Indie Games

Braid is a great one. Very challenging and fun to play. Haven't tried the others, but the zombie on sounds fun.

 

I'm not sure how Indie the folks at Runic are, since they are the old Blizzard North folks, but they've got a simple, fun Diablo II clone out http://www.torchlightgame.com/

Lots of fun for $20.

 

I made a shooter and published it on the xbox 360 indie games channel about a year ago. I went for an old school Galaga feel but with a few modern additions. It is a bit more in depth than most shooters but may not seem so at first. Anyway, I still have a bunch of free download tokens for it, so if anyone wants one, pm me. First come first serve.

Edit: Bonus videos! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gerTUAKSCvg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI0ULCRsB50

Some random info about the game "Fatal Abyss"
-The music was done by myself and a friend who has had some success in the chiptuner scene. He made most of the main riffs on a keyboard and I filled in with guitar, drums and sequencing. We are currently in the process of remastering and extending the tracks.

-The music tracks are randomly generated, sometimes a song will repeat a few times before a different one plays. This sounded like a great idea at the time...not so much now as it was one of the most common complaints. : )

-The X button starts the bomb sequence. Rapidly tapping the button will increase the power of the bomb.

-The game is designed to be a test of skill, to never put the player in a situation that was impossible to get out of. Some features that are not immediately obvious are the shield which does MASSIVE damage to any enemy who runs into it and nullifies enemy fire. The standard straight shooting gun will destroy any enemy bullets.

-The combo meter not only determines your score multiplier, but also which enemies appear. There is a system in place that will dynamically reduce the difficulty if the player is having trouble or increase the number of enemies if the player is doing well. The combo meter goes down one level if hit by an enemy bullet. The combo meter completely resets if an enemy hits your ship. Don't let the enemies hit you.

-The different enemies are all weak to a certain weapon and more resistant to other weapons. It is beneficial to find out which enemies are weak to which weapons and use them accordingly.

-Weapons can be powered up by grabbing the power up items that randomly fall from destroyed enemies.

-Switch weapons by pressing B. This also switches your secondary weapon (Left Trigger)

-The ship moves slower when the spread gun weapon is selected. It is necessary to switch weapons often to avoid damage.

-The shot gun weapon is the strongest weapon can clear out enemies like no other.

-The side shot is invaluable against Flores, the sub bosses.

-NO ONE has found the boss of the game.

-Percentage wise, Fatal Abyss turned more of a profit than most of the games on xbox indie games. Since development cost a grand total of $100 that doesn't mean much : )

-During gameplay, set off a bomb (X button) and while the view is changed tap the A amd B buttons 7 times each. Doing this will make SpaceCat appear! He's an astronaut! SpaceCat leaves a message on the high score screen after the game if you have made him appear.

-IF your hit counter is 800 hits or higher AND you have a full life bar AND your Combo Meter is between levels 25 and 29, pigs will fly.

-If your hit counter is over 1500 hits, and you're killed the boss and you have more than one bomb left, you will have amazed my dog. Congratulations!

-To get the boss to appear you must defeat 4 or more Flores sub bosses, have a Combo level over 30 and a hit counter of 300 or more. Doing this will destroy all enemies on screen and make the boss appear. Your health will also be refilled.

-Flores appears based on your combo level and later on your score.

-Health and bombs are gained when one hits certain score milestones. Shield energy refills automatically over time.

-Aside from the guitar all the music and sound effects were produced on a Korg Trinity. The last Trinity that ever came out of the factory.

-CODES:All entered at the main menu. The DPad is used for directions, not the stick.

Up, Up, Down, Down, Left,, Right, Left, Right, B, X - Will change to a first person view. It makes the game near impossible to play.

X, B, X, Y, (press the following all at the same time (X, B, Y, Right Shoulder, Left Shoulder, Right Stick)) This will start you with a combo level of 100 which will make your score (and enemies) increase at a rapid rate.

Back, Back, Back, Right, Down, B, Y, Left Stick, Right, Right Shoulder, Down AND Left, Back, Back, Back. This one Puts your weapons at max power eliminating the need to collect more powerups.

I hope those that try it enjoy it. It is a game made for a particular segment, the old school gamer. It can be difficult while being fair and does require a bit of practice to put up a high score. Good luck!

 

I'm in love with the Touhou series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touhou

It's all made by one guy who keeps coming up with more and more Awesome.

 

Completely independent. There aren't any studios where I live unfortunately. I've got a few projects in the works currently, but I think I'll need a 3d modeler and texture artist to finish them. Being independent and having a budget of slightly less than $0.00 is hard!

 

Can you develop for the Wii?

I have a killer idea that I think could generate a boatload of $$. It's not a game either. Not sure I'd divulge it, but if I can get funding for it, I'd be looking for qualified developers.

I think it's an easy app too.

 

I've looked at some code and it wouldn't be much of a problem to learn the Wii specifics. I did apply for a Wii Ware license but unfortunately I was denied as I do my programming out of my home and not an office. So while I haven't done development on the Wii, it is just C++ so I do have the skills needed. If you're serious, pm me and we can make it happen.

 

caverns of mars for the Atari 400 is my all time favorite. Eventually atari themselves bought the game and made it into a cartridge for the 400/800 platform.

 

Looks good.

Why not make it a side scroller with missles and bombs coming at you from the ground or from above like in R-type, scramble, hellfire, or super chopper? A downward scroller like Caverns of Mars would be cool too.

 

I've thought about doing a side scrolling shooter a bit. My big hold up is getting art assets. I can't draw a convincing stick figure and no one wants to work for free. : )

 

Anymore free game tokens?

 

I own an indie game company. We've done a couple PC match-3 puzzle games ("casual") and a web MMORPG/MUD thing. We're also working on a Facebook game.

If you shoot me a PM/Email, I'll send F-chatters a free copy of our newest PC game BumbleTales (family-friendly puzzler).

The OP's list is pretty much a who's who of Indie games for the last couple of years. Good stuff there that should be checked out.

Also check out Splosion Man on XBLA. My buddy owns the company that did that...pretty fun.