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Xbox LIVE Indie Games - The February 2011 Thread

W

wwm0nkey

Member
Kafel said:
I think it's an unofficial mess made from the past videos posted by the FortressCraft guy (not his channel for this one).

*

I've just found out that Shield The Beat grabbed a track from Franz Ferdinand for their rhythm game. Not bad.
Click to expand...
Well I mean it was obviously made by the F@G guys, I wouldn't expect this to be the official trailer by any means.

EDIT: Oh also March 4th is the release date.
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Avalis Dungeon is...man I don't even know anymore.

It feels like the main character is going through this dungeon and possibly saving the world just so she can ogle at some sexy creatures. Why not just buy a mirror?

It's too weird anyway. I'm going to assume the main character kills all of these creatures so why do I gotta see screens of their clothes being ripped and them giving me this look that ranges from "Oh God I don't want to die!!!" to "Oh God yes!!!!"? It's like when I play Diablo 1 the entire reason I go to Hell and fight legions of Succubi is because I'm horny as fuck and hope to bag a few. Of course when a Succubus in Diablo 1 gets killed her innards spill out like the kool-aid man getting thrown against a brick wall which cuts short a potential visit to boner country.

Plus the "game" isn't even an RPG. It's more of an interactive comic.

The developer's name is Team Shuriken. I don't think they're Japanese developers yet by proxy they're giving Japan a bad name and Japan already has the worst name(since most likely Avalis was inspired by some drek H-game series like Dragon Knight).

If I thought this game deserved any sort of press I'd contact Fox news because playing this game has a better chance of turning somebody into a rapist than Doom or whateverthefuck other "game" Fox was talking about earlier.

wwm0nkey said:
He is getting death threats, wow some people can go fuck themselvs.
Click to expand...

I think the community is part of the reason why I haven't gotten into Minecraft. Maybe for kicks I'll absolutely adore Fortresscraft so I can spite them.
 
W

wwm0nkey

Member
PepsimanVsJoe said:
I think the community is part of the reason why I haven't gotten into Minecraft. Maybe for kicks I'll absolutely adore Fortresscraft so I can spite them.
Click to expand...
Notch needs to man up and address this, if someone is getting death threats over this that is just sickening.

I always thought the community for Minecraft was pretty cool but this is just making me want to slap so many people in the face.
 
B

bangai-o

Banned
spam attack, spam attack, spam attack.... dammit whats this!

2jg2nm9.jpg
 
K

Kafel

Banned
I've just grabbed a code for ZenHak, a game from 2009. Did anyone try it ?

I'm scared, the reviews are abysmal. In fact the only good one I've found comes from the developer himself.

I've looked at screens and it looks surprisingly good, one even reminds me the best game ever (Fallout 2, for those having memory loss issues) :

screen4.jpg


Well, I guess I'll see what went wrong (maybe today).

:teasing:
 
F

Feep

Banned
Hitmonchan107 said:
I really enjoyed Defy Gravity. And I know this is a week late, but seeing as I just got initiated into GAF, this is the first time I could post this.

Xbox Live Indie Game of the Week: 'Defy Gravity' (with developer Q and A)

Forgive the shameless self-promotion. :^)
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Whoa, whoa. You're a Gator?

So'm I. = D Well, alumni, anyway. 2009 graduate.

In fact, I even wrote a guest gaming article for the Alligator, back in '07, or something. I'll let you know when my game comes out; maybe you can cover it. *elbow nudge*

Gator Nation!

Edit: Here it is = D
 
Hitmonchan107

Hitmonchan107

Member
Feep said:
Whoa, whoa. You're a Gator?

So'm I. = D Well, alumni, anyway. 2009 graduate.

In fact, I even wrote a guest gaming article for the Alligator, back in '07, or something. I'll let you know when my game comes out; maybe you can cover it. *elbow nudge*

Gator Nation!

Edit: Here it is = D
Click to expand...

The Gator Nation is everywhere! hahaha!

Or I could even do a preview of the game. *nudge*
 
F

Feep

Banned
Hitmonchan107 said:
The Gator Nation is everywhere! hahaha!

Or I could even do a preview of the game. *nudge*
Click to expand...
Well, assuming the Alligator isn't going to run two articles on my game, I think it's better to wait...if the game isn't out, people will forget it exists in a few weeks, but if it's available, they can just go home and turn on their 360's = D
 
N

N4Us

Member
Been playing Battle High on my off-MvC3 breaks and it's pretty fun. The system reminds me of Svc Chaos' a bit.
 
K

Kafel

Banned
The Indie Service is a mess right now. The lists are not updated and approved games are not showing up.

I know MS is shaking a little the marketplace now (even gives points for free because of errors encountered) but I hope everything will be solved soon.
 
O

OldmanAndroid

Member
Kafel said:
The Indie Service is a mess right now. The lists are not updated and approved games are not showing up.

I know MS is shaking a little the marketplace now (even gives points for free because of errors encountered) but I hope everything will be solved soon.
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so glad we didnt get our xna3.1 game done in time, feel like we dodged a bullet by not releasing on Feb9.
 
M

MightyHedgehog

Member
For 80 points, Wizard's Keep is definitely one of the better deals on Indie Games now. Simple art with heavy lines, like Miner Dig Deep, and very clean IQ. Laid back music until combat tunes kick in and fade away. Nice control and fun hack 'n slash/level 'n sell ARPG gameplay. Just defeated the Goblin Master and quit for the day. Seems to be a fairly small hubworld with loads of caves and key locations gated behind locks needing keys of varying metals, so lots of getting keys to progress. Not as immediately addicting as MDD, but still nicely slots in with a compulsive leveling aspect. A nice bonus is that they didn't bother trying to shove a hackneyed story in your face...very simple stuff that lets you just play. Very smooth and pleasing in motion, IMO.
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Wizard's Keep is totally worth getting.

It's like Miner's Dig Deep except I get to do fun stuff like kill things and find phat random loot instead of uh...dig.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
PepsimanVsJoe said:
Wizard's Keep is totally worth getting.

It's like Miner's Dig Deep except I get to do fun stuff like kill things and find phat random loot instead of uh...dig.
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Yup, agree.

The combat system took me a little while to get used to, with the lock on/blocking to toggle. But it plays out a bit like jousting, alternating blocking and attack blows. But it works, and it's quite good and has some depth to it. One detail that is pretty smart is how the power attacks refill as you kill enemies, rather than refilling over time. It means you can't sit back and let it refill to do one power attack after another. But if you time it right, you can do a power attack to finish off a group of dudes, and then you're refilled and can chain them together. Adding in stuff like knocking enemies into traps or into walls for stun, alternating blocking (and getting block) and there's a lot more to it than just mashing through. Mashing results in an ass-kicking.

There's a big difference in the weapon categories. The dagger is your typical rapid stab, but the spear has both longer range and can hit multiple enemies lined up at once and has a lunge effect. The club stuns enemies but does less damage, the axe slow but wide and sweeping for crowd control. So it's not a cosmetic effect but a pretty big impact on how combat plays out.

I like the leveling system for its simple flexibility. You boost some health, choose a base stat to increase and every few levels you can put a point into improving a special move (spin, power, healing, etc.), and you heal upon leveling. And the impact leveling up has can be felt immediately, as I can start plowing through dudes that were stomping me before. Same with buying a new weapon: the reward of tearing through those dudes that were beating me up before feels good.

Dungeons refill with enemies after you exit them, but the XP system is smartly tied to relative levels so you can't grind too high by revisiting. So enemies two levels above me that were giving out 700 XP per kill are giving out a quarter that when I'm at their level. It's a nice way to reward leveling up, you can plow through dudes but they don't let you grind as fast, so you have to move forward to level quickly.

I just finished the first main quest dungeon and started the second. The first dungeon was surprisingly generous in size - it took quite a while to go through. But the best detail might be the optional dungeons that open with the bronze keys. Apparently, there are going to be more of them than there are keys (the game warns you to pick wisely when using them). The first one I did was filled with enemies WAY over my level, so it was a challenge. And at the end was some badass enchanted armor. So there's going to be some replay value, going back through all the optional dungeons I missed the first time through as well as picking a different character/weapon set.

It's as good in its own way as Miner Dig Deep was. It's polished, large, deep and fun. And it's a dollar. Buy this, people.
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Intruder_qc said:
Here is a game play trailer for the upcoming ARPG Shadowdawn Genesis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCxlsbRHC0I

Looking forward to see more of it and be able to play test this.
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That does look good. Although I'm a sucker for
-loot
-swords
-numbers that pop up when you hit things
-tight outfits
-back-dashing
-etc.

If it does all this and lasts at least 5 hours it should be really sweet.

Up to the third main dungeon in Wizard's Keep. I'm a bit overleveled at this point but whatever(I ran through a couple of those optional areas Ghaleon mentioned). It's nice to have actual dungeons instead of the randomized stuff these games usually run with.
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
Escape is single room get-to-the-door platformer out for 80msp. It seems alright, but feels strange that it's aesthetically identical to Experiment 12/13. Which are, as far as I can tell, by a different developer. Though it's not exactly a unique style and there's probably dozens of flash games that look like it, and the gameplay is somewhat different (no wall jumping in this). There's not much of a hook to the game though. There's some gravity switching, crumbling/invisible switching blocks, lasers, all pretty standard to this kind of platformer. Controls seem alright except...

No d-pad support though and analog control that doesn't play nice with my controllers dead zone. Leads to the game killing me over and over because it thinks I press left randomly. Why the hell do so many developers that make 2D platformers not support dpad? Some of us actually have controllers with non-shit pads on them! (And why do so many not bother to do their analog controls in a way that doesn't cause shit to freak out.)
 
F

Feep

Banned
Dark Octave said:
So what kind of game is this Feep?

If I had to guess, I'd say some kind of Clue, murder mystery, Ace Attorney, who done it.
Click to expand...
That is...fairly inaccurate. = D

It's actually a rhythm/RPG combination, probably most resembling Puzzle Quest in structure, though with a much stronger emphasis on plot. You can check out my NEW SHINY AWESOME WEBSITE HERE (though I need to move the domain name), which includes screenshots and trailers and art and stuff.
 
D

Dark Octave

Banned
Feep said:
That is...fairly inaccurate. = D

It's actually a rhythm/RPG combination, probably most resembling Puzzle Quest in structure, though with a much stronger emphasis on plot. You can check out my NEW SHINY AWESOME WEBSITE HERE (though I need to move the domain name), which includes screenshots and trailers and art and stuff.
Click to expand...
So I assume you're Jason. Iridium, I was looking into that name for my own company a while back. Good choice.

Sequence looks really interesting. 12 hours of gameplay, full voice acting and 26 music tracks? Can you really fit all that on the small amount of space they give us for XBLIG?
 
F

Feep

Banned
Dark Octave said:
So I assume you're Jason. Iridium, I was looking into that name for my own company a while back. Good choice.

Sequence looks really interesting. 12 hours of gameplay, full voice acting and 26 music tracks? Can you really fit all that on the small amount of space they give us for XBLIG?
Click to expand...
Yep!

It's not easy. I have to compress all audio to around 96kbps (though this is not entirely accurate, as I'm using LAME's VBR settings). The voice ends up taking 54.9 MB, the music around 67 MB, code is around 2.6 MB, and the rest is for the art (some of the larger images were VERY slightly compressed via JPEG). I may have to mess with things at final compile-time, but right now it's adding up to somewhere around 145 - 150 MB.

But yeah, I'm really excited. Not too much longer now...
 
D

Dark Octave

Banned
Feep said:
Yep!

It's not easy. I have to compress all audio to around 96kbps (though this is not entirely accurate, as I'm using LAME's VBR settings). The voice ends up taking 54.9 MB, the music around 67 MB, code is around 2.6 MB, and the rest is for the art (some of the larger images were VERY slightly compressed via JPEG). I may have to mess with things at final compile-time, but right now it's adding up to somewhere around 145 - 150 MB.

But yeah, I'm really excited. Not too much longer now...
Click to expand...
Cool, really looking forward to it. Well, good luck to you.

When I pick your game up I think I'll drop my policy on sealed copies, just this once. ;)
 
S

SmallCaveGames

Neo Member
Wizard's Keep is very nice. Amazing value - wish more happened in the first 8 minutes though so it would hook you better.

Chalked was so odd - best title screen ever and then it just felt unfinished from there.

Pimping some screens from my game 'cause I am finally feeling happy with the overall look of the world - hope nobody minds.

PortGreatneckSSsmall.jpg


CliffsofAshrockSSsmall.jpg
8
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
Heh, "NLL 11 for Xbox 360 coming this Spring" is being mentioned as one of the sponsors of the NLL All Star Game on Versus today. The only Xbox Indie game to ever have national US TV advertising?
 
S

SmallCaveGames

Neo Member
Yes, an action/RPG though so it uses real time combat with RPG elements and exploration.

Oh man, as much I would love to add in co-op, it's just a huge undertaking and would cause a lot of design hurdles. We've already bitten off a huge chunk of pie getting a legit 3D engine rolling here. :)

The current long term plan is that the 3rd game in the series will be a 2D metrovania co-op (per the poll on my blog). At that point we'd have enough assets under our belt where co-op would be the main challenge and we can focus on it.
 
K

Kafel

Banned
Gowans007 said:
I need to brush up on C# this year so I might register and play around. Whats the deal with the 12 month trial?
Click to expand...

You can run your code on your console but can't playtest/review other games and submit yours.

DBP times are always exciting times. We often see unknown good games pop up from nowhere.
 
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