What defines an indie game and how do they impact the industry?

An indie game is like a toy that one person (or a small group) made by themselves, without needing a big factory or lots of money.

Imagine you and your friends decide to build a treehouse in the backyard, no help from the school, no fancy tools, just wood and rope. That’s an indie game! It's created with love, imagination, and sometimes just a little bit of help from friends.

An indie game doesn’t need a big team or a lot of money, it can be made by one person, like a kid making a drawing with crayons. These games often have unique ideas that bigger companies might not think of, like playing as a tiny bug crawling through a giant world.

Big toy companies make lots of toys, but sometimes they are all similar, like every toy being a robot. Indie games bring new and fun ideas to the table, like a robot that can also draw pictures or sing songs! This makes the whole game world more exciting and full of surprises.

Because of this, many big companies now watch what indie games do, sometimes even buying them to make them bigger!