1. Underground Gaming perceives games as a form of art.

  2. Underground Games are non-commercial. They shun the logic of the markets and question the capitalist system. They attempt to create and use spaces for free creativity.

  3. The Underground Gaming scene considers everybody as equal. Developers and players are both participants in the process of turning an abstract piece into a played game. Every form of group-focused enmity (including, but not limited, to ableism, classism, racism, sexism, homo- and transphobia) is ousted from its communities.

  4. The Underground Gaming scene lives and dies by the exchange and interaction from its participants. It can only prevail through mutual support, acknowledgment, and feedback.

  5. A Underground Game is a game that its creators consider to be complete. A work in progress or a demo is not considered an Underground Game until it is finished. The possibility to extend a completed Underground Game is explicitly supported.

  6. Underground Gaming tries to empower people. It supports the sharing of knowledge and tries to reduce barriers. The scene helps people interested in Underground Game development to reduce dependencies from capitalist corporations, but does not reject creative work if dependencies exist.

  7. Underground Gaming supports other non-commercial communities and movements. It seeks exchange and collaboration, as long as they share the fundamental values of the scene.

  8. The Underground scene isn’t carried or lead by individuals. Whenever possible, a democratic self-organization for communities is established.

  9. The Underground scene is open to editing and modification.

  • midnightspireEnglish
    1·
    2 years ago

    Thanks for the reply. I know things like open source, political focus etc. aren’t strictly required, but they seem to be considered the “ideal” or preferred target for an underground game, and I am considerably far away from that ideal. That is why I’m not sure my work is really appropriate here.

    As far as money goes, I thought for a very long time (and talked to other hobby developers) about whether I was justified in putting a price on my work, or if I even wanted to. I still have a hard time with these questions. All I can say is that this project is not a business venture, nobody is funding or investing in my work, I’m not running a marketing campaign, and my design is absolutely not influenced by earning potential (if it were, I would be making completely different kinds of games, anyway). Basically, I make what I want to make.

    I also feel strongly that MTX / RMT inherently degrade the experience of any game. You mentioned this in part 4 and I cannot see myself ever implementing these. I understand why some developers opt for a “freemium” model, but that doesn’t make it a good experience. I have never played an f2p game that wouldn’t have been a lot better if it had been sold as a complete package. Formerly premium games have been damaged or ruined by their botched transitions to f2p, and fully f2p games are rarely if ever good enough to justify the MTX costs that they engineer.

    Charging full price for the game AND having MTX on top of that is inexcusable. The game is automatically made worse for every piece that you deliberately carve out and sell as extras. “It’s only cosmetic” is no defense.

    I also absolutely shun anything related to NFT or blockchain, but that’s a whole other rant.

    Occasionally I hear from folks who push for more indies to charge for their work, and to charge more. There are a few different arguments for this, so I probably shouldn’t speak for anyone else.

    • TPWitchcraft@lemmy.mlOPMEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      You are welcome, and thanks for posting here :).

      -I agree to your opinions about MTX / RMT, and especially about block chains.

      -As said, the money thing must be discussed - as far as I’m concerned, taking money for your game is okay.

      -From what you describe and from what I know/have seen about your games you make ideal Underground Games in my book :D. Feel welcome to identify with the concept of Underground Gaming (that will hopefully become a scene) if you want. There is no need to do anything other than what you do and did.