"Indie Games [May] Now Voting - Post 573!"

Random aside, translation for the first game of the series I am localizing atm is done. Just depends on the dev now how/when he wants to release the version. I suggested him to use Desura for a publication as well for the visibility and to consider lowering the prices of his other games (once I translated them). Can't wait to see whether these games still have some appeal these days.
 
Played this game today http://www.jo99.fr/the-queen-of-snakes/
I love short adventure games

miss-libellule-2.jpg
 
How did I not play Fez yet?

It has rocketed to my top 5 for this generation. I feel like a kid, playing Zelda again, discovering puzzles again.

Yeah, that was my impression too. Going to wait for the Vita version though.
 
Some more Pioneers impressions.

1. The UI is horribly inconsistent. Actions sometimes are done with left click, sometimes with right click. Closing windows is X sometimes, sometimes Escape.

2. Probably also due to the UI, the gameplay seems a bit slow. It takes very long to navigate around the actual islands and do the actions. Here is some Island landing and fight preparations + bear fight:

Played a bit and your right. It could be a great game, but I don't want to fight with clunky controls, so I think I'm going to wait for the next update, hoping it will fix those issues.
 
Do you remember Reprisal from last month? The game is free to download for one day.
http://download.reprisaluniverse.com/index.php
How long is that offer still standing? Actually deserves a thread tbh.

Played a bit and your right. It could be a great game, but I don't want to fight with clunky controls, so I think I'm going to wait for the next update, hoping it will fix those issues.

Yeah, same thoughts, but I'll definitely keep checking back to it.
 
Voting!

NEW RULES THIS MONTH IN SHORT: Up to 7 games, at least 3.

Why?
Because we want to offer people who first step into the thread an easy go-to list for great games. Plus it gives more attention to the titles that really deserve it.

How?
Everyone votes on his top 7 games out of the ones that already have been released AND are mentioned in the OP (So everything in Post 2). I'll tally the results and put the best 5 in the next thread. A minimum voting count of 3 is required. Feel free to vote for games that you deem "important" or the ones that you enjoyed the most. Since this is a rather communicative thread, feel free to include a short description why these games ended up on your list or a "honorable" mention if you feel that one game deserves another mention even though it wont count for your list. That way it would also make it interesting to read which games we should check out that others might have enjoyed. You dont need to "rank" the 7 games. Every list entry gets 1 point for the overall ranking.

When?
This thread is still open until the end of may, so you can drop your list in here whenever you want. You can also change your list up to the last day. I wont start the count before the month is over, so everyone has still time to revise their lists and play some games. Speaking of which, if you dont even KNOW 7 games to vote for, there are plenty free games in the OP to check out. Most of which are rather short too. Use the remaining week to catch up with 1 or 2 titles you didnt get around to yet!

Which?
Since the list got rather long, here is the complete list of games to vote for for this month:

7 Grand Steps
18 Cadence
2x0ng
Assembling the Void
Boredom
Burn & Turn
Cities in Motion 2
Draconian Wars
DreadOut
Eador: Masters of the Broken World
Endgame:Syria
Entropy
Fez
Fortune Winds: Ancient Trader
Freedom Fall
From Pulse
Future Development Company
Gretel and Hansel
Homesick
Humans must answer
Kairo
Katabasis
Kenshi
La-Mulana
Legend of Dungeon
Mayhem Triple
Memory of a Broken Dimension
Monaco
Music of the Spheres
Out there somewhere
Pioneers
Pulse
Remembering
Rhythm Destruction
Risk of Rain
Shadow Era
Shadow Spire
SoundSelf
Souvenir
The Aurora Wager
TowerClimb
Xing
 
I have a couple more to try, but I'll get this paaarty started.

I'm going to highlight three for now (out of the 7 or so I played so far). I may add some more if some of the other titles do it for me.

My Votes:

1. Fez.

The first half of the game is a bit easy, albeit, very enjoyable. It kind of feels like zelda puzzles in that series glories days.

The second "half" of the game is mind expandingly holy shit I can't believe that quality puzzling. I just reached this stage, and I'm already kind of in awe.

2. Monaco.

While the single player suffers, the MP is really great. It's also loaded in character, and deals with teamwork in a wonderful organic way.

3. Burn and Turn

Just, raw, arcady perfection. tons of mechanics, and a cool way of inverting the standard power fantasy of games (You are a weak, then a god, but everything around you is still weak and needs protecting.)

Games that didn't make the cut for me

2Xong ((((LISP)))))
Boredom
Pioneers
Mayhem Triple (nearly did, it's a fun diversion!)
Memory of Broken Dimension
18 Cadence
 

  • 7 Grand Steps: this game is compelling, and I cannot really say why; there is this feeling of a board game; the game will be released soon on June 7, so the votes could serve as an advertisement in the thread for June.
  • Fez: I don't appreciate this game that much, the game mechanic is interesting but not used as extensively as I would expect from a puzzle game, in fact the gameplay consists mostly of exploration; I like how there are well-made tributes to older games.
  • La-Mulana: an impressively deep metroidvania; the game is too difficult though. Do not play if you do not have the nerves to handle the stress.
  • Monaco: although I agree the game is not as fun as expected in solo, the multiplayer is a masterpiece. With four players, the levels get interesting because each has a super-skill and is prone to make a mistake.
  • Out there somewhere: a simple game mechanic is taught to the player in this short game, in which I particularly like the level design.
  • Souvenir: the graphics are charming, yet I cannot relate to the main character because the scenes specifically take place in sites which are typical of the American culture.
 
I am not sure if that question fits this thread, or should be on its own

But anyway, the question is which is the best system to self publish on and what are the alternatives ?

Also which are the systems that allow to develop and test games in Unity3D and on the console hardware directly without dev kits, to lower the development cost ?

(something like XNA could be directly deployed to Xbox and tested there)
 
I am not sure if that question fits this thread, or should be on its own

But anyway, the question is which is the best system to self publish on and what are the alternatives ?

Also which are the systems that allow to develop and test games in Unity3D and on the console hardware directly without dev kits, to lower the development cost ?

(something like XNA could be directly deployed to Xbox and tested there)

Throw those questions in here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=491431

:)
 
What would be some interesting genres to make threads on? We already talked about Survivalcraft. God games would be another one. Any other ideas?
Trying to form an idea for these threads in my mind if I have some breathing space at one point including a bit of history, what makes these genres appealing etc. Also considering to make these threads Indie only, but that could divert some discussion away from the main Indie threads if we have some genre specific Indie threads.
 
What would be some interesting genres to make threads on? We already talked about Survivalcraft. God games would be another one. Any other ideas?
Trying to form an idea for these threads in my mind if I have some breathing space at one point including a bit of history, what makes these genres appealing etc. Also considering to make these threads Indie only, but that could divert some discussion away from the main Indie threads if we have some genre specific Indie threads.

Roguelike-likes! It's a bit weird because even though I'm not that much into pure roguelikes themselves, a roguelike-like mechanic in a different genre usually gets me hooked something fierce. Hell, probably the two indie games that I got my "worst" addiction phases on were FTL and Spelunky, and both are amazing, amazing games.
 
Roguelike-likes! It's a bit weird because even though I'm not that much into pure roguelikes themselves, a roguelike-like mechanic in a different genre usually gets me hooked something fierce. Hell, probably the two indie games that I got my "worst" addiction phases on were FTL and Spelunky, and both are amazing, amazing games.

Yeah, that genre too, but we have like a roguelike thread each month. Today popped up the next one :p
 

Oh awesome, this is what I've been waiting for! Was seriously bummed I missed out on pre-orders. Thanks for the link.

Edit: I've spent about 20 minutes with the game, and loving it so far. Anyone know if the actual level layouts are procedurally generated? Or are they pieced together into a random world map? Either way it feels great, and I'm enjoying the progression.
 
Yeah, that genre too, but we have like a roguelike thread each month. Today popped up the next one :p

Yeah, but I was referring to roguelike-likes, which perhaps is less of a genre and more of a gameplay mechanic. Speaking of roguelike-likes:


Awesome indeed, and addicting as hell. Queued up right after Dust for buying when I have burned through my current addictions (right now, Factorio and Clairvoyance; BTW; Toma, looking forward to being crushed by you again, you have an invite from me).

Also just tried Reprisal, since it's was free and I'm poor. I was excitedly expecting a Populous-like game, but somewhat shockingly, I got an exact clone of Populous with a slightly different look. I'm all for indie games borrowing inspiration from older games, but this felt entirely unnecesary; it literally seems to add nothing from the original game (in fact, it's somewhat less refined), and it's completely outclassed by Populous 2. The other thing I don't like it is that, unlike those, which pretty much jumped into action immedately, Reprisal is a product of its time and has an insane level of baby steps, unloseable tutorials that are mind-numbingly boring. :/

This month is looking bad for me, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to fill even five games I really like. I guess my top five are:

Games I really liked:
Burn & Turn
La-Mulana

Best three from the rest:
2x0ng
Out There Somewhere
TowerClimb
 
This month is looking bad for me, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to fill even five games I really like. I guess my top five are:

Games I really liked:
Burn & Turn
La-Mulana

Best three from the rest:
2x0ng
Out There Somewhere
TowerClimb

I had lots of stuff I liked this month for smaller reasons, but I'll write that up later :)
 
Screenshot Saturday bump

1#

Ephemerid – Joyful musical adventure game where you play as a mayfly seeking its own fate inside a beautiful handcrafted world.

? - First screen for a new Tale of Tales game (The Path, Bientôt l'été).
As we are creating, part of the game is generated in real time. This makes development more flexible. But it gives the computer a bit more work to do. For the final release, we intend to do that work by hand to relieve the computer and make the game start up a bit faster (and waiting time a bit shorter). It's kind of funny that we have to help these machines like that. Computers are still rather stupid and feeble. So adorable!

So the game, when running, doesn't actually look like this. What we see in the screenshot is just some of the source materials that the engine uses to build the level.

Echoes of the Wilds – Fresh caught fish tastes the best in the wilderness, especially when your survival depends on it.

Ego Sol – Ich habe keine Ahnung.

The Maker's Eden – Retro futuristic first-person Point & Click using camera and perspective tricks to create depth.

Hero of Many - ''Atmospheric action adventure game where you lead a swarm of water-beings through fierce battles to freedom.''
 
So, this month has been busy again! Got myself a new job and I've been working reasonably long hours, limiting my gaming time a fair bit. I have a small list of games for my voting, that I may expand later today.

Votes:
2x0ng - Quite enjoyed this twist on the roguelike genre and pong(somewhat). It sucked me in for a good couple of hours
Burn & Turn - Arcadey fun, definitely love the feel of this game and has to get my vote
Kenshi - Despite being in alpha, I've had a lot of fun with this game. Enjoyed setting up a base or building up characters to fight in wars.
Shadow Era - I actually played this a long time ago and had a bit of fun, but I've had a spot for TCGs ever since I played Magic The Gathering. The system was relatively easy to pick up, but like most deck building games it can take a while to master.
Mayhem Triple - Had fun with this one, jumping around a shooting cute bunny rabbits, definitely enjoyed this.
The Aurora Wager - My initial experience with this is one of awe, interesting concept with a good execution. I started by having trouble getting my balloon off the ground, finally got it flying and then missed the island I tried to land on completely. Must play this more.

Few new games for people to check out:

KonCraft
A voxel-based game where you supposedly make RPG dungeons for other people to play through, using the voxel system. So far they only seem to have the creation system in place and not the actual RPG side, so I'm interested to see how it turns out.

Legendum
A dungeon crawler in the vein of Diablo 2, made on a deadline supposedly for mid June. Certainly seems interesting, but I have yet to actually play it due to time constraints, will post an impression once I have played it.

Heroes of Loot
Description from their indiedb page: "Heroes of Loot is an action roguelike in Orangepixel style. We stripped out all the fluff we don't like about rogue-likes or dungeon crawlers, and took the awesome stuff like loot, leveling, magic, setting, and added our own twisted challenging action". Definitely sounds interesting to me, and I'll try it out once there's a released version. Love the artstyle as well.
 
Nice SS Games and recommended stuff!
 
  • Burn & Turn- I spent too much time palying this game and had a lot of fun with it and kinda became addicted to it.
  • 2x0ng- I can't really explain why I liked this game so much, the graphics and the mechanics are simple, but there is something that keep me going back to this game.
  • Boredom- Didn't invest much time in this game like I did with Burn & Turn, but so far I did like it. The simple style that the game has is charming and the difficult sometimes is rage indulcing but everytime I pass a hard section make me feel I'm becoming good at this game.
  • Out There Somewhere- Really interesting mechanic and the art is gorgeous.
 
Screenshot Saturday

2#

Lune – New screenshots to celebrate 600 ''likes'' on Facebook.

Businessman -
I modeled the ladys restroom too just in case you wanted to pull a JC Denton.

S – Sigur Rós, GusGus, Björk, Múm, S. Grab his free Ambient/Drone album released last year, that may indicate what kind of game it will be.

Gorogoa – Some gorgeous new art from the highly anticipated project.

Operation Smash – 16 bit style Metroidvania.

Aku – Control a flow like serpentine dragon with an ability to paint the world around you using your own body as a paintbrush.
 
Screenshot Saturday

#3

Cloudface – Cartoony 2D platformer with hand-drawn and animated art.

Snake? – Result of a design test for some other game that may shape into something more substantial in the future.

Poltergeist – Improved version of a iOS/Android game where you are a paranormal entity trying to scare people out of your house.

Lacuna Passage – Stylish ride to pick up hot Martian babes.

Don't Freeze – Free exploration game through an icebound land.

Distance – Futuristic racer combining elements of high action arcade and free to explore world. In other words, Burnout Paradise in the future.
 
Votes!

In alphabetical order:

Fez

What starts as a bog standard candied unicorn sunshine and rainbows platformer slow burns into something so much more. Refreshing no-combat approach with a less frantic pace of its contemporaries (Super Meat Boy, Dustforce, etc) allows you to kick back and enjoy the delightfully rendered and varied worlds. Repeat playthroughs give better perspective on the whole picture. Playing through mostly blind was one of the best experiences I've had with any game in recent years and I highly suggest everyone else do the same.


Kairo

Looking at screenshots rarely does this game justice - I remember first seeing it and thinking to myself that it was some guy's first day playing with digital legos and he made a few buildings he was proud of. But the extreme minimalist approach to design works very well in its favor, the stark and clinically crafted locales intrigue with nonsensical constructions with little to no explanation as to why these things operate the way they do. The chilling soundtrack and confounding world rules sparks the imagination in the way that only old school adventure games could do. It's no Portal or Antichamber, but its ambitions are far more humble than that.


Memory of a Broken Dimension

A fast favorite of mine ever since Hoff introduced us. Brutal, migraine inducing visuals and twisted static-filled drone audio envelope the player in a place that shouldn't be but is. Or was, and it's up to us to want to penetrate the nauseating atmosphere to piece the world back together from the (what we may stupidly assume) safety of a computer terminal straight out of Linus Torvalds' worst nightmares. A blend of an Autechre music video, Khanate album cover and a radio station broadcasting from hell. This is one of the few that I constantly check up on in hopes that we're one step closer to getting the full game in our hands.


Monaco

I'll quote the review I wrote here to save myself a wee bit of time:

Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine doesn’t take itself seriously and neither should you. There’s the awesome piano soundtrack that sounds like something that would back a slapstick silent film to room names in floor plans (”The Super Secret Hideout”, “The Not-So-Secret-Hideout”) and little details in the world like being able to play the piano or take a piss break in the bathrooms. Or the goofy french accents on everyone. Or the short but reference laden dialog. Through each of the game’s 33 levels I found myself constantly amazed at the new details and challenges it threw at my crew and I. Monaco’s like a glass of the gent’s scotch – great alone but better with friends. For those aiming for the next David Mamet film, there’s a place for you here. Those who’ll approach it like Zoolander trying to steal files off a computer? There’s a place for you too.
 
Oh, hello everyone. This is probably my first time jumping into this thread. I was always marginally interested in indie games, but the one I just played just pulled me into the whole scene completely. So let me share~ (I hope I'm doing this right...)

Undertale - Currently a free demo, lasts about 30 min. long.

A quirky, experimental RPG with interesting action-command battle mechanics that can make battles entertaining without fighting. The characters and scenario also have a very Earthbound-like charm to them.

I can't remember the last time I connected with a game character as much as I did Toriel, or personally hate a character as much as
Flowie
. This game spoke out to the child in me, as well as the genre-savvy RPG gamer in me, all at the same time. It basically covered everything I liked about Earthbound, which is incredible considering it was only 30 minutes.
 
Oh, hello everyone. This is probably my first time jumping into this thread. I was always marginally interested in indie games, but the one I just played just pulled me into the whole scene completely. So let me share~ (I hope I'm doing this right...)

Undertale - Currently a free demo, lasts about 30 min. long.


A quirky, experimental RPG with interesting action-command battle mechanics that can make battles entertaining without fighting. The characters and scenario also have a very Earthbound-like charm to them.

I can't remember the last time I connected with a game character as much as I did Toriel, or personally hate a character as much as
Flowie
. This game spoke out to the child in me, as well as the genre-savvy RPG gamer in me, all at the same time. It basically covered everything I liked about Earthbound, which is incredible considering it was only 30 minutes.

Perfect post ;) And thanks for posting. I'll include it in next months thread as well.
 
Kairo

Looking at screenshots rarely does this game justice - I remember first seeing it and thinking to myself that it was some guy's first day playing with digital legos and he made a few buildings he was proud of. But the extreme minimalist approach to design works very well in its favor, the stark and clinically crafted locales intrigue with nonsensical constructions with little to no explanation as to why these things operate the way they do. The chilling soundtrack and confounding world rules sparks the imagination in the way that only old school adventure games could do. It's no Portal or Antichamber, but its ambitions are far more humble than that.

Don't know if you read it, but this write-up may help with some details if you've missed something on your playthrough.

Oh, hello everyone. This is probably my first time jumping into this thread. I was always marginally interested in indie games, but the one I just played just pulled me into the whole scene completely. So let me share~ (I hope I'm doing this right...)

The description sounds interesting, and Welcome!



To maintain the weekend spirit Alec Holowka #screenshotsaturday from almost a year ago.

tumblr_m9hzkarNxc1re41kao1_400.gif
 
Hofmann you do an amazing job with the screenshots saturday posts.
Yup. I am really glad hat we managed to get some people involved in this thread. As it is, it's still a huge time investment by me, but without Hofmann doing the SS posts and CzarTim taking care of the Steam group updates, the thread would certainly be less lively. I'd probably have dropped both by now if I would still need to do them myself.

Thanks again everyone for actively shaping these threads :)
 
NaissanceE looks terrifying and scary haha. Voted!

Interested in Gorogoa; haven't had a chance to check out the other suggestions on the page just yet.
 
Hahaha, I'll give it a look. The setting is neat, I was thinking of a game idea involving Spanish conquistadores exploring some Incan tombs actually.
 
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