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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
In an effort to improve our coverage of indie projects, we thought we'd do a periodic roundup that ranges a little further than our current database entries. Here's the first one:
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<br><ul><li><a href="http://www.nma-fallout.com/" target="_blank">NMA</a> recently revealed <a href="http://www.omega-project-rpg.com/forum/index.php" target="_blank">The Omega Project</a>, a "classic RPG" project very early in development - more details can be found in <a href="http://www.omega-project-rpg.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43" target="_blank">this</a> thread.
<br><li>Hanako Games dropped us a line about <a href="http://www.hanakogames.com/knight.shtml" target="_blank">Cute Knight</a>:<blockquote><em>A casual, girl-friendly, anime-themed RPG in the style of Princess Maker with easy-to-understand gameplay, randomly-generated dungeons, treasures, and events, and over fifty endings to discover. Low stress (great for coffee breaks) and extremely replayable.
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<br>It's easy to get started - even the little ones can try - but solving the mystery of your identity, mastering the magic and crafting systems, and truly beating the game requires a true RPG fanatic!
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<br>See the webpage for more information and a demo to download!</em></blockquote>We don't normally do much with anime stuff but the 50 endings sounds interesting.
<br><li>[Turn-based Strategy] <a href="http://www.wesnoth.org/" target="_blank">The Battle for Wesnoth</a> recently reached v1.0. It's an open-source fantasy-themed TBS that's definitely worth a look:<blockquote><em>Fight to regain the throne of Wesnoth, of which you are the legitimate heir, or use your dread power over the Undead to dominate the land of mortals, or lead your glorious Orcish tribe to victory against the humans who dared despoil your lands … Wesnoth has many different sagas waiting to be played out. You can create your own custom units, and write your own scenarios – or even full-blown campaigns. You can also challenge your friends – or strangers – and fight multi-player epic fantasy battles.</em></blockquote>
<br><li>[Turn-based Strategy] Another fantasy-themed TBS, Shrapnel Games recently released <a href="http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Tiny_Hero/Land_of_Legends/1.htm" target="_blank">Land of Legends</a>
<br><li>[Roguelikes] v.102 of the mecha roguelike <a href="http://gearhead.roguelikedevelopment.org/" target="_blank">GearHead 2</a> was released a few weeks ago
<br><li>[Roguelikes] Fantasy graphical roguelike with a 20 min playtime, <a href="http://laby.toybox.de/?sprache=1" target="_blank">Lost Labyrinth</a>, recently hit v4.012a .</ul>We'd love to hear about any new indie projects we might not know about - please use the 'Contact Us' link on the left to let us know about them. |
Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:49 am |
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Gorno
Village Dweller
Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 2
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Thanks for a working link to Gearhead2. I was looking for that one a few hours ago at http://thelist.roguelikedevelopment.org/ and the link the was not working for me.
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I can only wallow in the exquisite comfort of my own exactitude. --G.K. Chesterton (The Man Who was Thursday) |
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Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:50 am |
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Ozymandias
Leader of the Senate
Joined: 26 Apr 2003
Posts: 319
Location: Otherland |
Thanks Dhruin. I hadn't seen Lost Labyrinth before and it's such a cute game, I'm really enjoying it.
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Disclaimer: I can not be held responsible for anything whatsoever as a result of you reading this post. |
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Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:26 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
Well, I am really glad someone got something out of it. I am hoping this sort of reporting is the right way to go, although obviously many of our readers won't care and I am rather surprised at the "weakness" of the indie cRPG landscape - if you take a handful of high-profile titles and roguelikes away, there isn't a lot left.
Anyway, Lost Labyrinth is a nice little game and hopefully we'll find something interesting next time.  All feedback welcome.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:46 am |
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mogwins
Village Leader
Joined: 15 Jan 2002
Posts: 99
Location: Wales |
Hey Dhruin,
Thanks for the links. I always find it difficult to keep track of the Indie scene. So few of the games ever reach completion, though I think that's understandable - it's so much work for a single person (or even small team). |
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Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:28 am |
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C Sagan
Guest
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quote:
Well, I am really glad someone got something out of it. I am hoping this sort of reporting is the right way to go, although obviously many of our readers won't care and I am rather surprised at the "weakness" of the indie cRPG landscape - if you take a handful of high-profile titles and roguelikes away, there isn't a lot left.
This is exactly the kind of reporting that needs to be done. Frankly, 90 newsbits about (Insert game name here) is what many readers do not care about or at least grow weary of because many are surprised at the "weakness" of the mainstream cRPG landscape. |
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Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:51 am |
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Too Lazy to Register
Guest
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I prefer if do this once a week instead of a bunch of separate newsbits for each indy. Thanks guy, i didn't know crap about the indy scene till i started coming here a couple weeks ago. |
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Mon Oct 24, 2005 1:10 pm |
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niteshade
Keeper of the Gates
Joined: 09 Jul 2005
Posts: 100
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I'd like to add my appreciation for this as well. I'm always on the lookout for new indie and roguelike games.
I had played Lost Labyrinth back when it was just called Labyrinth. Looks like they have updated it quite a bit since then. |
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Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:06 pm |
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mogwins
Village Leader
Joined: 15 Jan 2002
Posts: 99
Location: Wales |
Yeah, I think this round-up format is definitely the way to go. Is there some way you can give this sort of post a way to stand out (maybe putting them in bold in the News overview list) - I wouldn't want to miss them as I skip over the 147th news posting of an Oblivian preview.... |
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Mon Oct 24, 2005 6:15 pm |
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany |
We only use highlighted news for things we consider more important than the typical newsbit.
Maybe a solution would be to post such an overview on the same day every week.
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Webmaster GothicDot |
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Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:54 am |
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mogwins
Village Leader
Joined: 15 Jan 2002
Posts: 99
Location: Wales |
I think a round up of indies *does* qualify as more important than a normal newsbit?
I certainly find it a lot more informative than the umpteenth preview (that day) of the new Jiggle-Tech(tm) routines to be used in the forthcoming Oblivion game. Though I have to applaud the 'Dot for not being quite as accomodating to the Bethesda marketing machine as certain other sites (*cough* 'Codex *cough*) where 75% of the "news" is based around yet another site posting yet another oblivion preview based upon exactly the same info as the billion before it.
I'm done with the soapbox now if anyone else wants to use it? I think my point was... ah, I forget. |
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Tue Oct 25, 2005 3:00 am |
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia |
Although a newsbit like this is probably a tremendous amount of work, I'd say it's well worth it. As much as many of us sing the blues about the state of gaming today, there are people out there making the mythic "good game" if not the sacred "great game". A site like the Dot has the power to get these designers some much-needed visibility and gives the jilted gamer an alternative to the junk most publishers pass off as major releases.
I spend far, far more time on the forums than checking the news, but I'll make a point of looking for this feature. Good on ya, Dhruin! (Hey, if Steve Irwin can say it, it must be legit Aussie-speak  )
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Sorry. No pearls of wisdom in this oyster.
RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys! |
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Thu Oct 27, 2005 12:13 am |
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany |
Yes, this is a tremendous amount of work.
Sometimes I´m not sure some indies even want visibility. Otherwise they would concentrate a bit more on getting the word out. (There are exceptions, of course.)
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Webmaster GothicDot |
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Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:53 am |
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mogwins
Village Leader
Joined: 15 Jan 2002
Posts: 99
Location: Wales |
quote:
Originally posted by Gorath
Yes, this is a tremendous amount of work.
Sometimes I´m not sure some indies even want visibility. Otherwise they would concentrate a bit more on getting the word out. (There are exceptions, of course.)
Um, I think that's a bit of a strange (blinkered?) view of things. Or at least different to the way I see it.
If you spend what frequently becomes a few years of your life developing a game, I think most developers would appreciate real gamers (which most 'Dot readers qualify as) being aware of it and getting some enjoyment from it (whether it makes them any money or not). I say this because I myself am making a little remake at the moment, and whilst I have no dellusions of grandeur, it would be a shame if no-one other than myself ever played it.
However, most indies cannot get any visbility. They have very small budgets compared to the big software houses. Furthermore, I imagine they spend a significantly smaller fraction of the said small budget on advertising, as compared to say development (which frequently takes a much longer time due to the very small teams involved). Time spend spreading the word == less time spent working on the game.
The upshot of this is indies need people to take what information they release, frequently in inexpensive ways such as forum announcements, and put it where the true gaming masses can see it (i.e. in newsbits). They can't afford the full page adverts in gaming magazines, and nowadays even TV spots, that generate the hype that leads to the billion previews/reviews that gives grade AAA titles the visibility. |
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Thu Oct 27, 2005 2:32 pm |
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Gorath
Mostly Harmless
Joined: 03 Sep 2001
Posts: 6327
Location: NRW, Germany |
Blinkered? Or realistic?
If a project is important enough to spend years on it, don´t you think it´s a good investment to work two weeks per year in total to create / maintain an attractive website, establish contacts and send out carefully chosen material or polished screenshots?
Our time is limited. It´s only natural to go the way of least resistance. We´ll mostly post what´s easiest to find. The safest way to get coverage is: deliver the material - and make it as easy to use as possible. More work for us means less coverage for you.
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Thu Oct 27, 2005 8:26 pm |
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