indie games | Unwinnable

The Message

By Jeremy Signor • October 3rd, 2018

Level design never stands alone. It’s all in how you look at it.

Minimalism and Collage in Minit

By Andrew Bailey • August 6th, 2018

With each successive loop Minit prompts its player to consider what other seemingly standardized game mechanics would benefit from this same kind of microscopic lens.

a pale illustrated woman with a short bob facing a darker skinned man with strong sideburns and a white shirt.

Florence and Collaborative Play

By Daniel Schindel • July 13th, 2018

This was a deeper connection; the two of us were actively involved in an act of creation, the kind of authorship of a story that only a video game can provide.

Gingy's Corner

Don’t Use Cultural Emblems as Cheap Set Pieces

By Gingy Gibson • July 6th, 2018

Woodstock 1969, in contrast, treats the entire festival as a backdrop for a lackluster lesbian love story, ignoring the social, political, and especially artistic aspects of the time that allowed Woodstock to come about and be so memorable in the first place.

A beautiful woman with a large black hat pulling the skin off of her face to reveal a glowing pink slight beneath.

Descending Into Madness with Cultist Simulator

By Rosh Kelly • June 18th, 2018

Cultist Simulator is not just a game, but a thought exercise. Before playing it might seem impossible to lose everything in the pursuit of knowledge, but there is something inside us all, something old and self-destructive that can be activated under the right, or wrong circumstances.

a cute little town with the words "Fantastic Factories" in banners dragged by zeppelins across the background

Joseph Chen on the Minimalist Design of Fantastic Factories

By Sam Desatoff • June 14th, 2018

“We gathered some of our favorite mechanics from our favorite games and made that our design goal,” Chen said when I asked about his inspirations. “We wanted to combine the engine building of Race for the Galaxy, the dice manipulation of Alien Frontiers, and the simultaneous action selection of 7 Wonders.”