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The XNA Indie Games Official Thread

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N.A

Banned
Hoyle Texas Hold ‘em is out now. It's by the same developer as the XBLA Texas Hold ‘em game and has avatar support and live multiplayer. 400 points.

Download

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N.A

Banned
Why did they make an Indie game?

I guess Microsoft denied them. It seems the game is just a reworking of the XBLA game anyway.

t3nmilez said:
What's the deal with office disorder? It seems to be the exact same game as office politics!

It is. They were forced to change the name.
 

Anso

Member
t3nmilez said:
What's the deal with office disorder? It seems to be the exact same game as office politics!

Like previously mentioned we were forced to change the name (I did the music). At least the company was quick with their request compared to Artoon that got a C&D like a year after it was launched..
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I've done a piss poor job keeping up with the indie game scene on XBL. I've got an extra 280 points sitting around I think I'm gonna spend on an indie game later after work. Just gonna have to roll back through this thread to find some games I'll try out demo wise to make my pick.
 

Anso

Member
Brettison said:
I've done a piss poor job keeping up with the indie game scene on XBL. I've got an extra 280 points sitting around I think I'm gonna spend on an indie game later after work. Just gonna have to roll back through this thread to find some games I'll try out demo wise to make my pick.

Leave Home or our imaginary friendship is OVER!
 

fernoca

Member
Tried the demo of Plucky...and it surprised me. Looks nice and after inverting the cam had no problems with the controller or anything (except that the doesn't grab into ledges)..but is like Mario just jump... run..jump..watch for the pattern..jump..really nice and only $1?! buying it as soon as a get more MS Points.
 
Kafel said:
Since noone here seems to want to be vocal about it, I'll do it then : Home Run Challenge is shitty.

After the efforts put in Avatar Golf, this new game is a real let down. I don't remember barkers crest's point of view about the shovelware in Indie games but his last game plays against his team.

What exactly is so shitty about it?
 

Kafel

Banned
barkers crest said:
What exactly is so shitty about it?

It's like a very simple browser game with no polish at all.

I can understand you want to make a quick buck with this game but I hope you're not one of those who are angry that the platform you develop for doesn't get the attention it deserves.
 
Kafel said:
It's like a very simple browser game with no polish at all.

I can understand you want to make a quick buck with this game but I hope you're not one of those who are angry that the platform you develop for doesn't get the attention it deserves.

All I can say is I disagree with your assesment of the game.

A simple browser game with no polish at all? Really??? REALLY??? What kind of polish do you expect for a dollar? Did I forget to put a ball sack rumble massager in the game? Is that what it is?

Tell me what browser game lets you play home run derby with your xbox avatar, has large animated avatar crowds in a giant 3D stadium, and is engaging to an entire family sitting around the TV trying to beat each others score. Tell me so I can go play it then hang my head in shame.

Make a quick buck??? For all I've done building and supporting the people that purchase my work that is such an insult.

I'm just one developer and my release schedule is alternating between big releases and small releases so I don't get burnt out. I put a lot, I mean a LOT of effort and attention in the game and it shows.

For the record, I am one of the few developers that actively promote Xbox Indie Games as a strong, successful platform to develop for. I believe each game on the service gets the attention it deserves. Build a great game, the gamers reward you. Build an awful game, they ignore you. Simple as that.

If you feel this way about a $1 game then I suggest you be happy with your Iphone apps where pretty soon the customers there are going to be demanding the indie developers pay THEM.
 
Don't get too upset, Mr. Crest. I purchased Home Run Challenge and thought it was a perfectly fine diversion and the production values were still better than 95% of XBLIG. I can see where someone would come from Avatar Golf to HRC and be disappointed in it, as AG was fully featured and had tons and tons of content, whereas HRC has very simple gameplay and is only really fun when you care about high scores. This will not appeal to some people.

Your first game raised expectations for what was to follow, so a little disappointment and backlash is probably to be expected. Gamers have been conditioned to expect studios or franchises to outdo their previous efforts. When they fail to do that, either by choice or not, there is always some disappointment. ODST is probably a good example.
 

Anso

Member
On the record I think barkers crest is one hell of a guy. Good on ya mate. Also on the record, chill. Be constructive or you're just shitting from your mouth Kafel :)

Also, XBLIG is an amazing platform. I'm actively promoting it with reviews, buying games and telling people about it. To but it lightly, Barker's games are NOT EVEN CLOSE to the stuff bringing XBLIG down. That's my opinion.
 

mujun

Member
Barker's Crest puts a lot of effort into his stuff if the way he implemented a bunch of member's suggestions into his golf game is any indication.

Keep up the good work!
 
I'd say for what is essentially a timed-button-press challenge, HRD has a hell of a lot of polish on it. It seems like the dude is just pissed because he wanted a more complex game, and bought it before fully realizing what it was. It's one button, deal with it.
 
Loads of new games out today. Anyone discover anything good among them, because they're mostly all going to be off the New Releases and lost forever within hours of release.

Which sucks for them.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
RadarScope1 said:
I'd say for what is essentially a timed-button-press challenge, HRD has a hell of a lot of polish on it. It seems like the dude is just pissed because he wanted a more complex game, and bought it before fully realizing what it was. It's one button, deal with it.

I suspect that's why it's called "Home Run Challenge" and selling at 80 points, instead of being called "Avatar Baseball" and selling at 400 :p
 

AzBat

Member
barkers crest said:
Did I forget to put a ball sack rumble massager in the game? Is that what it is?

Best damn comeback ever. LOL

Barker keep doing what you're doing. I believe your games are a shining star in a sea of crap. I believe it helps raise the quality across the whole service. Keep your head up, you don't have nothing to be ashamed of.
 
Looks like Japan is loving Decimation X, as it's the number 1 Indie game right now, along with being the highest rated Indie game. If you're a 2d shooter or Space Invaders fan, BUY this game! I really hope this sells well, as I'm impressed with their work so far, and would love to see more games from them. Can't wait for Duality!

http://xona.com
 
Major's Minute is showcasing a couple of kid-aimed indie games. But it's really a stealth "Kathleen Sanders is still employed" piece. I had no idea the indie games section even had anyone in charge!
 
nextgeneration said:
Looks like Japan is loving Decimation X, as it's the number 1 Indie game right now, along with being the highest rated Indie game. If you're a 2d shooter or Space Invaders fan, BUY this game! I really hope this sells well, as I'm impressed with their work so far, and would love to see more games from them. Can't wait for Duality!

http://xona.com

Thanks for the mention! We predicted our games would do well in Japan, as they are all about skill and high scoring.

Here's the teaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy9bcEU_a3Q
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
toythatkills said:
Johnny Platform-alike Banana Split is now 80points. Pick it up for that.

Liked the demo, passed on it because of the price. Sweet!

toythatkills said:
Analogue controls confirmed. It's now about 100x more fun, and really worth trying now!

I'm enjoying it

I'll replay the demo I guess.
 

Brannon

Member
Is that so? Because if it is... I'm, like, gonna have to take back some slightly-negative-ish words that I may or may not have said, probably

*d/ling*
 

Joshery

Neo Member
toythatkills said:
Dreams of Witchtown, which was, well, odd I guess. It's a platformer with RPG elements like levelling up, etc. I got to what I assume is the first boss and got my ass kicked. The platforming feels really weird, and I didn't enjoy it much, my attack felt pretty useless too. It also has a really weird font, which keeps putting big gaps between letters and then overlapping others. Bizarre. As I say, I didn't enjoy it, but I think there's enjoyment to be had and it'll appeal to some people. Worth trialling.

Hey, thanks for trying Dreams of Witchtown out! To avoid getting your ass kicked on the first boss we would suggest leveling to at least level 10, spend all your money on health and magic potions at the SHOP and use the fireblast spell (Hold Up + Right Shoulder).

As a shout out to the faithful Indie game supporters on NeoGAF we would like to extend free codes for Dreams of Witchtown to the first 5 that comment with their email address on the game's blog located here: Dreams of Witchtown Blog!

Just post the comment under the NeoGAF post. Also we'd appreciate comments and feedback. The game is our first on the Indie channel so it was a big learning process. The game isn't that long but we hope that some find it enjoyable - and for a $1 you can't go wrong!

Thanks

Joshery
 

qupe1975

Neo Member
First post here so I will post some of my recommendations from the Indie scene a bit further down.

Firstly though I wanted to ask will Microsoft ever let Xbox Indie games be played offline? Is there something specific that stops this? As I do not program I do not know the answer to this so please think I am being stupid.

My thinking behind this is that, if they did offer the facilty then maybe Indie games could start being showcased on Game Magazine DVD's Like maybe every quarter a Indie DVD round up with some of better games on. Then hopefully this would generate more publicity and sales for the scene.

Anyway back to some, I have left out some of the more obvious games - not all, of my game recommendations :

80 point games

Slingstar
SYNSO!
Decimation X
Hexothermic
Puzzwords
Pocoro
Gerbil Physics
Tomato Blaster
Ninja Bros
Halfbrick Echoes
Run Away - proper Marmite game
Nasty
Slam Indie Edition


240 point games

Trino
Echoes+
Ikaroids
Leave Home


400 point games

SFG Soccer
Beat Hazard
Veks and Silence



Barker's Crest, I enjoy dipping in and out of your game Homerun Challenge. It does what it says on the tin, not too sure what else you were expected to do with it tbh.

To all you guys producing quality games keep up the good work it is appreciated.
 

Rlan

Member
qupe1975 said:
First post here so I will post some of my recommendations from the Indie scene a bit further down.

Firstly though I wanted to ask will Microsoft ever let Xbox Indie games be played offline? Is there something specific that stops this? As I do not program I do not know the answer to this so please think I am being stupid.

In order to get around the need for actual ESRB rating systems in all areas, the game is required to be played only when the owner is online. "Game experience may change online" I guess.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Alright so I got sick earlier in the week, but am feeling slightly better no with shit to do other than watching the aussie open.

So back to my original idea. I have 280 MS points left over, and I kinda want to buy an XNA indie game. I only checked out the service like right at launch, and the only game I can remember ever really liking was Groov though I wish it had more music/patterns.

So I qued up the Leave Home demo to download the other morning, but haven't turned on 360 on yet since I got sick. What else should I que up to try that's something I should check out and fits in my 280 point budget?

I open to anything but kinda feeling either something artsy or something with some cool music.
 

Anso

Member
Brettison said:
Alright so I got sick earlier in the week, but am feeling slightly better no with shit to do other than watching the aussie open.

So back to my original idea. I have 280 MS points left over, and I kinda want to buy an XNA indie game. I only checked out the service like right at launch, and the only game I can remember ever really liking was Groov though I wish it had more music/patterns.

So I qued up the Leave Home demo to download the other morning, but haven't turned on 360 on yet since I got sick. What else should I que up to try that's something I should check out and fits in my 280 point budget?

I open to anything but kinda feeling either something artsy or something with some cool music.

If Artoon was still on the service I'd recommend that. My music is pretty decent and the game is good fun! However you'll have to wait for the re-release since we got a C&D re: the name. :'(
 
Brettison said:
Alright so I got sick earlier in the week, but am feeling slightly better no with shit to do other than watching the aussie open.

So back to my original idea. I have 280 MS points left over, and I kinda want to buy an XNA indie game. I only checked out the service like right at launch, and the only game I can remember ever really liking was Groov though I wish it had more music/patterns.

So I qued up the Leave Home demo to download the other morning, but haven't turned on 360 on yet since I got sick. What else should I que up to try that's something I should check out and fits in my 280 point budget?

I open to anything but kinda feeling either something artsy or something with some cool music.

Decimation X, get it NAO! 80pts
 
Tried a couple more games, KGB and Hypnos:

KGB is a FPS, a nice visual effort for an Indie game, but the gameplay is pretty bad, actually is fucking bad, yeah it's an Indie game, made with one guy aro just a very small team, budget and all... but from an objective point of view that's what it is. gunplay is awful, for some reason you can't move while you shoot, only while aiming, which made no sense, IA is terrible, and the controls in general are a bit off, but seems is doing pretty good good around here. I wish someone would try emulate doing a FPS like Doom, I mean, with an actually level design, puzzles instead of things like this...

And Hypnos was definetly an interesting game IMO, it's about a hypnotist woman, that spend the last 10 years on an Asylum, you can kill anyone with just putting thoughts into his mind, and that seems that's all to do, going by the few minutes I put into.A shame, it could be better if it was presented as a adventure game, but instead you get a large number of squares and dots representing everything, absolutly hideous, one thing is going for a minimalistic representation and other totally different is this.
 
Brettison said:
Alright so I got sick earlier in the week, but am feeling slightly better no with shit to do other than watching the aussie open.

So back to my original idea. I have 280 MS points left over, and I kinda want to buy an XNA indie game. I only checked out the service like right at launch, and the only game I can remember ever really liking was Groov though I wish it had more music/patterns.

So I qued up the Leave Home demo to download the other morning, but haven't turned on 360 on yet since I got sick. What else should I que up to try that's something I should check out and fits in my 280 point budget?

I open to anything but kinda feeling either something artsy or something with some cool music.
Groov. It's only 80 pts and has awesome music.
 
I got some games from a comments thread on Eurogamer, should you buy them?

Squid Yes! Not So Octopus! is excellent and wants buying. The aim is to score nine points, you get one point for every minute you survive and about 0.000001 for every enemy you kill, or something. Eurogamer described the visuals as being very Minter, which is apparent, but the gameplay is nice. Robotron-y shooter.

Crate Expectations is a multiplayer crate pushing game but I can't really do it justice because I didn't have anyone to play with at the time. You have to get your crates from one side of the field to the other before your opponent, by blocking them off and stuff like that. Definitely worth a trial if you've got someone to have a try with because it could be fun if you have strategy minded friends.

Link Attack is a decent idea, lovely presentation (if a little hard to read at times due to backwards 'r's). You have to connect sets of coloured squares to sets of like-coloured squares to make them disappear. It can be a little difficult to play, because the controls want you to click every space between the two sets of blocks rather than just the sets of blocks themselves, which is a little weird, but comboing is fun. Would have been better proper leaderboards were allowed.

Towers of Cedrick is bizarre, frankly. You have to play it just to see it. The controls are unresponsive, and it's just a version of that puzzle where you move discs from one pole to another, but the presentation, well, you'll see.
 

Anso

Member
toythatkills said:
Squid Yes! Not So Octopus! is excellent and wants buying. The aim is to score nine points, you get one point for every minute you survive and about 0.000001 for every enemy you kill, or something. Eurogamer described the visuals as being very Minter, which is apparent, but the gameplay is nice. Robotron-y shooter.

One of the best, Rob Fearon is a bloody genius.
 

DerrickH

Neo Member
You Will Die has an update in the queue (this is actually a veiled plea for the other XNA guys to review it). Aside from fixing a sneaky bug, I thought it would be a good time to make the game a little tougher

So if you still have 80 points left over after that spending spree you're planning, take a look.
 

Rlan

Member
Two games just went up on the Xbox Live Indie Games Space.

Lethal Judgment HD

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http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/g...550425/?p=1&partner=RSS&of=0&bt=0&sb=1#offers

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YluYW7f9C6E&feature=player_embedded#at=53

Soul

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Download: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/g...-9115-d80258550426/?p=1&of=0&bt=0&sb=1#offers

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkmNrdGPVL0&feature=player_embedded

Both these games look effing awesome. I can't check them out since I'm on download limits at the moment. Thoughts?
 

SickBoy

Member
Hmm... I'd been waiting for Dodgeball's price to drop, because I can't justify $10 for it. Didn't realize the new pricing structure didn't affect old 800-point games.
 

Rlan

Member
Rlan said:
Two games just went up on the Xbox Live Indie Games Space.

Lethal Judgment HD

screen4_Web.jpg


screen2_Web.jpg


screen3_Web.jpg


http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/g...550425/?p=1&partner=RSS&of=0&bt=0&sb=1#offers

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YluYW7f9C6E&feature=player_embedded#at=53

Soul

screen4_Web.jpg


screen2_Web.jpg


screen3_Web.jpg


Download: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/g...-9115-d80258550426/?p=1&of=0&bt=0&sb=1#offers

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkmNrdGPVL0&feature=player_embedded

Both these games look effing awesome. I can't check them out since I'm on download limits at the moment. Thoughts?


Quote for new page.
 

Noogy

Member
Soul is one of the best titles that I've played on the service. I imagine this game will be getting a lot of love in the media (if there is any justice).

I don't want to talk too much about it since I feel it's something that needs to be experienced. The game is difficult, terrifying, and immersive, and I'll leave it at that.
 
Holy shit at Soul... Not only is that game balls hard but it's freaky too.

I appreciate it for what it is but no way am I buying it.

On another note, has anyone tried RC Racing 360? It's hard to control but the graphics are really impressive. Probably the best 3D graphics I've seen in a 360 Indie game.
 
Holy shit at both Soul and Lethal Judgment! Just played both demos and am very impressed with both! The indie channel is really turning into something special now. Check both these games out, people!
 

Brakara

Member
Soul is a great concept and mostly well executed, but it's way too hard for me.

I tried that Texas Hold'em game as well, and how the hell could they implement the rules wrong? After the flop, the guy left of the dealer button should open, not the guy to the left of who was the BB. Also, it's like they've never played a real Texas Hold'em game before. "Blind raise" instead of "Big Blind"? And why does the dealer always start dealing to the same guy? That, combined with no skip button when you've folded make for a very sloppy poker game.

Edit: some snap judgements:

Dungeon Adventure - A rogue clone on my 360? Bought.

Lethal Judgement HD - seems good, and the core game is much better than that free XBLA shooter, but I'm not really into shmups.

Football League Simulator - I would love to have some old school football manager game on the service, but this one wouldn't even be passable on a VIC-20. Horrible.
 
Lethal Judgement is pretty good, marred only by the huge hitbox for your ship (at least compared to Mushihimesama Futari) and the lack of an invincibility period after you get hit.

And how did i miss Ninja Bros? It's awesome!
 
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