Bride of ‘Indie Games You Should Know’
Posted by inpheaux on March 5th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
It's March, so I guess it's time for another Indie Games You Should Know. I've got a lot of things to cover today.
GridWars - A freeware PC/Mac clone of the Xbox Live smash-hit 'Geometry Wars'. If you've played Geometry Wars, you know what to expect. It's a very good clone of the game. If you aren't familiar, GridWars is a retro asteroids-ish shooter that utilizes dual-analog for nearly all of its controls. Left stick controls movement, right stick controls the direction you're shooting. GridWars features a variety of enemies and despite being largely retro-feeling, it still manages to be really quite pretty, what with all the particle effects and field deformation from Gravitrons. It's a really good game, and unlike a lot of things I've featured in previous installments of Indie Games You Should Know, I'm definitely keeping this one in my permanent collection, as it's a solid shooter, and a great little easy-to-get-into time-sink.
Plasma Pong - Pong has been done to death. One could even argue that it wasn't that amazing to begin with, it was just that it was first. Even if something sucks, if it's first it will find a way to stick around. Plasma Pong is probably the best incarnation of the game since Quake Pong. The main thing Plasma Pong brings to the table is fluid dynamics. Instead of just bouncing back and forth, the ball, paddles and entire playing field are in a fluid environment. Moving creates turbulence, and the paddles can spew plasma into the environment, further altering how the ball flies. Furthermore, the paddles can create vacuums to suck in plasma and the ball, and then release everything explosively for a charged shot. It really adds something to the game to make it just interesting enough to be worth downloading and screwing around with.
Mu-cade - This is the latest offering from Kenta Cho's ABA Games, home of such games as rRootage and Torus Trooper. It . . well . . I'll be honest with you here. I have no idea what is going on in this game. No clue whatsoever. It seems like something with flying death centepedes that fight and shoot lasers, but I really have no idea. I tried playing this for awhile, but then went back to playing GridWars. I love me some GridWars.
Minerva: Metastasis 2 - Part 2 of Minerva, an episodic single player campaign for Half-Life 2. I know this is "Indie Games You Should Know", and this isn't really a "game" its a mod, but it's good, and fits enough for me. We reported on the first episode, Metastasis 1, some months ago, and the second episode was just released. It's tough to pinpoint what it is that really makes Minerva stand out. I think it's that you can tell that effort was really put into it. The architecture is all amazing, all on-par with what Valve themselves put into the game, and everything flows back in through areas you explored like a good Valve level would. The plot is great, as are all the scripted elements that keep you on your toes. Puzzles are present, and again all feel like the kind of things Valve would make. Puzzles with purpose, but purpose that doesn't beat you over the head until you "get it". It's also long, genuinely difficult, and still not over. Metastasis 1 has been packed along with the newly-released 2, so if you missed the first round, you can easily hop in. Also, if their site goes down, the ~23-meg file is available at Mod DB.
PixelShips - One part 'Defender', One part Pokemon, One part "feels like I should be playing this on a 386". Pixelships is currently my favourite game to play instead of paying attention during a physics lecture. In Pixelships your immediate goal is to - like any good shooter - blow things up. Levels are randomly generated, and there's a few different broad types with subgoals of shooting targets or collecting coins. As you make your way through, there are mid-bosses where the screen stops auto-scrolling. After you fight these bosses and they explode into a shower of pixels, you can suck up said pixels to be able to use that ship later on. Furthermore, apart from collecting new types of ships, you can upgrade existing ships for new abilities or stats. There's a ton of gameplay in here, and it's got a great retro vibe going on, so check it out.
Finally, though not an indie game, an indie game developer recently had this article published over at IGN's RPG Vault. His claim: innovation is hard, time consuming and expensive, therefore indie developers should not be expected to innovate. While I don't disagree with his initial claim, I strongly disagree with his followup. Yes, taking chances on innovation is risky and not necessarily a great idea for someone getting their start, but on the other hand, deciding that it is outright impossible for an indie developer to produce something new and wonderful is ridiculous. Furthermore, the article felt like the author was just trying to justify his failures, and explain why all it seems he is good at doing is regurgitating Ultima-online-esque RPGs. Seriously. Look at this. Look at the screenshots. Now guess when it was released. 1996? 1998? Wrong. Avernum 4 was released last Thursday.
Innovation isn't impossible or dead in the indie game scene, look at the yearly Indie Game Jam or everything from Introversion or the results of the Experimental Gameplay Project. It also isn't easy, but no one ever said it would be easy. Because of this, innovation shouldn't be abandoned outright, in favor of rehashing the same thing over and over until you're jaded. That's just dumb, and a kind of mindset that doesn't help anyone.
Right, well, that's Indie Game You Should Know for March. Have you come across some indie game worth talking about? Feel free to tell us all about it in the comments.
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