Indie Games 2015 [September] Lets talk about anything Indie

My Quick Look on Cross Of The Dutchman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-MIPhvWtzw


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Quick Impressions: Imagine Torchlight or Diablo but remove the item hunt, focus on the hack and slash, and base it on the legend of Pier Gerlofs Donia and what you have is Cross of the Dutchman.

It's an okay game. It's not bad, it's just mindless. Also it breaks one of my 'bad game design rules': which is to limit the amount of backtracking. Lots of artificial padding on game time. Additionally, considering the game is a hack-n-slash there is astounding little variety in terms of combat for the complete first hour of the game. And even after that it is still barebones.

The visuals have a nice distinctive stylized look. Audio is well done. All of the other systems like mini-maps, highlighted words in dialogue, character outline when foreground object obscures the player are nice.

The game feels like a paint-by-numbers how to make a hack-n-slash. It's not bad. If they removed all of the artificial game padding by just teleporting you to where you needed to go after a quest instead of forcing the player to run everywhere, I would be able to focus on the story (which does seem interesting, since it is apparently based off a true story) and hence be able to enjoy the game.

I understand the worry that your game would appear short, but lengthening the game with filler is not the way.

This is coming off far more critical than I wanted it to. The game is solid, it either needs to spruce up the combat or laser focus on the story and right now it does neither.
 
Inkle announced that 80 Days is coming to PC this month, with a ton of new content, and the Sorcery games are coming in November

So now that mobile-less members of IndieGAF will feel left out anymore
 
Finished Satellite Reign. It was sooooo good, despite a few bugs.

Already want an expansion/dlc/sequel.

I was contemplating that, how long was it?#
I'd also love to read more about what you liked.
 
Got my hands on Mojang's Cobalt and holy shit, it is awesome

The high-level videos of this are going to be amazing

Okay, so take the 2D plan-and-pounce of The Swindle, the frenetic fluid "oh-shit-that-was-awesome" pacing of a game like Hotline Miami, and the acrobatic gunplay of a John Woo film, you got Cobalt's gameplay in a nutshell

Your moveset seems limited, but it had so much hidden depth. It seems like you can only shoot left and right...until you learn you can shoot while rolling. You can turn to shoot in the opposite direction while sliding. You can punch-jump to hop off the ground for extra height. You can reflect bullets and explosives.

It feels so satisfying, and it achieves that one-more-go vibe where you want to restart to clear an area in the smoothest slickest way possible

Enemies are pretty varied; some might carry shields while others might be wielding various guns or grenades. You also have a diverse armory, from pick-ups like rocket shoes and shielding to a wide variety of weapons ranging from flashbangs and rail-guns to particle rifles and grenade launchers. Plus assorted melee weapons and other throwables

I've only been playing the solo challenge maps (of which there are sizeable amount), and I'm excited that the game is also going to have a full-fledged single player campaign.

And this alpha build is from 2014 so I'm eager to see how they've expanded the game since then
 
Did a quick look of 12 is better than 6:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klrYIBUrRfE

It's a game on Kickstarter right now. It's essentially precision Hotline Miami in a western setting with a drawn visual aesthetic.

What I mean by precision is that you have to reload each individual bullet and cock the hammer of your gun with every shot.

It definitely has the same speed as Hotline Miami
 
GoG are having a "Pinata" sale - you pay £2/$3 for an unknown game. Because I'm a sucker I bought 3, so for £6 I got:

Outlast
Machinarium: Collector's Edition
Jazzpunk

I'm pretty happy!
 
Empire Apart - PC, Mac
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http://empiresapart.net/

Lead your civilization to glory in an old-school medieval RTS

The Great Whale Road - 2016 (PC, Mac, Linux)
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http://www.the-great-whale-road.com/

The Great Whale Road is a medieval RPG with turn-based tactics, longships and axes.
Travel the early medieval seas with your crew of chosen men and women. You will build up your crew by recruiting champions and characters from different cultures and kingdoms along the North Sea including Anglo-Saxons, Picts, Franks and Danes.

Tungsten: Armored Outlaw - ????
ElOGWCu.jpg

https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/3kmmz7/-/cuywpig

A side-scrolling armored fighter/mech game in the spirit of an SNES game called Metal Warriors. Your home planet is bombed to bits and you now survive as a mercenary-for-hire flying missions for pay. You start each mission in one mech but you can jump out and grab another as you find them. Between missions there's a hub area where you pick your loadout and negotiate to figure out what missions you'll do next.

The Storm Guard - PC, Mac
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http://www.bitmen-studios.com/games/the-storm-guard/

The Storm Guard is a turn-based tactical game in a fantasy setting. Wildings, undead and even greater horrors from the north have crossed the borders and are now invading the realm of men causing death and destruction. You assume the role of the Lord Commander and have to manage this conflict.

Outreach - Late 2016
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http://pixelspill.tumblr.com/post/124085171929/outreach-execution-labs-announcement

Outreach is a first person, narrative-driven adventure game. You are a lone Cosmonaut sent to investigate a Soviet military station, which has mysteriously cut all communication with Ground Control. As you explore, you piece together an account of what transpired aboard Outreach Station.

Reditum - 2016 (PC, Mac, Linux)
COuQKsJWIAAN4DV.png

http://reditumthegame.com/

Find the key and to continue to gate... but it’s not that easy. There is a range of difficulty you will encounter, which will necessitate a variety of unique skills. Dynamically craft collectable particles into powers such as camera travel, time-slow, fast running, and more

Frauki's Adventure - ????

Previously Mentioned

Dawn of the Ronin

Jotun

The GodBeast

Hive Jump

Rise & Shine

Dying Ember
 
rough their site (via humble bundle) gives you a drm free copy on top of the steam key, just saying...

Goddamnit. And I've already played more than 5 hours so it's too late to ask for a Steam refund. A DRM free copy would be awesome to show it to friends. Ah well, I'll end up buying it again when it's on sale and gifting the Steam copy to a friend, I guess.

Crossposting from the Lovers reviews thread:

Played it for a couple hours with the missus, it's an amazing game and pretty much all I hoped it would be. Difficulty is really well adjusted, making rescuing the five minimum bunnies per stage relatively easy but going for all ten a quite more dangerous proposition (on stage 1-2 we died once, and on our second try I decided to bail with eight of them... it took half an hour even so). Really fun and frantic cooperation requiring strategizing, target prioritization, communication and so on.

The upgrade system is just fantastic, you often get gems that you can slot into each of your system to completely change what they do. There's three gems that I know of, power, beam and metal. On the Yamato gun (game's denomination, not mine), the power gem turns it into a swarm of hoing missiles, while the metal turns it into a devastating close range circular saw. On engines, metal makes you lay mines and beam lets you charge a rear beam as you accelerate and shoots when you release, both great agains pursuers: power makes you go much faster and charge up two miniturbos. On shields, metal swaps your energy shield for a spiked metal plank for ramming.

Early on you gain the ability to slot two gems on each of your weapons to create even more crazy effects, like a controllable missile like MGS's Nikita, a flail that can be both swung and made to shoot beams in three directions, and so on. Later upgrades seem to allow to do so for the rest of your systems so I can't wait to see what crazy stuff you can do, especially the Yamato gun.

Played a bit of single player and if anything, the issue is that it seems to make it too easy, since the cat always performs 100% perfectly and giving him orders is instantaneous (the game pauses while you do it, but it's holding a button and entering a direction so it can be done in a fraction of a second). This was from all of two minutes so perhaps later on he's not as optimal. It plays 100% perfectly and I myself would definitely play this way if it was the only way, but coordinating with another human obviously adds a lot of spice.

All in all, must-have if you have someone to play with, and still recommended if you don't, especially if you like games with somewhat FTL-like mechanics.

Updated impressions. We're in the middle of world 2 (of 4), after playing 4 hours (according to Steam, sounds about right). Probably an hour or two more to finish world 2, which would put the total at around 10h. Each world is four stages and a boss, with ten animals (bunnies in the first world, frogs in the second which is water-themed) to rescue, requiring only five to go through, but the game keeps track of them and they are the currency to level up and unlock upgrades. Worlds are thematic and introduce new enemies. One of my favorite enemy types are ships (like, sailing ships) that float on the surface of the various water blobs (some small enough that you don't fit inside them, some several screens wide with caverns in them) of world 2.

So far we haven't unlocked any additional ships (there's 4 or 5 additional ones to unlock, each with their own layout. From their outlines, the second one has the guns set diagonally instead of cardinally, the third one has three guns (at 120º angles), and the few other ones seem to start with different weapons. Finishing a world with a ship gives you a badge, so for completists you're looking at a pretty high replay value.

The game lets you select between Easy and Normal difficulty, so I'm guessing there'll be a Hard mode upon completing it. There's also supposed to be a roguelite mode with randomly generated worlds, which again is probably unlocked on completion, and it's the one thing I'm most looking forward to as it could mean the difference between a great game and a game of the forever.

I hate to double post and bump, I know it's frowned upon, but I just think it's so unfair that this game isn't making a splash. Is anyone planning on making an OT? Is this the de facto OT now?

Anyway, we've been playing more, I've unlocked my first additional ship, and whoa, I seriously underestimated how different it would be. The fact that it has three guns is peanuts, the crazy thing is that the entire ship rotates when you're manning the engine, which means that: 1) you'll be moving, jumping and climbing ladders sideways or upside down (gravity is bound to the engine block so when the ship is upside down, the gravity is reversed), but as compensation 2) with coordination you can have a single gunner hit any enemy without changing stations, by rotating the entire ship, and you can leave the shield unmanned and rotate the ship to have it face where you want. We haven't played it yet but it seems to change how the game is played entirely.

The other ship available for unlocking at this tier, the one with guns set diagonally, has another gimmick: the ship is split into two separate halves, with players unable to move to each other's half and therefore stations. There's another two or three ships to unlock in the final tier, I can't wait to see how they are.
 
Really excited for The Flame In The Flood. I was reading that the game has a dynamic AI-driven ecosystem. That should be fun to interact with
 
The game requires a second player, right? It is not that easy to set up.

It* has AI for a second player. It sounds like you'll be missing out if you play solo, though.

Not to be an ass, but that's why I didn't buy it. I have no one to play via couch and there's no online mode.

*Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
 
It* has AI for a second player. It sounds like you'll be missing out if you play solo, though.

Not to be an ass, but that's why I didn't buy it. I have no one to play via couch and there's no online mode.

*Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

Me too :(
 
GoG are having a "Pinata" sale - you pay £2/$3 for an unknown game. Because I'm a sucker I bought 3, so for £6 I got:

Outlast
Machinarium: Collector's Edition
Jazzpunk

I'm pretty happy!

I love this idea too much not to give it a spin:

Shelter (already own on steam), Halfway (already own on steam) and Machinarium (already own on steam).

...

oh well, take my money indie devs, take it.
 
It* has AI for a second player. It sounds like you'll be missing out if you play solo, though.

Not to be an ass, but that's why I didn't buy it. I have no one to play via couch and there's no online mode.

*Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

I still haven't played much of it solo, but it seems to still be quite fun that way. I can see myself doing so if the missus gets tired of it before I do.
 
I'm gonna give Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime a try as a solo player soon. I just gotta get through Tearaway first. Will post my thoughts when I get to it.

Also, anyone who hasn't played 140: it's on the Humble Store for 99 cents for the next 17 hours.

I'm sure a lot of people have played it, but I can never praise it enough. It's absolutely astounding! - a brilliant minimalist platformer with a vivid, ever-changing world influenced by hypnotic electronic beats - a distilled version of Sound Shapes - a rhythmic platformer in its elemental form. Playing it should be a requirement for all gamers.
 
I'm gonna give Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime a try as a solo player soon. I just gotta get through Tearaway first. Will post my thoughts when I get to it.

Also, anyone who hasn't played 140: it's on the Humble Store for 99 cents for the next 17 hours.

I'm sure a lot of people have played it, but I can never praise it enough. It's absolutely astounding! - a brilliant minimalist platformer with a vivid, ever-changing world influenced by hypnotic electronic beats - a distilled version of Sound Shapes - a rhythmic platformer in its elemental form. Playing it should be a requirement for all gamers.
Yeah, it's great. It's from the gameplay designer of Limbo
 
Also, anyone who hasn't played 140: it's on the Humble Store for 99 cents for the next 17 hours.

I'm sure a lot of people have played it, but I can never praise it enough. It's absolutely astounding! - a brilliant minimalist platformer with a vivid, ever-changing world influenced by hypnotic electronic beats - a distilled version of Sound Shapes - a rhythmic platformer in its elemental form. Playing it should be a requirement for all gamers.

Listening to this post was a good idea.

(I hadn't heard of the game until now)
 
Greeting.

I didn't enter this thread for very long time. Currently, I spend most of my free time playing TCG and CCG games. I just feel very comportable when I play this kind of game.

I hope that I wont bother you to much by asking this help again. Can you tell me a few indie game for this year that I should not miss? Darkest Dungeon is the last game I bought and now I'm playing Duelyst all day. I have read this thread but I do expect someone to help narrow it down a bit. Thank you.
 
Greeting.

I didn't enter this thread for very long time. Currently, I spend most of my free time playing TCG and CCG games. I just feel very comportable when I play this kind of game.

I hope that I wont bother you to much by asking this help again. Can you tell me a few indie game for this year that I should not miss? Darkest Dungeon is the last game I bought and now I'm playing Duelyst all day. I have read this thread but I do expect someone to help narrow it down a bit. Thank you.

Prepare to get a whole load of recommendations!

I'll edit this post once I've had a think!

But you should get Hand of Fate - card game, roguelike, super relaxing
 
Greeting.

I didn't enter this thread for very long time. Currently, I spend most of my free time playing TCG and CCG games. I just feel very comportable when I play this kind of game.

I hope that I wont bother you to much by asking this help again. Can you tell me a few indie game for this year that I should not miss? Darkest Dungeon is the last game I bought and now I'm playing Duelyst all day. I have read this thread but I do expect someone to help narrow it down a bit. Thank you.
Definitely going to second Moobabe's recommendation of Hand of Fate. It's an awesome mix of deck builder, dungeon crawler, and brawler

Indie recommendations from 2015? Off the top of my head, stuff I really enjoyed:
- Besiege
- Duskers
- Starship Rubicon
- Guns, Gore & Cannoli
- STASIS
- Rocket League
- Subnautica
- Darkwood
- Infinifactory
- Crypt of the Necrodancer
 
Greeting.

I didn't enter this thread for very long time. Currently, I spend most of my free time playing TCG and CCG games. I just feel very comportable when I play this kind of game.

I hope that I wont bother you to much by asking this help again. Can you tell me a few indie game for this year that I should not miss? Darkest Dungeon is the last game I bought and now I'm playing Duelyst all day. I have read this thread but I do expect someone to help narrow it down a bit. Thank you.
I might be a bit shameless, but I'd love to hear what you think of our trailer (it's coming to Steam next month): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4_MVi7kXUM :)

On-topic, Jotun really is legit from my experience at Gamescom; I really loved the atmosphere, but just the core gameplay felt superb and polished. It's definitely one of the titles I'll be picking up at launch despite a massive backlog.
 
I might be a bit shameless, but I'd love to hear what you think of our trailer (it's coming to Steam next month): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4_MVi7kXUM :)

On-topic, Jotun really is legit from my experience at Gamescom; I really loved the atmosphere, but just the core gameplay felt superb and polished. It's definitely one of the titles I'll be picking up at launch despite a massive backlog.

I might check out your game eventually, card/tactics style games are among my favourite genres. Just judging from the trailer, its a bit unfortunate for me personally that you went with such a relatively generic art style, which isnt all that appealing to me at first.
 
I might be a bit shameless, but I'd love to hear what you think of our trailer (it's coming to Steam next month): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4_MVi7kXUM :)

On-topic, Jotun really is legit from my experience at Gamescom; I really loved the atmosphere, but just the core gameplay felt superb and polished. It's definitely one of the titles I'll be picking up at launch despite a massive backlog.

I mostly play 2D card games because I love those hand drawing art or sprite and pixel. I'm not a big fan of 3D game.

What I like
- 2D art of cards look very beautiful.
- Terrain looks ok.

What I do not like
- I'm really a fan of good physic and beautiful screen shaking effect. I like something like that in the game and I will be sold easily if I see it in the trailer because it make the game look more interesting for me. Sadly, I do not see it that way in this trailer.
- Model look pretty generic.
- I would prefer more exciting music.

Sorry, some maybe too harsh but I just want to be honest.

Definitely going to second Moobabe's recommendation of Hand of Fate. It's an awesome mix of deck builder, dungeon crawler, and brawler

Indie recommendations from 2015? Off the top of my head, stuff I really enjoyed:
- Besiege
- Duskers
- Starship Rubicon
- Guns, Gore & Cannoli
- STASIS
- Rocket League
- Subnautica
- Darkwood
- Infinifactory
- Crypt of the Necrodancer

Prepare to get a whole load of recommendations!

I'll edit this post once I've had a think!

But you should get Hand of Fate - card game, roguelike, super relaxing

Thank to both of you a lot ! I will try Hand of Fate first :D
 
I mostly play 2D card games because I love those hand drawing art or sprite and pixel. I'm not a fan of big 3D game.

What I like
- 2D art of cards look very beautiful.
- Terrain looks ok.

What I do not like
- I'm really a fan of good physic and beautiful screen shaking effect. I like something like that in the game and I will be sold easily if I see it in the trailer because it make the game look more interesting for me. Sadly, I do not see it that way in this trailer.
- Model look pretty generic.
- I would prefer more exciting music.

Sorry, some maybe too harsh but I just want to be honest.
Absolutely no problem, it's great critique and we thrive on feedback like this as it really does help us develop better games. We've been working a bit on the feedback (the video is nearly 2 months old now, though no screenshakes...yet) and the music wasn't really made to fit the trailer (neither is it the most exciting track in the game). So hopefully we'll have at least improved upon some of your points by now and certainly by the launch. Thank you again for the feedback; it's very much appreciated!

I might check out your game eventually, card/tactics style games are among my favourite genres. Just judging from the trailer, its a bit unfortunate for me personally that you went with such a relatively generic art style, which isnt all that appealing to me at first.
The art style has certainly been divisive for some people, but overall it's been mostly positive and we're happy with it, though you're definitely that it could stand out a bit more. Thanks for the feedback though!
 
SOMA, Flame in the Flood, Bedlam, RIOT, Jotun, Slain, Mushroom 11, RIVE, The Banner Saga 2...

Might be too early for that :P

It MIGHT be! There's too many unknowns in that list for me though. Will Bedlam be good - or just extremely pretty? Will Banner Saga 2 capitalise on the potential of the first? Will I be too scared to play SOMA?

Also - Universim has a demo? I'm gonna check that out, was following their Kickstarter pretty closely despite not backing it.

Edit

Also Frozen Synapse is on sale this week. Still one of the kinds of the indie game scene - just a shame finding matches is probably a little more tough now.
 
It MIGHT be! There's too many unknowns in that list for me though. Will Bedlam be good - or just extremely pretty? Will Banner Saga 2 capitalise on the potential of the first? Will I be too scared to play SOMA?

Also - Universim has a demo? I'm gonna check that out, was following their Kickstarter pretty closely despite not backing it.

Edit

Also Frozen Synapse is on sale this week. Still one of the kinds of the indie game scene - just a shame finding matches is probably a little more tough now.

Unfortunately the Universim demo isn't a proper demo. It Just shows some parts of the planet while explaining what they are and letting you control the camera a bit. It's just a tech demo that also advertises the alpha, and it's only around 5 minutes long.
 
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