The founding members of a new Phoenix, Ariz.-based studio are three of the latest developers to answer the call of the indie games scene, leaving their larger employer behind to make their own destinies.

Game designer Panya Inversin, lead technology programmer and artist Pat Bergschneider and Dan Pratt, lead artist and graphic designer announced Monday the formation of Coin App, which is currently working on a downloadable game for consoles called Max Blastronaut.

"We mainly left our previous positions because we wanted to be responsible for our own careers," Inversin told Edge. "Too many factors that affected our futures were out of our control."

The three, whose average age is 25, used to work for 2XL Games, which recently released the game Baja: Edge of Control. They also have close ties to Phoenix-based Rainbow Studios, makers of the ATV Offroad Fury series and Splashdown.

While the experience of the three founders primarily comes from full-size retail games, it's the downloadable games market that has attracted their collective interest.

"We knew that starting a huge studio would be a financial challenge, so the only option was much smaller-scale--and the trend is looking up for smaller developers, from iPhone apps to WiiWare to Xbox Live," said Inversin.

"We also felt that a game didn't have to be of great length to be fun, just have loads of replayability. Taking all these factors into account, the indie way made the most sense."

With a relatively low barrier to entry to both developers and consumers, downloadable console games like Braid, Lost Winds, PixelJunk and flOw have been able to make their marks on the industry.

Coin App hopes to do the same. "What we're doing wouldn't be as possible without the rise of digital distribution," Inversin said. "Going digital, everything is more affordable, from marketing to packaging (or lack thereof); and with the developer funding the project, there is now very little financial risk for a publisher to distribute a game--unless the game sucks, but that's a factor that is under the developer's control."

Asked if he found larger establishments too corporate for creative-minded game makers, Inversin replied, " I don't think the games industry is too corporate for creative people (otherwise all we'd see is crap), but I do believe those creative people need a very loud voice and personality to be heard.

"So unfortunately, the creative voices get drowned out by the need to stay in business and please shareholders."

Coin App said in a statement that it is looking to expand, and has enough resources to finish Max Blastronaut. The firm is also looking for further funding for future projects. The studio said it's confident it can deliver a quality title on a "very limited budget."