What's New in Indie (Monthly Round-Up) - September

[cyrus_zuo]

Just a couple days shy of the end of the month the monthly look at indie games is up at Game Tunnel.

http://www.gametunnel.com/articles.php?id=641

Enjoy! I had a really good time with the games this month. It's always fun to be surprised by a great indie game that you didn't know about!

[arcadetown]

Heck freakin yeah, Star Defender 4!

How about a cute icon of your lunch break, free evening, call in sick icons to draw more attention? Took me a moment to figure out where the score was.

[Musenik]

How about an un-cute set of icons...

:-P

[princec]

Eww, I tried Star Defender 4 on the strength of the review there... it's grim.

<edit>Hm I realise that is probably not a nice thing to say about someone's hard toil. So a more constructive Roundup-style critique would read like this:

4/10: The graphics are nice, the presentation perfect, it ran flawlessly, didn't care much for the sound, and the style was as if I'd seen it all before somewhere... but the gameplay was just tedious. I didn't die on my first go until level 9, and even then it came as a bit of a surprise. I never felt as if I was in any need of actual skill to play it. In short, one game was enough to know I'll never play it again.

And that's why the Round-up was so interesting :(

Cas :)

[Jamie W]

I haven't played it ... but ...

Maybe they make the difficulty way too easy on purpose? To encourage players?

I know the portal guys I have met, all seem to say they want easy games that give players a sense of achievement? But making a game too easy, it just seems a bit, well, watered-down (I'm trying not to say 'crap').

Personally, I think if a game is challenging, and the player only dies through his own fault (i.e. a lack of skill), so long as the game is good, it's just going to keep them coming back for more. In theory ...

I guess it's a thread in it's own right, just how difficult (easy) do you make a game?

[princec]

It's hardly encouragement when you just can't see the point of continuing though...

Cas :)

[Jamie W]

It's hardly encouragement when you just can't see the point of continuing though...

Cas :)

Well yeah, I agree with you Cas. A sense of acheivement, I think, is linked to a feeling that you've overcome some hurdle, something that's not easy ...

I just don't understand why that's percieved (by the portals) as a bad thing.

[princec]

I don't know why everyone's got it into their heads that portals like easy games... none of the HO games are "easy". What portals - and hence customers - like, are rewarding games. Different games reward different people in different ways - with amusement, relaxation, knowledge, beating opponents, or a sense of achievement.

What people don't like is frustration, struggling with controls, having their brains stretched too far, confusion, or any feeling of unfairness.

Cas :)

[cyrus_zuo]

Sounds like someone is a little defensive about SD4 ;).

I would call the game plenty hard. Though probably not during the first 30-45 minutes. It does have that one shooter trait that I don't like...getting hit and becoming weaker, which causes you to get hit again...and get weaker...and the cycle continues, and usually within a 20 second period I've gone from powerhouse to little gnat.

Sounds like it didn't ramp up quick enough for some :).

[cyrus_zuo]

Well yeah, I agree with you Cas. A sense of acheivement, I think, is linked to a feeling that you've overcome some hurdle, something that's not easy ...

I just don't understand why that's perceived (by the portals) as a bad thing.

I think you've misinterpreted where to place your blame. The portals are stocking all kinds of games from Lux to The Dark Legions to Tube Twist to Bejeweled. Wik is by no means easy!

Difficulty is something that drives the sales. The portal audience as a whole doesn't find the challenge you are mentioning to be interesting, exciting or fun. They find it to be frustrating, boring drudgery. So the majority of them play something they find to be fun. Developers get paid on what people buy. The developer's respond by choosing their ideas and placing the difficulty level within reach of people they think will enjoy their games.

Still that doesn't mean that the games are all one thing or another on the portals. That's over-generalizing. It is easy to find a long list of very challenging games on Reflexive. They are less known b/c they are less popular. They are less popular b/c less people are playing and buying them.

You can blame the portals for what people like, but people have options and they will choose what they want. They majority of the customers on the portals just don't want a challenge the way you want one.

There are many people who prefer to see the scenery from the trail instead of hiking 3 days into the back-country to see it. The back-country wilderness hiker may look at national parks with well-kept trails as dumbing down the experience, but really it's just different people enjoying what they like. And people like different things. And that's a good thing ;).

[princec]

No, not at all defensive, I was desperate for a new game to play because I just don't have anything apart from Soldat and I just can't a shooter that's any good :( Guess that's why I write my own!

Cas :)

[Jamie W]

I ain't blaming the portals for anything Russell ... however (!) ...

I have defo been told by one very big portal that their customers are not looking for challenging games; they want something that allows them to 'switch off' for 20 mins or so (to escape the druggery of work or the boredom of their lives).

[cyrus_zuo]

I ain't blaming the portals for anything Russell ... however (!) ...

I have defo been told by one very big portal that their customers are not looking for challenging games; they want something that allows them to 'switch off' for 20 mins or so (to escape the druggery of work or the boredom of their lives).

Fair enough :).
I agree that not all portals are as open-minded as Reflexive is. But then we're a company of gamers, not suits ;). Most companies are looking only at the bottom line. We definitely are trying to make money as well, but diversity is a part of how that happens :).

Speaking of, the game scheduled for release on Reflexive today is the classic shump DemonStar, which if you haven't played you should! (www.mking.com) Though it may be too easy for you :).

[Dan MacDonald]

Scott Host FTW :)

[Emmanuel]

Hey now, we're the publishers of Master of Defense, Fish Tycoon, Virtual Villagers 1 & 2, Grimm's Hatchery and Plant Tycoon :) We don't try to second guess our customers. Casual gamers just seem to not like pure mechanic games much lately (ie. without a lot of hand-crafted content, or meaningful play), and the game ops guys at BFG (who pick games up for distribution or not) really know their stuff, but we give a chance to a lot of games.

It's more of a fundamental difference in basic game design. Casual gamers seem to not want a game in the traditional sense of the word (replay a level many times until you finally have learned every of the 800 steps to avoid falling in molten lava and being made fun of by the game), but rather a rewarding, fun, inviting past-time.

I also think it's a mistake to be condescending to customers. Surgeons and lawyers play casual games, and they certainly don't have boring lives (heck, even my lawyer knew about Big Fish Games before I even told her about doing the paperwork for the purchase). If your life is already challenging enough, it makes sense to have fun with a past-time.

Best regards,
Emmanuel

[Andy]

Saw the ads on our local TV today:

"indieGamer - the place where portals meet and discuss the stuff"

:D :D :D

[Desktop Gaming]

I ain't blaming the portals for anything Russell ... however (!) ...

I have defo been told by one very big portal that their customers are not looking for challenging games; they want something that allows them to 'switch off' for 20 mins or so (to escape the druggery of work or the boredom of their lives).
Either you meant 'drudgery', or said portal are selling software to some very unsavoury people.... :D :D :p ;)

[cyrus_zuo]

Okay then...back to the round-up...

...it was a great month...

...and that is usually where thread ends. (Which is unfortunate...play the games! They're worth playing!)

Now if it was a horrible month there is usually much more discussion. ;)

[Jamie W]

Saw the ads on our local TV today:

"indieGamer - the place where portals meet and discuss the stuff"

:D :D :D

It's OKay Andy, you're in the 'portal section' of the forum ...

;)

[Spore Man]

House Builder, the casual game: Build a house by clicking on tools, materials and builders. You have one week to build your dream home! Will you make it in time for the house warming party?

House Builder the Arcade game: Move your carpenter around the lot while avoiding the hazardous tools, and angry foreman. You have 24hrs to build a house. Can you make it without cuts, bruises and lost limbs? Your life depends on it!

[Agent 4125]

I like the rating system better than last month. But I'd improve the graphics; if nothing else they should all be the same width. Right now it's like the "free up your evening" gets more weight because it's much larger than the others.

If you do add icons, I would keep the text with them to keep it clear.

[cyrus_zuo]

I like the rating system better than last month. But I'd improve the graphics; if nothing else they should all be the same width. Right now it's like the "free up your evening" gets more weight because it's much larger than the others.

If you do add icons, I would keep the text with them to keep it clear.

Thanks, I'll play with the widths...definitely would like the graphics a bit prettier. I like the icons idea...but my art skills lack for that type of thing :(.

It was a good month and honestly I had fun writing...and re-writing...and re-writing the article. :)

[HairyTroll]

I like the rating system better than last month.

Really? I way prefer this rating system (http://www.bigempire.com/gooden/rating.html). ;)

[Sybixsus]

Really? I way prefer this rating system (http://www.bigempire.com/gooden/rating.html). ;)

Ah, the same system used by most of the mainstream gaming press.

[arcadetown]

Why did Star Defender 3 (and SD4 will) far outsell other similar shooters? IMO graphics and presentation that are light years ahead even though game play isn't all that much different.

Totally agree about SD series fatal flaw of get hit get weaker as I could never beat the last couple sets of levels. Yes it does get hard! Astro Fury had a great solution where if you lose you can start game off at level set X with enough automatic upgrades to survive and build upon.

I'm currently liking the like it or not rating system like on hallpass (http://www.hallpass.com/media/kissormiss.html) for example. Really boils down to someone either likes something or not, and an average of all users gets you a usable overall score.

[Spore Man]

I like the GameTunnel ratings... Really fits with my own habits. Some games I'd like to avoid wasting my time on. Others I'd like to try out for the hell of it. And lastly, there are the must-tries I don't want to miss. Their ratings pretty much hit that straight on.

[tagged]

First, I feel this style is alittle better than the last one. Congratulations as well, it is no doubt hard to try to come up with a worthy alternative to the monthly roundup :D

Ah, the same system used by most of the mainstream gaming press.

How true. I usually don't bother with reviews that have a rating system with more than 10 assignable points. It seems to be a decent limit for our basic brains :p Percent ratings are just ridiculous.. What is the real difference between 93 and 94% ?

[princec]

One percent.

Cas :)

[cyrus_zuo]

I like the GameTunnel ratings... Really fits with my own habits. Some games I'd like to avoid wasting my time on. Others I'd like to try out for the hell of it. And lastly, there are the must-tries I don't want to miss. Their ratings pretty much hit that straight on.

Thanks :)
I liked the ratings myself for the same reasons.

Last month, the article was starting a new series (60-minute) with a new author...but the author dropped at the last minute and I picked up the pieces. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to reformulate the article to my own liking as I was quite busy trying to play the games before the end of the month.

This month I got to explore the space. I think the article still could use a little more cowbell, but I really enjoyed writing it...the result is closer to what I would want to know in regards to which games to check out, and the tone was about right.

Hopefully I can keep up the new article and it will be something to look forward to :).

[princec]

Bah, I want to resurrect the Roundup...

Cas :)