How to spot a good indie game in thirty seconds of footage

I watch a lot of trailers, and over the years I've built some instincts for separating the promising from the hollow. It mostly comes down to how a game shows itself off.

First tell: does the trailer show actual gameplay or just cinematics? Indies with confidence show you the loop. If thirty seconds pass and I still don't know how you play, that's a bad sign.

Second: consistency of art. A small team with a strong, cohesive visual style usually has strong taste in general, and taste tends to show up in the design too.

Third, and this one's underrated: the font and UI in screenshots. Clean, readable menus mean someone cared about the details. Messy ones often mean a rushed, thin game underneath.

None of these are foolproof, but together they've saved me a lot of wasted downloads. Trust the vibe, then verify by playing.