Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

[Icemage]

I wouldn't normally bat an eyelash at individual indie games being announced for a platform, particularly one with such weak hardware sales as the PlayStation Vita, but the last month or so has seen a bunch of game announcements from high profile indie games coming to the PS Vita.

Limbo
Hotline Miami
Spelunky
Binding of Isaac
Terraria (?)
Machinarium

I don't know what Sony's doing differently lately with respect to courting indie developers (self-publishing can't be the only answer or these would also be showing up on Wii U/3DS), but as one of the few Vita owners, I have to say I like what I'm seeing. Hopefully it bodes well moving into the next generation for PS4 as well.

So the operative question: Is this something that will help the hardware sales (unlikely?), and what does that say about future digital-only indie releases of this sort on all platforms?

EDIT: Woah, my list is incomplete.

Limbo, Divekick, and more headed to PlayStation Vita - Destructoid

Rain – PS3
Divekick – PS3 and PS Vita
Velocity Ultra – PS Vita
Limbo – PS Vita
Metrico – PS Vita
Sportsfriends – PS3
Ibb & Obb – PS3
Guacamelee! – PS3 and PS Vita
Hotline Miami – PS3 and PS Vita
Dragon Fantasy Book II – PS3 and PS Vita
Thomas Was Alone – PS3 and PS Vita
Luftrausers – PS3 and PS Vita
Friend Network App – PS Vita
A Virus Named Tom – PlayStation Mobile
Beatdown in Treachery City – PlayStation Mobile
Crumble – PlayStation Mobile
Crystallon – PlayStation Mobile
Don’t Wake the Bear – PlayStation Mobile
Hermit Crab in Space! – PlayStation Mobile
Oh, Deer! – PlayStation Mobile
Rymndkapsel – PlayStation Mobile
Ten By Eight – PlayStation Mobile

Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

Its a nice change, but its not like 3DS has been without notable indie game and even with those it was a steady flow of first party games and AAA third party titles that have been the force that turned 3DS around. You need the cake before the icing on it becomes a plus.

Just having games people could already play on PC and other platforms for years or even months ago is more or less Vita having a Wii U launch, but with ports of indie games. Don't get me wrong, I actually prefer having some of these games on the go and have a fair share of indie games on my 3DS. The surge of them makes them noteworthy, but 3DS has had its fair share of indie support for a good long while now - if it didn't I wouldn't be looking forward to Shovel Knight, Mighty Switch Force 2 and more. Its also worth pointing out Nintendo maintains a fairly respectable presence in the eShop with smaller games to help keep people's attention.

Also, there are still no plans for Minecraft or Terraria's creators have no plans for Vita. Of all the indie games out there these two would be among the most helpful to have.

I'm still wary about Sony's indie-cred when it comes to exclusives, we've seen with thatgamecompany that it can be a double-edged sword. Sony let TGC go into debt while making The Journey and considering that was a paid exclusive Sony and brought in so much acclaim, its quite clear Sony could have just done more - they owe TGC a bigger cut on principle. Unless something has changed and Guacamelee's developer is being treated better, I remain wary about it. Even still, pledging exclusives is a terrible idea for indies because they're limiting their audience when they need the money to stay afloat more than bigger studios that pledge exclusives do.

Also, Fez is coming to Vita. I would get it, but since Phil Fish seems to enjoy behaving like an asshole in the public eye. I'd prefer to judge people by their work, but the guy is just toxic compared to all the better developer voices we have out there.

TL;DR - As nice as it is Sony seems to be making strides in attracting indie developers, it needs to lead the charge on Vita exclusives. They're not doing that. They're holding out for a hero like Monster Hunter to save them rather than put in the work. The Crossbuy games merely inflate Vita's library without giving it a real exclusive and just caters to the Sony loyalists rather than giving outsiders an incentive to have a Vita.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

Just adding this since Icemage brought it up and it feels odd to make another thread for it.

This is Guacamelee, hitting PS3 and Vita in two weeks.

Little steep at $15, but I have a PSN credit coming since I spent over $50 on PSN this month and there's that $10 back deal.

[Malacite]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

o_O Ontario Media?!

So this is made by a Canadian with Mexican lineage or?

[Icemage]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

Found another interesting anecdote:

CounterSpy takes inspiration from classic side-scrollers - Destructoid

Employing a unique art style like this isn't easy, so it's a good thing a partnership with Sony goes beyond just PR and marketing.

"Our resources are super limited, and there are certain things that would be kind of tough for us to do on our own," David stated. "Like, character modeling is one of those things where it's really hard to do right. We were actually able to work with Sony and have them create the character model for those guards. It's just one of those things when you're doing something stylized you can look at something 2D and think, 'Oh, that looks awesome,' but you never know how it's going to look as a 3D model. [Sony] just hit it out of the park straight away.

"For us, that's nice to have. It's more than just PR and marketing. They can actually help with some of the development. They're making a big push to work with smaller independent developers like us."

I know Sony's been banging on the indie drum a lot lately (and it shows with the flow of indie games coming to PS3 and PS Vita), but is this is the first time a platform holder has actually helped develop an indie game in terms of directly contributing game assets?


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

I can't think of an instance, but I can think of a reason.

Sony's assets ensure exclusivity.

I think some co-development is fine for retail games (Demon's Souls, The Last Story being some contemporary examples), but I don't really think it would be great for indies considering that could removes the possibility of a release on other non-Playstation platforms.

[Icemage]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

^ But it's not exclusive. Supposedly it's coming to mobile devices too (beyond PS3/Vita), unless "mobile devices" only refers to Sony Xperia Z phones or something via PlayStation Mobile?


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

^ But it's not exclusive. Supposedly it's coming to mobile devices too (beyond PS3/Vita), unless "mobile devices" only refers to Sony Xperia Z phones or something via PlayStation Mobile?


Icemage

If that's what it means that would be unfortunate, but I doubt PS Mobile would be a place developers would be excited to go.

Playstation Mobile and PS Suite seemed like it was going to apply to whatever mobile devices Sony deigned worthy, which would have been like not Samsung or Apple. Right now I think Sony's just backing away from PS mobile and pretending it didn't happen. They just don't have the presence in the mobile market to pull it off.

[Icemage]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

If that's what it means that would be unfortunate, but I doubt PS Mobile would be a place developers would be excited to go.

Playstation Mobile and PS Suite seemed like it was going to apply to whatever mobile devices Sony deigned worthy, which would have been like not Samsung or Apple. Right now I think Sony's just backing away from PS mobile and pretending it didn't happen. They just don't have the presence in the mobile market to pull it off.

Right, hence my skepticism. But if it's not just "other mobile devices" via PSMobile, then it's going to probably release on either iOS or Android, which seems odd.

Granted, it probably didn't take Sony much in terms of time to put together a good low-poly model; it's not like they don't have a huge raft of developers of every stripe who couldn't task a single artist on it for a day or two to make it, particularly one of the devs that's maybe in between titles at the moment, so even if it did end up on other platforms, Sony's not really losing much productivity out of the deal. But it's still odd.

I seriously can't think of any other situation where a first party publisher has actually contributed art assets to a game which eventually ended up on other platforms, be it indie or AAA (exception made for Sega since their stuff only appeared on other platforms after they exited the hardware market).


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Lots of indie games coming to PS Vita

Actually, I can think of some first party software that has appeared on another platforum.

On the DS there were two IPs by MS - one born on PC and the other Xbox:

Age of Empires and Geometry Wars. Ensemble Studios actually worked on both DS entries of Age of Empires while Geometry Wars was licensed out to Kuju and Sierra Entertainment for the collaboration, Geometry Wars Galaxies.

Additionally, even after MS acquired Rare, there was still a deal in place to get out a Banjo-Kazooie DS game out and the game remained in development after the deal, though I'm unsure if it was ever completed. Diddy Kong Racing did remain in development, though, and was released, but then, Nintendo owns all the Kong stuff Rare made, which makes sense.

And actually, fi you ever get the chance, those two Age of Empire games are actually pretty fantastic and adapted well to the DS. Small comfort in the face of the mediocrity that was Halo Wars but nice to know those guys had enough spark to make that IP work well on the DS.