Goodbye

Hello everyone! I’m very sorry to say that this will be the last post ever on freeindiegam.es.

When I started this site after GDC in 2012, it was out of frustration – I believed that the culture and discussion around indie games was changing, and that the awesome, personal, and usually free work that had influenced me was being left out and forgotten. I wanted to change that, and I think, thanks to the help of my wonderful co-curators, we did that, for a while.

For over two years now, we’ve regularly posted about new free games as they’re released, and it’s been a pleasure – but we’re all busy people volunteering our limited time and energy, and the time has come for all of us here to move onto other things.

This site and the games posted here will remain, hopefully indefinitely. Feel free to say goodbye in the comments – to talk about your favourite games, posts, the site, whatever you like.

Some site highlights:

[Our best of 2012 lists]

[Our best of 2013 lists]

[Play a random game]

Thanks for playing, everyone <3 – Terry

Before we go, each of the sites editor’s would like to say a few words about the site, and what happens next:

Almost a year ago I wrote on Zero Feedback, “It has never been easier to make games. It has never been easier to make a game that goes overlooked.” That is still true today.

Make if you can. Advocate if you can. Dig deep to unearth what we’ve overlooked, what you want gaming to be, the experiences that make you feel something, the creators who have existed all this time but were rarely given a voice.

I am thankful for my time here at freeindiegam.es, amazed daily by the sheer number of incredible games made by hardworking but rarely rewarded freeware developers, and proud of the hours and energy my fellow editors put into curation.– Noyb

I’m saddened about the closure – thanks for letting me be a tiny part of FreeIndieGam.es. – Tim

Years and years ago when I first started, it was exciting to watch, discuss, and elevate all the new game designers eager to expand upon the form and possibilities of games. But as the circle of success stories expanded, I moved on, got comfortable, and forgot about the new authors yet to come.

For me, FreeIndieGames was an important reminder to shine a spotlight on those just now flexing their craft. I think of all the new games I’ve seen and played these last few years and I worry that, without Terry’s spur, I might have missed it all. I’m glad he got me into this and now, site or no, I’m sure to keep at it. I hope we all do. – Aquin

I’m going to continue covering marginalized and outsider games on RPS for the time being, over here. – Porpentine

FREE INDIE GAMES started two years ago because there were these great superamazing games being made, but basically no way to find out about them. And indeed things have improved a lot over the couple of years we’ve been doing it, which is wonderful – the general ecosystem of free games is wonderful active, and visibly so. We posted over 2000 games in this time, and, given sufficient resources, I’m sure we could have found twice this much to be enthusiastic about – even Ludum Dare now has so many entries that, doing our best, we couldn’t play more than a fraction.

There’s always more exploring to be done, new corners of the internet to be investigated, to find amazing games – journalists rarely do off-piste work (one exception being our own Tim Wee), so it’s left to other members of the community to search for and shout about beautiful and amazing things. Peace out! – Stephen

138 Comments.

  1. Wow.

    End of an era, feels like. For a long time now, this site has been my go-to for finding the freshest games. And when my game Neuro-Hack got linked here last year, it blew me away.

    Best of luck to all of you, thanks for the hard work.

  2. So, anybody got any advice as to replacements other than trolling Tigsource?

  3. Thank you so much for posting as long as you did. I found a lot of great games and wish you all the best!

  4. Sad to see you go! Thank you for all of the hard work and posting such great games. I’ve found plenty of really interesting and influential games from this site.

  5. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  6. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

    One of my motivations as an independent developer has always been to create something that I would be proud to have listed here… completely dreamcrushed now. Thanks for the great two years!

  7. Thank you for making me discover so many wonderful games. The biggest thing about your blog is that it was really open-minded about what a game should be. It definitely helped me to try new and different things.

    I wish the best for all contributors and especially for you terry.

  8. I have been following Free Indie Games for a couple years, and I must say, you will be missed. I always enjoyed the stream of games you would cover, and I will miss the honest and charming appeal made here. Fare thee well!

  9. Sad to see you go, this site is where I found that amazing Japanese puzzle game, “jelly no” something or other. It’s the way you guys brought titles like these that I’d never find on any other site to light that was the best thing. Similar to the other commenter Malky it made me super happy to one day come on the site and see our rhythm game here. Best of luck guys πŸ™‚

  10. Thanks so much for this site. Maybe now I can catch up on all of the games I’ve missed.

  11. No, no, oh God no!

    Thank you so much for your years of curation. They went too fast!

  12. I must wonder if someone was interested in picking up the torch whether you all would be willing to help suggest the best way for discovering such a wide variety of games.

  13. Thanks for the blog. It was really nice. Good luck on your travels.

  14. Sad to hear! Thanks all for showing us those 2000+ games, and thanks personally for posting a couple of mine. Meant a lot to some of us lesser-seen devs I’m sure πŸ™‚

  15. This site has been a great joy to see when I wanted to play a great overlooked game. Good luck on all of the editors’ future endeavors.

  16. You guys done good.

    I encourage anyone who liked this site and has a little ambition to start up a Tumblr or WordPress blog and start posting like these guys did, just cool little things with nothing but the authors’ words attached. If you do, tweet at me @TomSennett so I can check it out and help spread the word.

    As for where to find such games, I suggest any communities around making games (like TIGSource) or around specific tools (like the Game Maker Community), and any place people can upload games (itch.io, Newgrounds, mobile app stores). And checking out following/follower lists on Twitter can definitely send you down the rabbit hole in a good way.

  17. Thank you for this site. It was invaluable.

  18. It was awesome while it lasted.

  19. Be proud of what you’ve done, guys! Let’s hope someone picks up where you’ve left off.

  20. Very sad to see such a great thing go. Thanks for all the great work and all the wonderful experiences I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

    Keep being awesome everyone!

  21. You guys did such a great job. I will miss you. As a fellow volunteer and curator for freeware games (indie, web, former retail, freeforever weekends and more) I feel your pain. There are times when I’m shit out of luck with time and my list takes a hit.

    Thanks for your coverage!

  22. Well, I guess it was time. Thanks for everything. Will now have to work just a tad bit harder to find these games. Maybe it’ll do me some good.

    Thanks.

  23. Jonathan Harford

    Well, this is disappointing.

    Thank you, Mr. Cavanaugh (and editors), for your excellent curating.

  24. This closing is sad but understandable.

    I started out playing every game posted (and — in the first 9 months — regularly writing possibly inappropriately lengthy comments trying to tease out what was most interesting about many of them, since even that super-casual level of critical attention is more than many of these games were receiving elsewhere), but over time I found myself just not able to keep up. And I’m sure my guilt-inducing, ever-enlarging bookmark folder of unplayed figames posts is nothing compared to the unfiltered backlog of each of the site’s editors.

    (I also made my first game a month or so after the site opened up, and seeing it posted here out of the blue was such a huge encouragement.)

    I’m sorry to see the site go dark.

  25. Oh no! Thank you so much for so many excellent games, though. I will miss popping here every day and seeing something new and wonderful.

  26. oh, thank you guys for all you’ve done, and let us know if you’ve got side projects.

  27. Thank you so much for your years of service. FreeIndieGam.es was deeply important to non-commercial voices using the medium of games. Here’s hoping we’ll be able to pick up where FreeIndieGam.es left off with new similarly-minded sites.

  28. I’m gonna miss this site, it was a great resource. I hope something similar pops up!

    Thanks, all.

  29. Wanted to mention https://forestambassador.com/ for ppl looking for where to go next

  30. Very sad news, but thank you hugely for everything you’ve done the last few years. These labours of love and experimentation deserve all the attention they can get!

  31. Been coming to the site almost everyday for the past few years, will surely miss it go. Thank you for all the posts.

  32. Thank you all for donating the most precious resource a human has — time — towards shining a light on lesser known game creators and their wild, joyous expressions of individuality. I am honored to have a silly game of my own included in this frenzied indie-orgy.

  33. Thanks so much for all your work and the hours of enjoyment and inspiration I’ve had from this site.

  34. No-o-o-ΠΎ-o-o!!! You killed true indie πŸ™ freeindiegam.es – Best site about true indie games. RIP πŸ™

  35. Thanks for everything.

  36. thanks for the time and thought you all put into this!

  37. Wow this was really sad and unexpected. I’ll miss checking this site each day. Super huge thanks to all of you for the time you’ve put in to this!

  38. This was one of my dialy stops on the web. Sad to see it end. All the best to you people!

  39. junkeragentseed

    I am genuinely saddened by this. This was one of the few sites I’ve kept up with since I started getting way more work to do at my job. Thanks for all the great games you’ve pointed me to.

  40. Thanks for giving so many developers an opportunity to be seen and giving us all the opportunity to find unique and interesting works. Think I’ll have to start trawling the pages for anything I’ve missed over the years. Good luck with your future endeavors!

  41. Awww … freeindiega.es was one of the best site to find those weird little indie-gems. You will be missed, goodby, and thanks for the fish games πŸ˜₯

  42. Sad news!

    Freeindiegam.es introduced me to some of my most memorable gaming experiences of the last two years — very many thanks for all your hard work.

    I guess its now for the rest of us to carry the flame.

  43. Aw, so sad to hear this. Thanks for all the time you put into it, I’ll miss it badly. πŸ˜₯

  44. Oh man, that’s a downer – this is the site which got me interested in the more obscure side of indie games in the first place. Since the announcement on Terry’s blog, I’ve had countless experiences – some fun, some confusing, and some that have literally had me in tears – but all of which I would never have been exposed to if it weren’t for you guys dedicating your free time to curating this amazing little corner of the web. Thanks for everything πŸ™‚

  45. Sad news… FreeIndieGam.es was an amazing place of discovering new gaming experiences, always from the free, experimental and underground side. Thanks Terry and the team behind you that delighted us from around two years. To be honest, I must confess that you guys inspired me to start a personal site with the same mood and motivation: https://gamemorphosis.tumblr.com/ Thanks, thanks and thanks.

  46. This site has meant a lot to me and provided me with so much joy and inspiration over the years. Thank you so much for contributing your time and effort to make figames a thing that exists. All my best to you folks! x

  47. I’ve loved this site for years, and I’m sad to see it go. You guys helped me to understand so many things that games can be.

    Thank you for featuring my games as well, it was uplifting to know that somebody noticed and cared! Well wishes, and thank you!

  48. thank you lots, friends

  49. thanks so much to all of you for the work that you put in here. It was an amazing resource, even if I couldn’t keep up most of the time.

    It inspired me to make and release free games as well, and try to figure out ways to be not as focused on the commercial stuff, and I was really glad for that.

    Will be sad to see it go, but you have been an inspiration, and I hope more things pop up to share the load.

  50. The way you all presented games — as they are and without judgement — is something that will stay with me. I think each of us who appreciated free indie games should take it on ourselves to carry the torch in some small way. Maybe we could share our discoveries with the hashtag #freeindiegames ?

  51. *gives the website a slow kiss on the forehead. it is the kiss of death.*

    We’ll meet again

    Don’t know where, don’t know when…

    (roll credits)

  52. Extremely sad day, you will be very sorely missed. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  53. It was great having a kind of centralised place to find new , interesting games. Thanks a lot to all of you!

    It felt really nice the time you posted one of my games, BTW. It was a real boost.

  54. cheers fig, you guys helped me a lot… peace

  55. Thank you for keeping us entertained and inspired for so long. This site, and the people who fueled it, will be sorely missed.

    I’ll catch you guys later…

  56. Kitty Horrorshow

    thank you all so much for the games of mine you featured, and thank you to everyone who played them, and thank you for hosting all those games I would never have known about, and thank you to everyone for making them. love you all.

  57. I’ll miss you so much. Visiting this site became a part of my life, a beatiful one. Thanks for all the emotions and the good times!

  58. This is an unfortunate turn of events. I thought the frequent introduction of new editors would allow this site to continue indefinitely.

    So long and thanks for all the games!

  59. I expected the site to dwindle and fade if it ever died, not just full stop. I can’t help feeling like this is a mistake.

  60. I was hoping one day my game will be posted here…good day and best of luck to all!

  61. Very sad to see you go. Goodbye!

  62. I’m really sorry to hear this.

    If you’re at all open to the idea of handing the responsibility of continuing the site to others, I would love to talk with you about it.

  63. Thanks for everything you did!

  64. I am going to miss this site SO much, a lot of the other indie review sites only focus on popular indie artists and miss out on cool tech experiments, demos, art games and other niche stuff I find here.

    I hope the crew here find more time for their own programming and writing endeavors and godspeed. You will be missed…

  65. You did a lot of good things, guys!
    Retire with pride <3
    I love you!

  66. Thanks for all the games! You will be missed. πŸ˜₯

  67. I’m very sad. Thanks for everything.

  68. Thanks so much for this wonderful site. I’m sad to see it end.

  69. πŸ™

    Thanks for all the games, and the couple times you posted my efforts on here really kept me going.

    Whether other people make their own curation sites or not, it’s always good to have more people digging at the source, I’d encourage people to dive through the LudumDare results as well as other jam games, which sometimes only get 4 or 5 plays ever. There’s the TigSource playtest forum too over at https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?board=6.0 which can always do with more hands (and which I always mean to visit more often).

  70. I honestly don’t know where I’ll go to kill time and find wonderful things, now. Thank you for the wonderful years of discovery.

  71. Well damn. I don’t think there’s another site I visited as much as FIG in the last 2 years. This place has been a huge motivator for me. So many great games by so many great people that I’d never have known about otherwise. Thanks for all that.

  72. You did great work. I understand the time thing but sad to see the updates stop.

    Good luck!

  73. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say this site changed my life. I learned so much here. I’ll also miss the exceptional comments section. Some of the regulars made it the best one on the net. Thank you all!

  74. For a lot of us, I think this site has been one of the central institutions for the indie scene. Hell, seeing my own game on this particular site one morning was one of the coolest things that’s happened to me. The community’s going to have to fill this void with something else. Glad to hear Porp’s still fighting the good fight on RPS.

    Thanks for everything! You’ve all done wicked work.

  75. This is unexpected, and kind of sad. Thanks for all the great games you helped me discover, and thanks for even featuring my crappy game on here that one time!

    I’m going to miss stopping by here every day.

  76. Yup, this is sudden and sad but also very understandable. I think many of us were taking FIG for granted and its closing is a remainder that if we want different games, the kind that tends not to have a lot of hyperbolic coverage, we’ll have to dig.

    I love the amount of comments from people thanking you for featuring their little games and giving them confidence about their work. Also, thank you for featuring my first little game and giving me confidence about my work.

  77. This site was especially close to my heart since just a few days after it opened. A huge portion of all my gaming over the past few years has come from here, and it was through this site I discovered most of my favourite indie developers.

    Very sad to see it go, and it’s going to be hard to find a suitable replacement. Still, I must say, over the years I’ve wondered how the editors found the time to ensure the site was updated every day. The editorial team here isn’t very large, and everyone on the team is busy with other projects.

    Looking forward to seeing what’s next from Terry, Noyb, Tim, Aquin, Porp, and Steve. Thank you, all of you.

  78. suck my cock chumps, sorry it was too hard to link a thing every fortnight.

    • Oh you know, and actually finding all these cool indie games, while not getting paid for it, and out of their own free time.

    • Among the many things I loved about figames was that the mods were watchful and the trolls were especially feeble. If they suffer this to live, it will serve as a fair example of the ‘tough guy’ slush wiped from the other posts on here.

  79. What a sad day. I’ll really miss this site. Thanks for everything.

  80. this site is specially to me. you had a hard time!
    I hope this site has resumed. see you later~please!!!

  81. Thank you everyone who made this site! I’ll miss it!

  82. wha-what?

    rip an awesome site

  83. Ive just started getting into making indie games myself and just found this blog today (13th April) only see its closing, what the hell?? Whats the reason behind this? Surely there’s someone who would be willing to help out to run it? I work in the blog and online publishing industry and it shouldnt be that difficult, there’s clearly a strong community here and Im sure some people would be willing to help out and say publish a few new games per week…

  84. Oh man, that is sad to hear. good luck on the new things in your life! πŸ˜€

  85. Well, this is sad. πŸ™
    Thanks for your work over the last couple of years guys.

  86. Thank you all. I wish the best for all your future projects.

    Even though I’m fairly fully formed, I’d still say this site has been formative for me. You’ve helped me find a lot of stuff I didn’t know I’d treasure until you linked it. And you’ve encouraged me to create.

    I had hoped to put a game on here myself, but I’m not too worried. Something will rise from the ashes. Perhaps I can help.

  87. Thank you all for drawing my attention to some wonderful games

  88. I’m pretty sad right now.
    and confused.
    But mostly sad.

  89. I’ve started https://indieplague.blogspot.com.es/ because of FreeIndieGam.es. Thanks for everything!! 😐

  90. Thanks so much for sharing these games with us! I’ve enjoyed the crap out this site for the past couple of years, and I wish you all the best!

  91. Guys, thank you so much for your work, I felt very proud having some of my games featured here, and it the blog has led me to so many inspiring discoveries…

  92. It’s like watching a beautiful flower wither and die on fast forward. I have seriously been in mourning since this happened. It shocked and deeply saddened me.

    Not to be overly dramatic but it was like losing a close friend.

    I’ll always have a deep admiration for what took place here.

  93. So sad. Commenters, please share your goto indie game curation blog sites! So far we have:

    https://forestambassador.com/
    https://odditie-s.tumblr.com
    https://tigsource.com/
    https://indiegames.com/
    https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/live-free-play-hard/ (Porpentine’s current column)

    I’ll add:
    https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/patrickklepek/blog/ (Patrick Klepek’s Worth Reading is a great one).
    https://www.roguetemple.com/

    And some fig.es readers:
    https://indieplague.blogspot.com.es/
    https://gamemorphosis.tumblr.com/

    Keep em coming πŸ˜€

  94. All The Best In The future!
    Sorry to see this site go – You did great!

  95. Sad to hear this site is closing… it was one of those little things that supports the idea of personal games being important.
    Thanks for all your effort, it was great

  96. Sad, but understandable. Thank you so much for your hard work, the many wonderful games you’ve helped us discover, thank you for the exposure you gave to my crappy game. Best of luck, you’re all beautiful people.

  97. I keep coming back and checking for new games out of habit… πŸ˜₯

  98. I am going to miss the updates to this site so much. Thank you Terry, and everyone, for keeping this site going the past two years – it has given me many worthwhile experiences that I would not have otherwise had, and nurtured my love of exploration and experimentation in games.

  99. I started checking this site out about 1 year ago and loved it. I’m sad but I understand. πŸ™
    Maybe one day they will come back. Lets hope.

  100. Chris Gardiner

    Shucks!

    For the last few years this has been my homepage and the experiences within a refuge/inspiration/joy and very meaningful worthwhile experience.

    Thank you Terry and the rest
    best wishes

  101. This was one of the best sites. i discovered FOAM here. I will miss this site very much. RIP freeindiegam.es

  102. I think you should just pass the reigns on to someone else, there are countless people who would be willing. Indiegames.com sucks because it’s limited to the biases of its staff, which can pretty much be narrowed down to “Metroidvania” games (hate that term and tired of the genre). Seriously it’s really lame to just shut down, I refuse to spin this into something positive when it’s not.

  103. endless thanks and love to all contributors. <3

    i remember when Terry announced this two years ago, it was such a radical, exciting idea. now idea and importance of freeindiegam.es will live on. well done. πŸ™‚

  104. I am aware that other people have said this already, but I feel compelled to say it as well:

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

  105. I loved this while it lasted. Sad news, you guys were doing incredible work. Thanks so much for the time you put in saving special shit from the abyss.

  106. You guys done a fantastic job, thanks for doing it, such a shame it wont be updated anymore.
    Could you not ask for volunteers?

  107. goodbye and thankyou

  108. thank you, the effort you all put into this site was so lovely

  109. Sorry to see you go mate. This was fun while it lasted.

  110. I love you guys <3333

  111. Pass the torch. Keep it alive.

  112. This site was the favorite destination of many a dissociated night. Cheers, y’all.

  113. Farewell, and thanks for promoting all those great games!

  114. Awww, I’m so sad!:( But it’s understandable. Thank you guys for putting your time into this. So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye.

  115. That’s rubbish! Why can’t you just use some volunteers to keep site alive?

  116. Boo Boo Bindle

    Thank you Terry and the rest of the volunteers for all your hard work. Not only was I able to play some amazing indie games, but I was able to support indie developers I would have otherwise never known of. Good luck in the future.

  117. It was awesome while it lasted. Could be that I’ll never forget this place.

  118. You did a hell of a job here people. thanks for all effort you’ve put into this wonderful site.

  119. Only just learned about this now πŸ™
    Thank you for all your wonderful work, we’re leaving us with a beautiful game archive.

    Also, I don’t think I’ve ever told this:
    Thank you Terry for featuring two of my games on this site. Thank you especially for featuring them exactly one year apart, 15th of May 2012 and 2013. I am pretty sure this was unintentional, which proves this website’s magicks are strong.
    I hope you read this.

  120. I’d like to run this site in your honor.

  121. I loved this site! It was fun while it lasted. Thanks and hope you do well in anything that you gon do