XFire Debate Aftermath

By Shamus Posted Friday Feb 1, 2008

Filed under: Video Games 11 comments

Jay and Corvus got together and decided to tackle a lot of the overlooked questions in last Friday’s Indie Games Debate. They were nice enough to start with the questions I posed earlier this week.

I particularly liked Corvus’ answer to my second question. I don’t want to steal his thunder by excerpting him here, so just check it out for yourself. Also, I should point out that Amanda Fitch answered my questions here in the comments.

I stand corrected on my assertion that Indie games are “mostly” RPG’s. I forget that indie games include all the casual Popcap-type games, Tower Defense knockoffs, and match-3 clones. Aside from the time I needed to go into detox to get rid of a nasty Zuma addiction a few years ago, I don’t really play a lot of attention to those sorts of games. So, my assertion that indie games = RPG’s is the result of my own bias, because those are the developers I read and follow.

And finally, a new (to me) developer was nice enough to stop by but was shy about “spamming” my comments with his project website. Let me just make it official: If you have an indie game you’re working on, you’re always welcome to drop a link in the comments or in an email. (shamus at shamusyoung dot com) This is particularly true if you have a blog.

 


From The Archives:
 

11 thoughts on “XFire Debate Aftermath

  1. Joe says:

    Some of my favorite stumbles are Indie Games. There really are a LOT out there, and just by the law of large numbers you realize that there are enough incredible ones to warrant at least a good portion of your time.

  2. I really liked Corvus’s response as well. After I read his response I thought, “Wow, can I change my answer to `what he said?'”

    Something else to look at is the “top 100 indie games” list that GameTunnel did recently – basically, a compilation of the highest-rated games among all of the monthly round-ups they’ve done over the last several years. They actually tried to avoid the purely casual games, so that can give you some idea of the cross-section of indie games out there. Lotsa shooters, strategy games, platformers, puzzle games, etc. And even some pretty hard-core genres in there, like space combat games.

  3. tocky says:

    gah, don’t trust gametunnel’s list of top indie games, since it’s so much a list of the best games that gametunnel sells, and because most truly excellent indie games aren’t under that umbrella, it’s staggeringly inaccurate as a list of top indie games. Try this one for success.

  4. Well, they aren’t necessarily the ones GT sells – a lot are not – but they do tend to be the more commercialized indie downloadable games. “Do tend” or “have tended” – it’s tough to say which direction the site is going to be taking now. That’s definitely been its focus in the past. Russell complains that the indie games don’t sell nearly as well as their casual games page – which only has one link and they don’t really talk about.

    TIGSource definitely has the inside track on some of the more wild, weird, genre-breaking, homebrewed-flavored and freeware stuff. It’s a great resource, and they don’t contribute to the echo-chamber of the casual game scene. Not that I have a problem with casual games – it’s just nice to have sites that focus on the non-casual indie stuff.

    IndieGames.com – the Weblog is another fun one for discovering a plethora of indie games – DAILY.

    Jay is Games has a more casual / free-flash-game twist to it, but also well worth paying attention to for daily additions to the indie gaming field.

    My own site DOES emphasize indie RPGs, because that’s where my passion lies, and I think there’s a ton of room for going into depth with these games – a lot more than I even have the ability to go into. But it’s not even close to an exclusive focus.

  5. Davesnot says:

    How about a module for kids for an established game.. with a blog to talk about it…

    http://davesnot.wordpress.com/

    just wondering… *looks at feet.. shuffles feet*

  6. NobleBear says:

    Thanks for discussing this, Shamus.

    I love to play games but am always curious as to what goes into making a game as well. Reading the responses here gives me a sense about the kind of realities a creator confronts when taking a game from drawing table to store shelf.

  7. DGM says:

    Well, I do have both an indie game in development and a recently started blog, so I suppose I’ll take the excuse to plug both.

    But that’s mostly just an excuse to ask if you ever plan to start pointing out free games on Fridays again. I’ve tried to take up that particular torch since you’ve stopped, but I wouldn’t mind seeing you back at it.

  8. In that case, I’ll one-up my previous post and *gasp* include the link to my woefully out-of-date website in the text of my message!

    http://www.studioarchcraft.com

    Although, looking back on the various definitions of “indie”, I’m not sure I qualify anymore. Certainly, as we’re going to get published on the DS, we have to play by the rules of the big publisher system.

    And of course, I’d be happy to answer any question anyone might have on my development experience.

  9. Barron says:

    Not mine, but I have been having a lot of fun with Dwarf Fortress at http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves It’s tough to get into, and the ASCII graphics turn shallower gamers off immediately, but even great games like the Civilization or Galactic Civilizations haven’t been able to consume me like this one has. The wiki, at http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net is a constant companion, and the learning ‘curve’ is more like a wall, but I’m glad I’ve stuck with it. Try it, it’s free!

  10. guy says:

    i hit the learning wall on that and relized i either had a bug or menu controls changed between menus. then i gave up.

  11. medlab help says:

    http://i-medlab.com Thanks for that awesome posting. It saved MUCH time :-)

Thanks for joining the discussion. Be nice, don't post angry, and enjoy yourself. This is supposed to be fun. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked*

You can enclose spoilers in <strike> tags like so:
<strike>Darth Vader is Luke's father!</strike>

You can make things italics like this:
Can you imagine having Darth Vader as your <i>father</i>?

You can make things bold like this:
I'm <b>very</b> glad Darth Vader isn't my father.

You can make links like this:
I'm reading about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darth_Vader">Darth Vader</a> on Wikipedia!

You can quote someone like this:
Darth Vader said <blockquote>Luke, I am your father.</blockquote>

Leave a Reply to Davesnot Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.