I'm hoping to discover a good one I haven't played yet, so share!
Oh! You made Kor! Hello! Your game is very good and I've bought it twice!
Hot dang, twice? Thank you! Did you buy it for yourself twice, or gift it to somebody?
I am very gradually working up to it. I started and quickly hit snags on two separate games... but ultimately, it's hard to keep the motivation to pour creative effort into something when you spend most of your time struggling to pay your bills, and then struggling to relax from constantly stressing over your bills.
Not to reiterate the plot of my own game but anyone else remember being a kid and thinking society was aiming to have everyone do less work?Anyway, I'm going to a con in a couple month expressly to promote Kor, and I'm hoping that'll get my game some much-needed notoriety, motivate me even more to work on the next game so it doesn't take as much emotional energy, and maybe also relieve the bill problem a little.
Thanks for liking my game, especially enough to share it with someone else, it means the world to me after how much work it was to create.
.I believe in you! Work on what you want to make at your own pace, no need to rush it, and it's not a race. You've already made one game, and it's really good. You have a better record than some professional studios who work for decades on games that are uncreative, uninspired, etc. You made something that's meaningful to you and it's really resonated with some people (especially people like me who remember the Gameboy Color Pokemon TGC)
That is one of the kindest things anyone has ever said about my work. Thank you.
Thats because KOR is fucking amazing. It actually reminded me of the Pokemon Trading Card Game they made for the Game Boy a long time ago.
What would the process be of getting it released on the Switch? I assume it's too expensive but it would be really cool on a portable device!
Well, it would be way more manageable if I didn't decide to give the game a true Gameboy resolution, which does NOT scale up to standard res. I've actually been trying hard to figure it out, but the solutions presented to me are either way over my head, or just a ton of work (i.e. just scale up the resolution and then redesign / retune every UI element, play the entire game to make sure players can't see things they shouldn't and then edit everywhere they can, etc etc etc). I haven't looked into outsourcing it, but it did occur to me recently I might be able to just pay someone to do it for me... if I can afford it, which I probably can't without hugely straining myself.
But so many people are practically begging me to try to get it onto the switch, and telling me I could sell so many more copies if I did, the pressure is high so I really need to try to figure it out.
Do the most Chad solution, release it on a Game Boy cartrage.
Hypnospace Outlaw, the psychedelic 90's internet sim! The idea is what if 90s PCs connected to your mind and you logged on in your sleep. Very wholesome game with an engaging mystery. Hot Dad of youtube fame made a lot of tracks for it and plays a character called Chowderman. There's a sequel coming up too.
Dreamsettler. It's gonna be a early 00s MSN Explorer/Windows XP type of game from the looks of it.
There's also a spin off that's out now thats some sort of classic style FPS called Slayers-X.
Sounds neat. I might play along with another one with a similar idea called Gamedec.
Gamedec looks really cool, love the shadowrun/cyberpunk vibes.
Looks very cool!
It kinda reminds me of the Front Mission 3 mini-internet.
Real 90's internet nostalgia hours, gonna try it later.
Phoenotopia: Awakening - a metroidvania/Zelda-like where you play as a girl with pink hair and pronouns. Something happens to the adults in your village early on and you have to go out and find answers / save the world. Great sense of adventure/exploration, charming pixel art, frequently funny dialogue, and an absolute fucken banger soundtrack.
Rain World - a "survival-platformer", whatever that means. You play as a smol animal (a slugcat) who got separated from your family during a rainstorm and must now figure out how to survive in an alien environment. The creature AI in this game is incredibly complex, and the entire game is designed around the idea that you're not special, you're just another animal. That said, there is an intricate plot, and it's gradually revealed to you as you play and explore.
OneShot - a puzzle-adventure game with heavy fourth wall breaking. Not going to elaborate much as it's best experienced blind. It's pretty short too, like 6 hours long
Definitely an indie. Became a big hit but started as a game jam game with a very small team.
Stardew Valley
Factorio - pirate it, the lead dev is a bellend
Rimworld - same, tynan has fucking bizarre views about sexualityIf you are a fan of colony sims like Rimworld check out Dwarf Fortress if you havent already. (Devs are pretty cool guys from what I heard). Plus if you are into Factorio I think you might enjoy Satisfactory.
i do enjoy a dwarf fort!
the last time i tried satisfactory was when the train update came out, not played since, though i really enjoyed it
i'll have to pick it back up
a few things but the worst is probably
cw sa
claiming that statutory rape isn't real rape and is an "sjw term"
As my profile picture alludes to, I love Supergiant Games. Bastion is probably my favorite, due to nostalgia, but you really can't go wrong. Hades is an incredible rougelite with a brilliant story, Bastion is a hack-n-slash with a story about the horrors of imperialism, Transistor is deeply thought provoking and I should really play it again to understand it (maybe it will make more sense in my 30s than 20s), and Pyre is apparently the most emotional basketball game you'll ever play (I haven't played it.)
Pyre's a weird one tbh, you have to enjoy both the basketball minigame and the visual novel sections. Add on that it's in an incredibly odd and detailed setting and most people bounce off of it.
I loved Bastion too! Looking forward to playing their other games
I really need to play Hades. People keep saying how great it is but something keeps stopping me.
I was like you until recently. Now that I played through it, I can say that I don't understand why people like the story so much. All the characters are annoying, the conflict feels incredibly forced at all times, and the ending didn't pay any of it off for me. I enjoyed the gameplay itself, it's fun mixing and matching the different God boons and weapons. But overall I think it's just an alright game - it was worth playing for me because I didn't have to pay for it
A lot of these are very popular but
- Rainworld: if I were to describe it, I'd say "survival information metroidvania with vaguely buddhist inspired lore". The pixel art is gorgeous and the AI is pretty unique (it drives the animation of the NPCs procedurally).
- Sunless sea/sunless skies: Some of the best worldbuilding I've ever seen, the br*tish really do ruin everything. The games have a really slow pace and mid gameplay but the rest is soooooo good. I recommend turning permadeath off at least on the first playthrough
- Wildfrost: My new favorite roguelike deckbuilder. Great combat system. Really pretty. Really hard.
- Deltarune/Undertale: You definetly played or at least heard of these. My
sixth sense is telling me the next deltarune chapters will come out later this year so there's that. Currently getting my "one foot in the snowgrave" save ready for the hypothetical occasion. - Other mother-likes: Omori and Lisa: the painful are also pretty good. If you're into really bad games there's also YIIK.
- Fear and hunger 1 and 2: Brutal survival horror rpg. The more I think about this game the more I like it. Read the content warnings though, please. It's edgy.
- starseed pilgrim: I don't know how to describe it.
- glittermitten grove: I'd be all vague about what this is but everyone knows its frog fractions 2 by this point. Play it if you like frog fractions. Or the band Korn.
- Is Outer Wilds indie?
- everything Daniel Mullins: everyone knows Inscryption but Pony Island and The Hex are also good.
The Sunless Sea/Skies devs also recently put out a visual novel called Mask of the Rose
the games have a really slow pace and mid gameplay
This was my main gripe with Sunless Sea and one of the reasons I vastly prefer Skies: far less back-and-forth / grinding. It moves along a lot more, even if still slow-paced at times.
Also and to add to your list: A House of Many Doors - extremely close to both Sea and Skies. It's good.
Is Outer Wilds indie ?
Eleven people team, first mainstream game, studio unknown before it; I say yes.
Also and to add to your list: A House of Many Doors - extremely close to both Sea and Skies. It's good.
Already in the backlog. Good to know it's good!
I'm curious about your thoughts on Fear and Hunger. I played both and I enjoyed one more than two (I felt two was kind of Fashy but the more I've looked into it the more I feel that wasn't the intent???)
This might need its own thread.
My Summer Car wasn’t mentioned yet. You’re a 20th century Scandinavian teenager who has one whole summer to build their own car from scratch without crashing into a ditch or running out of beer. It also has the best Game Over music of all time.
Does Ultrakill count? Because if so...that. Any New Blood game pretty much rocks; Dusk, Gloomwood, Amid Evil. Huge fan of Faith too. Among the classics I loved Hollow Knight, Spelunky 1 & 2 are incredibly difficult but great
Anything developed by a non-AAA team counts IMO
Hollow Knight is based.
- Gunfire Reborn: an FPS roguelike that sadly needs to be played with other people. I've only played it a bit, but I've enjoyed it every time.
- Risk of Rain 2: a TPS roguelike that works well single player, and has quite a few methods of mitigating RNG. TONS of stuff to unlock, if you enjoy that. Weirdly the DLC makes it worse in my opinion. Epilepsy warning on long runs.
- Barotrauma: pilot a submarine around the seas of Europa with a group of friends, fending off underwater aliens and assisting the clowns in their sinister agenda. Again, kind of requires other people.
- Inscryption: a roguelike "deckbuilder" card game that's pretty simple but enjoyable.
- Mount and Blade Bannerlord (or Warband): a eurojank (technically turkjank?) game where you play a random person in not!Europe who decides that they want to be a feudal lord and gradually builds up their skills, forces, and retinue before moving into the late game and either becoming a noble in an existing kingdom of starting their own. Very fun head-empty third person (and optional first person) combat where hundreds of NPC soldiers fight while you ride around on horseback lancing fools. Can be pretty grindy but you can just cheat to skip a lot of it if it bothers you. Bannerlord is the newer one and looks quite a bit better (though not great), but it doesn't have much in the way of mods yet. Warband has a lot of total conversion mods that add quite a bit of variety, but looks extremely bad, even for a game from 2010.
Technically it's a standalone expansion to the original M&B which started development with a 2-person team in 2004 and released in 2008.
That's a tough one but FTL is probably the most resonant one.
Does Undertale count as indie after it blew up and took off?
Undertale - I didn't expect it to live up to the hype. It lived up to the hype.
Outer Wilds - Space exploration game. Explore your solar system to solve mysteries such as what happened to an ancient civilization. The dlc is also very good.
Sable - Chill exploration game set in a desert. Zoom around on your speederbike and look for interesting locations to explore. It has some performance issues, but it never actually crashed which is more than I can say about a lot of AAA games.
The Talos Principle - Really good puzzle game.
The Forgotten City - You find yourself sent back in time to an ancient city with a special rule: if anyone in the city sins, everyone will be killed. Philosophy plays a large role in the story.
The Entropy Centre - Puzzle game with a portal-esque atmosphere.
Bug Fables - Nintendo will never make another good classic Paper Mario game. Bug Fables scratches that itch.
The House in Fata Morgana - Visual novel about tragedies in a cursed mansion. Legitimate masterpiece of storytelling with an incredible soundtrack.
- Monster Sanctuary: It's Pokemon with Metroidvania mechanics (all monsters have innate abilities that help you explore the world) and much less grindy (it's easier in general to hit max level and you can buy cheap items that let you retrain your monsters)
- Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm: Only if you're really into wargames. The presentation is rather dry and you have to be prepared to dig around the manual the first few times you play, but I've found it to be a very enjoyable late cold war NATO vs. Warsaw Pact game.
- Opus Magnum: My favorite Zachtronics game. If programming puzzle games don't appeal to you, you won't like it, but I've found it to be one of the best in its genre.
- Axiom Verge: If you just want a pure Metroidvania. The Gigeresque aesthetic really stands out.
- Lost In Vivo: Recommend this one if you're into horror and have any nostalgia for the Playstation era.
- The Fermi Paradox: A simple game where you guide the development of alien civilizations with the goal of bringing the galaxy into a state of post-scarcity utopia. Strong Posadist vibes in that warlike, resource-devouring societies tend to obliterate themselves before leaving their gravity well.
I played Monster Sanctuary, I was able to 100% the game on the regular difficulty setting without looking a single thing up. The story was not gripping at all, graphics were so-so, but the actual gameplay mechanics were really captivating. It was a lot of fun trying to figure out sets of monsters and skill trees that work well with each other. About halfway through (soon after shifts) I settled on light-shifted dodo, dark-shifted tanuki, and light-shifted mogwai as my top three and that team tore though the main story pretty easily.
The studio that made the game has a similar game in the works called Aethermancer, looks a lot better than Monster Sanctuary graphically. No release date yet afaik but I'm pretty excited about it.
Huh, I actually really liked the graphics. Didn't know the studio was making another one, but that's awesome news.
