The Rise of Indie Game Animation

This was a fun video to make, I hope you enjoy my thoughts on indie game animation.
You get 100 points if you can spot my spelling error in the video somewhere! (Comment the timecode and the error)
This video was funded by my patrons: Bardic-Dragoon, Kyle Worthingto, Nobodyma, Albert, Fernande, Kiyosh, Joshua H, J Bravo, Adrift, Any-mation , Francoyovich, James Zaki, Austin Frey, Augustus, Hinton, Tim Romero, Sid Mysore, mcp , Daniel Retamoza, Minifyre , Erin Brioche, Joseph Maltby, Soundole VGM Covers, Connery Cepeda, SoftGhost, Game Maker's Toolkit, gaijinking, Kennan Ward, Nick DeWitt, CriticaLink, D.B. Root and Ben Williams.
Please consider supporting the channel through Patreon to help improve the quality of research, editing, footage capture, animation and overall production of each episode:
www.patreon.com/DanRoot
Below is a list of all the games I spoke about in this video:
Have a Nice Death
Narita Boy
Everything
BLUD
Penny's Big Breakaway
Fez
Limbo
Axiom Verge
Trials HD
Void Bastards
Grow Home
Hoa
Thank Goodness You're Here
No Man's Sky
Donut County
Dustforce
Streets of Rage 4
Wonderboy: The Dragon's Trap
Marvel's Spider-Man
Indivisible
Red Dead Redemption 2
Hi-Fi Rush
God of War
Downwell
Octopath Traveler
Tears of the Kingdom
Shadow of the Colossus
Tomb Raider
Shovel Knight
GRIS
Monsterboy
Doom '16
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees
Inside
Batman: Arkham Knight
Celeste
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Mega Man 11
Sonic Superstars
Hollow Knight
Super Mario Wonder
Metroid Dread
I Am Bread
Cult of the Lamb
Pizza Tower
Berserk Boy
The Plucky Squire
Cosmic Express
Florence
Firewatch
Kung Fury
Mighty Goose
Gonner
The Ramp
Outer Wilds
Townscaper
Neva
Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus
Guinea Pig Parkour
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Ultros
Biomorph
Nine Sols
Animal Well
Anton Blast
Mika and the Witch's Mountain
Mouse: P.I.
Attack on Starlight
Gurei
The Eternal life of Goldman
Scarlet Deer Inn
Duck Detective
Kidbash
Detective Fantasia Exclaimurder
Xeodrifter
Hob
The Witness
Down in Bemud
Valfaris
Aer
Cat Quest
Just Shapes 'n Beats
Strider '14
Minit
Sonic Mania
Iron Corbo
Demon Turf: Neon Switch

[@andrewcosmicanimations8709]

It's very encouraging what you said near the end, about indie devs worrying about their animation styles, and that they should just animate for the sake of it. It's something that has been said before, but it shows how sincere you are about animation in games as a whole.

[@LordBaktor]

Both Ori games are stunning to look at. And once you realize that combat is secondary to platforming in those games, they are a joy to play.

[@dpedreno]

Having the game titles always visible is a must, can’t thank you enough! Great video!

[@humouroushawk]

Seriously not enough ppl do this or credit in the description. This kind of exposure is how i usually find new games to play! Kudos!

[@bregowine]

I didn’t see Cuphead in the thumbnail and was ready to leave a strongly worded message. Glad to see joke was on me

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think I've got like 20 or 30 indie games I show - that's a big-ass thumbnail 🤣

[@VideoGameStoryTime]

This is such a stylishly edited video and so well written!

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thank you!

[@gumball1328]

Team size and how the production is funded is what separates indie for me. Indie games are “normally” small budget that has been crowd funded. Big studio games get funding from the company directly. Thus company games can stay secret longer whereas indie games share progress from the very beginning “normally”.

[@marconylara1272]

Great to hear YOUR opinion

[@samy29987]

That little nod to The Last Guardian at the end... Such a beautiful title. Keep up the great work man!

[@krieger1969]

I played it and was disappointed that a lot of people didn't like it and that many people were comparing it to SOTC, which is a masterpiece.

[@Fatih_M177]

Blud looks like what i remember those old 90s Cartoon network shows looked like when i was a kid, Something about seeing that Style of Animation in widescreen feels very appealing, a similar vibe to Cuphead in a sense cause seeing those animation styles in a "Full Views" feels very imaginative, like you're stepping away from the "4:3 prison". Hard to explain, but the animation is gorgeous!

[@lukasgruber1280]

the stuning animations in the original Ghost Trick on the NDS caught me to get deeper into the game

[@benbone2559]

I think that AA or II area is the sweet spot. Ori, Mario Wonder, Metroid Dread, Bloodstained... these have been some of my personal favorite titles over the last decade.

[@losalfajoresok]

You're guilty that my wishlist in Steam keeps getting bigger and bigger, keep up your amazing work!

[@user-sl6gn1ss8p]

The plucky squire looks absurdly good, the transition when they came out of the page felt like a revelation : p

[@teero121]

honestly the effect you made at 7:24 should come as a standard feature for when uploaders include the "more from" thingie in their videos

[@hypershadix1]

I haven’t watched the full video yet but my definition of an indie game in some cases is “fans got tired of waiting for their favorite franchise to get a sequel game so they made their own out of spite.

[@TheFootballHype]

Like Bomb Rush Cyberpunk

[@JB_CY]

A new VGAS video is always a good time :)

[@jurtheorc8117]

Yoooo Blud is on here! That's a true delight! I hope Cookie Cutter is here as well, that one's likewise really nicely hand-drawn 2D animated! (perhaps Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, No Straight Roads and Blud too, though those are 3D rather than 2D but i really like them a lot and want to get word of them out there). In advance: Thank you for this video as a whole!

[@zer0legend109]

I look for some gaming videos and maybe add one or two of the showed games that I didn't play into my wishlist, while I have added a dozen or more just from this video alone and even bought a game on the spot. I like stylish art style in games, and this video was such a treat, keep it up Edit: I like that you add the name of the game on the video

[@jurtheorc8117]

Stylish art for stylish games... may i interest you in the likes of Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, Cookie Cutter, Decline's Drops, No Straight Roads, Lost in Random (and a recently-announced new game called LiR: The Eternal Die), Judero, Harold Halibut, Soulstice, Immortal: And the Death that Follows, Bad Boro, My Familiar, Near-Mage, Loco Motive, The Mermaid Mask, and the current projects of Amanita Design and Moonhood Studio? There's so much more that i could mention but that i think i forget.

[@Alex_dlc]

I was really hoping to see MIO: Memories in Orbit mentioned in this video, that games animations and art style look stunning.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I had that saved on my list to show actually, but you've just reminded me that I forgot to actually track down any footage of it!

[@Alex_dlc]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Well, hopefully we’ll get more footage soon! As far as I know there’s only the footage shown in the Nintendo Direct. Look forward to playing this so much!

[@gigabyte2248]

I think the point about 'AA' games is really important, given the current industry situation. AAA studios cutting so many jobs puts them in a weaker position to put out good games that sell well and dominate the zeitgeist, while also leaving a lot of good talent sloshing around the sector. I'm kind of expecting the next few years to see fewer AAA releases that have a limited splash, with AA projects being the big beneficiaries. Think about how Hollow Knight made a splash when it came out - that, but potentially on a larger scale. People's appetite for games isn't going to be diminished and good creators aren't going to vanish, so it's just going to be a matter of how talent, quality, supply and demand shift around.

[@svenbtb]

Yeah, especially with all of the (unfortunate) recent industry layoffs, I imagine most of those devs aren't going to want to go back to big publishers and studios again. So I'm hoping that many of them will go to indie studios and they can work on more AA level stuff with all of their knowledge and experience, and will make the kind of stuff they want to make

[@Qwarky]

Recently played through Gestalt: Steam & Cinder, and just today Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn and just mwahhh absolutely wonderful spriteart and animation. Just masters of their craft at work and it's a joy to behold.

[@soninhodev7851]

I have recently started to remake my first ever game, and let me tell you, im a single guy in that project (probably going to bring a couple of more people over as time goes on, but we will see), and i will tell you one thing about that games animation, it is not stylish at all, but it is clever. Like my player character has not 2, but 3 layers! its quite simple actually, its one for the body, animating thing like walking, jumping, sliding, etc... theres another layer for the arms, which either matches the animations of the body if you do not have a weapon out, or it is used for the weapon when you do have it out, ive done that to allow you to attack and move freely at the same time, than third is a layer for the head, for similar reasons as Thanks goodness you're here. But it is not just the players sprite that has that layering, i only have 1 enemy desinged by now, but it has 2 animation layers, because of course.

[@jurtheorc8117]

Good luck on your remake!

[@fatyoshi696]

The final part is really relatable, lately I've been making a custom character for yomi hustle and learning to animate, and while my animations are competent they feel not even remotely close to the level of other characters made by way more experienced animators. Despite that though, I'll sometimes post an animation I'm particularly proud of in the discord and whenever I do people always like them and react positively. Comparing your work to that of other more experienced people, in animation or any other medium, can affect your self-esteem and make you see your art as worse than it really is, and it's important to be aware of that and focus on enjoying the creative process instead

[@cocasurfboards]

Congrats on doing such a rich and well edited video! ❤❤❤

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thank you!

[@Jonjohnsonandthekinderen]

thx for making these videos man. You are always so genuinely excited about everything animation. It makes me excited for the future!

[@lordofchaosiori]

I can’t get enough of your videos, love the animation analysis!

[@bananabike279]

Great selection of games!! Indie games have gone such a long way over the last decades is astounding. Also, I didn't know you were making your own game, that's rad!!

[@FDKeroks]

Speaking of sonic, Shadow generations looks promising animationvise.

[@gigabyte2248]

I've already noticed that Shadow's skating animation has much more pop than it used to. A bit of squash & stretch, more dynamic slow-in slow-out timing on each movement. Someone's clearly been watching New Frame Plus

[@NotShalune]

Great video! Spiritfarer fits perfectly in what you're talking about. It has some of the most beautiful and lovingly crafted animation I've ever seen.

[@IOSARBX]

Video Game Animation Study, awesome content dude

[@jobi1kawobi317]

You just gave me a whole list of games to research and study so I can improve my own game animations! Thanks for the amazing video ❤

[@mimisaiko]

I love your conclusion about high quality does no have to be stylish. I think Balatro would be a good example. It's a very simple game with simple visual. But it got numerous small touch to make the feel great, like the wiggles, slightly 3D tilt, the rhythm and motion speed.

[@Rammy_Latin]

This is one of your best videos yet! I love all the examples you used, actually introduced me to some indie games I'd never heard of/seen before! 🙏🏾

[@jurtheorc8117]

There's more too, like Cookie Cutter, Decline's Drops, No Straight Roads, Lost in Random (and a recently-announced new game called LiR: The Eternal Die), Judero, Harold Halibut, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos, Soulstice, Immortal: And the Death that Follows, Bad Boro, My Familiar, Near-Mage, Loco Motive, The Mermaid Mask... The proverbial little guys can use all the attention they can get.

[@jurtheorc8117]

Watched all the way through and you managed to hold my attention all the way to the end, i like your voice and way of explaining. It was nice to see attention to smaller ones be given to stuff like Ultros, Immortal Life of Goldman and Iron Corbo! To mention some other ones with very nice animation that i hope people may discover through this comment: Judero, Harold Halibut, Lost in Random, Decline's Drops, and i want to once again from my previosu comment mention Cookie Cutter and No Straight Roads, (and also Soulstice and Clash: Artifacts of Chaos) and that's it. And there's so much more out there that is interesting too, not just for the animation. From Immortal: And the Death that Follows to Judero to My Familiar to Bad Boro to whatever Amanita Design and Moonhood Studio are currently working on... Recommend to look into them all. Thank you again for this video and I wish you a lot of good luck and fun with future projects, be they videos, a game of your own or otherwise.

[@RooNelo]

Love the vid! The indie game space is the most interesting to me now as an artist. So glad you mentioned Scarlet Deer Inn. Definitely check out Feltopia’s development too, if you can. It’s made with stop motion and needle felting (there needs to be more stop motion games).

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh that game has a name now!? I saw it when it was just an aesthetic test I think, I didn't catch it's name last year, but glad to know! Thank you

[@VideoGameAnimationReferences]

Thanks for putting the title of each game you clipped from ❤

[@WagnerGFX]

Massive layoffs in big studios are probably pushing the birth of new indie studios with AAA experienced devs. Improvements in game engines and art tools lower the difficulty for developing creative games with polished art and beautiful effects. The ever increase in influencers with tutorial and analysis (like this video) also help in spreading technical knowledge for new artists. Stores like Itchio allows for publishing hobbyist and indie games without barriers. The rise of indie-focused publishers like Chucklefish and Devolver Digital allow for small studios to get support to develop their games. In the end, indie games are getting easier to be made (at least on a technical level) and published, while changes in the industry's flow may help in creating another wave of indie games.

[@alanalot]

I say indie games are games that are made by independent developers. These independent developers don't have their creative freedoms modified by publishing companies. The game that comes from their studio is what they want and no one else. AA Games are games made by independent developers but have publishers influence the game's creative process. The publishers suggest or sometimes even demand changes be made to the game. The publishers want these changes usually because they believe it will help them sell more copies.

[@jurtheorc8117]

Cookie Cutter is on an interesting front with that one. The lead dev went over 100 interviews with many possible publishers around... five or so years after starting the projects, before he found one that was completely comfortable with letting the man's vision be the way it is and not interfering.

[@Egnazol]

I've just spent the last few days putting together a grant and second guessing whether my animation skills are good enough for my game so hearing that last part was very reassuring. I see all these amazing games with beautiful animations, and even though animation is my specialization it's really hard to see much worth in my own animations... But all I can do is keep trying.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

You can do it! Do you have a link to a Steam page or Kickstarter or anything?

[@Egnazol]

​@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Thank you for the encouragement! It's still very early days as I've had to spend all my time working on other people's games, but fingers crossed I get this grant and I can spend the time to get it presentable. :)

[@GKplus8]

Always enjoy a new video from you.

[@Verne105]

I'm so happy you showed Hob

[@smokeback]

Another gem learning video thanks always learning and learnt a lot from your breakdowns

[@SidMakesGames]

Amazing video as always. I'm a simple man who immediately clicks on the video whenever Dan puts up a new video Also, this video is incomplete without the mention of Cookie Cutter. It's one hella of stylish and explosive hand-drawn animation

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I've seen Cookie Cutter mentioned a few times now, no idea how it's missed my radar this far!

[@SidMakesGames]

​@@VideoGameAnimationStudy That's totally fine. Maybe you can do a 2nd part of this video covering more games. And possibly our game will be included in that too. We're making Ghost Yantra, a 2D Hack-n-Slash Parkour game set in an Indian Cyberpunk City. All hand-drawn animations :) Also, what's Attack on Starlight? Something you've been cooking lately?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I just gave the game a quick look on your Steam page - looks great so far! Movement seems great as well on your channel - good luck with it! Yeah Attack on Starlight is the game I'm working on currently, though it's not quite at demo stage just yet, but don't worry I'll be sure to splash it all over my channel when it's ready!

[@mattmadolah]

Happy Friday! Thanks for another great video!

[@nicknormandy]

Love the work you do in the community. And never heard of KidBash, that game looks amazing.

[@mrshmuga9]

People underestimate animation. It’s half the reason why actions feel satisfying to use.

[@JustJulyo]

Thank goodness you're animated

[@lemeledicortes]

love the final message and, well, I had to add a lot of stuff to my wishlist yay thanks =)

[@IOSAGifts]

Video Game Animation Study, great video keep up the amazing work

[@goranisacson2502]

Already knew of Blud and Goldman, but Scarlet Deer Inn making it's graphics scans of hand-sewn images... yeah I'm definitely checking that one out.

[@99brickstudios]

Wohoo Let’s go❤

[@Uhcip]

Teal Lotus being shown but not Nine Sols is wild. That game has a good amount of nice art and animation.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

12:27

[@ElTaitronAnim]

I really like BLUD's style, I'll definitely have to try it sometime.

[@IOSARBX]

Video Game Animation Study, amazing content I really liked it

[@isned2000]

Tiny nitpick, but Ori is only rendered out as a sprite in the first game. The second game uses 3d models composited into the scene for its characters. The easiest way to spot the difference is in characters that are very large or close to the camera so they fill the screen. In Blind Forest the large sprites sometimes have block artifacts from image compression, while in Will of the Wisps you can occasionally spot a triangle edge on the big models.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Ahhhh brill, thanks for that!

[@timpize8733]

Thanks for the recommendations. They all look really cool honestly. If I may though, to me we should stop using labels like AAA. It simply started as a marketing term from big studios who wanted to make us believe their games were better than indie games, which they're not. The only recent games I'd call AAA are indie games, apart from a few exceptions. And some examples given here prove how little sense it makes: Mario Wonder doesn't deserve one less A juste because it's 2.5D, since it has the same production value - if that's even a valid criteria. Some indie games managed to have absolutely flawless animations despite the small team. So it's not really a matter of who made it but how it's made. Each game needs to be appreciated on its own merit, without any quality label attached to it. Just my two cents.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think I agree here, by making these labels we further encourage developers to fit their games into one of those pockets. Additionally, I don't know if what we know as AAA games production is sustainable. There's rumours that GTA 6 is costing nearly $2billion, which is absolutely absurd. Game production simply can't keep up like this.

[@DJCubit]

I'm completely baffled that you didn't mention Big Boy Boxing by Soupmasters! The Punch-out like game's got extremely fluid animation!

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I haven't heard of it - thanks!

[@AngelicDirt]

I never thought about it that way, the weird blend of experience and skill and techniques right now. I suppose it could be a good thing. Also, more categories means more variety. I hope. Let's all hope. ^^;

[@DanCreaMundos]

indie game = game made by an indie studio, which is a studio independent of big brand studios. If your game costs less than 2 million USD and doesn't take you over 7 years and over 100 people to make it, you're probably an indie studio making an indie game. With that I mean: Being an indie game or not is not related at all to the game's quality. There are plenty of amazing indie games that look and feel way better than AAA games.

[@theepic1944]

Cuphead is the first indie game that got me into animation.

[@eddysanoli]

What a beautiful thumbnail!

[@StepBaum]

Great breakdown!

[@retroinspect]

Check out Vivarium. There are a lot of games that immitate the Ghibli style but Vivarium fully understands what makes that soft anime look of the 80s so special.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Ooooooh yes yes, I mentioned that in one of my previous videos, looks amazing!

[@humouroushawk]

Calling the 00's the "naught-ies" is my new favorite name for the decade

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

@@humouroushawk What are they normally called? 😅

[@Indie-A-tom]

Love this

[@IOSAGifts]

Video Game Animation Study, nice video it was really entertaining

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

@@IOSAGifts thanks!

[@Manmade023]

The true innovation is in the indie realm.

[@jaylindo6528]

I LOVE THIS MAN

[@Char-dl2qb]

So excited for this video 🙂

[@RESGorilla]

Lovely insights! I wanted to mention that at about 2:00, you have DOOM Eternal listed as DOOM 2016

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Woops! Thanks. There's also a spelling error in one of the games made the beginning which I wonder if anyone will catch!

[@fanb1536]

I don't really feel #Blud quite managed to replicate either 90s or 2000s CN animation like they were attempting; I feel the characters morph and shift way too much for an era defined by very rigid and consistent geometric designs, the end product's much more akin to 2010s CN shows like Adventure Time or Clarence (especially with the lack of many hard edges). That all said, I do still appreciate the attempt, and all of the hard work that they put in; it's very impressive regardless.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I'm not sure it's necessarily trying to _replicate_ the style of the 90s exactly, more that it's paying homage and using it as inspiration.

[@mixingcat5213]

You should def check out rain world - they used procedural animation in their game, making movements of the character lifelike. This is different from the classic frame by frame animation but i think it is still notable that ai can be used in such places for more immersion.

[@FembotY2K]

I genuinely believe its time to do away with the labels of "triple A" and "indie" again. Having the two be separate sides of a spectrum allows one to be viewed as lesser, which due to how the word and aesthetics of "indie" games has been used, is usually the "indie" games. I think its time to just, have video games again. The obsession with labeling and categorizing with increasing granularity is just going to get more and more muddy. Back on the PS2 and Xbox the term indie didn't really exist. Yes the terms of hobbyist games, independent, and other such descriptors have always exists. But why does the art medium have to be so rigidly split? A game made by 4 people and released on the PS4 and a game made by Activision released on the PS4 are both PS4 games. One is not inherently worth less than the other. Theyre both a part of the same art medium. I dunno, it just feels like things are just going to keep getting murky until we have A, AA, AAA, AAAA, and then ten other types of games. In a landscape where the supposed "triple A" experiences come out as unfinished and half baked as your average asset flip, and games that function, look nice, play well, and are fun are made by everyone else, why does a price tag and studio prestige get to decide what the art is actually worth.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think I agree there!

[@tubeminer1325]

Might have spotted a spelling mistake at around 14:00. The game Down in Bermuda is missing an R? Awesome video nonetheless.

[@g-starthefirst]

Pizza Tower literally just got 5 seconds of screen time in this 😔

[@Stephen-Fox]

Dan, you know it seems to be a requirement for channels dedicated to video game animation to be run by an animator called Dan. There can't be that many of those, surely? (Although I cannot agree that Hollow Knight is AA/II considering Team Cherry as a studio consists of three people including their non-dev people, for part of HK's development it was two people, and they had one external contractor - their composer.)

[@ArceusDX]

10:30 nope, still like, 2 n a half weeks away

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

@@ArceusDX true

[@anthonywheeler2082]

Not trying to be annoying, but Amazing World of Gumball is a French show. It is a parody of America like The Simpsons. It just happens to be made in France.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

@anthonywheeler2082 That is true actually. I think it's physically produced in the UK, or at least in part. Thanks!

[@pmnt_]

2:24 I think that simple numbers such as production budget or yearly revenue can be used to define indie games and studios. If large game studios spend one or two magnitudes more but produce results similar to an indie studio, they should be ashamed. There is no need to defend large studios with "financial risk". They could finance indie games from "petty cash", the risk comes from their own inefficiencies. I'd even argue that the financial risk for indie devs is higher, staking their own existance or that of the studio with every single project. Stop defending large game studios. (or large corporations in general for that matter.)

[@chankawil]

thanks for sharing!

[@greguar86]

love your channel, could you please analyze some animation from games like spiritfairer ?

[@superlol178]

that parkuor game looks so cool! How come I never heard of it?!

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Still being developed, no marketing yet

[@LeanFuture]

Great video! Do you think at some point the animation will become so good that it will start to leave behind less-talented artists and make the industry more difficult to break into again?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I don't know, that's an interesting question!

[@brentgreeff1115]

How do you find these games? - Detective Fantasia Exclaimurder and Attack on Starlight dont have vids on youtube - links would be appreciated.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

A quick Google will bring them up

[@inceptional]

Blud has the kind of Flash look and style I just hate pretty much universally wherever I see it. Thank Goodness You're Here has a style that I actually really like. The only thing I don't like about Thank Goodness You're Here is the black boxes around the subtitles, but that might actually be deliberate to look like it did on old TV with subtitles possibly. Not a fan of the style in Hollow Knight. Think the backgrounds in Ori look great, but the main character design is a little weak and the view too zoomed to make seeing them at that size particularly appealing imo. Indifferent about Neva, and don't like Bo in the same way I don't like Blud and Hollow Knight. Guinea Pig Parkour looks kinda interesting visually and I can appreciate what they're doing there. It's a bit wobbly and doesn't convey a proper sense of volume and squashes and stretches strangely much of the time, which is a bit of a sin in good animation imo. But I think it's deliberate and based on some animations in maybe ad TV ads of that time, so I get the idea. Penny's is interesting because it has a very early '90s rendered look to it. There is something visually appealing about the exact colours and shading they're using or something, I think it's that almost airbrushed look, which I've always loved, but overall it's not my thing ultimately. The Plucky Squire looks kinda great, both the 2D and 3D, and I think they're onto a hit there. Cuphead is a wonderful realisation of that '30s look and style. The only thing that doesn't work visually/aesthetically for me there is when they add a kinda neon glow to certain objects, which I think looks a bit cheap and tacky. Ultros looks nice and has something quite appealing in the use of colour there. Nine Souls isn't appealing to me. Biomorph isn't appealing to me. Animal Well, not too interested. Anton Blast has kinda cool retro pixel art. Mika looks quite nice, like a slightly nicer version of Wind Waker at times. Mouse has a rather cool retro look that really works there in context. Starlight, not really my thing. Dang, too many examples . . . Scarlet looks potentially lovely. I always liked the look of The Witness. Minit is a great example of doing a lot with very little. Sonic Mania has lovely 16-bit artwork. Iron Cobo looks pretty cool. Etc.

[@HeroOfLegend115]

Anyone reading this, check out Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn. Beautiful game with awesome design

[@nemo9396]

An indie game studio is an SME

[@KlldbyCuriosity]

I wonder what you think of Signalis

[@rileyn2983]

Who is saying Mario Wonder is a AA game? I can't imagine anyone saying that, it's AAA in every way

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

It's arguable that they're AA when lined up against big AAA games, but I feel like Nintendo are in their own stratosphere when making games anyway.

[@owencmyk]

Why is the like count disabled?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Must've been a setting I fiddled with

[@MantasticHams]

You: "Noone is the gatekeeper in art!" Disney: "Hold my family friendly beverage"

[@propaul1369]

You misspelled Detective Fantasia Excalimurder (its not Exclaimurder)

[@tristanm4332]

Great video I will say though you missed a few really good looking upcoming indie games such as "The Eternal Life Of Goldman", "Symphonia" and "Constance".

[@jurtheorc8117]

The Immortal Life of Goldman is showcased a bit near the end, alongside Iron Corbo and others.

[@Whacintosh]

Do Streets of Rage 4!

[@LiamWins]

0:33 Axiom Verge is spelt 'Aviom Verge', give me my 100 points please :)

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Well done, here is your 100 points: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You're welcome

[@LiamWins]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudyHey, that was only 85 points! I’ve been scammed out of my precious points!

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

@LiamWins KZbin point tax

[@LiamWins]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudyOh, in that case, 15% is actually pretty good! I'll take it

[@krieger1969]

Why have you disabled seeing the likes?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Must've been a setting I tinkered with

[@alex_oiman]

an indie game is pretty self explanatory. it has to be made independently of a third party. so if the game has a publisher or the developers dont own the rights to their own game, its not indie.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

So anything that has a publisher isn't an indie game?

[@alex_oiman]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy yes. its literally not independent. even you said indies are selfpublished. an "indie publisher" just like an "indie record label" is an oxymoron

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Well I guess this was a discussion point of the video; is the term 'indie' innappropriate now? People consider the games that Devolver Digital publish as indie games, so maybe we either need a new term or accept that 'indie' can still mean having a publisher?

[@alex_oiman]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy well you can guess what i'd vote for. i mean, people are regularly wrong about a lot of things. just because most people are wrong doesnt magically make them right. this would also help avoid bullshit like what happened last year when dave the diver won best indie though its literally made by one of nexons dev teams. just because a game has a smaller team/budget doesnt make it indie. its an A or doubleA game based on budget. which was how A's were given back when studios didnt focus only tripleA games. i think more people with platforms like yourself should try to correct these things. not help these megacorporations steal indie awards

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Well it's not like people wrong on purpose, we just evolve our knowledge based on how things change, no one really controls how people talk or _can_ talk about these things. Also, the term "AAA" is actually borrowed from banking credit - game studios have never used the "A" designation for the level of quality or studio size.

[@wylerXL]

99% of indie games are stuck in time with pixelated 16-64 bit game design. the ones on your list are the standouts because they break the norm.

[@mljh11]

You've set up "clever" and "stylish" as two different categories of animation but not defined exactly what you mean by them. I know their regular dictionary definitions, but clearly there's a lot of subjectivity in what each person attributes to these terms. It's hard for the viewer to have a meaningful takeaway from a video that doesn't convey its points fully.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

That's fair enough, I forget new viewers won't have seen past videos or necessarily know about game animation.

[@TevorTheThird]

I think the term "Indy" has really lost any value and meaning at this point and should be retired. There's just more exceptions and contradictions to the concept then otherwise at this point. For example everything Devolver publishes would scream Indy... except they're not independently published games. Devolver is a publisher. You could say the same for Annapurna and several others. Meanwhile Nintendo just did a double bill presentation that arbitrarily divided "Indy" and "Publishing Partner" in a way that seems less about the scope of the games then maybe about who is paying for that partner status. Because otherwise they were all partners, they're all releasing shoulder to shoulder on the same store front. Balatro, the Indy, has probably sold more copies and made more money then anything from the partner half of the presentation will. Naw. Games are all just games. I do rather like the rise of "AA" as a delineation however, especially as it increasingly feels like "AAA" is becoming a bit of an albatross or scarlet letter these days. Maybe we should just call the more stereotypically "Indy", low budget, one or two devs, self published games Single-A games.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yes I think I agree, it's become such a vague and non-meaning term that we should probably just go back to the old days of Nintendo Power magazine and just call things like "action games" or "adventure games" (but also throw in all the new genres). That way you'll have games like Spider-Man up against games like #BLUD.

[@DustyMusician]

Spelling error: "aviom verge"

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

100 points to you sir