History of video games/Indie games

"Indie games" (a.k.a Independent games) are independently-produced video games that are made by very small independent game artists.

Yep, this will be the final Indie Brawlers upload, at least for a while. I also plan on making one last DLC roster and maybe a journal adding some alt skins/characters to some characters before moving on to other things, this series was so fun to make but it had to end at some point. Maybe when I learn to draw or model though. In the reality, I'll will could make an Everyone Is Here style poster in the future.

List Of All Characters:

1. Freddy (Five Nights At Freddy's, 2014)

2. Frisk (Undertale, 2015)

3. Cuphead (Cuphead, 2017)

4. Bendy (Bendy And The Ink Machine, 2017)

5. Peacock (Skullgirls, 2012)

6. Shantae (Shantae, 2010)

7. Shovel Knight (Shovel Knight, 2014)

8. Hat Kid (A Hat In Time, 2017)

9. Henry Stickmin (Henry Stickmin, 2007)

10. Crewmate (Among Us, 2018)

11. Steve (Minecraft, 2009)

12. Hollow Knight (Hollow Knight, 2017)

13. The Neighbor (Hello Neighbor, 2017)

14. Arthur (We Happy Few, 2016)

15. Baldi (Baldi's Basics, 2018)

16. Travis (Oddity, 2021)

17. Blixer (Just Shapes & Beats, 2018)

18. Limbo Kid (Limbo, 2010)

19. Wilson (Don't Starve, 2012)

20. Madotsuki (Yume Nikki, 2008)

21. Clawed Girl (They Bleed Pixels, 2012)

22. Kris (Deltarune, 2018)

23. Beheaded (Dead Cells, 2017)

24. Madeline (Celeste, 2018)

25. Spelunker (Spelunky, 2008)

26. Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club, 2017)

27. Goose (Untitled Goose Game, 2019)

28. Six (Little Nightmares, 2017)

29. Mama Tattletail (Tattletail, 2016)

30. Fall Guy (Fall Guys, 2020)

31. Meat Boy (Meat Boy, 2008)

32. Quote (Cave Story, 2004)

33. SCP-049 (SCP: Containment Breach, 2012)

34. Terrarian (Terraria, 2011)

35. Cadence (Crypt Of The NecroDancer, 2015)

36. Boxer Man (Punch Club, 2016)

37. Spooky (Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion, 2014)

38. Drifter (Hyper Light Drifter, 2016)

39. Otis (Owlboy, 2016)

40. Lilac (Freedom Planet, 2014)

41. Octodad (Octodad, 2010)

42. Slenderman (Slenderman, 2012)

43. Yooka-Laylee (Yooka-Laylee, 2017)

44. Ayano (Yandere Simulator, 2014)

45. Boyfriend (Friday Night Funkin, 2020)

46. Fancy Pants (Fancy Pants Adventures, 2006)

47. Gris (Gris, 2018)

48. Commander Video (Bit. Trip, 2009)

49. Gomez (Fez, 2012)

50. Isaac (The Binding Of Isaac, 2011)

51. Coffee (The Desolate Hope, 2012)

52. Chipper (Chipper And Sons Lumber Co., 2013)

53. Animdude (There Is No Pause Button, 2014)

54. Miriam (Bloodstained Ritual Of The Night, 2019)

55. Orcane (Rivals Of Aether, 2015)

56. Battle Cat (Battle Cats, 2012)

57. Tim (Braid, 2008)

58. Mr. Golfy (Gone Golfing, 2020)

59. Malak (Dark Deception, 2018)

60. The Traveler (Journey, 2012)

61. GingerBrave (Ovenbreak, 2009)

62. Zagreus (Hades, 2018)

63. Gunvolt (Azure Striker Gunvolt, 2014)

64. Bullet Kin (Enter The Gungeon, 2016)

65. Jacket (Hotline Miami, 2012)

66. The Watcher (Slay the Spire, 2017)

67. Diogenes (Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy, 2017)

68. Stardew Farmer (Stardew Valley, 2016)

69. Pumpkin Jack (Pumpkin Jack, 2020)

70. Irzyka (Aedemphia, 2008)

71. Follower (123 Slaughter Me Street, 2015)

72. Niko (OneShot, 2016)

73. Mae (Night In The Woods, 2017)

74. Beck (Mighty No. 9, 2016)

75. Patricia Wagon (Mighty Switch Force, 2011)

76. Ajna (Indivisible, 2019)

77. Juan (GuacaMelee, 2012)

78. Ryley Robinson (SubNautica, 2013)

79. Kanna (Blaster Master Zero, 2019)

80. Stardrop (Star Sprint, 2013)

81. Turnip Boy (Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evansion, 2020)

82. Bastion Kid (Bastion, 2011)

83. Brute (Monstrum, 2015)

84. Stella (Spiritfarer, 2020)

85. Kerbal (Kerbal Space Program, 2011)

86. Zero (Katana Zero, 2019)

87. Crusader (Darkest Dungeon, 2015)

88. Lea (CrossCode, 2018)

89. Viridian (VVVVVV, 2010)

90. Ori (Ori And The Blind Forest, 2015)

91. The Batter (OFF, 2008)

92. Max (Mutant Mudds, 2012)

93. Dust (Dust: An Elysian Tail, 2012)

94. Spark (Spark The Electric Jester, 2017)

95. Josef (Machinarium, 2009)

96. Castle Crasher (Castle Crashers, 2008)

97. Red (Transistor, 2014)

98. Kuro (EvoLand, 2013)

99. The Lamb (Cult Of The Lamb, 2022)

100. Daniel (Amnesia The Dark Descent, 2010)

101. Sunny (Omori, 2020)

102. Welltaro (Downwell, 2015)

103. Baba (Baba Is You, 2019)

104. Peppino (Pizza Tower, 2023)

105. Poppy Playtime (Poppy Playtime, 2021)

Characters Through The Origin Years: (2004-2023)

2004 - Quote

2006 - Fancy Pants

2007 - Henry Stickmin

2008 - Madotsuki

2008 - The Batter

2008 - Tim

2008 - Castle Crasher

2008 - Meat Boy

2008 - Spelunker

2008 - Irzyka

2009 - CommanderVideo

2009 - GingerBrave

2009 - Steve

2009 - Josef

2010 - Viridian

2010 - Limbo Kid

2010 - Daniel

2010 - Shantae

2010 - Octodad

2011 - Terrarian

2011 - Kerbal

2011 - Bastion Kid

2011 - Isaac

2011 - Patricia Wagon

2012 - Max

2012 - The Traveler

2012 - Peacock

2012 - Gomez

2012 - The Traveler

2012 - SCP-049

2012 - Slenderman

2012 - Stardrop

2012 - Dust

2012 - Clawed Girl

2012 - Jacket

2012 - Battle Cat

2013 - Kuro

2013 - Juan

2013 - Wilson

2013 - Animdude

2013 - Mr. Chipper

2014 - Ayano

2014 - Coffee

2014 - Red

2014 - Shovel Knight

2014 - Freddy

2014 - Lilac

2014 - Gunvolt

2014 - Spooky

2014 - Ryley Robinson

2015 - Brute

2015 - Crusader

2015 - Ori

2015 - Orcane

2015 - Cadence

2015 - Frisk

2015 - Follower

2015 - Welltaro

2016 - Boxer Man

2016 - Stardew Farmer

2016 - Drifter

2016 - Beck

2016 - Arthur

2016 - Bullet Kin

2016 - Otus

2016 - Niko

2016 - Mama Tattletail

2017 - Mae

2017 - Bendy

2017 - Hollow Knight

2017 - Kanna

2017 - Spark

2017 - Yooka-Laylee

2017 - Six

2017 - Beheaded

2017 - Monika

2017 - Cuphead

2017 - Diogenes

2017 - Hat Kid

2017 - The Watcher

2017 - The Neighbor

2018 - Madeline

2018 - Baldi

2018 - The Boss

2018 - Crewmate

2018 - Lea

2018 - Malak

2018 - Kris

2018 - Zagreus

2018 - Gris

2019 - Baba

2019 - Katana Zero

2019 - Miriam

2019 - Goose

2019 - Ajna

2020 - Fall Guy

2020 - Stella

2020 - Mr. Golfy

2020 - Turnip Boy

2020 - Boyfriend

2020 - Sunny

2021 - Travis

2021 - Poppy Playtime

2022 - The Lamb

2023 - Peppino

1999

In 1999 the first version of the GameMaker engine is released, and later gains popularity among indie game developers.

Read more about GameMaker on Wikipedia.

2000

A pirated English translation of RPG Maker is released by Don Miguel, introducing many to game development.

2002

RPG maker 2003 was a continuation of the RPG maker engine, and had surprising longevity, with commercial indie games still being released that were made the engine as of 2018.

Read more about RPG Maker 2003 on Wikipedia.

2004

2004 was a seminal year in Indie gaming history, with several high profile releases attracting attention.

N was released as a browser game, and would see a number of notable followup games. Alien Hominid was a browser game that was ported to PlayStation 2 and Gamecube in 2004, making it an early indie game to see a port from web to console.

2004 also saw the release of one notable game engines used by a number of games, including Source.

Read more about N and Alien Hominid.

Yume Nikki

A Japanese horror surreal 2D RPG.

Read more about Yume Nikki on Wikipedia.

Cave Story

A Japanese 2D platformer and shooter popular on PC at the time.

Read more about * Cave Story on Wikipedia.

2005

• First release of the Unity game engine.

2006

Line Rider

A unique flash platformer game of sorts that allowed players to draw lines which would then be traversed by a character using a physics engine. Players would often leverage Line Rider to create their own artwork, some of which was enormously complex.

Read more about Line Rider on Wikipedia.

DEFCON

A real time simulation of Nuclear War. This game is known for its simple yet deep mechanics, as well as its retro vector graphics reminiscent of depictions of nuclear commands in Cold War era popular culture.

Read more about DEFCON on Wikipedia.

Dwarf Fortress

A map in Dwarf Fortress.

Loosing is Fun!

—Common phrase among Dwarf Fortress players, The New York Times Magazine

A text based open world game known for it's extensive systems which lead to emergent gameplay.

Read more about Dwarf Fortress on Wikipedia.

2007

I Wanna Be the Guy

A freeware 2D Platformer known for it's notorious difficulty. This game artfully used level design to both increase the difficulty of the game, as well as to parody techniques commonly used by 2D platformer games in the 1980's and early 1990's.

Read more about I Wanna Be the Guy on Wikipedia.

Jazzuo & B-Games

In 2007 Polish developer "Jazzuo" creates several so called "B-Games", influencing a number of notable indie developers.

2008

• Spelunky
• Meat Boy
• OFF
• Braid
• Audiosurf
• Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden
• Castle Crashers
• World of Goo
• N+

You Have to Burn the Rope

The title screen of You Have to Burn the Rope.

A flash 2D platformer known for it's exceptional simplicity and briefness.

Read more about You Have to Burn the Rope on Wikipedia.

2009

AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity

A base jumping game between high rise buildings.

Read more about AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity on Wikipedia.

Canabalt

Among the first popular endless runner games. It's aesthetic qualities were well received, leading to the game being featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Read more about Canabalt on Wikipedia.

Angry Birds

Angry Birds characters became popular figures. Seen here is Astronaut Donald Pettit demonstrating microgravity aboard the International Space Station in 2012 using Angry Birds characters.

An touchscreen physics puzzler hit on early iOS and Android mobile devices, which lead to an extended franchise.

Read more about Angry Birds on Wikipedia.

Bit.Trip Beat

A Wii-ware arcade style music game that found widespread popularity, launching ports to other platforms and a series of successor games.

Read more about Bit.Trip Beat on Wikipedia.

I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1

An action shooter that proved to be among the most popular indie games available on the Xbox Live Arcade.

Read more about I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 on Wikipedia.

2010

Unity Asset Store

In 2010 Unity launches their asset store, making it easier for indie developers to find assets for use in their games. As the decade progresses, other engines follow suit, such as the release of the Unreal Engine Marketplace in 2018.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

A popular melding of adventure and survival horror game genres, and commonly considered among the best horror games of the era.

Read more about Amnesia: The Dark Descent on Wikipedia.

Fruit Ninja

A mobile game focused on using a touch screen to cut fruit and build combos, while avoiding slicing bombs.

Read more about Fruit Ninja on Wikipedia.

Octodad

A freeware physics game focused on maneuvering an octopus man character through a 3D environment with unconventional controls.

Read more about Octodad on Wikipedia.

Super Meat Boy

A 2D platformer known for both its difficulty, and its ability to quickly retry levels.

Read more about Super Meat Boy on Wikipedia.

VVVVVV

A 2D platformer hallmarked by replacing jumping with inverting gravity and it's Atari 2600 style aesthetics.

Read more about VVVVVV on Wikipedia.

• 
  Ascending and Descending of VVVVVV.
• 
  The Yes Men of VVVVVV.
• 
  The Tomb of Mad Carew of VVVVVV.
• 
  Prize for the Reckless of VVVVVV.
• 
  Super Gravitron in VVVVVV.
• 
  I Love You in VVVVVV.
• 
  Sweeny's Maze in VVVVVV.
• 
  Outside the Ship in VVVVVV.
• 
  VVVVVV featured simple text to advance the plot.

Cart Life

A simulation game focused on the challenges of being a street vendor.

Read more about Cart Life on Wikipedia.

• 
  A screenshot from Cart Life, showing the art style of the game.
• 
  Another screenshot from Cart Life.

2011

• Minecraft - Later acquired by Microsoft
• Bastion
• The Binding of Isaac
• Dungeons of Dredmor
• The Stanley Parable
• Hatoful Boyfriend
• Jetpack Joyride
• Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

Terraria

A crafting game similar to Minecraft, but taking place in a side scrolling 2D environment.

Read more about Terraria on Wikipedia.

To the Moon

A 2D RPG without battle mechanics known for it's plot revolving around the concept of memory.

Read more about To the Moon on Wikipedia.

2012

The 2012 Global Game Jam

• GameMaker Studio game engine released.

The FEZ dev team at GDC 2012.

• Dust: An Elysian Tail
• Frog Fractions
• Fez
• FTL: Faster Than Light
• Hotline Miami
• Mark of the Ninja
• Plague Inc.
• Slender: The Eight Pages
• Skullgirls
• Thomas Was Alone

Mari0

A notable fanmade mashup of Super Mario Bros and Portal.

Read more about Mari0 on Wikipedia.

2013

Subset Games, creators of FTL, at IGF 2013

• Antichamber
• BattleBlock Theater
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
• Don't Starve
• Cookie Clicker
• Gone Home
• Papers, Please
• Risk of Rain

Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective

An unofficial fangame of Bubsy 3D, posted online when the domain name for the original game expired.

The game was set in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art during an exhibition of the postmodern work of James Turrell. The game itself delves into strange scenes, perhaps in a postmodern exploration of its own.

Read more about Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits the James Turrell Retrospective on Wikipedia.

2014

Lucas Pope, creator of Papers, Please, at IGF 2014.

• Five Nights at Freddy's
• Shovel Knight
• 2048
• Lisa: The Painful

Lethal League

A 2D fighting game centered around successfully passing a ball back and forth between players.

Read more about Lethal League on Wikipedia.

Freedom Planet

A 2D platformer made in the style of 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games.

Read more about Freedom Planet on Wikipedia.

• 
  A boss in Freedom Planet.
• 
  A time attack level with the character Milla visible.
• 
  A cutscene in Freedom Planet.
• 
  The Freedom Planet box artwork.
• 
  A concept art sketch of the character Brevon.
• 
  A concept art sketch of the character Torque.

Nidhogg

A 2D sword fighting game known for it's balance and 1980's inspired visuals.

Read more about Nidhogg on Wikipedia.

• A trailer for Nidhogg, both showing gameplay and a common indie marketing technique of the time.
• 
  A gameplay screenshot of Nidhogg.
• 
  An arcade stick for Nidhogg.

Transistor

Released in 2014, the game Transistor is known for many of its qualities, particularly its unique art direction. While working on Transistor, game artist Jen Zee took inspiration from the Art Nouveau style, as well as the work of 19th century Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The game is also well known for its less direct storytelling methods, as well as it's unique hybrid real time and turn based action system which leads to interesting strategic choices for the player.

Read more about Transistor on Wikipedia.

Game Engines

Unreal Engine 4 is released in 2014, offering a number of improvements.

The Godot and Xenko (now Stride) game engines are open sourced.

2015

Unreal Engine 4 goes gratis

• Unreal Engine 4 eliminates subscription fees, making it more accessible to indie developers.

Games

• Undertale
• Axiom Verge
• 2064: Read Only Memories
• Crypt of the NecroDancer
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• Soma

Nuclear Throne

A screenshot of Nuclear Throne, showing bullet hell, or danmaku, style gameplay.

A top down 2D shooter known for it's difficult bullet-hell style gameplay.

Read more about Nuclear Throne on Wikipedia.

2016

• Furi
• Job Simulator
• No Man's Sky
• Owlboy
• Salt and Sanctuary
• The Witness
• Rec Room
• Stardew Valley
• Starbound
• Superhot

VA-11 Hall-A

Christoper Ortiz, one of the developers of VA-11 Hall-A, showcases the game at a talk at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela.

A mix of bartender simulation and visual novel created by a team in Venezuela.

Read more about VA-11 Hall-A on Wikipedia.

2017

• Cuphead
• Bendy and the Ink Machine
• Hollow Knight
• Doki Doki Literature Club!
• Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
• A Hat in Time
• Night in the Woods
• Yooka-Laylee
• Pyre

• 
  Gameplay of Getting over it with Bennet Foddy
• 
  Heart Machine, developers of Hyperlight Drifter, at GDC 2017.

2018

• Celeste
• Baldi's Basics
• CrossCode
• Dead Cells
• Donut County
• Gris
• Into the Breach

• 
  Night in the Woods dev team at the 2018 IGF.
• 
  Gameplay of Celeste

2019

• Baba Is You
• Beat Saber
• Outer Wilds
• Untitled Goose Game
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night

2020

• Omori

Friday Night Funkin'

Friday Night Funkin' was developed for the Ludum Dare game jam. Some news outlets noted the similarities of Friday Night Funkin' to the sorts of games which were based on Adobe Flash. It's important to note that there was an increased interest in Adobe Flash games, as the time of this game's launch corresponded with the discontinuation of Flash. Notably the game was open source which attracted modders to the game. At the time of release, it was somewhat unusual for original indie titles to launch under an open source license.

2021

Poppy Playtime

is a survival horror video game developed and published by american independent developer MOB Games. The player takes the role of a former employee of toy-making company Playtime Co., who revisits its abandoned toy factory 10 years after its staff's disappearance. The player navigates through a first-person perspective and must solve puzzles, some requiring a gadget named the GrabPack, to progress while avoiding various enemies. first game chapter is released on October 2021, The second chapter is released on May 2022 and the third chapter will be soon released on 2024.

Read more about Poppy Playtime on Wikipedia.

2022

Cult of the Lamb

is a single-player construction and management simulation, rogue-like action-adventure game developed by indie developer Massive Monster and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released on 11 August 2022 for macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game follows a possessed lamb who is saved from death by a god-like stranger named "The One Who Waits", and must repay their debt by creating a loyal following in its name.

Read more about Cult of the Lamb on Wikipedia.

2023

Pizza Tower

Pizza Tower is a 2023 platform game created by the indie developer Tour De Pizza. It follows a pizza chef, Peppino Spaghetti, who must scale a tower to prevent the destruction of his pizzeria. Across 20 side-scrolling levels, the player increases their score by gathering collectibles and defeating enemies to build combos. At the end of each level, they activate an escape sequence and must return to the beginning within a time limit. Pizza Tower does not feature health or lives, and its difficulty depends on what the player chooses to achieve.

References

Wikipedia has related information at Indie game.