Some have called 2022 the year of "microgames". In the wake of @poncle_vampire a host of ~$2 games were created mostly by solo developers or tiny #IndieDev teams in the span of a few months.
Let's talk game dev experimentalism!
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The reception, surrounding many of these titles is open, forgiving and appreciative. Turns out if players didn't spend $60 and didn't get hyped up for years of dev time by a faceless corporation, the human side of #GameDev actually shines through sometimes, even on Steam.
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This in turn opens up #GameDesign space. "Bullet heaven" is a result of flipping a genre on its head: YOU are the bullet hell! Of course there's iteration in microgames too, but the possibility to experiment is real (e.g. @caiysware's "What if your bullets are minions?").
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The brilliant @PUNKCAKE_delice have made exactly this experimentation their whole mission as a studio: one game a month, each one mechanically unique. What if Minesweeper, but twin-stick? What if tower-defense, but match-3? What if Pong, but it's actually a #roguelike shmup?
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Of course the "regular game jam" model existed before, most notably in the form of the inexhaustibly creative @sokpopco. In the midst of this new microgame-welcoming atmosphere though, they had a big breakout hit with the unique Stacklands.
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At the same time @panic is rolling out their #Playdate handheld that encourages experimentation by design: It comes with minimal buttons and a seemingly retro 1-bit display, but at the same time features a physical crank, i.e. an entirely new kind of continuous input.
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I've mentioned platforms like @Pokittocom, @theGamebuino or @bateskecom's Arduboy that create ecosystems encouraging small projects and experiments.
As #PICO8's @lexaloffle put it: "I just love to see isolated little thoughts." (@NYUGameCenter talk: )
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At this point, another shoutout is due to content creators out there who embrace experiments, who don't shy away from taking smaller titles seriously: @Esty8nine, @extarscube, @MrDelightful2, @nookrium, @OlexaYT, @RetromationYT, @SplattrCatGames, @TheTimeToGrind, @wildfremdYT
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We see more instances of "games as conceptual art", beautiful small windows into specific creative minds, come to the surface: fischerdesign.medium.com/games-as-conce…
In an industry where the big projects are becoming increasingly anonymous assembly line productions, that's very refreshing.
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