6 things Asia’s indie developers should improve on for 2015

We were going to write a list of our favorite games from 2014, but it would be pretty repetitive seeing how most of them have been featured in our best mobile game and best PC game lists. So instead, we’ll take a look at all the indie games we’ve played this year and tell you what we hope developers won’t repeat next year.

Clones

Yes, Flappy Bird was a huge hit, but it was also probably one of the most pointless games ever made. Its popularity is testament to the modern tech-savvy consumer’s poor taste. So many studios cloned Flappy Bird’s mechanics in their own little games this year, be they outright remakes with different birds, or the same game with different art. If you have the skill and the talent to make a game, why make a photocopy? Why not put your effort into something unique and memorable?

Grammar

English isn’t the first language of many studios in the region, I know. But many of these same studios develop for an international audience anyway. This means games in English. This also means games in English made by a team that may not be entirely fluent in the language. The result? Hideous grammar mistakes that detract from what’s really happening, especially when the game is dependent on its storyline. Get a copywriter or an editor, folks. New marketplaces for freelancers make this easy and affordable.

Focus

I’ve played a lot of indie games this year, and one of my biggest gripes is how many of them try to get too fancy. These games are perfect until a certain point, then the developer decides to get creative or to show off and adds in another element that completely destroys the game and its design. Sometimes, less is more.

Depth