The Second Apocalypse

Miscellaneous Chatter => The Forum of Interesting Things => Topic started by: sciborg2 on September 17, 2013, 04:48:17 am

Title: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on September 17, 2013, 04:48:17 am
My new obsession is the side scrolling Diablo-like game Risk of Rain:

http://riskofraingame.com/
 (http://riskofraingame.com/)

Basically you're running through hordes of monsters, gathering items, and fighting bosses. The items, classes, and monsters are pretty cool though you can only do so much with the demo.

This one guy has been doing tons of run throughs with the available classes though apparently the last 3 classes will be unknowns until release:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_qWBdxTTJ8
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on September 17, 2013, 02:47:13 pm
If like old school VGA style - Hyper Light Drifter is gorgeous:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1661802484/hyper-light-drifter?ref=search

"Drifters of this world are the collectors of forgotten knowledge, lost technologies and broken histories. Our Drifter is haunted by an insatiable illness, traveling further into the lands of Buried Time, steeped in blood and treasure hoping to discover a way to quiet the vicious disease. Echos of a dark and violent past from the dead eras resonate throughout and he can't help but listen."
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Wilshire on September 17, 2013, 03:05:03 pm
If you like side scrollers, check out Rogue Legacy. The twist is all the heroes has disabilities that can affect gameplay, which is pretty comical. Things like ADD make you faster, or giantism which makes you... giant, or negative ones like vertigo which make everything upside down (worst one ever).
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on September 18, 2013, 02:51:25 pm
If you like side scrollers, check out Rogue Legacy. The twist is all the heroes has disabilities that can affect gameplay, which is pretty comical. Things like ADD make you faster, or giantism which makes you... giant, or negative ones like vertigo which make everything upside down (worst one ever).

I approve of this message, though not sure if they've made a Mac Port yet?

=-=-=

Nested:

http://indiegames.com/2013/09/browser_pick_discover_infinite.html#more

"The interface is perfectly simple, which makes it easy to start playing and even easier to keep clicking away. The display is set up like a directory of nested folders. You click on a universe, which gives you access to a number of galaxies, each of which contains planets, asteroid belts, and such. You can click to explore planets, and if they harbor intelligent life, you can view the species and cultures, visit their museums, and even see their thoughts.

Or you can keep diving deeper, perhaps into the bones of a creature, or into the elements that make up a rock, then into the atoms and the quarks, and deeper still into an alternate multiverse. Fly inside a black hole, then through a white hole, and discover a hypoverse or a lasagnaverse or a sharkverse. Sift through the stars and see what universes are hiding within."
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on September 19, 2013, 02:49:33 am
Guide A Blind Girl Through A Frightening But Beautiful World In Beyond Eyes:

http://indiestatik.com/2013/09/18/guide-a-blind-girl-through-a-frightening-but-beautiful-world-in-beyond-eyes/

Quote
Beyond Eyes follows the journey of a blind girl called Rae, who uses her hands, nose and ears to visualize the world around her. Rae hasn’t always been blind as it was an accident with fireworks that caused her to lose her eyesight as a toddler. Understandably, Rae was so traumatized by the event that she became too scared to leave the house by herself. So, to get her dose of fresh air in safety, she spends her time tending to her garden and playing with a fat cat called Nani. This is so touching.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Royce on September 19, 2013, 05:47:59 am
Have you guys played Journey? I thought that game was quite beautiful
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Meyna on September 19, 2013, 11:35:56 am
Though old according to the breakneck pace of the modern indie game industry, I really enjoyed Cave Story: http://www.cavestory.org/downloads_game.php

It's a platformer/shooter (think Metroid) made by the one-man operation Studio Pixel. The game caught on and there have been several Nintendo releases, but I enjoy the music and charming translation of the original, linked above.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on September 23, 2013, 04:55:34 am
Though old according to the breakneck pace of the modern indie game industry, I really enjoyed Cave Story: http://www.cavestory.org/downloads_game.php

It's a platformer/shooter (think Metroid) made by the one-man operation Studio Pixel. The game caught on and there have been several Nintendo releases, but I enjoy the music and charming translation of the original, linked above.

If you're a platformer fan check out the browser game Pause Ahead (http://games.adultswim.com/pause-ahead-puzzle-online-game.html).

You basically preserve your momentum when you pause time, and you have to use that mechanic to solve the stages.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on September 24, 2013, 03:36:50 am
Got Multilytheus today, was on sale:

http://www.indiedb.com/games/multilytheus

Hopefully that sale is still happening by the time people see this. It's a fun FP puzzle game. I know it's going to wrinkle my brain...
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Davias on September 24, 2013, 07:48:33 pm
Have you guys played Journey? I thought that game was quite beautiful

I have always wanted to play that game, because what I have heard and seen about it looks and sounds so... beautiful. I own a PS3, but didn't play much. The only games I completed on the PS3 are "Shadow of the Colossus" and "Ico", games which create a very.... melancholy feeling in my opinion.
But Journey looks like a game worth playing in contrast to the many big, hollywood-like "crash, boom, bang" games on the console.

At the moment I'm playing a little roguelike game, named "Infra Arcana". It is inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft and despite it's simple graphics, the game has a lot more atmosphere than many big horror games.

http://infraarcana.wikispaces.com/home (http://infraarcana.wikispaces.com/home)
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Meyna on September 24, 2013, 09:00:34 pm
Though old according to the breakneck pace of the modern indie game industry, I really enjoyed Cave Story: http://www.cavestory.org/downloads_game.php

It's a platformer/shooter (think Metroid) made by the one-man operation Studio Pixel. The game caught on and there have been several Nintendo releases, but I enjoy the music and charming translation of the original, linked above.

If you're a platformer fan check out the browser game Pause Ahead (http://games.adultswim.com/pause-ahead-puzzle-online-game.html).

You basically preserve your momentum when you pause time, and you have to use that mechanic to solve the stages.

Sounds neat! It's not loading for me at the moment -- I'll try again later.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Francis Buck on September 25, 2013, 04:01:56 am
Risk of Rain looks AWESOME Sci. Thanks for pointing it out, I will definitely give it a shot in the near future.

BTW: Did you play Hotline: Miami? I feel like I remember you mentioning it on Westeros, but I can't be sure. That's seriously the game that got me back into indies. Shit was fucking brilliant.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Royce on September 25, 2013, 09:13:16 am
Quote
I have always wanted to play that game, because what I have heard and seen about it looks and sounds so... beautiful. I own a PS3, but didn't play much. The only games I completed on the PS3 are "Shadow of the Colossus" and "Ico", games which create a very.... melancholy feeling in my opinion.

If you enjoyed the melancholy feel of those games,you will not be disappointed with Journey.Those who recommended Journey to me also enjoyed the two games you mentioned ;)
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on September 30, 2013, 04:45:37 pm
Risk of Rain looks AWESOME Sci. Thanks for pointing it out, I will definitely give it a shot in the near future.

BTW: Did you play Hotline: Miami? I feel like I remember you mentioning it on Westeros, but I can't be sure. That's seriously the game that got me back into indies. Shit was fucking brilliant.

Yeah, Risk of Rain is incredibly fun though I was a bit surprised how slow it ran on a friend's old laptop. But then old Windows computers always seem to have that speed issue.

Hotline:Miami is incredibly fun. I actually need to go back to it, as I'm close to the end but got stuck at the police station level.

I was really surprised that there was a weird, Drive+Lynch story in there.

=-=-=

I need to come back and look at some of the games people mentioned. It's a bit crazy how you can amass a huge game library with $50-100 just by waiting for deals.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Cüréthañ on October 02, 2013, 09:42:54 am
I have spent a biblical amount of time playing 'Binding of Isaac'.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on October 03, 2013, 05:41:25 pm
I have spent a biblical amount of time playing 'Binding of Isaac'.

I keep meaning to look that game up. The indie scene is so vast. Definitely will need a new PC, but so far I've held out.

=-=-=

TIMEframe

http://indiestatik.com/2013/10/02/experience-the-last-10-seconds-of-a-beauteous-world-in-10-minutes-timeframe/

"Upon playing a slow game, it becomes apparent that the vast majority of games go fast. There’s not enough time to take everything in, to admire the work the developer has spent their time crafting. Maybe the game you’re playing isn’t slow at all; perhaps it’s every other game that’s just going too fast. The most epic and jaw-dropping moments of playing SUPERHOT were when you shot a bullet and watched it slowly travel towards your target, hearing all of the sounds drag on, the clinks of metal and the slow boom of the shot.

TIMEframe is similar, in that time is slowed right down, so much so that the ten seconds the game takes place within take ten minutes to transpire. That’s the amount of time you have to explore this golden meadow, where symbolic stones form a magical circle, where a large statue has broken and now seems to be slowly reaching out from the ground that it’s sinking into."
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on October 11, 2013, 03:32:53 pm
Olav and the Lute:

http://www.olavandthelute.com/

http://indiestatik.com/2013/10/10/olav-the-lute/

“Dive into the post-apocalyptic fantasy world, solve puzzles, discover melodies, change the game-world with your mystical lute and .. fix it?

It’s kept simple and mysterious and has a sense of Germanic dark fantasy about it, but is grounded in the harsher realities of a post-apocalyptic reality too. Play Olav & the Lute for free, either in your browser, or you can download the game separately (Windows only) if you wish. ”
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on October 13, 2013, 02:37:46 pm
http://indiestatik.com/2013/10/11/dopaminium-the-heal-journay/

"You’re about to go on a journey, an out-of-body experience, even. It will involve taking drugs, dreams, nightmares, demons, happy bears with pink slippers and a brain bug. I’m no shaman, but I’ve already been on this journey. It’s called Dopaminium: The Heal Journay."
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on October 18, 2013, 08:45:15 pm
Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages is Pay What You Want on Indiegamestand:

https://indiegamestand.com/

Probably worth checking out that site's deals in general.

Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on October 28, 2013, 08:01:50 pm
Flying around via a door that's a portal:

http://indiegames.com/2013/10/trailer_to_leave.html

"We use surreal artistic elements with imaginative elements that make you feel like you're in some kind of dream, maybe a nightmare? We leave that answer to the player."
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on October 31, 2013, 11:55:48 pm
IMO this is interesting more for the technique and the future game Gay Passover than Day Trap:

http://indiegames.com/2013/10/freeware_chat_night_trap_is_te.html#more
Quote
The possibilities for gameplay variation using these techniques are endless, Nathan believes. "I can use as many buttons as I want. I can get mouse info if I want to do a point-and-click game for some reason. After making Day Trap, I realized that I have the capacity to make any film game that pops into my head, or re-make any film-game that came before me.

"The concept of my next game (which I call Gay Passover) is that it is a dialogue game that is built unlike any other dialogue game. There is no reading. I believe that reading ruins dialogue games. Instead, there is only one button, and that button controls whether the main character is in the 'normal' world or the 'evil' world. In each sequence, the player must use this power in a dialogue context to solve a series of dialougue puzzles."

Nathan says he is obsessed with single-button games and strongly believes in accessibility for non-gamers, which is why he simplifies control schemes down to one button. While Day Trap is very short and requires just the space bar, Nathan says Gay Passover is going to be longer, with more varied gameplay, detailing his experience growing up in an orthodox Jewish family with lesbian parents.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on November 01, 2013, 07:14:20 pm
1) Here’s Six Ways Indie Games Have Explored Sex And Erotica:

http://indiestatik.com/2013/10/30/sex-games/

2) Why Isn’t The Oculus Rift Being Used To Allow LGBT Empathy Or Desire?:

http://indiestatik.com/2013/08/09/why-isnt-the-oculus-rift/
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on November 05, 2013, 05:49:46 am
Feminine, LGBT ideas welcome in Games [4Diversity] Jam after GDC 2014:

http://indiegames.com/2013/11/Feminine_LGBT_ideas_welcome.html

Registration for the Games [4Diversity] Jam 2014 is live now, an event which asks developers to explore ways to incorporate feminine and LGBT aspects into games in a constructive and meaningful way. While organizers haven't decided the exact location, they will hold it somewhere in San Francisco, California on March 21-23, the weekend after the Game Developers Conference 2014.

Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on November 17, 2013, 04:49:04 pm
http://www.catequesis.eu/

http://kotaku.com/heres-an-unsettling-8-bit-horror-game-sleep-well-1464280102/@andrasneltz

"Here's an Unsettling 8-Bit Horror Game. Sleep Well!"
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on November 19, 2013, 07:19:16 pm
From the developer side, in case any of you (Callan?) are going that route ->

Opinion: What NOT to do when starting as an indie game developer:

http://indiegames.com/2013/11/opinion_what_not_to_do_when_st.html#more
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on November 24, 2013, 04:29:12 pm
Latin American Horror Story - a collection of indie horror from Argentina:

http://indiegames.com/2013/11/latin_american_horror_story_-_.html

"I have hand-picked for you seven horrific titles that were either recently released or are lurking in the horizon, albeit sharing a particular trait: these are all games produced in Argentina. How crazy is that? We seem to have an industry down here! That's right, the indie scene is bursting with renewed activity in our country, and I'm going to give you a quick heads-up on the scariest offerings this side of the pond."
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on November 25, 2013, 05:54:36 pm
Thralled: Finding Empathy For The Victims Of Slavery Through Motherly Loss

http://indiestatik.com/2013/11/24/thralled/

    “This is how, in my opinion, we should study the great calamities of Human History – from the perspective of the human dimension. If we want to learn to not repeat the mistakes of our past as humankind, then we must struggle to understand the full impact of those mistakes and how they affected people, those anonymous victims buried under the numbers and facts of scholarship.”

    “This is all to say that Thralled attempts, in a small manner, to help further understanding and develop empathy for the suffering that these people went through. It attempts to study slavery from the human perspective.”
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on December 11, 2013, 02:02:21 am
The Novelist Was So Beautiful It Killed Me

http://indiestatik.com/2013/12/10/the-novelist/

The reviewer confused things a bit with how he intertwined his own past, but the game itself does seem intriguing.

Quote
    For those looking for a healthy mix of supernatural stealth game and emotionally driven interactive fiction, The Novelist is likely the best (and perhaps only) game on the market able to pull off a convincing portrayal of a nuclear family on the verge of collapse, and neatly ties in a helpful ghost-thing that allows you to experiment with balancing a career and a family. It’s a beautiful, if brief game about what’s really important in life, mixed in with a bit of suspense to keep you hooked. But I’d be lying if it didn’t sock me right in the gut from its opening moments until the bitterly ironic end.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on December 14, 2013, 01:30:23 am
Five design pillars of SOMA (a game about AI and consciousness that should appeal to Second Apocalypsers!):

http://frictionalgames.blogspot.se/2013/12/the-five-foundational-design-pillars-of.html

Quote
OMA is meant to explore deep subjects such as consciousness and the nature of existence. We could have done this with cutscenes and long conversations, but we chose not to. We want players to become immersed in these thematics, and the discussions to emerge from within themselves.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: Callan S. on December 14, 2013, 02:50:15 am
It's me treating my private history like it matters, but at the point they used picking a lock as a narrative moment, is the point I inwardly groaned. Not, like, a moment where you decide to turn off someones life support or not. No, picking a lock. Because that's so much a story moment.

It's worth reading these things, but taken with a pinch of salt.
Title: Re: Sciborg's Indie Game Thread
Post by: sciborg2 on January 01, 2014, 02:25:56 pm
It's me treating my private history like it matters, but at the point they used picking a lock as a narrative moment, is the point I inwardly groaned. Not, like, a moment where you decide to turn off someones life support or not. No, picking a lock. Because that's so much a story moment.

It's worth reading these things, but taken with a pinch of salt.

I have to go back and check, but I think he addresses the lock stuff in another post.

=-=-=

Top 10 indie horror games of 2013:

http://indiegames.com/2013/12/top_10_indie_horror_games_of_2_1.html