The modern indie scene

0. Intro.

From time to time, I like to look back and remember what the computing scene was like 20 years ago, and compare how different it is now. There have been some good changes in that time. But one thing I do miss is the PD/Shareware scenes of the 1980s/90s, and the culture that grew up around computing at the time.

I do feel quite nostalgic for how things were back then, and the early 90s are often retrospectively labelled as the "Golden Age" of computing, so I'm clearly not alone with these feelings. I would love to see a resurrection of the good things that characterised those times... but that won't happen until people start talking about it, and generate enough momentum to make it happen.

Some might try and argue that the modern Indie scene is the offspring of that golden age, with small-time/hobbyist developers continuing to produce software on a shoestring budget ... but to me, the modern Indie scene feels quite unlike the PD/Shareware scene of the 1990s, and I just don't feel any real connection with the modern indie scene.

I want to try to examine why. If you feel the same way (and even if you don't), then do contribute to the discussion. :)

The first thing I want to look at is the modern day emphasis on multiplatform support. This is as good a starting point as any.


1. Multiplatform.

The modern indie scene seems to put quite a large emphasis on supporting many platforms.

This wasn't the case in the 1990s. Ports to other platforms were relatively rare, such that many "indie" games and applications were exclusive to one platform.

This wasn't a bad thing in fact, as it made the platforms unique, each with their own identity and culture. And as users, we could see which culture we most liked the look of, and go with that. This gave the users a kind of choice that they don't really get now in computing: a choice of culture and identity, which is very much a human thing.

Nowadays it seems like people have this expectation that software should reach many platforms, and perhaps feel annoyed at developers who don't do this, as though they're only half doing their job.

So much so that the modern software industry feels like one big homogeneous blob, with platforms playing a more superficial and cosmetic role. Like we can choose our window dressing, but we all have to look out onto the same street.

This is not specifically an issue with the indie scene, but the indie scene does seem to have mindlessly adopted this custom from the corporations which popularised it, and to the detriment of culture that we enjoyed in the 1990s. (Corporate strategy is a push for globalisation and achieving maximum reach for maximum profit, so it would aggresively pursue either multiplatform support, or dominance of a single platform.)


So what do you feel about multiplatform support? Do you feel it could be a case of maximising profit while sacrificing platform uniqueness? Do you feel it could do more harm than good to culture? Just yesterday, Chris Priestman (aka @CPriestman) asked 'why is there no punk gaming scene?' which may be a related issue... as it's also asking about diversity and culture in computing.