Creativity of Indie Games: Big list of Games

1. Owlboy - http://www.owlboygame.com/  - unfinished - pc - free demo
2. Fez - http://fezgame.com/ - is xbox live exclusive
3. Botanicula - http://botanicula.net/ - windows, mac, linux - 10$ - free online demo - adorable*
4. Gunpoint - http://www.gunpointgame.com/  - windows, maybe more later.  unfinished
5. Proteus - http://www.visitproteus.com/  - atari looking game - $10 - steam, mac and windows
6. Coin - http://www.create-games.com/newspage.asp?id=3624 windows, free
7. Scrumbleship - http://www.scrumbleship.com/ unfinished, kickstarter - demo - windows, mac, linux
8. Spelunky - http://spelunkyworld.com/  free on Windows, version 2.0 on xbox live
9. Limbo - http://limbogame.org/  windows, steam, xbox, mac - reviewed
10. Bastion - http://supergiantgames.com/?page_id=242 - xbox, windows, steam, chrome, mac, linux, ipad
11. Castle Crashers - http://www.castlecrashers.com/ - xbox, psn, steam.  Brawler, 4 players, fun.
12. Journey - http://thatgamecompany.com/games/journey/ ps3 exclusive.  Great game.  
13. The Iconoclasts - http://www.konjak.org/index.php?folder=4&file=30 - unfinished. free alpha download. windows. 
14. Don't Blow It! http://dinomage.com/dontblowit/  unfinished.  dinomage is a great name.
15. Amelia vs. The Marathon - http://www.troubleimpact.com/ - unfinished - intended for iOS, Android, Nook, Kindle Fire
16. Lost Marbles - http://binarytakeover.com/lostmarblesredux.html - unreleased, can vote for steam release with steam greenlight
17. Terraria - http://www.terraria.org/ - steam - 2d minecraft
18. Negative Nimbus - http://www.negativenimbus.com - android, iOS
19. Zombox - http://www.zombox.net/ - unreleased - ios and hopefully steam and android
20. Braid - http://braid-game.com/ - xbox360, windows, steam, [impulse, gamers gate]
21. Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery EP - http://www.swordandsworcery.com/ - android, iOS, windows, steam - reviewed
22. Mark of the Ninja - http://www.markoftheninja.com/ - xbox, steam
23. Super Meat Boy - http://supermeatboy.com/ - xbox, steam, windows, mac, linux
24. Rawbots - http://www.rawbots.net/page/rawbots - windows, mac os, looks interesting
25. The Splatters - http://spikysnail.com/ - xbox, coming soon to Mac, Windows, Linux
26. Legend of Grimlock - http://www.grimrock.net/ - Windows, steam
27. Bit Trip Runner - http://bittripgame.com/bittrip-runner.html - Mac, Windows, steam, Wii
28. SpellTower - http://www.spelltower.com/ - Mac, iOS
29. Bit Pilot - http://www.bitpilotgame.com/ - iOS, coming soon for Mac
30. Pid - http://www.pidgame.com/ - xbox, playstation, steam, Mac, Windows [gog, rain dg, gamer sgate]
31. Reset - http://reset-game.net/ - unfinished, Windows
32. Minecraft - https://minecraft.net/ - Android, iOS, Xbox, Java
33. The Binding of Isaac - http://store.steampowered.com/app/113200/ - Steam, Windows, Mac, Linux, Playstation
34. World of Goo - http://www.worldofgoo.com/ - Steam, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Wii
35. Osmos - http://www.hemispheregames.com/osmos/ - Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS
36. Tiny Wings - http://www.andreasilliger.com/ - iOS
37. God of Blades - http://whitewhalegames.com/godofblades.html - iOS
38. Prison Architect - http://www.introversion.co.uk/prisonarchitect/ - Windows, Mac OS, Linux
39. Dear Esther - http://dear-esther.com/ - Steam, Windows, Mac
40. Corpse Garden - http://www.freeindiegam.es/2012/06/corpse-garden-fei/ - Windows, Mac
41. Amnesia: The Dark Descent - http://www.amnesiagame.com/#main - Steam, Windows, Mac, Linux
42. The Moonlighters - http://raddragongames.wordpress.com/the-moonlighters/ - Unfinished
43. Dungeons of Dredmor - http://www.gaslampgames.com/ - Steam, Windows, Mac, Linux
44. Faster Than Light - http://www.ftlgame.com/ - Windows, Mac, Linux
45. Today I Die - http://www.ludomancy.com/games/today.php?lang=en - flash game, played in browser - poetic
46. The Snowfield - http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/snowfield.php - Windows, Mac
47. Symon - http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/summer2010/symon_play.php - Windows
48. I Wish I Were The Moon - http://www.ludomancy.com/blog/2008/09/03/i-wish-i-were-the-moon/ - flash game, played in browser
49. Passage - http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/ - Windows, Mac, iOS
50. The Dream Machine - http://www.thedreammachine.se/ - Steam, Windows, Mac
51. Ico - http://www.icothegame.com/ - Playstation 2

I took this list from the information section on this youtube video: The Creativity of Indie Games from the pbs youtube channel.  I hope they don't get mad at my for lifting the list, and I hope I'm citing it appropriately.  

I've made notes on each game, mostly the operating system(s) the game is available for, and occasionally price and miscellaneous comments.  I've marked when a game is available on steam, though technically that is not an operating system.  There has been talk of a steam console: Piston.  

I write a little bit about the accompanying video in my previous post. 

Bleep Bloop - Achievements Unlocked

Achievements, as they are currently known, began three years before I became aware of their existence with the already established terminology.  The fact that I've never been a big fan of "achievements" could in part be from the fact that I've never owned an Xbox or PS3.  I understand the concept of achievements just as well, but again, they're not really my thing.  My prepared rebuttal to the almost inevitable discussion that not liking achievements must mean that I suck at video games and that I should get back to sucking dick goes something like this, "Whatever."

When I first watched the Red vs Blue PSA "Small Rewards" back in 2008, I was introduced to the concept of Achievements in their present form.  I had mentioned in a previous post that I consider the cheats in Goldeneye 007 to be "functional achievements," but calling them as such is only as recent as the writing of that article.

With the acquisition of games via Steam, being my main source for PC gaming, I now have an avenue to acquire achievements.  What I sort of like about the achievements via Steam is that what you have earned is not posted on the front page of your profile.  Maybe they can be with a bit of tinkering in the profile settings, which is fine I guess, but it's not something that I'm going to actively look for.  Yes I can go and find out which achievements Dr. Potts has obtained/acquired/unlocked in LIMBO, but I've got to make at least 3 mouse clicks in order to find out.  To me, this says that the achievements on Steam are not as important to other people as they are on Xbox Live or the Playstation Network.  That you have to actively go looking for someone else's achievements says something about that system.  And whatever it's trying to say, I like it.

One other thing that somewhat disappointed me about the concept of earning achievements is the fact that you know about them before you even play the game.  In Portal 2, one of the achievements is titled "You Made Your Point" with the subtext "Refuse to solve the first test in Chapter 8."  It tells you how to earn the achievement.  Granted some other achievements aren't so easily accomplished or even tell you how to accomplish them as in the "Transmission Received" in the first Portal which lists the subtext as "..?".  I like the idea of achievements being totally ambiguous or just having no description at all.  I'd personally felt a sense of  pride when I figured out what that achievement entailed.  Do I have that particular achievement?  Nope, I've got 7 of 26, which is just fine with me as I know what to do to acquire the achievement, I just haven't done them all yet.

I like the idea that you would be playing a game and all of a sudden the game lets you know that you achieved something that you didn't know was there, that you did something cool that the programmers also had thought of, but again, that just might be me.  Or maybe in the case of multiple part achievements, trying to figure out what it was that you just did and have the game say that you need to do the same thing nine more times at other parts in the game.

The last thing, and I know a lot of games do this, is offering achievements for either passing a level or reaching a checkpoint in a level.  If it's something you're supposed to do like collecting fully powered portal gun, I don't see a reason for there to be an achievement for it.  I can almost imagine what achievements would have looked like in early NES games.  Get an achievement for beating the game on any difficulty level (if the game has difficulty levels)?  Sure, give out an achievement for Easy, Medium and Jedi level difficulties or for just beating the game in general.  Maybe they're around to show other players your progress through the game.

Someone who has a larger degree than I do might say that achievements are the product of a society that has become one based on instant gratification, that if there weren't achievements in games (except that most/all of Nintendo games don't have an achievement-type system) that people would feel that their progression in the game isn't worth anything.  But, I'm not that someone, so I won't say that.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
My Gamerscore is 0, If Anyone Wants To Know.



P.S.  I couldn't figure out where to put this in the main body of the article, so a post script will do just fine.  I get that some achievements are challenging to unlock, but some are just plain bitch-cake crazy (I'm looking at you True Form).  I have yet to come across a game on Steam that I feel compelled to unlock all of the achievements in order for me to feel like I played a game to its fullest.

Never Too Old For Video Games

I like to visit Cracked.com on about a weekly basis.  Conklederp knows which authors she likes while I usually don't remember who wrote what article.  I recently read two video gaming articles by John Cheese, whom I thought I didn't like after reading two of his articles, although I don't remember what those articles were about.  Anyway, one of his recent articles was titled "5 Ways to Tell You're Getting Too Old For Video Games."  It was a pretty good article, as far as Cracked articles go anyway, in that I was agreeing or disagreeing with what I thought were reasonable thoughts.

Here, I'll list his headlines along with my own thoughts on each topic.

5.  You Think Multiplayer is Bullshit.

While I don't think that multiplayer in its entirety is the collected fecal matter of our tasty bovine friends, I do not find it to be as much a selling point as other people.  Having grown up as a console gamer, multiplayer, let alone online multiplayer wasn't always an option.  The majority of the games I purchased and played were single player games (Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Eternal Darkness, Dragon Warrior, et cetera), and those that had a multiplayer element to them (Duck Hunt, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy III/VI, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Time Splitters), I didn't play to their fullest extent.  Sure I played a bit of multiplayer on Goldeneye whenever Dr. Potts was over, or a couple other friends, but it was never my main purpose for the game.  

With current generation consoles, each have some type of subscription/fee  component (Xbox Live, PSN and Wii Points), which I don't feel that I will ever need, partly because I don't have either system, but also because I don't want to interact with teenage douche bags yelling obscenities at me.  If I'm going to play multiplayer (most likely on the PC), I'd rather just play online with someone whom I know.

4.  You Think Games Are Suddenly Too Long

The three games that John Cheese references in this article (Skyrim, Fallout 3 and World of Warcraft) I have never played so I can't comment directly on any of these games.  I do know what he is talking about when he says that there seem to be a lot more side quests than actual story points.  I on the other hand tend to like side quests, but only to a certain extent.

I didn't do the Golden Chocobo side quest in Final Fantasy VII so that I could earn the "Knights of the Round" materia.  I liked the initial idea of breeding Chocobos, but the amount of time that it would have taken to find Chocobos from all over the world, to me seemed pointless; especially when there was a chuck of rock plummeting towards the planet.  In other games like Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2: Grimoire of the Rift, however, I did as many side quests as I could lay my hands on.  Maybe this is something with more recent video games trying to drag out the length of time it takes to "complete" a game, but then that just reinforces that I'm aging when it comes to video games, but whatever.

3. You Miss Game Storylines That Were Actually Compelling

I'm about 50/50 with Mr. Cheese's views on this point.  While I do agree that some of the Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior  (I'm also going to throw in Chrono Trigger) games had very in depth story lines that would rival that of some of the books that I was reading at the time, I don't feel that I was putting myself into the role of the characters that I was playing, which would be why I felt they were more "in depth" when I was a kid than now that I'm an "adult."

Part of my problem might be that as I don't have any of the "next-gen systems," I haven't played many of the newer games that seem to lack story lines.  However, how many people who played Super Mario Bros. felt that the story line was lacking and how did an Italian plumber, presumably from New York got to the Mushroom Kingdom.  That's never explained in-game.  In The Legend of Zelda, all the back story is told in the instruction booklet and just after the opening titles, which don't even play when you start a game.

But yes, I feel that story, for me at least, is very important if I want to have any emotional feelings towards the game I'm playing.  Sometimes I don't want there to be a story, for example, in the first Doom.  You start the game without any introduction, but you know that you need to shoot anything on the screen, and sometimes, that's all I want to do.

2.  You Think Originality is Dead

Sometimes I'll think "Huh.  I've played this game before, why do I want to play it again?"  Being the person that I am, I will usually look into games before I buy them (although with the Humble Bundles, I don't really care too much, and just think that this type of business model is very awesome).  That being said, I sometimes don't mind playing a familiar type of game over and over again.  

Yes, I do appreciate originality in video games, but sometimes I like to play something that I know, even if it's a "brand new" game that came out the previous year that's based on a platformer from 1990.  Mr. Cheese acknowledges this too when he says "The industry looked just as cookie cutter then as it does now." It's very similar to the movie industry. There'll be a period when westerns are all the rage, or where we're at right now, where anything to do with zombies or vampires will sell millions, just because of the subject matter.

1. You Miss When Games Used To Be "All About Fun."

To be honest, it seemed like Mr. Cheese began to ramble here, as if he didn't actually have "5 Reasons...." but only had four and desparately tried to come up with the fifth.  He starts off about the "look" of games versus the amount of "fun" and then trails off  about how the repetitiveness of games meant they were fun for younger players.

Maybe it's because I've been constantly playing video games for, roughly, the last 24 - 25 years, that I'm able to go back and play Castlevania or Donkey Kong Country and still have fun.  Granted some of that fun may turn into frustration, but I'd rather have that feeling than the feeling that I'm kicking ass at a game because it's too easy.  I actually remember not being able to beat a lot of games, which probably bothered me on some level, but yeah, I had fun.

Conclusion:  No, I don't believe that I'm too old for video games.  Like anybody in any genre in any form of media, I'm not going to like everything out there, but I tend to know what I like.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

The Road Goes Ever On And On....