This is just a new topic for anyone who might be interested in helping participate in a list of their favorite Independantly developed games. Feel free to contribute to the list if you can think of any that might be missing. This is a continuation of the discussion under the topic titled - “Kudos is supported for how long?” Hopefully it’ll become a list that everyone can check out and perhaps peak the interest of others who may not have heard of some of these titles and those that are curious to try other Indie games. Feel free to share your favorite gaming experiences so other people know why you like these games also.
Here’s the list that we have so far (Posted by me):
Starship Tycoon & Democracy (we already like Kudos ) - Positech
Gish - by Chronic Logic
Flatspace - Cornucopia
Starscape - Moonpod Games
Smugglers 3 & Empires and Dungeons - Neils Bauer Games
Titan Attacks and Ultratron - PuppyGames
Starwraith Series - by StarWraith 3D Games
Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space - ShrapnelGames.com
Minions of Mirth (MMORPG) - Prairie Games
Dungeon Scroll - Robinson Technologies
Professor Fizzwizzle - Grubby Games
Astral Masters - Apus Software
BreakQuest - Nurium
Paradoxion - VSB Games
Arklight - PiEye Games
Aveyond - Amaranth Games
Geneforge 1, 2, and 3 - Spiderweb games
Lux (Lux Deluxe) - Sillysoft
Mage Bros. & Hopmon - JJSoft
Wik & The Fable of Souls - Reflexive
Mutant Storm - PomPom
Dr. Lunatic - Hamumu
Global Defense Network - Evertt.com
Astropop - Popcap
Outpost Kaloki - NinjaBee
“N” - Metanet Software
Trash - Inhuman Games
DROD - Caravel Games
Darwinia & Uplink - Introversion Software
(Posted by Not a Vampire)
V Manager - Neils Bauer again
UnReal World - Sami Maraanen
Legends of Mystifa - Jared Conway
Battle for Wesnoth
Brainsbreaker
C-evo
Decker - Shaun Overcash
Gamebiz - Veloci
Helherron
Space Empires II, III & IV - Malfador Machinations
Crooked Money, Car Thief, White Dolphn Bar - Maxima Games
Teudogar
Natuk - Tom Proudfoot
Yipes I II & III - Yipesoftware
Winged Warrior I II & III - Dataware
I’m sure this only scratches the surface of what can become a long list. So feel free to share your thoughts.
These are just some of the great indie game sites out there providing a wide variety of game types for fans of all kinds of games. Hopefully these links are useful.
Yeah, me too, I LOVE RPGs as well as sims. It is done by the same people - Wild Tangent - wildgames.com. I understand it’s chiefly a graphics cutifying improvement, but I’m not sure what else.
Just remembered a few more titles that people might enjoy (especially if you like Uplink and games like it, or games like dopewars or crooked money).
The games:
Cyber Wars
BS Hacker Replay Unlimited
Digital Hazard
Blue Sky
These games are really great and are also quite different from other hacker/crime syndicate games. You can try the demo’s out to find out if you like them.
Additionally, I see that Not a Vampire likes some of those classic style RPG’s like Rogue and Hack, so in case you haven’t heard of this one there is also another really cool series called “Castle of the Winds” and there are two parts, the first part was a shareware title but the game was full and was used to encourage you to purchase part 2 (and yes they did have seperate stories even though it was a continuation). Part 2 of Castle of the Winds is now entirely freeware so you can actually get both games for free! You used to have to register to get part 2. The download is very tiny but well worth it! Both games should work on Win95 up to XP. There is no official site to Castle of the Winds anymore but there are a ton of fansites for the game. I’m linking one of them that actually has both games in one zip file. If anyone is interested, enjoy
Ho yes! Ah, I remember when Castle Of the Winds first came out - it was the first Windows RPG, as I remember. Good old Epic Megagames. I got most of their stuff. Brilliant music, too. As it happens, I have got CoW I & II, thanks, wasn’t it nice of them to release II as freeware!
I’m actually nearly 44 (20th November coming up) and I’ve been playing computer games since I discovered them at 18! They get better all the time, don’t they?
Actually I am pleased to find that there are still unique and fun games being made. Even some of the clones of games are fun to play (Ultratron and Titan Attacks come to mind).
Unfortunately these are becoming fewer and farther between. There are probably a couple thousand Match-3 games out there right now, and I’m seeing more and more Zuma-type clones. Zuma was a great idea, unfortunately making a clone of this type of game without bringing anything new to the actual gameplay (aside from a couple of lame power-ups) is really dissapointing.
I was really impressed with Arklight though. Taking a classic breakout style game and throwing it into a blender with a Scrolling Shoot’em Up definately worked for me. It’s fun, innovative, and definately more unique. Titan Attacks, while looking and playing very similar to Space Invaders, Galaga, and Galaxian, is actually the epitome of all of these types of games and captures everything that was great about these games while refreshing the experience rather than “rehashing” it. It is also a reminder that developers can strive for more in their games while keeping a game simple and still offer something that is a lot of fun and plays great. They may not require a high IQ but the experience is extremely satisfying and progressively challenging. It also shows that there is room for similarity and similar experiences as long as there is fresh thought behind old ideas.
Right now the industry and the scene are on an emotional teeter-totter. Even the gamers can’t make up there own minds, perhaps because the newest gamers are so spoiled. I really can’t see a 12 year old these days playing one of the old ASCII games of Rogue or Dungeon Hack. Why should they when they can play Bethesda’s - The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Well the real reason they should, is just so they have an idea of where games like this actually come from if for no other reason. Having great graphics is all very nice, but not at the sacrifice of good gameplay. And having everything painted out for you, requiring you to think less about what you’re doing and instead just doing it, may seem fine on the surface, but this also makes our minds dull. It hasn’t happened to the full effect yet, but we (people in general) are definately not using our greatest tool, our imagination, as much as we used to. This, I think, is part of the reason why there is a stagnent lull in part of the gaming scene, aside from just cashing in (which is a different problem).
Luckily, this is not the end but rather the middle. There still are many creative developers out there. It would be interesting to see how things change over the next couple of generations though. As long as we don’t collectively lose or forget the ability of using our imaginations games and the scene will remain intact… hopefully.
Yeah, that’s why I stick with indie stuff. At least they’re doing good, imaginitive stuff. I don’t tend to play arcade-y or action-y stuff, so I can’t really say for them, but RPGs, strategys and sims are doing well.
Actually, I have to say that Nintendo are doing very well, and those writing for the DS. I can’t stop playing Animal Crossing:Wild World, Pokemon and (believe it or not) Tamagotchi Corner Shop! (Strangely fun, although it’s obviously designed for kiddiwinkles).
) - Positech
