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[Toma]

Considering your avatar, I would think that "I can't do this" is a reaction you don't know how to have.

Thats one way to make me feel bad about not trying the game for longer than 5 minutes, lol. I was just trying to see the concept of the game to make an easy first impression judgment, but I still noticed it seems to be very hard. I might give it another go when I am not busy with updating things for this thread anymore.

DOUBLE POST

Max Double Penetration is best Double Penetration.

 

[One Foul Note]

Tried Jelly no Puzzle. I hate everything now, I hope you're happy.

There's nothing difficult about the concept, but here I am completely sure that level 2 isn't actually possible.

I've done it, it's possible. If you're really stuck just gimmie a bell and I'll lay out the moves. But for now rest asured that it can be completed, but you do need to think outside of what you learnt on lvl 1 a bit.

Also, really liking Skullface. It is basically SMB but weigh slightly more weight to the character thus with that a little more control.

 

[Toma]

If it's ok to mention our own games, I've got a couple.

A game I released last year:

Micron - $0.99 (iOS / Android), $2.99 (Desura)

And the game I'm currently working on:

Manic Mole - In Development (Ouya)

Another shoutout for your games, since I just remembered that I actually PLAYED Micron last year. Its a tremendous effort and the way you weaved musical harmonies into this kind of puzzle game was utterly brilliant. Give it a try guys! Added to OP.

 

[Toma]

Subscribed and my suggestions:

Starseed Pilgrim (Win/Mac - $6): a puzzler platformer game with emphasis on those eureka moments of discovery without any sort of hints. Solving by playing.

Starsector (Win/Mac/Linux 10€ Pre-order access to Alpha builds) - : An RPG/4Xish/Open World procedurally generated space combat epic.

Starseed Pilgrim looks amazing. Added to the OP Will definitely give it a go at one point. I'll also look into Starsector, but considering the first release was in 2011, I wont add it to the new releases. I added it to "Indie game development updates though", for the january update.

 

[Hazaro]

An incredibly cool proof of concept game demo, probably one of the most interesting ones I've seen lately:

Zineth - Free (PC, Mac)


Edit:
Its actually already a bit older and already had a GAF thread, but oh well. I recently found an article about it and thought its a new release. Guess I am giving it a pass for being about only 6 months old and only having a 20 page OT. Guess that still counts as "recent" if it hasnt been mentioned in these monthly threads already I'll just make up rules about that as we go, hope no one minds.

Didn't sleep.
Played this.

I asserted my falcon cell-phone dominance and went into orbit.

 

[Toma]

Didn't sleep.
Played this.

I asserted my falcon cell-phone dominance and went into orbit.

Sounds like a great tag line. And I fully agree that the game is fantastic.

 

[Toma]

Tried Jelly no Puzzle. I hate everything now, I hope you're happy.

There's nothing difficult about the concept, but here I am completely sure that level 2 isn't actually possible.

Just tried it again, managed to solve the 2nd level as well on my 2nd try. Small hint for that level:

Spoiler

There is something that seems impossible to do, but there is a very logic step to take to circumvent that problem.

The levels sure get meaner. Level 4 was 44 moves and I am up to level 8 right now.

 

[Toma]

The game I was talking about yesterday:

Planet Explorers - Currently Free Alpha (PC)

http://pathea.net/planet-explorers

Planet Explorers is an open world voxel based sandbox adventure rpg game set on a distant planet. The game allows players to change the terrain in anyway, create new objects in any form, and do it anywhere. You can create your own weapons, craft things and build fortresses to keep the enemies on that planet at bay. It currently has a SP story mode, an adventure mode and a build mode to tinker around without restrictions.

But really, watch these videos:

Current Version Adventure Trailer
Build and Create Trailer

Steam Greenlight page:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=129199308

Game description:

Game Features

Planet Explorers will feature single and multiplayer modes, with a possible level editor mode added later on.

In single player there are 3 distinct selections
Story Mode – Story mode is the main meat and bones of the game, it is the action-adventure-rpg-somewhat-4X segment, offering npcs, missions, town building, farming, diplomacy, and of course, a storyline that you can follow or ignore. This story features a 17X8km world map with many unique character, landscapes, biomes, locations, and over 100 types of potential enemies. Even though we’ve made it seem like a very action oriented game in the trailers, in reality, players can choose to not fight so much as to just plant a farm, make some food, keep the colonists alive, negotiate with the sentient aliens, and defend the perimeter from the local life forms. That can still eventually arrive at the ending. And yes, there is an ending.

Adventure Mode – This mode is based on a procedural map generated from a seed. Currently, it comes in 256X256m and 512X512m sizes, we’ll try to make this infinite in the future. Players will be able to complete random missions in the mode and eventually be able to setup conditions that they want to play (such as tower defense or attack an alien camp).

Build Mode – In this mode, there are no enemies and an infinite amount of building material. It also currently comes in 256X256m and 512X512m sizes with a possibility of infinite terrain later. Players will be able to build whatever they want in this mode, including everything in the Creations Editor. Think of this as the perfect testing ground to test everything you build. Or…it’s your place to build your garden without ever worrying about the pesky aliens.

Multiplayer will allow Local Area Network, Hosted, and Online. It will feature several modes but some are still on the drawing board or going through technical trials so the final result is still in flux. Players playing multiplayer should be able to bring at least one of their created objects into multiplayer games, be it a sword, gun, or vehicle.
Coop – Coop will come in many selections, such as adventure mode, tower defense mode, build mode, etc. The first one to be completed will be build mode, since it’s the easiest for us to do.

Versus – This mode will allow teams of up to 4 players to battle against 4 players from another team. We are going to try to allow for full terrain manipulation in this mode, but it’s not a given. We are going to have base defense, capture the flag, and something similar to DOTA.

Game Direction

We at Pathea Games have been working on Planet Explorers for a little over a year now. From the start, we set out to create an adventure in which the player will be able to control many things. For example, if there's a mission to go save someone from an enemy camp across a canyon, in PE, you will be able to build a bridge to cross it, or a plane, or make a giant robot (yes, this is actually our end goal), etc. Another thing we wanted was a storyline with set goals. Open ended sandbox games are great, but so are more focused games. We're big space exploration fans, so the story will be practical, somewhat realistic, and to the point. Finally, we wanted to make something fun and somewhat original, that's still up in the air, but we hope we're getting close!

There is currently a Kickstarter planned SOON, and I'll probably get a new thread up once that Kickstarter is live. People seem to give new threads more attention than a thread which is already a few days old. The game currently still looks a bit janky, but its already definitely playable and shows a LOT of promise. Unfortunately, I cant get the adventure mode to run on my Notebook, will try that later on my desktop PC.

 

[Toma]

Just bought Starseed Pilgrim, looking forward to trying it later.

 

[EMT0]

I am curious, which ones had the most appeal to you?

Jelly no Puzzle and Gorogoa, although some sound promising as games(but aren't my cup of tea).

 

[Toma]

Jelly no Puzzle and Gorogoa, although some sound promising as games(but aren't my cup of tea).

Fair enough, Gorogoa is fantastic. I also added more stuff to the OP in the meantime btw, if you want to have another look.

 

[Toma]

Just lost an hour to Starseed Pilgrim. Its a really imaginative little exploration game in which you do not only explore the environments, but also your possibilities to interact with it. I really like how the game feels like a sandbox game , in that you are creating the world basically, while still offering a direction where to go. Its also pretty interesting that even though there basically are reoccurring level sections that you need to get seeds from, you cant really lose. Pretty soothing experience.

Probably looks neater to me than anyone else since its "my" world, but here is my world so far:

I wish you could have a bigger full screen resolution than just the small window, but oh well. Cut and paste screenshots needs to do I guess ;p

Btw, is there any benefit to having more than 1 key in a "dark world"? I just managed to grab a second in the same run and the game made it seem like there would be a use for that since it kept both in my inventory (instead of just not picking up the second). From what I get, I only need 1 to escape from the "dark world", and the 2nd just disappeared.

 

[Heart of Black]

I'm waiting for Gorogoa to come out proper. Watching Chris Bell walk through it and talk about it at Indiecade was enough for me (I usually don't play games "early" either, like when I had my friend get me and my other friends into the front of the line at E3 just so I could watch them play Arkham City).

Talked with Jason (the creator) again at Indiecade East and he's learned a lot, and the game will probably be fairly different when it's done.

Last indie game that I played was Cart Life but I got lost fairly early on. I'll restart it again some time soon.

Right now I'm crunching to finish a demo of my game for GDC....

 

[Corto]

Glad you're liking Starseed Pilgrim Toma. I spent 2 hours now playing WoodleTree with my 3 years old son and he loved it. Finally I seemed to find another game besides Botanicula that he likes playing with me. hehe I played it with keyboard and I was in charge with the direction and he with the jump. That didn't go very well on the more challenging portions, but we laughed our asses off nonetheless. I agree that the character designs and visuals are the strengths of the game. The platforming is serviceable, the combat not very much and the music needed something more playful indeed, matching the visual style.

 

[Toma]

I'm waiting for Gorogoa to come out proper. Watching Chris Bell walk through it and talk about it at Indiecade was enough for me (I usually don't play games "early" either, like when I had my friend get me and my other friends into the front of the line at E3 just so I could watch them play Arkham City).

Talked with Jason (the creator) again at Indiecade East and he's learned a lot, and the game will probably be fairly different when it's done.

Last indie game that I played was Cart Life but I got lost fairly early on. I'll restart it again some time soon.

Right now I'm crunching to finish a demo of my game for GDC....

Cart Life was great as well, and especially if he plans on revisiting the early levels of Gorogoa, I am glad I already played to it share my excitement about that idea with other people Looking forward to seeing his improvements.

Glad you're liking Starseed Pilgrim Toma. I spent 2 hours now playing WoodleTree with my 3 years old son and he loved it. Finally I seemed to find another game besides Botanicula that he likes playing with me. hehe I played it with keyboard and I was in charge with the direction and he with the jump. That didn't go very well on the more challenging portions, but we laughed our asses off nonetheless. I agree that the character designs and visuals are the strengths of the game. The platforming is serviceable, the combat not very much and the music needed something more playful indeed, matching the visual style.

Haha, nice! Well, I'd say the game served a purpose then
And do you know an answer to my "key" question in that post?

 

[Toma]

Its really nifty that you are not "building" the world yourself per se, that way even smaller creations like these can give you a moment of satisfaction of what you accomplished by "growing" the world into such a form:

Hope no one minds me posting them

 

[User 73706]

And another game and discussion topic I just found out about before I am off to bed for today:

Gnomescroll - Free (PC, OSX, Linux)


Whats peoples opinion on Minecraft clones? I dont mind them all that much really in theory, its like a new sub genre that developed where people develop different base ideas around it. There is a video to the game I linked above, but it seems to be a really small game from what I can tell.The game seems to be decent at what it does, but I dont really have that big of an urge to try it.

I sure would love someone to crack down on minecraft like games and sim elements though, or God games ala 90's Molyneux in that environment. I think there is still a lot people can do with it, but I guess most players are already fed up with constant clones and iterations.

This immediately made me think of Crackdown meets Minecraft in terms of gameplay elements.

Yes please.

 

[rohlfinator]

First of all, GM is horrible for making game where you have many instances of something in memory. It only works for games where you only have something going on at the level of the player. If you want to include simulated aspects on other parts of the map that continue even while the player is not there, GM is not for you.

And also: It has the limitation of being able to play only 1 sound effect. Background music + 1 sound at a time. Meaning if you have more than one monster in the room or firing fireballs at you, only ONE can make a noise. That probably isnt a big restriction for an RPG type game, but after I created my first boss which shoots fireballs randomly from all directions, and only 1 would get a sound, I was really pissed.

Ah, gotcha. I've heard about the memory issue a few times before, it seems like objects have a lot of overhead. Didn't know about the sound effect limit though, that sounds really nasty. I wonder if either of those have been addressed in Studio.

A game I released last year:

Micron - $0.99 (iOS / Android), $2.99 (Desura)

I played a bunch of this last night, very cool game! The presentation is great, and the puzzles are starting to stump me sooner than I expected.

 

[Toma]

Ah, gotcha. I've heard about the memory issue a few times before, it seems like objects have a lot of overhead. Didn't know about the sound effect limit though, that sounds really nasty. I wonder if either of those have been addressed in Studio.

I played a bunch of this last night, very cool game! The presentation is great, and the puzzles are starting to stump me sooner than I expected.

Feel free to let me know whether those have been adressed, maybe I can reuse my old files if I find them.

 

[rohlfinator]

Feel free to let me know whether those have been adressed, maybe I can reuse my old files if I find them.

I know they've done a pretty big revamp of the audio engine for Studio, but I'm having a hard time finding specifics about what they fixed. I'd be surprised if they don't allow multiple simultaneous sound effects now, but idk.

 

[Toma]

Lost 2 more hours to Starseed Pilgrim. Has anyone finished it? CAN someone finish it? Just reached the third island. Fantastic game still, but I definitely can see how the progress in this game would probably annoy most gamers. I love it for spacing out, but its definitely slow and different which is not going to appeal to many I fear.

 

[fushi]

Hoooly crap, check out this game that I just tried.

Playing it right now:

Gorogoa - Free (PC, Mac)

This game is brilllllliant. It takes a very basic concept and then does so many amazing things with it.

 

[Toma]

This game is brilllllliant. It takes a very basic concept and then does so many amazing things with it.

Yeah, amazing right? Completely blew my mind like a dozen times within 20 minutes. And thats just a demo, cant wait for the full game to come around which apparently also improves/changes the parts of the demo.

 

[Corto]

Lost 2 more hours to Starseed Pilgrim. Has anyone finished it? CAN someone finish it? Just reached the third island. Fantastic game still, but I definitely can see how the progress in this game would probably annoy most gamers. I love it for spacing out, but its definitely slow and different which is not going to appeal to many I fear.

Damn, third island? hoho You're way ahead of me. I can't answer the key question as I never was able to snatch two in the same run.

 

[Toma]

Damn, third island? hoho You're way ahead of me. I can't answer the key question as I never was able to snatch two in the same run.

This game has so many small secrets. In one run, I watched a "door" falling down, which looked like it had 3 keyholes, so you'd probably need 3 keys to open that to wherever it leads. Since the game is so fucking small and unknown, Google doesnt help me in telling me whats behind that door either.

Or another small hint:

Spoiler

You know that if you put the orange one in the middle of a flat space, it will grow up, right? If you grow that orange one on brown stuff, it will grow even higher

And many more other secrets like that. Its pretty cool to figure out these things. I'll give it a break for now, but thanks again for recommending! Nifty little game with very soothing art and sound direction.

 

[One Foul Note]

I'm not really feeling Starseed. Something about the pure lack of information is just too much for me and strange things keep happening like I lose the ability to plant seeds or jump higher then half a block which suck much of the enjoyment out.

Still, it's an interesting game so I got no regrets throwing the creator a few pounds.

 

[Toma]

I'm not really feeling Starseed. Something about the pure lack of information is just too much for me and strange things keep happening like I lose the ability to plant seeds or jump higher then half a block which suck much of the enjoyment out.

Still, it's an interesting game so I got no regrets throwing the creator a few pounds.

Thats a big part of the game. Finding out what the mechanics are. Every time you dig a pink block, you get a seed. And those are being added above your head up to 3, so you can see the next 3 seeds above your head (each colour has a different behaviour). If you get even more seeds, you get a number below your character. Add the number and the seeds above your head to get the total count of seeds you have. The one right above your head is the next one you are planting.

Another thing that prevents you from planting seed is the rule that you cant plant a seed onto the same color.

And there is indeed a brown block that prevents you from jumping high, and its basically a "puzzle" with each seed to make the most out of its properties to get where you want to, meaning either to the star in the dark world, or to the next islands in the "main" world. The brown block is usually disadvantageous, but it can improve the reach of the orange block for example (basically mud/earth to better grow other seeds on).

You should really give it another try when you have a few minutes of free time and are in the mood for something relaxing Its all about finding out what the blocks do and then using them in the best possible way. From googling, I found out that the initial "being stumped" phase is about 45-60 minutes for everyone, until they finally figure out whats goin on.

 

[phantomsnake]

Another shoutout for your games, since I just remembered that I actually PLAYED Micron last year. Its a tremendous effort and the way you weaved musical harmonies into this kind of puzzle game was utterly brilliant. Give it a try guys! Added to OP.

I played a bunch of this last night, very cool game! The presentation is great, and the puzzles are starting to stump me sooner than I expected.

Thanks guys!

It's really too bad about your game, Toma. A procedurally generated Zelda sounds awesome! You could try porting it to Unity sometime.

 

[Corto]

Thanks guys!

It's really too bad about your game, Toma. A procedurally generated Zelda sounds awesome! You could try porting it to Unity sometime.

Micron is yours? Cool. I just bought it on my iPhone, will post something after playing around a bit.

 

[Valygar]

If you played A link to the past, you have to play Anodyne. I loved it. Not many items, but the puzzles in the dungeons were superb, incredible how to do a lot with so few things... very creative.

 

[Toma]

If you played A link to the past, you have to play Anodyne. I loved it. Not many items, but the puzzles in the dungeons were superb, incredible how to do a lot with so few things... very creative.

How long is it? Since its my own thread, I am trying to play all these games in the OP, but I need to justify these purchases somehow

Random aside, my To-do list and short impressions on all games:

Anodyne
Depression Quest - Very well done work on the mental state of depression. Unrateable, but definitely recommendable.
Gorogoa - Brilliant. Utterly and completely brilliant. If there is only ONE game people play from this thread, it should be this one.
Inner Vision - Not really a highlight of this thread, but cute way to get the "it gets better message" across
Jelly no Puzzle - Fiendish puzzler from the first level, liked it very much. Hopefully I can finish it at one point.
Kentucky Route Zero - Yeah, many people talked about it. Great artstyle, story and game concept. Unfortunately, a bit expensive.
King of the Wood - Didnt like playing it, but enjoyed reading and discussing about it.
Melodisle - Really cute spinoff idea for FEZ. Definitely glad I found it.
Micron - Great execution of a puzzle game with music based on the gameplay.
Off
Planet Explorer - Very interesting. I am considering funding their Kickstarter as soon as it goes live.
Skullface - Super Meat Boy clone, very enjoyable.
Starseed Pilgrim - Very interesting take on videogames that got me to experiment what the game was actually about. Love it.
Steam Marines - Hm. Hm. Hm. I am not convinced. The gameplay seems too unpolished and the UI is a bit of a mess.
The Button Affair - Enjoyed it, cute little game and well worth the 15-20 minutes it ran. (RAN, ha)
The Sea will claim everything
Woodle Tree
Zineth - Fan.Ta.Stic. This game could easily be a PSN release with a bit more content. Great execution.

Guess I still have to try Off and then to pay $20 for the remaining games.

 

[Valygar]

Anodyne is around 4 hours long, and it also has some post-game collectibles. However you might not like the post-game, the new mechanic is weird and I think there are few new zones.

For 10$ it may be too much unless you love the genre; I grabbed it in the piratebay sale.

 

[Toma]

Stream - Free (PC, Flash)

http://simonchauvin.com/stream-the-game/#

3D Puzzle platformer. Think Portal, but without Portals and instead time manipulation. 6 levels, 3 of which are very easily solved in the beginning. Its a short game, but definitely worth a playthrough for the artstyle and interesting mechanics. Also available for download.

 

[Toma]

Cute Pixelart for an in-progress indie game called Roy:
http://samblye.tumblr.com/

Apparently a coop jump&run, but the dev is still talking mechanics, so there is still probably waaaay to go until we see a "game". Still cute.

 

[Toma]

And kinda crazy that Throw Trucks with your mind is getting closer to getting funded, even though the first backer level that includes a GAME, is the 45$ one:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1544851629/throw-trucks-with-your-mind

Still not convinced that these mechanics will translate into an intriguing videogame, but I guess we'll see once it gets funded.

 

[Toma]

Alright, trying Off next. Should have some more impressions soon. Anyone know how long it is?

 

[One Foul Note]

I made purchase of Anodyne and I sorta neutral thusfar, but I have barely scratched the surface. Their is this very unreal dream-like tone to the game considering the entities you meet and landscapes which is dragging me in. Although I am getting bummed out by how the attack animation freezes you in place and your weapons lack of range. If the game focuses more on puzzles then combat it could be awesome, but if it is the other way around I hope I soon get something which makes the fights a little more snappy.

 

[Toma]

I made purchase of Anodyne and I sorta neutral thusfar, but I have barely scratched the surface. Their is this very unreal dream-like tone to the game considering the entities you meet and landscapes which is dragging me in. Although I am getting bummed out by how the attack animation freezes you in place and your weapons lack of range. If the game focuses more on puzzles then combat it could be awesome, but if it is the other way around I hope I soon get something which makes the fights a little more snappy.

I remember someone saying in this threa that the puzzles were pretty interesting wi what little the game used for them. Although the game is supposed to be only 4-5 hours long, so it can't have that much content. That was also the reason I was holding off so far.

 

[Toma]

Anyone tried more games?

 

[Corto]

Anyone tried more games?

Today was a bit hectic at work. So I only played a few levels of Micron on my iPhone. Neat game, but I haven't reached the point yet where I start scratching my head thinking what to do next. hehehe

 

[ThatStupidLion]

subb'd so hard!

nice work toma!

 

[Toma]

Today was a bit hectic at work. So I only played a few levels of Micron on my iPhone. Neat game, but I haven't reached the point yet where I start scratching my head thinking what to do next. hehehe

Hope you didnt play without sound. Thats what this game did so well for me.

subb'd so hard!

nice work toma!

Yay, less Toma monologues, but as I already said before, please dont only sub but also try games and comment a bit. Otherwise this thread dies and I dont feel like filling a whole page with stuff without anyone else posting

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

No offense to anyone's efforts making OTs for small games, but this thread was absolutely needed. I don't pay attention to the majority of indies largely because I don't even hear about most of them.

 

[Ventron]

Hopefully I have something to show in the next few months. This is what happens when you think up a new game mechanic, the amount of prototyping and tweaking it needs is insane

Cute Pixelart for an in-progress indie game called Roy:
http://samblye.tumblr.com/

This looks so cute! Would love to see it in motion.

 

[Toma]

No offense to anyone's efforts making OTs for small games, but this thread was absolutely needed. I don't pay attention to the majority of indies largely because I don't even hear about most of them.

Thats not offensive. Gaf moves too fast, and smaller game threads are usually dead before they reach the second page. This thread hopes to resolve that if we finally get a few guys together who take care of it. I cant work on these threads completely alone, so I definitely need GAF to help out. But I think the current OP highlights many recent great and interesting Indie games that people should check out.

Not to mention that many of the smaller and equally interesting ones dont even get threads usually (Gorogoa and Starseed Pilgrim come to mind).

 

[Toma]

Random information dump:

Some cool Shmup graphics by a friend of mine (Hinomura here on GAF) who works on his own game atm:

Seriously love it.

 

[Toma]

And a sidescrolling Beatemup in the vein of Shank with the style of Mad World, called Aztez, which should soon release:

I recommend watching this trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VHKmwkJUYso

 

[Toma]

"I like Indie games" - bottom of the page filler.

 

[Toma]

Added to OP:

Césure - Free (PC)

http://www.noctuelles.info/Cesure

This game does NOT work in screenshots, but looks very intriguing ingame. Its an exploration game with no goal. Quote from a review: "You take whatever you want from Césure, and some are certainly going to find more than others: fear, intrigue, beauty, emptiness, loneliness, nothing". Its free, so go give it a shot!

I mean its free, so its an easy sell, but seriously worth dabbling a few minutes into. Considering its a 3D place to explore the DL is surprisingly small too (60MB). Tried to swim away from the threatening looking stature and landed on a small island with a weird statue that seemed to serve no purpose either, but left me uneasy. Tried to swim farther away and then only darkness engulfed me.

Trippy experience. Worth checking out!

Also, you can be one of the first 2000 people to dl this game! So sad. Not even 2000 people found that this project looked interesting to warrant a free 50MB dl for a unique experience.

 

[Toma]

Random gif by an artist, working on a game called "Radical Express":

And a Digipen game that is a bit older, so I wont put it in the OP:

Glitch - A first person arena shooter with block graphics and an evolving arena.
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=1470

Check out the Youtube vid, the art style is pretty nice and even though the game is very simplistic, the evolving arena is preeeetty cool (Or just download the 20MB file to not get spoiled and see for yourself):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KJJsczOYxE