The new and improved Indie thread

[Drowsy Emperor]

Can someone enlighten me as to what this is?

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/33460/

Not really. I played "Another World" when it was new on the Amiga, but I haven't tried any of his games since. "Another Word" was a rather unique experience though.

 

I played Another World and Heart of Darkness back in the day but this is a bit strange, even for me. It looks like a third person populous type god game, but as to how it works I've no idea.

 

The Xbox360 version is already out...

[Tigranes]

I'm told it plays like a series of missions with puzzles where you use your landscaping powers to guide the little funny people to safety/civilisation - not exactly Populous but definitely creative. Planning to demo/buy it.

[Drowsy Emperor]

I'm told it plays like a series of missions with puzzles where you use your landscaping powers to guide the little funny people to safety/civilisation - not exactly Populous but definitely creative. Planning to demo/buy it.

 

That sounds more like Lemmings.

[Gizmo]

The Legend of Grimrock. (Essentially, a modern EOB/Dungeon-Master clone.)

 

http://www.grimrock.net/

 

Edited September 12, 2011 by Gizmo

[Gizmo]

Can someone enlighten me as to what this is?

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/33460/

When I saw it, I thought "Populous 3 rip off"; I was rather shocked when it was described as the developer's original idea; (If so, its cryptomnesia if I ever saw it).

 

This is Populous 3's opening movie...

 

Pop3 is an incredibly balanced* 3d RTS with mental and elemental attacks, and terrain deforming spells.

 

*(though there are some pretty bad exploits)

Edited September 16, 2011 by Gizmo

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'm a little surprised this doesn't seem to have been covered here (may have missed it though), but Frayed Knights looks to be shaping up like a great indie dungeon crawler.

 

.

 

F.A.Q.

 

A random interview on it.

 

It's pretty close to release though I don't think the author has set any precise date. Either way, it's def. worth checking out.

[Tale]

I think this would be as good a place to discuss it as any.

 

Am I the only one who seems to think indie RPGs are incredibly stagnant? Frayed Knights, mentioned by WorstUsernameEver, seems interesting simply for being a comedy. But it doesn't strike me as all that intriguing in any other sense. It's still dealing with fighters, mages, priests, and thieves. Swords, daggers, traps, fireballs, and heal spells in a roughly medieval setting.

 

So the question here is, is my attention too selective, or do indie RPGs lean towards that tradition perhaps a bit too much?

 

 

I guess, assuming I'm not completely off here, the reason this seems to bother me is that I'm a fan of RPGs, and the indie game scene has otherwise produced some very original and creative works. Just not any original and creative RPGs. It seems so strange that for a genre that is so diverse elsewhere, with Vampire RPGs, grim dark RPGs, play-as-a-monster RPGs, superhero RPGs, clock punk, steampunk, futuristic, post-apocalyptic, the indie computer game area is oddly limited.

 

We got Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death, yeah. But what else? I would like to be wrong here.

[HoonDing]

We got Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death, yeah. But what else? I would like to be wrong here.

Wait for upcoming Dead State? And maybe Age of Decadence?

 

Also, Dragon Commander from Larian is "indie", since the entire game is self-funded and possibly will even be self-published.

Edited September 21, 2011 by virumor

[Tigranes]

To be honest, Dragon Commander looks bleh. Despite being suped up from the horrible version in Div2, dragon combat simply looks boring from the very beginning, while the various RPG/strategy elements just feel shallow and tacked on compared to a proper HOMM/AOW style game, or even King's Bounty. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong, but...

 

Age of Decadence is the only indie RPG that's grabbed my attention for a while, though it never set out to be particualrly innovative. Planeswalker Games is dead (as long suspected, which sucks). Knights of the Chalice was good and the second one should be even better.

[Wombat]

I think there is no point in praising games simply because they are from indie companies. That said, currently, Dead State keeps an eye of mine, simply because Brian Mitsoda worked on considerable part of dialogues in Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines and his idea on DS seems to be interesting. "Let's see how it turns out." mood, here. In any case, I'd keep a certain distance to gaming in general.

[Purkake]

Giant Bomb's Achron quicklook, for when you absolutely must have functional time travel in your RTS. Also, nosebleeds and headaches.