a celebration for smaller developers
It is indie-month at Pocket Gamer, a time when we wanted to celebrate Indie developers and games in general, that they are simply great in every respect.
And what is there more beautiful than celebrating the developers who have more on it as a list of our 25 best indie developers that illuminates both the games and the studios behind it.
We tried to involve a bit of everything - some names you may recognize immediately, some of which they will remember after a while, and others who may surprise them.
But every developer listed in this list has earned his place in our hearts and thoughts and will undoubtedly deliver wonderful experiences in the coming years.
So it's time to present the 25 best indie developers of Pocket Gamer!
# 25: Noodle cake
Notable Works: Super Stickman Golf, Port Games for Android
Show up pretty much every brilliant indie game that you can imagine, and the chances are good that Noodlecake has dealt with it on Android.
The studio started as a developer of games like Super Stickman Golf, but made a name, including Alto's adventure, Framed, Death Road to Canada and many others published. Heck, a whole range of developers on the list are thanks to this team on Android.
That is, we had to discuss a little about her status as indie because it was bought about a year from the Chinese developer ZPlay.
But it is basically an indie studio, and you can read this on its continuing commitment to make some of the biggest indie hits accessible to a broader audience.
# 24: Voracious games
Notifying works: Little rogue, travel below
Ravenous Games is one of these studios you can rely on to produce a quality game that easily kills a few minutes.
You can tell that you usually play something of Ravenous, which is due to the great pixel graphics and the fact that it is a super-smoke version of a genres that can be quite extensive.
Take the latest games like Tiny Rogue, Pug's Quest and Journey Below. Each is like a little rogue with another twist in action, and each offering different challenges, enemies and playing. But they all have an incredible lot of fun and are excellent from us all the line with bronze.
The studio has dealt with many other genres over the years, and there are other titles in work - we expect you to disappear so soon, and we are pretty happy about it.
# 23: Zach Gage
Notable Works: Spelltower, really bad chess
You may not know Zach Gages's name, but they have almost definitely experienced his work - he helped to bring the amazing ridiculous fishing to the phone, for example.
But in recent times, he gave us clever and bizarre puzzles like Spelltower and Really Bad Chess, who have received gold and silver prices for their inventiveness and their damned fun.
Really bad chess is a special highlight - it's chess, but every time you load a game, the game board is full of random pieces, and you only have to get along and try to win with what you have.
It is pretty stupid in the right way and a perfect example of the silliness that you can expect from Gage in each of its creations.
# 22: NDEMIC
Notable Works: Plague Inc.
Plague Inc. is an ice-cold classic, and you really can not say much about it. The product was introduced in 2012 and excellent from the beginning with the Gold Award. Since then it has been improved only by numerous updates and connections for other consoles. Nowadays, there is even a board game.
If you have no idea what it is, Plague Inc. sees that you will be a terrible illness and try to spread to every single person in the world, with the goal of killing as many people as possible. If you think about it, it is a grim stuff, but you can make everything to the carelessness by calling your germ Steve and watching news reports on Steve, the chaos in Madagascar, just before it closes his only port.
We only wish we could see more of what Ndemic Creations in stock. Six years Plague Inc. are a remarkable thing, but with all this experience we can not wait to see what comes next.
# 21: Terry Cavanagh
Notable Works: Superhexagon, VVVVVVV
Terry Cavanagh is a bit of a bad genius, and that's what we mean to a nice way. His two games on the phone - the platform game VVVVVV and the rhythm super hexagon - are known that they are just as difficult as ridiculous fun, and for good reason.
For example, take Super Hexagon. The controller is simple: Hold down the left side of the screen to turn left, and the right side of the screen to move in the other direction.
Everything you need to do is to avoid being caught by the incoming lines, but through a mix of throbbing chipune beats and strange visual effects, it suddenly becomes the hardest thing you will ever experience.
In these hell landscapes sixty seconds to survive, just sound like, but if you make it to crack only ten seconds, you will be close to strangers that it will be difficult.
But it and VVVVV are so entertaining and accessible that they do not mind if they are constantly making mistakes - in the end it's fun. Terry Cavanagh likes to be a bad genius, but it is not because his games are difficult - it is because they do not want to stop playing them.
# 20: Playsport
Notable Works: Motorsport Manager series
Playsport is exclusively known for its Motorsport Manager series, but there is still much worse: the simulation games are among the absolutely best they can play on mobile devices.
Every post in the series was awarded by us with a gold award, and everyone brings more and more into the formula without taking something to anything. Of course they are not everyone's thing - it's helpful if they are already a fan of racing - but the quality shown in every game can not be denied.
The Motorsport Manager 3 is probably the best entry that she brings into a simple team and builds even more comprehensive than before, so hardcore fans have to expect a serious challenge, while newcomers have the clear presentation and intelligent, but not critical tutorials Estimate know so you can run free and learn things in your own pace.
# 19: SENRI
Notable Works: LEOS LUCK, ODDMAR
Senri is not the most famous name in cell phone games, but its titles are among the best platform players at all - namely Leo's Fortune and Oddmar.
Leo's Fortune is a classic in every way. It was published four years ago on iOS and has since been ported to almost any console. We gave him our bronze award - not the highest score that has received the game, but certainly a great praise from us.
However, this year's Oddmar was awarded by us with a Gold Award, thanks to its beautiful presentation, the smooth gameplay and the expertly designed levels. If you have not played it yet, you should really.
We are sure that we have not seen Senri for the last time, and if the former platform players have something to offer, the next game from the studio will be another ice-cold classic.
# 18: Maciej Targoni
Notable Works: High Links Down, Klocki, Hook
We love a good minimal puzzle at Pocket Gamer, and Maciej Targoni is one of the best to make them. Think, Klocki, Hook, Up Left Out ... The list goes on, and you are all the wonderful.
UP Left Out is the last effort of the developer in which you move tiles to complete gratings. But it gets harder than just jumping around one or the other block - over time you press switches, open gates, and make bigger and more difficult puzzles.
But it was perfectly developed to relieve them, and their brain will burden on a very satisfying way. This is a nice description of actually every game of Maciej Targoni. If you have not checked out his games yet, you should definitely do so.
# 17: Neutronized games
Notable Works: Super cat stories
Neontronized Games has been on the rise for some time and brings us games like Lost Yeti and Drop Wizard, but it's the last game of the studio, Super Cat Tales, which has introduced them essentially his place to this list.
Super Cat Tales is a truly outstanding platform that has been developed overlooking the phone and creating a wonderful experience with a handful of simple controls. It's beautiful and colorful, it's tricky without being frustrating, and it's full of cats.
Better, the team works on Super Cat Tales 2, from which we sincerely hope that it saws the light of the world - the only full-time developer, Gionathan, has financial problems during development and has now set up a Patreon to develop the game To complete.
# 16: Risky laboratory
Significant works: Warbits
RISKY Lab may only have a cell phone game, but if your game is as good as warbits, then you definitely deserve to be overflowed with praise.
Take Advance Wars-style gameplay and graphics and optimize it for mobile devices, and they essentially have warbits. It is fast-lasting, wonderfully balanced and rewarded smart strategies instead of overwhelming numbers. If you go in without plan, you're basically crappy.
It is not a downgrade of the strategy genres, but only an adaptation to your device. And exactly after such games we scream as mobile fans. We hope that RISKY Lab will soon be back with another outstanding strategy game or something else.
# 15: Grapefruct
Notable Works: RyMD Capsule, Holedown, Twice Inc
Grapefruct makes weird, strange games. You can probably recognize at the name that you are in an off-piste time - RyMD capsule is the best example, although Holedown is a bit strange.
The latter is a great opportunity puzzle, where you fire creatures on blocks to smash it and penetrate deeper into the surface of a space object. It's easy, makes it addictive and damn a lot of fun, and we have awarded our silver prize.
But everyone is reminiscent of Rymdap. It is a minimalist strategy game that was first seen on PlayStation Mobile before being ported on iOS and Android. With his simple but challenging gameplay and his beautiful graphics, it has conquered our hearts and thoughts.
You never know what's next of Grapefruct, but you can be sure that it will be funny, crazy and so minimal like things - and damn a lot of fun booting.
# 14: Bithell Games
Notable Works: Thomas was alone, Subsurface Circular
No top-indies list would be complete without mentioning the British Indie Darling Mike Bithell and the team of Bithell Games, a developer to whom you may remember the rectangular puzzle platform developer Thomas what alone.
However, the studio has gone far beyond simple sad forms. The wonderful, philosophical-visual novel subsurface circular is as far away as possible from Thomas what Alone. It contains a full 3D occupation with robots, text-based puzzles and an outstanding soundtrack of the electronic artist Dan Le Sac.
It was awarded by us with a silver prize - just like Thomas what Alone - and we can not wait to see what the team still has everything in stock while it evolves and expanded.
# 13: Joel McDonald
Notable Works: Plum
Joel McDonald has just made a game, but Prune remains one of the best mobile games ever done.
If you have not played it, it's a contemplative puzzle with incredibly simple mechanics - you must grow a small tree to make his branches hit on a light ball and cut off stray offshoots to get the other strands longer.
It is beautiful, calming and much deeper than it seems first, and has rightly received a very rare Platinum Award from us. Seriously, if you have never tried it, you must probably try it right away.
We hope Joel McDonald will soon be mobile again - we would like to see what other ideas he has.
# 12: PERCHANG
Notable Works: Warhammer Quest Series, Perchang
A rose with another name smells so cute that she slaughtered a shakespeare quote completely, and perchang is just a good developer for the studio from which it comes from, Rodeo Games.
The developer guided by Ben Murch is the best known for his Warhammer Quest series, in which the frequently used license is used in a top-down strategy role-playing game requiring careful planning and positioning, as well as the development of levels.
The first and second game have received silver and gold awards from us. So if ever a third game is played, it's almost perfect.
However, it's not all strategy games. Perchang's first game under his present name, also called Perchang, is a machine-like riddle game of Rube Goldberg, which we liked very much thanks to its simple control and its clever puzzle campaign.
And it only shows that perchang (developer, not the game) has much to offer outside the areas for which it is known. We can not wait to see what comes next from the studio.
# 11: RocketCat games
Notable Works: Wayward Souls, Death Street to Canada, Punch Quest
When RocketCat would stop this second to properly make IOS games, sweep the back of the mobile world and never look back, it would still have earned a whole chapter if the history of the portable play is written.
This is not least due to Wayward Soul. It is one of a few games ever awarded the PG Platinum Award for a perfect rating. It's not just the best action roleplay on the phone, it's one of the best on each platform.
And then there is still a punch quest, a fighter who understands the shape of the portable game so well that a whole newsred reaction of journalists for mobile games was useless, while trying to surpass the high scores of each other.
We did not mention the death road to Canada yet. RocketCat just makes really good games. And you should play them all.
# 10: Asher Vollmer
Notable Works: Threesome, puzzle juice
You have to play threesome. You just have to have. If not, then they most likely played his big name rip-off 2048, what the formula took over and made it easier. But you should really have to play threesome because it's so much better.
Asher Vollmer's simple game with the same numbers was the spark that ignited the fire of one of the biggest cloning markets out there, and although it is a shame that 2048 and its many, many variants have overshadowed the original game something is important At three to remember for his brilliant gameplay, his enchanting graphics and how addictive it can do.
But Hey, we are cool - we liked Vollmer before three. Take a look at our puzzlejuice review, which we have awarded a bronze award, which was not hard enough. The developer even went back and added only because of this review in a harder mode. That's journalism, people.
Since Threes, Asher Vollmer was not as active on the phone - his last app with the new Studio Sirvo was an AR experience called Housecraft. But his legacy will continue for years in the hearts and heads of people and the 2048 clones, which still contaminate the App Store today.
# 9: Crescent Moon Games
Notable Works: Morphite, Ax.io, Reed
Throw an arrow into the App Store and you not only crack your screen, but probably land in a game published by Crescent Moon. They have a lot, and many of them are made of solid gold.
Take Morphite, for example, a 3D-FPS space exploration game with great block graphics and a lot to do, which made some simple comparisons with No Man's Sky and received the gold award by us.
Or how about Ax.Io, a surprisingly funny multiplayer game where you have to throw the opponents of the hands before they can do the same with them. It's easy, fun and has been awarded a Bronze Award by us.
Need more? How about Reed, the bite-friendly nightmare puzzle, with which she seems to fill tiny rooms with obstacles that they should kill to the edge? It's ridiculously heavy and is also incredibly fun and has won a silver price in our review.
We could continue and continue. But you understand the picture. Crescent Moon Games only works with the best, and if you attach the name to something, you know that it will be good. And that's a quality feature you want in this industry.
# 8: New Star Games
Notable Works: New Star Soccer, New Star Soccer Manager
Nothing makes more addict than success. With the exception of the energy drinks, which you have to give your players in the New Star series with easily unusual sports sims.
Where the original New Star Soccer Distilled the SIM in tiny, often ridiculous bite, his successor, New Star Soccer Manager, picks up the genre and connects it with mobile sensitivity. The end result is essentially Football Manager without so much of the spreadsheet that makes this series so intimidating.
New Star Games has proven that it does not just understand what sports players brings to tick, but also how to supplies the rhythm that sucks so many of them in management sims, and still makes them perfect for mobile playing.
# 7: Butterscotch Shenanigans
Butterscotch Shenanigans feels like one of those developers who should be a term, but it just did not manage to put in the limelight - despite one of the most impressive mobile games on this list.
Crashlands, the game mentioned above, is a huge survival game in which you open enemies for your skin, produces weapons and armor, settlements build and all the other good stuff.
It is also penetrated by silly humor, glowing colors and huge monsters - and perhaps the most impressive, it was developed by a three-member core team, while one of the guys fought against cancer. That's dedication exactly there.
But even before the team dealt with enormous survival, his earlier titles made a similar joy. Flop Rocket and Quadropus Rampage may not have the same extent as Crashlands, but you still have a bronze and a silver price of us. So you can certainly say that they are damn good.
Butterscotch Shenanigans is still coming and his next game - Levelhead, a reef of Super Mario Maker, which comes to the switch in the near future - looks just as ambitious and stupid like Crashlands. We can not wait to try it out.
# 6: Colin Lane
Notable Works: Wrassling, Battle Golf, Touchdowner
Colin Lane makes more great cell phone games when you can imagine, and we are honestly not sure how he manages to keep the pace.
From wrestling titles like Wrassling and Rowdy Wrestling to Golf Games like Golf Is Hard and Battle Golf (and the recently published Gulf, Around) Mix Lane to casual masterpieces to kill a few minutes to kill their time when they get bored .
Touchdowners, an interpretation of American football, is our best game and was awarded a Gold Award at the start last year. It's exactly the kind of stupid nonsense that you can expect from a Colin Lane game, with cute cartoon graphics and a few big guys who beat in short, silly laps.
But Wrassling with his blocky art style inspired by Commodore 64 and its stupid control scheme will always be the game we prefer to remember. It is a kind of grandfather of all the most balancing sports games that Colin Lane has made, and it's worth looking if you have not already checked it.
And what will he take next? Who knows, but you can be almost sure that it will be sporty, stupid and startless by the end of this year.
# 5: Ironhip Game Studio
Notable Works: Kingdom Rush, Iron Marines
Ironhip is perhaps most well-known for his Kingdom Rush series, a collection of tower defense games, which stand out thanks to intelligent design decisions and clever twists of the formula of the others.
But it is also the developer of Iron Marines, one of the best real-time strategy games that you have ever played on a mobile device.
It is slightly reduced compared to RTS on other platforms, but the gameplay - inspired by Kingdom Rush - is perfect for mobile devices. It's the kind of game with which you are leaning back on your chair, exhale and ask yourself where it was your whole life.
Ironhip is currently working intensively on a new entry in the Kingdom Rush series, and we can not wait, which will bring your return to true tower defense.
# 4: Nitrome
Notable Works: Stupid Sausage, Dead Day, Under the Lighthouse ****
There is a phrase that we walk around Pocket Gamer quite often - It's a nitrome game. We say it more than you ever have to hear from a game. And it's always, always positive.
Nitrome games have only a particular appearance that can not be reproduced at no other place. They are often very simple, but very tricky, have a gentle monetalization based on advertising instead of selling them a few iaps, and they make enormous fun.
Under the lighthouse I always notice something. It's a simple a ball a ball around a labyrinth game, but it's absolutely stunning and stupid, but you will never want to take it when you start playing it.
Then you have Silly Sausage and his continuation, both of whom have received a gold award of us for your adorable presentation and your fantastic gameplay.
What else? How about Drop Wizard, Nano Golf, Leap Day, Rust Bucket ... We could be for days here and talk to us about the various amazing games that produce nitromas.
So let's just say the following: play some of nitromes play. They are crazy, funny and will conjure a smile on their face, no matter what they decide. And when the next comes, Hey, it will be a nitrome game.
# 3: Fireproof games
Notable Works: The room
You can not talk about great cell phone games without talking about The Room. No, not the incredible Tommy Wiseau Disaster. We talk about the excellent puzzle box series from Fireproof Games.
Each entry in the four-part (previously!) Series of The Room calls you to solve complicated puzzle pieces in dark, gloomy worlds. It will surely burden your brain, but it is also quite generous with indications, so you will never stuck long.
And my goodness, they are damn good games. Each individual contribution of the series has been awarded by us with a gold award for its graphic skills, its clever puzzles, its strange and fascinating action stresses and the fact that you refuse to stop playing until you have solved all the puzzles contained therein.
It is said that we are still excited six years after the start of the first game when a new entry appears in the series. You see and feel all the same and play almost the same. However, by adding Fireproof to his weapons, it has developed a success formula that will inspire us for the coming years.
Whatever Fireproof does next, be it The Room 5 or something completely different, you can bet that we race from the metaphoric door to reach it.
# 2: Team Alto
Notable Works: Altos Adventure, Altos Odyssee
Alto's Adventure and Alto's Odyssey are two of the best games for mobile phones. That may seem a bit strong, but so we feel.
Team Alto took over the endless Runner genre and turned it into a beautiful, meditative experience, in which tricky tricks, beautiful environments, changing weather, tense chases and enormous gaps were combined into two of the best titles that you play on your phone or tablet can.
While Alto's Adventure put solid foundations (and himself was a brilliant game), Alto's Odyssey went a step further, added a few new mechanics and improved the quality of the graphics and various environments to create a really stunning world you will never forget.
There are the default endless Runner mode in which you collect points and collect coins to unlock upgrades, or you can put it in the correspondingly titled ZEN mode and just ride in your own pace on the mountains or in the sand, Without worrying, crash, restart or the like.
The Alto games are exceptional in every way, and if they did not take the time to play them seriously. They are beautiful, simple experiences that for a short time and then for an hour after they have initially said they would stop playing for a small piece of calm.
# 1: Two
Notable Works: Monument Valley, Monument Valley 2
Monument Valley has changed mobile games and possibly games in general forever. This is not an exaggeration - you can feel your influence in small puzzles on the whole line.
I mean when your game appears in one of the most popular Netflix shows of all time, you know that you did it.
And we really have it. The original monument Valley is an absolutely outstanding puzzle, full of innovative solutions, amazing geography and a beautiful soundtrack. It turned out that the iPhone was not only intended for sillary deflections, but also seemed true works of art on the platform.
And then the studio expanded its original idea with Monument Valley 2 and added more history, more puzzles and beautiful works of art and environments. It was awarded by us with a rare platinum award, and it is easy to see why. You absolutely have to play it.
Ustwo takes time for the mobile issue, so it can take years until we see another game of the developer. But we are almost sure that your next release will be just as beautiful and atmospheric like everything that was before.
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