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Xbox LIVE Indie Games - The March 2011 Thread

Noogy

Member
Another great thread, Toy. +1 for Wizard's Keep. In some strange way the combat sort of clicks as a dual stick shooter, even though the controls don't seem that way. Lots of circle strafing your target. I love the game, and respect the duo for making it $1. Should be a no-brainer.
 
Yeah, looks great. A twin-stick that appears to do things slightly differently, which is nice. It doesn't look horrifically boring like most do.

Toddler Tantrum! I "played," it's actually weirdly creepy.
 

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Kafel said:

I wanted to say something about "Why 10 minutes long? Isn't that showing too much?" but it seems to grow pretty nicely as you progress (Though I woulda preferred a trailer! that got to the point in some ways!)

But that's a pretty nice looking game. Would love it to have some music (someone call Zuntata! Would love a Ray-series set of themes and stage clear music), but that does look really well designed, and pretty enjoyable. A nice take on the 2003 game "Warning Forever" that inspired it (which I had never heard of till reading the description, lol).
 
I stop checking new indie games for a couple weeks, and the new game from the Miner Dig Deep guys finally comes out. I'm a couple hours in and it's pretty good so far. It's not MDD good - yet - but I'm still early in the game and I'm looking forward to seeing how it pans out.
 

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Infinity Danger stressed me out simply from watching the video. Don't know if I'm man enough.
 

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Lyphen said:
Epic Dungeon 1.2 is out.

Patch Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9yB0-9RfK4

The Updates:

http://eyehook.blogspot.com/2011/02/epic-dungeon-12.html said:
Changes:
  • Added new difficulty levels (easy, normal, epic)
  • Added awardments (and an awardment chest that contains rewards, depending upon the number of awardment points you have earned)
  • Added a new platforming event (you'll see...)
  • Added 4 new encounters
  • Added new items
  • Added the "Reaper" (epic difficulty only)
  • A few graphical enhancements
  • Save system improvements (should be fairly invisible, but will hopefully fix a few lingering problems people have been having)
 

WaaghMan

Neo Member
SAB CA said:
I wanted to say something about "Why 10 minutes long? Isn't that showing too much?" but it seems to grow pretty nicely as you progress (Though I woulda preferred a trailer! that got to the point in some ways!)

But that's a pretty nice looking game. Would love it to have some music (someone call Zuntata! Would love a Ray-series set of themes and stage clear music), but that does look really well designed, and pretty enjoyable. A nice take on the 2003 game "Warning Forever" that inspired it (which I had never heard of till reading the description, lol).

We have a trailer ready, but we learned that it's best to release the trailer at the same time the game is available for XBLIG (It worked pretty well for Zombie Football Carnage).

The game has a soundtrack, in an Ikaruga style, but this video is also the one used for the Trailer footage, so we recorded it without music.
 

Enk

makes good threads.
Kafel said:

Finally! I've been waiting for some copies of Warning Forever to pop up. Basically the concept is that the boss you fight grows depending on how you destroy it or how it destroys you (get killed by a laser then it will have more lasers on its next form). Check it out if you haven't already:

http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/warning-forever-a-free-2d-fixed-shooter-get-top-marks-review/
 
Enk said:
Finally! I've been waiting for some copies of Warning Forever to pop up. Basically the concept is that the boss you fight grows depending on how you destroy it or how it destroys you (get killed by a laser then it will have more lasers on its next form). Check it out if you haven't already:

http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/warning-forever-a-free-2d-fixed-shooter-get-top-marks-review/

There is one on XBLIG already.

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/You-Will-Die/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550405
 

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
WaaghMan said:
We have a trailer ready, but we learned that it's best to release the trailer at the same time the game is available for XBLIG (It worked pretty well for Zombie Football Carnage).

The game has a soundtrack, in an Ikaruga style, but this video is also the one used for the Trailer footage, so we recorded it without music.

Cool, good to know! I always feel that extended previews of simplier games can lead me to care less about playing the game, as I feel I've seen a lot of what I'd do already. But looking at the vids for "Warning Forever", I guess it kinda fits the community anyway!

Good to hear the game has a soundtrack, as well. I was humming Raystorm Stage 1 while watching your vid.

-----

I liked the "You will Die" game as well... didn't that get an update or something once as well? I remember the creator being on these forums...
 

N4Us

Member
It's a bit weird, but the day after I bought San Bruno, Microsoft sent me a code for 80 points for free. Maybe it was just random timing, but I'm still wondering why...
 
Nyan Tech is pretty awesome.

If you guys also have a DSi check out Mighty Flip Champs, Nyan Tech reminds me of MFC.

Has anybody played Maid San's Cave Adventure (IIRC)? How does the scoring system work. I haven't quite worked it out.

Thanks
 

surly

Banned
B_Rik_Schitthaus said:
I love these threads
Me too. I tried some of the games mentioned and didn't like any of them enough to buy them, but that hasn't been the case with past threads which have mentioned games I otherwise would never have bought.
 
I spent eight minutes in Solar System 4D, unexpectedly. You've basically got the solar system and can speed up/slow down time to see how planets rotate/orbit. It's interesting. Then you can click on planets to get basic information and some photos, which are really cool. Stuff I didn't know before, Mercury's orbit is all askew, Venus is much bigger and closer than to us than I had any idea of. Obviously the software can be slightly limited, and stuff like the above might be common knowledge (I'm no expert) but it was a really cool, interesting way to learn about stuff like that.

Laser Logic is great. If you like Sudoku or any such variant, you'll love this.

Trilinea React is kinda annoying. Mainly because the menus look awesome and if the game itself had the same style it'd be ace, but it doesn't, it has this weird ugly look to it that completely jars. The game is a match three, and there are loads of fights, challenges and awards (achievements) to get and the levels are short so it's pretty fun. Unfortunately, the non-customisable controls make it difficult to play. There's no d-pad support, the left stick has no dead-zone, so I had to play with the right stick. Then the main controls, rotate and place piece, are mapped to RB and RT respectively. This doesn't sound like that big an issue but when you're playing it's weirdly confusing and you WILL press the wrong button A LOT.

Snake Man is, well, Snake. It's good though. It's pretty lenient with hitting walls and stuff so you'll die usually from blocking yourself in. There are levels to play, awardments to get, and it's playable. It'd be a much better game if it included an endless mode as well though, which it doesn't appear to.

Love Hurts is a side scrolling beat-em-up. I'm not sure it's that good, really, but it kept me playing it. It looks pretty cool, the music is good, and there's a decent amount of moves. Mainly I played on because it was funny, though. The gameplay itself feels pretty slow and difficult, but I don't play this kinda game so I'm not sure how good it is compared to its peers.

Are You Smart Enough? is Sokoban, which I love, but it's hard to play because the controls are a bit too soft, so you'll constantly walk and push boxes one space too far. There's no undo option, so normally you'll have to restart a puzzle because of it.

The Hearts of Men is a decent enough Gauntlet kinda game. It looks nice, save for the dodgy animation, and plays pretty well. Search for keys, go through gates, kill bosses.

Xortron - The Emergence is a pretty poor Lander game, with reduced visibility so you can't see that you're about to crash into a wall until you've just crashed into it, half the time.

iCandy is a puzzle game which is the same as a frog thing that came out the other month. It's better than that, because you can actually work out what's going on, but it's slow and pretty boring. You have to place pieces on a board based on their colour and shape, and try to put something on every space.

Fortune Cookies - In Bed is ridiculous, of course. You press a combination of buttons, it gives you a fortune like "hey man, you're excellent" and then you can change the ending between in bed, on drugs, something else, and "at farting." Yes, that is genuinely an option. Silver Dollar Games have done it again.

Trick or Treat is a terrible Arkanoid clone with dodgy as hell physics and a screen that doesn't fit on my TV, so the ball bounces off the side and top of the play area. This makes it almost impossible to judge where the ball's going to go. Ridiculous.
 

Kafel

Banned
N4Us said:
It's a bit weird, but the day after I bought San Bruno, Microsoft sent me a code for 80 points for free. Maybe it was just random timing, but I'm still wondering why...

There were hiccups on the Live a few days ago so MS sent codes around to those who have encountered problems.


Intruder_qc said:
The game is call Wizorb, you can get a glimpse of it here :
http://pixeltao.ca/2011/01/27/wizorb-gfx-update/

A breakout clone. I hope there's a twist.
 

Intruder_qc

Neo Member
@Kafel

I am also curious to see how it's going to turn out, sure it's a Breakout clone (even the dev. mentioned it), but he did add that it's going to be an adventure game too. We going have to wait until it get into play test (hopefully) and see what's all about.
 

Kafel

Banned
Interesting indie promotion on the german dashboard with the Gamepro magazine :

indiewatch_folge01.jpg


The games are PLATFORMANCE: Castle Pain, Arkedo Series 03 - PIXEL!, Your Doodles Are Bugged! and Obesity Epidemic (yeah, that last one is dubious).
 

Kafel

Banned
I like Sudoku, Picross, Minesweeper and I wanted to like Laser Logic but there are too many flaws.

First the game makes it difficult to use the left stick. When the movement could have been smooth, for some reason the dev forces the player to use the faulty D-pad because the stick has to been pressed fully in a direction for something to happen (it's more frustrating than it sounds).

Then while the game concept seems neat, in practice it's just not interesting. You have to find the "scheme" the dev has designed. Nothing logical involved.

Finally, once a level is won you have to come back to the menu to choose another : you can't just press A and go to the next level. Nothing shows that the level has been completed by the way.
 
I had issues with the left stick too, but the d-pad was fine. As bad as it is, it's alright in a game like that that doesn't need quick reactions or anything.

Not sure about your criticism of the method of solving, though. Sudoku uses its specific rules to be solved, it's exactly the same in a way, it's just a different set of rules and techniques. It's certainly logical, unless I'm misunderstanding you
 

GhaleonEB

Member
I strongly prefer the art style of something like Epic Dungeon to Wizard's Keep. I'm enjoying the latter a great deal, but the character art is horrific across the board; I was so happy when I got a bucket to put on his head.

The other big flaw with Wizard's Keep is the combat 'music'. Given that it's an action game, you spend about half the dungeon time in combat, with the pleasant, minimalist music constantly interrupted for the same two-note guitar riff over and over. It's terrible. The game doesn't need combat music, the background music should have been static. An unusually terrible design choice from a team that generally has some sharp design instincts.

What happened to the Arkedo games? Was #3 the last one?
 

erpg

GAF parliamentarian
Art is one of the reasons why I can't get into Wizard's Keep or Miner Dig Deep. Not that it matters, they'll have huge success.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
The Miner Dig Deep art was charming, though. It was minimal but functional, and had some style to it. And there was nothing offensive like the smug stupidity of the main character's face in Wizard's Keep. Maybe it's a good thing that helmet covered his entire head.
 

Kafel

Banned
toythatkills said:
I had issues with the left stick too, but the d-pad was fine. As bad as it is, it's alright in a game like that that doesn't need quick reactions or anything.

Not sure about your criticism of the method of solving, though. Sudoku uses its specific rules to be solved, it's exactly the same in a way, it's just a different set of rules and techniques. It's certainly logical, unless I'm misunderstanding you

I'm saying there is not one logical way to solve the puzzles. They can be solved in a lot of ways but you have to find the way the dev wants you to solve it.

GhaleonEB said:
What happened to the Arkedo games? Was #3 the last one?

They still talk about releasing a last game (their GeoWars x Zelda concept) but it's currently on hold. They have others projects at the moments including a XBLA game and a contract to work on a license with a big publisher (we don't know if it's related).
 
Kafel said:
I'm saying there is not one logical way to solve the puzzles. They can be solved in a lot of ways but you have to find the way the dev wants you to solve it.
The tutorial states that each puzzle has only one solution, are you saying that there are solutions to puzzles that don't then count the puzzle as solved?
 

Feep

Banned
Kafel said:
If you're making a puzzle game that doesn't dynamically check a solution, and only rigidly checks it against your own, you better be damn well mathematically sure that no one more than one unique solution exists.

Like, you need to write a PROOF or some shit.

That sucks.
 

Ranger X

Member
So I see that Fortress Craft did not come out on March 04 like it's creator said. lol

I wonder if he's in trouble with Notch (Minecraft creator)
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Ranger X said:
So I see that Fortress Craft did not come out on March 04 like it's creator said. lol

I wonder if he's in trouble with Notch (Minecraft creator)
no he hit a lot of bugs that is all. Notch said he was not taking action as the guy who made FortressCraft made all the code from scratch.
 

Ranger X

Member
wwm0nkey said:
no he hit a lot of bugs that is all. Notch said he was not taking action as the guy who made FortressCraft made all the code from scratch.

Still, it's not my coding I would be worried about but my intellectual property. It's one thing when someone makes a game inspired by yours or the same type as yours but now here it's a carbon copy. It needs a stronger word than rip-off.

Actually Notch might not care because he might know that what Minecraft offers right now is just the tip of the iceberg.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Ranger X said:
Still, it's not my coding I would be worried about but my intellectual property. It's one thing when someone makes a game inspired by yours or the same type as yours but now here it's a carbon copy. It needs a stronger word than rip-off.

Actually Notch might not care because he might know that what Minecraft offers right now is just the tip of the iceberg.
Besides the block art style and the first chapter being a creative mode only FortressCraft is going in a completly different direction and its showing a bit with his Relic system he has made for Chapter 1. He is making his game more of a dwarf fortress like game in the long run.
 

Ranger X

Member
wwm0nkey said:
Besides the block art style and the first chapter being a creative mode only FortressCraft is going in a completly different direction and its showing a bit with his Relic system he has made for Chapter 1. He is making his game more of a dwarf fortress like game in the long run.

If he differenciate his game in the long run that's good.
 

wwm0nkey

Member
Ranger X said:
If he differenciate his game in the long run that's good.
yeah like right now yeah its a rip off but all the stuff he plans on adding sounds great. If chapter 1 sells enough though he will just update that forever lol
 
toythatkills said:
Office Affairs is... It's... I mean, it's... There's... I just don't know how I can... It's... Oh God.

The funny and obvious thing is that sex sells. It's pretty apparent that if you put a picture on the cover that is of a girl or sexual in any way, you are going to get a LOT more trials than if you don't. Just see how many ratings there are for Office Affairs compared to many of the other games released at the same time or before. It's a pretty big difference and the game is still listed as the top seller today. I'll be curious to see how far people are going to try to push it going forward.



toythatkills said:
Trilinea React is kinda annoying...Unfortunately, the non-customisable controls make it difficult to play. There's no d-pad support, the left stick has no dead-zone, so I had to play with the right stick. Then the main controls, rotate and place piece, are mapped to RB and RT respectively. This doesn't sound like that big an issue but when you're playing it's weirdly confusing and you WILL press the wrong button A LOT.

The controls absolutely kill this game. I don't know what the creator was smoking when he decided to put rotate and place on the trigger/bumper but it took this game from probably a 4 star from me to a 2.
 

acm2000

Member
Ranger X said:
Still, it's not my coding I would be worried about but my intellectual property. It's one thing when someone makes a game inspired by yours or the same type as yours but now here it's a carbon copy. It needs a stronger word than rip-off.

Actually Notch might not care because he might know that what Minecraft offers right now is just the tip of the iceberg.

its not like notch didnt completely rip off another game to make minecraft is it, oh wait
 

Enk

makes good threads.
Played the demo of You Will Die last night. It doesn't seem quite as thought out as Warning Forever. The main boss does grow but it doesn't appear to adapt to how you kill it. Having a shield and have it drain your score multiplier was a nice touch that wasn't in WF.


Dark Octave said:
I wish there were regular enemies to fight before each boss though. Music wouldn't hurt either.

Did you ever play Warning Forever? Putting in enemies would just defeat the purpose of the game (which is trying to be a tribute to WF). Basically the game is about you against this always growing, always adapting ship. Challenge and Score comes in place with how quickly you can kill it so you can keep your timer up, trying to survive the increasing onslaught of weapons (each death saps 20 secs off your timer), and trying to adjust your attack style to kill it in a way that makes it adapt the way you want it to. If you haven't played Warning Forever yet definitely check it out. It's great for those quick short spurts of shmup goodness.
 
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