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The XNA Indie Games Official Thread

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A

Anso

Member
Will DEFINITELY demo Space Milkman. Looks tasty.

In other news, some great stuff coming together for the Artoon re-release (still currently Artzy, Oscar didn't fancy Angryball no Bounce Bounce Monogatari as much as I did). Hopefully I'll have a teaser video to show you tonight, have to get back to making more music for the re-release though *hint hint*
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Anso said:
Will DEFINITELY demo Space Milkman. Looks tasty.

In other news, some great stuff coming together for the Artoon re-release (still currently Artzy, Oscar didn't fancy Angryball no Bounce Bounce Monogatari as much as I did). Hopefully I'll have a teaser video to show you tonight, have to get back to making more music for the re-release though *hint hint*
Click to expand...
I really like the suggestion of Artune above, if that's not still too similar to Artoon.
 
A

Anso

Member
toythatkills said:
I really like the suggestion of Artune above, if that's not still too similar to Artoon.
Click to expand...

Artune sounds good but looks a bit iffy spelled out AND it has nothing to do with the gameplay or music as one might think from the title.. We're still on the look-out though!
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Space Milkman looks better than it plays. It's exactly the kind of thing I want to see on the service but the controls are a little off, I feel. I didn't really get on with the dive-forward thing to get through small gaps, etc.

Worth trialling though, I'm sure it's for some people.
 
A

Aaron

Member
toythatkills said:
Space Milkman looks better than it plays. It's exactly the kind of thing I want to see on the service but the controls are a little off, I feel. I didn't really get on with the dive-forward thing to get through small gaps, etc.

Worth trialling though, I'm sure it's for some people.
Click to expand...
Disagree completely. I thought the controls were spot on, and the dive mechanic adds some clever elements to what might have otherwise been a by the numbers platformer. Will definitely be buying it once I have some spare MS points.
 
N

N4Us

Member
Today I fired up ZP2K9 for the first time in months and was gladly surprised to see that there were still dozens of people playing online. For an indie game that's about nine months old, it has better online activity than some XBLA games I downloaded earlier than that.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
toythatkills said:
Space Milkman looks better than it plays. It's exactly the kind of thing I want to see on the service but the controls are a little off, I feel. I didn't really get on with the dive-forward thing to get through small gaps, etc.
Click to expand...

I totally agree about the game, but I actually like the diving through the gaps. I just don't like dealing with enemies; I don't feel like any of your attack options feel as good as they should!

Worth trialling though, I'm sure it's for some people.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
 
U

Urishizu

Member
a.jpg


b.jpg


Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjslc2NEUNc

Just sending a heads up that my project, Venatio Creo, has entered playtesting. It's basically a port of a Windows application I made about a year back while doing HCI research. You can construct simple games and give them functionality through a WYSIWYG interface. There is absolutely no written scripting required, making it immune to syntax errors.

Let me know if anyone decides to try it. I think it's sitting somewhere near the end of the playtesting section right now.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
So I've just started poking around with Indie games, and bought Miner Dig Deep. It is a lovely little hit of crack.

My daughter wants to play it as well, so I sign her in, but the dashboard is telling me I have to sign in to Xbox Live to play it. WTF? Can I make her a Silver account, or can only Gold accounts play Indie Games? I dug around on the xbox.com Indie Games page and didn't find anything about restrictions on who can play games I've purchased.
 
Dr. Zoidberg

Dr. Zoidberg

Member
GhaleonEB said:
My daughter wants to play it as well, so I sign her in, but the dashboard is telling me I have to sign in to Xbox Live to play it. WTF? Can I make her a Silver account, or can only Gold accounts play Indie Games?
Click to expand...

You have to be signed into Live.

Rlan said:
Nope, you need to be online. This is how they get around the lack of ESRB ratings.
Click to expand...

I'm fairly certain a Silver account will work fine. I don't know how age restrictions play into it, though.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Dr. Zoidberg said:
You have to be signed into Live.

I'm fairly certain a Silver account will work fine. I don't know how age restrictions play into it, though.
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Okay, thanks.

Now I'm trying promote my child's profile to a Silver account, following these directions.

Problem: it asks for an email and password. I give it my Live ID combo, and it says they're already being used. Well, no shit. They're mine, and I'm trying to promote a child's profile. Needless to say, my seven year old does not have her own email account. Is the system telling me I have to sign her up for an email account before I can sign her up for a Silver Live account, before she can play an Indie game (I already purchased)?

I haven't dabbled in secondary Live accounts or profiles much and this is getting confusing. :\
 
Dr. Zoidberg

Dr. Zoidberg

Member
GhaleonEB said:
Okay, thanks.

Now I'm trying promote my child's profile to a Silver account, following these directions.

Problem: it asks for an email and password.
Click to expand...

Just make a free e-mail account somewhere, write down the info, and then make a new Live ID and write that down. The kid can use them when they are older or not. It won't matter. Then follow those directions to get the silver activation.

Not that difficult or time consuming, but it might be worth a rant if you feel it's unwarranted.
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
chubigans said:
Just got a 4000 points card and got Miner Dig Deep.

"just one more time" ends up being two extra hours. :p

This game is awesome. Any other games that are similar on the Indie side (single player, meaty gameplay)?
Click to expand...
Just going back through the thread to find impressions of Miner Dig Deep. I'm sitting here at nearly midnight because "just one more run" chained into about a dozen. This game as the exlpore --> find loot --> sell loot --> buy stuff --> explore --> find better loot --> sell loot --> buy better stuff loop down to simple, distilled perfection. And on top of it, seeing the giant, sprawling ant farm of a mine take shape is surprisingly satisfying. I'm around 450 levels down and just want to keep on digging.

Quite possibly the best $1 I've ever spent. Not much for production values, but I'd have spent much more on the game gladly. It's the Kingdom for Kelflings of mining games.

(I'm working on getting my daughter a Silver account; her profile name is taken as GT so I'll let her pick her new one in the morning.)
 
M

Magni

Member
toythatkills said:
To be fair, it looks very well done for what it is
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Yeah, it's not done bad. But those who are already into the Bible and stuff like that probably already have one at home. Maybe they'll buy this one as well by sympathy.

It's more well done then this at least.

Visions_Kourion_600x450.jpg


13337_313515865231_117145825231_9926637_2385924_n.jpg


Although this isn't an XNA game, it's a Christian MMORPG.
 
A

Anso

Member
mujun said:
When the hell are the Dream Build Play games hitting?!?

I really want to give that Chinese made beat-em up a try.
Click to expand...

Kaleidoscope is pretty much done, we're just holding it off until people get really tired of MW2 (i.e. never). The plan is in a week or two.
 
M

mujun

Member
Anso said:
Kaleidoscope is pretty much done, we're just holding it off until people get really tired of MW2 (i.e. never). The plan is in a week or two.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely check it out when it hits the marketplace.
 
A

AzBat

Member
MagniHarvald said:
Bible Navigator

This should be a huge success on GAF.
Click to expand...

I believe it won't pass peer review because the Bible contains prohibited content. Personally I'd like to see it pass, because it's a work of art, but I doubt very seriously peer reviewers will look at it that way. Sad.
 
U

Urishizu

Member
My project, Venatio Creo, is now up on peer review. If anyone here has a chance, please spend some time and give me a pass/fail. Let me know if you have any feedback.
 
chixdiggit

chixdiggit

Member
Beat Hazard is my favorite XNA game to date. Fun way to listen to your own music.

Dr Zhivago said:
I tried Beat Hazard, I wasn't convinced the music was influencing the gameplay at all.
Click to expand...

The game actually works very well. Try playing some tunes with distinct beats. The bullets from the ship actually change in power depending on the beat.
 
P

Pharoah

Member
RadarScope1 said:
Dear Arkedo,

The uber-hard robots stage is a whole lotta bullshit. Rest of the game was great, though.:D
Click to expand...

Dear RadarScope1,

Yeah, that level is ridiculous, sorry about that.
Nelson-Ha!.gif
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Pharoah said:
Dear RadarScope1,

Yeah, that level is ridiculous, sorry about that.
Nelson-Ha!.gif
Click to expand...

I tried it about fifty times. a few times I got to the top-right part where you go down into the little cave with the bats. Once I got out of that cave and into the final top-right crab segment. :(
 
StAidan

StAidan

Member
Well, after 9 months of lots and lots of free-time development, I finally got my solo project up and released: Aesop's Garden!

If you have any interest in retro, NES-style games, and/or enjoyed the Adventures of Lolo games back in the day, this game is probably for you :)

boxart_marketplace.jpg


Demo's available here:
http://bit.ly/3joXXS

I'd seriously appreciate any feedback you guys have on the game.
 
N

Noogy

Member
StAidan said:
Well, after 9 months of lots and lots of free-time development, I finally got my solo project up and released: Aesop's Garden!
Click to expand...

Congrats ;) It's one of my favorite titles on the service, and was a joy to test. I highly recommend it.
 
O

Oli

Registered User
StAidan said:
Well, after 9 months of lots and lots of free-time development, I finally got my solo project up and released: Aesop's Garden!

If you have any interest in retro, NES-style games, and/or enjoyed the Adventures of Lolo games back in the day, this game is probably for you :)


Demo's available here:
http://bit.ly/3joXXS

I'd seriously appreciate any feedback you guys have on the game.
Click to expand...

It looks pretty cool. I put the trial in my download queue, I'll let you know my impressions later. :)
 
chixdiggit

chixdiggit

Member
StAidan said:
: Aesop's Garden!


I'd seriously appreciate any feedback you guys have on the game.
Click to expand...

Nice job on the 8 bit feel. Whats the deal with the carrots? Are they hidden on some levels?

You should really drop the price to 80 points though. Not saying it's not worth the 240 but I think a lot of people will look at the screen shots and not even try the game for 240.
 
O

Oli

Registered User
StAidan said:
Well, after 9 months of lots and lots of free-time development, I finally got my solo project up and released: Aesop's Garden!

If you have any interest in retro, NES-style games, and/or enjoyed the Adventures of Lolo games back in the day, this game is probably for you :)

Demo's available here:
http://bit.ly/3joXXS

I'd seriously appreciate any feedback you guys have on the game.
Click to expand...

OK, my impressions:

I like the look of the game, very genuine NES feel going there. Reminds me a lot of Adventures of Lolo. My only complaint I have right now is that there doesn't seem to be any indication of where the weeds will grow before you spray the garden, and as a result you can unknowingly dig yourself into a hole by pushing a block where it doesn't belong.

Otherwise I thought it was pretty fun. The puzzles were already pretty challenging.
 
StAidan

StAidan

Member
chixdiggit said:
Nice job on the 8 bit feel. Whats the deal with the carrots? Are they hidden on some levels?
Click to expand...
They aren't hidden, but they don't really come into play until around level 25. I thought about hiding the indicator until then (and probably should have).

chixdiggit said:
You should really drop the price to 80 points though. Not saying it's not worth the 240 but I think a lot of people will look at the screen shots and not even try the game for 240.
Click to expand...
I was pretty torn on the price. On the one hand I was mindful of the super-retro look, but on the other I didn't want to devalue the amount of playtime that the game offers (quite a few hours to beat all 60 levels, when you don't know the solutions ahead of time). In the end I went with not underselling on the length of gameplay.

Oli said:
My only complaint I have right now is that there doesn't seem to be any indication of where the weeds will grow before you spray the garden, and as a result you can unknowingly dig yourself into a hole by pushing a block where it doesn't belong.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's something I thought might come up in feedback. The levels are generally designed in a way that you can avoid backing yourself into a corner, but there might be a few exceptions that I missed. (For instance, when the scarecrows start showing up, there are sprouts that obviously have no chance of being weeds because there are no safe ways to reach them. So you know that you're OK to push a block onto that space.)

Oli said:
Otherwise I thought it was pretty fun. The puzzles were already pretty challenging.
Click to expand...
Cool :) Thanks for the comments, they are much appreciated and will give me some stuff to consider when I start planning updates to the game.
 
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