could go on but in the end nobody cares about who worked on something and how
game dev is a shit because people treat it like that

my conclusion from this tangent is that indie games are forever oppressed by stupid arbitrary standards that come from the apathy toward labor in the video game industry
you see this in how people talk about indie games and the efforts behind them while praising aaa games forever

i am frankly tired of reading tweets about GAMING from mainstream gaming communities
there’s no respect for the efforts behind people who worked on their games
sure, they’ll say they appreciate it but it’s just nominal
their next tweet is shitting on another title for being lazy

it’s the same shit you hear in anime fandoms when they say this adaptation is lazy and needs more “animation”
all these fucking tweets are one big bruh moment for me
it’s 5am so i will now ragesleep