I Played This Indie Game and You Should Too!

I loved the first part of Knytt Underground. Fantastic game. Totally ruined in the next part though. A complete 180 in terms of fun for me. I put it down and have no desire to return.

l didn’t try Underground. Didn’t run on my netbook. Just fell totally in love with the first two games.

I’d actually not even heard of it until the summer Steam sale. I just finished it and the ending struck me as a bit silly - but I agree, overall an excellent game.

I saw on RPS that Vlambeer released Gun Godz for free. It’s an old Wolfenstein style shooter in bite size form. You can finish it in an hour.

It’s interesting because the firearms are literally punishing – the noise, camera shake, and light all produce a major impact. I started the game with a mild headache and ended with a moderate one! I’m overstating it a bit so don’t let that scare you.

It also has that excellent and quirky art and music direction that all indie games must have.

Here is a weird little game by Dino Dini, the guy who programmed Kickoff, Kickoff 2, Player Manager and Goal! before EA and FIFA took over the soccer market in 1993. I think this is one of the first things he has programmed in a very long time. I found it charming. I’m curious to find out if others feel the same, or if my affinity for Dino Dini’s work gave me the propensity to enjoy it: (it’s a free PC/Mac/Linux download):

Necessary Evil

Yup, love love love this game. Some people are annoyed by the dialog, but I just gloss over it.

MMO persistent browser-based hunter-gatherer multigenerational evolutionary simulation fantasy strategy game:

Simpians

Could be cool, could be not! Sounds interesting though.

Heroes of Loot:

http://www.heroesofloot.com/heroesofloot/

And an RPS mention, looks and sounds good:

‘Halfway’, an X-com-like in space?

http://robotality.com/blog/

RPS write up here:

Looks and sounds very promising.

Not to be picky, but the thread might work best for already released games. I think part of the appeal is knowing the games are immediately accessible, short, and already approved by at least one person.

Yeah…sorry i mentioned it.

BUT look! X-com in space!

And this looks very nice, an inspired by ‘Magic Carpet’ game that is out (well, it has a demo), Arcane Worlds:

http://ranmantaru.com/games/arcane-worlds

And the RPS article about it:

Personally, I agree with Tim: I think this thread would be best for promoting games that people can check out right away, with the endorsement of a member of the community. Which is not to say that a thread about up-coming indie games wouldn’t be valuable as well. I’d read it!

Speaking of which, everyone should go buy One Finger Death Punch from Desura so it’s not just 4 of us playing it. :(

I agree too, but how many threads should there be? I have in the past given each new Indie game a seperate thread (Botanicula etc) and those sink and die in an hour or so with very little views. At least in a combined thread like this, if that happens, next time someone posts something of interest it will come back into view.

I could start a new thread JUST for upcoming Indie games that might be interesting, but that is work and effort on my part, and going on the success of the individual Indie threads probably not worth the effort or going to help folks when they drop so fast (as in most people will be none the wiser once it is second page down and deeper).

Maybe i could lead a post here with something like:

[One to Keep an eye on?] or [Not out yet, just info for u’s]? if the game in question has not been released or played? (And you have a demo on that last game ‘arcane-worlds’, does that count for something?).

So yeah, what to do?

Well, we all read RPS, and I already skip over most of the posts about upcoming games. They don’t forget about games they preview, so it’s not like we will miss the final announcement.

Like I said, I’m not trying to be picky. But I don’t think my mind can process past and present major releases and little indie games, plus future major releases, plus future little indie games. There’s not enough room in there.

I posted a bit on here about the game I’ve been working on ‘Asteria’ and it got buried fast! So for the indie guys like us, getting the word out is difficult.

So here it is again.

http://playasteria.com

Latest Trailer

We just release 0.9.4 and closing in on actually shipping the game. The first 5 levels in it are fully playable, but we’ve still got some tweaking to do. If you’re a fan of the 2D ‘Dig-box’ (Terraria,Starbound, etc) games, then check us out, vote for us on Steam, and tell all your friends. We are selling the game in Alpha, and it’s a complete copy for when the game releases. We’ve even open-sourced the code, and we’ve got full mod support planned. We’ve been playtesting the final bosses in the game, and I’ve even had a few moments where I’ve wanted to toss the computer out the window (but I did eventually beat the bosses).

Thanks

So, after seeing this series in another thread looking for recommendations, and seeing how nobody paying any attention to it, I think I had to give this series it’s tiny place here.

The series in question is DROD. It stands for Deadly Rooms of Dead. And it’s probably one of the best puzzle games on PC, if not the best (IMHO only comparable with SpaceChem).

IF YOU LIKE PUZZLE GAMES YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS!

A good overview of the games can be read in this column at (the sadly defunct) GameSetWatch: http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2007/01/column_beyond_tetris_deadly_ro_1.php

And another one in TIG source describing the latests, more user firendly game: http://www.tigsource.com/2012/04/10/review-drod-gunthro-and-the-epic-blunder/

Why are they so cool (aside from awesome mechanics?). Well, for starters, they come from a time when indie games where almost unheard of. Thus, they had to rely on a different business strategy. The games are not only games, but also editors that can easily create new puzzles of as high a quality as the official ones. Every several months they release more official puzzle packs for the latest iteration of the engine (which you can buy) and they have their own social community tool, CaravelNet, which allows access to all your games, highscores, completion levels and replays of other players beating levels faster than you. The hardcore players are into optimization to attain the best highscores in the more difficult rooms (highscores are sorted by steps taken to complete the room, with less steps being a higher score) and it’s just a really cool system. Access to the community features cost 12 dollars a year, so its actually a no-brainer and I keep subscribing even during periods I play the games less frequently.

There is also some moderately funny writing in there…

Aside from the DLC (the extra official dungeons you can buy) there are four official games: King’s Dugan Dungeon, Journey to Rooted Hold, The City Beneath and Gunthro and the Epic Blunder. You can play the previous levels in the newest engines (by importing the level files) so only one install is needed. The series is far from dormant, and the next release (The second Sky) is nearing completion.

Some time ago it was hard to recommend where to start the series, since The City Beneath is way more complex than Journey to Rooted Hold, so the later would be the recommendation for a first playthrough. However, their latest release, Gunthro and the Epic Blunder is designed as an introductory game to the series, and its both easier and more gentle in its difficulty curve. HOwever, if you think you are good at puzzle games, I will still go with Journey to Rooted Hold, as I found the difficulty there just about right.

Info on the games and buy links can be found here: http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewsitepage.php?id=90294

I hope I discover this awesome series to somebody. But beware. Playtime for a full game is over 20 hours (depending on how much time you spend solving a hard puzzle)…

I’ve got DROD- Gunthro and the Epic Blunder and think it was worth the purchase. I’ve completed 20 rooms or so. It’s a game that I can’t play as my main game because I will get bored, but it is good for picking up and playing a couple of rooms. The concept is novel. So far it hasn’t been real difficult, but I have a long way to go to finish the game.

Yeah, that’s what I meant. That particular iteration is too easy. Too little challenge and too few aha! moments. JtRH (the second game) hits the sweet spot much more precisely (it stops being boring and starts being challenging early enough).