Post by Loendal on Feb 8, 2011 2:48:19 GMT -5
Ever since Minecraft has become my current favorite obsession, I've been taking a look at the Indie Games arena and I've found some very interesting stuff.
Now I will admit that my own scope of game enjoyment is a little bit on the narrow side, but I like to see what's out there and some of the things I've found recently stand out.
Rogue-Like games such as Desktop Dungeons and Crawl have grabbed most of my attention. For those unfamiliar with the Rogue-Like genre, they are essentially a dungeon crawl with a goal at the end such as retrieving the Orb of Zot or the Amulet of Yendor. They are also notoriously hard to win; mostly because the safety net of saved games is removed. If you die in a Rogue-Like, you're done. You have to start over from the beginning. If you save / quit out, you are welcome to restore your saved game but unless you want to go against the spirit of Rogue-likes and make a backup of your save file (I will admit to having done this many years back) you are only picking up where you left off. The Dungeons are randomly created and populated with a plethora of creature varieties and items.
Desktop Dungeons is a simple little game wherein they have tried to take all the best features of rogue-likes and minimalize them down to a game you can play in 15 minutes or so which makes it a great time killer for break at work or when you only have a bit of time as you wait for your wife to finish getting ready to go out. They have, however, done a very good job of it! The mechanics are simple. One thing Desktop Dungeons does for you is that it makes you think a little bit. You really have to be careful about your choices or you will end up dead. Smart play is rewarded because if you kill the boss-mob at the end of the dungeon, it unlocks new classes, features, races and dungeon types to explore.
Crawl (Technically, it's full name is Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup) is more of your traditional rogue-like in that you are given a quest: You are to retrieve the Orb of Zot and bring it back out of the dungeon. This isn't quite so easy as it sounds. Personally, I have only ever made it down to the 5th level before getting killed, poisoned, or starving to death (usually all at the same time). The race and class choices are legion. There are a lot of combinations you can come up with when you've got 23 Races and 28 classes to choose from; let alone the optional Deity service you can get into (Which grants certain powers, abilities and limitations, dependent upon which of the 15 or more gods you choose to follow). Crawl also features a pretty nice graphical tile set; or you can play in the more traditional Rogue-Like format of ASCII characters. I will honestly say that I have never beaten any Rogue-like game. I've done pretty well in ADOM and had a fairly good run in Angband, but I have yet to actually 'win' any of them. Which I suppose is why I keep coming back to them; I love a challenge and I have stubbornness issues...
Another facet of Indie Games is the digital art some people come up with. While still "games" in a sense, they are more artistic composition then games. Some examples of this are The Endless Forest and Cloud.
The Endless Forest is a self-described "multiplayer online game and social screensaver". What does this mean, exactly? Well.... It's hard to explain really. You are a deer; so is everyone else. You live in a magical forest that never ends. There is no communication outside of Sound and Body Language. There is no text; not even for people's names. They have specifically stated they are pushing back against internet acronyms, slang and general nastiness that pollutes other online games with normal chat. Deer are identified from one another via their personal Pictogram.
It's a peaceful soother for relaxation and entertainment. You really have to throw on the Roleplayer cap to truly appreciate this one and I was surprised at the depth of communication available with only those two options to do so. I made a friend or two, annoyed an adult deer and played hide and seek with another in the short time I played this one. I still have it on my PC at home and enjoy sinking down into it's quiet, peaceful tranquility and depth of immersion. There's magic you can perform and secrets to find, but it's the environment that holds your attention. It's a beautiful piece of artwork and still in development. As of Phase Three, all new players start out as a Fawn. You will become an adult deer in a month's time, but for now you are a little one and the magical effects and capability are limited in duration and scope (I think it's sort of a way to give people a little "trial" period before they just let you run wild with the games capabilities).
Cloud is by the same guy who made another beautiful piece of work called Flow. In Cloud you are a boy in hospital somewhere, and the tone is one of melancholy and sadness but he is granted the ability to fly amongst the clouds and control them; it's a look into his imagination and it's really beautifully done. They never really explain why he's in the hospital or anything along those lines but I can't shake the feeling that he's fighting some terminal disease and this journey he makes to the sky is his outlet and release from that situation.
You fly around and gather up the clouds, picking them up, dragging them along or releasing them out. In one stage, you draw a figure in the clouds; in another you are asked to drive away the storm clouds that are encroaching upon your land by pushing your clouds into their path, creating rain when they touch. It was during this particular stage that I felt this is his internal mental processes as he fights against whatever it is that ills him; white cells attacking black illness. In still another, you are asked to bring rain for the flowers to grow back again. It's all very lovely and sweet and it's another relaxing game / artwork that's good to dabble in for a while.
Now I will admit that my own scope of game enjoyment is a little bit on the narrow side, but I like to see what's out there and some of the things I've found recently stand out.
Rogue-Like games such as Desktop Dungeons and Crawl have grabbed most of my attention. For those unfamiliar with the Rogue-Like genre, they are essentially a dungeon crawl with a goal at the end such as retrieving the Orb of Zot or the Amulet of Yendor. They are also notoriously hard to win; mostly because the safety net of saved games is removed. If you die in a Rogue-Like, you're done. You have to start over from the beginning. If you save / quit out, you are welcome to restore your saved game but unless you want to go against the spirit of Rogue-likes and make a backup of your save file (I will admit to having done this many years back) you are only picking up where you left off. The Dungeons are randomly created and populated with a plethora of creature varieties and items.
Desktop Dungeons is a simple little game wherein they have tried to take all the best features of rogue-likes and minimalize them down to a game you can play in 15 minutes or so which makes it a great time killer for break at work or when you only have a bit of time as you wait for your wife to finish getting ready to go out. They have, however, done a very good job of it! The mechanics are simple. One thing Desktop Dungeons does for you is that it makes you think a little bit. You really have to be careful about your choices or you will end up dead. Smart play is rewarded because if you kill the boss-mob at the end of the dungeon, it unlocks new classes, features, races and dungeon types to explore.
Crawl (Technically, it's full name is Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup) is more of your traditional rogue-like in that you are given a quest: You are to retrieve the Orb of Zot and bring it back out of the dungeon. This isn't quite so easy as it sounds. Personally, I have only ever made it down to the 5th level before getting killed, poisoned, or starving to death (usually all at the same time). The race and class choices are legion. There are a lot of combinations you can come up with when you've got 23 Races and 28 classes to choose from; let alone the optional Deity service you can get into (Which grants certain powers, abilities and limitations, dependent upon which of the 15 or more gods you choose to follow). Crawl also features a pretty nice graphical tile set; or you can play in the more traditional Rogue-Like format of ASCII characters. I will honestly say that I have never beaten any Rogue-like game. I've done pretty well in ADOM and had a fairly good run in Angband, but I have yet to actually 'win' any of them. Which I suppose is why I keep coming back to them; I love a challenge and I have stubbornness issues...
++++++++++++
Another facet of Indie Games is the digital art some people come up with. While still "games" in a sense, they are more artistic composition then games. Some examples of this are The Endless Forest and Cloud.
The Endless Forest is a self-described "multiplayer online game and social screensaver". What does this mean, exactly? Well.... It's hard to explain really. You are a deer; so is everyone else. You live in a magical forest that never ends. There is no communication outside of Sound and Body Language. There is no text; not even for people's names. They have specifically stated they are pushing back against internet acronyms, slang and general nastiness that pollutes other online games with normal chat. Deer are identified from one another via their personal Pictogram.
It's a peaceful soother for relaxation and entertainment. You really have to throw on the Roleplayer cap to truly appreciate this one and I was surprised at the depth of communication available with only those two options to do so. I made a friend or two, annoyed an adult deer and played hide and seek with another in the short time I played this one. I still have it on my PC at home and enjoy sinking down into it's quiet, peaceful tranquility and depth of immersion. There's magic you can perform and secrets to find, but it's the environment that holds your attention. It's a beautiful piece of artwork and still in development. As of Phase Three, all new players start out as a Fawn. You will become an adult deer in a month's time, but for now you are a little one and the magical effects and capability are limited in duration and scope (I think it's sort of a way to give people a little "trial" period before they just let you run wild with the games capabilities).
Cloud is by the same guy who made another beautiful piece of work called Flow. In Cloud you are a boy in hospital somewhere, and the tone is one of melancholy and sadness but he is granted the ability to fly amongst the clouds and control them; it's a look into his imagination and it's really beautifully done. They never really explain why he's in the hospital or anything along those lines but I can't shake the feeling that he's fighting some terminal disease and this journey he makes to the sky is his outlet and release from that situation.
You fly around and gather up the clouds, picking them up, dragging them along or releasing them out. In one stage, you draw a figure in the clouds; in another you are asked to drive away the storm clouds that are encroaching upon your land by pushing your clouds into their path, creating rain when they touch. It was during this particular stage that I felt this is his internal mental processes as he fights against whatever it is that ills him; white cells attacking black illness. In still another, you are asked to bring rain for the flowers to grow back again. It's all very lovely and sweet and it's another relaxing game / artwork that's good to dabble in for a while.
