Indie games are awesome.
Watching a creator or small team make something totally unique usually results in an amazing game. But do you know what is even better? When independent developers and publishers come together to showcase these incredible games and raise money for worthy causes.
In the past few years, there have been many indie presentations and events such as the Devolver Digital E3 Showcase In 2021 however, there has been a huge increase in the amount of indie developer and publisher lead showcases. One of those events was the Indie Houses collective.
Their website states, “The Indie Houses is an international collective of publishers composed of games industry veterans. Between the seven publishers and our developers, we span multiple continents, languages, genres and points of view.”
The publishers include Akapara Entertainment, Fellow Travelers, Neon Doctrine, Raw Fury, Those Awesome Guys, Toge Productions and White Thorn Games. To celebrate this new collective, they hosted their very own digital event. This event included a games showcase, The Indie Houses Direct, and an event on the Steam store.
“It’s great to see more indies getting put into the spotlight.”
“The Indie Houses came about through organic discussions between publishers,” Scott Roberts, Raw Fury’s public relations manager, said in regards to when the collective was first thought up, “When the idea [of the Indie Houses] came about is hard to say, since the foundation of the idea ‘indies helping each other’ has been part of different conversations over the years.”
Raw Fury’s business development manager, Vic Bassey, brought about the idea of a collective according to Scott. “he noticed that there really isn’t a lot of communication between indie publishers” said Scott. After reaching out to other developers, the Indie Houses was born.
The Indie Houses event was a week long, starting on August 31 with their own video game showcase. The hour-long video presentation, dubbed the Indie Houses Direct, showcased many of the publisher’s upcoming games, while also highlighting some they had released over the years.
Their goal was to open up opportunities for their developers to showcase their fantastic and diverse games. Creators from all walks of life from all over the world were able to show their creativity to the world.
Afterwards, The Indie Houses went to Steam. There were many great games that were either on sale or featured a demo.
Notable Indies
Sable sees the player exploring a vast and beautiful desert with a simple but stylistic art style. I can’t wait to get lost in the world building and mysteries when the game releases September 23.
Developer: Shedworks
Website: https://www.shed-works.co.uk/sable
In Wolfstride, the player takes control of a giant robot and duels other robots in stylistic turn-based combat. I loved the system and the art style.
Developer: OTA IMON Studio
Website: https://rawfury.com/games/wolfstride/
But Indie Houses isn’t the only digital indie game event to happen recently. “Inspiration for the event and Direct came from similar digital showcases like the Wholesome Direct and Guerilla Collective,” Scott answered when I asked about inspirations.
These indie events happened this year. They all share a common goal: to promote diverse, awesome developers and great causes.
Scott said, “It’s great to see more indies getting put into the spotlight.” I couldn’t agree more. One game showcase that put the spotlight onto great games was Wholesome Games.
Wholesome Games is an independently run organization run by independent developers and veterans in the industry. For the past year, they have done their Wholesome Direct that showcases uplifting games.
Not only have they showcased great developers, but they have done fundraisers for the International Rescue Committee, AbleGamers, and Galaxy Fund.
Similarly, The Indie Houses is helping fund the African Game Dev Prototype Fund, which aims to fund African indie developers under Games Industry Africa.
“This fund aims to provide resources to those who may struggle to get the resources they need to get their games off the ground. The goal is to provide some funding but also mentorship and connections to those developers in order to expand what gaming has to offer,” Scott detailed.
This is why I love the indie game community. It is full of the most wonderful people. The community makes, publishes and plays games that matter, for reasons that matter.
“The support and excitement from other devs and publishers so far has been great and we’re looking forward to seeing how we can grow over the next year,” Scott replied when I asked if he had any other comments.
I too can’t wait to see what the Indie Houses and other developers and publishers come out with next. Here’s to the future of indie games!
