rotMG an excellent indie game example, but...

I stumbled on rotMG aka "realm of the Mad God" online browser game, which is a great example of how Indie gamer devs can innovate to make fun and fantastic games with minimal graphical complexity.

It is also a good experiment showing that if a game is fun, fast and rewarding to the player it doesn't need fancy graphics. This game is an 8Bit (with some clever black outlining and shade effects) design. A player can create a free account, and immediately start playing when its loaded in the browser. It takes about 5 minutes to load in the browser, then from there the game runs smooth. Free to play model, with in game gold purchase with real money, which you then can use to buy equipment and buffs, etc. But the game doesn't unbalance which would create a Pay to Win model. This is a clever move by the developers.

Unfortunately it is a shame how many people now are taking advantage of this open and popular free game, by monetizing it before the developers can do it themselves. Unbeknownst the developers created an excellent market for gold farmers to earn real money by not allowing ingame sales of items and free accounts, and thus cut into the profits of the game itself, which is a shame. If the developers can access these profits, and cut out the farmers then it would be so much more successful and rewarding for the player in the long run if reinvested. Also, the game is a hardcore game in the sense that if you character dies, it loses its items and permanently dies, and you must restart it. This creates even more demand for gear and farmed items. Luckily they reward you with a honor system if you die, and as you reach higher levels you unlock other character classes. The developers should think fast on how to expand their monetizing model, and have a look at what the farmers are doing and just do it themselves but better. Farmers may yet turn this into a Pay to Win game...unfortunately.

Another inspiring idea, is that the developers allow players to create their own 8Bit sprites for the game, with a web browser pixel editor. Unfortunately you can place this content in the game itself yet. Actually it would be great if the developers where to share this tool with other indie devs, since it automatically outlines the sprites with black thin lines and adds a shade all around it, making it immediately usable in game, and always matching the game world graphics with no effort.

It is an action pact shootup up style game, but with gear and loot and theme from classic fantasy rpg style games, but much more fast paced. Truly an amazing game and I will recommend it to any game fan, especially indie gamer's.

Here is the link:
rotMG