Sometimes it’s valuable to take stock of just what a surge in popularity independent games have enjoyed during this current tech cycle. All three major consoles feature download services, Steam has long been a major signal-booster for independent titles (and as soon as it gets its gatekeeping kinks ironed out it will be even better), and pay-what-you-will eventss like the Humble Bundles tend to result in deep-pocketed donors like Notch trying to outbid one another.
Now the latest platform for indie games on the scene is the IndieGameStand. Run by the good folks at Indie Game Magazine, the Stand works by offering one fresh indie game, DRM-free, at a time. Each game gets four days on the Stand’s showcase during which downloaders may pay whatever they wish (although paying less than a dollar won’t net you Steam or Desura keys).
Rather than acting as an intermediary pay service, IndieGameStand connects users directly to developers so they may buy games straight from the source. 10% of every purchase also goes to a charity of the developer’s choice, which is nice of them.
If you miss the four-day window, you still have a chance of purchasing a game from its respective bundle, which includes the previous, current and forthcoming games. After that, though, it’s gone! Vamoose!
It’s unclear at this point how pay schemes work for the bundles as opposed to the individual games, but we’ll probably be getting some clarification on that soon. Also, since the games are DRM-free, you can back them up and share them however you wish. It’s a shame such things are a relative novelty in this day and age, but it’s yet another reason to support independent development.
IndieGameStand will go into operation on September 26th. Till then, you can pay a visit to their website to check out all the details.
Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
