1. Indie Titles
Indie game developers are usually small, self-publishing game dev companies that can make some seriously awesome games. They don't need the funding from a Game-publishing company and this can often benefit them as they aren't forced to make a single, repetitive game yearly, with not nearly enough time to debug *cough* CoD *cough*. However this usually leaves them with lesser funding, not being able to afford the giant orchestras for their OSTs and the voice acting of Icecube. Some of the games are simple incredible though and are often sold at a lower price than the usual $50-$60 price tag that accompany new releases. Some great indie titles include Bastion by Supergiant games, Fez by Polytron Corporation, and Torchlight 1&2 by Runic Games.
2. Published Titles
Published Titles are created by a Game Dev Company that has secured publisher support, such as EA or Activision, but don't have the "oomf" of a AAA Title. They have certain quality-boosts over indie games such as graphic wise and music wise, but sometimes in gameplay they can lack. The Devs have to meet the publisher's requirements in (sometimes) quality and sales, if they don't they might not get picked up for the development of another game. These games are a step "above" Indie games, but sometimes lack the quality-control and ammount of resources that AAA Titles have. Published Titles include Deadpool by High-Moon Studios (published by Activison), Blur by Bizzare Creations (published by Activison Blizzard), and the Dante's Inferno by Visceral Games (published by Electronic Arts).
3. AAA Titles
Pew pew. If an Indie title is a bullet, a Published title is a rocket-propelled grenade, than a AAA Title would be a bloody thermo-nuclear weapon in the video game industry. These games cause major sales and are often the highest quality titles the video game industry has to offer. Their popular and the publishers know it. The graphics are usually cutting-edge, the sound had to be recoreded by either a popular artist (such as Eminem) or an entire orchestra, and the voice-acting is of some famous people in other genres (movies or tv shows). Their gameplay is iffy, that has to do just with the quality of the developer, but it is usually superb. These Titles could also be rushed by the publisher, leading to sub-par gameplay. Some examples of AAA titles include Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 by Treyarch (published by Activsion), Halo 3 by Bungie (published by Microsoft), and the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V by Rockstar North (presumably published by Rockstar Games).
4. Casual Titles
To be honest, I personally do not spend a lot of time on these games, but occasionally they can be enjoyable. These are the games that "normal" people play on Facebook or on their phones when they don't have a lot of time or if they're bored. In my opinion these games are small bits of entertainment that have no depth at all. They lack a good story, decent gameplay, and just more content. These Titles usually have a 2nd currency that players can obtain for real-life money aka micro-transactions and sometimes a cash shop. These Titles usually have the plan to get your friends addicted in exchange for your own benefit and usually have you checking back once a day. These games are entertaining to an extent, but will eventually get boring.
Casual Titles include Candy Crush Sage by King, Farmville by Zynga, and Dragon City by Social Point.
5. Time-sink Titles
Casual games usually have you to check-up once a day. Compared to that, time-sink games probably take up hours of your day, you're probably playing one right now. These games usually include a sense of progression, and large-scale availability to a variety of people. Sometimes, these games are free, relying on micro-transactions to make money. These games vary in quality, but they usually require a long time to reach late-game and even in late-game there is probably more time-consuming gimmicks such as PvP or a ranked league. Some examples of Time-sink Titles include League of Legends by Riot Games, World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment and Maplestory by Wizet (published by Nexon).
6. Classic Titles
Classic Games. Games that will always stay with us. Games that get better with time and will always be fun. Their imperfections are ignored and their gameplay is usually critically-acclaimed. Everything is great, from the old-school soundtrack to the lack-of voice acting. Classic games are old, but still fun even when we have massive games like Saints Row the Third or Call of Duty. These games had smaller budgets and simpler mechanics. Sometimes Simpler is just better. Classic Titles include Super Mario 3 by Nintendo, Total Annihilaiton by Cavedog Entertainment (published by GT Interactive), and GoldenEye 007 by Rare (published by Nintendo).
That's it for today...
GLHF
-Yutao
