'Is Dave The Diver an indie game? I would say no,' says game director

Every year—and sometimes multiple times per year—the same gaming debates pop up all over again. Review scores: are they good or bad? Are esports players real athletes? Should difficult games always have easy modes? And don't forget the interminable yellow paint debate. 

The definition of «indie game» is one of those recurring discussions, and it came up once around last year's Game Awards, when Dave the Diver was nominated for 'Best Independent Game' alongside games like Dredge and Cocoon. Not everyone was thrilled about that: while Dave The Diver definitely has "indie vibes" like 2D pixel art, and the development team at Mintrocket is a relatively small one, Mintrocket itself is a sub-brand of Nexon—a large South Korean game publisher.

At the Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco, I sat down with Dave the Diver's game director, Jaeho Hwang, to ask for his take on the debate, whether he considers Dave the Diver an indie game or not, and what exactly is an indie game, anyway?

«If you ask 'Is Dave The Diver an indie game?' I would say no,» Hwang told me. He was still pleased to receive the nomination in recognition of the hard work his team did. «I really appreciate all the media and critics for nominating us for the best indie game,» he said. «That's a big honor for us.»

«I don't want [indie developers] to think that we are invading their territory,»

At the same time, Hwang had some reservations about the nomination. «There were some Twitter comments saying 'Hey, because Dave The Diver [is nominated], our beloved game Pizza Tower couldn't be nominated. So that was kind of a sad moment for me, maybe we are taking a spot from this indie game and indie developers,» Hwang said.

«I don't want them to think that we are invading their territory. I have a huge respect for them.»

Though Hwang doesn't consider his game indie, he understands why others might. «We never had a large budget or abundant resources as some people may think,» he said. «We started with