- Indie companies often work with AAA publishers to make games

- Indie games have their own market, with festivals, online communities, magazines and games

- Indie games are created without the financial or creative control of a corporation.

- Indie games exist outside the mainstream and are often creatively innovative

- Indie development teams are usually small, often with each member being very important and filling multiple roles

- As the game industry has grown and budgets have increased it has become harder to be on par with big corporate games

- Indie games often find success on platforms like mobile, internet sites, digital marketplaces on consoles and handheld systems

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Technology:

- Digital distribution and the internet are very helpful for indie developers, as they do not have to physically distribute their games. This makes it cheaper and easier to have games reach an audience and increases the diversity of games available.

- Small file sizes make games more accessible for downloading. This is why many indie games do not use realistic graphics and prioritize game mechanics as the main appeal of the game.

- Much of the game production budget goes to engine development, so indie developers often use third party game engines like Unity

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Laws/Regulation:

- The publisher owns the IP (Intellectual Property), meaning that indie developers who work with publishers do not truly own the game

- Publishers help the game reach an audience

- Publishers can sign deals with console companies to reach an audience on their platforms

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Industry Structure:

- The biggest games are designed to be franchised. Most of the biggest budget games like Halo are pre established games with room for sequels, leaving little room for original ideas. Games that are 'hits' are usually made into franchises.

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Organizational Structure:

- Big budget games have hundreds of employees with specialized skillsets, with only the top of the company having influence over the production. Often people's work comes down to working on a few assets for example and their work is a very small element of  the game.

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Careers:

- Large game companies have a hierarchical system that prioritizes workflow and restricts creativity.

- The majority of people who come to work on indie games are either people who have worked in AAA development and desire more creative freedom, and amateurs who have no industry experience and want to make an idea.

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Markets:

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