Freeware / indie game requests

[Jason_Lutes]

@Tim James

I completely forgot that Odium had that same tactical combat style, with the goofy four directions for shooting guns, etc. I remember playing the demo years ago, and I know it’s had some decidedly mixed reception.

If there are any other commercial games like that (for #1), let me know.

Have you ever tired Shadow Watch? Personal favorite of mine, and designed by a forum regular.

As mentioned above, Land of Legends is a commercially available indie in the vein of Advance Wars.

Tactics 100 Live is a Flash game that’s decent but a little lean.

PoxNora is an incredibly varied CCG/tactics game that allows you to play free with a starter deck. Fun and deep, but matches can sometimes take a while.

Modern Tactics 2 is a relatively deep Flash tactics game. Its cousin, Knight Tactics, tries to rip off a great game (FFT), but is missing a lot of key elements.

Over the years I’ve logged hundreds and hundreds of matches of Laser Squad Nemesis, which is PBEM but still awesome and innovative.

And I haven’t played Tactics Arena Online, but I’m thinking about giving it a try.

Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich are terrific tactical games, and while not turn-based they can be slowed down and paused with ease.

I assume you’re aware of X-Com, Jagged Alliance, and Silent Storm…

[TimJames]

@Sten Friberg

Norman Antivirus tells me that this file contains a trojan named W32/Polipos.A.dropper.
Is that as it should be?

Kind of weird: http://www.tfgamessite.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=129&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

[Fugitive]

@Sten Friberg

Norman Antivirus tells me that this file contains a trojan named W32/Polipos.A.dropper.
Is that as it should be?

It scanned as clean for me, under Avast! and F-Prot. One-off reports of really obscure virus variants that aren’t confirmed by other scanners are usually false positives. (Which are driving me nuts and making me even more paranoid, but that’s a whole other rant…)

[Lucidvizion]

@usedpilot

#3 is Last Scenario. It’s a free RPG Maker game, but it was really well received (especially at somethingawful, since it was made by a member).

http://browse.files.filefront.com/Last+Scenario+Official+Demos/;2218837;/browsefiles.html

Seconded. That was the first game that I thought of after I read your list.

[slantz]

@Tim James

Are you thinking of Land of Legends, by a member at this forum?

That would be me. And at this time, Land of Legends is no longer for sale on PC, though it will be available soon on the SideKick. And who knows, maybe it’ll be back some day in another for as well.

@Fugitive

Tactics Core? Doesn’t look like anything’s happened with it since, though.

The game was mentioned by someone else below, but I wanted to point out that Tactics 100 Live is the follow-up to Tactics Core as I understand it.

[Lucidvizion]

@Tim James

1. Final Fantasy Tactics clone. Heck, any kind of party-based combat on a grid.

I know a lot of people here pimp the v1.13 patch for Jagged Alliance 2 (which is very cool), but I prefer the Urban Chaos mod. It’s essentially a whole new campaign. A campaign with a greater number of meaningful sectors, too.

http://www.manifestogames.com/ja2urbanchaosmod

[TimJames]

@Hiro_Antagonist

That would be me. And at this time, Land of Legends is no longer for sale on PC, though it will be available soon on the SideKick. And who knows, maybe it’ll be back some day in another for as well.

Can you explain why a downloadable indie game is no longer available? Does your publisher simply no longer want to support it? (Maybe this belongs in the other thread.)

The game was mentioned by someone else below, but I wanted to point out that Tactics 100 Live is the follow-up to Tactics Core as I understand it.
I saw the link, but then found out it is multiplayer only. That’s fun and all, but I just wanted to goof around with some SRPG combat for a bit against the computer until I got bored with it.

BTW, where did you see that it is the follow-up to Tactics Core?

@Lucidvizion

I know a lot of people here pimp the v1.13 patch for Jagged Alliance 2 (which is very cool), but I prefer the Urban Chaos mod. It’s essentially a whole new campaign. A campaign with a greater number of meaningful sectors, too.

I’ll have to try that one on my next playthrough. Need to work on some other games though first!

[slantz]

@Tim James

Can you explain why a downloadable indie game is no longer available? Does your publisher simply no longer want to support it? (Maybe this belongs in the other thread.)

Sorry to bore those who don’t care, but there are a few factors at work. First, the game sold horribly. I’ve been paying off my debt for a couple of years now, and will continue to for years to come. Second, I did not get along with my publisher and disagreed with just about every decision they made. And perpetuating my contract with them could step on the toes of future opportunities.

And the game was coded in .NET/Managed DirectX (the pre-cursor to XNA), which is a finnicky, buggy platform I shouldn’t have used. (Though, to be fair, the game simply wouldn’t have been made at all if I had to wrestle with C++.) MDX was actually deprecated near the end of development of LoL, and at this point if I wanted to redistribute the game, it would heve to ported to something more sensible like XNA, if not an even more radical shift.

And lastly, it just wouldn’t be worth it. The customer service effort, effort to set up a new self-publishing infrastructure, etc, wouldn’t even pay for itself, let alone my time, for a 3-year-old niche game that didn’t really sell anything in the first place.

That said, I’m looking to other opportunities for how to leverage the game in the future. I’m hoping that the Sidekick deal is the first of many that emerge in the years to come, and my goal is to find ways to nickel-and-dime back my losses over my lifetime with this product. Luckily, turn-based strategy gameplay engines and content sets are pretty timeless. With the right platform and a shiny coat of paint, this type of game can easily pop back up at any time.

@Tim James

I saw the link, but then found out it is multiplayer only. That’s fun and all, but I just wanted to goof around with some SRPG combat for a bit against the computer until I got bored with it.

Hmm, I’m pretty sure I played through a mini-campaign of 10 battles against various unit make-ups. In fact, looking at that link, you’ll see the achievement things below the Flash window are for the single-player mode.

@Tim James

BTW, where did you see that it is the follow-up to Tactics Core?
I’ll have to try that one on my next playthrough. Need to work on some other games though first!

I thought I remembered seeing it back in the day when Tactics 100 launched. Maybe I’m mixing up games in my head, and my apologies if I am.

[Robert_Sharp]

Tactics Live was the game I was thinking of above. You can play it single player. I’ve done so.

[Roy_Ziegler]

@Sten Friberg

Norman Antivirus tells me that this file contains a trojan named W32/Polipos.A.dropper.
Is that as it should be?

I’ve never tried the link I gave. Try this and see if it’s the same:

http://www.rampantgames.com/images/Last%20Scenario%20v121.rar

[Eduardo_X]

I, for one, loved Land of Legends. My review says so!
I’m sorry to hear that it sold so poorly. It really should have been a hit.

[Brinstil]

@Eduardo X

I, for one, loved Land of Legends. My review says so!
I’m sorry to hear that it sold so poorly. It really should have been a hit.

Seconded. I had a lot of fun with it as well. Gnomish carrot-waggling is an under appreciated gameplay feature!

[TimJames]

Slowly working through my indie/freeware downloads and I’m really enjoying Zombie Smashers X2.

I was a little worried at first about the art and animation, and then started to panic when I couldn’t get my character to run for more than 2 steps (double tap a direction, then release the key!). But once the fighting starts, it’s classic River City Ransom.

I also love the music system. The unknown punk bands help give the game a good style.

It tickles me to imagine Nintendo’s sheer terror if River City Ransom had buckets of blood and Converge playing in the background.

[routlaw]

People’s Tactics is a great hex-based wargame that plays like a version of Advance Wars crossed with Operational Art of War. Fantastic game, as is the for-sale follow-up, Advanced Tactics: World War II.

It’s also a really small download and runs in a window, so it’s both easy to try out and play in bursts while multislacking.

[TimJames]

Man, that James Silva guy is a total scenester, hehe. Really cracks me up. Too bad we PC gamers can’t access the Xbox Live Arcade, because the Dishwasher game looks neat. Come on, Microsoft, I thought you were all about synergy and live and stuff.

[tromik]

Battle for Wesnoth is a decent strategy RPG.

[wildpokerman]

@Qenan

Something like Civ, but with much less battle and much more exploration, and generally, less complex.

Isn’t that Civ Revolution?

[Lizard_King]

This list has given me all I need to know about indie/free games.

[Ben_Sones]

I was with them until their GalCiv II comments, which seemed a little randomly vindictive. It’s also an odd stretch to call it an indie game.

[TimJames]

@Ben Sones

I was with them until their GalCiv II comments, which seemed a little randomly vindictive. It’s also an odd stretch to call it an indie game.

Heh, yeah I noticed that too. He seems to be a huge fan of bullet hell games, so maybe GC2 just isn’t explosive and hyperactive enough for him.