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[Nasreddin]

College Lacrosse 2010 is an awesome sports sim and out now. There are plenty people online and I had so much fun during the last hour although I never had any experience with the sport. Here is a gameplay video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl3jmwTOJus&feature=player_embedded

If you like sports you have to download this game. I would make an official thread if I could. This game deserves one.

 

[Kafel]

http://catalog.xna.com/en-US/GameDe...d=21949153-1473-48ae-8b49-e8386265b448&type=2

Looks fun. I hope it plays well.

 

[toythatkills]

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

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

I really enjoyed the trial of this. If I could buy it now I would, I'll have to wait a while for points unfortunately! The first eight levels didn't offer much of a challenge but I can definitely see the potential for things to get much harder and I'm looking forward to it. I adore single screen puzzle games like this.

Love the style, too, I hope that doesn't work against you sales-wise.

Congrats, basically, it's lovely

http://catalog.xna.com/en-US/GameDe...d=21949153-1473-48ae-8b49-e8386265b448&type=2

Looks fun. I hope it plays well.

It's OK. With leaderboards it would've been better though, as it is I didn't find there was much compulsion to carry on.

I can't decide if I like or dislike the Paper Mario style graphics...

 

[toythatkills]

Today sees the release of A Killer's Dream on XBLIG, with the description "some nightmares are real."

That could have been timed a helluva lot better.

 

[Anso]

Today sees the release of A Killer's Dream on XBLIG, with the description "some nightmares are real."

That could have been timed a helluva lot better.

1. I was sure his name was 'Camper van Brian'

2. I don't know if I should laugh or not at this :/

 

[Blizzard]

I don't know if this is the place to ask this, but is there any sort of GAF thread for games GAF people create in general, or more specifically, for PC indie games? I don't want to make a thread for my own game until it's more ready for general consumption, but if there was a thread I could post screenshots or something in, that'd be cool.

 

[gafster1]

Johnny Platform sequel is coming!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJYvD5s_R5Y

That looks fantastic. FFS MS, get me a good portable XNA-capable, Xbox LIVE-connected game machine!

 

[Noogy]

1. I was sure his name was 'Camper van Brian'
2. I don't know if I should laugh or not at this :/

Come on, there's no question about it. That's a horrible story I'm going to hug my wife a few extra times today.

 

[Azure Dream]

That's great news on a new Johnny Platform. That will probably be an instant buy.

For those that have downloaded it, Robot Hopper... nevermind the obvious Super Mario Bros. "inspired" blocks... is the main character Johnny 5, even down to the red tool box (or maybe a red version of his laser) on his shoulder?

College Lacrosse 2010 is an awesome sports sim and out now. There are plenty people online and I had so much fun during the last hour although I never had any experience with the sport. Here is a gameplay video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl3jmwTOJus&feature=player_embedded

If you like sports you have to download this game. I would make an official thread if I could. This game deserves one.

But where's my Snickers ads!? I need Old Spice to sponsor my replays! :lol

That does look really impressive for a community game, especially when I saw there was a replay feature.

 

[Anso]

Platypus is released for 400MS.
http://xboxindies.com/game/platypus

I have yet to try it but I sure as hell will. 400MS price tag will scare people away but I guess it's because of how hard it must've been to make the game.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Looks like a 2D shooter off of the Amiga.

Bah I might just have to break down and scope out a dirt cheap wifi adaptor for the 360.

 

[toythatkills]

I've bought Aesop's Garden now. It's brilliant. It's already getting tricky around level 15 so it should last me a while!

EDIT: I just made this post for elsewhere, so it may as well go here too. Better impressions:

Aesop's Garden is a lovely puzzle game. Really nice 8-bit visuals and sounds.

Aesop's prize-winning garden has been sabotaged by a jealous rival, Alistair August. Help Aesop find and destroy the weeds that threaten to keep him from maintaining his winning streak!

On each level, you've got three objectives, the first is to get to the sprinkler and turn it on to make all the plants in the garden grow.

Next, you have to walk around the level and collect all the weeds that have grown, as shown below in the top right corner.

That's a screen from the level editor by the way. There's a level editor.

For your third task, you have to make it to the exit.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, streams, bushes, the sprinkler itself and boxes all stand in your way. Brown boxes can be pushed around one square at a time, and icey boxes can be pushed but will keep sliding until they hit something, it's an icey box, you've played a game before, right? If an icey box comes into contact with a stream, it falls in and creates a bridge.

That can get tricky enough, but later levels also introduce enemies. If you come into the same line as a scarecrow it'll attack you and you'll lose - so now you have to use boxes to block them off as well as create bridges, etc.

There are also boss fights.

Boss fights in a puzzle game sounds like a terrible idea, but they're not. They actually still rely on the puzzle mechanics to solve them so it doesn't suddenly become an action game or anything.

It's really good.

Trailer

It's 240points which I'm sure will put people off when they see the 8-bit visuals, but you really shouldn't let it. It's an excellent game.

Trial it now!

 

[xbhaskarx]

Platypus is released for 400MS.
http://xboxindies.com/game/platypus

Bought.

 

[Noogy]

Bought.

Just out of personal curiosity, did the 400p pricetag sway you much? I personally find the game to be top tier, and am anticipating sales data for such a 'relatively' high priced indie title.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Just out of personal curiosity, did the 400p pricetag sway you much? I personally find the game to be top tier, and am anticipating sales data for such a 'relatively' high priced indie title.

Obviously I'm more likely to buy an Indie Game at 240 than at 400, and at 80 than at 240.
Because it's 400, I played the trial version first. I was enjoying it when the time ran out, so I bought it and continued playing.
I think the price tag will definitely discourage some people.

 

[Diablohead]

Just out of personal curiosity, did the 400p pricetag sway you much? I personally find the game to be top tier, and am anticipating sales data for such a 'relatively' high priced indie title.

If the game is worth it i'm willing to pay it, space milkman is easily worth 400 points also but at 240 it's a bargin.

 

[Anso]

Just out of personal curiosity, did the 400p pricetag sway you much? I personally find the game to be top tier, and am anticipating sales data for such a 'relatively' high priced indie title.

I think the pricetag will discourage people, especially considering a shooter is often a game that is "short" in the eyes of the common man. That's obviously total bullshit if you know anything about shmups but still, I fear Platypus will do badly

 

[acm2000]

if it helps, i wouldnt pay 400 for any indie game

Spoiler

unless MS allows achievements

80pts is my sweet spot, would have to be very special for me to buy a 240pt game

 

[Diablohead]

if it helps, i wouldnt pay 400 for any indie game

Spoiler

unless MS allows achievements

I would spend more money on them if they had some.

 

[Anso]

I would spend more money on them if they had some.

Very VERY true and, if Microsoft cares, the next logical step.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Very VERY true and, if Microsoft cares, the next logical step.

It would be nice for players and the "good" indie devs but as has been discussed before, there is too much opportunity for abuse in this non-regulated channel for them to do this. Besides, it further encroaches on the benefits of becoming a full XBLA developer. The problems just outweigh the risks, IMO.

 

[xbhaskarx]

It would be nice for players and the "good" indie devs but as has been discussed before, there is too much opportunity for abuse in this non-regulated channel for them to do this. Besides, it further encroaches on the benefits of becoming a full XBLA developer. The problems just outweigh the risks, IMO.

Yeah the achievement thing is just not going to happen, and for good reason.

 

[Nasreddin]

It would be nice for players and the "good" indie devs but as has been discussed before, there is too much opportunity for abuse in this non-regulated channel for them to do this. Besides, it further encroaches on the benefits of becoming a full XBLA developer. The problems just outweigh the risks, IMO.

I do not see any opportunity for abuse. The proper use of achievements could be checked in peer review.

 

[barkers crest]

Yeah the achievement thing is just not going to happen, and for good reason.

I felt the same way about Avatars being released to the Indie devs, then BAM, there they are!!!

With the introduction of Avatars it has came clear to me that the peer review system is working out great and sets up well for achievments...and hopefully down the road Avatar Awardables...etc.

What the hell is barkers crest talking about?

Basically, all I'm saying is if the argument against achievments is abuse of the system ( which is something we all made up and is not the official microsoft word ), then by that token Avatars would not be available and on top of that Indie games in general...as putting out a game or avatars that represents the XBOX in a negative light is far more damaging ( risky ) than achievment abuse. ( Although some could argue a game slipping through that has naked women in it getting on the 10:00 news would be better for the XBox press wise aka GTA Hot Coffee)

Thanks to the tenacity of some XNA MVP's along with some of the dedicated/diligent reviewers the chances of a game passing through review that violates the Terms Of Service is slim.

So, what they could do is release a small amount of achievments to the developers along with Terms of Service that prevent abuse. Don't want a "buy this game and get easy points" on the service, don't allow points for simply purchasing the game in the TOS. There is a giant list of do's and don'ts for Avatars so a similar list for achievments makes sense.

I suspect the reason achievments are not available yet or if they ever will be is more of a technical issue than any other potential issue.

But first, I wouldn't mind some server persisted leaderboards instead of the peer-to-peer stuff we have to do now.....

 

[Anso]

I felt the same way about Avatars being released to the Indie devs, then BAM, there they are!!!

With the introduction of Avatars it has came clear to me that the peer review system is working out great and sets up well for achievments...and hopefully down the road Avatar Awardables...etc.

What the hell is barkers crest talking about?

Basically, all I'm saying is if the argument against achievments is abuse of the system ( which is something we all made up and is not the official microsoft word ), then by that token Avatars would not be available and on top of that Indie games in general...as putting out a game or avatars that represents the XBOX in a negative light is far more damaging ( risky ) than achievment abuse. ( Although some could argue a game slipping through that has naked women in it getting on the 10:00 news would be better for the XBox press wise aka GTA Hot Coffee)

Thanks to the tenacity of some XNA MVP's along with some of the dedicated/diligent reviewers the chances of a game passing through review that violates the Terms Of Service is slim.

So, what they could do is release a small amount of achievments to the developers along with Terms of Service that prevent abuse. Don't want a "buy this game and get easy points" on the service, don't allow points for simply purchasing the game in the TOS. There is a giant list of do's and don'ts for Avatars so a similar list for achievments makes sense.

I suspect the reason achievments are not available yet or if they ever will be is more of a technical issue than any other potential issue.

But first, I wouldn't mind some server persisted leaderboards instead of the peer-to-peer stuff we have to do now.....

I agree with everything this man has just said. Level up.

 

[Diablohead]

If achievements were to ever appear, and to stop whoring out easy achievements like king kong and avatar :lol maybe they could set a few ground rules such as the game must be more then 80 points, only 5 achievements compared to 12 on arcade releases, total of 50 points, must be checked by someone at microsoft in the processing part before making it's way to the online store.

Just off the top of my head, but I would love to see them featured in indie games.

 

[EscapingJail]

Why not just allow achievements but for no points. 10 achievements, 0 point total. Or maybe something small like 10 point total.

But that would seem to solve the problem of abuse.

EDIT: lol I seem to have been beat

 

[Snuggles]

Have you guys tried any of the music games on XNA? I played the demo for that Emuze game, it seemed pretty cool, you could make beats and stuff but it's priced a little high for an indie game.

In regahds to the achievement issue, I think it would be a good idea to allow them to have something small like 50gs, if anything it would boost sales with all the achievement whores buying up all the games just to get the points.

 

[Mr_Furious]

Platypus is released for 400MS.
http://xboxindies.com/game/platypus

I have yet to try it but I sure as hell will. 400MS price tag will scare people away but I guess it's because of how hard it must've been to make the game.

Nice! Buying this as soon as I get home tonight

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Man, Platypus is awesome.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I do not see any opportunity for abuse. The proper use of achievements could be checked in peer review.

I don't see much evidence that peer review does anything other than make sure the game a) does not crash, and b) does not break any of the major rules. There is plenty of garbage flowing out that should not be allowed on the service at all due to poor quality. It's probably set up in this way on purpose because judgments on quality (and potentially on what constitutes achievement "abuse") are very subjective.

I suspect the reason achievements are not available yet or if they ever will be is more of a technical issue than any other potential issue.

I think you are probably right. I was also thinking about how much of a toll on the system as a whole (XBL, not the hardware) it would take to add hundreds of tiny little games with 10-50 points each to everybody's lists and also whether the infrastructure for indie games could even easily support it as it's currently designed.

must be checked by someone at microsoft in the processing part before making it's way to the online store.

I'm pretty sure this is the thing they want to avoid with the Indie channel, and it's a primary factor if abuse truly is a prime concern.


Look, I'm not against achievements in Indie games, but I just don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

[gafster1]

There is plenty of garbage flowing out that should not be allowed on the service at all due to poor quality.

That's not the purpose of the Peer Review. No one -- not MS nor the Peer Panels -- should be giving a "go" vs "no-go" based on a subjective opinion like "quality".

That's the point of having Indy games an Open Publishing platform, it defeats the purpose.

The community, market and industry press helps provide guidence for buyers, and that helps do the "quality control".

tldr: Make bad game == no sales.

 

[FateBreaker]

Achievements in indie games need to happen. I don't see why not.

80msp = 2 achievements, 20 points total
240msp = 5, 50 points total
400msp = 10, 100 points total.

or something

What is so difficult about this?

 

[xbhaskarx]

That's not the purpose of the Peer Review. No one -- not MS nor the Peer Panels -- should be giving a "go" vs "no-go" based on a subjective opinion like "quality".

That's the point of having Indy games an Open Publishing platform, it defeats the purpose.

The community, market and industry press helps provide guidence for buyers, and that helps do the "quality control".

tldr: Make bad game == no sales.

That's fine in theory. Unfortunately many of the bad Indie Games seem to sell better than the good ones. Not that removing low quality games is the answer... Microsoft, the gaming press, and the community need to do a better job of providing guidance.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Achievements in indie games need to happen. I don't see why not.

80msp = 2 achievements, 20 points total
240msp = 5, 50 points total
400msp = 10, 100 points total.

or something

What is so difficult about this?

So every random 400 point Indie Game having the same achievement points as a 800 or 1200 point XBLA game like Trials or Battlefield is the solution in your opinion? Not happening, give it up.

 

[Aaron]

Adding achievement points would mean a bunch of upfront effort by MS, extra continued involvement, and generally slow things down for indie games, which is against the point. Including avatars is no big deal, it doesn't have any tangible effect, though if they allowed avatar awards that'd be a big deal. No surprise that they don't.

It would increase sales for sure, especially to the worst sort of faux game garbage.

 

[Brakara]

That's fine in theory. Unfortunately many of the bad Indie Games seem to sell better than the good ones.

And Transformers 2 grossed more than District 9. I don't understand why people have a problem with this. Just because you like something better doesn't mean everybody have the same opinion.

So every random 400 point Indie Game having the same achievement points as a 800 or 1200 point XBLA game like Trials or Battlefield is the solution in your opinion? Not happening, give it up.

100 gamerscore, as he suggested, is less than 200 gamerscore. I don't understand why a 400 points game can't have half the gamerscore of a 800 points game. Hell, a 400 points XBLA game has the same amount of gamerscore as a 1600 points game. That's not "fair" either.

Having said that, global leaderboards would be far more useful than any achievements.

 

[N.A]

Trailer for Pixel Boarder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDw66ZnbyXg

Just found this, looks pretty awesome.

 

[mujun]

Trailer for Pixel Boarder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDw66ZnbyXg

Just found this, looks pretty awesome.

This looks awesome.

XNA really doesn't get the props it deserves. Nobody ever brings it up as one of the reasons to own a 360 over one of the other two consoles.

 

[ElectricThunder]

http://tigsource.com/articles/2009/11/23/ascii-in-hd Trailers and mini-interviews for Dungeon Adventure and ASCII Quest heading for 360 DD land.

Kind of crazy that it would be something like this that would tempt me to get a 360 and such, despite that being pretty well impossible anytime soon. :lol Precious Roguelikes...especially Dungeon Adventure since it has blessed tiles.

 

[Noogy]

Dungeon Adventure is indeed awesome, and works well with the 360 pad. I'm as surprised as you to see an ASCII based roguelike in this day and age.

 

[Kafel]

I don't care about achievements. Put Indie Games in the Quick Launch tab instead.

 

[Anso]

Maaaaaaan, XBLIG is really shaping up. Now if someone could make an effort to enlighten people about what's out there (and what's good) we could finally make this a successful platform.

 

[lord pie]

The game Square Off is currently in play test. It's good fun very nicely polished but it's just a shame it doesn't have online multiplayer. :-(

 

[MightyHedgehog]

This looks awesome.

Yes, it very much does. And Platypus is fucking awesome for an old-school shooter. A friend of mine is convinced that all of the music in it, though, is straight up taken from classic C64 titles...Comic Bakery and such. Still cool, though a bit iffy on that end.

XNA really doesn't get the props it deserves. Nobody ever brings it up as one of the reasons to own a 360 over one of the other two consoles.

:raises hand

I do. It is a huge thing...the best thing to come to consoles ever, IMO.

 

[chubigans]

So I stopped by IndieGames today and they're looking for someone to do a XNA roundup for their site:

http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2009/11/xbox_live_indie_games_pick_pla.html

I know some of you are really on top of all the releases so you should check it out. The more press for XNA, the better!

 

[N.A]

Orbyx: Mystic Orbs of Chaos (a great Peggle clone) is now only 240 points: http://marketplace.xbox.com/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585501fd

 

[toythatkills]

Orbyx: Mystic Orbs of Chaos (a great Peggle clone)

Well, a Peggle clone. It's got none of the stuff that makes Peggle so great though, so the whole thing is a bit hollow. Plays horribly too, unless they've patched that.

 

[sneaky77]

I like Orbyx I haven't played it in a while but it was cool to pass some time

 

[Ranger X]

I downloaded a bunch of trials yesterday evening. First time I was exploring what's available there (just 2 weeks since I got a 360 you see).

I will probably buy Jump and Aesop's Garden. The later remind me of Lolo and it's been since forever I was dreaming of playing another game like that. True gem I tell you.

.