I've only bought Space Tripper (I just couldn't live without beating it) and Zuma, which I think is the best casual game ever.
Since I don't have much free time to play games, I just download and play demos or web games when I'm bored.
Hi,
How many indie downloadable game do you own? So far, I've bought Bejeweled 2, Chuzzle and Wild West Wendy.
Cheers
I've only bought Space Tripper (I just couldn't live without beating it) and Zuma, which I think is the best casual game ever.
Since I don't have much free time to play games, I just download and play demos or web games when I'm bored.
Manuel F. Lara
FunMan Games
Descargar juegos indie - Blog about indie games (in Spanish)
Blog sobre productividad, motivación y espíritu emprendedor
Bugatron
Best Friends Forever
Cosmobots
Chuzzle
HamsterBall
StarMonkey
StrayFire.
Currently considering Ultratron as a purchase too.
Digriz - www.psychotoad.com
Best Friends
Platypus (original)
Hamsterball
Aerial Antics
Um, and I think that's it.
As you can see I only really like colourful action games. Which is probably why I made one.
My list is too long to post here... but I've been buying more casual games than regular games lately. Know why? I bought a few casual games last year... then this spring I bought a couple AAA titles.
Let me just say this about AAA titles:
1. 30 second wait before the game even starts LOADING to view the company logo and tagline ("We Make Games!") of every company involved in the project.
2. No "Try and Buy" so they get away with making a horrendous interface. I love losing complete control of my cursor and computer during load sequences. :P I love having to go into a manual to find out that F10 brings up the menu.
3. Crashola! Because Indies get such fast feedback, most (most!) Indie games are relatively stable. AAA titles... no way. I crashed more times with the 3 AAA games I bought in the last two months than in Indie games I've bought for the last couple years.
4. No way to quickly get in and out of game. Say you want to play a quick something while doing a "rebuild all." Pop up a casual game, play a few minutes, go back. Or, bring up an AAA title... swap in the CD. Watch the 30-40 seconds of logos. Now endure the 1-2 minutes of loading. Now go through the smoothly scrolling transition menus (10-20 seconds). And boom, you're ready to start the game. Ready to quit? Find the save feature. Click "exit" on the menu. Click through "are you sure?" Now go back to main menu. Now click "exit" there. Now click are you sure again. Now go through a shutdown process that's almost as slow as the load process. Holy cow!
Me *personally* (as opposed to decisions and games shared with other half), Fate. Pow Pow's Great Adventure. Might have bought Alien Flux eventually but the price at the time was a bit high and I managed to win a free copy instead. :)
... most casual games just aren't interesting enough for me to feel compelled to buy them, bored housewife or no. I have particular tastes. As the ONE person who loved AF's control scheme and has no interest in Ultratron, I think I just don't fit in with the market :)
(Chuzzle is *awfully* shiny though. Must... resist... virtual crack...)
Last edited by papillon; 07-13-2005 at 04:36 AM.
Ditto on Raptisoft's AAA game comments. But I'll add that most AAA games just aren't as fun as the indie ones anyway. And the recent story-driven-gameplay obsession really kills replayability. And on point #4 you forgot the unskippable "cinematic" intros, in addition to all that other stuff ;). And then there's the Tecmo games with a 10+ second legal notice before the company logos even start. Arrgghh!!
That said, I haven't been buying nearly as many indie games as I really want to (Low on money, so I haven't been able to get the few AAA I actually am interested in either). These are the ones I have bought (In no order):
Gish
Orbz
Paradoxion
The ones I still plan to get once I get some extra money are (in no order):
Cactus Bruce and the Corporate Monkeys
Big Kahuna Reef (I can't believe I actually got hooked on a match-3 game :D )
Professor Fizzwizzle
BreakQuest
Super DX-Ball
Hyperballoid
Pop-Pop
Hamsterball
Alien Shooter
Platypus
DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold
Jets'n'Guns
Dr. Lunatic Supreme With Cheese
Nick Sabalausky
Recent purchases:
Astral Masters
Fate
In total, I've probably bought about eight or nine over the past few years. I probably would have bought a few Popcap games but the free web versions are sufficient to satisfy my urges. :)
Paul Kerchen
Hey Papillion, buy Chuzzle and I'll give you a free Hamsterball. :)
I've bought... none! But I've been given a few. There have been some that I would have bought, except... more games for my PC? I'm supposed to be working! And the reality is that even games I really like, I'll end up playing for 20 minutes and then forgetting about forever and ever.
Besides which, I generally prefer old console games, which are also much cheaper.
(Actually my other half bought Hamsterball a long time ago..... and then swore at it a lot. This was pre 2.0, there have probably been many changes since then, I think he's forgotten about it by now. I didn't count it on the list because it wasn't MY purchase.)
I'm too poor for anything right now. Ask me when/if I ever get this RPG done :)
Ricochet Lost Worlds
Orbz
Bejewelled (bought it for my wife)
Pretty Good Solitaire (also bought it for my wife)
Galactic Civilizations
Outpost Kaloki
Mythic Blades
So that's seven. Not including my own. :)
Rampant Games: Games With Personality!
Tales of the Rampant Coyote: Adventures In Indie Gaming
Frayed Knights - a 3D RPG that refuses to take itself seriously.
Twisted (by Rays Maze guy)
BattleGirl
Sentinels of Ceth
Bumbler
DeadEnd3D
SpaceTripper
Mutant Storm
Bugatron
Puppytron
others I cant think of at the moment.
Professor Fizzwizzle is my probable next purchase.
Strangely enough I have never actually purchased an indie game.
I OWN probably about 50 but they are "donated" to me to help with marketing :)
-Joe
Joseph Lieberman
Video Game Marketing Service
w: Video Game Marketing
Book Blog: Indie Game Marketing Book
e: webmaster@vgsmart.com
Astral Tournament
Astral Masters
There are others I would have bought, (mostly the strategy-ish games) but I got free copies here and there from beta testing and what-not. Although I lost many of my games when my system wiped recently. I'm not sure how to even get some of them back. Oh, the pitfalls of online distribution!
And I've been bordering on the edge of buying Fate for a long time now. One of these days I'm sure I'll cave in and do it.
-Hiro_Antagonist
Democracy
Outpost Kaloki
Uplink
Gish
Meridian 59
Almost all of Hamumu's games :)
Would have bought Glace if it wasn't free
Been meaning to pick up Hamsterball and Chromadrome as well, just haven't had time to play them as much as I'd like.
2.0 has somewhat better balance. But he might as well wait until November to download, because we'll have the "Shockwave 3" levels as a free upgrade for people who bought it off our site.Actually my other half bought Hamsterball a long time ago..... and then swore at it a lot.
Dweep
Avernum 1
Avernum 2
Avernum 3
(Odd choice eh?) I'm mostly an old school hardcore gamer compared to a casual gamer. The only reason I purchased Dweep was for my girlfriend, so that we could have a game that we could play together. Other then that, I'm only for retro (mostly rpg) gaming.
Mick
Crimsonland
Wik
Bookworm Deluxe (as a gift)
Personally I would love to see more "hardcore" action style casual games like Crimsonland / Alien Shooter. I don't have time to play AAA titles anymore, but I still like the action. Guess I need to get off my butt and do it myself!
Living Desktops - Bring your Desktop to Life!
Screensavers and Living Desktops
Enchantasy
All six Commander Keen games
King of Dragon Pass (received as gift)
Starscape
Neophyte: The Journey Begins (The game is free, but I bought the T-shirt.)
Rainer Deyke - Eldwood
In chronological order of when I got them:
Dinner with Moriarty
Dweep
Tileworld (freeware)
Rocknor's Bad Day
Aargon 2 Deluxe
RocketMania Deluxe
Fish Fillets (freeware)
Avernum 1 - 3
Oasis
My wife got a few:
Snood
Ricochet: Lost Worlds
Bejeweled 2
The interesting thing about Ricochet: I thought she wouldn't go for it because it wasn't cute and cartooney. But she really liked the "industrial" graphic style, which surprised me.
Any future shareware game purchases will have to wait until I get tired of Oasis. What a nifty little timekiller that is!
-Erik
Seespace Labs - Interactive exeriences with wide-area motion sense seespacelabs.com
I don't own any, but I may purchase Mount and Blade today. That game is seriously addictive!
Sealab 2021
Trial Bike
Pretty short list, may have picked up some others like ClashNSlash if didn't already get full versions when ran em. My last AAA purchase was Doom 3, little on store shelves look interesting anymore.
Platypus
Jets N Guns
With probably Gish being the next thing I would consider buying!
Last AAA I bought was HalfLife2 via Steam, the only game for a long time i actualy felt involved with :)
Fun Games for Mobile and PC!
Binary Graffitti
Samsung 2005 Game Developer Competition 3rd Place Finalist
Super Mixem
Teenage Lawnmower
Orbz
Some games have come very close (platapus, dweep) but I have always resisted. If I had more money I'd definately buy more.
Tiny Frog Software <- Play Caverns of Underkeep a free browser based roguelike!
I haven't been into the shareware scene until recently, so only two:
strategy 3 dark legions (http://www.mascot.hu/)
titan assault (http://www.goldbolt.com/)
I have a whole bunch. A few of these were donated to me for one reason or another but many i bought
teenage lawn mower
pretty much all of hamumu's stuff
heavy weapon
zuma
strange adventures in infinite space
crimsonland
ultratron/puppytron
alien flux
dudester
drod : journey to the rooted hold
digipool
superstar chefs
snood
jewel quest
mahjongg quest
...and no doubt a number of games I've forgotten to mention...
BUT! What I find really really interesting looking through this list (other than the fact that clearly way too many of you are still only potential Aargon customers) is that there are a number of good games listed here that I'd never heard of. Same in the cream of the crop indies thread. And Im someone who really follows online/downloadable games closely and knows a lot about the industry. Just imagine how unknown these games are to the average typical consumer. It just goes to show how lacking in exposure much of our stuff is and how getting the word out is soooo important.
Steve Verreault - Twilight Games
http://www.twilightgames.com --- http://www.indiegamer.com
"Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to.” - Oscar Wilde
Feeding Frenzy
Platypus
Crimsonland
Alien Shooter
Alien Sky
Astrobatics
Iggle Pop
Jets N Guns
Jewel Quest
Riccochet Extreme
Demonstar (all versions)
Everything by Spiderweb Software
I would have bought Froggy Castle, but I completed it before the demo time was up.
Thinking about buying Democracy too.
I've only bought two: Gish (which I love, but I hate the way I can't pick any level to play once completing it) and Hamsterball (which is awesome, amazing presentation).
I also got Puzzle Monkey for my GF, she really loves it, and so do I. I never thought Sokoban could be implemented so solidly!
Haven't bought any yet. (Was close to buying Democracy and Leaderz and possible Platypus (my wife liked playing 2 player), but haven't yet).
I have:
Battles of Norghan (Beta Tested)