{"id":191,"date":"2010-12-05T18:15:04","date_gmt":"2010-12-05T17:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shadowcovenant.com\/blog\/?p=191"},"modified":"2010-12-06T14:03:02","modified_gmt":"2010-12-06T13:03:02","slug":"independent-game-festival-2011-%e2%80%93-part-iii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/shadowcovenant.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/05\/independent-game-festival-2011-%e2%80%93-part-iii\/","title":{"rendered":"Independent Game Festival 2011 \u2013 Part III"},"content":{"rendered":"

And I’m finally back… the main part of the project is done, now just some tests and bugfixing to go…<\/p>\n

Besides that, I have Cataclysm comming out this week and I’m gonna play until my eyeballs drops, which means I have to prepare some posts to come online during this week… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

So, without further delay, part 3 of my IGF2011 analysis!<\/p>\n

Hasta la Muerte<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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This game caught my eye because of its unusual visuals and because of the simple gameplay… 6 basic game rules, then some polish…<\/p>\n

In this game, you play as “Death”, which has to take the souls of the recently expired to the afterlife… take too long and they’ll transform into monsters that can hurt you… There’s more to it than this, but this is the short version…<\/p>\n

An interesting twist of the “survival”-style game.<\/p>\n

Hazard: The Journey of Life<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This is a first person exploration game, with some puzzle solving. The game takes place in a non-euclidean space (which means that going “inside\u00a0a room” can leave you in a bigger room than the outside), and supposedly an exploration of the journey through life… Can’t speak for that myself, since I’ve seen only the video, but it’s an interesting concept which can lead to some nice gameplay.<\/p>\n

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Hero Mages<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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“Hero Mages” seems to be quite an achievement… looks nice, and has a big feature list, which is impressive for a single-developer game.<\/p>\n

It’s a turn based strategy-RPG, in which a number of players (up to 8) battle out for supremacy on a board.<\/p>\n

History of Biology<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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What? An educational game that doesn’t suck!? My world views have been shattered! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

“History of Biology” is an edutainment product, and seems to be quite a good one at that, mixing actual gameplay (and not just silly actions stringed up together to call a digital encyclopedia a game!) with learning… I always thought that games could be amazingly good educational tools, but it’s taking forever for us to reach that state that game makers and educators can actually join forces and create fun games that can teach something! This one is a step in the right direction, it seems…<\/p>\n

Hohokum<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Love the visuals in this one, and the gameplay seems to be quite interesting aswell. In this game we control a snake-like creature that has to carry NPCs to a target area. There’s some fighting going on (although I didn’t understand it very well)…<\/p>\n

All in all, seems like a polished product with nice visuals and innovative gameplay.<\/p>\n

Hue Shift<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This iPad game is an interesting twist on the general platformer. The player can shift color, and only platforms of the same color as the player are actually solid.<\/p>\n

It’s amazing that people still can find something to do with a beaten old mechanic like a platformer, but there you have it, they actually do it! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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In the Dark<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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“In the Dark” is a platfom game in which you control a monster. In this mythos, monsters can only be in the dark, and light acts as a solid barrier. Because of this, the player will have to use shadows and solve some physic-based puzzles to move around the level and reach the goal. Another nice use of the light\/shadow aestethic and extended platform-mechanics.<\/p>\n

Infinite Blank<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Like “Minecraft”, this game isn’t exactly a game, but more of a sandbox multiplayer world where all players can express their creativity. In this case, through drawing.<\/p>\n

So, “Infinite Blank” is a multiplayer paint application, in which players go around continuosly filling the world with more drawings and exploring drawings made by others. Quite a neat project!<\/p>\n

Jolly Rover<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Pirates in a graphical adventure… hum… where have I heard that one before? Oh, but wait, this one has dogs! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I included this one because it looks very polished and it’s a graphical adventure, a genre that I have a lot of affection for… But it has a good vibe to it!<\/p>\n

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Kill Timmy<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This game looks sick… and so much fun! \ud83d\ude42 Basically, this is a sadistic “The Incredible Machine”… the objective is to kill the innocent “Timmy” in each level, placing some stuff in the level and watching it all go… And while this kind of game bores me nowadays on the PC, seems like a perfect match for smartphones in general!<\/p>\n

La Mulana<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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La Mulana is also one of the best know titles in the indy scene… This game is full of 8-bit old-fashioned platforming action, and although the game has already been out for some time (since 2005); so why is it in this year’s IGF? Well, it has been remade for Wiiware, that’s why! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Light of Altair<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Light of Altair is a 4X game, and I’m a sucker for these… I particularly like the colony building aspect of it, with the hex-grid and limited space, which makes you go more strategic in the empire expansion… Looks very polished and well done…<\/p>\n

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Light in the Deep<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Another game that looks really polished (on a side note, the level of polish on these games have been going up and up and up, year after year!), “Lost in the Deep” tells the story of a girl that wanders off into the deep after some mermaids… The visuals are gorgeous, and its action-adventure-exploring gameplay seems very suited to young girls (a mostly ignored demographic, in terms of actual good games).<\/p>\n

Lylian: Episode One<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This game is every teen-goth’s wet dream, complete with psyco-girl, insanity, darkness and evil nurses… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it seems like a very interesting game, very well executed and well deserving of a look.<\/p>\n

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MageMaze<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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This one is fairly interesting… at first glance, it seems like your average roguelike, but after looking at the gameplay video below, it seems to really be innovative and fun… Instead of just walking about a dungeon, you can actually change the dungeon, by shifting “rows” and “columns”… pretty nifty stuff.<\/p>\n

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Miegakure<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Puzzles in the 4th dimension? Yes, please! \ud83d\ude42 It’s kind of hard to explain exactly what the 4th dimension is, but in this game you can rotate in a all 4 dimensions in order to solve puzzles… now this must be some great mental workout! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Minecraft<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Not going to talk about this, to be honest… I leave that to all the 10000 indy blogs and sites that can’t seem to stop talking about i! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

For everybody that has been living below a rock this past months, Minecraft is the indy gaming version of crack… Notch, the creator has supposedly done a bazillion dollars with this, and because of that 10000 clones are popping all over the place…<\/p>\n

Sorry if I sound pedantic, but I’m really tired of talking and hearing about Minecraft… but it is awesome! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

So, that’s it for me, I’ll see if I can post the last part of this series this week (while levelling my imba mage to level 85!)… Cya all! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And I’m finally back… the main part of the project is done, now just some tests and bugfixing to go… Besides that, I have Cataclysm comming out this week and I’m gonna play until my eyeballs drops, which means I have to prepare some posts to come online during this week… \ud83d\ude42 So, without further […]<\/p>\n