We don't need to tell you that the gaming industry is currently experiencing an 'indie boom' -- the evidence has been piling up throughout 2011, with numerous developers at AAA studios leaving their jobs behind to work on exactly the kind of games they want to make.

You only have to look at the Independent Games Festival record number of entries to know indies mean business this year. This time around, nearly 570 games were entered into the competition, marking an increase of more than 45 percent compared to the previous year.

We say this every year, but we genuinely mean it -- having to choose just ten titles from the incredible batch of indie titles this year was not only next-to-impossible, but also excruciatingly heart-breaking, as we had to knock favorite after favorite off until there were only ten remaining.

But never fear, as a good number of those titles that we close, but just missed out on a top spot, have been compiled below the main list as honorable mentions.

[From now until mid-January, IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best independent and freeware games of 2010, with descriptions, screenshots, and links of the best games in each major category. Previously: Top 10 Experimental Games, Top 10 Shoot 'em Ups, Top 10 Role-Playing Games, Top 10 Freeware Puzzlers, Top 10 Freeware Adventure Games, Top 10 Browser Arcade Games, Top 10 Freeware Arcade Games, Top 10 Browser Platformers]

The last of our in-depth 2010 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog (after the overall Top 10 we did for Gamasutra and the 10 Indie Games for '11 article), we're proud to present twenty of the best freeware platformers released in 2010.

We've got tons of 2D platformers for you in this installment of the best indie games of the year. Among our picks you can find a new game from Knytt Stories creator Nifflas, a premium iPhone release that's actually free to play on Windows, Mac and Linux, a Spectrum ZX-style game by the developer of Hydorah and 8-Bit Killer, and the usual Metroid-inspired platformers that'll keep players glued to their screens for some time.

Here are the top freeware downloadable platformers of the year:

[From now until mid-January, IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best independent and freeware games of 2010, with descriptions, screenshots, and links of the best games in each major category. Previously: Top 10 Experimental Games, Top 10 Shoot 'em Ups, Top 10 Role-Playing Games, Top 10 Freeware Puzzlers, Top 10 Freeware Adventure Games, Top 10 Browser Arcade Games, Top 10 Freeware Arcade Games]

The eighth of our in-depth 2010 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog (after the overall Top 10 we did for Gamasutra and the 10 Indie Games for '11 article), we're proud to present ten of the best Flash-based platformers released in 2010.

Super Meat Boy helped usher in the renaissance of indie games in 2010, and it's no surprise that 2D platformers make up a large percentage of browser games available to play on casual game portals as well. Here's our guide to some of the more notable run 'n jump games that you shouldn't be missing out on.

Here are the top browser platformers of the year:

[From now until mid-January, IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best independent and freeware games of 2010, with descriptions, screenshots, and links of the best games in each major category. Previously: Top 10 Experimental Games, Top 10 Shoot 'em Ups, Top 10 Role-Playing Games, Top 10 Freeware Puzzlers, Top 10 Freeware Adventure Games, Top 10 Browser Arcade Games]

The seventh of our in-depth 2010 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog (after the overall Top 10 we did for Gamasutra and the 10 Indie Games for '11 article), we're proud to present twenty of the best freeware arcade games released in 2010.

Collect crates! Steal sombreros! Punch forest animals in the face! Do your house chores! Welcome to another action-packed countdown of the best freeware arcade releases of the year - you won't find anything more frantic, frustrating, and fun than this collection of ten games we've rounded up especially for you.

Here are the top freeware downloadable arcade games of the year:

[From now until mid-January, IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best independent and freeware games of 2010, with descriptions, screenshots, and links of the best games in each major category. Previously: Top 10 Experimental Games, Top 10 Shoot 'em Ups, Top 10 Role-Playing Games, Top 10 Freeware Puzzlers, Top 10 Freeware Adventure Games]

The sixth of our in-depth 2010 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog (after the overall Top 10 we did for Gamasutra and the 10 Indie Games for '11 article), we're proud to present ten of the best Flash-based arcade games released in 2010.

Flash games - they're accessible by all, require no download (save for the Flash plug-in for your internet browser), and you don't need a beast of a machine to play 'em. Flip some burgers, surf the waves on your board, save a cat, retrieve a sword in a stone, or just run around smashing turtles to rack up combos in our very own list of the best browser-based arcade games from the past twelve months.

Here are the top freeware browser arcade games of the year:

[From now until mid-January, IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best independent and freeware games of 2010, with descriptions, screenshots, and links of the best games in each major category. Previously: Top 10 Experimental Games, Top 10 Shoot 'em Ups, Top 10 Role-Playing Games, Top 10 Freeware Puzzlers]

The fifth of our in-depth 2010 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog (after the overall Top 10 we did for Gamasutra and the 10 Indie Games for '11 article), we're proud to present ten of the best freeware adventure games released in 2010.

Help solve a murder case, find mythical artifacts in a desolate world, escape from a haunted mansion, and rescue a friend who is in need of your help. These are some of the things that you'll be doing in our countdown of the best interactive fiction works, visual novels, and point-and-click adventure games released during the last twelve months.

Here are the top freeware adventure games of the year:

[From now until mid-January, IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best independent and freeware games of 2010, with descriptions, screenshots, and links of the best games in each major category. Previously: Top 10 Experimental Games, Top 10 Shoot 'em Ups, Top 10 Role-Playing Games]

The fourth of our in-depth 2010 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog (after the overall Top 10 we did for Gamasutra and the 10 Indie Games for '11 article), we're proud to present ten of the best freeware puzzle games released in 2010.

We've tried to gather a bit of everything in this collection of puzzle games: there's a clever remake of the classic Minesweeper, a new release from the author of the Grow series, a puzzler written in HTML5, and a creepy maze exploration game that'll spook you quite a bit.

Here are the top freeware puzzle games of the year:

Game soundtrack albums offer us an opportunity to examine in depth the added emotional nuance that music scores lend to our games. In 2010 high profile releases included albums for Bit.Trip Core/Runner/Void/Fate, Flower, The Path, Penumbra, and Zeno Clash. For those adventurous enough to make a purchase based on brief samples or personal experience with the game, each item is worth investigating.

A trend more visible in recent months has been the use of online services for distributing music without cost to the developer. Bandcamp proved to be a particularly game-friendly platform, with both Plants vs Zombies and Super Meat Boy albums claiming top spots on online sales charts, together with Disasterpeace's chiptune vision quest Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar. The convenience of SoundCloud made it a popular option in 2010 for sharing videogame tracks, Pause Music offered intriguing low-fi scores alongside their chip music EPs, and OverClocked ReMix threw their hat into the soundtrack album ring.

Below are the albums of 2010 that resonated most with me, listed alphabetically. Appended are suggestions for further listening, all of which is either downloadable or streaming online for free in its entirety.

[From now until mid-January, IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best independent and freeware games of 2010, with descriptions, screenshots, and links of the best games in each major category. Previously: Top 10 Experimental Games, Top 10 Shoot 'em Ups]

The third of our in-depth 2010 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog (after the overall Top 10 we did for Gamasutra and the 10 Indie Games for '11 article), we're proud to present ten of the best freeware role-playing games released in 2010.

Here we have a couple of interesting indie-developed freeware RPGs for you to look at. One requires the player to control nine party members at the same time, another deals with insanity, and there's even a roguelike game that is set in the middle of a zombie outbreak apocalypse.

Here are the top freeware role-playing games of the year:

[From now until mid-January, IndieGames.com: The Weblog will be counting down the best independent and freeware games of 2010, with descriptions, screenshots, and links of the best games in each major category. Previously: Top 10 Experimental Games]

The second of our in-depth 2010 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com blog (after the overall Top 10 we did for Gamasutra and the 10 Indie Games for '11 article), we're proud to present ten of the best freeware shoot 'em ups released in 2010.

There's no denying that Locomalito's long-awaited horizontal shooter Hydorah overshadowed the release of all other shoot 'em ups, but luckily enough we're here to brief everyone about some of the more notable games to feature space pilots going up against impossible odds.

Here are the top freeware shoot 'em ups of the year: