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Acronyms that contain the term indie game 

What does indie game mean? This page is about the various possible meanings of the acronym, abbreviation, shorthand or slang term: indie game.

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IGM

Indie Game Magazine

Miscellaneous » Unclassified

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SIGC

Seattle Indie Game Competition

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IGC

Indie Game Collection

Miscellaneous » Unclassified

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IGTM

Indie Game The Movie

Miscellaneous » Unclassified

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IGP

Indie Game Promoter

Internet

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IVGDA

Indie Video Game Developers Association

Computing » IT

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What does indie game mean?

Indie game
An independent video game or indie game is a video game typically 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. However, the "indie" term may apply to other scenarios where the development of the game has some measure of independence from a publisher even if a publishers helps fund and distribute a game, such as creative freedom. Because of their independence and freedom to develop, indie games often focus on innovation, experimental gameplay, and taking risks not usually afforded in AAA games, and may explore the medium to produce unique experiences in art games. Indie games tend to be sold through digital distribution channels rather than at retail due to lack of publisher support. The term is synonymous with that of independent music or independent film in those respective mediums. Indie game development bore out from the same concepts of amateur and hobbyist programming that grew with the introduction of the personal computer and the simple BASIC computer language in the 1970s and 1980s. So-called bedroom coders, particularly in the United Kingdom, made their own games and used mail order to distribute their products, later shifting to other software distribution methods with the onset of the Internet in the 1990s such as shareware and other file sharing distribution methods, though by this time, interest in hobbyist program had waned due to rising costs of development and competition from video game publishers and home consoles. The modern take on the indie game scene resulted in a combination of numerous factors in the early 2000s, including technical, economic, and social concepts that made indie games less expense to make and distribute, but more visible to larger audiences and offered non-traditional gameplay from the current mainstream games. A number of indie games at that time became success stories that drove more interest into the area. New industry opportunities arose since then, include new digital storefronts, crowdfunding and other indie fund mechanisms to help new teams get their games off the ground, low-cost and open source development tools available for smaller teams across all gaming platforms, boutique indie game publishers that leave creative freedom to the developers, and industry recognition of indie games alongside mainstream ones at major game award events. Only recently had there become a concern of a rather large number of indie games, and while a projected "indiepocolylpse" in the mid-2010s never came to pass, discoverability of one's game remains an issue for most indie developers, with many indie games not being financially profitable. Examples of some successful indie games include Super Meat Boy, Fez, Braid, Minecraft, Shovel Knight, Undertale, and Cuphead.

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