Something I find fascinating about indie game level design is that it often makes liberal usage of stage hazards in a way "AAA" games don't. Many indie titles have entire levels that are nothing but stage hazards, such as Super Meat Boy. This phenomenon even applies to doujin titles, which are similarly heavy on things like spikes and lava pits.
There are exceptions, of course, but I'm curious if there's a reason for this. I'm also surprised I never noticed this until I started playing ASTRO PORT's Rocketron, a metroidvania where a good chunk of the game consists of rooms with lots, and lots of hazards.