What defines an indie game?

[Turbanator]

I'm creating a visual novel, but using the Renpy engine, which has already been coded by people. Hopefully, given enough time and effort, it'll make Steam in the far future.

Seeing this movie made me realise that I'm not going to be doing any real programming like them, just calling functions and adding variables and so on.

Hence my question, they obviously created the games from scratch and became successful. Since I'm getting a head start via Renpy which removes most of the complex stuff, is the game I'm creating an indie game, or is would it be considered something else to a lesser degree, and would it be looked at as such?

Opinions would be appreciated.

[AugustaRPG]

"Analogue: a hate story" and its sequel are on steam and were both made using renpy. "To the Moon" (also on steam) was made using RPG Maker. Even though your not coding like they were, your still making a story, art, music, and game script thats all yours.

[mephi5to]

No, indie is independent. You create your stuff on your own time and using your own money. Teh fact you use some tools or even game engines do not matter. You can write a C++ engine yourself because your game is complex and you need some custom stuff. Or you can use Unity that will limit you at some point but if your game will not require anything extra - why not use it? You can write game in Python. As long as you continue progressing ans see results - you will stay happy and move forward.

If you liked this movie read an article by Tom from team meat: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/TommyRefenes/20130107/184432/