I saw that on a Youtube channel a while back but I can't remember where it was. Looked polished as hell at the time and I can only imagine it's even better now.
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Indie Games 2015 [July] Now Voting - Post 280!
- Thread starter Toma
- Start date
I saw that on a Youtube channel a while back but I can't remember where it was. Looked polished as hell at the time and I can only imagine it's even better now.
Phawx
Member
Hoping to get back into the swing of things.
Nice! Looking forward to it.
My Quick Look on ADventure Lib:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4mliMf4JZY
Quick Impressions: If you've ever played MadLibs before, you're halfway there with this game. You can only shuffle the nouns around, instead of picking them yourself. In the version I played, it's a short game. You should be able to beat it in 30~ minutes or so. I'm 32 and I laughed once. I don't believe I am the correct demographic for this game. It has lots of silly humor, because MadLibs. Having said that, I do believe that kids from ~6-11 will find the game far more humorous.
On the plus side, it does support Steam Workshop and comes with it's own utility to create other Nouns.
It's an interesting experiment of a game. I guess I only wish it was more Scribblenauts-ish. As in, I could type nouns or verbs and then it would fetch Google Images or whatever to place into the game.
On the plus side, it does support Steam Workshop and comes with it's own utility to create other Nouns.
It's an interesting experiment of a game. I guess I only wish it was more Scribblenauts-ish. As in, I could type nouns or verbs and then it would fetch Google Images or whatever to place into the game.
My Quick Look on Feist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Z1sMWWR48
Quick Impressions: Feist is dope. I hear it's short, but I personally like that. Essentially, take the aesthetics of Limbo and mix in some Out Of This World (Another World) gameplay elements + maybe a dash of Oddworld and what you have is Feist. The game has 3D models fixed in a 2D plane with this amazing silhouette motif. At first I thought it was all 2D animated, but you can every now and again see the hint of depth in all the movement. And then you'll come across a level that has a lake and mannnn, that is some gorgeous stuff.
Mechanics are just as good as the visuals as well. The game doesn't hold your hand, just like Limbo and Out Of This World, so if you haven't played those mentioned games, you might get stuck for a moment or two. But if you're like me, you'll see all of the foreshadowing the game broadcasts and be ready.
I think my happiest moment was seeing a trap beneath a tree and realizing I as going to have to run back from a superior enemy, a la the Lion in the beginning of Out Of This World.
I don't care if this game is short. It's an excellent game.
Mechanics are just as good as the visuals as well. The game doesn't hold your hand, just like Limbo and Out Of This World, so if you haven't played those mentioned games, you might get stuck for a moment or two. But if you're like me, you'll see all of the foreshadowing the game broadcasts and be ready.
I think my happiest moment was seeing a trap beneath a tree and realizing I as going to have to run back from a superior enemy, a la the Lion in the beginning of Out Of This World.
I don't care if this game is short. It's an excellent game.
Phawx
Member
*doesn't* hold your hand.
oops, lol.
Messofanego
Banned
My Quick Look on Feist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Z1sMWWR48
Quick Impressions: Feist is dope. I hear it's short, but I personally like that. Essentially, take the aesthetics of Limbo and mix in some Out Of This World (Another World) gameplay elements + maybe a dash of Oddworld and what you have is Feist. The game has 3D models fixed in a 2D plane with this amazing silhouette motif. At first I thought it was all 2D animated, but you can every now and again see the hint of depth in all the movement. And then you'll come across a level that has a lake and mannnn, that is some gorgeous stuff.
Mechanics are just as good as the visuals as well. The game doesn't hold your hand, just like Limbo and Out Of This World, so if you haven't played those mentioned games, you might get stuck for a moment or two. But if you're like me, you'll see all of the foreshadowing the game broadcasts and be ready.
I think my happiest moment was seeing a trap beneath a tree and realizing I as going to have to run back from a superior enemy, a la the Lion in the beginning of Out Of This World.
I don't care if this game is short. It's an excellent game.
Sold.
More_Badass
Member
Yup. I was trying to figure out how to beat that thing, and then it clicked. So satisfying
More_Badass
Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJiq3wg1LVE
Everspace - late 2016 (PC)
Everspace - late 2016 (PC)
Kickstarter on August 6th
http://everspace-game.com/
A rogue-like PC space shooter with top-notch visuals and audio and a captivating non-linear story.
PandaPedinte
Member
Any reason behind it?
I guess the disappointment with any recent release. Let me quickly look up a list.
Okay, going through by year of release:
So, I loved Double Fine's games back then (Psychonauts&Stacking <3) and they started to apparently now publish Indie Games from other developers, which is obviously fine too, but newer stuff which is now going on since... 2012 or so? Sesame street was fine for its audience, but then they had a stretch of filler games, which isnt all too thrilling and then came the Indie focus onslaught.
The Cave was an incredibly bland sidescrolling platformer that took ideas from other games, recycled them and made them super boring. Broken Age was a decent adventure game, but nowhere near the greatness, inventiveness or challenge of "classic" RPGs. Overall, it just fell flat to what I was expecting, even though it was not "bad". However, just because you attach some dream like narrative and art style to a game, doesnt make it unique or intriguing. Then we had the whole Spacebase debacle, Hack & Slash seemed like an interesting game at first, but incredibly shallow under the surface which they tried to dress up with advertising emergent gameplay solutions, which in the end werent all that "emergent" and very planned. It was a pretty straight forward top down adventure game with a programming theme, that neither had the challenge, nor the sense of discovery and learning process these games have.
Grim Fandango gets a pass because its not a newer game and then we get to Massive Chalice, which I granted havent played yet, but considering the impressions I read, stumbles over much of the same issues with general unfocusedness, unbalancedness and just trying to sow ideas together that they think that should work without giving the game the time it needs to actually be good.
I am not sure what they are doing in that company atm, but I get the impression that they are just trying to throw their eggs in every basket possible and seeing what sticks instead of focussing on originality and/or good content, which I am really not fond of. They havent proven in quite a while that they can make a polished and original game, which is what DF still tries to sell their games as. Most games sound spectacular on paper, but then they just disappoint.
- Psychonauts (2005)
- Epic Saga: Extreme Fighter (2007)
- My Game About Me: Olympic Challenge (2008)
- Tasha's Game (2008)
- Host Master and the Conquest of Humor (2009)
- Brütal Legend (2009)
- Costume Quest (2010)
- Stacking (2011)
- Iron Brigade (2011)
- Sesamstraße - Es war einmal ein Monster (2011)
- Double Fine Happy Action Theater (2012)
- Middle Manager of Justice (2012)
- Kinect Party (2012)
- The Cave (2013)
- Broken Age (2013)
- Spacebase DF-9 (2013)
- Hack & Slash (2014)
- Grim Fandango Remastered (2015)
- Massive Chalice (2015)
So, I loved Double Fine's games back then (Psychonauts&Stacking <3) and they started to apparently now publish Indie Games from other developers, which is obviously fine too, but newer stuff which is now going on since... 2012 or so? Sesame street was fine for its audience, but then they had a stretch of filler games, which isnt all too thrilling and then came the Indie focus onslaught.
The Cave was an incredibly bland sidescrolling platformer that took ideas from other games, recycled them and made them super boring. Broken Age was a decent adventure game, but nowhere near the greatness, inventiveness or challenge of "classic" RPGs. Overall, it just fell flat to what I was expecting, even though it was not "bad". However, just because you attach some dream like narrative and art style to a game, doesnt make it unique or intriguing. Then we had the whole Spacebase debacle, Hack & Slash seemed like an interesting game at first, but incredibly shallow under the surface which they tried to dress up with advertising emergent gameplay solutions, which in the end werent all that "emergent" and very planned. It was a pretty straight forward top down adventure game with a programming theme, that neither had the challenge, nor the sense of discovery and learning process these games have.
Grim Fandango gets a pass because its not a newer game and then we get to Massive Chalice, which I granted havent played yet, but considering the impressions I read, stumbles over much of the same issues with general unfocusedness, unbalancedness and just trying to sow ideas together that they think that should work without giving the game the time it needs to actually be good.
I am not sure what they are doing in that company atm, but I get the impression that they are just trying to throw their eggs in every basket possible and seeing what sticks instead of focussing on originality and/or good content, which I am really not fond of. They havent proven in quite a while that they can make a polished and original game, which is what DF still tries to sell their games as. Most games sound spectacular on paper, but then they just disappoint.
Team Cherry sent out a new Kickstart update for Hollow Knight that includes a ~6 minute gameplay video. This is easily one of my favorite games in terms of an art direction in a very long time.
My favorite bit was this paragraph. Something that never would've crossed my mind when designing a game like this.
My favorite bit was this paragraph. Something that never would've crossed my mind when designing a game like this.
More_Badass
Member
Definitely interested in your impressions. It had caught my eye a few times on Screenshot Saturday due to the art style, but I'm not sure how the game is
PandaPedinte
Member
CheesecakeRecipe
Stormy Grey
Someone buy Cradle and tell me everything I'm missing
Well, not everything, but at least tease me a little!
Well, not everything, but at least tease me a little!
My good friend Alex (Pylon_Trooper) had this to say on Twitter with a bonus reply for a strange looking chap in dark salmon chinos (me)
With some accompanying pictures:
Not great quality, obviously, because it's Twitter.
More_Badass
Member
Dont do this to me, man. I'm trying to save for Swindle and the GRIP KickstarterMy good friend Alex (Pylon_Trooper) had this to say on Twitter with a bonus reply for a strange looking chap in dark salmon chinos (me)
With some accompanying pictures:
Not great quality, obviously, because it's Twitter.
Dont do this to me, man. I'm trying to save for Swindle and the GRIP Kickstarter
Don't worry man - the chinos weren't that expensive!
Wok
Member
Infinifactory - £18.99 (WIN/MAC/STEAM)
I was surprised that the game would play in an FPS view. I was expecting something more like RUSH or EDGE by Two Tribes. I like the game. The gameplay is nice, puzzles are expected to be of quality.
Voxatron - $19.99 (PC, Mac, Linux)
The game is okay and fun at first, but there was not much to it when I tried it in alpha, so I let it aside after a short while. A bit as it should be expected from Lego Worlds.
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - $14.99 (PC)
I find the game really not fun. Weird but not fun. I ended up asking for a refund to buy Cradle and FEIST instead.
Her Story - $5.99 (PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone)
I heard a lot of good stuff about this experimental game and I want to try it.
Regarding Cradle:
I was surprised that the game would play in an FPS view. I was expecting something more like RUSH or EDGE by Two Tribes. I like the game. The gameplay is nice, puzzles are expected to be of quality.
Voxatron - $19.99 (PC, Mac, Linux)
The game is okay and fun at first, but there was not much to it when I tried it in alpha, so I let it aside after a short while. A bit as it should be expected from Lego Worlds.
D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die - $14.99 (PC)
I find the game really not fun. Weird but not fun. I ended up asking for a refund to buy Cradle and FEIST instead.
Her Story - $5.99 (PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone)
I heard a lot of good stuff about this experimental game and I want to try it.
Regarding Cradle:
More_Badass
Member
I usually don't mind when games release on consoles first...
But damn, I want Galax-Z on PC next month too
But damn, I want Galax-Z on PC next month too
More_Badass
Member
Spirit - ????
Collecton - Free demo (PC, Mac, Linux)
Traces of Light - PC
Atomic Society - PC, Mac, Linux
miniLAW - ????
8Days - ????
Ab Intra - ????
Megatect - PC
Strailton - Free alpha (PC, Mac)
Dyadic - PC, Mac, Linux
Hermes - ????
Previously Mentioned
Tangiers
Innerspace
Six Sides of the World
Crest
http://www.spirit-thegame.com/
"An isometric, narrative-focused, exploration-heavy adventure" with a possession mechanic
Collecton - Free demo (PC, Mac, Linux)
http://danbrani.itch.io/collecton
Collecton is a roguelike-platformer with heavy emphasis put into interaction with the world's creatures, items and exploration.
Traces of Light - PC
http://www.tracesoflightgame.com/
Traces of Light is a third person adventure game about Dirk Young, a lighthouse keeper. His life is completely changed after a devastating solar storm ruins his village home. Help him to find a new mechanism for the Lighthouse and bring it back in order to save his friends and family from mortal danger. To finish the game pass through the mazes and obstacles, solve the puzzles and find the way home. There is no time to waste, let the adventure begin!
Atomic Society - PC, Mac, Linux
http://www.farroadgames.com/the-game-explained.html
Atomic Society is a post-apocalyptic city building game that aims to let players decide what laws, morals and values their survivors will live by, as well as giving them the fun of managing a bustling town and its resources. You can create a dystopia, utopia, and or whatever wasteland town you desire.
miniLAW - ????
http://lassogames.com/category/minilaw/
Futuristic tactical law enforcement roguelike
Roam the city of New Babel in search of crimes in progress. Procedurally generated crimes and encounters make no two plays the same.
8Days - ????
http://store.santaclaragames.com/games/8days/
8DAYS is a frenetic local versus action game in which you have to bring peace to the world
There is an evil power conspiring in the shadows against people’s freedom. Choose your hero from a variety of funny characters and travel through multiple locations around the world. You are bounded by duty to bring peace to the world and unmask the evil masterplan. As usual with more violence!
Ab Intra - ????
Megatect - PC
http://timedropstudios.com/megatect/
Think of Megatect as a level editor without the limitation of one game type. Use a slew of generic blocks, objects, and wires to create your own challenge maps, Deathmatch Arenas, make a new sport, whatever you can dream up! Play solo or with friends and share grids online for others to play!
Strailton - Free alpha (PC, Mac)
http://www.indiedb.com/games/strailton
Strailton is a 3d snake-like game which uses time mechanics to create alternate future versions to help solve the puzzle levels
Dyadic - PC, Mac, Linux
http://www.indiedb.com/games/dyadic
In Dyadic, two players find themselves trapped in ancient ruins after discovering a rare and priceless artifact. Both of you want to be the one to escape ruins with the artifact, but you don't necessarily have enough equipment to do it on your own. Will both of you work together to try and solve the perilous puzzles that stand in your path? Or will you forsake each other to try and keep the treasure for yourselves? There’s only one way to find out
Hermes - ????
Previously Mentioned
Tangiers
Innerspace
Six Sides of the World
Crest
The indie proliferation on PS4 is giving me dilemmas all over the shop. I have a great PC but I'm playing Rocket League on PS4 cause it's free with PS Plus, despite the worse frame rate. And I preordered Galak Z, N++ and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture even though they all will be on PC in months with better frame rate (confirmed in Galak Z's case) because I just can't wait. Not complaining, more games is always a happy problem to have.
Any impressions for At the Mountains of Madness? It's indie game stand's $1 deal
Any impressions for At the Mountains of Madness? It's indie game stand's $1 deal
More_Badass
Member
Not sure if it's worth getting, did some research and the game's currently on Kickstarter and definitely not going to get funded.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/teamclockworks/at-the-mountains-of-madness-game
Plus the fact that this seemingly very ambitious game (Procedural dungeons! Multiplayer! Unreal Engine 4!) has a tiny goal of 5,000...
shiroikaze
Neo Member
Astral Breakers - Wii U (launching August 6th) / PC (TBA, Currently on Greenlight)
http://www.intropygames.com/astral-breakers
A new Zodiac-themed action puzzle game with both competitive and cooperative modes. Wii U version will be appearing at both Casual Connect and Tokyo Game Show this year.
Development has been rough. An update from a month ago makes it sounds like it may not be lost after all: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1841885340/tangiers-surrealist-stealth/posts/1273644
edit: An developer in the project comments thread says they'll have a new update in the next few days.
Voting July!
RULES THIS MONTH IN SHORT: Up to 10 games, at least 4.
Why?
Because we want to offer people who first step into the thread an easy go-to list for great games. Plus it gives more attention to the titles that really deserve it.
How?
Everyone votes on his top 10 games out of the ones that already have been released AND are mentioned in the OP (So everything in Post 2). I'll tally the results and put the best 5 in the next thread. A minimum voting count of 4 is required. Feel free to vote for games that you deem "important" or the ones that you enjoyed the most. Since this is a rather communicative thread, feel free to include a short description why these games ended up on your list. Every list entry gets 1 point for the overall ranking.
When?
This thread is still open until the end of the month, so you can drop your list in here whenever you want. You can also change your list up to the last day. I wont start the count before the last day of the month, so everyone has still time to revise their lists and play some games. Speaking of which, if you dont even KNOW 7 games to vote for, there are plenty free games in the OP to check out. Most of which are rather short too. Use the remaining week to catch up with 1 or 2 titles you didnt get around to yet!
Which?
Since the list got rather long, here is the complete list of games to vote for for this month.
RULES THIS MONTH IN SHORT: Up to 10 games, at least 4.
Why?
Because we want to offer people who first step into the thread an easy go-to list for great games. Plus it gives more attention to the titles that really deserve it.
How?
Everyone votes on his top 10 games out of the ones that already have been released AND are mentioned in the OP (So everything in Post 2). I'll tally the results and put the best 5 in the next thread. A minimum voting count of 4 is required. Feel free to vote for games that you deem "important" or the ones that you enjoyed the most. Since this is a rather communicative thread, feel free to include a short description why these games ended up on your list. Every list entry gets 1 point for the overall ranking.
When?
This thread is still open until the end of the month, so you can drop your list in here whenever you want. You can also change your list up to the last day. I wont start the count before the last day of the month, so everyone has still time to revise their lists and play some games. Speaking of which, if you dont even KNOW 7 games to vote for, there are plenty free games in the OP to check out. Most of which are rather short too. Use the remaining week to catch up with 1 or 2 titles you didnt get around to yet!
Which?
Since the list got rather long, here is the complete list of games to vote for for this month.
Okay, it took me 6 hours or so to get warm with Software Inc. and its not really an "easily recommendable" game. I will write some more tomorrow, but I finally managed to dig through some of the games issue and reached the worthwhile game underneath.
Recommended, but you might want to wait for my full write up to see if you should bite as well.
Recommended, but you might want to wait for my full write up to see if you should bite as well.
More_Badass
Member
Very good read, although I cant really blame him for wanting to stick to a meaningful vision, its still a bit questionable, that he realized it already back then that it wouldnt be working and instead of reiterating his points in a new project and still finishing the old one, he simply threw away the concept altogether.
Wok
Member
He threw away the concept but everything is still open-source:
https://github.com/ncase/nothing-to-hide/
True, good on him for keeping all that open source, it was also pretty neat that he made projects explaining the background/working of the game. Guess you couldnt have handled the situation much better in his position, although he still hasnt proven he would actually finish any bigger project.
Software Inc Impressions:
Lets get the bottom line out of the way first, so you know how my impressions are generally meant to be read: Its a very promising Early Access game, with some rather annoying design/accessibility issues. Going by the stream of updates, planned content and feedback from the dev, I recommend jumping in if you arent allergic to Early Access games.
Gameplay:
There is quite a bit more depth to it than I imagined, partly due to the core mechanic (comparable to Game Dev Story) and mostly due to the plethora of other features that this simulation game entails. It is not only a game about levelling up your characters and pushing out software (Game Dev Story), but also focusses on aspects like stock market, software that is dependent on each other, an economy affected by the companies and software output, managing employer needs, managing time schedules, planning team structures for different parts of a project and so on and so forth. I am going to describe the basic gameplay formula now, but just so you know that there is quite a bit more to it once you start dipping more into it.
The basic gameplay idea consists around individual "workers" that have a subset of skills & needs, who are in charge of creating software, which you in turn sell to make profit. Easy (not 100% correct) example: You start with one guy, say he is good in system programming, but shitty at art, so you start with contract work on a few projects that dont require art skills, all the while making sure that the office isnt drowning in dirt and that he has his needs fulfilled (food, toilet, light), since otherwise his productivity will decrease.
That is only the easiest early game start though that doesnt even consider most of the aspects that make this game as appealing as it is. More intricate projects will need a bigger variety of skills, as you likely wont make a good audio program without someone specialized in Audio programming/coding. Another aspect the game is VERY good at, is mimicking an increasing need for structures with an increasing company size, which is at the same time highly satisfying for the player, as you start seeing more challenges and options as time goes along instead of needing to learn everything from day 1. For example, in the first few months of the game, you will likely only have one employer (yourself), which means you dont even need to care much about salaries, compatibility with other workers, vacation, parking spots, noise in the work environment, etcetc.
Issues:
I have a few issues with how the game is presenting itself though. The tutorial boxes and ingame help is very half baked and the game utterly fails at informing the player about certain game aspects and their importance or impact. Want to know how much a worker will approximately improve in a 3 month long educational seminar? Tough luck. The game didnt tell you that putting points into the leader skills for your own character is completely pointless? Well bad on your for wanting to be the "leader" of your projects right away! Trying to negotiate a bit with your employees on salaries only to notice that it will decrease their productivity by 50% for AGES? Bad you.
I am also missing a lot of contextual info, some information is presented in ever increasingly long boxes, which are very hard to read and compare because they require to scroll vertically and horizontally (instead of having a UI element that would allow viewing all info at once). Considering how much info the game has, there are also not enough info windows accessible and even less that contain the info exactly in the right way you'd need it. This game basically needs a Europa Universalis style ledger to sort for every info imaginable. The game has a very basic list based UI (think excel sheets), instead of more complex UI elements with charts/graphical elements and extensive hover infos.
Also, despite allowing the player to manage very miniscule aspects (which I very much appreciate), like how items are placed (which can have a huge impact) or which rooms are reserved for which team (for example, I have an extra room set aside for my marketing team), the game still currently doesnt go far enough. I can set rooms to certain teams, but I cant restrict a room to a single employee or a single part of a specific team. This becomes annoying when you have an employee who basically cant work with anyone else around her making noise for example. Also, while those aspects are pretty neat in itself, the player feedback is very much lacking. A worker will tell you that she hates the noise, but what is making the noise? A worker is unhappy about the lacking decoration in the office, but after putting down tons of plants and images, the worker still is unhappy and the game doesnt tell you why (for a very arbitrary reason, the worker seems to need a few months until she starts appreciating the decoration). Or what do you need water for? You can check the rooms for water ability, but nobody actually seems to need water.
All that makes the game very difficult to outright "enjoy", since you are required to learn what the game doesnt do yet. My first 2-3 hour session was for example completely shafted by me assuming two things (which I dont consider all too unreasonable): My main character should be the leader and I should be doing some contract work before educating myself. Wrong, ignore leadership and educate your main character in all things first (which is a bit of a design flaw and feels like abusing a gameplay mechanic btw), since otherwise you'll not be able to finish projects quickly enough to expand your company anytime soon.
What I am also missing a bit, is the differentiation between software that is similar on the outside. If I create Audio Maker 1, with outstanding quality, creating Audio Maker 2 could have the exact same features and still would sell great despite not differentiating. Shouldnt having the exact same features somewhat affect sales since the software is too similar? This might lead to less software developed though, which goes a bit against the nature of the game. Maybe having more smaller sets of features could solve this.
Another minor quibble, the newspaper articles needs more flavour text to make every release actually feel important, and it needs more buildable content. More office machines, decoration etc.
Current Content:
What I played so far was very enjoyable in itself. You have SIMS style house building, SIMS style needs for your workers (compatibility with other workers, light, toilet, food, space, decoration, salaries.. [note to myself, preferred working times would be cool as a need]), projects that need different sets of skills (Audio, Networking, System, 2D, 3D graphics, programming, designing..), jobs that are completely unrelated to programming and which will add more gameplay options or help you streamlining tedious tasks (receptionists, marketers, leaders, maintenance/cleaning/IT guys..), can divide employees into teams, complete with their own working environments, sub tasks and shift times, need to be aware of other companies' developments (challenging a very good and popular software might be a lot less profitable than challenging a low quality market leader of a different product category), all the while keeping dependencies in mind. Actually, since I love that aspect, lets quickly talk about dependencies and how that effects the economy:
Any program you are creating, you create for a certain (or multiple) OS. The features of the OS dictate which features your programs can use (if the OS doesnt have audio features, you obviously cant use them in your program either). That could lead to you deciding on an outdated OS, which still most of the population is using, despite that leading to you making objectively inferior products. That is a highly interesting dynamic, since the software output does also affect the popularity of the OS, meaning in my current game an older OS version is still relevant because I kept pushing content for it, despite already having 2 newer versions out.
And that doesnt even cover a lot of the features that I havent even touched yet, like parking spots, stock market, buying/selling IPs, leadership skills and whatnot.
Updates & Future Content:
The game seems to get a very good amount of regular content updates (every 2-4 weeks), which makes this a very promising project to support and play in Early Access. You can find the list of features to be included next or the ones having high/medium priority here: https://trello.com/b/9I286Mhu/software-inc and here is a changelog of the last big change 2 weeks ago:
Screenshots:
Again, recommended, but currently it does require quite a bit of digging to get to the enjoyable parts. If you dont mind that, this game will only get better and is already fun to play. In an early stage, this is the game I wanted Game Dev Story to be.
Lets get the bottom line out of the way first, so you know how my impressions are generally meant to be read: Its a very promising Early Access game, with some rather annoying design/accessibility issues. Going by the stream of updates, planned content and feedback from the dev, I recommend jumping in if you arent allergic to Early Access games.
Gameplay:
There is quite a bit more depth to it than I imagined, partly due to the core mechanic (comparable to Game Dev Story) and mostly due to the plethora of other features that this simulation game entails. It is not only a game about levelling up your characters and pushing out software (Game Dev Story), but also focusses on aspects like stock market, software that is dependent on each other, an economy affected by the companies and software output, managing employer needs, managing time schedules, planning team structures for different parts of a project and so on and so forth. I am going to describe the basic gameplay formula now, but just so you know that there is quite a bit more to it once you start dipping more into it.
The basic gameplay idea consists around individual "workers" that have a subset of skills & needs, who are in charge of creating software, which you in turn sell to make profit. Easy (not 100% correct) example: You start with one guy, say he is good in system programming, but shitty at art, so you start with contract work on a few projects that dont require art skills, all the while making sure that the office isnt drowning in dirt and that he has his needs fulfilled (food, toilet, light), since otherwise his productivity will decrease.
That is only the easiest early game start though that doesnt even consider most of the aspects that make this game as appealing as it is. More intricate projects will need a bigger variety of skills, as you likely wont make a good audio program without someone specialized in Audio programming/coding. Another aspect the game is VERY good at, is mimicking an increasing need for structures with an increasing company size, which is at the same time highly satisfying for the player, as you start seeing more challenges and options as time goes along instead of needing to learn everything from day 1. For example, in the first few months of the game, you will likely only have one employer (yourself), which means you dont even need to care much about salaries, compatibility with other workers, vacation, parking spots, noise in the work environment, etcetc.
Issues:
I have a few issues with how the game is presenting itself though. The tutorial boxes and ingame help is very half baked and the game utterly fails at informing the player about certain game aspects and their importance or impact. Want to know how much a worker will approximately improve in a 3 month long educational seminar? Tough luck. The game didnt tell you that putting points into the leader skills for your own character is completely pointless? Well bad on your for wanting to be the "leader" of your projects right away! Trying to negotiate a bit with your employees on salaries only to notice that it will decrease their productivity by 50% for AGES? Bad you.
I am also missing a lot of contextual info, some information is presented in ever increasingly long boxes, which are very hard to read and compare because they require to scroll vertically and horizontally (instead of having a UI element that would allow viewing all info at once). Considering how much info the game has, there are also not enough info windows accessible and even less that contain the info exactly in the right way you'd need it. This game basically needs a Europa Universalis style ledger to sort for every info imaginable. The game has a very basic list based UI (think excel sheets), instead of more complex UI elements with charts/graphical elements and extensive hover infos.
Also, despite allowing the player to manage very miniscule aspects (which I very much appreciate), like how items are placed (which can have a huge impact) or which rooms are reserved for which team (for example, I have an extra room set aside for my marketing team), the game still currently doesnt go far enough. I can set rooms to certain teams, but I cant restrict a room to a single employee or a single part of a specific team. This becomes annoying when you have an employee who basically cant work with anyone else around her making noise for example. Also, while those aspects are pretty neat in itself, the player feedback is very much lacking. A worker will tell you that she hates the noise, but what is making the noise? A worker is unhappy about the lacking decoration in the office, but after putting down tons of plants and images, the worker still is unhappy and the game doesnt tell you why (for a very arbitrary reason, the worker seems to need a few months until she starts appreciating the decoration). Or what do you need water for? You can check the rooms for water ability, but nobody actually seems to need water.
All that makes the game very difficult to outright "enjoy", since you are required to learn what the game doesnt do yet. My first 2-3 hour session was for example completely shafted by me assuming two things (which I dont consider all too unreasonable): My main character should be the leader and I should be doing some contract work before educating myself. Wrong, ignore leadership and educate your main character in all things first (which is a bit of a design flaw and feels like abusing a gameplay mechanic btw), since otherwise you'll not be able to finish projects quickly enough to expand your company anytime soon.
What I am also missing a bit, is the differentiation between software that is similar on the outside. If I create Audio Maker 1, with outstanding quality, creating Audio Maker 2 could have the exact same features and still would sell great despite not differentiating. Shouldnt having the exact same features somewhat affect sales since the software is too similar? This might lead to less software developed though, which goes a bit against the nature of the game. Maybe having more smaller sets of features could solve this.
Another minor quibble, the newspaper articles needs more flavour text to make every release actually feel important, and it needs more buildable content. More office machines, decoration etc.
Current Content:
What I played so far was very enjoyable in itself. You have SIMS style house building, SIMS style needs for your workers (compatibility with other workers, light, toilet, food, space, decoration, salaries.. [note to myself, preferred working times would be cool as a need]), projects that need different sets of skills (Audio, Networking, System, 2D, 3D graphics, programming, designing..), jobs that are completely unrelated to programming and which will add more gameplay options or help you streamlining tedious tasks (receptionists, marketers, leaders, maintenance/cleaning/IT guys..), can divide employees into teams, complete with their own working environments, sub tasks and shift times, need to be aware of other companies' developments (challenging a very good and popular software might be a lot less profitable than challenging a low quality market leader of a different product category), all the while keeping dependencies in mind. Actually, since I love that aspect, lets quickly talk about dependencies and how that effects the economy:
Any program you are creating, you create for a certain (or multiple) OS. The features of the OS dictate which features your programs can use (if the OS doesnt have audio features, you obviously cant use them in your program either). That could lead to you deciding on an outdated OS, which still most of the population is using, despite that leading to you making objectively inferior products. That is a highly interesting dynamic, since the software output does also affect the popularity of the OS, meaning in my current game an older OS version is still relevant because I kept pushing content for it, despite already having 2 newer versions out.
And that doesnt even cover a lot of the features that I havent even touched yet, like parking spots, stock market, buying/selling IPs, leadership skills and whatnot.
Updates & Future Content:
The game seems to get a very good amount of regular content updates (every 2-4 weeks), which makes this a very promising project to support and play in Early Access. You can find the list of features to be included next or the ones having high/medium priority here: https://trello.com/b/9I286Mhu/software-inc and here is a changelog of the last big change 2 weeks ago:
- PARTIALLY implemented company deals (Still WIP)
- Added reception desk, receptionists and guests
- Completely overhauled stock system! Each company now has X stocks worth Y, the first stock is always owned by the company and worth whatever was in the bank account at launch (Still WIP)
- OS popularity now depends on the software released for it, increasingly as time goes on
- Fixed actor timer not going down fast enough on 3x speed causing a lot of complaints
- Completely overhauled how often simulated companies are created and how often they release new software, meaning ALL MODS WILL BREAK (Example here: http://coredumping.com/random/Games.xml )
- Employees can now cut across diagonally when inside rooms
- Added connect servers option in right click menu to connect all selected servers
- Secondary blue highlighting, currently to highlight connected servers and assigned furniture/rooms
- Autodev quality should depend on average applicable skill for work instead of leader skill
- Added electricity, water and maintenance data overlay
- Data overlay now affects employees skin in satisfaction/effectiveness mode
- Made outstanding quality possible
- Bugs now give bad rep continually
- Added reputation barchart toggle in product detail window
- Innovation now controls sales falloff over time, instead of just being a direct multiplier
- Reputation stars will be red if decreasing
- AI companies should plan releases ahead of time instead of just releasing them, this will enable a lot of cool stuff in the future, like planning ahead for the player
- Sales are now multiplied by actual quality so bad releases don't get sales simply because there is no competition
- Contract deadline is now visible in beta phase
- Flatscreen TV now unlocks in 1995
- Added ability to change color for lamps and holo computer
- Double click column resize button to make fit contents
- SCM server requirements have been reduced to counter balance changes in devtime during alpha 4
- Removed turning animation and fixed pathing speed problem for speeds above 1x
- Leaders shouldn’t handle themselves in HR, that is the player’s job
- Remove screen tint when in color mode and or changing graphic settings
- Ignore staff in data overlay mode
- Added cool color filter to data overlay mode
- Time should keep skipping after wage negotiation
- Border in wire mode
- Fixed employees wlking through skyscrapers
- Add warning if company name hasn’t been changed when starting a new game
- ESC to exit new game screen
- Fixed light shining through floor in some cases with more shadows enabled
Screenshots:
Again, recommended, but currently it does require quite a bit of digging to get to the enjoyable parts. If you dont mind that, this game will only get better and is already fun to play. In an early stage, this is the game I wanted Game Dev Story to be.
Also, I just noticed that it has a demo:
http://softwareinc.coredumping.com/demo/
But to reiterate how important it is to dig through the game: After 2 hours I was unsure if I'd put it as "decent" or "recommended", and it took me 6 hours to make up my mind that it was actually belonging into the highly recommended category.
http://softwareinc.coredumping.com/demo/
But to reiterate how important it is to dig through the game: After 2 hours I was unsure if I'd put it as "decent" or "recommended", and it took me 6 hours to make up my mind that it was actually belonging into the highly recommended category.
Wok
Member
To give some insights about Cradle, I would give the same review as another GAFfer did in the Steam thread:
More_Badass
Member
Oh, wow, July 28th snuck up on me. Eagerly awaiting The Swindle tomorrow...but Volume is coming next month
As a stealth fan, I'm torn. Ugh...
And RymdResa next month too. Uggh...
---
1) Her Story | Infinifactory
2) Subnautica
3) The Masterplan
4) Ronin
5) You Must Build A Boat
6) Dolly
7) Game Over
Impressions coming later
As a stealth fan, I'm torn. Ugh...
And RymdResa next month too. Uggh...
---
1) Her Story | Infinifactory
2) Subnautica
3) The Masterplan
4) Ronin
5) You Must Build A Boat
6) Dolly
7) Game Over
Impressions coming later
Why not both?!
One Foul Note
Member
Wait, the Swindle is tomorrow? Pure class, I know what I'm doing tomorrow evening.
Towerfall & Sportsfriends are probably the biggest candidates here, and if you want 2P: Fifa/PES, Resogun, Crimsonland & Nidhogg.
Towerfall on PS4 is great and comes with the expansion (I think?)
More_Badass
Member
Yup, releasing July 28th. Will be $14.99, with a 15% launch discount
More_Badass
Member
Will definitely be checking out the demo, but I'm saving for other stuff at the moment
It sounds up my alley though, thanks for the impressions
Definitely going to pick up the demo. It sounds a little more serious that I thought it might be though - was expecting something between Game dev story and Theme Hospital!
Let us know what you'll say about the demo, I havent checked it out myself so I dont know what they limited there.