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Indie Games 2015 [November] Let's talk about anything Indie!

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
New page reached, achievement "Thread finally readable on mobile phones" unlocked.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
Hybrid Beasts looks even better than Worms. Especially the movement. I'm keeping a close eye on that one.

01_jump_combos.gif
 
So who's going to be playing Fallout next week? Already got it pre-loaded

Besides Hard West, not really looking forward to anything this month

Although you know how indie releases are. Never know what might pop up out of nowhere
 
So who's going to be playing Fallout next week? Already got it pre-loaded

Besides Hard West, not really looking forward to anything this month

Although you know how indie releases are. Never know what might pop up out of nowhere

I'm not a fan of Bethesda styled RPG so I didn't get caught in the hype.
 

Moobabe

Member
Grow Home is 50 off on some legit website... and... couldn't resist... lets see what Moobabe recommended me :)

Please play with a control and please give the control scheme a chance!

Been absent too long - but I'm ordering that laptop this week so I'll be able to actually talk about games again!

I might get FO4 - I did love 3 and NV - but my first purchase is going to be Undertale.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Yeah, gonna dip into FO4 as well. Bethesda games still feel special enough, especially compared to the other Batman/AC style open world games.
 

daydream

Banned
brigador seems awesome, will get in on that once it gets out of early access

downwell is obv great, everyone should pick that up

as for dragon fin soup, i really do think the game would benefit from a) an ui overhaul and b) a better tutorial. it's rather fumbly on vita, anyway. but even ignoring those problems, the game would be competent, at best. it does little do stand out from its genre brethren.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
as for dragon fin soup, i really do think the game would benefit from a) an ui overhaul and b) a better tutorial. it's rather fumbly on vita, anyway. but even ignoring those problems, the game would be competent, at best. it does little do stand out from its genre brethren.

I sort of agree. I think it IS already competent, but even adding a better UI or tutorial wont propel it much further. The problem is that they didnt really nail the progression and even in the main campaign you are stuck with basic skills forever until you find more. A friend of mine played it for a few hours and is still stuck on the basic moveset, while I at least found earth magic buff. The different abilities, magical options add a ton of versatility to such a game, and in comparison, ToME gives you a few interesting ones right at the start and drop feeds you in a good pace with new ones.

I actually think the game is still sort of fun and a decent time waster. The weird thing is that it has the potential to be more fun as well, since new magic DOES help the flow and progression, you just need to find it first, but yeah... I wouldnt be able to recommend it for the price especially. Worth 5$ though.

Also: Bought Poly Bridge which seems like a good bridge builder variant. Going to report how that turned out.
 
I'm not getting Fallout 4 until christmas. I can barely even begin to keep up with new indie releases anyway. I have a bunch of older ones I need to play still.
 
Anyone here heard of/is playing Subterfuge on mobile? It's a surprisingly deep social strategy game of tenuous alliances and resource management spread out over days and weeks. It was made by one of the co-developers of World of Goo.

Even Polygon loves it; this article does a really good job at explaining the depth and social strategy

http://www.polygon.com/2015/10/22/9...st-cunning-game-on-ios-right-now-heres-how-it
For the past week I've been consumed in several tense and deadly duels beneath the sea in Subterfuge, a strategic and surprisingly social experience. Simply put, it may be one of the best strategy games I've played all year. And it's on my iPhone, of all places.

Subterfuge - Free (iOS, Android)
screen322x572.jpeg

http://subterfuge-game.com/

Subterfuge plays out in real-time over the course of a week or more. Players check in a few times each day to assess their situation, issue or modify orders, and engage their fellow players in diplomacy and subterfuge. You will need to master both strategy and diplomacy to earn your victory, so plan ahead, coordinate with others, and carefully consider the consequences of your actions!
 

The world of NaissanceE is a lonely, yet captivating one to journey through. Its setting is based heavily around clean, brutalist architecture, with no detailed textures, and a very drab use of colors. The visual design is outstanding. Strong enough that it essentially became the sole factor that urged me to continue through the game, despite some annoying gameplay sections. I definitely wasn’t compelled to turn each corner to do another lackluster, first person platforming segment. Much of the platforming is there for the purpose of getting around the environment, rather than trying to challenge you with platforming for the sake of platforming. That’s not particularly a bad thing though considering what it’s actually going for. NaissanceE is mainly a first person exploration game, with some platforming and puzzle elements.

The first 20 minutes had me in a lot of really enclosed, dark, and cramped feeling areas that were a bit uncomfortable to traverse through. It did open up substantially afterwards though. NaissanceE is a very linear game, but it often doesn’t feel as linear as it actually is because of how massive the environments around you can get. The goal in many scenarios is to search the area for a path that would lead to the next area. There are a fair amount of red herrings and dead ends that distract you from the right avenue. In some cases, it felt like there were certain landmarks that seemed like the obvious place to go, but would actually lead to nothing, or even traps in some specific instances that you would have to find your way out of. (Like an endless staircase, for one) I sometimes found myself frustrated at being deceived, but I sort of appreciate many of those moments when I look back on it. Though, parts that I always found annoying were ledges that I could drop down on that seemed like a potential path, but weren’t, and left me trapped down there with no other way up, making me have to kill myself to respawn at the previous checkpoint.


Some segments are less about finding a path and more about overcoming an obstacle presented to you. The platforming generally ranged from serviceable to shoddy. Certain puzzle elements that involved touching floating orbs of light to move them to different positions presented some interesting ideas. Some surfaces would only be materialized when light was shining on them, and would dissipate into some kind of dark matter, lacking any tangible attributes, when in the dark. These were the gameplay mechanics that I was interested in the most, and what I hoped would have been expanded upon more. As it is, those puzzles aren’t really there to challenge your mind, but more to set a mood. It worked for what it went for. Those elements, combined with the ambient and dissonant soundscape, some uncanny visuals, and surreal elements elements sprinkled about, gave the game a very distinct atmosphere. Just running through the environments was enjoyable because of how interesting the setting was. I didn’t have much tolerance for getting stuck though. I usually took a break from the game whenever I couldn’t find my way for more than a few minutes. However, the world of NaissanceE always ended up drawing me back in each time, and if it weren’t for that, I probably wouldn't have kept playing.


Sprinting isn’t a completely idle task. While performing the action, there is a breath icon that pops up in the middle of the screen periodically that needs to be maintained by pressing down R3 in a corresponding manner. Missing the prompt multiple times won’t slow you down or stop you from running. It’ll only make the sides of the screen glow more and more white until (I presume) it eventually gets to point where your character passes out. I never screwed it up enough to know for sure. It was a fine mechanic, but I never felt like it really added much. Makes me wonder why they chose to put it in the game in the first place. Maybe to keep players engaged with something while running through some of the vast terrain? There was one segment near the beginning that had me chasing an orb of light while jumping from platform to platform. I had to keep up with it or else I wouldn’t be able to see the surfaces that I was supposed to be jumping on, as the light orb only lit up a relatively small circumference of area around it. I had to coordinate the act of timing my breaths with taking leaps and keeping up with the light ball in an almost rhythmic fashion. It was one of the most engaging gameplay moments in the game for me, and at that point, that’s what I thought a lot of the game would be about. Unfortunately, that’s the only segment like that, and looking back on it, I probably didn’t even need to focus on my breaths as much as I did because there isn’t that harsh of a penalty for missing it here and there anyway.


The alluring artstyle of NaissanceE is what initially drew me to the game in the first place, and is ultimately the aspect that got me through it. It was an intriguing world to explore. There was a portion late in the game that really freaked me out to the point of shutting it off because of certain surreal/trippy elements. I’m pretty sure that was just due to my abnormal fear of that kind of stuff and that not many people would have the same reaction, but it’s a moment I doubt I’ll forget. I’m sure this would be an amazing thing to experience using an Oculus Rift headset. (Although particular moments in the game with a lot of flashing lights and a heavy use of Depth of Field effects would be pretty headache inducing) As a game though? It doesn’t hold up too well in my eyes. Still, I can’t stress enough how much I loved the visual design. I couldn’t stop pressing F12 to take pictures. Here are some more I took.

jRnickK.png


 
Personally I found that the level design in NaissanceE to be masterfully done. You feel lost but the game guides you through subtle cues and unique landmarks that catch your eye. And the game always rewards you by having you reach those landmarks
 

JoBo4

Neo Member
Hopefully these questions haven't been asked a million times before. I tried to do some searching around for it but haven't found anything.

1. Looking to getting into this. In order to make a pretty well refined game (for game maker), would programming knowledge be necessary? How user friendly is gamemaker for a person who has very limited knowledge (being only HTML)?

2. I have a macbook. what would be the best option for game maker? Would using a virtual box be more ideal? Or is there another alternative that works better?

3. Any examples of games that have been made without any type of previous programming knowledge?

thanks
 
Hopefully these questions haven't been asked a million times before. I tried to do some searching around for it but haven't found anything.

1. Looking to getting into this. In order to make a pretty well refined game (for game maker), would programming knowledge be necessary? How user friendly is gamemaker for a person who has very limited knowledge (being only HTML)?

2. I have a macbook. what would be the best option for game maker? Would using a virtual box be more ideal? Or is there another alternative that works better?

3. Any examples of games that have been made without any type of previous programming knowledge?

thanks
Hey, welcome to the thread

While this is a great thread to learn about games, I'd recommend checking out this one for game dev suggestions and info. A lot of friendly and helpful people there
 
Hopefully these questions haven't been asked a million times before. I tried to do some searching around for it but haven't found anything.

1. Looking to getting into this. In order to make a pretty well refined game (for game maker), would programming knowledge be necessary? How user friendly is gamemaker for a person who has very limited knowledge (being only HTML)?

2. I have a macbook. what would be the best option for game maker? Would using a virtual box be more ideal? Or is there another alternative that works better?

3. Any examples of games that have been made without any type of previous programming knowledge?

thanks

Oh man, any day I get to tell somebody about Twine is a good day.

Twine is a free tool (that's now entirely web based) that lets people make games, and interactive fiction with little to no coding, entirely through an HTML based formatting system. Twine also can take CSS, JavaScript, and pure HTML as well as it's own basic scripting language.

Making games is hard. Really hard. Players try to do things that you don't want them to do, and having to deal with collision and stuff is a nightmare. Starting out with Twine, in simple text based games where you control everything is great. It's free here: http://twinery.org/
and if you don't have a website, you can host games free here: http://philome.la/

GameMaker for Mac is not going to be a thing for the forseeable future. If you want, you can try WINE and WINEskins, but performance might be a damper: https://www.winehq.org/

I've been using Unity for class and for personal projects (shamless plug for my games: www.lucahibbardcurto.com/games). Unity now has an officially supported 2D mode, as well as the good old 3D mode and there are hundreds upon thousands of tutorials out there for you to get a crack at it. It uses either C# or JavaScript as a basis for UnityScript, it's own additions to either language, and is fairly readable as languages go.
 

JoBo4

Neo Member
Oh man, any day I get to tell somebody about Twine is a good day.

Twine is a free tool (that's now entirely web based) that lets people make games, and interactive fiction with little to no coding, entirely through an HTML based formatting system. Twine also can take CSS, JavaScript, and pure HTML as well as it's own basic scripting language.

Making games is hard. Really hard. Players try to do things that you don't want them to do, and having to deal with collision and stuff is a nightmare. Starting out with Twine, in simple text based games where you control everything is great. It's free here: http://twinery.org/
and if you don't have a website, you can host games free here: http://philome.la/

GameMaker for Mac is not going to be a thing for the forseeable future. If you want, you can try WINE and WINEskins, but performance might be a damper: https://www.winehq.org/

I've been using Unity for class and for personal projects (shamless plug for my games: www.lucahibbardcurto.com/games). Unity now has an officially supported 2D mode, as well as the good old 3D mode and there are hundreds upon thousands of tutorials out there for you to get a crack at it. It uses either C# or JavaScript as a basis for UnityScript, it's own additions to either language, and is fairly readable as languages go.



wow twine looks pretty cool. Not exactly what i'm looking for, but I'd love to try it out! thank you!

So would you recommend me trying my luck with wine+gamemaker or should I go with Unity 2d? I heard that unity requires a lot of programming knowledge, which I do not have :/
 
Personally I found that the level design in NaissanceE to be masterfully done. You feel lost but the game guides you through subtle cues and unique landmarks that catch your eye. And the game always rewards you by having you reach those landmarks

It's probably just not my type of game. The gravitational pull of that artstyle was too strong...
 
Conflicks looks pretty fun, might pick it up. It's from the devs of Sang-Froid

Conflicks - $14.99 (PC, Mac, Linux)
new_screenshot_conflicks_1.png

http://store.steampowered.com/app/288260

Spaceships, lasers, and… chickens! What more could you ask for? Conflicks: Revolutionary Space Battles is a creative new take on space-themed videogames that merges the deep, thoughtful gameplay of strategy games with the intuitive accessibility of physics-based games.
 
wow twine looks pretty cool. Not exactly what i'm looking for, but I'd love to try it out! thank you!

So would you recommend me trying my luck with wine+gamemaker or should I go with Unity 2d? I heard that unity requires a lot of programming knowledge, which I do not have :/

The little I've used of GameMaker, the lego style drag and drop stuff isn't very robust, and GameMaker as a tool isn't my thing. I would try setting up WINE and trying GameMaker now that it's 100% free, but if it doesnt work, Unity is very good. I am not a good coder, and I can get by in Unity just fine (it also helps I go to a school with a large game development curriculum so I have plenty of people to ask.). Though GameMaker also has it's own little scripting language I haven't messed around with. http://docs.yoyogames.com/source/dadiospice/001_advanced use/006_scripts.html

Unity's site has tons of tutorials (ooh, including a roguelike level generation one) https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials, and you can find plenty of others around. And if you have any major questions, I'm sure DevGAF would lend a helping hand. Oh, and Unity is also 100% free now (absolutely no restrictions other than a team based cloud build system and removing the unity logo at the beginning of your games).
 

Battlechili

Banned
I'm really excited for Oneshot. Its original release was very rushed, and now the devteam is working on extending it, and supposedly the extended version will come out this month. Or at least that's according to Nightmargin, one of the devs.
It was such an interesting game.

f8O2Eyu.png


Also, does anyone happen to know when/if Sorcerland is getting any updates? I can't read Japanese.
http://www.dlsite.com/eng/work/=/product_id/RE129482.html
 
Yeah, I'm quite enjoying Dragon Fin Soup. At a bare minimum, if the devs utilise the Vita screen more effectively with inventory menus and text sizes, I'd be happy. Everything else is a quirk that either works for you or it doesn't.

Hoping to add some posts here soon.
 

Matt Frost

Member
Well in a game like that, half of the fun is designing the craziest, most over-the-top solution possible

Besieged is pretty fucking amazing. And yes, most of the best outcomes come from exercises in overuse of the equipment. One of my favourite devices I have made in it is this multi-firing catapult that can unload a hail of rocks at an aimed target and then rips itself apart from the force of the swinging arms. I love it.

Been watching some videos about it and yes, the creations people can make are creative and the game looks amazing, will get it soon.

Please play with a control and please give the control scheme a chance!

Been absent too long - but I'm ordering that laptop this week so I'll be able to actually talk about games again!

I might get FO4 - I did love 3 and NV - but my first purchase is going to be Undertale.

Liked the control scheme (since you can use either triggers to climb) and the overall game was veeeery charming, will give it another play down the road soon and collect all those crystals.

I can see that, your last login on Steam was about... a long long time ago but whatever makes you happy....

As for FO4, I have to see first how it works with my graphic card.
 

titch

Member
wow twine looks pretty cool. Not exactly what i'm looking for, but I'd love to try it out! thank you!

So would you recommend me trying my luck with wine+gamemaker or should I go with Unity 2d? I heard that unity requires a lot of programming knowledge, which I do not have :/

Personally i would go with Unity - in fact i did and with the help of a load of tutorials i went from no c# experience to being able to build enough of a 'game' to allow a character to run about jump and fire and kill a baddie. It will take time to start with but once you get going you will find its not that difficult to deal with basic concepts.

Now creating something like rain world thats a different kettle of fish.
 

Matt Frost

Member
More_Badass or One Foul Note I have a question if you may answer: how taxing is Besiege on your computers? Looks like it quite is...
 
More_Badass or One Foul Note I have a question if you may answer: how taxing is Besiege on your computers? Looks like it quite is...

Surprisingly low, I guess the bonuses of that art style is that much of the background isn't a complex texture so they can save all that vital computing power for the physics simulator. I got a i3 3.10GHz processor with 4GB of RAM and the game stays fairly happily at 60fps with the occasional drops to 40-50fps during big explosions (which I am not gonna lie, happen more then they should with my creations). Although this does mean I have to turn off much of the post processioning effects so it is a little grainy but I got a duel core so I can't really complain.
 

Moobabe

Member
I can see that, your last login on Steam was about... a long long time ago but whatever makes you happy....

As for FO4, I have to see first how it works with my graphic card.

I've moved to London and I have been computer less for about 8 weeks now - other than my Chromebook and Animal Crossing on my 3DS.

What notable stuff have I missed guys?!

Flame in the Flood good? Undertale?

Yeah, I'm quite enjoying Dragon Fin Soup. At a bare minimum, if the devs utilise the Vita screen more effectively with inventory menus and text sizes, I'd be happy. Everything else is a quirk that either works for you or it doesn't.

Hoping to add some posts here soon.

I have managed to download this though - hoping to put some time into it this week.
 
I've moved to London and I have been computer less for about 8 weeks now - other than my Chromebook and Animal Crossing on my 3DS.

What notable stuff have I missed guys?!

Flame in the Flood good? Undertale?



I have managed to download this though - hoping to put some time into it this week.
Honestly I was kind of disappointed with Flame in the Flood. It looks awesome, but the river mechanic is way too arcade-y and fast paced. You don't feel like you're on an actual river journey, but rather it feels like a fast evasion mini game spliced in between island survival.

Tusks and Tigerskins looks like it'll capture that tense river journey atmosphere though

I've heard nothing but incredible praise for Undertale, haven't played it yet

What else...

I enjoyed Mushroom 11. SOMA is a definite GOTY contender for me. Cryptark is a great roguelite shooter with tight controls and an awesome arsenal of weapons and gear (a 4 weapon + 4 items loadout!). Glitchspace got rebuilt from the ground up and is even better than before. Downwell is a really addictive downward shooter, that rivals Vlambeer's work in regards to satisfyingly tight gameplay.
 
I've moved to London and I have been computer less for about 8 weeks now - other than my Chromebook and Animal Crossing on my 3DS.

What notable stuff have I missed guys?!

Flame in the Flood good? Undertale?



I have managed to download this though - hoping to put some time into it this week.

Undertale, Assault Android Cactus and Downwell are all solid games
 
A quick November 2014 retrospective, looking how games have progressed in a year (or not)

Redout - Coming to consoles, got a visual revamp
Domina - In development
Environmental Station Alpha - Finished, released
hets - Finished, bundled in Curve's Indie Mixtape
Return of the Obra Dinn - Still in development
Rituals/Somewhere - Last update in July
Tribal & Error - Was at Indiecade 2015, won Interaction Award
A Quiver of Crows - Releasing Spring 2016
Antihero - Releasing early 2016
Big Pharma - Finished, released
Bunker Punks - Still in development
Death's Gambit - Getting published by Adult Swim, releasing in 2016
Dustbowl - Finished, released
Fortified - Coming to PC, Xbox One in 2016
Rebel Galaxy - Finished, released
STEAL - on hold, devs working on Wanderer
The Marvelous Miss Take - Finished, released
 
To go along with Indivisible getting a ton of indie guest charactets (the Drifter, Shovel Knight, etc.!). I learned about this indie super smash bros style game that's also getting indie guest characters. Can you guess them?

That's only a few. The Unslain from Doko Roko is going to be in it, the Shieldmaiden from Eitr, and more

Bounty Battle - ????
0IMeVJA.jpg

http://www.darkscreengames.com/

"Bounty Battle" is a multiplayer 2D fighting game, inspired by games such as the Super Smash Bros series and Soulcalibur.
The game allows up to 6 players to fight simultaneously in various arenas (open or closed). Players can choose from a selection of more than 30 characters, each with their own powers.
 
Comments like this...sigh
(Regarding No Man's Sky being $60)
This never seemed like a $60 game to me and I certainly won't pay that much for it

It's for all intents and purposes an indie game made by a small team, I don't see why it should be priced like AAA retail
 

arcanadei

Member
I'd argue why on earth would you pay $60 for a AAA title that will likely be a rushed console port with broken mechanics, day 1 patches and DLC when the same title will be under $20 with a GOTY special edition in a matter of months. At the same time, you can buy multiple other games and get a lot more enjoyment for the same price. Maybe that's just me though.
 
I'd argue why on earth would you pay $60 for a AAA title that will likely be a rushed console port with broken mechanics, day 1 patches and DLC when the same title will be under $20 with a GOTY special edition in a matter of months. At the same time, you can buy multiple other games and get a lot more enjoyment for the same price. Maybe that's just me though.
The point of contention wasn't that people wouldn't want to pay $60 at launch, but that an indie game shouldn't be priced at $60

Quite a few people are trying to argue that's because of the market/consumers, but my counterpoint was that the notion of the $15 indie was born from when indies grew more mainstream, through XBLA and other storefronts and indies outside of that $10-$30 price range have rarely existed. It was like that from the start, and devs haven't exactly been able to expand out of that designation of what an indie game should cost
 
Anyone here heard of/is playing Subterfuge on mobile? It's a surprisingly deep social strategy game of tenuous alliances and resource management spread out over days and weeks. It was made by one of the co-developers of World of Goo.

Even Polygon loves it; this article does a really good job at explaining the depth and social strategy

http://www.polygon.com/2015/10/22/9...st-cunning-game-on-ios-right-now-heres-how-it


Subterfuge - Free (iOS, Android)

Was eagerly awaiting it. Then got really discouraged by how bad the tutorials were made, and gave up after one hour. Looks good, but seems like you need to watch videos to really understand how to play the game properly.
 
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