Indie Games 2015 [September] Lets talk about anything Indie
- Thread starter Toma
- Start date
PandaPedinte
Member
These threads have been going for a long time.
More_Badass
Member
Nice thing about indies is that there's always something new on the horizon
I mean, I'm still kind of surprised by the fact that I can browse Screenshot Saturday every week and find a dozen or more games that I have never seen or that haven't been featured in these threads before
I don't post in them nearly as much as i used to but I still lurk them to find interesting stuff. You guys keep the train moving.
PandaPedinte
Member
Yeah, I'm playing Shutshimi and my mother walked behind me and asked me where I find all these games.
NoFaceNico
Member
Where are you guys getting your indie gaming news? I've been looking for a good site. I've been using Kill Screen this week and it's pretty good but I wonder if there's anything else out there.
PandaPedinte
Member
I was surprised to see that I posted in the first thread back in 2013
Mostly here from this thread, though I may visit RPS and PC Gamer. I also used to visit IndieStatik but the site closed.
Dog Problems
Banned
Twitter.
PandaPedinte
Member
What, Else Heart.Break() is releasing in one week:
I love the style that they are aiming for.
BIGGEST NEWS OF THE DAY
There was a streaming of Stardew Valley yesterday, the archive can be watched here. The build version shows as v0.9 on the top right of the screen, so it may be near release and we may finally get our Harvest Moon fix on PC.
Get in the hype tractor everyone!
I love the style that they are aiming for.
BIGGEST NEWS OF THE DAY
There was a streaming of Stardew Valley yesterday, the archive can be watched here. The build version shows as v0.9 on the top right of the screen, so it may be near release and we may finally get our Harvest Moon fix on PC.
Get in the hype tractor everyone!
More_Badass
Member
A lot of places:
- Rock Paper Shotgun (best site IMO)
- TIGSource forums
- Screenshot Saturday
- r/IndieGaming & r/gamedev
- Indie Games Weblog
- Tumblr
And I'm on a bunch of mailing lists
More_Badass
Member
Nah, biggest news is that The Witness finally got a release date
Never heard of it? Another programming puzzle game, in an adventure game mold?
PandaPedinte
Member
It's more focused on adventure but from the videos released before you can do some hacking, the features from the store page:
- An expansive 3D world, begging to be explored.
- Many hours of engaging story, set in a meticulously simulated city, with people that feel truly alive.
- A challenging game where your actions matter and nothing can ever be unsaid or undone.
- Tons of every-day objects and computers that work and can be modified.
- A laid-back experience where you can just go to the café and have a coffee whenever things get too hectic.
- A delicious soundtrack with over 50 songs.
- No previous hacking skills required.
More_Badass
Member
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
You had to open that wound, didn't you? ;-;
More_Badass
Member
Wait, is it not in development anymore?
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
Y'all play that panoramical?
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
Oh no, it's still coming along as far as I know! It's just been one of my most anticipated indies since I looooooooooove Thirty Flights of Loving and I don't think we're any closer to a release date.
I went ahead and picked it up with some card money, I'll be sure to post impressions!
You finally played it!
Yeah, 70 hours in or so at 35%. And I havent even attempted S-ranks, side missions or all objectives yet.
Not to mention I havent done much Online Bases and Team MP hasnt even released.
This game is nuts. I firmly believe that this was lightning in a bottle, and with Konami blowing up, we might never again get a similar game on the same scale of quality and quantity. I have a hard time believing anybody would invest this much money in a similar project.
I got 90 minutes on the clock!
...impressive! And by that I mean how you played for 90 minutes without having the URGE to continue for 3-4 days without much sleep, how it went for me
You havent seen anything yet though, dig in over the weekend to actually get to the good parts.
More_Badass
Member
Best action-stealth game ever made.
Idk, I'd still consider Chaos Theory as the best pure stealth, followed by Mark of the Ninja and Blood Money.
But it just comes down how you want to play it, and the pure amount of options.. I was never particularly fund of MotN, but its a very concise concept. But even Chaos Theory or Thief, which are my runner ups to favourite stealth games feel so limited in comparison. You have tons of ways to approach any target, which is really what I want a stealth game to do: Throw an endless amount of interesting missions at me and let me handle them any way I could possibly think of. No other stealth game has this much freedom.
More_Badass
Member
But limited is the point of those games IMO
I love MGS's blend of action and stealth and open-ended gameplay approach, but I feel those other games have better level design. and more tension because you don't have that action safety net to fall back on
While I can agree to the argument of "tension", I wouldnt say "limited is the point" really applies. Stealth games usually try to give players a multitude of tools to tackle any objective, take Hitman for example. Dressing up, luring, sneaking, outright killing. Stealth games always tried to give more options and paths, a well designed open world mechanic is the logical evolution on that.
After thinking about it some more, I gotta agree that I do miss some tighter level design from for example the thief games, but overall, I couldnt be much happier with what MGSV lets me do.
MushroomSamba
Member
Has anyone played this? Looks really neat in terms of Borderlands/Mad Max theme, and I do love me some SRPGs, but the only thing making me hesitate on picking it up is that 2 action points TOTAL in a turn mechanic. I think I prefer the XCOM mode of letting your entire team get to make a move. Allows for more interesting strategy that way.
More_Badass
Member
The best-laid plans...
I had intended to play through Frictional's games before Soma...but the BoI: Afterbirth info made me check out Rebirth again and it's sunk its grotesque tear-stained hook into me
So addictive. Was never really hooked on BoI till now.
I had intended to play through Frictional's games before Soma...but the BoI: Afterbirth info made me check out Rebirth again and it's sunk its grotesque tear-stained hook into me
So addictive. Was never really hooked on BoI till now.
toythatkills
Member
Ah, BoI. The one game I wish I could see what everyone else sees =(
More_Badass
Member
The sheer amount of content makes for an incredible amount of variety. Every play through, I'm discovering new enemies, new items and pick-ups, secrets There's this addictive drip feed of unlockables, and there's something super satisfying about the insane ability combos you can get from stacking items
toythatkills
Member
It was the sheer amount of content that prevented me from getting on with it. A large percentage of the items seemed to be completely pointless, have no apparent effect, or were duplicates of other items. As a result I didn't feel like it deserved what it was asking of me - to remember all this stuff. Especially when the stuff is so hard to remember because the items themselves often have absolutely no relation to the functions they perform.
A game like Spelunky goes with quality over quantity, and it's a literally perfect example of game design as a result. BoI just goes a million miles the other way and yeah, I could just never warrant giving it the time it would require to get anything out of it. It always just felt like it'd be a better game if it had like 80% fewer items.
Then I heard there was going to be an update or DLC or something to add a hundred more and I just sighed - I'm never going to like it. Which, yeah, is a shame, because there aren't many games I want to like more than BoI. The way people talk about it and the stories they tell of epic wins and epic failures are amazing and I so wanted a part of that.
More_Badass
Member
Personally, I've found the opposite. Especially once you have several items stacked, things vary drastically. Different tear modifiers, changes to your shot type and speed, movement, companions that do different functions, passive abilities
Like on my best run, I had rapid-fire flaming boomeranging tears that traveled in looping arcs, a leech that sucked health from enemies, protective spiders that spawned when I get hurt, a giant leg that comes down from the ceiling to crush enemies, a recharging ability that let me hover across gaps, increased move speed and damage
On another, I had a laser blast, an ability that caused enemies to fear me and run away, extra health, a partner that fired tears at enemies, etc.
And the items totally have a relation to their function. Boomerang cause tears to boomerang. Air strike lets you call down an air strike. A pic of mom makes you cry more = increased speed shot. Different drugs increase your speed. And so on
toythatkills
Member
That's the other thing I didn't really like about Isaac, it felt really reliant on items. A bad-item run in Spelunky is a challenge, a bad-item run in Isaac felt like a waste of time. And the pills you collect having random effects that could ruin a game entirely through no fault of your own, really.
See, I can see the logic there, but when you're playing the game and you pick up a "pic of mom," how are you supposed to know that that relates to increased shooting speed? Like, to work that out you've kind of had to reverse-engineer the item. Shot speed may have been visible (not always), but other things aren't. Like, toothpicks. Makes your tears go red and... what does that mean? There were just loads of things like that. As I say, I imagine if you have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the items and their effects you can have a good time, but the game made it as hard as possible to attain this and so I didn't feel it deserved my time attempting it. It would have been a much better game if only it was a tiny bit player-friendly.
See, I can see the logic there, but when you're playing the game and you pick up a "pic of mom," how are you supposed to know that that relates to increased shooting speed? Like, to work that out you've kind of had to reverse-engineer the item. Shot speed may have been visible (not always), but other things aren't. Like, toothpicks. Makes your tears go red and... what does that mean? There were just loads of things like that. As I say, I imagine if you have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the items and their effects you can have a good time, but the game made it as hard as possible to attain this and so I didn't feel it deserved my time attempting it. It would have been a much better game if only it was a tiny bit player-friendly.
More_Badass
Member
Well that's more of an issue with certain roguelike design rather than Binding of Isaac. Quite a few in the genre feature that element of unknown items that you only discover their use through using them. Personally I like that aspect because of the sense of discovery as you learn what items do, and of mystery when you stumble upon a new item
toythatkills
Member
What the game needed more than anything was some kind of database of items. So you could collect something and press a button and immediately it would tell you what its effects were. It even includes a screen which would appear to any sensible person to be specifically for this purpose, but then none of the items actually have descriptions on it!
I shouldn't have to play a game with Wikia open in the background so I can work out what's going on, really.
Anyway, I appreciate I'm in the minority here and I can genuinely see why people love the game, I just think it should have done more to make it easier to love and it would have been almost no effort at all on the part of the developer since it's basically already in the game.
More_Badass
Member
Oh, that I agree with. I wish you could see the effects of the items you have equipped while playing.
Although you do see the effect when you collect an item
More_Badass
Member
Hey, yet another coding-as-an-ability game!
CodeSpells
I remember this one from Kickstarter
CodeSpells - $19.99 (PC, Mac)
CodeSpells
I remember this one from Kickstarter
CodeSpells - $19.99 (PC, Mac)
http://codespells.org/
CodeSpells allows you to craft your own magical spells. It's the ultimate spellcrafting sandbox.
What makes it all possible is code. The game provides a coding interface where you can specify exactly what your spells will do. This interface is intuitive enough for individuals (young and old) who have never coded before. But skilled coders will also enjoy using their coding skills in new and creative ways! Even children can use this interface to make mountains out of the terrain, make an impenetrable force field around yourself, or even make a golem creature out of the surrounding rocks. The sky is the limit!
Wok
Member
I have the same issue witht this game.
PandaPedinte
Member
Greetings to your mother from the crazy Indie crowd
I'll tell her xD
I was reading some reviews and the opinions are very mixed about the game :/
What issues did they mention?
I finished it today. I understand that complaint, but I really glad it wasn't all that frenetic. It had some touch-and-go moments, and the last boss gave me a rough time, but it is definitely more tactical than it seems. In my younger days I'd have loved for the game to just kick my ass, but anymore I just want something with fun gameplay, challenging or not, that lets me explore a beautifully surreal world.
I do think a more frenetic game could be just as fun. Something like a scalable experience were more players means more enemies and more ship health. It could get really chaotic if it allowed 4 players.
In the end, I enjoyed it immensely. The variations the gems allow for are all very satisfying, whether it's the various methods of conventional shooting, or slinging around a spiked flail and using your engine's boost as a means of attack. And it's insanely pretty. It's definitely going down as one of my favorite games of the year.
PandaPedinte
Member
One review talked about the issues of the story, the reviewer enjoyed the game but felt it didn't have the tension from FTL, one of the game inspirations meamwhile other reviewer didn't have an issue with it, describing the game has a lot of plot but little story.
Other thing I read in the user reviews on Steam was about the combat, the game arranges your party positioning randomly when starting a new fight, so you front-linr melees may be put in the back row, plus you only have two actions per turn.
On the positive side, almost every one seems to like the game's visual style
More_Badass
Member
Here's a good review from a GAFfer's channel (great channel btw)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAFuoz7LMpo
Basically the gameplay has all kinds of flaws and little nuances and weird design decisions that make for a mediocre experience
Venus Van Dam
Neo Member
Looks pretty amazing. I'll have to code a spell IRL to have time to play this one.
Please share your wisdom with us once you manage to code that spell.
More_Badass
Member
First teaser for Wanderer. Kickstarter coming soon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS_ryRrvaHw
http://www.wanderer-game.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS_ryRrvaHw
http://www.wanderer-game.com/
More_Badass
Member
If anyone's interested in CodeSpells, I'll post some impressions tonight