It´s all the fault of George Clingerman, or his son – because when George asked him “…what makes a game an indie game?” the answer was: “This is easy. Indie games have less than 100 people in the credits.” And then George posted it to Google+ where Philippe Da Silva and I started a small discussion. Then Philippe wrote a blog about it “Indie” = “Startup”.
I don´t really share Philippe´s point of view, even though he does make some good points.
So here comes what I define as indie (today – my opinion here is not set in stone):
You are indie …
… if your game design decisions are not based on exterior influences (like money, a boss …)
… if the motivation to create a game comes from yourself and not an exterior influence (like like the need for money, or a boss…)
… if you´d rather give away your game for free then see it getting lost
… if you know everyone involved in the creation process by name
… if you are free in the choice of your distribution channel (no that does not mean you need to be able to publish via XBLA!)
… if nobody else has a sayso in any decisions in your “company” (if you want a yellow bath duck in your company logo, then you can have it!)
