TSM Episode 711: Indie Titans of Tomorrow

WayForward is a top-tier indie developer to me. They’ve got multiple successful franchises, and now doing work directly for Nintendo, and have worked on mainstream franchises before like Contra and Double Dragon. There’s a Swedish studio named Ludosity who has made great games like Ittle Dew and Princess Remedy, who developed that Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl – which wasn’t great, but bear in mind made by like 5 people. Tribute Games, formes by the folks who worked on Scott Pilgrim at Ubisoft Montreal, has been making retro-styled indie games like Mercenary Force and Panzer Paladin, just did TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. So there’s a few studios who’ve been plugging away for years which are now working on mainstream franchise games.
IntiCreates makes just fine games at a good pace; I just wish they could bring in some new creative talent or partner with another indie dev to bring them from like B+ to A quality games. Yacht Club I’m kind of disappointed with their output; it’s been silly spin-offs and publishing other people’s games since Shovel Knight over 10 years ago now.
While I really appreciate the personal artistry of like a Tom Happ, Joakim Sandberg, or Maddy Thorson, I wish those kind of single-developer studios would partner with a bigger one more often to have those extra resources and make rhe next level of something great. There’s always going to be a new person toiling away for 5-10 years at their personal passion project; let them be that for their time and the last generation fill the next level gap.
Finally, I really appreciate Jake ‘virt’ Kaufman’s music too; one of the things I really love about the Shantae series.