Finding Good Indies in a Crowded Store

The app stores are a mess. For every gem there are a hundred clones and cash-grabs, and the charts rarely surface the interesting stuff. Finding the good ones takes actual effort.

We watch small dev communities, follow a handful of curators, and honestly do a lot of random downloading. A striking screenshot or an odd premise is often enough to make us try something.

The filter is play time. Most games we try get closed within half an hour. The rare ones that keep us going past that first session are the ones you end up reading about here.

If you want to hunt on your own, my tip is to ignore the charts and look at recent releases with a strange hook. The weird little idea is usually where the magic hides.