Apple puts the spotlight on indie games

The App Store started highlighting indie games this week in an effort to shine the spotlight on the excellent work done by smaller studios in mobile gaming. The store's main splash banner features a number of indie games, including Mushroom 11, which just launched this week. A number of sub-categories like "Indie games celebrate innovation . . ." give shoppers a more focused selection of indie games to choose from, too.

Our friends at Touch Arcade speculate its this push for indie coverage that has Apple releasing three major games from independent studios next week, and they're likely to feature heavily in the App Store when they arrive. It'll be exciting to see what Apple may have in store, as indie games are doing some of the most innovative things in mobile games at the moment. For now, though, let's take a look at three neat mobile indie games launching next week.

Bit City
NimbleBit is well-known for their charming, interactive toys, and Bit City is looking to fall right in line with that legacy. It's a top-down city-building sim, plain and simple, with lots of buildings to unlock and upgrade. It's out March 13.



The Big Journey
Few platformers can live up to the levels of adorableness emanating from The Big Journey. Players tilt the screen to guide Mr. Whiskers the cat through a series of platforming challenges, tapping the screen to eliminate enemies or dodge obstacles. The game's out Thursday, March 16.

Typeshift
Zach Gage, the creator of hit word game SpellTower, has been teasing a new project all week before unveiling Typeshift, an intriguing annagram letter swapping game. It offers a different challenge from his first word game, but it looks to be good, clever fun all the same.

Are you eyeing any of these upcoming indies? What's one of your favorite mobile indie games? Share in the comments!