State of the Indie: Cave Story on WiiWare
Posted by Mr. Podunkian at 4:06 pm on October 2nd, 2008
By now you’ve undoubtedly heard the news that is shaking the independent community at its core. Our holy scripture; our veritable Indie Manifesto as it were, as writ by one of the greatest (if not the greatest) gamesmiths of our time. I speak, of course, of Daisuke Amaya (real name: Studio Pixel). His masterwork, Doukutsu Monogatari (Which when untangled from the shackles of the Nihongo tongue, translates roughly as Cave Story), is the single document that liberated our lost souls from the tyranny of consumerist culture. Cave Story is, for all intents and purposes, our Declaration of Indiependence; the inciting force behind our rejection of ’British East India Gameplay’ for statements of ‘Haughty Artistic Merit.’ Amaya, the benevolent host of our Nintendo Tea Party.
Before Cave Story, there was no indie games community. People would sit around thinking, “this game – this game rips off –” and then mentally redact that Youtube comment, unable to come up with a suitable answer. It is only because of Cave Story that we are one nation, under the proud banner,”lol cave story ripoff.”
To compare Amaya to God would be a fallacy — God made the mistake of 9/11. Amaya is no mere God. Amaya is the perfect indiety. On the first day, Amaya created the Heavens and the Earth. Upon this Earth he created Caves, and within these Caves he breathed Life — a Story of sorts. He could not speak directly with his Life — being that he spoke the Nihongo tongue — an archaic language too wrought with subtleties for our pitiful Gaijin minds. And so he blessed a man named with the Independent Spirit, the spiritual manifestation of his unending grace. This man’s name was Shih Tzu, and he would become his liason — the final piece in the Holy Triforce — Amaya, The Independent Spirit, and Shih Tzu — through which he would bless the Earth with his writings — his Cave Story.
There has been whisperings that Cave Story will be coming to the Nintendo WiiWare platform. These whisperings have been amplified into a monstrous roar through the megaphone that is Nintendo’s press release.
What does this mean as proud believers of Protestant Independism? Why has Lord Amaya abandoned us so?
It is my belief that this is not an abandonment, as it is a test from our Lord. As God did with selling out His image to Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty, Lord Amaya is simply testing our resolve. In Bruce Almighty, God asked “Would you still love me if I was Black?” The faithful responded with a resounding “No — for we know you Lord, and we know that you are not Black, but pure White — the culminations of all colors of the rainbow.” Likewise, Cave Story on the Nintendo Wii is simply a test of our unconditional faith. “Would you still love me if I was on a Nintendo WiiWare platform?” Amaya asks. What is your answer? Will you remain of the faith?
God once said “beware false prophets” — a reference undoubtedly to the Anti-Christ (Shigeru Miyamoto), pure evil hidden behind wily guise of a friendly Japanese man.
Amaya steps out from the shadows, with a smirk on his face. ”No,” says Amaya, “Beware false profits” and zaps Miyamoto into stardust.
(Thanks Indie Games!)
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I can’t believe this. Where do we go from here? When I read this news, it was like being punched in the gut… Easy Mac everywhere…
October 2nd, 2008 at 10:40 pm
i had easy mac for breakfast and lunch today.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:42 am
so much text, so little humour
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 am
Gosh!
This is great news.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:48 pm
thank you abraham lincoln for supporting the easy mac sector of our economy in these trying times
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Need to be more verbose. Also need more obscure references. I certainly hope you at least wrote it with nano.
October 4th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Wow, so did you like Cave Story ^_^? I’m just happy he’s involved with it rather than having someone completely rip him off.
October 4th, 2008 at 1:17 am
what kind of dummy would i have to be to dislike the game i am using as one of my main sources of inspiration?
October 4th, 2008 at 5:43 am
First thought: Yay, mr. Podunkian seems to be a good writer and so on. But then all that god stuff. Come on -_-. Anyways, I don’t see this a bad sign as long as Pixel’s games are free at first and then possibly ported and given a price.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:02 am
hey m3tias i wrote this for you enjoy
A storm of electrical impulses fire through a young man’s brain. A renewed fire burns behind his glassy, apathetic eyes. Passion brimming in each footstep, an insatiable quest for knowledge begins. Each inexorable movement, each padded thud towards the book shelf its own reward. He picks up the dictionary, and flicks through with inhuman speed towards the word satire.
The meaning percolates. Drip. Drip. Drip.
A smile invades his lips. Satisfaction.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:46 am
“God asked “Would you still love me if I was Black?” “no..”
[wrong answer!]
–SD:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black
1 Corinthians 13
October 4th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Indie games are not defined by what system they’re released on or whether or not money is made. Indie games are created by people who can follow their vision INDEPENDENTLY. In other words, they make what they want, when they want. Cave Story is just that, and the fact that Pixel’s work is appearing on Wii doesn’t make it any less breathtaking, inspiring, creative, or indie.
October 4th, 2008 at 8:41 am
look at how stupid you are
October 4th, 2008 at 10:21 am
super joe knows not the meaning of mercy
October 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Super Joe Says:
Eh, I’m sorry? If you want to say something, please, say it straight and don’t hide behind nice stories.
JohnB:
You’re right!
October 4th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I’m going to crush you. My body a millstone. My clenched extremities breaking down your chemical bonds until but dust remains. I’ll toss you to the wind, countless pieces sailing along invisible streams, each a spectator to countless worlds. Perhaps one particle of your remains will learn the meaning, and share it with the others before they return to Mother Earth whence they came.
October 4th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I really wish I could agree that the ‘cave story ripoff’ meme was overblown. But unfortunately, the Underside rips from it a bit too heavily in a purely graphical sense. If one of my students submitted it as a term paper, I would alert the dean.
October 4th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
hahaha you actually have a job and you’re reading this website and by extension are some kind of indie game nerd. how does it feel to be dealt life’s worst hand.
October 4th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
What’s wrong with having a job?
October 4th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
violates the principles of the bohemian lifestyle a true independent video gamer lives by
October 4th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
If you were truly indie you’d make your income from donations you made from a game you made.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
if you were truly indie you would reject consumerism and childish ideas like capitalism and fiscal responsibility
October 4th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
a) The whole “cave story as holy scripture” thing wasn’t funny.
b) You may have noticed that many independently developed games, such as the highly acclaimed Darwinia and Multiwinia are, in fact sold. Some of them are even sold on Xbox Live Arcade. This sort of undermines the entire point of the spiel.
d) Independent gaming was around long before Cave Story. Remember Clickteam? Game Maker? Communities formed up around those tools long before Cave Story came around.
October 4th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
a) The truth isn’t always funny.
b) An “highly acclaimed” game isn’t indie; it’s mainstream. Real indie games are found exclusively on three-year-old google blogs with two posts (one about how much google sucks for being so commercial and the other for the game) or on websites that barely even use HTML and only have a few images (see pixel’s website if you can fine it).
d) Groups of people existed long before farming, but it was agriculture that created civilization. Likewise, people made games long before Cave Story, but it was Cave Story that made independent gaming.
October 5th, 2008 at 5:14 am
I just had to comment about “Cave story made independent gaming”.
What the hell?
What exactly is so special about cave story that every indie game before it was not really indie, and every indie game after it owes to cave story its existance?
There have been some really good indie games, before cave story. And no, they are not game maker games or RPG maker games.
But even those game maker and RPG maker games do not fall from other hardcore C++ or whatever games.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like cave story. But I seem to be the only blind person over here that doesn’t get why cave story is considered the game that started independent games, no less. Or such an important game.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Why is this happening? Why us?
I see now that “indie” was a myth and a lie all along, merely the work of unemployed bums wallowing in the arid desert of their own worthlessness, gazing desirously at the horizon in the hope that they might glimpse, if only for a brief, hazy moment, the monetary oasis of the games industry. They would not cross that desert, for they knew in their lazy, selfish hearts that they were Artists; they could not allow themselves to work in a job as if they were just any other person, for they knew that the Man was at all times hard at work in His mission to beat them down, to Kill their Vibes.
No, they were superior; they were above the pathetic scurrying of the other developers, their perpetual ant-like to-ing and fro-ing, hauling component after burdensome component as they erected Shaders and Bump Maps, great monoliths and monuments to their beloved Queen. These Artists would not grovel at the feet of the briefcase-brandishers, and they saw that only one course of action would be acceptable to them: as they would not – could not – go to the oasis, the oasis would have to be brought to them.
And so it was that their mission of propaganda and indoctrination began. They lured us to them, fascinated and enthralled us, rallied us with impassioned cries: “Do not believe the lie of the Mainstream! Games are art! We are games, and games are us; as we must be free, so must they!” They moulded us, sculpted us into great thrones of pretension, exhorted us daily to toil for them.
We struggled across the desert enticed by their saccharine words, their empty gestures and scattered offerings of cheap thrills: a freeware metroidvania here, a doujin shmup there. These precious vials of delight were fickle friends, and the quiver of euphoria they conferred upon us faded almost as quickly as it had come, leaving us desperate for a new rush. We became as the walking dead, stumbling insensibly towards the next fix, and, with every feeble step we took, the oasis drew an inch closer to our craven masters.
The desert was cruel and unforgiving, and many of our number fell. Their bodies lined the sand, became our cobblestones. Still we continued on, as much in the thrall of our Indie Gods as we had been in the beginning, and their coveted paradise was borne to them by worn and bloodied hands over a path of the rotting cadavers of the forsaken faithful.
Yes, they have, at last, succeeded in their quest to claim their Elysium. As they regard that Eden’s fruits with a leer of greedy anticipation breaking across their faces as one, I finally see.
I see their lies. I see their avarice and cunning.
Eschaton is come upon our world. The hour of judgement is here, and our gods have forsaken us.
October 5th, 2008 at 8:31 am
9/11 is Bush’s fault.
October 5th, 2008 at 8:45 am
You are not alone, Corpus.
Rejoice, brothers.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Good. Cave Story holy whatchamacallit can finally end. The book of Tetris decree that the 3D sequel and movie are now on the way.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
God (Amaya), it is incredibly ironic (and satisfying) that half of the readers (and commenters) of “Pigscene” are pretentious gamers without a sense of humor.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
that statement would be only be true if there were only two readers and one of them were you
October 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I like pie.
But seriously, I don’t have any idea who is sarcastic and who is serious over here.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
everyone takes everything too seriously :<
October 6th, 2008 at 9:03 am
I’m gay.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
I never got past the first level in Cave Story because I don’t like platformers and died.
Jesus Christ people have a hardon for platformers.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:20 am
I actually liked cave story, sort of.
Until I reached the final boss, and I just didn’t feel like fight against two bosses, one which have 2 or 3 phases all over again, each time I died.
If you defeat a boss you should have an option to save your progress, or at least don’t make it so long and tedious.
But maybe I just suck at games in general.
October 12th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
you guys are so silly
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:27 pm
anonymous.. Most likely the later.
lolwut, i feel that you should be banished from PIGscene and any other Indie gaming communion, until you produce suitable entertainment in the form of a game, equal in value to Eternal Daughter. After making a crap game, you do not have to create gay mellodrama on the internet afterwards though. Lame game will suffice.
To me i think that Pixels latest move is a palm to the face.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
shut up gregory
October 23rd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Gregory’s impersonation of Mr Podunkian is fatally flawed due to the fact that he isn’t funny.
December 13th, 2008 at 3:52 am
Always amuses me when that picture shows up. That’s my friend’s fiancee, and that costume’s how I introduced the two of them.
December 13th, 2008 at 4:28 am
hey anon whats it like being gay as shit m8
July 16th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
I see no Tricksals(copyright)! Only voxals!
January 19th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
worst article ever
June 2nd, 2010 at 7:50 am
[...] Joe qualifie Spelunky de “ "pire clone de Cave Story“ ", mais de toutes façons comme le rappelle Mr. Podunkian, Cave Story ne vaut plus rien puisque le jeu est disponible sur [...]
June 18th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
holy fucking shit I cant actually believe how fucking dumb and retarded everyone is.