Describe common aesthetic or thematical trends in indie gaming and analyze what, if any, differences exist between them and studio titles, and why.
The most major trend I've noticed in indie gaming nowadays (based on what I've seen for handhelds or on the Steam store) is a desire to return to NES-style graphics and gameplay. Storyline and character development are often taking a backseat to this, while major studio games seem to be taking the opposite direction and focusing a lot more on character and evolving realistic graphics. I'm not sure what the reason for the return to the NES style is but I can guess it stems from nostalgia which indie designers are capitalizing on greatly. – Grace10 years ago
I have observed (from an albeit small sample of games) that indie gaming titles allow the creators to be more flexible and have more control over their game. Titles like "Ori and the Blind Forest" are able to explore unique art styles, and games like "Magicka" allow a familiar dungeon-crawler experience with a hilarious humour twist. I think there are certain expectations that gamers have developed for the major studios but not for indie developers. – yuany410 years ago