Which “small” indie game/film/book hit you harder than most blockbusters?
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Cube > Saw. First time I watched Saw the only thing I could think of is "This is Cube with a different aesthetic and a creepy puppet."
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I disliked the second one specifically because they gave it a decent budget. The original is genius for how it does so much with so little.
The third is an oddball. Made-for-TV budget and quality. It's interesting for fans of the series, but nothing special.
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Game no one's mentioned yet: Look Outside
So good and so strange
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John Langan's "The Fisherman". Its a cosmic/folk horror novel but also a powerful meditation on loss and grief.
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Blood machines. It's only a half hour cgi movie. But it hits super hard for me.
It's the one with the OST from Carpenter Brut, right? I need to watch this short.
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Some movies... There are just too many!!!
For great cinema, Brazil is an amazing parody of modern society by Terry Gillian. Stalker is simply a masterpiece but you need to be in that mood to watch it. The Lobster is just... weird and lovely. White Cat, Black Cat is pure chaotic fun.
For a good laugh Swiss Army Man was an unexpected little gem.
If you are into horrors Braindead is absolutely disgusting and hilarious, while The Devil's Rejects is a more disturbing one.
For sci-fi Cube is a nice and original one, and Dark City is a classic that inspired The Matrix.
About thriller, for sure The Machinist or Memento.
We watched The lobster for a family movie night, they never let me pick the movie again
. I enjoyed it, watched it twice. -
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SIGNALIS (indie horror game). Very good, scary, I cried. Strongly recommend.
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My partner played Journey after I played it all the way through with my first matched partner and cried a lot.
My partner was matched with two deserters and a speedrunner. Then their last person quit near the end. They left the game frustrated and hated it.
I was very sad.
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Games:
- To the Moon
- Gris
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
- This War of Mine
- Inked: A Tale of Love
- Papers, Please
Movies (this list I had to think about for a while...):
- 50/50 (2011)
- Amour (2012)
- The Station Agent (2003)
- Columbus (2017)
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Books:
- The Bookshop
- The Lives of Others
Edit: spelling
Diving bell+butterfly was so fucking good
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The game I wanted to say was already said, so I'll go with a movie! The 2018 Korean film "Burning".
Ooooo rare movie! Excellent pick that nobody I know has ever seen hahaha
On a similar theme (fire), the Canadian movie “Ash” is incredible and shot at the unfortunately “perfect” time (wildfires happened just as they were filming so they didn’t have to CG them) and the movie is stellar.
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My partner played Journey after I played it all the way through with my first matched partner and cried a lot.
My partner was matched with two deserters and a speedrunner. Then their last person quit near the end. They left the game frustrated and hated it.
I was very sad.
Aww that sucks, what an unfortunate experience
I actually only first played it in 2020. I had missed it when it first came out, and then a museum near me happened to have a big exhibit about it. I jumped in and out with several different people throughout the trip, but I hadn't been expecting a partner, just cooperation when we were near each other. I did have someone to stick with for the very last part, at least
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Applying the term "Indie" to a book feels interesting to me, because almost all books, even ones that are part of intensely popular franchises, are written by a single author - so in a sense, all books are Indy.
Of course team size is only one aspect. There's also budget and commercial involvement. But budget doesn't have to be a constraining factor for books the way it is for movies. And if you're the only person pushing the keyboard keys then you are the one with ultimate creative control.
If you are a penniless author and publish a hit and get rich, does your next book then stop being indie, even though it's still just you? Or maybe it's no longer indie because your circumstances have changed.
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It's the one with the OST from Carpenter Brut, right? I need to watch this short.
I donyeven know tbh. I stumbled across that short accidentally, and the music soundtrack slaps. The design choices is something i haven't seen before. That guy firing radioactive (?) laser which slightly corrupts the camera footage is so damn cool. And the laser just lingering around. It's these small details that makes it a real piece of art to me and i wish more science fiction movies would dare something other than "people in the future have funny hats."
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Before Your Eyes. I was going through some major stuff at the time and I'll associate the game with that summer forever. It has a very unique mechanic and it ties into the game really well without feeling like a gimmick. Takes about 3 hours to complete, so not a huge investment either.
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Harveys neue Augen, Edna bricht aus
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SIGNALIS (indie horror game). Very good, scary, I cried. Strongly recommend.
Some of the radio puzzles are unforgettable
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Applying the term "Indie" to a book feels interesting to me, because almost all books, even ones that are part of intensely popular franchises, are written by a single author - so in a sense, all books are Indy.
Of course team size is only one aspect. There's also budget and commercial involvement. But budget doesn't have to be a constraining factor for books the way it is for movies. And if you're the only person pushing the keyboard keys then you are the one with ultimate creative control.
If you are a penniless author and publish a hit and get rich, does your next book then stop being indie, even though it's still just you? Or maybe it's no longer indie because your circumstances have changed.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Many books are managed by a publisher, however. To varying degrees of control. The publisher can have significant sway in the process of writing and editorial control, depending on the contract.
I think the indie part is mostly to do with size and influence of the publishing house. As well as if the art comes first or market appeal. I think A24 in film are a good example of that question.
On further thought, I think one possible criteria may be: Was this work completed independently and then subsequently published, or did this work have a publisher prior to completion?
To your question, if the author gets big off of an indie work, then writes another, independently, which gets published again, then it's still indie. But if that author agrees a contract to write said book with the publisher before it is written, then it is no longer indie.
Basically, has the creator taken it on their own risk to make this thing and then tried to publish it later? Or did a publisher take the risk by funding it and then therefore may have some degree of control?
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I donyeven know tbh. I stumbled across that short accidentally, and the music soundtrack slaps. The design choices is something i haven't seen before. That guy firing radioactive (?) laser which slightly corrupts the camera footage is so damn cool. And the laser just lingering around. It's these small details that makes it a real piece of art to me and i wish more science fiction movies would dare something other than "people in the future have funny hats."
It's so good. I find it wild that's it's basically a sequel to a music video.
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This post kinda implies that OP thinks the default is that blockbusters have more soul and hits people harder than indie and passion projects, which is the opposite of the truth.
Art made by fewer people generally has more soul and a stronger personality which translates to feelings by the person experiencing the art. They aren't put through a grinder of corporate bullshit to not be offensive or say anything of actual value. -
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A couple of games from recent years: Chants of Sennaar (linguistic puzzles and incredible vibes) and 1000xResist (this game had something many big game devs seemingly have completely forgotten about, specifically, writing).
