Sales-Boosting Game Design Features in Independent Games
🤘 Unleash the Power of Indie Titles!
There were nearly 10,000 games launched on Steam in 2020 and approximately 12,000 in 2021, averaging a whopping 35 new titles a day. No matter how carefully you select your release window, your game is going head-to-head with at least 30 other titles daily. So, let's find out how three unique indie success stories - Loop Hero, Inscryption, and Hades - shined among the crowd and couldn't ignore them!
Loop Hero - The Prodigious Indie RPG
If Four Quarters had stopped at creating another minimalistic idle RPG with 2-button controls, Loop Hero would've merely blended into the background. Kudos to devious design strategies that transformed this simple game into a deep, immersive experience that captivated audiences for over 60 hours!
Loop Hero's protagonist voyages in a looped pathway, facing encounters without the player's intervention to win fights, creating a new and intriguing concept. What sets this game apart is the player's ability to choose the hero's equipment, skills, and guide the game world's development.
After each encounter, the player picks up cards from defeated enemies, allowing them to craft the environment, filling dark spots around the hero. The game's interconnected card system defines the hero's abilities and confronts upcoming challenges. Woods, rivers, meadows, and castles await the player's journey, adding a delightful depth to thegameplay loop.
The cards are more than mere environment boosters. They unveil new monsters, quests, and obstacles, affecting the hero's health and trying the player's skills. The difficulty level depends entirely on the player's strategy, which makes Loop Hero stand out from the crowd.
Witnessing the magnificent world created through the player's cards interacting with each other is like watching pixels turn into a masterpiece before your eyes. Let's say you place a village next to a vampire mansion; the village transforms into a ghoul-infested settlement that is extremely challenging to beat. Yet, if you conquer it three times, it transforms into a friendly village providing valuable bonuses!
Inscryption - The Hidden Depth of Card Battlers
If you've played Daniel Mullins' quirky and genius projects like Pony Island, you already know Inscryption is more than just another card game. This title took things to a whole new level with a meta-meta-meta gameplay experience and multiple layers of storytelling. Sounds too odd? Let's dive in!
In Inscryption, you're a lost traveler captured in the cabin in the woods by the shady Dealer. Your goal is to defeat an opponent, namely Leshy. However, winning the game is not just about beating your opponent in a simple card battle. The key to victory lies in solving the story first. If you lose, the Dealer turns you into a card that's available in future games.
The gameplay is minimalistic, with the core mechanism hinting that you have to sacrifice a card to reach the top of your opponent's deck. But the mystery doesn't end there; move away from the table to explore the cabin, discover hidden cards, meet new characters, and cheat if you wish. The objective is not to triumph at the card game by following the rules; instead, you must learn to adapt and outsmart your foe.
Featuring a double or triple level of storytelling, Inscscription delivered a crazy depth, razor-sharp gameplay mechanics, and an entirely new level of obscurity that made it a commercial hit on Steam in less than three months.
Hades - The Balanced Blend of Action and Narrative
Initially dipping its toes into the rogue-lite genre, Supergiant Games achieved the impossible by redefining and improving the genre. With Supergiant's narrative expertise, they created an impeccable balance between action, storytelling, and engaging gameplay challenges.
Hades offers a vast array of character builds and modifiers but introduces challenges and upgrades to cater to both inexperienced players and seasoned veterans. This perfect balance keeps casual and hardcore players interested and challenges them without feeling overwhelming.
The captivating narrative and stunning visual style of Hades make it a compelling adventure for hours and even weeks on end. The gripping mythological storyline, vibrant art, and immersive sound design earned it countless accolades from players and critics alike.
The flawless combination of action, narrative, and progress makes Hades a perfect blend of rogue-lite and visual novel. Its innovative design solutions and impeccable presentation helped the game sell over a million copies and earned its place among the most innovative games of the decade.
That's it, folks! Stay tuned as we continue to dissect more indie gems and share the juicy details about what makes them unique and unmissable!
💭 Fun Facts:- Loop Hero's procedurally generated world made it the #8 indie hit in September 2021[6].- Hades won numerous awards, including 'Game of the Year' from The Game Awards 2019[3].- Inscryption's ARG (Alternate Reality Game) storyline involved Cold War secrets, digital Easter eggs, and real-world puzzles[4].
Smartphones have become essential tools for gaming enthusiasts to discover new titles, with platforms like Steam offering daily releases of over 30 indie games. Loop Hero, a unique indie RPG, has shined among the crowd by providing a deep and immersive experience through its innovative gameplay mechanics, utilizing technology such as procedurally generated cards and a looped world. Similarly, Inscryption, a card battler with hidden depths, and Hades, a rogue-lite game with an impeccable balance of action, storytelling, and progress, are other examples of technology-driven indie titles that have left a lasting impact in the gaming world.
