Indiexpo - Free games, every day

[Mark]

Hi guys! I want just to show you an interesting website.
It's used by a lot of indie developers. Experts and noobs.
It is indiexpo

It is avaible in over 18 languages and there are only free games. For Windows, Linux, Mobile, Mac, etc.
It's not the classic "website with free games". It has several unique features:
- A News Area to see the latest updated games
- A Chart with the most voted Games of the latest 6 months
- An Event Area where there are games with a score system. You can play them and send your score in an Online Leaderboard. The website sometime organizes also events with prizes or easter egg hunts
- A Console Area. Downloading an Android App, called Indiepad, you can turn your smartphone in a gamepad and play a lot of games also with your friends (in local co-op)

It's very similar to youtube and "gamers oriented".
I helped them few time ago to realize several videos.

They have also a youtube channel where they post the trailers and a video every month with the best games uploaded.
You can also gain gems and level up. They are adding new features every day!
Very suggested!

 

[Mark]

What have been the latest changes made to iindiexpo?

It’s been mostly bugfixes, optimizations, expansions, and some small changes!

Without further ado, let’s see what’s changed!

- Share Button

We added a button that allows to share your game much more easily and rapidly on a lot of social networks to every game page. It even comes with a QR code to print or scan, to share with anyone around you!



- More automatic checks during uploads

More automatic checks were added when a game developer tryes to create a new game page. Many kinds of checks were added, the most important ones put in place to avoid spam. Now, if a game developer tryes to make a page with an external download link, the site will automatically check if there are other games with the same external link. Furthermore, every user will be able to create a maximum of two game pages per day.



- The navigation bar has been improved

While before there were both a vertical and an horizontal navigation bar, now it’s all been included in the vertical one, which will allow you to move between different areas much more easily and rapidly.



- Added slovakian and persian support

Two new languages were added, once again thanks to the help of the indiexpo community! Adding persian is a remarkable milestone, as it makes indiexpo one of the first game hosting websites completely translated in an arabic language! We’re still fixing the site architecture relative to this new language (we gotta flip everything right to left)!



- Something new everyday!

The most recent edit, instead, was adding an area to the HomePage that will change every day. One day it will show “Games that have recently gotten more than 1000 players”, the next day it will show “The most recently followed games”, and the day after “The most relevant games that have no comments”, etc.



- More small things

New search filters in Advanced Search, new FAQ area, new User Titles depending on your level, bugs fixed regarding double notifications.

A new game has been published exclusively on indiexpo, Tony & Clyde (a low-poly adventure from a brasilian team, with a great color range and a perfect design), which was the first game featured on our latest video, the “Best of August”!

Before the end of the year we should have two other big projects done. The first regards a bug fix related to medals notifications, and the other a new functionality in the Events & Challenges area!

 

[Mark]

The last video of indiexpo to say "THANKS" to the indie developers on the website!
With the help of their games, the community of indie lovers is growing up! And we are very happy of this!

... the video REWIND 2020!

 

[Mark]

New updates from the official blog... I quote:

During the last year the website had a great boost. The reasons were probably two. The first one was a lot of players, all around the world, locked at home that were looking for free games to play. And the second one was big influencers in China that discovered and showed indiexpo on their channels.


So we thought "don't stop me now!"... and we updated the website with new features and fixed several bugs. We introduced Verified Accounts, the Share button, improved our home page and totally changed the Subscription Area.

As you can see, now you can visit the new Subscription Area to check for updates about the games you’re following. It’ll be like having your own, personal news feed!

But what are we planning for this new Year?

We were the first videogame website to also think about middle eastern countries, translating the website and changing its design so that it’s easier and faster to navigate - also by young developers and players from those countries. We want to continue to update and improve it during this year!

We are also going to work to create new automatic checks in order to prevent spambots and spam. The site’s design will be improved, we’ll add new details and animations, as well as new notifications about your progress on indiexpo!

What’s more, we’re also going to add a new area for developers and players, something totally new and never-before seen on websites like indiexpo! Stay tuned!

Continue to be a part of this community, watch the latest videos and follow the best game developers, all on indiexpo!

 

[Mark]

New updates from the official blog... I quote:

New Languages, redesign and tags!
Hi! Did you see the latest updates on indiexpo?

We never stop and recently we improved the website to be more useful for gamers and developers!

At first we translated indiexpo into two new languages: Filipino and Thai!

With the help of several users from the indiexpo's community we translated the latest words and now also the younger developers and gamers, from Thailand and Philippines, can use the website easly!

It's also redesigned two areas of indiexpo, Subscriptions and Your Games (for game developers)

Now you can see the latest news and updates of the followed games and to left a comment faster!

Another new feature is about the Comments Area of the Game Pages. Now you can tag another user when you left a comment and he/she will receive a notification about it! And added a new anti-spam system!
And there are other small features like the possibility (finally) to change your password and email in Settings Area and to see the new UI of the Level Area!

And more has coming!

Stay tuned and play indies!

 

[Mark]

indiexpo shared the video "rewind" with the best indie games uploaded during this 2021



Here you can find the games' list

 

[vans]

Thank you for sharing! liking them a lot

 

[Mark]

It was not the best way to start the new year for indiexpo staff...
this was just posted on their blog:

When things go well, no one ever thinks that it could all go wrong...

2021 had just ended, with the team on Discord, we were discussing how this year we had obtained more subscribers and views than the previous year. There were talks of new features being added, improvements being made and how they can impact the site in 2022.

Everything was going smoothly, and we did not suspect that the unexpected was just around the corner. The first days of January the site began to have problems. The server appeared unreachable, and the site is inaccessible. We start the "standard maneuvers" and after a couple of postponements, everything was back to working.

Two days pass and the site is down again. No changes had recently been applied to Indiexpo, which made it difficult to understand what was going wrong. However, this made us understand that the problem was at the server level and not at the code level.

The "standard maneuvers" didn't help this time, so we were lucky enough to have the site programmer come to the rescue. He finds a strange connection between the site and the server. He doesn't quite understand what's going on, but he finds a way to recalibrate some settings and the site is back up and running.

But after a day the site is down again, and the error seems even more serious.

Chat started to think that the site is closing. We received emails and reports of users who were unable to access the site for days. Talks on social media had everyone guessing to what was happening on the website.

We contacted the service that sold us the server. They reassured us by saying that the problem does not depend on them, and that they do not detect problems, but the site is still down. This time it cannot stay up for a few minutes without crashing, and the programmer no longer knows how to address the faults. This was seemingly impossible.

The service staff who sold us the server propose a hardware replacement. Components that should improve the performance will be presented and replaced.

We accepted and waited anxiously.

Then the news...

We are contacted again, and we are told that during the replacement of the various components, the hard drive with all the games and data appeared to be damaged.

We immediately check the backup, and we realize that it is not up to date at all and the material that we could lose would be substantial. So understandably, it resulted in the closure of the site.

The programmer explains that if the hard drive still turns, maybe we will be able to recover some files. If it does not turn, we should go to a specialized centre to try to recover the data. However, the latter option would be very expensive, risky, and extremely difficult.

It was agreed that the work would be carried out in two attempts.

The first attempt is made.

It fails...

This 12-year long work could all end. The beginning of 2022 can mark the end of a site that is now part of our daily life.

We begin to contact a specialized centre (with exorbitant costs) and we begin to think if we should start over (impossible) or change the site entirely. We were totally disoriented and helpless.

The second attempt begins.

Success! All games and data are recovered!

The site is put back online, the backup restored and enhanced.

indiexpo still lives!

Thanks guys for being close and supporting us!

We are back to stay!

Let's do it!

 

[Mark]

The website is continuing to update itself.
Recently the staff reintroduced an old feature.
From their blog:

We didn't think the filter would work so well!
Throughout November and December we reintroduced a feature (redesigned): filters per games.
We strive to work towards site simplifications, and creating a minimalist design.
We included features to promote smoother user operations. This resulted with positive user feedback.
This is incredible!
We will continue to work and improve this function!


Other recent news:

• Fixed a bug that would send you an email notification about your comments
• added the Greek language to the site
• translated the email notifications

 

[Notorious]

Some really great indie games on there. I’ll probably start using this site since it offers free indie games. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mark]

Some really great indie games on there. I’ll probably start using this site since it offers free indie games. Thanks for sharing!

You are welcome! You can also start to use it as player!

Recently another games-platform started to mail intimidations, to paralyze our services, supposing several violations.

Luckily we found very good (senior) partners that suggested us what to do. We didn't suspended our website and those "intimidations" were retired.
This 2022 is very crazy!

But probably you are here for the updates...let's start!
Latest Updates:
- you will see your own (last) comment on top in the game-pages commented;
(so you can follow the discussion easily and fastly)
- improved the design of the pages for wide screens;
(We fixed yesterday ther last graphic-bugs, tell us if you see something strange)
- Added Greek language;
(But still not Greek games)
- Added new cards when you level up.

But the biggest update will come this summer (I hope). It needs a lot of tests but it will make the platform more competitive for players!

Continue to follow and support our social pages! We need your help!

Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram

 

[makoyyy]

wow this looks like an interesting site. very useful too. ?
I have quite an interest in indie games, and follow a few indie devs.

 

[Mark]

As the end of 2022 approaches, we reflect on a year that started off with a bang but ultimately proved to be a year of transition and experimentation. Despite the challenges we faced, we were able to support several talented developers and even saw the emergence of new, amazing teams, like Red Mountain and their hit game, The Crown of Wu.

Throughout the year, our main focus was on maintaining stability and looking towards the future. And while not everything went smoothly, we learned valuable lessons and made progress towards our goals.

We are grateful to all of the amazing developers who have supported this project. Yor contributions have helped to improve the gaming experience for so many people, and we look forward to continuing to work with you as we tackle the challenges of 2023.
Here's to a new year filled with exciting gaming adventures!

 

[Mark]

from the blog:

... 2022 vs 2021!

indiexpo saw approximately a 20% decrease in users and new users in 2022 compared to the previous year. This means that there were fewer people visiting or signing up for the website in 2022 compared to 2021. One possible reason for this decrease could be the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic led to lockdowns in many parts of the world in 2021, which may have resulted in more people staying at home and spending more time online.
However, despite this decrease, the number of sessions increased by 20%, with more visits to the website in 2022 than in the previous year.

This suggests that even though the number of users and new users may have decreased, those who did visit the website were returning more frequently.

The average duration of sessions increased by 26%, meaning that users spent more time on the website during each session. This could be a sign that users found the indie games interesting and decided to spend more time browsing it. The bounce rate, or the percentage of users who visit the website and then leave without visiting any other games, decreased by 11%. This means that users showed more interest in the website and browsed more games before leaving.
Direct traffic, or the number of users who type the website's address directly into their browser, increased by 39%. This means that there was an increase in the number of users who visited the website by typing the address directly, likely because they already knew about the website or had heard about it previously. Referral traffic, or the number of users who reached the website by clicking on a link on another website, increased by 43%. This means that there was an increase in the number of users who discovered the website through links on other websites.

When analyzing the geographic location of indiexpo website players, it is observed that traffic from China decreased by 28%, while traffic from America, India, Germany, and France increased by 12%, 53%, 112%, and 15%, respectively. These data show the website's spread to different parts of the world!

Additionally, the number of online games played increased by 24% in 2022 compared to 2021, and also the games downloaded increased by 35% in 2022!
In terms of analyzing traffic acquired by the Indiexpo website, it is important to mention the sources from which the majority of users come and how these sources have changed over the two years. For example, there has been an increase in direct and referral traffic, while organic search and social network traffic have decreased. By providing more detailed and complete information about the indiexpo website's situation and its performance over time, it is possible to gain a better understanding of the website's progress and identify potential areas for improvement.

Talking about specific games, we can see that games like Kingdom of Pixels 2D MOBA, Towerland, uploaded during the 2022, were the most played during this year. Also Il Viaggio del Saggio, a Rpg Maker game still only in italian, gained a lot of players!

Overall, the data for the indiexpo website in 2022 shows a mix of both positive and negative trends compared to the previous year. While there was a decrease in the number of users and new users and a decrease in organic search and social network traffic, there were also increases in the number of sessions, games per session, average session duration, and direct and referral traffic.

By considering all of these factors and taking into account possible external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible to get a more complete picture of the website's performance and identify opportunities for growth and improvement!

 

[Mark]

from the blog:

During this first semester, besides fixing a few things (such as the Advanced Search, which now has a better design and a new filter for searching games by year), we have finally released a new important feature that we are excited about: Quests!

What are the Quests? How do they work?​

We have revolutionized the Events section!

You can go to the event page, "Accept" the mission assigned (which can be to "find an object", "survive as long as possible", "get a certain number of points", etc.), then play the game and receive 100 gems as a reward!

Why this new feature?​

Many sites similar to ours often organize events/jams for developers. We didn't want to follow this path, which has already been widely used by others (also because in the end, a contest can be organized very well on a forum, social media, or elsewhere). We wanted to focus more on games and players.

How to create missions linked to your own games?​

The fundamental thing is that the game is playable online. Then just contact the staff (by email or on Discord) to enable the scoring system and create linked missions!

A more effective notification system has not yet been integrated, but every day we are refining and perfecting this feature!



Try to win some missions and let us know what you think!

We are sure that players will love this new gaming experience, where they can accept fun challenges and win gem prizes!

 

[Mark]

it was uploaded the video with the best games uploaded during the 2023

 

[Mark]

Hello everyone, I'm delighted to share with you our plan for 2024 and to outline some of the initiatives we've already undertaken. This year, instead of focusing on comparing the statistics from 2022 and 2023, I want to concentrate on the future and the operational excellence that awaits us.

Our unquestionable priority for 2024 is speed. We must ensure that our website provides a smooth and responsive experience for all our users.

To that end, we're working on several initiatives:

• Improving the mobile-friendliness of the site (which may include launching an app)
• Creating a quicker and more intuitive contact area for our staff (already operational)
• Implementing a new section on the homepage dedicated to online games, optimized for mobile devices.
• Introducing new medals to reward games and players achieving significant milestones.

Additionally, we'll continue to actively engage players through the creation of Challenges and the introduction of new exclusive games, always with the aim of providing them with an unparalleled gaming experience.

I'm confident in what the future holds for us and grateful to have such a talented and dedicated community! Together, we'll accomplish great things!

 

[Mncraftmod]

Great initiative! Looking forward to seeing the improvements and achievements in 2024. Keep up the fantastic work!