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Xbox LIVE Indie Games - The January 2011 Thread

Ventron said:
I hope so too, I'd hate to disappoint a GAFfer :lol

All aboard the Red Crest Studios express! Next stop, Bonded Realities!
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It was alright, not something I'd buy though. Felt a bit like WarioWare or Point Blank in structure. I find these kind of button games a bit too easy and dull, but there were a few levels here that added enough of a twist to be engaging.

I think it could probably use options to play a smaller amount of stages, or just one stage, and have high scores tracked for each stage.
 
floatstarpx said:
Hello!
I've been working on a new "Stick 'Em Up", with a built in level-editor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbcekYp4Zb4
1-4 player co-op, or VS.. probably going to be 10-12 single player levels built in, 5 VS levels, and then the ability to make your own.
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Your physics engine is wonderful, and the game does look like fun, but you need work in a few areas in particular.

1) Most notably, your user interface. It seems as though you just picked a random font and stuck it on the screen in a few primary colors. You *really* need to redesign this; you need to do down-to-the-pixel placement, you need to test out at least half a dozen fonts, and really bring things together cohesively.

2) Your jumping is *really* floaty. I'd say speed it up by 30% or so. Would drive me insane.

3) Sound design. The music is okay, but a lot of those sound effects get grating, fast. You certainly don't need to be playing the "dragging" sound effect when you're merely dragging the cursor around the screen.

But I'm looking forward to peer reviewing it. :D
 
It looks nice and the physics seem spot-on.

We need more sports that can't really do great at retail. I had so much fun with Curling 2010. I'd love a handball game for example.
 
I played a bit of Alpha Squad. The demo, mind you. It won't let me purchase the full version for some reason, even though I have the points and HD space.

It's a twin-stick shooter, something I think most of us are pretty sick of by now. What I like about it, however, is how it's got an actual stage set up going on. You start off and are mobbed by enemies. After taking them out, you can choose which direction to go depending on which side of the screen lights up. Moving on to new screens results in more enemies to tackle, but it often opens the doors of houses as well.

These houses contain NPCs to chat with and things to inspect, like couch cushions. This seems, based on the trial, like it's going to be a pretty good co-op experience as well. I was also super impressed with the presentation -- it could pass for an actual XBLA release, ignoring a couple odd sound effects.

All in all this first stage seems to be pretty big, and there's plenty to do before going to take on the boss. Truthfully, I don't care that it's a TSS when there's so much stuff to do besides shoot at enemies.

Then there's the awesomely cheesey soundtrack by Stemage, and I mean that in the best way possible. The music is pretty damned awesome from what I've heard so far. The trial is a must grab, I just wish it would let me DL the actual version.
 
Feep said:
Your physics engine is wonderful, and the game does look like fun, but you need work in a few areas in particular.

1) Most notably, your user interface. It seems as though you just picked a random font and stuck it on the screen in a few primary colors. You *really* need to redesign this; you need to do down-to-the-pixel placement, you need to test out at least half a dozen fonts, and really bring things together cohesively.

2) Your jumping is *really* floaty. I'd say speed it up by 30% or so. Would drive me insane.

3) Sound design. The music is okay, but a lot of those sound effects get grating, fast. You certainly don't need to be playing the "dragging" sound effect when you're merely dragging the cursor around the screen.

But I'm looking forward to peer reviewing it. :D
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Heyhey! Thanks for the feedback! Taken all that on board.. editor UI is non-final, and the editor sounds can be switched off altogether in the menu.. (note, the dragging only plays when you're moving an object, it doesn't play if just moving the cursor).

I hope we'll be putting in to playtest Fri/Sat, and then peer review a few days later!
 
Just checked out Alpha Squad on my lunch.

Graphics, UI, polish & online all seem great and tightly integrated in the trial.

Problem is I've got my fill on Duel Stick Shooters & Smash TV clones.
 
Not feeling Alpha Squad.
The in-game HUD takes up way too much space, there's that icky flash-game feel, and it's claustrophobic for all the wrong reasons. There's also not enough feedback when damage is taken, dodging bullets feels almost random, and I dunno it just doesn't feel right.

The only highlight from the demo is blowing away random civilians.

"Sorry man the Resistance was a lie. You should just hide and live your life."
"Dammit! Well..okay, I guess you're right."

*Hero blows everyone away and their blood splatters all over the room*
 
LocoMrPollock said:
Alpha Squad is definitely a bit of a letdown.
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I agree.

I have played it twice in trial mode, it code 4'd the first time and it's well, imo dull. Ok it looks nice but it just doesn't feel right and as mentioned above it feels cramped, the rooms from what I have played seem pointless and empty and why have the doors like they are.

I went through one door in a room to another level, left throught the door in that room and appeared through a door I initially entered that house through. I have gone out of a door and then been placed back in the room. Not for me.
 
I can't really figure out how to deal with enemies that have guns in Alpha Squad. If there's a few of them on screen, I get owned badly. Maybe it's easier in co-op.

And there seems to be very little in the way of power-up drops, other than the white health kit you can only carry one of and heals a pathetic amount. Seems like you need to use the armory, but I'm basically just earning enough money to keep buying survival kits instead of actual weapons.

I really like the structure of the game though, kind of a gauntlet/zelda feel, but don't like walking to a new screen and dying within two seconds.
 
HadesGigas said:
I can't really figure out how to deal with enemies that have guns in Alpha Squad. If there's a few of them on screen, I get owned badly. Maybe it's easier in co-op.

And there seems to be very little in the way of power-up drops, other than the white health kit you can only carry one of and heals a pathetic amount. Seems like you need to use the armory, but I'm basically just earning enough money to keep buying survival kits instead of actual weapons.

I really like the structure of the game though, kind of a gauntlet/zelda feel, but don't like walking to a new screen and dying within two seconds.
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I noticed that while playing the trial last night as well, but only one of the screens I came across had enemies with guns. It never occurred to me that the health pack limit might be a problem, but you have a point.
 
Yeah that's another thing.
Every time I enter a new room the enemies are already there and rushing for me. It's pretty badly paced. If the devs were trying to ape Smash TV they probably should have noted that the enemies don't start pouring in until a few seconds after the player enters the stage. Oh and yes the health-packs definitely suck. I had already written the game off as pap before I even got to messing around with the healing(the amount healed is the equivalent of getting hit once by an enemy...maybe less than that, terrible).

I guess that's my problem with a lot of twin-stick clones. A lot of them want to be Robotron but they can't get the challenge right, Smash TV but they don't understand difficulty balance, or Geometry Wars but they're just not clever or know the first thing about proper mechanics. That's probably why there's so much burn-out from the genre because out of hundreds of games maybe five to ten of them are anywhere approaching classic(and those hundreds seemed to have all come out in the past few years)
 
The developer of Alpha Squad got in contact with me over twitter. They don't have an active GAF account to respond here. So they asked me to pass along that they are watching this thread and want to address peoples concerns in a patch. They would like people to post suggestions on our official forums.
 
HadesGigas said:
I can't really figure out how to deal with enemies that have guns in Alpha Squad. If there's a few of them on screen, I get owned badly. Maybe it's easier in co-op.

And there seems to be very little in the way of power-up drops, other than the white health kit you can only carry one of and heals a pathetic amount. Seems like you need to use the armory, but I'm basically just earning enough money to keep buying survival kits instead of actual weapons.

I really like the structure of the game though, kind of a gauntlet/zelda feel, but don't like walking to a new screen and dying within two seconds.
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Even enemies without guns, I got my ass kicked fast. They all just swarm you in bunches in the claustrophobic areas. Theres' no room to move around or out maneuver. If there were more power ups, it'd be somewhat more manageable. Design-wise, this game is just fucked. Only area it really picks up slack in is the graphics and artwork.
 
Official launch trailer for Sequence is done...waiting on a mod to respond to whether or not I can make a new thread for it. :D
 
Feep said:
Official launch trailer for Sequence is done...waiting on a mod to respond to whether or not I can make a new thread for it. :D
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Hey, cool to see you added some green back in with the Text for the "poster" screen. Lookin' good!

-----

On the Alpha Squad issues, the biggest issuesI had with it (in multiplayer) was the fact that 2nd Player would reappear in the wrong spots after zoning through maps.

In Arena mode, the spawn points were pretty crappy, too. You'd reappear in the same spot you WERE... on a new map. This often resulted in spawning surrounded. If each map spawned with a new Setpoint for enemies and players, this would work much better.

I don't mind the "claustrophobia" feel, at least from the Demo, as I like larger player characters, it's a pet peeve for me of many games in this generation. More damage feedback would be nice, but I could see how things like "blinking screen" would be a bit annoying when playing 4 player.

I find the text a bit "glowey" to read on SDTV, but appreciate the ability to resize the screen, which makes the text a bit harder to read, though...

Of course, I like the art however, and I rather like the music. They both fit for the type of game.

I would expect the health packs you carry to be able to max heal you when you have a max number of them (is it up to 2?)

I'm not really burnt out on twin stick shooters, as many of them don't really appeal to me, especially all the ones with extra-simple graphics. I like characters and Art in my games, so this one gets those things right. I'm interested in seeing how the Dev responds to the criticisms posted here.
 
Feep said:
Official launch trailer for Sequence is done...waiting on a mod to respond to whether or not I can make a new thread for it. :D
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Turns out I can't make a new thread. :D

Oh well.

Thanks for the comments, SAB CA!
 
Hey all you wacky indie game developers!

Need a writer? Don't answer that because I've already confirmed you guys are totally in need of one.

No worries because I can help you out. Yes I know the average indie game has maybe less than 100 words but when any of those 100 words involve a lame joke that was ran into the ground over 20 years ago that's just not good at all. Which is why I'm perfectly okay with working for free. Just give me an outline and I'll hack something out from the nether regions of my liver. Yes you'll be short one Monty Python joke but hey at least in return you'll get something that while still crap is at least original crap.

All I ask for is a name-drop in the credits, chances are 999% nobody reads those anyway.
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
Hey all you wacky indie game developers!

Need a writer? Don't answer that because I've already confirmed you guys are totally in need of one.

No worries because I can help you out. Yes I know the average indie game has maybe less than 100 words but when any of those 100 words involve a lame joke that was ran into the ground over 20 years ago that's just not good at all. Which is why I'm perfectly okay with working for free. Just give me an outline and I'll hack something out from the nether regions of my liver. Yes you'll be short one Monty Python joke but hey at least in return you'll get something that while still crap is at least original crap.

All I ask for is a name-drop in the credits, chances are 999% nobody reads those anyway.
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Heh.. does this have anything to do with the writing in Alpha Squad? :lol
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
Hey all you wacky indie game developers!

Need a writer? Don't answer that because I've already confirmed you guys are totally in need of one.

No worries because I can help you out. Yes I know the average indie game has maybe less than 100 words but when any of those 100 words involve a lame joke that was ran into the ground over 20 years ago that's just not good at all. Which is why I'm perfectly okay with working for free. Just give me an outline and I'll hack something out from the nether regions of my liver. Yes you'll be short one Monty Python joke but hey at least in return you'll get something that while still crap is at least original crap.

All I ask for is a name-drop in the credits, chances are 999% nobody reads those anyway.
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I think devs underestimate the importance of this. Commander World 1 and Delve Deeper are one of the few indie games that actually have funny writing, and it's a huge boost to the charm factor.
 
So I played the trials of Maids With Balloons (I was curious :P) and Vorpal. Maids With Balloons is of course, absolutely terrible. Extremely slow movement, awful graphics/music/production and of course the terribad video bits.

Vorpal on the other hand - great game with the only problem being that I think the hitbox is a bit too big. The color scheme (red/white/black) works really well, the artwork is great, the rectangle bar at the bottom of the screen noting where your opponent is is a fantastic idea. Music has that classic 90's fleuro-trance-cheese sound that I have a soft spot for.
 
djtiesto said:
So I played the trials of Maids With Balloons (I was curious :P) and Vorpal. Maids With Balloons is of course, absolutely terrible. Extremely slow movement, awful graphics/music/production and of course the terribad video bits.

Vorpal on the other hand - great game with the only problem being that I think the hitbox is a bit too big. The color scheme (red/white/black) works really well, the artwork is great, the rectangle bar at the bottom of the screen noting where your opponent is is a fantastic idea. Music has that classic 90's fleuro-trance-cheese sound that I have a soft spot for.
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The hitbox is only about the size of a bullet. They get smaller?
 
mourad louali said:
Tell us feep, how long have you been working on Sequence? I remember you talking about it in the old community games thread
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Eight thrillion years.

(Since June 2008, actually.)
 
Kafel said:
If not already done, you should post this on the App Hub forums :

http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/42.aspx
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Yeah and then my first job turns out to be writing for some 80 hour XBL indie epic where everyone speaks in flowery english.

Worse yet I somehow get involved writing for sequels to games I absolutely thrashed. Like Zombie Bikini Massacre 3 or whatever other shitball horse-nuts.

Still thanks for the link. One night when I'm really drunk I'll post something.

Feep said:
1) Learn to program
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Ewwww
 
PepsimanVsJoe said:
Yeah and then my first job turns out to be writing for some 80 hour XBL indie epic where everyone speaks in flowery english.

Worse yet I somehow get involved writing for sequels to games I absolutely thrashed. Like Zombie Bikini Massacre 3 or whatever other shitball horse-nuts.

Still thanks for the link. One night when I'm really drunk I'll post something.
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1) Learn to program
2) Profit
PepsimanVsJoe said:
Ewwww
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I'm serious, man. I consider myself a writer and actor first and foremost, but XNA makes it EASY. Just do something like 999: massively story based, with some simple point-and-click puzzles to go with it. Very easy to program, and all you need is a decent artist to partner up with.
 
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