Welcome to the setup for what will be my first new blog feature on the site in quite some time. It's been too long, but now that I have a shiny new computer and a little extra disposable income, I thought this would be a great way to start to dip my stinky, calloused toes back into the filth of the community forums. I kid. I'm sure you all take baths. Except ZombiePie. He probably lathers himself in ketchup every morning and calls it good.

Now that I've implanted that nasty image in your head, let's get to work.

So What's Indie Gaming Theater?

IGT aims to take a look at games that might otherwise slip under the communal radar. Since I'm a cheap bastard and I have very little time on my hands, this will occur roughly once per week when Steam launches its weekly deals every Monday. There are hundreds of games in those sales that go completely unnoticed by me and probably the bulk of humanity, so I plant to dig up games with relatively few review scores and examine them here on the site. Good, bad, playable, unplayable, I'll put them out in the sun and examine them as fairly as possible within the realm of the limitations put upon indie developers.

What does that mean? It's basically me saying I'll try not to be a dick. That said, I'm not going to lie or sugarcoat anything about these games. I'm not interested in making friends with the developers. I won't accept solicitations for games for the feature. If a game is straight-up terrible, I'll be as ugly with it as I would be with a AAA game. But - and this is the kicker - I understand indie manpower is what it is. If a game has heart, or some really clever ideas behind it, I'll be focusing in on that just as much as the negatives. The world is full of people with great ideas that just need to be seen and given a moment of time by someone - anyone - capable of doing so. Those are the games I hope to find through this feature.

The games will be reviewed largely under Wolpaw's Law, meaning that once I've had enough of a game to review it properly, I'll consider my job satisfactorily done. I've actually got a real life now, so I can't devote a ton of time to this feature. That said, I will always try to give games their due diligence.

What Kinds of Games Will Be Eligible?

The focus will be on indie games with few reviews. What "few reviews" will end up being is subjective. If something looks interesting enough to grab my attention but toes the line, sure, I'll pick it up too. This isn't going to be a strictly set-in-stone rule, either. But it's the basis for the feature as a whole.

- If I'm solicited about a game, it will be disqualified. I'm not interested in free copies for looks or hits. Similarly, fans of games should not send me anything they want me to play. I won't disqualify a game for this, but it certainly won't do it any favors, either. My feature, my money, my rules.

- No VR. The logistics of this are pretty simple. I'm legally blind (more on that in a second) and I don't believe headsets will work with my glasses. And before you say it, yes, I know, some of you who wear glasses have no trouble with the headsets. Mine are very, very big. Games that happen to have VR capabilities but are still playable the traditional way are definitely eligible.

- My vision unfortunately will dictate a lot of what games will be playable by me. I'll try my best to adapt but no promises about anything. If I can't play a game, I'll simply refund it (more on that below). This is largely going to mean racing games at large are a no-go, as will be some fast-paced shooters or actioners.

- No refunds unless a game is straight-up broken or I can't play it. I'm not out to screw anyone over, and using someone's game as blog material and then refunding it feels cheap.

- Games will largely come from Steam, but other PC services like GOG and Humble Bundle will be considered too. This isn't just limited to new games. At some point I'd love to explore some of the more obscure games in GOG's back catalogue, but that will be a ways down the line.

- Suggestions for games will largely be politely ignored. I'm not trying to be a dick here, but this isn't a popularity contest and I don't want my choices of games influenced in any way by anything other than the Steam video and its review numbers. I'm not even all that concerned about review scores. It's just me and my itchy buying finger.

- Multiple games may be considered per week if I've completed one fast enough and if I'm really bored. That goes without saying.

What Else Might Be Contained in the Blogs?

I don't plan on solely playing indie games, so I'll probably throw in brief notes about more popular games I'm playing at the moment, as well as my usual random bullshitting about books I'm reading, movies, and TV. I am not interested in using the blog as a platform to talk about my own novels, but I might consider doing a similar feature as this one with independent writers. Haven't made up my mind on that account, and since I have a ton of friends in the field, it might feel a little skeezy. That said, if I do take it up, it wouldn't be to promote the books written by friends, but an examination of random stuff I try out on the Kindle. We'll see.

And that's it. I'm hoping to do up the blog on a weekly basis. We'll try to affix a firm date to it when I get rolling. I'll probably give myself two days to play the games in question, with the hope that I'll produce the blog every Wednesday. As always, thanks for reading!