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[InfectedZero]

Well Pharoah just contacted me with screens for the second game in the Arkedo series which is called SWAP! and its looking MIGHTY FINE. He says its in the peer submission and will be up once its been viewed by the Indie devs. He is also dubbing it "Our first Dual Stick Action Puzzle!" Take a gander!

 

[SAB CA]

If that's as Tetris Attack / Poker Smash-like as it appears to be, with Arkedo-brand polish... Then I think I'm already a fan! -CHEER!-

 

[Mandoric]

Wow, Kaiten Patissier and its level pack are a lot of fun for a buck each. It kind of reminds me of a SNES game, but I can't remember the title.

Also there's an ADV rated 3/3 for sex up for 240 points. I can't tell whether I should assume it's a huge cashin with a couple scenes of tits, or assume it's a huge cashin where the author got his ten buddies to rate it 3/3 so people would spend $3 on it looking for tits.

 

[Psychotext]

Well Pharoah just contacted me with screens for the second game in the Arkedo series which is called SWAP!

Sweet. Funnily enough I just bought the first one, which is an excellent little title.

 

[mujun]

If that's as Tetris Attack / Poker Smash-like as it appears to be, with Arkedo-brand polish... Then I think I'm already a fan! -CHEER!-

Yeah, the first thing I thought when I saw it was Poker Smash. Love Poker Smash, pretty much the only puzzle game I've ever gotten into along with Puzzle Bobble.

 

[Noogy]

Since it's nearly out, I guess it's safe to say that I've played Arkedo's next title, and it is indeed awesome.

 

[xbhaskarx]

If it's anywhere near as good as Jump! I'll definitely buy it.

 

[toythatkills]

All the 200 point games that haven't adjusted their prices to 80/240 already have now all been reduced to 80 points. Go grab 'em!

 

[xbhaskarx]

All the 200 point games that haven't adjusted their prices to 80/240 already have now all been reduced to 80 points. Go grab 'em!

What decent games just got reduced to 80 points? Any recommendations?

 

[toythatkills]

I got Skwug, World Revolution and Shopping Crazy, but I'm sure there are plenty

 

[Pharoah]

Thanks guys

Our new series is indeed in peer review right now. 92%, so yup, almost there.

Just to give you a feedback on 01 JUMP! for the moment, I thought you'd like to know how our first 2 weeks of sales went, to give you an idea :

- 15 days of sales
- 15,000 downloads
- 1,500 units sold

It is more than this actually, but these numbers are easier to remember. The good news is that it is ramping up lately (yup, you were right GAF, it does help to send mails to journalists, some of them cared indeed ^^), and for instance, our conversion rate has been steadily going up from 5% in the first days to approx 15% right now.

So what does it mean?

It means we still have some work to do, but it's looking good. It's a step in the right direction for studios like us (but also individual devs, and much bigger studios could also try some fresh concepts and testdrive them there). Also, completely changing which game we are working on, each month or so, is just... well, heaven. We will experiment more in the future, thanks to the very speedy process we have found there.

We need to expand this market, of course, and we are working on it, but there might be some kind of new ecosystem for indie devs. I believe it is interesting enough to keep on pushing. We know we are.

Now, I am talking to you, awesome indie studios. Yes you, 2D-Boy, Polytron, Golgoth, and the likes. If you have the time, try and lay an egg on XBL Indie. See what happens.

If this works out, it might be the next big thing for us all, and for the public who is into this kind of stuff: being surprised, for a few bucks.

 

[Linkified]

Thanks guys

Our new series is indeed in peer review right now. 92%, so yup, almost there.

Just to give you a feedback on 01 JUMP! for the moment, I though you'd like to know how our first 2 weeks of sales went, to give you an idea :

- 15 days of sales
- 15,000 downloads
- 1,500 units sold

It is more than this actually, but these numbers are easier to remember. The good news is that it is ramping up lately (yup, you were right GAF, it does help to send mails to journalists, some of them cared indeed ^^), and for instance, our conversion rate has been steadily going up from 5% in the first days to approx 15% right now.

So what does it mean?

It means we still have some work to do, but it's looking good. It's a step in the right direction for studios like us (but also individual devs, and much bigger studios could also try some fresh concepts and testdrive them there). Also, completely changing which game we are working on, each month or so, is just... well, heaven. We will experiment more in the future, thanks to the very speedy process we have found there.

We need to expand this market, of course, and we are working on it, but there might be some kind of new ecosystem for indie devs. I believe it is interesting enough to keep on pushing. We know we are.

Now, I am talking to you, awesome indie studios. Yes you, 2D-Boy, Polytron, Golgoth, and the likes. If you have the time, try and lay an egg on XBL Indie. See what happens.

If this works out, it might be the next big thing for us all, and for the public who is into this kind of stuff: being surprised, for a few bucks.

Thats great news , its always seemed microsoft has basically a console version of an app store like store. One quick thing I would like to ask Pharoh from the general creation of the game in XNA to the release of it - do you any engines like that of Torque X or have you created the engine from scratch.

 

[t3nmilez]

Swap is out! Really impressive game, the polish is fantastic and the gameplay is definitely solid. Definitely a must-have if you enjoyed Puzzle League/Tetris Attack in any fashion.

Alpha Secret Base also has a new title, HuntersLunch. Similar to Summer Vacation, but with vehicles! Seems to be more challenging than SV.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Damn...15% conversion is pretty fucking insane...especially given the low visibility of the Indie Games channel.

 

[Rlan]

(yup, you were right GAF, it does help to send mails to journalists, some of them cared indeed ^^)

Told you! You still need to do more pre-release marketing though - you need to ANNOUNCE your game, say a week before you believe it will come out - release screenshots, trailers and so forth, put them on Youtube, send them to Gametrailers and Gamevideos and send out a press release to every website out there - Destructoid, Joystiq, Kotaku, anyone that will listen.

Once the game is release you release a batch of secondary screenshots and send out a second press release saying the game is now out! You build hype, then release the game! More people are going to be wanting to see your game.

In fact, read this: Opinion: 5 Ways To Make Your Xbox Live Community Game Better

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23486

I probably should update it a bit and repost it.

Incidentily, where is Platypus? It's been in Multilanguage playtesting for weeks now:

http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/26091.aspx

Also is there any way to see games currently in play testing when you're not in the XNA Creator's Club? I'd love to do this pre-hyping for games that are having the same kind of troubles.

 

[Kafel]

Echoes+ gave me a headache. It's a good Geometry Wars-like though.

*

Crate Expectations is a nice surprise. Will buy it soon.

*

SWAP! is fine. But I've played so much Puzzle League that I got bored quite quickly with this one (before buying it in fact). I hope next Arkedo soft will be more "meaty".

 

[Anso]

Echoes+ gave me a headache. It's a good Geometry Wars-like though.

I personally think the gameplay is way too different to be called Geometry Wars-like, too bad he went with the same visual style though. I thought Echoes+ was quite the bundle of joy. Well-designed adrenaline pumping twin-stick shooting.

 

[toythatkills]

Run Away is another game that looks really stupid but is actually a lot of fun. You're being chased (automatically) from left to right by various stuff, and you have to press A to jump obstacles, B to roll under them, and A then B to jump and dive forward. It's ridiculously addictive, if you play the trial I'd say you're quite likely to crack and buy it, and at 80 points that's fine!

It has a combo-based score mechanic as far as I can tell, the more obstacles you jump in a row, the more points you get for each one. It's begging for some high-score play.

The style really grows on you, too. Reminds me slightly of Ed, Edd and Eddy.

It's also quite funny.

Give it a try.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Thanks guys

Our new series is indeed in peer review right now. 92%, so yup, almost there.

Just to give you a feedback on 01 JUMP! for the moment, I thought you'd like to know how our first 2 weeks of sales went, to give you an idea :

- 15 days of sales
- 15,000 downloads
- 1,500 units sold

Everyone who reads this thread should buy this game!

 

[besiktas1]

I just wish SWAP had a slow down time button like Poker smash, and I wish it didn't allow for verticle swapping, hell I wish it was a Panel De Pon clone with Arkedo polish.

 

[Kafel]

Run Away is another game that looks really stupid but is actually a lot of fun. You're being chased (automatically) from left to right by various stuff, and you have to press A to jump obstacles, B to roll under them, and A then B to jump and dive forward. It's ridiculously addictive, if you play the trial I'd say you're quite likely to crack and buy it, and at 80 points that's fine!

It has a combo-based score mechanic as far as I can tell, the more obstacles you jump in a row, the more points you get for each one. It's begging for some high-score play.

The style really grows on you, too. Reminds me slightly of Ed, Edd and Eddy.

It's also quite funny.

Give it a try.

What game are you talking about ? Can you give me a link ?

 

[toythatkills]

What game are you talking about ? Can you give me a link ?

Not tried to link to Marketplace content before so forgive me if this link is bollocksed.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550347/

 

[Noogy]

Run Away is another game that looks really stupid

That's twice on this page you've complimented a game that looked "stupid" in some way. It's fine if you aren't a fan of a game, but please come up with a more elegant way of saying so.

 

[Kafel]

Not tried to link to Marketplace content before so forgive me if this link is bollocksed.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550347/

Thx, I didn't know about this game. I wonder why it's not available on my marketplace too (France).

 

[Sysgen]

Amniotic is very good. If you like twin stick shooters buy it for 80 points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bap08y5dvZg

Nice graphics, music and has a nice mechanic, also has coop. Build a tail, the longer the tail gets the better the weaponry. Of course enemies eat away at the tail.

 

[InfectedZero]

Man o man was I surprised by SWAP! last night. This game is wonderful and really polished. =)

 

[toythatkills]

That's twice on this page you've complimented a game that looked "stupid" in some way. It's fine if you aren't a fan of a game, but please come up with a more elegant way of saying so.

I like both games, but if they look stupid, they look stupid. In the case of Run Away I really like the style but I can see that people would overlook it because it looks quite cheap and simplistic. Banana Split just sounds quite childish and it'll suck if it loses out for that reason though the jury's still out on whether it deserves success being so heavily based on Johnny Platform.

Like it or not, people judge these things on their box-arts a lot of the time, so putting that caveat in my posts seems fair enough to me. I'm not going to post with a thesaurus just for the sake of not saying "stupid" again.

Haven't said before, but congrats on Dust by the way. It looks excellent. Any updates with that'un?

 

[Rlan]

That's twice on this page you've complimented a game that looked "stupid" in some way. It's fine if you aren't a fan of a game, but please come up with a more elegant way of saying so.

Honestly, "stupid" is pretty apt. If someone didn't write about it here I would have completely avoided it entirely.

 

[LocoMrPollock]

Honestly, "stupid" is pretty apt. If someone didn't write about it here I would have completely avoided it entirely.

Same here. I'll probably end up checking it out now too.

That's twice on this page you've complimented a game that looked "stupid" in some way. It's fine if you aren't a fan of a game, but please come up with a more elegant way of saying so.

It's not like he just said "it looks stupid" and didn't follow it up with anything, he actually tried to sell people on it and accomplished that, at least for me and Rlan.

 

[AzBat]

Rlan, a totally agree with your marketing suggestions. I wished Arkedo hadn't ignored that opportunity. Not very bright with all that money just laying on the table.

Also is there any way to see games currently in play testing when you're not in the XNA Creator's Club? I'd love to do this pre-hyping for games that are having the same kind of troubles.

No. I have a trial CC membership & it still won't let you see games in playtesting or review. You have to pay for the full premium membership to get that privilege.

http://creators.xna.com/en-US/membership

 

[Noogy]

Like it or not, people judge these things on their box-arts a lot of the time, so putting that caveat in my posts seems fair enough to me. I'm not going to post with a thesaurus just for the sake of not saying "stupid" again.

That's fair. I guess the wording just rubbed me wrong that day. As others have said, the very fact these games were given some publicity is very much appreciated.

Haven't said before, but congrats on Dust by the way. It looks excellent. Any updates with that'un?

Thank you. I hope to be able to share something soon.

 

[AzBat]

Hate to be seen as busting Arkedo's balls here, but when I read this I thought of them & JUMP!...

http://www.edery.org/2009/10/almost-lucid/

I love BOTH Arkedo titles. It's just sad that the lack of marketing & lack of checkpoints are the biggest reasons why it's sales are tanking, just like David Edery believes the same happened to Lucidity. Hopefully a lesson was learned such that the rest of the Arkedo series will make it out.

 

[Scottlarock]

Lots of good games on Indie right now, I wish that they had some type of achievements, however small. I say give them 10-25 achievement points and let them decide how to break it up.

 

[RadarScope1]

Thanks guys

Our new series is indeed in peer review right now. 92%, so yup, almost there.

Just to give you a feedback on 01 JUMP! for the moment, I thought you'd like to know how our first 2 weeks of sales went, to give you an idea :

- 15 days of sales
- 15,000 downloads
- 1,500 units sold

It is more than this actually, but these numbers are easier to remember. The good news is that it is ramping up lately (yup, you were right GAF, it does help to send mails to journalists, some of them cared indeed ^^), and for instance, our conversion rate has been steadily going up from 5% in the first days to approx 15% right now.

So what does it mean?

It means we still have some work to do, but it's looking good. It's a step in the right direction for studios like us (but also individual devs, and much bigger studios could also try some fresh concepts and testdrive them there). Also, completely changing which game we are working on, each month or so, is just... well, heaven. We will experiment more in the future, thanks to the very speedy process we have found there.

We need to expand this market, of course, and we are working on it, but there might be some kind of new ecosystem for indie devs. I believe it is interesting enough to keep on pushing. We know we are.

Now, I am talking to you, awesome indie studios. Yes you, 2D-Boy, Polytron, Golgoth, and the likes. If you have the time, try and lay an egg on XBL Indie. See what happens.

If this works out, it might be the next big thing for us all, and for the public who is into this kind of stuff: being surprised, for a few bucks.

Bought Jump. Will check out Swap.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

Hate to be seen as busting Arkedo's balls here, but when I read this I thought of them & JUMP!...

http://www.edery.org/2009/10/almost-lucid/

I love BOTH Arkedo titles. It's just sad that the lack of marketing & lack of checkpoints are the biggest reasons why it's sales are tanking, just like David Edery believes the same happened to Lucidity. Hopefully a lesson was learned such that the rest of the Arkedo series will make it out.

I don't agree, Lucidity dosn't have already a retro look that appeal, people who played games since the 8 bits era, so they know/accept lack of checkpoints. Lucidity looks almost like a fairytale in form of a game, that's probably the fact it was so unforgiving caught most people unaware, since it's almost looks like a game for children.

And Arkedo says that the sales after promotion are being better and the game it's getting a lot of favorable reviews, actually it's the best rated Indy game on the channel., so people it's not punishing the game because of lack of checkpoints...

 

[Anso]

Lots of good games on Indie right now, I wish that they had some type of achievements, however small. I say give them 10-25 achievement points and let them decide how to break it up.

I'd like that. I enjoy playing my indie games without achievements but it might be a good push to get more players to actually buy a game they've demo'd. Also, some shout-outs to the best XBLIG games for 80msp in my opinion:

Atomhex (80msp) - Innovative twin-stick shooter with unlockable "fake-achievements" and great game design overall.
Philip Muwanga's Hexy Trench (80msp) - Great multiplayer RTS/tower-defense hybrid with online multiplayer that DEFINITELY deserves some more attention.
Slingstar (80msp) - Good variation in enemy AI, challenging AND a new twist on the top-down "shooter".
Echoes+ (80msp) - Twin-stick joy, up there as one of the most adrenaline pumping games I've played.
Miner Dig Deep (80msp) - You know, oh how you know.
Ninja Bros. (80msp) - Hardcore retro multi-tasking platformer that WILL make you scream.
NextWar: The Quest for Earth (80msp) - Not the deepest tower-defense game but clean UI and fun enough gameplay for the $1.

 

[pswii60]

JUMP is amazing. Everyone should buy this game. Only indie game I've bought but I need to check out SWAP now.

 

[Brakara]

Bought SWAP, as I'm a sucker for those kind of games.

 

[xbhaskarx]

JUMP is amazing. Everyone should buy this game. Only indie game I've bought but I need to check out SWAP now.

Swap is good, but there are better (and cheaper) Indie Games you should check out if you only own Jump.

 

[Anso]

Swap is good, but there are better (and cheaper) Indie Games you should check out if you only own Jump.

Basically this, it's turning into quite the goldmine.

(also, I will never stop reading your username as "xbawxshark")

 

[MightyHedgehog]

I say fuck real Achievements for Indie Games. I'd rather see the Indie titles worked on to a level of quality that earns them sales for what they are as quality games and not have the temptation to be shoved out as Gamerscore whore magnets for a quick buck. In-game, pseudo-Achievements are cool, though.

Swap is really good, if a bit blatantly derivative for a block action puzzler...the control scheme is the thing that makes it distinctive and elevates it above a pure clone, IMO. Good game.

 

[InfectedZero]

I like the way Ninja Bros did the achievement points. They kinda pretended they existed for indie games and had them ingame.

 

[Dr Zhivago]

Stuff I've played recently:

I tried Amniotic, and it gave me a headache. Nice that they cloned Mutant Storm rather than Geometry Wars though

I liked the art style in Run Away, but hated the game.

Carcophany. Nicely presented puzzle game, but not actually much fun.

Krisotron. Terrible Robotron clone.

Swap is teh win.

 

[toythatkills]

I tried Amniotic, and it gave me a headache. Nice that they cloned Mutant Storm rather than Geometry Wars though

That was a bit too busy for my liking, it was really difficult to see when enemies were on screen or blurred in the background. I liked the concept of the tail though, I think it would've been funner as a snake game with enemies rather than a twin-stick.

Excellent production values for an 80 point game though

 

[Anso]

That was a bit too busy for my liking, it was really difficult to see when enemies were on screen or blurred in the background. I liked the concept of the tail though, I think it would've been funner as a snake game with enemies rather than a twin-stick.

Excellent production values for an 80 point game though

I thought it was a case of the "learn to see it" much like Space Giraffe, bought it and it turns out it was. Good game, well worth 80msp if you're into twin-stick shooters but could use a tiny bit more content like a game mode or something.

 

[toythatkills]

New game from the people behind Green Island, Kaiten Patisier, Ura Kaiten Patisier, Summer Vacation and another game that's like Summer Vacation that I can't remember the name of.

GANBARE NATSUKI SAN (80 points)

Rated 3 for sex. Screenshots do not explain why

 

[RadarScope1]

Lots of good games on Indie right now, I wish that they had some type of achievements, however small. I say give them 10-25 achievement points and let them decide how to break it up.

There are of course no achievement points, but Avatar Golf does have its own achievements called "titles." There are 33 in the game for things like playing a certain amount of rounds, certain number of birdies and eagles, sink putts from a distance, etc.

 

[Anso]

There are of course no achievement points, but Avatar Golf does have its own achievements called "titles." There are 33 in the game for things like playing a certain amount of rounds, certain number of birdies and eagles, sink putts from a distance, etc.

Many, MANY games have this btw. Not just Avatar Golf.

 

[gafster1]

Lots of good games on Indie right now, I wish that they had some type of achievements, however small. I say give them 10-25 achievement points and let them decide how to break it up.

The points could be metered out relative to the game cost (to keep from devs making "buy achievement points" games).

Also, Indy Games needs access to some persistence; leaderboards, matchmaking for multiplayer etc.

 

[toythatkills]

The points could be metered out relative to the game cost (to keep from devs making "buy achievement points" games).

Or they could just introduce rules so people fail such games at peer review.