Has anyone tried Fibrillation, pretty good horror game and it's only €2 on Desura, but you might have it from previous indie bundles. If not for a cliche story and terrible voice acting, it could be on par with Amnesia - I was amazed with certain parts of it, and it only takes about 40 minutes to finish - it's really important for those kind of games to experience them in one sitting.
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"Indie Games [May] Now Voting - Post 573!"
- Thread starter Toma
- Start date
How can you not want the Dreamcast back
Oh and fibrillation looks amazing. Might check it out next month when I got to play and rate more from this month.
How can you not want the Dreamcast back
I've never had a Sega console. I was a kid back then, but I remember how happy I was, when they went multiplatform
There were moments I said WOW. Weird, how you can miss such a thing - it was included in, not one, but two bundles not a long time ago.
I've never had a Sega console. I was a kid back then, but I remember how happy I was, when they went multiplatform
There were moments I said WOW. Weird, how you can miss such a thing - it was included in, not one, but two bundles not a long time ago.
I missed ALL of the good bundles apparently.
Random aside: Terrashift Tactics looks nifty (cant find a good SS at the moment, but watch the video below):
http://patronoidgames.com/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=eweGiC3SCOc&feature=endscreen
Basically a strategy game allowing to terraforming attacks.
Son of Nor looks interesting too, although a bit janky:
Apparently an action platformer based around you using powers to alter the terrain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kaT8wVjp3s
Apparently an action platformer based around you using powers to alter the terrain.
Played it only once, but I don't think there's more to it.
Engaging story is very important in horror games, so are the production values, and you have to remember it was made by a one person.
"One person making it" is no excuse though if you compare the quality of a product. Amnesia was really, really special with quite a bit of content and polish. It would be hard to live up to the same standard overall, be it one or more Indie devs.
I like it for what it is, despite the fact that it was obvious from the beginning what is happening with the character - the deep philosophical element from the description written by the author is a big exaggeration. Of course it's not as polished and well designed as Amnesia, but somehow I had better experience with it, maybe because Amnesia is more gamey and I'm slowly getting tired of conventional mechanics. It's almost impossible to make a statement or tell something meaningful, when at the same time player is being absorbed by mind consuming actions, like puzzles or running away from monsters, so those thoughts are separated from the experience. Just a personal thing, so I understand someone might disagree.
Megalosaro
Banned
A friend and I are working on an RPG in RPGmaker together. It's called:
Dragon's Den II: The Terranic Empire
It's a sequel to a game he made a while back. He wasn't comfortable writing dialogue, so he ended up turning the first game into a dungeon crawler. It's our love letter to the Dragon Quest series. We came up with the story together, first making an outline. After that, I spent about half a year working on the script, which I have broken into three parts: Main story events, side quests and NPC banter. The main story script is 100% complete, the side quest script is 75% complete. I'm holding off writing the NPCs until we have the maps finished. We have divided the maps between the two of us and are currently 20% complete, which isn't bad because we didn't start mapping until recently. We plan on having about 14 towns, and about 20 or so dungeons.
We currently have all of our monsters "programmed" and ready to go. Items and magic are in the database as well.
Here are some screenshots, if anyone is interested.
Without placing a jinx on ourselves, we're hoping to finish by the end of the year
Dragon's Den II: The Terranic Empire
It's a sequel to a game he made a while back. He wasn't comfortable writing dialogue, so he ended up turning the first game into a dungeon crawler. It's our love letter to the Dragon Quest series. We came up with the story together, first making an outline. After that, I spent about half a year working on the script, which I have broken into three parts: Main story events, side quests and NPC banter. The main story script is 100% complete, the side quest script is 75% complete. I'm holding off writing the NPCs until we have the maps finished. We have divided the maps between the two of us and are currently 20% complete, which isn't bad because we didn't start mapping until recently. We plan on having about 14 towns, and about 20 or so dungeons.
We currently have all of our monsters "programmed" and ready to go. Items and magic are in the database as well.
Here are some screenshots, if anyone is interested.
Without placing a jinx on ourselves, we're hoping to finish by the end of the year
A friend and I are working on an RPG in RPGmaker together. It's called:
Dragon's Den II: The Terranic Empire
It's a sequel to a game he made a while back. He wasn't comfortable writing dialogue, so he ended up turning the first game into a dungeon crawler. It's our love letter to the Dragon Quest series. We came up with the story together, first making an outline. After that, I spent about half a year working on the script, which I have broken into three parts: Main story events, side quests and NPC banter. The main story script is 100% complete, the side quest script is 75% complete. I'm holding off writing the NPCs until we have the maps finished. We have divided the maps between the two of us and are currently 20% complete, which isn't bad because we didn't start mapping until recently. We plan on having about 14 towns, and about 20 or so dungeons.
We currently have all of our monsters "programmed" and ready to go. Items and magic are in the database as well.
Here are some screenshots, if anyone is interested.
Without placing a jinx on ourselves, we're hoping to finish by the end of the year
Looking good! Good luck with the last 6 months of development
Screenshot Saturday
#1
Kachina - You control a hole in the ground, hole that gets bigger with each object you stick in it from ants to mountains. Later on you get the ability to spit out those things, which introduce us to a more puzzle like part of the game. For example, you have two caves, with some creatures lurking inside, so you consume some carrots and throw them out near the caves. Those creatures happen to be two bunnies, so they hop out and fall in to the hole. After some time they reproduce and you become large enough to swallow a mountain. Add some Katamari cuteness and North American mythology into the mix and the result is Kachina.
Fragments of Him - I think it may be my favourite Ludum Dare game I tried this time. It's about how we deal with a loss of someone dear to us, how we deal with grief and despair by removing all the things from our lives that might remind us of that person. It's a great concept, that I hope, will be continued in the future. Not to expand it, because the content is right there, just to polish rough edges, which are unavoidable when it comes to such a project. Aesthetically superior Dear Esther feels shallow in comparison to the game made in two days.
? - Take that squad based RPG.
Folk Tale Ok, not a part of this week's ScreenshotSaturday, but the screen mooved me deeply.
Dim Sum Robot Dumpling delivery robot service simulator.
Deep Space Settlement Assembly of one of the ships. Hope you don't mind big gif.
#1
Kachina - You control a hole in the ground, hole that gets bigger with each object you stick in it from ants to mountains. Later on you get the ability to spit out those things, which introduce us to a more puzzle like part of the game. For example, you have two caves, with some creatures lurking inside, so you consume some carrots and throw them out near the caves. Those creatures happen to be two bunnies, so they hop out and fall in to the hole. After some time they reproduce and you become large enough to swallow a mountain. Add some Katamari cuteness and North American mythology into the mix and the result is Kachina.
Fragments of Him - I think it may be my favourite Ludum Dare game I tried this time. It's about how we deal with a loss of someone dear to us, how we deal with grief and despair by removing all the things from our lives that might remind us of that person. It's a great concept, that I hope, will be continued in the future. Not to expand it, because the content is right there, just to polish rough edges, which are unavoidable when it comes to such a project. Aesthetically superior Dear Esther feels shallow in comparison to the game made in two days.
? - Take that squad based RPG.
Folk Tale Ok, not a part of this week's ScreenshotSaturday, but the screen mooved me deeply.
Dim Sum Robot Dumpling delivery robot service simulator.
Deep Space Settlement Assembly of one of the ships. Hope you don't mind big gif.
petran79
Banned
Damage
http://sadisticbutchering.com/game/
hope they manage to finish it someday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT5TAoglTN8
http://sadisticbutchering.com/game/
hope they manage to finish it someday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT5TAoglTN8
I won't argue about superiority of Amnesia and SH2, because they're obviously among the best in history of videogames - although SH2 and its conservative approach, probably wouldn't be as great now as we experienced it when it came out. I just made that comparison to bring attention to the less known game. You're right about predictable story and the voice acting, but I think of it more as a individual elements of which this short game consists of, than a complete package done by a team of experienced designers and artists. Some of those ideas were really interesting like the cuts or the part when we are chased by
death (btw, the model could be less obvious) in the corridor near the end, without a way to escape - it's a good example of an environmental storytelling, no matter what we do some things are beyond our control
Family Fry
Member
If you are interested in game design check out this presentation done by Jeroen D. Stout about the illusion of high consequence interactions in relation to predetermined storytelling. He also talks about his new game Cheongsam, which jumped to the top of my list of most anticipated games.
You're fired.
One Foul Note
Member
Just to remind you guys, I am still holding the highscore in 2x0ng with 12 levels
Well, you're not gonna get topped by me, I couldn't even get my score close to 12.
You bastard, how dare you not laugh at my joke;P
Screenies - Part 2
Robo Danzor Tactics – Turn based multiplayer game where you dance-off your robo-opponents to death.
So Many Jagged Shards – ''Abstract pacifist roquelike about manipulating the walls of a level.''
Oculus Rift Implementations – in Robert Yang's (Radiator, Souvenir) first person projects.
Banished – City building sim takes a drastic genre turn and transforms into a horror game.
? - I don't know what this crab invasion really is, but Twitter seems to like it.
Dog Sled Saga – It has become a tradition to put it here every week - this time a teaser for their next kickstarter goal.
Robo Danzor Tactics – Turn based multiplayer game where you dance-off your robo-opponents to death.
So Many Jagged Shards – ''Abstract pacifist roquelike about manipulating the walls of a level.''
Oculus Rift Implementations – in Robert Yang's (Radiator, Souvenir) first person projects.
Banished – City building sim takes a drastic genre turn and transforms into a horror game.
? - I don't know what this crab invasion really is, but Twitter seems to like it.
Dog Sled Saga – It has become a tradition to put it here every week - this time a teaser for their next kickstarter goal.
I really hope they'll reach at least 14K.
Yeah, me too. But its looking good atm with 9k after half of the time.
Made a bit of progress with a new window of the tool over the last few days:
Finally finished the game recommendations for individual games. Clicking on the ratings/impressions button, now shows 4 random quotes from other users about that game + a list of games that other users liked who also liked the same game, which took me way longer than it should have.
The graph is still placeholder but was eventually meant to show how many 0-5 ratings the game got. Couldnt quite yet figure out how to make that work and look nice though. Other than that, we need more test data from other users since currently most games wont show anything since I omitted games from the list that only one person voted on.
Edit:
Managed to include a serviceable solution for the votes:
Finally finished the game recommendations for individual games. Clicking on the ratings/impressions button, now shows 4 random quotes from other users about that game + a list of games that other users liked who also liked the same game, which took me way longer than it should have.
The graph is still placeholder but was eventually meant to show how many 0-5 ratings the game got. Couldnt quite yet figure out how to make that work and look nice though. Other than that, we need more test data from other users since currently most games wont show anything since I omitted games from the list that only one person voted on.
Edit:
Managed to include a serviceable solution for the votes:
Ha, I surely noticed it, but couldn't find too much information about it. I've wanted to wait 'till tomorrow to post the last part, so it would be great, if you could tell us more about the game.
We are moving in a space of independent games, so in my opinion it's little unfair to compare them to multimillion dollar productions. I usually turn a blind eye on some of the imperfections, because I understand how difficult it is to create a game by yourself. If it was a 10 hour story, those shortcomings could become tiresome, but fortunately it ends at the right time. It's a good thing you mentioned Journey, because in many cases it's quite similar to Fibrillation, and the only big difference is how much resourcess they needed to come out. Without those, Journey wouldn't be as half good as we know it. The whole story is quite foreseeable and superficial. I really liked it as an experience - the coherence of it like you wrote, but it didn't stay with me as much I would like, after initial fascination it feels empty and meaningless. Well, Ok, it's still extremely beautiful.
Oh, what do you mean by cynical ending? The whole conference or this particular presentation?
I really like his aproach. We think of a freedom in our actions and how they affect the narration as a Holy Grail of gaming, but in reality those choices are just illusions. At this point, and probably for a long time in the future, we won't be able to create systems so complicated to fulfil those visions, so why complicate things. Of course his idea of a videogame is not a heavy action one, but still, the concept of those small interactions sounds pretty interesting to me.
And yeah, I know all those games, except The Graveyard (the only ToT's game I haven't played yet).
Thanks for the recommendations. I'm not a game designer, but will definitely check them out. And I haven't tried Don't Look Back - I will, when I find some free time, thanks for that one too.
Speaking of Terry Cavanagh, he made quite a few neat little games, like Pathways:
http://distractionware.com/blog/2009/02/pathways/
And there was one I cant seem to find anymore, I THOUGHT it was by him too. It was sort of an interactive short story where you exchanged words on screen to change the meaning of the sentence and progress the story. Anyone remember that one?
Yes! Thank you! Play this too Hofmann ;p
I was going to sleep, but I will check it out.
Don't Look Back is difficult as hell (maybe Hades is more appropriate here), so I need to chill out a bit. I see what he was tryin' to say, but the same effect of struggle and determination could be achieved by some highly disturbing images and loud irritating sounds for example, rather than difficulty level. Not to mention that it really didn't matter, because we couldn't lose until making through the whole cycle. It's a clever game, especially how it loops, but my only reaction was frustration (it fits the context perfectly, but like I said there are better ways to accomplish this) and it's nothing grounbreaking, games have been doing this for a long time.
I've been working on it for a few months now, in Unity 4. It's just me, though I would love to get some help from people with skills in animation (mine are quite wooden) and making sound effects. I get everything from Freesound.org and it's a bit messy.
The graphics are cel-shaded and I've gone for the 3rd-person perspective, as there are enough first-person horror games out there already. I like the cel-shaded style myself, but I know it's a curious look and not everyone would enjoy it as much as I do. But it's simply too much work for one person to texture a game like this. (Plus, I hear minimalism in graphics works great to get indie cred, haha.)
The game is set in a 19th century castle and stars an old general. I'm not going for historical accuracy, but Otto von Bismarck and Giuseppe Garibaldi have been sources of inspiration. It is also inspired by Dante's Inferno and the game will feature this text and classical music to accompany it.
The world is randomly generated and has several areas. I couldn't quite achieve the mind-bending aspects of House of Leaves, but it'll do. I think structurally it's similar to a dungeon crawler minus the RPG and loot aspects. You are tasked with exploring this dark castle and unlocking the exit. There are savepoints though, so it's not a roguelike with perma-death.
There are several enemy types and I hope players will find them creepy and original. I didn't go for the typical deformed humanoid/fake zombie of so many other horror games. The focus is on avoiding these enemies, but don't be alarmed, it's not Amnesia. There is a form of defensive combat and enemies are not insta-kills. If anything, compare it to Siren (without the sight-jacking).
Progress is going well and I plan to have it out this Autumn. Assuming it actually turns out decent: Desura and/or personal site are good bets. Steam seems like a high goal for a one-man first venture, but I will try to get a Greenlight page up and see what happens. I may also look into crowdfunding (Indiegogo or Kickstarter if I can get a UK liaison), for a minor sum. Namely paying the Unity Pro license costs and hiring a few other people to do the sound and tighten up the graphics on level three. I would of course also be interested in a WiiU or even Vita/PSN release, given how open these platforms have become. But again, high goals and I would need the devkit money (and time).
Wish me luck!
One Foul Note
Member
I can't be the only one who saw that and thought 'hmm, whats the TF2 soldier doing in a horror game.'
Also Toma, those updates to the game reviewer look incredible. I really like the touch of seeing various different impressions side by side like that.
I know the guy that made this game, he's awesome
Did he make more games similar to that? I absolutely loved the concept and it inspired me to look into how linguistic aspects might be applied to games. Still thinking about that once in a while, but unfortunately my games and ideas never seem to go anywhere so far.I know the guy that made this game, he's awesome
like literally an "interactive poem" (I think he calls him something like that) not really.
his other famous game is I wish I were the moon: http://www.kongregate.com/games/danielben/i-wish-i-were-the-moon
and he's working on a game called storyteller which absolutely blows my mind (goofy argie accent aside)
Oh, he is the one doing Storyteller? I am soooo interested in that (its also in the future section of the OP). It basically takes the same idea but makes it more accessible by not using words, but images to change the outcome of the stories and allow for different endings.
I am really, really looking forward to that, cant wait for him to release it
"I wish I were the moon" was very interesting too, but yeah it seems like Storyteller is going to be his first bigger game and probably also a big breakthrough for him as an Indie dev. Best of luck to him!man I wish I could just take a month off work and play weird indie shit all day. the pain of seeing all them games fall through my fingers...
and yeah, storyteller is crazy impressive, the video just demos a small portion of the game but from what I've seen in showings it gets pretty nuts. haven't gotten the chance to play it myself yet but I hope to do so before the end of the year at least.
also speaking of "linguistic aspects", I spent the better half of last year trying to make a game in the same vein of storyteller with a mix of republia times that had you working as a censor of a newspaper (you could basically just delete an x amount of words) to spin the angles of news around and change readers' perspectives and all that stuff and I found it's a pretty fucking difficult undertaking. I imagine his take being a bit more abstract and system-based (ours had actual written base news you had to censor with predetermined end-meanings) is a much more elegant solution to the problem, but really everything about interpreting meaning from user action is terribly ambitious.
I dug up some of my old semiotics class notes, goold ole peirce and saussure and stuff, and tried to turn my text into something understandable by game systems. some things translate well, others don't. it's really fascinating stuff, I'd love to give another try.
yup, same guy, the man's a legend around these parts.Oh, he is the one doing Storyteller? I am soooo interested in that (its also in the future section of the OP). It basically takes the same idea but makes it more accessible by not using words, but images to change the outcome of the stories and allow for different endings.
I am really, really looking forward to that, cant wait for him to release it
and yeah, storyteller is crazy impressive, the video just demos a small portion of the game but from what I've seen in showings it gets pretty nuts. haven't gotten the chance to play it myself yet but I hope to do so before the end of the year at least.
also speaking of "linguistic aspects", I spent the better half of last year trying to make a game in the same vein of storyteller with a mix of republia times that had you working as a censor of a newspaper (you could basically just delete an x amount of words) to spin the angles of news around and change readers' perspectives and all that stuff and I found it's a pretty fucking difficult undertaking. I imagine his take being a bit more abstract and system-based (ours had actual written base news you had to censor with predetermined end-meanings) is a much more elegant solution to the problem, but really everything about interpreting meaning from user action is terribly ambitious.
I dug up some of my old semiotics class notes, goold ole peirce and saussure and stuff, and tried to turn my text into something understandable by game systems. some things translate well, others don't. it's really fascinating stuff, I'd love to give another try.
Is there a playable v0.00001 alpha version somewhere? I'd love to see how you went about that idea.
Done, it sounds great from this description.
Haven't you thought of ditching the fights at all? There're so many ways to create a tension, especially in horror games, and fights usually distract the player from the experience, putting him in a constant survival/shell mode, impenetrable by other thoughts, but I understand there're difficulties involved with a lack of direction, caused by randomly generated world.
But like I said it sounds intriguing and I'll keep an eye on the project.
Weltall Zero
Member
Good luck! I love cel-shaded games, and I'm into randomly generated games lately, so this is a must see for me. Also, to counterweight Hofmann's opinion, don't take out the fights; I for one appreciate gameplay as much, if not more, than storytelling.
After all, good gameplay makes a game much more replayable, which for a game that is randomly generated I would guess is kind of the point. Oh, he is the one doing Storyteller? I am soooo interested in that (its also in the future section of the OP). It basically takes the same idea but makes it more accessible by not using words, but images to change the outcome of the stories and allow for different endings.
I am really, really looking forward to that, cant wait for him to release it
I played "Today I Die" years ago and loved it (I still remember it, for one). Storywriter is looking crazy fun! Looking forward to see how it progresses.
I know the guy that made this game, he's awesome
I heard so many great things about it, but never had a chance to play it before. It really deserves all the praise it gets. Love how rearranging those words changes the world and how the actions put a new meaning to the text, interacting in both ways.
One Foul Note
Member
So I've given Pulse Shift a go after it popped up on the Indie Game Stand and I can recommend it if you like the first person puzzler. It is this gravity shifting platformer type thing that reminded me of Kula World spliced with a bit of Mirror's Edge. It isn't without some flaws, controls can be a little floaty (although the rewind feature does help relieve the problems caused by this) and given how often you rotate gravity it can feel a little unstable, sometimes you kinda sink into the ground just after a rotation as if the game has forgotten how tall your camera should be, but I've never fallen through the floor or anything. But despite these I am still finding the game fairly cool and an interesting take on the 'navigable this area' sub genre of puzzle games.