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[Formless]

Typically it seems like many indie games try to take a single mechanic or idea and carry on with it. Puzzles are a good way to have variety exploiting this idea.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

because half of them cant create detailed or good ai and move sets in their games with routines, movement and combat. So they just create standard movement and choices, text things or activators. Thus where we get all the walking simulators without those things I said they don't do

 

[Lijik]

Puzzles generally do not include enemies to animate and combat to balance and finetune.

a little bit of this and a little bit of puzzles being a gamey mechanic that best fits the tone of a lot of indie games. If you're making a slice of life game about a blind girl and her cat with a storybook bent, action mechanics are going to be the last thing from your mind from the jump.

 

[Alpha Phoenix]

Many good points have been raised, thanks all!

I think this has more truth to it than most here are going to be willing to admit. Nothing wrong at all with puzzles, but when you've got no AI, no collision detection, no complex models to build and animate, and so on, well, that certainly makes it a little easier to get the game done, doesn't it?

That actually perfect sense. I suppose if you don't have the budget or manpower to do all the complex stuff, puzzles are where it's at.

Be more specific if u could, what indie games are puzzle heavy?

The vast majority of ID@Xbox titles I've played on my Xbox One have been puzzled-focused. Off the top of my head, recent ones I've played include The Swapper, Unmechanical, and Unravel.

 

[Aters]

Puzzles generally do not include enemies to animate and combat to balance and finetune.

Truth has been told.

 

[petran79]

indies derive from computer games, which were mostly about puzzles

 

[Chev]

I think this has more truth to it than most here are going to be willing to admit. Nothing wrong at all with puzzles, but when you've got no AI, no collision detection, no complex models to build and animate, and so on, well, that certainly makes it a little easier to get the game done, doesn't it?

Only if you put no care into it? Like, Jonathan Blow took years to fine-tune the puzzles in The Witness, and some of them do in fact have some pretty advanced algorithms behind them.

 

[FriedConsole]

It is the only way for game developers who want to be perceived as smart to make a game that says "look at me I am smart". All the douchebag indie developers that people can't stand all make puzzle games.

The general public is playing casual games.

The IQ average is higher in general public than among indie-haters.

Instead of being coy just say AAA games are for dudebros

 

[kiguel182]

Because without combat, puzzles are the most logical challenge.

Edit: obviously this thread went into calling indie devs names. Because combat is the only way to make games.

 

[Bright-Light]

Maybe I don't get the reference, but have you used this MASSIVE picture in the wrong context?

 

[Zojirushi]

Maybe one reason is that they're often made by people who are just tired of run of the mill AAA games in which your only real interaction with the world is to kill everything in it.

 

[Rathorial]

Puzzles are more saturated in the indie market because action is so saturated in the AAA market.

Certain types of puzzles might be easier to implement than certain types of combat, especially in terms of animation, but I'd say they're filling more of a void in the market than taking a shortcut. An actual shortcut around building alot of content is an exploration game or walking simulator.

Good puzzles are difficult as hell to build, and the mechanics around them can fit a variety of stories that action mechanics aren't well suited for.

 

[BajiBoxer]

Only if you put no care into it? Like, Jonathan Blow took years to fine-tune the puzzles in The Witness, and some of them do in fact have some pretty advanced algorithms behind them.

The exception doesn't prove the rule. The question is about generalities. The complexity in AAA games comes from all the moving parts working together. It's a lot more effort in more areas of development to just get a typical mediocre AAA game playable. It's why you typically see way less risks in game design.

 

[Oneself]

You sound puzzled.

Good job.

 

[Lylo]

Honestly, i've noticed more walking than puzzles in most indies lately...my feet even hurt...

 

[The Technomancer]

I'm just going to come out and say it

Platformers are one of my favorite game genres ever

Puzzle games are one of my favorite game genres ever

If I play another indie "puzzle platformer" I'm going to lose my goddamn mind. The genre so very very rarely plays to the strengths of either of its constituent parts. They're not good platformers and they're rarely good puzzle games

 

[not psycho]

Indie puzzle platformers (Braid, Portal 1 and 2) include some of my favorite games.

But we may be looking at it backwards. If someone has a great idea for a puzzle (like Hexcells, Desktop Dungeons, or Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes), the barrier of entry to making that idea into a game is lower than for many other types of games. It's not so much "I want to make a game, puzzle is easier so I'll do that" as it is "I want to make this puzzle, and I can, so the game will see the light of day".

You'll see more puzzles because the people that wanted to make them were more likely to be able to complete the game.

 

[Krejlooc]

Not really. It's a skill, just like any other video game skill. A lot of skill in solving puzzles comes from other games with puzzles, not real world knowledge.

lol "real world knowledge." You mean rote memorization? Puzzle solving in the context you assuredly are talking about demonstrates plenty of "real world" skills, like pattern recognition and shape identification, of which many larger real world problems provide. Brightness is hardly a function of pure, memorized knowledge and is more accurately tested by application of concepts.

 

[Mexen]

Maybe I don't get the reference, but have you used this MASSIVE picture in the wrong context?

Apologies. I was on mobile when I posted and I neglected to check the image resolution.

The image is from Steins;Gate and the 'Nostalgia..." bit was what I was really going for. Basically, my input was this.

I feel like the reason many of the indie games are puzzle heavy is because a lot of developers grew up playing them.

 

[17 Seconds]

because it's cheaper

 

[The Silver]

there's a reason certain genres like fighters and DMC like character action games are extremely rare in indies, the barrier for entry to make great games in those genres is a lot higher than it is for the more "passive" genres like RPGs and light platform puzzlers. The devs who want to make games with more puzzles are able to do it, the devs who want to make a gameplay system as deep as say Metal Gear Rising......good fucking luck.

 

[zackmorris]

lol "real world knowledge." You mean rote memorization? Puzzle solving in the context you assuredly are talking about demonstrates plenty of "real world" skills, like pattern recognition and shape identification, of which many larger real world problems provide. Brightness is hardly a function of pure, memorized knowledge and is more accurately tested by application of concepts.

No, its knowledge gained from other video games. Most puzzles in games are just variations on early puzzles. It more about knowing what in a game can be manipulated and how they are typically manipulated in that space.

 

[Patrick Young]

Because it's cheaper than cutscenes and animation.

 

[Ansatz]

there's a reason certain genres like fighters and DMC like character action games are extremely rare in indies, the barrier for entry to make great games in those genres is a lot higher than it is for the more "passive" genres like RPGs and light platform puzzlers. The devs who want to make games with more puzzles are able to do it, the devs who want to make a gameplay system as deep as say Metal Gear Rising......good fucking luck.

Budget constraints of that kind are obvious, that doesn't mean an indie game has to be heavy on problem solving though which is what OP is talking about.

For every The Witness there is a walking simulator such as Firewatch so I don't see the issue.