Support NeoGAF

[Toma]

Voting thread up!
Link to the Voting Thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=734961

In short:
Rank your top 20 PC Indie Games you played last year (check the previous monthly threads if you want to remember what we played here), feel free to give the same rank to multiple games, like:

1. Game XY
2. Game ÖZ
2. Game GA
2. Game XD
5. Game XT
6. Game HT

Feel free to include a second list with the ranks 21-50 in the same manner, but the second list is not needed for the voting.

Also, make sure to post about why you think certain games deserve the votes, to convince others to try a game or to remind them of a certain game. We covered ~500 games last year, so its easy to miss one or two great ones. I would also suggest subscribing to the voting thread to be informed about others writing up their impressions/why this game was awesome-posts.

Repost.

 

[One Foul Note]

Promise I'll post up my votes tomorrow Toma. I've a super bad memory so I'm letting the other indie kids post up their votes first so I can see/remember what came out.

 

[Shadow Hog]

Theeeeere's no way I've played 20 indie games in 2013.

Let's see, what can I remember:

The Stanley Parable
Antichamber
Dust: An Elysian Tail (DNF, but I'd like to)
Rise of the Triad (I'm pretty sure it's indie - not like Apogee's a big-name publisher anymore - but I don't think it counts for the list)
Naya's Quest

...um... that's all I recall. Freedom Planet alphas don't count, that's a 2014 game I'm just privy to the development of. I did buy Full Bore, but I haven't played it yet.

Guess I'll have to sit that thread out.

 

[Toma]

Promise I'll post up my votes tomorrow Toma. I've a super bad memory so I'm letting the other indie kids post up their votes first so I can see/remember what came out.

Feel free to take your time with the list, the voting is up until 19th january. Still plenty of time to play some games that others were recommending if you missed some particular games.

 

[More_Badass]

Feel free to take your time with the list, the voting is up until 19th january. Still plenty of time to play some games that others were recommending if you missed some particular games.

And/or time to buy some during the Christmas sale

 

[One Foul Note]

Feel free to take your time with the list, the voting is up until 19th january. Still plenty of time to play some games that others were recommending if you missed some particular games.

Ohh, the 19 of January. I was having a bit of a muppet moment when I looked at that that voting thread and thought the deadline was the 19 of December, a few days time. Glad I was wrong, this should at least give me the excuse to give The Swapper a go.

 

[Gazoinks]

Finished Zeno Clash and went right to 2. Man, I liked Zeno Clash, but 2 fixes almost all of my issues with the original so far (disjointed world, at times simplistic combat, repetitive heavy enemy fights, etc.). Well done ACE!

 

[PandaPedinte]

I started to work in my GOTY list and how am I supposed to rank all these awesome games? D:
Toma was right it's going to be an herculean task.

Edit: List made now I need to put the games in the positions but it's work for when I wake up xD. Also reading the old indie threads is an nice experience seeing all these games in the Upcoming section that got released.

 

[More_Badass]

Giving our own Raonak a shout out

Nax of the Universe is an Action RPG that focuses on having a fast, fluid and deep combat engine.

Nax combines the stylish combat, usually found in the Devil May Cry series with an RPG framework, including gaining experience, leveling up and finding loot, to give additional satisfaction to the combat.

A NEW alpha demo of the game is available, 2 levels, 3 weapons, 5 enemy types, shop system, controller support, and more.

Im going to be Kickstarting it soon, so thoughts, opinions and any sort of feedback is appreciated.

 

[Toma]

I am honestly a bit surprised to not see Factorio at all in these voting lists so far (even has a free demo). Need to put up a good post about it later.

 

[Messofanego]

Made a thread for that new RESET gameplay, holy crap so gorgeous

http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=735593

 

[One Foul Note]

I am honestly a bit surprised to not see Factorio at all in these voting lists so far (even has a free demo). Need to put up a good post about it later.

It's likely gonna be on my IGOTY, (although in my current list it is at rank 20 so it's not getting a massive amount of points.)

 

[Toma]

It's likely gonna be on my IGOTY, (although in my current list it is at rank 20 so it's not getting a massive amount of points.)

Random aside, they added a lot and polished it massively since the initial release. Definitely need to replay it one of these days.

 

[OnPoint]

We've been hard at work on a full version of Shutshimi, which I'm ready to start talking about. I'm pretty excited about it, we've put a lot of work into it since the Ludum Dare entry in the summer.

Here is the debut trailer.

Here's our website.

We're planning to sell it for one dollar for Windows and through XBLIG. Pretty soon, too, though we don't have a solid date just yet. It's just about done.

 

[klinkcow]

Here...we...go!:

1. GONE HOME - Easily, one of the best experiences I've ever had on my PC
2. Stanley Parable
3. Antichamber
4. Gunpoint
5. Thirty Flights of Loving
6. The Swapper
7. Rogue Legacy
8. Proteus
9. Outer Wilds
10. Tesselation
11. Mirrormoon EP
12. Dys4ia
13. Against the Wall
14. King of the Wood
15. Little Inferno
16. Cart Life
17. Risk of Rain
18. 6180 the Moon
19. Slave of God - Though, I'm not sure I survived it
20. Beyond Perception

The game I clearly need to play but haven't: Papers Please

The game I am not seeing on enough lists: Antichamber

I loved the concept of this game, but it was too hard for me: La Mulana

 

[Hofmann]

Made a thread for that new RESET gameplay, holy crap so gorgeous

http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=735593

Some quality stuff coming from indies today.

The team behind The Vanishing of Ethan Carter released the first in-game footage from the game:

More can be found here.

 

[Toma]

Here...we...go!

Wrong thread

 

[More_Badass]

Desura, no, Brutal Legend is not an indie game
http://www.desura.com/games/brutal-legend

 

[rybrad]

Desura, no, Brutal Legend is not an indie game
http://www.desura.com/games/brutal-legend

The game was made by Double Fine, the IP is now owned by Double Fine and the publishing is handled by Double Fine. If your issue is that EA paid for the game development originally then we need to go ahead and get rid of a shit load of games from these threads that were funded by Microsoft and Sony via exclusivity deals before the devs got rights to publish on PC.

Edit: Actually it looks like I am wrong on the owning part, they just have PC publishing rights. Still a tough sell because they did all the work on the PC port self funded and this for the PC version.

 

[Toma]

The game was made by Double Fine, the IP is now owned by Double Fine and the publishing is handled by Double Fine. If your issue is that EA paid for the game development originally then we need to go ahead and get rid of a shit load of games from these threads that were funded by Microsoft and Sony via exclusivity deals before the devs got rights to publish on PC.

No need to bring out the axes, gentlemen

I agree though, as I've said multiple times before: If in doubt, it counts.

 

[rybrad]

No need to bring out the axes, gentlemen

I agree though, as I've said multiple times before: If in doubt, it counts.

I am not trying to start a fight here or anything of the like so sorry if it comes off that way. I just think the definition of what makes a game indie should lean toward inclusive rather than exclusive. In this particular case, Double Fine is getting profit from the game to make their future games which are definitely indie.

 

[Toma]

I am not trying to start a fight here or anything of the like so sorry if it comes off that way. I just think the definition of what makes a game indie should lean toward inclusive rather than exclusive. In this particular case, Double Fine is getting profit from the game to make their future games which are definitely indie.

Dont even know why it matters. Desura is free to sell Call of Duty for all I care as long as they still keep the Indie releases they are having atm

 

[klinkcow]

Wrong thread

Dammit, and I even wanted to make sure I got that part right...

...must have opened too many tabs.

 

[CzarTim]

Dammit, and I even wanted to make sure I got that part right...

...must have opened too many tabs.

One time I accidently posted "hockey sucks" in the hockey thread instead of the olympics thread and I got banned for a month. So consider yourself lucky!

 

[klinkcow]

One time I accidently posted "hockey sucks" in the hockey thread instead of the olympics thread and I got banned for a month. So consider yourself lucky!

haha, incredible.


sidenote: hockey rules

 

[ExFalsoQuodlibet]

Currently playing Risk of Rain

Either this game is absurdly hard or I'm doing it wrong

 

[PandaPedinte]

Currently playing Risk of Rain

Either this game is absurdly hard or I'm doing it wrong

It starts hard but once you unlock more items and get more familiar with the enemies you'll manage your way through the levels.

 

[Funky Functionality]

Currently playing Risk of Rain

Either this game is absurdly hard or I'm doing it wrong

I doubt you're doing it wrong. I've put an embarrassing number of hours on it without surviving the 3rd boss. Playing all solo, as it's too hard for any of my friends to enjoy.

Speaking of friends: efficiency. Efficiency is your best friend in this game. You have to learn how to combine your character's abilities such that you're constantly chaining attacks and destroying enemies with as little downtime as possible. You must do this while exploring/traversing the level as fast as you can to find as many items as possible in the shortest amount of time, and you must learn to recognize when you're just powerful enough to take on the boss.

Where the game loses me is how much pure dumb luck is involved with getting the right items early on. I can make it through levels 1 and 2 practically every time now, but if I haven't acquired a few of the more powerful items by then, I'm destined to fail level 3. Closest I've come to beating it is knocking the boss down to ~200 hp before the countless enemies overwhelmed me at that point.

My only hope now is that the Huntress character will be better for me than the Commando. I love the Engineer, but soloing with him hasn't worked out for me beyond level 2. I'm total garbage with the Enforcer.

It's a fun game, but it knows exactly how to piss me off. Good luck!

 

[PandaPedinte]

Ballpoint Universe was released on Steam today

Also:

Overgrowth - Early Access ($24.99)



http://store.steampowered.com/app/25000/

 

[More_Badass]

I don't remember if this was bought up here or in the Steam thread, but have any Early Access games progressed to full release? I can't think of any

 

[phantomspiker]

I don't remember if this was bought up here or in the Steam thread, but have any Early Access games progressed to full release? I can't think of any

State of Decay...that's all I can think of.

*EDIT* Don't Starve was also early access and it got a full release this year.

 

[rybrad]

Currently playing Risk of Rain

Either this game is absurdly hard or I'm doing it wrong

Are you having specific issues? I can probably offer some advice. I finished the game on Monsoon difficulty fairly easily so I might have some decent tips for you.

I doubt you're doing it wrong. I've put an embarrassing number of hours on it without surviving the 3rd boss. Playing all solo, as it's too hard for any of my friends to enjoy.

Speaking of friends: efficiency. Efficiency is your best friend in this game. You have to learn how to combine your character's abilities such that you're constantly chaining attacks and destroying enemies with as little downtime as possible. You must do this while exploring/traversing the level as fast as you can to find as many items as possible in the shortest amount of time, and you must learn to recognize when you're just powerful enough to take on the boss.

Where the game loses me is how much pure dumb luck is involved with getting the right items early on. I can make it through levels 1 and 2 practically every time now, but if I haven't acquired a few of the more powerful items by then, I'm destined to fail level 3. Closest I've come to beating it is knocking the boss down to ~200 hp before the countless enemies overwhelmed me at that point.

My only hope now is that the Huntress character will be better for me than the Commando. I love the Engineer, but soloing with him hasn't worked out for me beyond level 2. I'm total garbage with the Enforcer.

It's a fun game, but it knows exactly how to piss me off. Good luck!

Huntress is insanely OP, if you are having trouble it is definitely the easiest class to beat the game with.

 

[More_Badass]

A friend shared this link with me.
2012 - A Banner Year for Indie Games

How do you think 2013 compared?

 

[More_Badass]

Big game-changing Monaco update

http://epicbrew.net/2013/12/17/free-update-for-monaco-overhauls-the-entire-game/

Over the weekend, Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine developer, Pocketwatch Games, announced The Architect’s Patch. While it is called a “patch”, it is actually an overhaul to the entire game, making Monaco a more “streamlined” experience. The reason for the overhaul is that the developers felt that the single-player campaign simply took too long to beat, and they even made a fancy chart to prove their point.

The chart shows the number of leaderboard entries, per level. As you can see, the stats drop off significantly. The little spike in the middle comes from the secondary “The Lookout” campaign. This proves that only a very small number of players actually progressed all the way through the campaign.

“About 9.4% of people that finished the first level also finished the last level of the first campaign,” Pocketwatch Games explains in the announcement. “About 1.7% finished the last level of the second campaign.”

Pocketwatch Games wants those bars to line up as evenly as possible, since that would mean the same number of people played through the game, as the number of people who began playing. The quickest solution to achieve that goal was to trim the fat, and thus Pocketwatch Games found “huge parts of our least favorite levels unflinchingly slashed.”

The developers claimed it took anywhere from 20 to 50 hours to finish both of Monaco’s campaigns. According to data collected from Steam, by Pocketwatch Games, the average play session of Monaco players was only 36 minutes. The average total time players spent in the game: just over 14 hours.

The Architect’s Patch affects every single level within Monaco. However, the original forms of the levels will be available in a “Classic” (the new overhauled levels are called “Enhanced”) gameplay mode.

Other changes to the game include: tutorial level adjustments, addition of leaderboards for both Enhanced and Zombie modes, 3 new PvP missions, and new features like key-doors and “ass-cash” (they explained that one on Twitter).

The Architect’s Patch is out now for Monaco players on Steam and those who picked up the game through the Humble Bundle. Based on a response from the developers on their Facebook page, it does not look like the update will extend to the console versions of the game.

 

[Gazoinks]

Big game-changing Monaco update

http://epicbrew.net/2013/12/17/free-update-for-monaco-overhauls-the-entire-game/

Basically a director's cut DLC, I guess. Nice that they're giving it for free. My only problem is that it'll segment the playerbase some more since there'll be multiple versions of various levels.

 

[phantomspiker]

Big game-changing Monaco update

http://epicbrew.net/2013/12/17/free-update-for-monaco-overhauls-the-entire-game/

That's pretty interesting. I guess this is a great time to finally give it a fair spin.

 

[One Foul Note]

Big game-changing Monaco update

http://epicbrew.net/2013/12/17/free-update-for-monaco-overhauls-the-entire-game/

Hmmm, might be time for a repeat play through I think.

 

[ExFalsoQuodlibet]

Are you having specific issues? I can probably offer some advice. I finished the game on Monsoon difficulty fairly easily so I might have some decent tips for you.

Well, I still have only the commando character. I can do the first stage without much hassle, I have problems only if I get very bad items.

But I never passed the second stage, I always find myself more or less in the same situation: there's a bunch of monsters somewhere that I can basically cannot beat because if I confront them they'll crush me, they're too strong / too many / too fast and my firepower is limited despite the items. So I run away from those monster and explore the level a bit more. Sooner or later I encounter another bunch of monsters with the same overwhelming power, and by the time a boss arrives I'm basically surrounded.

For what I understand, the items you have are the most important thing, for example if I get the

Spoiler

tesla coil

and the

Spoiler

war banner

I have more possibilities when I'm surrounded, but somehow on the second stage nothing seems effective enough. To damage the monsters without being destroyed I have to shoot them from a distance, but the fact that I'm slower and cannot fire backwards (but only in the direction I'm currently pointing) means that I usually need to run away to stay alive.

I killed the

Spoiler

colossus

and the

Spoiler

lava worm

and I think that if I kill the

Spoiler

wandering vagrant

I'll unlock another character that maybe has more useful abilities.

About the commando, I'm thinking of basically ignoring the base pistol and shoot only with the shotgun, in a cycle like "evade to gain distance -> shootgun -> evade -> shotgun" to make the timers cool off, because the base pistol seems pretty useless on the second stage.

 

[Toma]

Big game-changing Monaco update

http://epicbrew.net/2013/12/17/free-update-for-monaco-overhauls-the-entire-game/

That wont save this game either. The problem werent the levels, it was the gameplay and overall game design, which felt incredibly derivative and boring.

 

[rybrad]

Well, I still have only the commando character. I can do the first stage without much hassle, I have problems only if I get very bad items.

Some general tips:

• Always prioritize healing items early on, this will make a much bigger difference than damage.
• Drones are extremely helpful, don't ignore them. Skip them if you are melee unless you have the drone repair kit use item.
• When spending money, try to prioritize shop (with an item you want) -> Chests -> Money Shrines.
• If you find the teleporter early, save your money for opening chests further away from the teleport. You will be able to quickly grab the chests by the teleport after the boss. Thinking about where resources are located and the order to grab them in order to save time while still getting max items is important.
• If enemies are around, always be using your skills and keep everything on cooldown.
• Very few enemies hurt you when touching them, only their attacks hurt you. You can run through enemies and jump at the same time to avoid some melee damage as well. Get used to doing this because once you switch from the Commando you won't be able to just invuln roll through huge groups anymore.
• The two god-tier classes (in my opinion) are Huntress and Acrid, you can unlock the Huntress really early by collecting monster logs.
• As you get further in the game, the difficulty timer will eventually max out before you beat the game. When it is maxed, take your time to farm and find everything in the level as the game can't get any harder at that point.
• Learn what the items are by sight so you don't waste money on something crappy like thorns.
• Don't fall into the mental trap of thinking you need X item to live/do well. While certain items do help quite a bit, you can beat the game on normal with very few items.

More specifically, since it sounds like you are having a hard time keeping up constant DPS while kiting, I would highly recommend switching to Huntress as soon as you unlock her. If there are no enemies in front of you, she will auto-target the enemies behind you. She should let you maintain higher DPS while still being able to avoid damage easily.

I would also recommend you start picking up some drones if you aren't already. Don't prioritize them over good items but if you get 3 or 4 up they can really help out, missile drones are especially helpful.

Edit: I will spoiler this since it involves how to unlock Acrid. He is one of the random chance unlocks so it is good to know ahead of time and always look for his spot.

Spoiler

If you get a level spawn with water in it, always check the upper right hand corner of the map. Acrid's crate has a chance to spawn there. If you see it, make surte you are full health because you will have to fight him to unlock him. Keep in mind if you decide to use him, he is not a spam character and takes finesse to maximize synergy between his skills.

 

[ExFalsoQuodlibet]

Some general tips:

• Always prioritize healing items early on, this will make a much bigger difference than damage.
• Drones are extremely helpful, don't ignore them. Skip them if you are melee unless you have the drone repair kit use item.
• When spending money, try to prioritize shop (with an item you want) -> Chests -> Money Shrines.
• If you find the teleporter early, save your money for opening chests further away from the teleport. You will be able to quickly grab the chests by the teleport after the boss. Thinking about where resources are located and the order to grab them in order to save time while still getting max items is important.
• If enemies are around, always be using your skills and keep everything on cooldown.
• Very few enemies hurt you when touching them, only their attacks hurt you. You can run through enemies and jump at the same time to avoid some melee damage as well. Get used to doing this because once you switch from the Commando you won't be able to just invuln roll through huge groups anymore.
• The two god-tier classes (in my opinion) are Huntress and Acrid, you can unlock the Huntress really early by collecting monster logs.
• As you get further in the game, the difficulty timer will eventually max out before you beat the game. When it is maxed, take your time to farm and find everything in the level as the game can't get any harder at that point.
• Learn what the items are by sight so you don't waste money on something crappy like thorns.
• Don't fall into the mental trap of thinking you need X item to live/do well. While certain items do help quite a bit, you can beat the game on normal with very few items.

More specifically, since it sounds like you are having a hard time keeping up constant DPS while kiting, I would highly recommend switching to Huntress as soon as you unlock her. If there are no enemies in front of you, she will auto-target the enemies behind you. She should let you maintain higher DPS while still being able to avoid damage easily.

I would also recommend you start picking up some drones if you aren't already. Don't prioritize them over good items but if you get 3 or 4 up they can really help out, missile drones are especially helpful.

I'm already doing most of the things you wrote, I guess I need to practice the abilities cooldown management, especially with the commando since the base ability, the pistol, seems basically useless to me. Also I need to practice avoiding enemy attacks more than avoiding enemy themselves, but it's not easy considering everything is so freaking small

The the idea of ignoring the chests near the teleport until you've done with the level seem neat, I'll try it.

Thorns are crappy? I thought it was one of the most useful items! See? I'm doing it wrong

Thanks for the advice, it's really appreciated

 

[rybrad]

I'm already doing most of the things you wrote, I guess I need to practice the abilities cooldown management, especially with the commando since the base ability, the pistol, seems basically useless to me. Also I need to practice avoiding enemy attacks more than avoiding enemy themselves, but it's not easy considering everything is so freaking small

The the idea of ignoring the chests near the teleport until you've done with the level seem neat, I'll try it.

Thorns are crappy? I thought it was one of the most useful items! See? I'm doing it wrong

Thanks for the advice, it's really appreciated

Just keep plugging away and get to know all of the enemies and items. The base attack for most classes is the weakest, it is just meant to be a filler between cooldowns for the most part. The damage does add up though so keep using it when your other damage abilities are refreshing. Huntress shouldn't take more than a few ok runs to get enough monster logs for the unlock and she should help you a lot.

As for thorns, they aren't the worst item in the game (that honor handily goes to headstompers), especially for melee chars, but if I had to choose between those and ? I would go ? every time.

 

[More_Badass]

This one is inspired by The Thing

Moments of Paranoia - Free (PC, Mac, Linux, Browser)

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-28/?action=preview&uid=29144

Your task is to attempt to find out which of the three of you stuck in a room filling with lethal gas is the shapeshifting alien that has seemingly replicated a human almost perfectly.

---
This one is inspired by Closure, here's the trailer

See You On The Other Side - Free (PC)

Direct Download (RAR)

See You On The Other Side" is a first-person puzzle game developed during 5th semester in Medialogy, Aalborg University (Denmark).
In the game, light and darkness play an important role. The game is developed using the Unity game engine. The player's goal is to escape a gloomy asylum/prison, to get to "the other side", by solving puzzles that utilize light and darkness.

---
Beyond - Free (PC, Mac)

http://fisher.ws/post/70396461505/play-beyond-here-download-pc-or-mac

Floating fragments gathered together to form something of a world.

 

[Messofanego]

Hey Hoffman, you might like Terry Cavanagh's Best of 2013

 

[daydream]

http://epicbrew.net/2013/12/17/free-update-for-monaco-overhauls-the-entire-game/

Based on a response from the developers on their Facebook page, it does not look like the update will extend to the console versions of the game.

This is becoming a disgusting trend (Sonic Transformed is another example) and nothing less than insulting to the console userbase. I'm not blaming the devs for this. At least not entirely.

Sucks big time.

 

[rybrad]

Our Darker Purpose sent out Steam keys for the beta for backers (and maybe pre-orders?) today and they say they are getting close to launch. The game features combat similar to Binding of Isaac but is more of an RPG style with persistent upgrades, perks, different paths through the game, etc... I have really enjoyed the time I spent with it and I absolutely love the art. You can see more screenshots and videos on their Greenlight page.

Woohoo different sized rooms!

Different paths to take with varying difficulty and rewards

Upgrades!

 

[Hofmann]

Hey Hoffman, you might like Terry Cavanagh's Best of 2013

Interesting list. Played four out of ten from it (I won, but only Blues for Mittavinda did something for me with its funky epilogue. Maybe it's symptomatic as I couldn't get into his games most of the times, as well. Still, he's a really smart guy, so I should probably check out his other picks.

 

[phantomspiker]

Our Darker Purpose sent out Steam keys for the beta for backers (and maybe pre-orders?) today and they say they are getting close to launch. The game features combat similar to Binding of Isaac but is more of an RPG style with persistent upgrades, perks, different paths through the game, etc... I have really enjoyed the time I spent with it and I absolutely love the art. You can see more screenshots and videos on their Greenlight page.

First time I've heard about it, love the art style.

 

[More_Badass]

Decided to start from the beginning and see what I missed. Game I checked out today was Back To Bed

It's a short Escher-inspired puzzler, with a pleasing art style and a simple but effective control scheme. The goal is to lead Bob through the abstract levels to his bed; he walks automatically, turning clockwise at obstructions so you must alter his path with objects to guide him to bed and not off the edge of the levels.

Short, but artistic and fun, it can be played in browser and I think it's worth a try

 

[daydream]

Game I checked out today was Back To Bed

Better correct the link before Toma gets all snarkypants about it.

I remember not particularly enjoying this one. The "Dream Man" narration doesn't do it for me and it's in desperate need of a rewind mechanic.