Why are paid indie games excused for more flaws than FOSS?
Posted: 02 May 2021, 21:58
I've noticed a lot of indie games recently with less content or polish than flash or FOSS games get excused for "being a indie game", I know indie games don't have a AAA budget, but if FOSS and even browser games can achieve that, why not indies? Let's take one of the most popular indies, Among Us. This game was probably the fastest selling nintendo switch game with 3 million sales on the platform in 15 days alone. But despite that, the contents of the game are extremely lackluster. Only 4 maps, there was 3 before April 2021. And the updates are extremely slow. But the game is highly positively received, and any criticism gets met with replies like "it's a indie game, calm down" But there are so many FOSS games like SuperTuxKart which have much faster updates. And the maps in that game are 3D, meaning they need do add tons of detail and models compared to the simple 2d maps. The graphics are also some of the more poor and dated looking 2D graphics. Also, the game has tons of bugs, which are also accepted by the fans due to "being a indie game". Despite the massive money the game has earned, it's struggling compared to FOSS games. But FOSS games can release updates so fast, despite their game having no monetization and only small donations money. Another example is the game "Celeste" The gameplay in this one is really good, but the pixel art looks worse than many actual 16-bit games, the characters have no eyes, and some sprites look like they got passed through a color reduction filter. And many indie games need a kickstarter for worse quality games than free open source. Yes, FOSS games had many updates of evolution, but even at the earliest stages in their 2000s versions, some still have better art than what indie games have "due to limited budget" despite the fact indies are commercial games and these FOSS games have almost zero budget. So how does this happen? Are the developers just lazy? A mainstream paid indie game really shouldn't be worse than a obscure free open source game. It's worrying for the indie game industry if paid games offer less than free open source games with no microtransactions or ads or any monetization.