Insanely Twisted Budget Problems

 

Most games that everyone hear about, the ones with giant advertising campaigns, millions of dollars in production value, and deals with Mountain Dew, are what are called Triple A games.  These games are made by large companies and are funded by game publishers, whose investors know that whether the game is bad or good, they will sell enough copies to make their money back.  There are also smaller games made by companies that aren’t off the ground yet, called Indie games.  There’s a huge market for these smaller games because while large companies tend to stick to making things they know will sell, which means many of them are quite similar, Indie developers must be more creative and take more risks in order to sell their game.  Many indie games take advantage of this and market themselves as different from popular games, offering a fresh break from the norm.  However, the drawback is that these games are often underfunded and have less content, or they can be just worse in general.  The particular Indie game I wanted to talk about is Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, a game that showcases both the benefits and drawbacks of being an Indie developer.

 

A mysterious black spaceship is travelling around the universe and launching spiky black probes all over the place.  One of them goes towards the solar system of an advanced alien race, one of which will pilot the spaceship you control in the game.  They detect the probe and watch as it hits their Sun, the flames consuming the strange anomaly.  Almost instantly, tendrils of darkness spread themselves over the Sun, corrupting it and twisting it into a giant living lair for all kinds of evil creatures.  Even worse, the shadows spread from the Sun and begin attacking the home planet of the aliens, so you jump in your little ship to fight back.

 

This game boasted a very unique art style, awesome looking gameplay, and a mouthful of a title in its massively popular trailer.  It immediately made me interested in it, and while at first it was only for Xbox Live, it was released for the PC soon after.  As I started it up, I was immediately struck by the unique art style I had seen in the trailer, and I believe that it’s one of the best parts of the game.  A game that’s fun to look at is always a plus, and the environments are diverse inside the Shadow Planet, you explore everything from a black and twisted swamp, a beautiful but dangerous ice cave, and a huge labyrinth of a factory.  The gameplay was also awesome, as you pilot your little spaceship around the home planet of a very advanced alien race, collecting new weapons and fighting off the shadowy invaders.  Soon enough, you’re able to warp yourself towards the Sun, which has by now become completely corrupted, and take the fight to them. 

 

So the game takes its great art style and retro-gameplay and runs with it, and the player feels justified in their purchase.  However, the game only lasts for about three hours, which is a shame because everyone, including me, was left with wanting more.  Battling all the aliens, defeating monstrous bosses, and saving the world was great, while it lasted.  Hopefully they will take the funding and experience they have earned from making this game and make an even better one next time.  Indie games are usually about quality over quantity, as opposed to the Triple A games with huge amounts of money to spend.  Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is awesome, and I hope that other Indie developers follow its example.