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Captain Red

Indie games thread!

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Everybody has to start somewhere. A lot of devs start by making mods of games. Even Gearbox started doing mods. Valve did too. That's really cool though its come full circle. I have Zeno Clash 1. Haven't played it yet. Coincidentally, I think Steam has ZC1 and ZC2 on sale right now. Or did.

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geo said:

Yep use a mouse and keyboard or a dual stick controller. I'm noticing games are getting shorter and shorter. Which is fine to be honest. there are just too many games / indie games out there. Ittle Dew is 4 hours long. DLC Quest the Game is 20 - 40 minutes long.

Bleed is shorter than NES Megamans, which are also short. That's what I'd consider the good minimum length for an action platformer. Not too long to waste all your time, but also long enough that there's enough variety to keep replayability up.


On an other note, I've got two beta keys for Card Hunter for whoever gets to grab them (don't be a dick and grab them if you aren't going to play the game):
JDXZ-YNWW-RGCR
HXSV-SDPX-GZST

Register at https://accounts.cardhunter.com/register

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I'd consider Megaman's a healthy length. Especially compared to Contra. But Megaman is still not as long as Metroid. Megaman does have a replayability factor since you can select which stage comes next.

As for bleed, a first game doesn't need to be long. They can do a longer sequel.

Card Hunter isn't a game for me, but thanks for giving out the 2 numbers. Someone else will enjoy them :-)

>>> Steam is having an iD / Bethesda / Zenimax sale. I'm thinking about picking up all the Quakes for $7.50.

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I've been playing Card Hunter already thanks to the plug it got from Penny Arcade. I think I'll wait until it's actually released before I get back into it since the more campaign missions I beat now the more I'll have to replay later. Also, the multiplayer doesn't seem to be getting much attention right now; I'd expect a much busier lobby in a game that has been blessed by PA's benevolent gaze. Maybe the single player is drawing too much attention away.

I've been enjoying the single player, but largely for the flavour. The game's framing device is absolutely adorable. The deckbuilding isn't especially rich as I've been finding the options are usually pretty restrictive. The gameplay is very novel but your hand often gets weighed down with cards you didn't want to equip in the first place.

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Personally I have mixed opinions of it; the idea of the game is cool but some of the levels are very badly balanced with completely unexpected spikes in difficulty. Also the luck of draw can get really annoying at times, as having - or not having - an armor or a strong attack can completely ruin a level. But it's still in beta, so I hope they'll balance things out better before release.

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Random question for the people still paying attention to this thread. How many hours do you want out of a game per $5 that you pay? Like $20 gets you a 4 hour long game. That would make for $5 an hour.

Games like your card game, Terraria, Minecraft, FTL and Football Manager can be real time sinks if you can get into them. So that makes for a lot of time in the game for the flat fee you pay.

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Honestly? Doesn't matter as long as the experience is good enough. I didn't "feel ripped off" because Bleed was really short; I just wanted to have more and longer levels because it's really good and ended way too soon.

In general "bang for buck" is a terrible metric for games, since the perceived minimum length of a game also depends heavily on the genre. Using the "$5 for an hour", 12 hours would be fine for a $60 triple-A game. Would I be fine with 12 hours of really good FPS action? Yes. What about only 12 hours of intense post-apocalyptic role playing? Proooobably not.

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HYDROPHOBIA PROPHECY is a 3rd person action / shooter based around some great water dynamics. The water will flow from one room to the next, raise, lower, put out fires, and electricity in it will hurt you. Its a lot like being in a Zelda water dungeon. This is a good game with gameplay mechanics that are on par with big budget games. It has the ledge climbing, destructible environments, a frequency matching minigame, swimming, camera hacking, sneaking and everything else you'd find in a OTS.

There's a great balance between problem solving, shooting and exploration. There are only a few guns and really you won't need any other gun but the default phaser that you can charge for larger damage. There is a cover system, but I rarely used it. The downside for some purists would be the aim seems off. Shoot near someone and it still counts as a hit. Its not the best, but it stays in the realm of good. Even though the game encourages you to drown foes, electrocute them, blow up barrels and so on, ,it didn't really seem like I killed anyone in cool ways other than exploding barrels.

The controls feel good, aim, shoot, move, move camera, roll (although I never used it once), jump, sneak, weapon wheel, diving, emerging, sticking to cover and so on. The heroine's movement is just a little stiff, but that's one of the only downsides to this game.

The story is good for an indie action game, terrorists have taken over your cruise ship and you need to stop them. You've got a helpful voice that chimes in and tells you what to do, but it never feels like too much instruction. There are things left for yourself to figure out. There's even a nice waypoint to guide you in the general direction if you chose to use it to make the game easier for you to stay on task.

The game looks great, with really nice water effects and camera sprays. The voice acting sounds good and there are an over abundance of cut scenes at the start, but they ease up in frequency.

I've got the game on PSN and PC. Graphics wise I'd say PC is better, but it seems to be a beast on my PC's processor and not the graphics card. It is a game best played with a controller. The downside with PC is the camera feels chaotic.

The game is short and sweet. The whole single player campaign is like 3 - 4 hours and at less than $5 I'm fine with that. There are challenge rooms to extend the game's length. It doesn't overstay its welcome and its a game that makes me want to play other things that the developers come up with, but alas they're defunct as of 2012.

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HACK SLASH LOOT - simple dungeon-crawler/rougelike with superminimized pixelart graphics. Still amazing. Maybe not more than games from the similar genre, but I'm totally addicted to it at the moment!

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I like the look of that game ^^^

HumbleBundle is back this week with a game bundle that I swear they've done before or someone has. I own all the games. but the star on the christmas tree this week is $20 Prison Architect.



Uplink
Defcon
Darwinia
Multinia

Prison Architect

=========================

Activision = indie now... depending on who their publisher is. SquareEnix are indie, but I still wouldn't consider them indie.

Seems like Steam is getting all of the console indies now.



GUACAMELEE 2D Platforming Metroidvania Action Brawler



SPELUNKY Randomly generated 2D Platforming Adventure



DRAGON COMMANDER $40 strategy RTS / 3PS on a Dragon?

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I've followed Overgrowth for may;be 110 updates. While I feel it has a great engine its a missed opportunity having only levels.

Humble Indie Bundle 9 is out

- Trine 2
- Mark of the Ninja
- Brutal Legend
- Eeks Munchies Demo

- FTL
- FEZ



Also while its not indie, the Humble Old School Shooter Weekly Bundle is out.
- Serious Sam 1 & 2 (I assume 1 & 2)
- Shadow Warrior Classic Redux (the original 1997 game is free on Steam)
- Duke Nukem 3D megaton

- Hard Reset
- System Shock 2

I am REALLY learning to never buy anything on Steam, because it just goes to Humble Bundle. I thought about buying Hard Reset, Duke, System Shock 2, Fez, Trine 2, FTL (even if I already own it), Fez, Mark of the Ninja (bought it as a gift) and here they are all for a combine $11. Last week Steam had a Fez sale. Now you can get it and other games for the same price as the Steam sale.

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If anyone fondly remembers Marble Madness on the NES, you might want the current IndieGameStand offer (although in 28 hours or so, it will be a different game and will probably make my comparison to Marble Madness somewhat confusing).

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SavageCorona said:

Not reading through 5 pages to see if someone posted Overgrowth.


It looks cool, but it's a good example of how ragdoll physics are really underdeveloped. People tend to have an innate ability to try and catch themselves in midair and stabilize themselves on the ground that ragdoll physics from what I have seen, haven't even attempted to capture. It wasn't a big deal in games like Skate where ragdoll physics were used for mostly cosmetic purposes, but in a game where the way you land can mean the difference between life and death it could seriously hinder the way the game is played.

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Infinite Ammunition said:

Enjoy if exploration and piecing together cryptic clues to puzzles are your thing (and there's also the WiiWare remake which hit PC last year)

"Thou art a fool. Thou art a fool. Thou art a fool. Thou art a fool."

La-Mulana is a fucking troll. And I love it.

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Its that time again.



Underrail I'm sure a few people will like the isometrics of it.



Garry's Incident No idea what this is. Can't be bothered to watch the trailer. Garry's Mod makes me think of this.



Agarest: Generations of War. A cheap old school RPG that has a ton of DLC a tonnnn.



CastleStory A game where you build shit. Looks good, but eh there are other games that look to do the same thing.



Alien Rage indie FPS.



La-Mulana Adventure platformer.



Divekick Yep divekick.

I would show a trailer to AVGN Adventures, but well its not an indie game even if its made by 1 guy.

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geo said:

I would show a trailer to AVGN Adventures, but well its not an indie game even if its made by 1 guy.

It's also not very good. I watched an archive of Psychedelic Eyeball's stream of it, and it's filled to the brim with cheap deaths that you'd have no means of knowing about in advance without having played the section before, small hazards that move quickly and are insanely hard to see, very poor humor (I like AVGN, but more for learning about the game in question and jokes made directly in response to the game, and less the skits - this seems to care more for the skits), tasteless humor (there's an entire stage devoted to Atari porn games, including tons of naked people, bare breasts you bounce on, floors covered in semen that you slip on, and a few penises too), et cetera.

On top of that, you have a limited number of lives to complete the entire game on - in a game that chews up lives about as frequently as you die in I Wanna Be The Guy. Not good game design.

To its credit, the controls look very competent, but the level design pretty much ruins it. Doesn't help that every time you die, the Nerd goes on and on about how much the game you're playing sucks. Apparently, it does! And it's $15, on top of all that.

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I'm sure I'll get AVGN and love it. I saw a few streams from PAX I think it was and how death filled it was. Then I watched TotalBiscuit take his time and it wasn't death filled.

The game also seems like it would be quick if you take your time. If that makes sense, but eh appearances can be deceiving. Kind of like how Ducktails is a short game.

I think the $15 hits the sweet spot. Not dropping people right back into the action seems like a flaw. Meatboy drops you right back in, Fez drops you right back in. If they give you enough time between lives you think oh I should play something else.

And yeah I'm not a fan of the skits, but whatever.

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Shadow Hog said:

On top of that, you have a limited number of lives to complete the entire game on - in a game that chews up lives about as frequently as you die in I Wanna Be The Guy. Not good game design.

False. On easy and normal you have unlimited continues, hard difficulty has only five continues.

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LIMBO is hailed as an artistic masterpiece for its black and grey style. It is a puzzle platformer that really is more of a trial and error sort of thing. Errors get you instantly killed and respawned just about where you were.

Controls are simple. A single button to do things like grab onto a box or a lever, left and right control your player and the questionable choice of up makes you jump. On a keyboard they're very easy with 1 hand to play the game. With an analog stick it makes things frustrating. How far up is up on an analog stick? Am I going to climb the vine or jump off the vine? On top of that... it seems like up also makes you climb down objects if you're on the edge. So too far on the edge will have you climbing down but too far away from an edge will have you missing a jump and falling to your Doom.

Speaking of Doom, this game is just full of death. Fall deaths, simple water deaths, spike deaths, bear trap deaths and spider deaths. Bear trap deaths are pretty frustrating, because you are forced to move the traps, but sometimes your character just lets go and jumps in. What the heck? That feels like a common bug or glitch.

I can't recommend the game, but I can recommend watching a playthrough of it. The game isn't that long and its not a joy to play, but it is a marvel to look at.

You'll make it through the quick game if you just keep playing. There's nothing really that requires skill since this is puzzle solving. Its more like stand here, jump there, pull this, jump on that. Everything has been done before, but this just makes it look really good.

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It is that time again. Most of these games are from Japan.



8-BIT COMMANDO 2D old school Contra rip off. Everything from the weapons, art and level design are supposed to make you think Contra. Wonder why Steam won't greenlight them. This is a great proof of concept. Its a quick game with only a few levels. That's why I call this a proof of concept. Different weapons, different enemies and it gives a true 8bit Nintendo feel. The controls are straight out of Contra and I like how it doesn't use the dual stick aim method. There is something great here for Contra lovers and maybe something better in the future.



CHESTER Great 2D platformer done in an art style that for better or worse looks like it is hand drawn. Sometimes the backgrounds can be too busy, but every level is a feast for the eyes with different lands in different styles, there is always something fresh going on. Chester is a challenging and yet forgiving game. You are forced to beat the clock with falling platforms and destructible walls, yet if you fall into a pit you'll literally bounce out of the pit once or twice. You can also wall jump and double jump for some extra mobility. There are solid 2D mechanics and some good gameplay twists, such as green projectiles only hurt red objects and red only hurts blue that makes me think the developers were either geniuses or crazy. There's a lot of depth here and surprisingly worth your time to play if you like 2D platforming.



REFLEX is a versicle SHMUP from Japan that has a lot going for it. There is a good quick pace between levels and frequent bosses. There is also a good shield mechanic that makes you defend and offend. If you have your shields out to bounce back bullets, they will drain, when they drain your gun power will drain until you stop using shields and guns, then your power will charge back up. Even with this simple mechanic it makes the game a lot of fun. It is of course bullet hell, but it feels approachable.



ERYL'S ACTION Japanese 2D side scrolling platformer that can fuck itself, because its a memory death trap style game. For people that have made Mario levels there are things that you should never ever do when making a Mario level. Well this entire game is what not to put into a Mario level. As I said earlier, its nothing but death traps. Some people might be into blind death traps like running across a lawn makes spikes pop up, unless you remember to jump over it, but I can't call this fun, more like a challenge for masochistic sake, especially when the plot is that your cake has been stolen (better than a princess being kidnapped). Hit a block, expect a bomb to come out. Find a door... don't expect to go in it. The collision detection is also terrible. This is a joke of a game and since the lives allow you to dip into the negatives, the game is in on the joke.



FIBRILATION First person horror game.



SURVIVOR SQUAD Top down zombie shooting game. Never seen one of these before.



TAILSMAN PROLOGUE << Ha just greenlit on Steam as of a few minutes ago



ESCAPE GOAT Greenlit on Steam wooo. Platforming puzzle game!



UNHOLY HEIGHTS Tower defense apartment management sim from Japan? Also greenlit on Steam

Ugg I could actually keep going. Some of these Japanese games have American publishers... technically making them not indie to Americans when they're all published by NYU Media. How the fuck does one publish a game now if there's no physical copy of the game? Anyway.... So many indie games. I think I'm out of the 'good' indie games.

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geo said:

How the fuck does one publish a game now if there's no physical copy of the game?

Publisher does not necessarily mean distributor.

Also, Unholy Heights is great. Definitely worth its low-low price.

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*arch-vile appears*

*chants* resurrect!

Its that time again for Humble Bundle Indie Bundle X!



SURGEON SIMULATOR 2013 is what it says it is. You control a hand, each of its fingers and the height and rotation of the hand. It has hilariously terrible controls.



REUS is a god game with giants and its just slow watching your giant lumber around. I could grow tomatoes by the time it takes a giant to lumber across the stretch of a circular planet to conjure up some tomatoes. Its a really beautiful game, but its just slow.



TO THE MOON is a RPG maker game on Steam.



JOE DANGER 2: THE MOVIE



PAPA & YO



RUNNER 2 is a 2D rhythm game. You auto scroll sideways, jump, kick and slide under objects. There is a nice map and its a huge leap from Runner 1. I have it for PSN and now Steam, but sometimes the rhythm gets too intense for me to keep up.

Not part of the Humble Bundle X



GUACAMELEE! is a fucking awesome and beautiful 2D beat-em up, action, almost button combo game that some might consider MetroidVania with pretty nice controls. Well worth the $15 and its a joy to play.

I would have posted Rekoil, but alas it got a publisher.

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