Uplink certainly made back its investment, and for the next year it kept the company afloat, but before long, the well had run dry, and Introversion was no longer able to pay its handful of employees. It was even picked up for a release in North America by Strategy First. Once Uplink got some positive press, the self-published title started to fly off the shelves. Independent gaming would never gain its old audience back it would find a new one all its own, much like independent films did against the Hollywood mainstream. It was the beginning of a movement of independent games that wanted to be small wanted to be different. This wasn't just a game that was created outside of the system. It defied genres and conventional wisdom about the state of the industry. The simple black screen was the sole conduit to the entire world, and the low production values translated into high concept, as the barebones presentation became the title's hook instead of its handicap.
Players took on the role of a hacker, working his way through a computer system modeled after the outlandish computer networks of Hollywood movies.
The team's first tile, Chris' solo project, Uplink, revealed a complex story entirely through a computer screen interface. They did something that was so genuinely different and uniquely stylish that it hardly seemed to matter that it barely even had graphics at all. What Introversion did different was to mask its slim resources behind concept. Tom Arundel, and Mark Morris began their journey with £600 - considerably less than the multi-million dollar war chests they were up against. The medium was becoming more cinematic, and budgets were skyrocketing. It started out in fall of 2001, against the backdrop of games like Metal Gear Solid 2, Halo, and Shenmue II. Introversion missed the boat on the glory days of independent gaming. But as worlds and engines became more complex, the homebrew developer was slowly pushed to the margins. Even through the 16-bit days, the one-man productions like Out of this World could stay competitive with the best games out there. Just ask Richard Garriot, creator of Ultima, or the Oliver twins, who fathered the Dizzy series. When the industry began, most games were the result of a couple of individuals, and a high school kid with an idea and enough blank disks could create a hit on his own.
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