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View Full Version : Indiegames.com Top 20 Indie Arcade games for 2007 (Must Read!)



dislekcia
28-01-2008, 02:23 AM
Read this right now. (http://www.indiegames.com/blog/articles/index.php?c=ac&y=2007&gid=0)

Paying special attention to the gameplay dynamics of each game, the polish applied and also how each game is marketed... For a great example of cheap, effective indie marketing, check out Garden Gnome Carnage's awesome youtube video.

And this lets me bring up something that I've wanted to talk about for ages: Killer Worm/Death Worm. Let me come straight out and say that I feel that we've all done Unc1354m a disservice. Killer Worm was definitely first and without a doubt the inspiration behind Death Worm... If only we'd helped him come up with a better control scheme and kept him motivated enough to polish the game a little more when it was first getting attention on Experimental Gameplay (http://www.experimentalgameplay.com), I believe that all the press that Death Worm's getting would have been directed at Killer Worm instead.

I think there are a ton of games that have been developed by forum members that would inspire similarly successful games if shown to a broader audience. Our job should be to inspire and help those members to put that last touch of Awesome™ onto their games and get them out there.

So, while we're discussing how all these indie games got their mentions, we should also be thinking of ways to make the shining gems from this forum stand out and get the same sort of attention. Ideas people, ideas!

-D

dislekcia
28-01-2008, 02:38 AM
Two relevant links:

Opinion: Inside Digital Game Download Hell (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17109) - Focuses on how to make games more accessible via digital download, mostly on console systems but there's a good chunk of good ideas to use for your own games. Plus Ian Bogost (http://www.google.co.za/search?q=Ian+Bogost) is zexy.

Opinion: How To Sell More Games Through Trial Versions (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17061) - Exactly as the name implies, this article is about getting more people buying your games. However, these ideas and techniques can be used to create user interest and participation in freeware titles as well.

-D

UntouchableOne
28-01-2008, 01:00 PM
Thanks for the links D. I found some of the gameplay aspects of those games very interesting especially the no.1 podium position holder,Chalk. It's really amazing how an unorthodox approach to gameplay can unlock alot of opportunity and fun in the game. (idea : competition, create a game with the most unorthodox gameplay but must still be fun). The articles are also interesting...I plan to take a lot of those points into consideration when creating games and trials in the future. I also want to polish up one of my older games and put it out there on sale-not an absurd amount but a small amount just to see the sales and reaction and feedback of casual gamers when playing a game they have to pay for(your view of a game is very different when you have to pay for it as opposed to if you downloaded it for free)

Lastly, I can't agree more with D with regards to supporting our community members in deving theis games and making the most of them. I think some awesome game concepts from the community needs to be fleshed out more and actually completed and polished-too many worth while concepts go by without any recognition, when those very concepts could be the next best thing to hit the indie/casual market.

Gazza_N
29-01-2008, 07:18 PM
I find it very interesting how many entries intentionally went for retro-style graphics. I'm also impressed with the ideas here - all simple, yet unique.

Those other links were also Win. The one on downloads was hilarious. :) Oddly enough, I have an old issue of PC Gamer from 1995 that has an article about the Shareware model and how it can work for you. Very similar points were raised, from what I remember.