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Indie Games 2016 [August] Lets play some Indies!

I don't in here much, but I just wanted to say that I love this thread, and that it has honestly led to hundreds of hours of joy for my wife and I. I sincerely thank all of you who take time from your lives to help us discover new games to play. :)
Awesome! It always makes me happy to see people checking out indie games that might otherwise go unnoticed. That's what me start writing about games in the first place.

And luckily there never ceases to be games to share
 
Anymore word about RainWorld?
They're crunching hard (3hrs of sleep a night) doing playtesting, balancing, etc. Working towards big deadlines. It's in the final stretch of development. Release was moved to 2017, but that seems more like a safe buffer till they have an actual date than a definite that the game won't come out till next year
 
Holy shit, 3 hrs of sleep gotdamn

I would be the walking dead all day

I sincerely hope these people take a break after this game releases CHRIST
 
Holy shit, 3 hrs of sleep gotdamn

I would be the walking dead all day

I sincerely hope these people take a break after this game releases CHRIST
Yeah it doesn't sound very enjoyable
I know it SEEMS like I have murdered Joar and completely taken over the project, I assure you that's not the case. He's just trying to keep distractions down to a bare minimum for this last "sprint" / deathmarch.

That said, it can't have been pleasant though as the past few weeks, most of the communication has just been bug reports and various re-phrasings of "WE NEED THIS DONE IN 2HRS BEFORE THE NEXT TEST BUILD LAUNCHES" etc.

There is going to be some PTSD
 
Any early impressions of Monster & Monoculse from the people who picked up some copies as I've been interested in the game for a while. I'd be really interested to know what it offers as a single player experience next to Throne and Gungeon?

I've been slacking on PC indy games as the last few months but I picked up Heart & Slash a few days ago and have been having some fun with it outside of one really terrible enemy design. The core gameplay is a little like Megaman Legends, with smoother controls, meets a rougelight.
 
That's worrisome to me.

That whole story of Brigador development and this tidbit worries the hell out of me.

God that amount of coffee or Mountain Dew or whatever soda they're drinking cannot be good for them.

Kidney stones are the worst.
Crunching for gold sounds torturous
I think Joar has a proper viking beard going. I find them too annoyingly itchy to suffer for too long, so I just look like I've been in a cave for 500 years and forgotten the taste of bread
I think Sean Murray is a good visualization of the above process
yjBCKcoh.jpg
 

rje

Member
Re: Monsters & Monocles

I'd very much appreciate a way to hide the mouse cursor if no one is actually playing with a mouse. It doesn't seem to go away on its own.

Also, it should be possible to back out of any settings screen with the B button (on an Xbox controller). Maybe even the Start button.

Otherwise, it sure seems polished. Early impressions are good!



edit: Is this currently balanced for a single player? The earliest encounters in the mansion makes me think it might not be.

Hey thanks for the notes - mouse cursor should disappear after 5 seconds of non use while in-game, if it's not doing that it's a bug and I'll file it. It probably isn't disappearing in menus right now I need to do another pass for that.

Noted on the back button stuff, on the todo list.

Balance: We'll continue to tweak - maintaining your combo is definitely more important for a good single player run (red bar in your hud) - if you max it out you'll be doing an additional 50% of damage and it helps you really efficiently move through enemy sets. Right now I think the record in single player is a 4 loop game so it's definitely viable, but the skillset is a bit different than it is in co-op mode.

Thanks again for checking it out - we have lots of work left to do but I'm glad to hear you had a positive early impression!
 

epmode

Member
Regarding balance, the reason I brought it up was that one of the very first monsters I killed spawned a ~dozen smaller monsters which boxed me into a corner within a second. I couldn't clip through them and my starter gun simply couldn't fire fast enough to clear a path before they killed me.
 
Awesome! It always makes me happy to see people checking out indie games that might otherwise go unnoticed. That's what me start writing about games in the first place.

And luckily there never ceases to be games to share

We really do enjoy it. My wife has really gotten into indie games and currently drops about $50 a month on Kickstarter.
 
We really do enjoy it. My wife has really gotten into indie games and currently drops about $50 a month on Kickstarter.
And I thought I was bad :p

I've backed about 12-15 games in the last three years, although I've been more frugal this year. Last one I backed was Prey For The Gods
Well technically I pre-ordered/slacker-backed SCALE last week
 

rje

Member
Regarding balance, the reason I brought it up was that one of the very first monsters I killed spawned a ~dozen smaller monsters which boxed me into a corner within a second. I couldn't clip through them and my starter gun simply couldn't fire fast enough to clear a path before they killed me.

Ah ok! Might have been a super slime? Anyways yeah getting cornered right now is brutal and we need to improve it, it's an issue in all the game modes.
 
They're crunching hard (3hrs of sleep a night) doing playtesting, balancing, etc. Working towards big deadlines. It's in the final stretch of development. Release was moved to 2017, but that seems more like a safe buffer till they have an actual date than a definite that the game won't come out till next year
I've done a week with 3 hours or less of sleep because of my intense job. Not fun. You crash. I hope the Rain World team get plenty of time to recover.
 
I played a little of Monsters & Monocles and from my little time with the game I noticed the music is well done, congrats to the composer.
 

spineduke

Unconfirmed Member
Any early impressions of Monster & Monoculse from the people who picked up some copies as I've been interested in the game for a while. I'd be really interested to know what it offers as a single player experience next to Throne and Gungeon?

It shares a lot of DNA between the two - you'll run around arena levels and fight hordes of enemies. Each zone has 3 floors, including a boss fight. Ammo is unlimited, and weapons and coins drop generously. You have a health bar, and a dash (rolling through enemy fire). Instead of ammo, there's a gun overheat mechanic which prevents you from spamming powerful attacks.

You're back in your hub in between levels and it lets you pick the next world, and do any upgrades on your relics (passives).

I found it much easier on first loop than NT or Gungeon (especially the bosses), but that can change as they flesh out the game balance. The game will also rack up enemy count and difficulty as you loop the game like NT. Combat feels great and responsive. It's also nice to note that it runs at 60FPS, unlike the other twin stick shooters. There's 3 zones implemented so far out of 6, and the online co-op is there, but I haven't tried it yet though.

Gun variety seems decent, and they're promising more. Enemy variety is okay - each zone has it's own set of enemies. I think it's unfair to compare it at this stage to the other shooters.
 

Valahart

Member
Any impressions on Oklhos?

Has anyone beaten the game and can tell me that it becomes more diverse later?

I'm on 1.8h and I'm very close to asking for a refund because I'm finding it a bit too out of control and repetitive.
 
It shares a lot of DNA between the two - you'll run around arena levels and fight hordes of enemies. Each zone has 3 floors, including a boss fight. Ammo is unlimited, and weapons and coins drop generously. You have a health bar, and a dash (rolling through enemy fire). Instead of ammo, there's a gun overheat mechanic which prevents you from spamming powerful attacks.

You're back in your hub in between levels and it lets you pick the next world, and do any upgrades on your relics (passives).

I found it much easier on first loop than NT or Gungeon (especially the bosses), but that can change as they flesh out the game balance. The game will also rack up enemy count and difficulty as you loop the game like NT. Combat feels great and responsive. It's also nice to note that it runs at 60FPS, unlike the other twin stick shooters. There's 3 zones implemented so far out of 6, and the online co-op is there, but I haven't tried it yet though.

Gun variety seems decent, and they're promising more. Enemy variety is okay - each zone has it's own set of enemies. I think it's unfair to compare it at this stage to the other shooters.
Thanks for sharing impressions.
 

wouwie

Member
I've been looking forward to Seasons after Fall ever since i first saw it. Also, SwingSwingSubmarine's previous game Tetrobot surprised me in a good way because it was a solid puzzle game so i have high hopes for Seasons after Fall.

I hope we'll see it on consoles at some point but i might get it on pc depending on reviews, though i wonder if my laptop is powerful enough.
 

Wok

Member
If anyone of you is a journalist and wants to review event[0] (I don't know what else could be implied), follow the tweet instructions.

HOyTm4k.png


Personally, after watching some footage, I pre-ordered the game on Humble Store.

Edit: Actually, it could be about Gamescom.
 
So much good stuff this Screenshot Saturday

The Path to Die - PC, Mac, Linux
r7ujtqX.gif

http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-path-to-die

Travel to Feudal Japan as one of the most lethal Samurai warriors. Immerse yourself in a story of action and intrigue, exploring the vast lands surrounding the Imperial Palace in a detailed 2D pixel art adventure.

The Invisible Hand - PC
E6723uK.png

https://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=57175.0

THE INVISIBLE HAND is a game about traders, and their world. At first glance, it is only about numbers, but in the end, it is about much more.
In a world where computers can do most of the analytic work, you will live the life of a trader, and try to profit off the numbers spewed by the machine to get the best of what the world has to offer.
Whether you just follow the missions given by your supervisor or go rogue and put people to their knees for your own profit, it is up to you to make money for the well being of the company, and your own

Abandon Ship - PC
AbandonShip_Combat_Storm.png

http://abandonshipgame.com/

Abandon Ship is a game where you take command of a ship and her crew, exploring a diverse, procedurally generated world, taking on quests and dealing with random events. Frequently, you will end up engaging other ships in combat, the player having to employ their best tactics in order to out-manoeuvre and out-gun the enemy.
The game focuses on “Age of Sail” ships in a Fantasy setting, framed in an Art Style inspired by classic Naval Oil Paintings.

Eco - PC, Mac, Xbox One
4629298983.jpg

http://www.reversedinteractive.com/eco/4592704374

Eco is a story based role playing game set in 1952
You take on the role of a tiny robot named tyler who is accidentally powered up during the height of a thunder storm and sets out on a journey to find is siblings and to find his creator
As the story unfolds you will be introduced to a few little helpers that will help you find your true abilities and help you with your journey.

Thin Air - ????
RDJNnJ4.png

http://www.stugan.com/stugan-2016/

Thin Air, thrusts the player into a hostile landscape where air itself is a resource to be managed. Add hallucination-inducing native plantlife into the mix, and you've got yourself a true adventure. Emotions run high amidst the natural dangers and discomfort of the mountainside, but the real challenge lies in navigating the landscape within

Bunker - ????
CqM1nRPVMAA41kM.jpg

http://bunker.game/

A deeply social massive multiplayer alternate history RPG in the post-apocalyptic Soviet Union world with permadeath and open market

Universe or Nothing - PC, Mac, Linux
eYEGD3z.png

http://universeornothing.com/

Universe or Nothing is a space sim which allows you to be a Captain, facing real challenges and making meaningful choices; a Helmsman, evading missiles while keeping the enemy in your sights; a Tactical Officer, bringing destruction to your foes and managing away teams; a Science Officer, fighting an information war and directing researchers; or a Chief Engineer, pushing systems to their limits and overseeing technicians.

ASTROMANTICA - Free prototype (PC, Mac)
HqAp4%2B.png

https://bitmoo.itch.io/astromantica

Astromantica is a space opera visual novel with card game battles in which you play as either enemy leaders and former friends in a galactic war. It is a bittersweet tale of reconciliation as your decisions as a leader affect the outcome of war as well as the amending of a broken friendship.

Vignettes - PC, Mobile
F9temxr.png

http://vignettesga.me/

A toyish surprise-o-rama without text nor characters, where an object shapeshifts as the player spins it around, revealing the underlying story.

Thrive - Free (PC, Linux)
Coh8gn6VYAETk_U.jpg

http://revolutionarygamesstudio.com/

Thrive is a free, open-source game about the evolution of life.
From the lowly tidepools of your home planet, you will rise to cosmic dominance. At every step, powerful creation tools and deep simulation mechanics will aid your species’ development.

VentureVerse - 2016 (PC, Mac, Linux)
Gauntlet-Start-e1471689199474.png

http://finalfloorstudios.com/ventureverse/

VentureVerse is a top-down action-adventure game with a focus on exploration, discovery and user-generated content. The game allows you to explore the Island Province of Ulora and conquer its many dungeons whilst unlocking a plethora of items to alter your playstyle.

Dogma - Free (Browser)
CqUkp_UWcAENhj5.jpg

http://dogma-universe.com/en/

A MMORPG with the atmosphere of modern gothic punk and horror
Play as vampires and other mythical creatures who live among the mortals

Smugglecraft - 2016 (PC, Mac, Linux, PS4)
CqUxkKbXEAAzjD_.jpg

http://smugglecraft.com/

A quest-based hovercraft game
You’ve got a fast hovercraft and a heavy debt. Also the world is falling apart.
As a smuggler in a society in which travel, trade, and technology are highly regulated and virtually inaccessible for most, your deliveries could decide the fate of your world.

Kingdom in the Sky - PC
8XbWhWk.png

https://twitter.com/damousey

Kingdom in the Sky is a city-builder/management-game about piecing together the scattered fragments of the world in order to build a prosperous new society amongst the clouds. Instead of exploring and building a city in a pre-existing landscape, you dispatch scouts to find new pieces of land which can then be rotated and fused together in order to form an ever expanding floating kingdom.

Halt - PC, Mac
B5doio5.gif

http://www.indiedb.com/games/halt

HALT is a run-&-gun platform shooter about cops, soda, robots, and gangs. Welcome to the world's first privately owned law enforcement.

Bevontule - Free demo (PC)
RipperCave.png

http://www.bevontule.com/

Bevontule is an upcoming tactical turn-based RPG that layers innovative mechanics atop classic role-playing elements, presenting a compelling, deep and mature storyline detailing the tumultuous history of a world and its continent.

Luna City - PC, Mac
img1.png

http://www.indiedb.com/games/luna-city-codename-39

A dark cyberpunk adventure game
Uncover the darkest mystery of all: your past. A man without memory but with an hyperadvanced computer in his brain tries to discover who he is and why someone wants him dead.

Relic Hunters Legend - PC, Mac
CqVSLcZWYAAh9QU.jpg

https://twitter.com/markventurelli

The sequel to Relic Hunters Zero now with online multiplayer

Sapu - ????
vA3V81Z.jpg

http://sapugame.com/

Play as a supernaturally gifted young boy and save humanity from evil that endangers the world. Explore ruined world and develop your elemental magic skills, to fight against the most creepy beasts you can imagine!

Previously Mentioned

Beacon

Desolus

Polyball

Drift Stage

Death Trash
 
Flatshot - Free alpha (PC, Mac)
tumblr_ob4c85S6rx1si4jeeo2_1280.gif

http://flatshot.rosalilastudio.com/

Flatshot is a shmup with minimalist flat aesthetics
With only 8 directional movement and a a single action button we achieved a deep gameplay experience

Red Void - Free (PC)
tumblr_obsz56gLqY1si4jeeo4_r1_500.gif

https://nathanednave.itch.io/red-void

Red Void is a fast paced 6-DOF shooter inspired by Descent and Vanquish

Inversus - $14.99 (PC, PS4)
1v1_Diamond_Combat.png

http://www.inversusgame.com/

The playfield looks simple at first glance, but once the action begins, complexity unfolds at a rapid pace. INVERSUS is a negative-space shooter for one to four friends. Player movement is constrained to opposite colors of a black and white grid. My walls are your paths and your walls are my paths. Each shot flips tile colors in an attempt to block, trap and close in on the enemy. Firing a bullet opens up a path for you while also closing off a path for me. Both online and local couch play are supported.

Giga Wrecker - $14.99 (PC)
ss_67655cb4e5d48353e304d521fff1e89f98d257c5.1920x1080.jpg

http://store.steampowered.com/app/454410/

GIGA WRECKER is a 2D puzzle-platform action game developed and published by Game Freak. You play as a cyborg girl, who has the power of reconstructing debris and scraps into various weapons, and explore a world invaded by an army of mysterious robots.
 

BTA

Member
Event[0] seems really neat and has been on my radar for a bit, but September's the start of a flood of games I'm interested in coming out. Might be something I check out around Christmas, though if people start talking about it, I'll probably pick it up sooner.
 

chadskin

Member
Finished the first of three acts of Knee Deep today, what a lovely little game that seemingly flew under the radar since its release last year.

You play as a celebrity blogger, a journalist and a private investigator to dig into the story of Hollywood movie star Tag Kern's apparent suicide in a small town in Florida. It's set up like a theatre stage play (including gasps from the audience whenever something shocking just occurred on stage!) and takes you from scene to scene where you talk to locals, the police and others to find out more about the alleged suicide and all the other mysterious ongoings in Cypress Knee.

romana_interrogation.gif


After you've talked to one or more persons, you file a story / report - either for the celebrity blog, the newspaper or the contractor who hired you as a private investigator - based on a specific angle of the story you want to focus on (money, sex, et al.). There, you also have to put a spin on the story ('cautious', 'edgy', 'inflammatory'). For instance, if you put out an inflammatory piece on the blog about Tag Kern and his girlfriend's sex life, the girlfriend will react accordingly when you talk to her the next time.

It's basically a slimmed-down Telltale-style game without QTEs or point-and-click segments, and I've only encountered two very easy puzzles so far.

Jim Sterling did a review of the first act last year, he liked it more than (the first episode of) Life is Strange (which I don't agree with but anyway):
Knee Deep, Act One: Wonderland at least has me hooked for the second installment, so it’s doing plenty right. Despite its missed opportunities, it still manages to entertain, and I’m eager to find out more about Cypress Knee’s sinister secrets. Hell, I dig it a lot more than Life Is Strange, I can say that much.
http://www.thejimquisition.com/knee-deep-act-one-wonderland-review/

One of his biggest criticisms - the lack of voice acting - was thankfully addressed with a patch a while ago. It's not going to win any prizes but it's serviceable and definitely better than no voice acting at all.

Can't say much for the two other acts yet but if you like these narrative-driven games like the ones from Telltale, Quantic Dream or Dontnod, it's worth checking out the demo on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/371300/

It was also announced for PS4 and Xbox One earlier this year (announce trailer) and was supposed to be released in Q3 on these platforms but I haven't heard anything since.

 

ChryZ

Member
Sgt. Saturn is up on Greenlight, https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=747845732

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC3i1ztkXmE

Sgt. Saturn is a modern interpretation of the Gradius-style side scrolling space shooter, married to a platformer run'n'gun in the vein of Contra.

XQddtgA.gif


The procedurally generated map constantly scrolls to the right as you deal with an onslaught of different enemies and obstacles. You have two gun slots which can be swapped between at any point, or traded out for one of many new weapons that will drop periodically throughout your run.

Nzibp56.gif


Once you die, you are dead, but enemies explode into gems which can be collected to unlock perks and add new weapons to the drop mix for future runs.

1B22qE2.gif


We are trying to maintain an old-school, highscores and getting-better-at-the-game-based play, but we do want to take some of the concepts that we adore about new games and amalgamate the old-school things we like with the new-school things we love.

It's made by Cowboy Color, the dev posse behind Handsome Mr Frog!
 

Lo_Fi

Member
Hi everyone! I've been waiting a while to post in here, we hadn't nailed down our release date until recently. More_Badass said it's cool if I post about my game in here.

Four Sided Fantasy is a wordless, seamless puzzle game about screen wrap. So like in Pac-Man, when you move off the side of the screen and wrap around to the other side? That's the ability you have, but you can turn it on whenever. When I say seamless I mean that we took inspiration from film editing to focus on pacing, instead of waiting for load times at black screens. We use things such as jump cuts, dissolves, and foreground wipes to move the player from area to area. If you've played Thirty Flights of Loving then you'll know what I'm talking about (though we use editing techniques less than in 30FoL).

The game takes place over the course of a year, and tells a minimal story about a man and woman. You'll go through each season in the year, with a twist on the core mechanic for each area.

The game is about 1.5-2 hours long. I'm a big proponent of respecting the player's time, so the game is short and sweet. I'm proud of every moment in Four Sided Fantasy - every puzzle says something about the mechanic. No fluff.

We were successfully Kickstarted a couple years ago, and I've been working on it ever since. It comes out on August 30th, for PC, Mac, PS4, and Xbox One, at $9.99! I hope you all enjoy it :)

Here's our launch trailer that we released today:
Launch Trailer

And our website.

And some gifs!

FallToLedge03.gif

SplitScreenJump02.gif

Transition02.gif

ZoomOut02.gif


Let me know if you have any questions or anything!
 
Hi everyone! I've been waiting a while to post in here, we hadn't nailed down our release date until recently. More_Badass said it's cool if I post about my game in here.

Edit: forgot to actually tell you all what the game is! Writing it now.

Anyways, here's the game I'm working on. It comes out on August 30th!

Here's our launch trailer that we released today:
Launch Trailer

And our website.

And some gifs!

FallToLedge03.gif

SplitScreenJump02.gif

Transition02.gif

ZoomOut02.gif


Let me know if you have any questions or anything!
Conngrats! I still remember rushing to back it after playing The Fourth Wall and realizing you worked on Perspective

And never forget how insane your KS success was

dailypledges.png
 

Lo_Fi

Member
Conngrats! I still remember rushing to back it after playing The Fourth Wall and realizing you worked on Perspective

And never forget how insane your KS success was

dailypledges.png

Wooo boy, I'll never forget about that. Fun fact: the night before the last day of the Kickstarter, me and my friends went and got dinner and were talking basically as if the Kickstarter failed. And then we made it. Thanks for making that possible! :)

I have a friend who recently ran her own Kickstarter for a game she's working on, and she recently broke our record (if you can call it that):

dailypledges.png
 

swarley64

Member
I just wrapped up The Flame in the Flood. It's a great concept but it doesn't really meet its potential. The inventory and crafting systems are clunky and I constantly had way too much stuff even after I maxed out the inventory. I've honestly played games where managing your inventory was compelling (Neo Scavenger comes to mind), but in this game it just seemed frustrating. Still a good game mind you, but flawed.
 
Nocturnal Hunt - PC
NH_Attack.png

http://nocturnalhunt.com/

Nocturnal Hunt is a dark first person action-stealth game for PC/Mac with Mouse/Keyboard or Controller. The player becomes a wolf in a forest full of deadly hunters and starts its way to find its lost cub.

Metrico+ - $13.99 (PC, Mac)
metrico+_screenshot2_1280x720.png

http://www.metrico-game.com/

Metrico+ is an input-driven game in a world of infographics. All the bar charts, line diagrams and pie charts react to what you are doing. Metrico+ is a combination of exploration, skill, experimentation, but most of all: thinking outside of the box.
 

baconcow

Member
Picked up Vagante and Catacomb Kids, recently. Both great and quite different. Dev for Catacomb Kids has a live dev Stream on Monday's that is quite worth watching for those interested in the game or the mind of a dev.

Had a beta for Balhalla that I tried to get running for over a month, but was always stuck in an update queue and wouldn't download. Seems the game is out now.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Unless something major comes out of the blue, got my next three games lined up. Looking at Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Tahira, and Event[0]

Redout is coming out next week too, but I can't run that
 
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