Thanks! I had initially included "Plants vs. Zombies" until kavazovangel pointed out that its developer was bought by EA, so I removed it from the list. Frankly, I'm not perfectly sure myself how to define "indie" games. In theory I guess it should be about games developed by an independent developer without funding from big publishers (no matter how big and influential the developer studio itself), but what about those games that were independently developed and got support from a publisher later on?

To give another example, apart from "Plants vs. Zombies": As far as I know, Daedalic Games are independent German developers of point-and-click adventures ("The Whispered World", "Edna & Harvey: The Breakout", "A New Beginning") - in Germany they publish their games under their own name. But the international versions have their own UK or US publishers and the games are also sold as retail versions in stores - does any of that disqualify them from being considered "indie"?

Everyone is going to have a different opinion on this. It's you're list, I'd say you're the ultimate arbiter of what qualifies. Read about how these studios work and decide. Pop Cap may have been purchased by EA, but that was after they made a fortune off several of their games and well after Plants vs. Zombies (as an example) had been out for some time.

Would you take Minecraft off the list if Notch got bought? It's officially 1.0 now. I can't answer that for you, you have to, sorry to punt it back to you:)

You do not buy indie games. That's the main rule. Sooner or later they all end up in some bundles :)

Yeah, so I'm waiting for my code for you-know-what :P

Gratuitous Space Battles has never ended up in a bundle to my knowledge nor has any of Spiderweb Software's stuff.

As a sidenote, I recently learned that some games on GamersGate use SecuRom DRM when the original games directly from the developer don't. And in both cases where I bought such a game from GamersGate, thinking the low sale price outweighed the slightly annoying SecuRom activation, I had serious issues with the games.

The GG version of "Puzzle Agent" came with a bug that prevented the display of the game font in the game menus and on the puzzle screens. Telltale had already patched their own version and delivered the patch to Steam, too, but GamersGate didn't have it. Luckily, after some prodding at the Telltale forums for one or two weeks my patience paid off and the Telltale support generously gave me an already patched version of their own. That's when I noticed the original was apparantly DRM free and I begin to suspect the fact that GamerGate created their own version by wrapping some DRM around it might have prevented it from being compatible with the patch (there was most probably a communication problem, too, but if it had been just that, the case could have been resolved quickly and easily).

Then I bought "Avadon - The Black Fortress" from GamersGate despite the SecuRom tag, because it was on sale, only to experience serious lag in the first outdoor area. I go to Spidersoft's forum and learn other players have exactly the same issues. I try my savegames with the demo version downloaded directly from the developer and suddenly everything works fine again. Now I'm hoping for Mr Jeff Vogel to be equally accommodating as Telltale and grant me a key to his shareware version in exchange for the GamersGate one.

In any case, that was the last time I bought anything with SecuRom on it and I'm disappointed at GamersGate that they apparantly wrap interfering DRM around more or less DRM-free games (I know game keys are a form of DRM, too, but at least these oldschool shareware keys don't require online activation and don't slow down your game).

/rant

I realize I'm preaching to the choir here, just thought it would be a good reminder to compare conditions and at least in cases like this give the "direct from developer" option serious thought even if the other distributors offer lower prices.

Space Simulator:
Evochron Mercenary
Developer's Website: http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/index.htm
GamersGate: http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-EM/evochron-mercenary
Impulse: http://www.impulsedriven.com/evomerc

Freeform space sim that I've been enjoying a lot since I picked it up at half price with the "Show Me the Deals" promotion.

You've got a point there, so I've re-introcduced it to the list. And seeing that I already included Telltale games, I guess I could just as well allow Daedalic and Double Fine.

Is "Trenched" a console exclusive though? I don't mind adding links to console shops, but I have mixed feelings about including console exclusive titles as I guess that would significantly increase the number of games I'd have to consider (more work for me) and make the list more confusing and less attractive for people who don't even have the opportunity to play console games (like myself :P ).

Please add Dead State to the RPGs in development section URL: http://www.deadstate.doublebearproductions.com/

Strategy (turn-based):
Age of Fear: The Undead King http://www.age-of-fear.net

Added, thanks.

BTW, the list currently only includes the shops I'm more or less familiar with and supportive of (Indievania, GamersGate, Desura, Steam ... and a few random others). If you think there's an important shop missing (preferably worldwide accessible), feel free to say so. I won't make any promises, since it's a lot more tedious work for me to add more shops, but suggestions are always welcome and I might consider them when I feel like it. :)

(Of course, you could always tighten the workload for me by pointing out additional shops for specific games and provide the links to the game entries on said shop pages.)

I'll add it, thanks. I already had my eye on it. Seems like a clone of the Micro Machines DOS game from back in the days. Did you try it? Is it any good?

I was hoping someone would chime in and say good choice. No dice. It looks good but I have Micro Machines 64 turbo on the N64 and by comparison these tracks seem kind of sparse. Perhaps they get better as you progress. It got good reviews from various sites reviewing xbox live arcade games.

Chantelise a tale of two sisters.

Same developers as Recettear An item shops tale. It has the same art style as recettear but it's a Hack and slash RPG with your typical item collecting, upgrading, using magic not to mention dungeons, fishing and Controller support, Overall just a great game. I believe you can pick it up DRM free on Gamersgate or on Steam and it's £6.49.

1) Kenshi.

RPG. http://www.desura.com/games/kenshi

http://www.lofigames.com/

In developement

2) Climb to the Top of the Castle

Action/Platform
http://www.indievania.com/games/climb-top-castle

3) Proun

Action?

http://www.proun-game.com/Screenshots.html

4) Krater

Action RPG
http://www.kratergame.com/about.html

in developement

5) Merchant

RPG

http://www.indiedb.com/games/merchant

in developement

6) Gunpoint

Puzzle ?

in developement

http://www.pentadact.com/2011-11-28-gunpoint-trailer-let-me-talk-you-through-some-ridiculous-solutions/

7) The Journey Down

Adventure

http://www.skygoblin.com/the-journey-down/

in developement

8) Winter Voices

adventure

http://www.wintervoices.com/


I know - many games in developement, but I wanted to share what I'm looking for.