Not every video game needs to be a big-budget AAA title. Some of the most notable games from the past few years have come from small developers, while Kickstarter and Indiegogo have provided aspiring programmers with a way to secure much-needed funding without securing a publishing deal.

Indie games have become a significant force in the video game community, and they were bigger than ever at PAX East 2014's Indie Megabooth.

Many of the games on display this year were familiar, with Supergiant Games's Transistor, Iron Galaxy's Divekick (pictured), and Yacht Club Games' Shovel Knight returning to the booth. Of those three, Divekick has since been released with an Addition Edition expansion version coming soon; Shovel Knight and Transistor will come out in May.

Uber Entertainment's Planetary Annihilation, a real-time strategy game that uses multiple planets to expand the scale and depth of tactics into global destruction, also stands out as a promising upcoming title. The game is currently in "Gamma" phase, which the developer says focuses on adding social and multiplayer features after everything else has been nearly finalized.

Check out the slideshow for some of the more interesting games and their developers' booths at PAX East 2014.


1. Planetary Annihilation Uber Entertainment's (Monday Night Combat) Planetary Annihilation calls back to Supreme Commander as an RTS with a massive scale of units. It adds 3D planetary combat to the mix, letting battles take place across an entire star system on different planets.

2. Divekick: Addition Edition Iron Galaxy's two-button fighter Divekick gets a new character and loads of rebalancing with the newest version of the game.

3. Shovel Knight Mega Man meets Ducktales in Yacht Club Games's 8-bit-styled platformer . The Shovel Knight on the right is a cosplayer, not part of the booth.

4. Broforce 2D combat, destructible environments, and every action hero of the 80s, 90s, and beyond come together in Free Lives's orgy of explosions

5. Knight Squad Gauntlet meets Bomberman in Chainawesome Games's 2D arena game, currently on Steam Greenlight.

6. Secret Ponchos Switchblade Monkeys' spaghetti western fighting game brings bounty hunting to the PS4 and PC.

7. Don't Starve: Reign of Giants The DLC for Klei Entertainment's Minecraft-meets-Dark-Souls horrific survival game Don't Starve adds literal giants to the many dangers of the wild.

8. Hyper Light Drifter Heart Machine's action RPG sends adventurers into ruins to find lost technology to cure their illness.

9. Always Sometimes Monsters Instead of high fantasy or science fiction, Vagabond Dog's Always Sometimes Monsters presents modern drama and personal struggles in a 16-bit, Legend of Zelda-like aesthetic.

10. Tower of Guns Terrible Posture's FPS randomizes levels and power-ups to present a different experience every time you play.

11. There Came an Echo Wil Wheaton and Ashley Burch lend their voices to Iridum Studios's voice-controlled strategy game

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