Developer Blitz Games Studios has announced a new PC digital platform, entitled IndieCity, focused specifically on the distribution and promotion of independently developed games.

"What we're trying to do is allow developers to make the most noise about their work," IndieCity project lead Chris Swan said in a recent interview. Illustrating that point, he talked a bit about the service's recommendation engine, which is designed to highlight titles based on each user's individual gaming proclivities.

"The barriers to entry have dropped for indies, and now the real issue is discoverability," Swan told Develop. "We think we can get good games noticed. That's our mission. And we're trying to make it as easy for developers as possible to integrate with us. We give you feedback on submissions, and it shouldn't take more than an hour to set up your games page on our website."

"The developer will also get real-time sales and some gameplay analytics too," he added.

Other developer benefits include royalty rates that are competitive with the big digital distributors. "The standard deal is we'll take 15 percent if the developer integrates our achievements API, and we'll take 25 per cent if they don't," Swan explained.

Furthermore, IndieCity will allow any independently-developed game that "doesn't crash or have viruses" on to the site. How each game fares will be driven entirely by the users, because fun--Swan rightly claims--is highly subjective. Highly-rated games will be recommended more often; user-defined stinkers will slip quietly into obscurity.

"We don't want to be the gatekeepers to determine what is fun and what isn’t. That should be down to the players themselves," Swan concluded.

To learn more, interested indie game fans are invited to peruse the IndieCity Store.