2004 is turning out to be one of the most
impressive years yet in the Indie world. With a solid slate of developers
and more that are joining the ranks of the Indie developer every day, 2004 is
turning into a year where there is a lot of growth in the Indie gaming world.
Though the majority of the games that come from indie developers are still what
most people would consider 'casual' games, a growing percentage of them are both
more action oriented and more involved while at the same time less focused on
the puzzle games that seemed to define indie gaming a few years ago.
Starting in 2002, Game Tunnel has done a yearly Game of the Year. The 2002
Game of the Year was the infallible
Mutant Storm.
In 2003 we expanded our coverage by doing a
mid-year
look at the games that had come out, in addition to a much expanded
Game of the Year section.
This year we are expanding our Mid-Terms and presenting them in a format that is
similar to the GOTY breakdown from 2003. Some of these games actually came
out in 2003 due to the 'year' timeline that we use. Many games are
released in late November and early December, and often these games are included
in the Game of the Year awards done by other websites in the same year that they
come out. Game Tunnel doesn't include these games, or those that don't
actually come out until the following January/February, as it doesn't give the
proper amount of time to evaluate the game in regards to the other games that
have been released that year. Due to this, the Game Tunnel 'year' includes
games released up until November 5th, but our game of the year awards don't
actually happen until the end of December. Games released after November
5th are then counted for the next year, and you'll note that several of the
titles included below were actually released in either November or December of
last year, but will be included in this year's crop of games by Game Tunnel.
Overall, the process isn't perfect, but then again it's not quite as off
time-wise as the
IGF, so
we take some solace in that.
Alright, so with all of the boring stuff out of the way, let's move onto the
games!!!
Action
Much
like last year there is a growing number of solid action titles the have come
out this year. Starting almost immediately after our deadline with
Juno
Nemesis Remix, a game in the vein of the old-school classic Tempest, but
this time with fantastic graphics and oozing with coolness. Space
shooters have been a theme it seems this year with several high quality
releases including
Astrobatics,
Storm Angel, a re-worked version of Dark Archon called
Dark Archon Invasion,
RiftSpace and
more recently a cool take on the old Defender theme in
Guardian.
With
all the space-based games one might think that the action category could use a
little variation, and that is probably a valid point. However these are
just the quality titles, and the sheer number of good titles this year has
been astounding. In addition to these there are a couple others of note.
Hamsterball has
been a wonderful surprise that plays a lot like Marble Madness would play if
that game were updated to today's standards and improved upon both in concept
and in graphics. Finally Airstrike II, the follow-up to last year's
runner up for the
best
Action game was released recently with ever better graphics and more
action and player involvement then the first of these helicopter based
blast-a-thons.
So
far the biggest difference so far in the action category has been the
immensely improved graphics over last year's games. Not to say that the
action games were poor in any sense of the word, but this year's crop from top
to bottom is better-looking and better produced. The stakes are rising
all across the indie games world, and having a good idea just doesn't get you
buy anymore. Instead a solid showing requires quality graphics, and this
years batch of games so far has been exceptional in providing both great
graphics and wonderful game play. Overall grade: A-.
Adventure
A
hero is born! Last year's Game of the Year and the number 2 game overall
both came from the Adventure category and looking at the games out so far and
those coming along, there is a good chance for a repeat. Actually, there
haven't been that many strong games that have come out in this category so far
this year. The big difference here is that two of the most stand-out
games so far this year are both from this category. We'll start with
Gish.
Gish is a new kind of character. His goal is to find his girlfriend who
was taken down through the sewer. And what is Gish? Well he's a
ball of Tar. Most everyone has glared at me when I have told them that,
but this has been the one game that I've never seen anyone not enjoy when they
played it. Controlling Gish is simply an unbelievably fun experience
that leaves everyone laughing in outbursts of joy.
In
addition to Gish there are two other games that warrant a mention so far this
year. Gold
Miner Joe puts you in control of a miner as he explores his way through
multiple caverns in a more classical side-scrolling adventure game.
Flatspace is
another space game, but quite unlike the action shooters above. This
game is an adventure through space pitting you in one of many professions
(trader, bounty hunter, police officer, mercenary) in a huge galaxy. The
game is rather ambitious in scope and well worth the time involved to play it,
and that time will be large in quantity.
Though
the graphics in this category may match up as well against all the great
graphics action titles, the game play there is a lot more to making a game
great than graphics. An interesting point has been made that a lot of
indie games are games that if one developer doesn't make them another will,
and the public won't really notice the difference. Gish is a difference
maker. There has never been a hero like him and the quality of this
title pulls up the grade for the rest of this category despite the low number
of games available so far. Flatspace is another solid title that no
average developer could put together. Overall grade: A.
Arkanoid
Arkanoid
has become a staple genre with more and more games released each year.
Unfortunately no-one has really made a big change to the genre for some time
and it remains looked down upon by gamers in general who feel in the end
"you're just breaking bricks." While that may be true, there are many
developers who have done their best to try and spruce things up. This
years batch so far includes some heavyweights as the sequel to Ricochet,
Ricochet Lost Worlds,
and the newest sequel to DX-Ball,
Rival Ball
Tournament have both been released. Both do a good job of taking
some baby steps, RLW with its coins and impressive level design, RBT with some
great action in online versus play. However, they don't push things any
further than the other notable arkanoid releases this year,
Alpha Ball,
Bricks of Egypt,
and 3DRT Brickblaster
do. This is unfortunate compared to last years crop that really tried to
diversify the genre with games such as
Superball Arcade
Mania, Ball
Attack, and Break
Ball 2 Gold.
Though
the game play may not have moved forward much with the newest titles, the
presentation and graphics in each of the new titles is wonderfully done and
shows that there is plenty of talent behind the newest games. However,
in the end the games fail to really remake the genre much, and as such are
given an above average grade for being solid titles that are soundly made, but
not spectacular. Overall grade: B.
Puzzle
Puzzle
games are often considered synonymously with indie games. There is a
good reason for this as nearly all of the puzzle games that are released come
from indie developers. Real games, Shockwave and many other websites
seem to feature a never-ending assault of puzzle games. With so many
games available, it then puts the pressure on indie developers to make a
better puzzle game.
Last year
saw some of the most interesting puzzle games that have ever been released,
with designs that were quite different than the puzzle games that had been
previously available. So far this year we've seen several puzzle games
that rate between good and great including
Treasure Fall,
Seth's Puzzle Boxes,
Harvest Lines,
and Chromentum.
While
each of the games released so far this year has merits and faults and all
deserve at least some of your time, but the jury is still out on how solid
this year's puzzle game crop will be. To this point we can see that the
production quality of the games in the puzzle category, like other categories,
has improved greatly. The Clay-esque graphics of Harvest Lines and
interesting quest and normal modes of Chromentum both show some of the
strengths in the group, while Treasure Fall is what I think to be the first
"cool gamer's" puzzle game, meaning that you can play it without getting
called a wus for playing puzzle games. Overall grade: B.
RPG
Easily
the simplest category to report on, RPG games have a strong tendency to not be
completed in indie circles though there are certainly a large number that are
started. This year we have seen one game,
Anito, released
to date. The game itself is wonderful with some of the best music I've
heard in a game recently to go along with a wonderfully involved storyline
that lets you play the game as two different characters in the same storyline
in a very interesting way. In fact the strength of the storyline really
overshadows the RPG aspect of the game and you could argue that the game is
more of an adventure game than an RPG, but if we did that, then who would
represent the RPG category?
Other than the
Geneforge series there hasn't been a lot of completed RPGs in Indie
Gaming. Anito is a big step forward graphically from those games though
it doesn't fit into the old-school mold of RPGs. As previously mentioned
the sound is extremely well done, but the overall limitation of grading indie
gaming on only one real solid RPG forces the grade down just a tad over what
it would have been if there were several titles of this caliber available.
Overall grade: B.
Sports
Without
big budgets and player endorsements, most of the sport games that come out of
the Indie world are either simulations or miniature golf. This year we
have a few titles of note including the very interesting
SportBall Challenge,
that takes a completely different angle on sports by providing more of a paddle
based game that is heavily themed in sports but otherwise could be considered an
action game. Also of note are
Anime Tennis Babes,
a game that looks pretty good, but is rather difficult to play and Universal
Boxing Manager, a game that pits you as boxing manager helping your boxers grow
and win fights.
Overall
it is good just to have a few sports games. Last year's crop was so
notably small that in the Game of the Year awards we combined this category to
include strategy and simulation games in order to have enough games to judge
against. However, quantity doesn't mean quality, and the best of the bunch
so far this year, Universal Boxing Manager, won't stand up as one of the best
sports games of all time. Still for those who need their sports fix, there
are a few games here that should give you some good play time.
Simulation
The
simulation category this year has been a pleasant surprise with several games
that have stood out. There are two solid space simulations that have been
released, Starship Tycoon the pseudo follow-up to
Starlines INC., and
Smugglers 3 the
very impressive follow-up to Smugglers 2. Both are similar in some
respects, but delve out into different territories. Smugglers 3 lets you
as the captain of a single craft determine what items you will be trading and
who with while carrying out missions to strengthen one of four factions.
There is of course also some space combat and plenty of storyline to keep you
well-informed as to how your faction is fairing in the overall battle.
As
if that wasn't enough there have been a couple of other titles that are
definitely worth mentioning. The first is
Aerial Antics.
The game probably is better categorized as an action title, but since you spend
the entire game simulating flying with a rocket pack the simulation category
seems like a good fit. The graphics on the title are wonderfully done with
a cartoon-ish flair that will keep you playing just so that you can see what the
next level might look like. For the more classical simulation game lover
there is the very ingenious
President Forever:
2004 that lets you play as one of the candidates for the election putting
together your campaign strategy to win the election over the computer or human
players.
Overall
the simulation category is shaping up to have a wonderfully enjoyable set of
games. With the time moving forward more attention to details has been
made in addition to updating the graphics and streamlining the interfaces.
Three of the games listed above are sequels and shows up in the quality of the
games as lessons learned in previous versions have been used as a springboard to
ever improve the titles. Simulation fans should be rejoicing as the games
currently available to them are a wonderful group. Overall grade:
A-.
Strategy
With
several hoped-for first class titles in the works last year, including World
Fables and Trash, last year was supposed to be the year that Strategy was king.
As it was we did get the wonderful
Samurai, but there
was little to cheer for after that. This year has been busy making up for
the lack of last year with several great titles already available and the nearly
completed
Oasis just on the horizon. Of the games already completed there is a
good variety with
Leylines being an ambitious title that should satisfy Civilization fans,
Bontãgo meeting the
interests of those looking for something more along the lines of a very
interesting and different board-game like strategy game, and Spartan being one
of the most amazing historical world-building war simulation games made to date.
Overall
it is hard to go wrong with any of the Strategy games out so far as each of the
titles released deserves mention, though clearly Spartan is the best of the
group and helps to greatly improve the overall score for the group. The
overall depth to many of the titles in this genre has been so great thus far
that it is hard to believe that they are indie titles. With Oasis, World
Fables, Battlescape and
Tribal
Trouble all lurking for later this year this certainly could be the year of
the strategy game! Overall grade: A-.
What things may come...
It's often very difficult to figure out what games may come
during the rest of the year in indie gaming. After all, the IGF 2003 Game
of the Year,
Wild Earth, still hasn't been released! In fact it may become the
first game to win Game of the Year in different years! So keeping that in
perspective, here are some of the games we are looking forward to...and hoping
that we get to play this year:
Jaxe
- This follow-up to the wonderful "The
Rage" has been in production for years. No really it has, but this
year they seem to have gotten a little more serious with the recent updates to
the website showing completed art for the game. It may be a little too
much to hope for this game to be completed this year, but if it is, watch out!
World
Fables - As previously mentioned this game is one that we have been waiting
for for some time. This game is a RTS that is set in the world of fairy
tales. You can, for example, control the gingerbread man army. This
game is a near sure beat to make it out this year as it has already been
released in Germany! Keep watching the
Game Thoughts website, the US
publisher, for what is expected to be a release announcement.
Oasis
- One of the winners of the IGF 2004 Game of the Year Oasis takes all the
strategy of a game like Civilization and then turns it into a 3 minute
experience. Lots has
been
written about this game, and all of it still understates how amazing this
game is. Since the developers have been nice enough to provide an open
beta we've been playing this one for months and it is a sure-fire hit.
Tribal
Trouble - Another RTS on the list,
Tribal
Trouble takes a little more comical approach to the genre, puts you in
control of one of several tribal groups such as African tribesmen. The
most eye-catching thing on this game so far has been the graphics which show
some very nice terrain. The game is also being programmed entirely in
Java, which makes it noteworthy, and Sun isn't the only one to have taken
notice.
Space
Taxi 2 - This one was actually just released, but it is new enough that we
haven't been able to play it yet.
Space Taxi 2
takes its concept from an old Commodore 64 game where you were a Taxi man in a
sci-fi setting picking up passengers and getting them to their locations.
(not Crazy Taxi, a concept which apparently Sega thinks they created...based on
recent lawsuits)
Façade
- Shown off at the
International Games Festival, Façade is a very different type of game.
In it you are a guest at a dinner party gone wrong. The host and hostess,
a nice couple that you set-up years ago has become disillusioned with their
marriage and each other. You interact with them and everything else in the
room while things either get better or go awry. Very difficult to explain,
but definitely one of the more original games ever made.
Hero the Dog
-
Retro64 has become well-known for taking
old-school game concepts and making them much better. Hero the Dog looks
to be no exception as the simple concepts brought forth in Donkey Kong are
revamped. Anyone who has played Z-Ball or any of the other Retro64 games
knows that every title is made with much care and you know each game will be awesome!
Alien
Fields -
Retro64 is looking to put out two titles
this year, and this one might actually make it out before Hero the Dog.
Alien Fields is the working title for this one and it is likely that the title
will change before the game is actually released. A bit more puzzle based
in premise, Alien Fields is a jezzball/qix style game with all sorts of
power-ups and other neat stuff. Be watching for it within the next 2
months!
Battlescape
- Following up to the
2003
Independent Game of the Year Starscape, Moonpod has its hands full trying to
create a game of the same caliber as that title.
Battlescape may not
actually make it out this year, but whenever it makes it out there will plenty
of fans waiting to play this RTS set in the same universe as
Starscape.
Cletus Clay
- As a side-scrolling adventure/platform game you cannot ask for much more
than Gish, but this year we may see two great side-scrollers with the release of
Cletus Clay. The
clay in the title is key as the game graphics are done entirely in clay.
The screenshots really need to be seen at full size to fully appreciate, this
game looks fantastic. Coming from experience developer
Squashy Software, there is not
question that this title will be first rate when released.
To Be? Or NOT to be?
With the difficulty in creating indie games it isn't
surprising to see some projects that seemed to have lots of promise disappear from
the scene. However it is always sad to see them go, and though there is
hopefully still a good chance of the following games making it out, the fact
that their web pages haven't been updated in 6 months tends to make one
concerned...
Conclusion...?
It's hard not to be excited about indie gaming
after writing this. There are a lot of good games out there already and
more on the horizon. I didn't even mention what some people may be the
substantial release so far in the Garage Games title
Dark Horizons:
Lore. There is a good reason for this...I haven't played it. :)
The mid-term Game of the Year...so far...goes easily to Gish, a game that is so
fun to play that I don't think I'll be able to stop talking about it for months.
Beyond the wonder that is Gish there has been a good supporting cast of first
rate titles from the Action, Strategy and Simulation genres. Indie gaming
is producing great titles right now with more coming all the time. It is a
great time to be alive...and playing!
***One of the many challenges in covering indie
games is that there are a wide variety of games available and no one central location to find out about these games. Game Tunnel
over the last year has become a leader in bringing information about the
various indie games to the public, but there are more games then we could ever
report on and strongly suggest that readers also check out
DIYgames,
Bytten and Freelance Games to
get more insight into the Indie gaming world if you enjoyed reading through this
article AND have already exhausted your reading on Game Tunnel.
By: Russell Carroll
Posted: Monday June 14, 2004
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