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Video games are meant to be exciting and provide entertainment, but they’re also meant, or at least allow, developers and gamers the chance to explore things never experienced before. Obviously games wow us by taking us to mythical worlds filled with dragons or cybernetic beings, but sometimes developers lose track of what makes a game truly compelling: its story. If the motivations aren’t there for gamers to sink their teeth into then the overall experience may be compromised to an extent even if the gameplay is fun.

One of the many wonderful things about indie games is that developers can do whatever they want.  While what they may create may not be an instant success that will go on to eclipse triple-A games, indie developers often bring fresh ideas to the table or at least provide concepts that are engaging if not visually amazing in the art department.  There is a certain level of pretension that’s to be had with certain indie games, but every now and then a game surfaces which is simple and is flat out fun in what it provides the player with.

I really don’t care if it’s for a genre I’m not terribly fond of, but if I’m shown a cool video for a game that has a nice premise along with some unique concept art, you got me hooked for the time being. An example of this is the recently announced turn-based strategy game Fray. Developed by indie French studio Brain Candy, Fray is a multiplayer centric strategy game that involves gamers entering virtual worlds in an attempt to escape the ever growing problems that face the world at the onset of global warming.

Last weekend the internet blew up when the first details on Telltale Games’ upcoming Jurassic Park game finally surfaced.  Even though the Jurassic Park game wasn’t going to feature laser strapped dinosaurs or a highly intelligent breed of dinos who were commandos (like the JP4 script) the game still sounded really interesting.