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Xbox LIVE Indie Games - The July 2011 Thread

V

Ventron

Member
Ooooooohh........

The #IGSU 25 developer picks have been completed! Look on the official page tomorrow for the list! #XBLIG #xbox
Click to expand...
http://twitter.com/#!/DaveVoyles/status/89147842823860224

PleaseHaveAndromiumInItPleaseHaveAndromiumInItPleaseHaveAndromiumInItPleaseHaveAndromiumInItPleaseHaveAndromiumInItPleaseHaveAndromiumInIt

EDIT: Might as well take advantage of my page king slot. New screen:

Mlyil.jpg


The game is almost done. I'm currently coding up the final level (not the one pictured). After that, plus handling of trial mode, the game should be done.
Also, I'm not making the same mistake I did with BR; I'm paying a pro artist to do the boxart. She costs a fortune but she does some pretty good work.

Oh, and http://www.redcreststudios.com/2011/07/andromium-modes.html
 
D

DaveVoyles

Member
Yeah the picks are done. We plan on posting it at some point today in order to allow developers time to prepare their games for playtesting next week in case they want the other developers to try it out. I'll post the 25 candidates shortly, just wanted to get them on the IGSU page first, for obvious reasons.

Remember though: EVERYONE still has a chance to get into the fan vote, which in all hoesty, I would consider the bigger achievement, as it is the actual consumers who are voting your game in.

Anyway, here's how we did the initial voting: Ryan Donnely (Master Blud), Scott Nichols, Kris Steele, and myself all independently rated the games in one of three ways. 1 – Absolutely want it in the top 25. 2 – On the fence, a convincing argument could get it in. X – It’s just not what we’re looking for. It would take an extremely compelling argument to agree to it. In addition, we wrote notes next to each and every game as well. Needless to say, it was time consuming, difficult, and certainly one of the least fun things I’ve had to do in quite some time.

Before we did any kind of conversing, we took all of the titles which we each gave 1’s to. In total, there were 13. This allows us to greatly narrow down the list, thereby leaving 12 games to fill the remaining positions.

Some games which a few of us had given X’s still made it in as well. It came down to a variety of factors, but the more compelling argument someone could make for a title which they wanted to see in, then it got in. In all, I think we did a pretty fair job of selecting a number of the titles which got in. Perhaps if there is another uprising in the future, we’ll come up a more efficient way of doing it.
 
Q

qupe1975

Neo Member
First thoughts are that list could be fairly predictable. Hopefully I am surprised.

I hope that Formula 1 game handles well and moves smoothly too.
 
K

Kafel

Banned
toythatkills said:
They should update it with some kind of game aspect, then I'd probably love it!
Click to expand...

It's coming. Redeem yourself now and buy the game to play it in the meanwhile.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
The 25: http://www.indiegames-uprising.com/News.aspx?newsID=272

37 Days to Die
All The Bad Parts
AvaGlide 2
Battle High: San Bruno
Blossom Tales
Cell: Emergence
City Tuesday
Chester
Cute Things Dying Violently
Dirche Kart 2
Doom and Destiny
Dragons Vs. Spaceships
Katana Land
Mega Shooter 11: Ladies and powerups
P3
Raven Throne
Redd: The Lost Temple
Speed Runner
T.E.C. 3001
Take Arms
The Jump Hero
The Hears of Men
The Spirit of Kohn, Ep 1
Train Frontier Express
Volchaos
Click to expand...
Two of which are already (or have been previously) released.
 
T

tipped

Neo Member
Kafel said:
If you've missed it, Formula GP trailer :
Click to expand...

That looks awesome, and I will definitely pick it up. Just a shame some of the courses look a bit suspect (wrong silverstone layout for example). Obviously it's not a sim though and should be fun.
 
G

Gaspode_T

Member
I would link people to this page since it has all the candidate screenshots: http://www.indiegames-uprising.com/Top25.aspx

Blossom Tales, SpeedRunner, TEC and Take Arms seem like the top 4 no brainers...

Train Frontier Express, Progenitor, Spirit of Khon and Cell seem to show off unique graphics compared to most of the 2D games on the service, so those 4 would round out pretty well...
 
K

Kafel

Banned
lol Volchaos

I reaaaaaally wonder how this one got in



Battle High update and Dirchie Kart update but no BTM ?

yeah


edit : wait. no Andromium ? When things like utter shit (37 something) get in ?
 
T

TheUnknownForce

Member
Kafel said:
lol Volchaos

I reaaaaaally wonder how this one got in

Battle High update and Dirchie Kart update but no BTM ?

yeah

edit : wait. no Andromium ? When things like utter shit (37 something) get in ?
Click to expand...

Well, keep in mind that they had to remove 2 out of every 3 games from the listing for the 25 to be available.

Battle High's update is significant in that it makes the game widescreen, re-balances the characters, improves the graphics and music slightly, and adds three mini-game modes.

Dirchie Kart: World Tour looks like a complete revamp of the game. The video in the page emphasizes new level designs, changed graphics for the levels to fit a new style and a time trial mode. I actually think this isn't even an update, but I could be wrong.

Meanwhile Blocks that Matter's update was ten new levels and rewards for collecting stars which you get by getting under par for block creation. The other two updates are a bit more significant than BTM's. Other updated games that were passed by were QuadSmash (possible more levels and possible network multiplayer mode), Niji: Turbo Remix (turbo mechanic, split-screen mp, new level formations), and PLATFORMANCE: Temple Death (now carry the actress back to the beginning, score tweaks). They simply had too many games to wade through.

As for Andromium, I think the "control two ships at the same time" element has been done a couple times before and can be a little mind-boggling. 37 Ways to Die is a combination of Geometry Wars and Ikaruga, from what I've read. Still, I would have preferred Andromium, too.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Kafel said:
lol Volchaos

I reaaaaaally wonder how this one got in



Battle High update and Dirchie Kart update but no BTM ?
Click to expand...
Volchaos is really good and totally deserving of its place. I thought Dirchie Kart was a sequel rather than an update, same with Battle High even though there seems to be a ton of confusion over the names there. It's the Hearts of Men update that bothers me the most. The dev pulled the game so he could release it anew as updated, which is pretty crap to those that have bought it.

Anyway, hopefully the updates (if indeed they are updates) won't make it through the next round because they shouldn't have been included in the longlist in the first place. When you're trying to advertise a service to consumers that aren't familiar with it, you want them to be able to easily find the games in the same place to offer the promotion some coherence. That place is the new arrivals list and the updates aren't going to be there. Nobody's going to go digging through the marketplace for them and they're just taking the place of a game that could have taken advantage of the exposure.
 
T

TheUnknownForce

Member
toythatkills said:
Volchaos is really good and totally deserving of its place. I thought Dirchie Kart was a sequel rather than an update, same with Battle High even though there seems to be a ton of confusion over the names there. It's the Hearts of Men update that bothers me the most. The dev pulled the game so he could release it anew as updated, which is pretty crap to those that have bought it.

Anyway, hopefully the updates (if indeed they are updates) won't make it through the next round because they shouldn't have been included in the longlist in the first place. When you're trying to advertise a service to consumers that aren't familiar with it, you want them to be able to easily find the games in the same place to offer the promotion some coherence. That place is the new arrivals list and the updates aren't going to be there. Nobody's going to go digging through the marketplace for them and they're just taking the place of a game that could have taken advantage of the exposure.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have to agree with the updates. There are, from my count, about 5 games on that list which have seen a release already before the promotion (TIC: Part 1, Battle High, Blocks That Matter, QuadSmash, Platformance). While it would be great for these games to get emphasized by the event, having everyone vote for 2 games out of the whole lot might shift toward voting toward these five, mainly because the games are already out and have more concrete opinions built around them. Meanwhile, having updates voted by the developers makes more sense, because they have the means to see how big the updates are and how significant they can be.

In the end, having one out of the ten being an update would not be a bad thing, as the last promotion did the same, I believe. Still, with so many games not yet released on that list, perhaps they could have a promoted "update" among ten new games?
 
T

toythatkills

Member
TheUnknownForce said:
In the end, having one out of the ten being an update would not be a bad thing, as the last promotion did the same, I believe. Still, with so many games not yet released on that list, perhaps they could have a promoted "update" among ten new games?
Click to expand...
It's just a matter of how easy it is to sell it. You can tell people "for all the IGSU games, check out Indie Games Marketplace!" or something like that. Since it defaults to "New Arrivals" all the games will be right there when they first open it. It's short and snappy and easy to remember and everything in the promotion would be there next to each other.

As opposed to "for all the IGSU games, check out New Arrivals on the Indie Games Marketplace apart from Battle High where you have to scroll up to the A to Z section of the marketplace and scroll across to B and then press A and then scroll down the list until you find Battle High!"
 
T

the_dannobot

Member
Some really great games on the IGSU list!

Is anyone else playing this japanese "armored core"-style game? Someone here mustve linked to it and I downloaded the trial, but I have no clue what it's called or how to find it again. It's really good. The graphics look like N64, but the gameplay is super super crunchy.
 
B

bede-x

Member
TheUnknownForce said:
Well, keep in mind that they had to remove 2 out of every 3 games from the listing for the 25 to be available.
Click to expand...

Even if they had to remove nine out of ten games, BTM should still have been included. Most people probably won't notice the promotion anyways, but it might bring more core gamers to the channel and something like Blocks could entice them to return, whereas something like All the Bad Parts looks likely to have the opposite effect.

No disrespect meant to the AtBP developer. A lot of effort obviously went into the game and the trailer was genuinely exciting until it degenerated into a poor mans beat'em up about halfway in.
 
K

Kafel

Banned
First, I swear bede-x is not my alt account.

ttk >> Volchaos looks like one of a bunch of basic platformers made with the XNA examples. Something that would never get in if the dev wasn't part of the shameful committee. The 37 days dev is probably a good friend of someone there by the way, I don't see any other rational explanation.

TFU >> BTM is an excellent game that will add even more value to what should be an insta-purchase. Dirchie Kart is what ?


Did someone try Labyrinth ?
 
P

Phantom Flapjack

Member
I tried Labyrinth. I downloaded the trial and played it immediately, as I've been waiting for it to come out since, like, April.

I was kind of disappointed when I saw that you can display the full map by hitting start, since that kind of defeats the purpose, but it looks like that's not how it works in the full game? It only displays what you've explored?

Also found a glitch pretty much immediately at the part where you have to knock the tree down in the second level that let me clip through and float to the other side (or float throughout the rest of the level). A little disappointed by the five dollar price too. Still, I'm a whore for hedge mazes in games, and it seems like it could be a pretty cool game if you don't mind something that's rough around the edges, and the developer said he's gonna release some patches to fix bugs and such.

I don't know. Hopefully there'll be a free code for it given away on Twitter or something
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Kafel said:
ttk >> Volchaos looks like one of a bunch of basic platformers made with the XNA examples. Something that would never get in if the dev wasn't part of the shameful committee. The 37 days dev is probably a good friend of someone there by the way, I don't see any other rational explanation.
Click to expand...
As someone that a) likes this genre a lot and b) is really picky about platformers and c) has played Volchaos, let me assure you that it's good.
 
G

Gaspode_T

Member
I might be wrong but I thought they were saying any of the submitted games will be up for public voting round (although only two games there is kind of tight...)

Kafel - you now have your mission, get Blocks that Matter in there by public vote!
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Actually a number of the games listed are pretty good.

But uh...Jesus.

OXMonline said:
Akane the Kunoichi
Akane doesn't bring a HUGE amount of value for a game that very nearly BUSTs out of the indie scene, but there's a LARGE amount of potential for this TITillating adventure. The game's awesomely slick controls and 16 bit-era graphics feel perfect. The game's only downfall is that the game can be rather difficult leaving even the most hardcore gamers feeling like BOOBS. Oh, and the fact that Akane has large breasts doesn't hurt.
Click to expand...

Sigh

No Protect Me Knight either freaking darn it!

Oh and Good Night this week was horrible for games.
 
G

Gaspode_T

Member
Besides being kind of obviously made with the platformer starter kit tiling engine I don't mind that game so much...

I tried playing Lumi the other day and was baffled at the super frustrating controls, it might be fun as a touch game and if the player character spun a little less quickly. Such a beautiful game being marred by the easiest thing to fix (control timing/feel), some devs just don't have a good sense for how controls should feel...just sit down with a Mario game and copy the control feel pixel by pixel...that is the base, if you do anything weird, it better not be super difficult to control or too heavy or too floaty
 
V

Ventron

Member
TheUnknownForce said:
As for Andromium, I think the "control two ships at the same time" element has been done a couple times before and can be a little mind-boggling.
Click to expand...

Maybe. The main mode you play, however, is that you only control one ship and the other is AI-controlled. Because it is AI-controlled, the AI screen is blank to ensure there aren't bugs/mistakes that are out of your hands and still cost you points.
http://www.redcreststudios.com/2011/07/andromium-modes.html
I only put the two-at-once mode in screenshots because they fill the screen better and look more action-packed. Marketing =)

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, and let's just say I do have certain opinions of some games that did make it though, but life goes on and Andromium will get a solid release date very soon...
 
K

Kafel

Banned
Andromium can still be part of this with the votes, right ?

Plus you can decide to release your game during the period potentially more people will check the new indie games out.
 
V

Ventron

Member
Kafel said:
Andromium can still be part of this with the votes, right ?

Plus you can decide to release your game during the period potentially more people will check the new indie games out.
Click to expand...

I don't like my chances as my games emphasise gameplay rather than graphics and sound so they don't really make for good trailers. Most likely the chosen 2 will come from the top 25.

I don't feel like waiting to take that chance, as it's getting towards the time when heaps of AAA games are coming out, and development of this game has gone on far too long, so I'll probably release before the uprising starts.
 
K

Kafel

Banned
lol, 26 titles in their top 25 now

37 Days to Die
All The Bad Parts
AvaGlide 2
Battle High: San Bruno
Blossom Tales
Cell: Emergence
City Tuesday
Chester
Cute Things Dying Violently
Dirche Kart 2
Doom and Destiny
Dragons Vs. Spaceships
Katana Land
Mega Shooter 11: Ladies and powerups
P3
Progenitor
Raventhorne
Redd: The Lost Temple
Speed Runner
T.E.C. 3001
Take Arms
The Jump Hero
The Hearts of Men
The Spirit of Kohn, Ep 1
Train Frontier Express
Volchaos
Click to expand...
 
J

j00ce

Neo Member
OldmanAndroid said:
Zeboyd Games is one of the most visible developers on the platform, developing charming retro-style RPGs like Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves the World. The former managed to sell around 50,000 copies for $1 each, while the latter moved a little more than 16,000 copies at $3 apiece.

"The sales for Cthulhu Saves the World were particularly disappointing—we put a lot of heart and soul into the game over a significantly longer period of development time and yet that extra effort didn't result in a similar increase in revenue."

Even though our game has an above-average amount of content, I still feel uneasy about selling for anything more than $1. Also, this is our first game (that we've finished....actually the 4th we started).

We need a 160msp tier!
Click to expand...

It's worth bearing in mind that 3*16,000 = 48,000. So, given that Microsoft takes a fixed cut of the revenue regardless of the price point, the revenue from CSW is roughly the same as the revenue from BODVII - and the latter has been available on XBLIG for much longer.

Still, a three-fold drop in sales is pretty harsh, especially for a game which was part of the Winter Uprising (and hence received a reasonable chunk of free publicity). Assuming all other things are equal, it would tend to imply that XBLIG gamers are highly price-sensitive...
 
S

SmallCaveGames

Neo Member
Ventron said:
I don't like my chances as my games emphasise gameplay rather than graphics and sound so they don't really make for good trailers. Most likely the chosen 2 will come from the top 25.

I don't feel like waiting to take that chance, as it's getting towards the time when heaps of AAA games are coming out, and development of this game has gone on far too long, so I'll probably release before the uprising starts.
Click to expand...

This is meant as an honest question - don't take it as an attack. But have you considered hooking up with an artist?

Graphics can enhance gameplay and draw eyeballs/interest/purchases. It's worthwhile.
 
V

Ventron

Member
SmallCaveGames said:
This is meant as an honest question - don't take it as an attack. But have you considered hooking up with an artist?

Graphics can enhance gameplay and draw eyeballs/interest/purchases. It's worthwhile.
Click to expand...

I have wanted to look for artists, and I likely will in future projects, the problem is I can't afford extra team members at all in this stage of my company.
 
O

OldmanAndroid

Member
Ventron said:
I have wanted to look for artists, and I likely will in future projects, the problem is I can't afford extra team members at all in this stage of my company.
Click to expand...

Offer an artist 25% of the revenue, put up a local ad....you will be flooded with willing artists. I did have fun with andromium when it was in playtest.
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
But how can it be late, it's about a sale that starts TODAY! :lol:

Save Jack looks pretty cool, does the developer exist anymore? There really haven't been many attempts at decent 3D games on the platform, VS the number of games released.

DotCompany looks great too, BTW. If they'd go for the "PixelExplosion!" death style that Rocket Riot used, I think it'd be even better looking. I like how the movements are just a bit stuttery, lending to the "moving a pixel at a time" look very well.
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Thought I remember it being 240, before it went to 400 upon DLC release, since it got substantially bigger.

Either way, it's a game that deserves to sell for more than a buck! (O.O) I was suprised with how solid the boss encounters ended up being. Perfect at channeling the "pattern-recognition / patience is a virtue!" styles that the best oldschool 2D games crafted so well.
 
Q

qupe1975

Neo Member
toythatkills said:
There was a time when Twin Blades was 80 Microsoft Points.
Click to expand...

That was before they added the new modes though. I think it's a nice game to dip in and out of, the nature of these games generally is repetition.

I so wish something could be done about the speed my games menu loads after I have played a game, it's quicker to turn my machine off and on.
 
P

PepsimanVsJoe

Member
Considering what has been releasing lately for $3+ on XBLIG a game like Twin Blades deserves at least a bit of respect.

I just played the trial for Turbo Rocket. For a $3 game I can't believe the developer couldn't even be assed to draw a straight line. I mean really now the walls literally look like somebody attempted to draw a straight line without the help of a ruler or anything.

Hopefully somebody comes in here and comments as to why more devs are avoiding the $1 tag. I'd really like to know because I can't make sense of it myself.
 
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