Indie Games Fest Looking For A Few Good Games

November is when my team submits our game, I can't wait!

spudmastaflash

@Malfunktion v2: and the purpose of your comment was? is this a sly way to state you think this isn't newsworthy? Not sure how you really feel but a lot of interesting new game mechanics/game franchises have come out of indie devs before they were called indie devs including: portal, Counterstrike, Left for dead, killing floor, Team fortress, Natural selection( a lot of these are from what is would be called the mod community). Not to mention such gems like Braid and everyday shooter, World of Goo, Mightier, The Path, etc etc. I think I may have been trolled.

@Anemone: Yep, I'll never care for the mindset that a game's only good if it lasts some set amount of hours. It's that mindset which leads developers to drag things out with filler, uninteresting gameplay, and lengthy repetition which only serve to bog down a game but help it pass the length test. It's that kind of thinking which has killed shooters and beat-em ups. :/ I worry today's kids are losing the concept of replayability thanks to reviewers and developers pushing the quality = length notion.

@BinaryReaver: Without a plan, a dream stays a dream. Seriously, I know exactly how you feel on this. And life will always manage to fill all your spare hours until the day you sit down and plan how you're going to make your game happen. Make a schedule for yourself and let life deal with how to work around it, instead of the other way around. If I can manage to take my own advice, maybe I'll see you there. :)

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: Most of the games in IGF are free or sub $20. You can snag last year's winner Blueberry Garden on Steam for like $5~. IGF games don't go for full sticker price. Most of the time the games from IGF end up on PSN/XBL/Steam or are simply free from their website. I'm fully with you on the subject of not wanting to pay $60 for 6 hours of gameplay, but if they can make a compelling story with great gameplay and I get a sense of closure from the ending then they have earned that $60 regardless of how long it is.

@Malfunktion v2: No? Not even the irresistible charm of World of Goo?

anyone else trying to join? let's talk a bit, what are you working on dev guys? and for the indie players, what kind of games do you want to see?

Every year I hear about IGF is another year I feel like I have missed my opportunity to show a video game I have designed in my head. But I guess that's the problem, the game stays in my head and I can never find the time to actually develop it. Stupid full time job and life, getting in the way of my dreams!!

BinaryReaver

I'm so going to join this year... well if i manage to finish a demo in time :[

I still don't understand why Blueberry Garden, last year's Grand Winner, has received absolutely no attention. It's a wonderful, truly awesome game that only costs £4 on Steam. Wake up and go and get it people!

@Stealth_chill: That's the reason i don't make mods for morrowind, I'm too damn lazy.

@Tom Clancy's Samuraidino: If it makes you feel any weirder, I can see you.....

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: I agree with you there, however if you see an indie game such as AudioSurf, I have spent so much time with that game. I even played the original beta demo longer than intended, but bought the game to support the developer on release date. Why? Because I've spent possibly over 50 hours in AudioSurf, and it isn't even an RPG. It's fun, refreshing and allows you to relax on slow songs. :)

Krigo

"World of Goo" sparked my interest in Indie games. I'm hoping this festival will bring some sweet new games.

@Anemone: While I personally love a 100+ hour single player experience, I'm not really for 60 dollars for 6 hours. At that point, I could go watch three movies and get about the same hours of fun for less then half the price. I like games to be around 10-20 hours minimum, but don't complain for more hours thrown in there. Meaningful hours, that is.

Sounds like a pretty awesome event; I almost got to go with my company last year, but they sent the marketing director instead :P

I'm really exited to see what comes out of this. Some of my favorite games are indies. Oh wait, no they aren't....

I really hope Xplay even does a speical on this. I would love to see some more creative games.

@Anemone: haha, bravo sir. you have successfully sugarcoated this shortcoming (no pun intended).

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: true true. all around good things, these indie games. biggest problem being length, best solution being funding, chance of that occuring: slim to none. but this is the life of the indie game.

@mpar: The main tweak they need to make is to not grey out the non-star comments. If we hit the + button, then we want to see them! Don't grey 'em out!

It'll be interesting to see if a game developed using Kodu ever gets featured at IGF. It certainly seems robust enough to create something both small and interesting. One of these days I'll finally get my hands dirty with XNA....one of these days :(.

logikil

@mpar: If it makes you feel any better,I can see you..... You look pretty....

@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.: Half-baked ideas are always the way to go.

Ashura

@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.: Ditto. Ah well, such is life.

GuyThreepwood

@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.: My idea is to make a 2D shooter that has nothing but bosses, is a combination of Sonic, Contra, Rocket Knight Adventures, Bionic Commando, and Alien Soldier. So you're a prisoner, and so you decide to escape from jail. You succeed in doing so, and in the process, knock a UFO in a major nearby city practically nuking it, and causing a global war between the military, aliens, mutants, other things, and of course the prisoner who was stupid enough to get out of jail. If I want more inspiration, I would have all things considered awesome, and blended in this without it feeling too alien from the premise. Now to get some concept art down and learn how to do C++!

@mpar: Yea this isnt so great currently there are 18 comments on this article but only 2 show up by default because they have stars. Part of the problem before was nobody read the stuff on the second page because you had to click something to get to them, now it's like everyone is on the second page except those with stars.

@RagingBull: Look outside of these festivals for some REAL indie games.

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: That really depends. Many big budget games throw in hours of fluff whereas many of the IGF games are concise and meaningful experiences. I guess it really depends on what you're looking for in a game. Sadly, these day I don't have time for lots of 100+ hour games so it's nice to be able to see the forefront of gaming in small, one sitting play-through packages.

@i like me-speaking for the dead: Personally, I like the new commenting rules. From my sample size of one (this post), it appears that people are putting more thought into their comments. I like that I don't have to wade through the short, useless comments such as: "That's kewl" or "Lame"

Ah, indie game festivals, where the best in pretentious gaming comes out to play! I, myself, am looking forward to Scarf, where you play as a falling scarf through a world of evil.

RagingBull

@mpar: I think part of the new system... IE8 won't load the comments atm...

InconspicuouslyConspicuous

@n00b_pwner: Bumped to help people out.

@mpar: There is a link at the bottom to show all comments, or show all comments from "featured" posters. Sadly, the featured posters are more visible, so I won't be surprised if my comments would be unnoticeable to anyone.

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: I think one of the issues is that IGF doesn't have enough sponsorship. The grand prize of $20,000 isn't nearly enough to fund a full-scale project, so most of the studios simply CANNOT make anything larger unless a publisher approaches them directly.

RealmRPGer

@i like me-speaking for the dead: See the black bar that doesn't separate your comment from my reply? That's basically it. Black bars separates comments, but if my comment is in yours, then it's a reply.

@i like me-speaking for the dead: I think you ended up posting in the wrong article. Put this in http://kotaku.com/5310953/kotaku-comments-get-star-power-edit-opti...

RealmRPGer

@Birdmustfeed: Pretty much, except they are usually mini games with concepts that can be fleshed out so much more, as well.

Now I don't see any comments at all... not even the star commenters that where on the new comment system post. its this a bug or its part of the new system?

@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.: Well at least you have ideas :p.

I think i could be a great game developer, just the fact the laziness to actually learn how to do it and an already decided major is kinda holding me back. Wahh Wahh Waaaaaaaaaaaaah

Stealth_chill

I wonder if there will be a competition as to who can create the best game using Kodu there within a certain amount of time. I mean I doubt that would happen, but that just seems like an awesome, and fitting, idea to begin with.

I love IGF. Every year we get at least one amazing game out of it, and usually more than that. I just wish I had the skill to contribute one of my many half-baked ideas.

@D Mitsuki : Gotta have guts kid!: they feel like extended mini-games to me. Really fun, but you know they will be over before you are satiated.

i dont like this new commenting system at all :/ it needs to go oldest to newest comments imo if your not a star your shown no love?? and its hard to tell where the replies to a comment end. i want to like this because it sure looks pretty but ill be damned if it doesnt give me a headache

I hope we get something good out of this! New and refreshing content is always welcome in my book!

It's always been a dream of mine to create an updated version of the Oregon Trail which takes place in space and which is for the the DS. I even had some new minigames mapped out and some character art designs. Sadly, I lack the skill and time to do it all on my own. EDIT: Wow this edit feature is fantastic!

I always love to see the games produced by people who are not bound by corporate obligations. My only qualm is that because they are not backed by said obligations, they are also not backed by the same funds, meaning the games are often too short, even if they are sweet.