Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Seeing the recent fav game thread and the Rogue one that was floating around awhile ago, I would like to hear about some of your favourite indi games.

In my later game playing years I have struggled to find a good game to play down at the local EB games shop, hell, it’s even getting to the point where the PC section is a small segment tucked up the back, flanked by the acreage of console offerings.

Digital download or ordering online is now my only means of buying a game. I've played a fair bit of Armageddon Empires and crazy amounts of Dom3 in the last 12 months but am now ready to have a look at some else.

Something in the strategy / sim genre, any topic - space, historic, fantasy, but I would prefer titles that are secret gems, you know, those games you stumble across and wonder how they escaped you for so long.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Wierd worlds (another shrapnel game) was pretty fun.
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Digital...W/WW_page.html

There's also several people from the dominions community who play starchamber:
http://starchamber.station.sony.com/

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Mandatory plug for Dwarf Fortress.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Great for fun although it's not hugely difficult, try Plants vs. Zombies by Popcap.

Plenty of free online games too. I know several people who play Ogame (www.ogame.org) which is about building a space empire. There's the old classic Urban Dead where you get to be a zombie or survivor (www.urbandead.com), there's a more detailed and rather superior game along similar lines called Nexus War (www.nexuswar.com) although membership is in precipitous decline. There are always also fun little online games like Desktop Tower Defenc(/s)e, or Spin The Black Circle, all easily Googleable.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Soldat. Name says everything - except that it has Chainsaws and Jetpacks and Tactical Trenchwar, Dodge the Knife and other fun game modes.

http://www.soldat.pl/en/

edit: Oops, not really a strategy title...

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

So does it have to be for the PC?

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Rising Star
Different little time killer. No blood and gore. You create a garage band and try to make it big. I get a kick out of creating themed bands. The genre, the outfits, the name of the band, the names of songs. I love having the whole thing fit a specific theme.

VGA Planets 4
The ultimate game for spreadsheet gamers. More numbers and statistics than anyone can keep track of. Its been in beta since 2001 when I bought my pre-purchase serial for it. Steady development but they keep adding features. I think it will never be finished because it is now too complicated for anyone but the most insane gamer to ever try and learn it. Therefore worth mentioning to the Dom3 crowd.

Brain Pipe
Available here. A game for the wired people. Strange graphics, interesting music. Played more by mood than mind.

Tranquility
Also a very different type of game. The description would be much like Brain Pipe but the mood is the exact opposite. If you try to play it wound up you will fail. Very relaxing. Almost feels like bio-feedback. It always brings to mind that line from Start Trek "Do you know the secret of playing it? Dont fight it. It almost plays itself"


Gandalf Parker
--
Get a life? No thanks. Just had one.
Im retired now and get to play games all day. (envy me)

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

With links in the titles...

Battleship Chess (Apezone)

I haven't played in a while but when this first came out I was hopelessly addicted. WWI-era naval combat with card play and power ups/bonuses. Pretty much all Apezone games are good, though for some reason I just couldn't get too into Starship Kingdoms. Will have to play it again to see if it clicks more for me now.

Lexaloffe Games

More puzzle games than strategy but highly addictive. Chocolate Castle is a great game, one of those that you keep thinking about long after you close it down. Just when you think you're stuck suddenly you're at lunch and the "ah ha!" moment hits and you can't wait to get back into the game.

Battle of Tiles (Bimboosoft)

Odd fantasy strategy game where you create an army of tile based units and march across the board, hopefully annihilating everything in your path. While not a game you'll play forever it's cheap enough and unique enough to keep you entertained off and on.

Wings Over France (RooGames)

Only have played the demo, been meaning to purchase the whole shebang. Basically a cross between Dawn Patrol and the old SSI game Eagles. It's based on a boardgame though I'm not familiar with the source material. Essentially a turn based WWI flying RPG set during Bloody April. Primitive graphics but gameplay up the yin yang.

People's General WW2

Free total conversions using the People's General engine. You have WW2 mods, ACW, WWI, and even Napoleonic warfare. Mileage and quality of scenarios vary (I couldn't get the WWI one to work and the Nappy one leaves something to be desired). All free and standalone.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Don't let the name throw you.... "Bookworm Adventures" by Popcap games. Free trial for an hour. It's Scrabble with hammers.

http://www.popcap.com/games/bookworm...0_5_A_07_01_08

-ssj

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Here are a few of my "hidden gems," expanded from my post to the "favorite games" thread.

1. <a href="http://www.lasersquadnemesis.com">Laser Squad Nemesis</a> - from the Gollup brothers, who created X-Com. Free demo, cheap to try, continuing requires a subscription but it's $40 for a year, not $30/month.

2. <a href="http://www.wesnoth.org/">Battle for Wesnoth</a> - open source (therefore, free!) Fantasy TBS: not like Dom 3, it's played in skirmishes or campaigns on hex maps and no "world map" or research.

3. <a href="http://www.emhsoft.com/singularity/index.html">Endgame: Singularity</a> - also open source. It's like X-Com without the squad combat - you play as a spontaneous AI, trying to self-realize before paranoid humans wipe you off the net. A much smaller and shorter game than LSN and Wesnoth, but all the more a must-play for that.

I mostly find out about new indie games from <a href="http://playthisthing.com/">Play This Thing!</a> and I;m not just plugging it because my review of Dom 3 will be going up sometime soon (I offered to review Dom 3 for them because it was the only really cool "new" computer game I've found in the past two years that they haven't reviewed).

For retro/abandonware, I've given up on Home of the Underdogs and have found <a href=
http://www.abandonia.com/">Abandonia</a> to be great. I'll play Nobunga's Ambition someday, I really will.

Ok, that's enough from me. :yawn: I need to go to sleep.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

wow a thread where dominions players say there fav games. i actually respect this list automatically ^^

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Adding Iji and Cave Story to the list for most excellent side scrolling shooting fun time. Both are free and include a bit of exploration, though they're both extremely linear.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Cortex Command is a great indie action game. It's a 2D sidescroller but it has a really cool physics systems and a lot of crazy stuff can happen. You can download a timed emo. The full version isn't finished yet, but it's already alot of fun, especially splitscreen with a friend.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

As stated on the other thread, one of my favorite indy games (other than Illwinter's fine work) is PeaceMaker.

PeaceMaker is a simulation of the Israel/Palestine conflict. You can play as either the Israeli Prime Minister or the President of the Palestinian Authority. In both cases, your "victory condition" is the same: a two-state solution. There are good arguments about whether or not the two-state solution is the best choice for the real world, but a game needs to have a goal, and this one works well.

Gameplay is fascinating and fairly deep. You have a walk a fine line between appeasing your own people and making nice with the neighbors. You have to build up your credibility as a leader, but you also have to accept certain limitations on what you can do. Basically, the whole game is a series of balancing acts. As I have played, I have found that one of the keys to success is to ignore the extremist elements within your own nation as much as possible. Like in the real world, if you can keep the majority of people happy, then the extremists can rant & rave all they want ... but you don't have to care about them.

Final tip: Remember that the name of the game is PeaceMaker. Any option that involves violence is usually a bad choice. No matter how tempting it might be, don't start whacking militant leaders with Apache strikes, or the game will be over before you can blink.... :D

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Man, loads of suggestions! Legends!

Starchamber has caught my interest. Card mechanics in a game work really well - I often muse about a Dominions CCG, I think it could be a winner.

Baalz, you mention a couple of the Dom characters play, any one in particular? I checked it out but couldn't really find out much info on price and what sort of investment you have to make. All the same, I'm tempted.

I would love to be able to get in to Dwarf Fortress, the premise sounds great and enough people rave about it, but I just glaze over when I stare at the screen. It seems like a series of impenetrable menus and I don't know where to start.

I have Peoples General WW2; it’s a great bit of free work. I quite liked the Panzer General series and thought PG2 and Peoples General were nice tidy games.

Westnoth is another of those generous contributions. The Dev's must put a crap load of elbow grease and love in to this game - sure they a writing the game they always wanted to play, but its fantastic to be invited along for the ride!

I used to regularly pillage the underdogs site even way back before its last site redesign. (Remember in the early days of the net explosion, the classic web site designs, clunky presentation and lots of blue screens and flashing borders?) It was an Amiga game I used to love called the Chaos Engine, that led me to the underdogs originally but finding 4D Boxing, Balance of Power and CIV Net, kept me checking in regularly. Ah nostalgia.

Has any one played Armageddon Empires? I really enjoy this one. Took me a bit to get into it, but once I did it hooked me good for a couple of months. Looking forward to the new one, Solium Infernum.

http://www.crypticcomet.com/games/SI..._Infernum.html

There are a lot of suggestions here. VGA Planets 4 (attack of the pods from outer space… nice!) looks dangerous – looks like every bit the egg game that Dominions is. These games take over your life; how is it possible to have more than one of them in your head at a time? Dominions distracts me enough!

Urban dead looks cool as well – Zombies! why do we love them so much?

Now scrabble with hammers! Wouldn’t mind a couple of hammers on hand when I play a game of scrabble against my wife and her various scrabbly friends. Not a great fan of the game, but with hammers… :)

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Re: Dwarf fortress
You may have already, but check out the Dwarf Fortress wiki. They have some "First fortress" type guides, which can help you figure out how to get started.

The interface does remain clunky, but becomes easier with use.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

If you're into really complex hardcore wargames, you could try the Airborne Assault series written by Panther Games (www.panthergames.com). Very detailed simulations of WW2, with one of the best AIs you'll find, especially considering the complexity of the game.

The command system is particularly interesting. You generally need to give orders to HQs, and let the AI control the fine detail. The reason being that when you give units orders it splits them from their organic HQ and adds them to the most superior HQ on the map (which is sort of you). If HQs are trying to control too many units, you get delays as the HQ staff are overburdened (imagine a Brigade HQ bypassing its battalion HQs to directly control every single company). Thus if you overmicromanage, your army grinds to a halt.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Here's one "aye" for Armageddon Empires, as well as for Peacemaker (I just wish it was a bit more micromanagey: one "initiative" per turn feels so limiting) and Iji. These are all great games, even though few of them approach the the scale or scope of Dom 3.

I should totally get VGA planets, but if I did so now, I'd never finish my dissertation.

Here's to indie gaming. :cheers:

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Iron Hawk, Quantum Mechani and I had a threeway. In Starchamber you perv. I've seen two or three others from this forum on SC, here's a thread with people talking about it specifically: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showt...t=star+chamber

The community there is pretty nice, they'll give you all the "common" cards you want, so you can get a lot of game out of the $10 minimum purchase. I've spent probably $50 buying cards and have played over a hundred hours, so it's been a good investment for me.

AE is a lot of fun, but it really wants a MP aspect. I found it hard to play it against the AI more than a dozen times. All that potential sneaky strategy and nobody to hamstring but a computer...:(

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

One online strategy title that i like is "Shattered Galaxy" and it can be played for free, the difference from the free and the paid version is just a 10% penalty in XP for the free version and you cant vote in faction elections, but it is a very fun game, with a lot of tactical combat and the XP penalty is very small...

Another fun game that i got recently is "Light of Altair", very fun space colony sim with some combat thrown in... it has a lengthly campaign (i didn´t finish it yet) but there are talks in the developer forums that they will be adding skirmish/sandbox play in a upcoming patch...

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Well, I don't think it was an indie game but as it's old and either free or very cheap and someone mentioned it in the other thread I'll recommend Imperialism 2.
It basically encompasses military conquest, diplomacy, industrialization and trade, with the focus on the latter two. But don't worry this doesn't mean some stupid building of things to build more things to build more things - the economy is complex and well designed enough that you'll be constantly struggling to manage all the interlocking elements (cargo fleet, infrastructure, mines, farms, workforce).
Similarily your military and diplomatic strategy will have to be integrated with your eco strategy. If your expecting your workers to demand sugar or strike later you'll have to gain control of sugar - if you do this through military power, diplomacy or trade is up to you. Don't forget to factor in that fjord near your cap when making that decision, though.
Oh, and the AI is very good, it can do naval invasions actually... :shock:

The only flaw imo is that the battles are not really the best (and not even playable in MP).

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Light of Altair looks a bit of alright. Following that one up, led me to this web site : http://tigsource.com/ The independant gaming news.

What a colossal collection of indie offerings! Check it out!

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Yep, my only beef with it now. The new one is MP so there is hope. I find the subject matter a tad dark though. I keep recalling that Nietzsche quote - "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

Odd when I have no quibble sacrificing virgins for a devil or two. Its funny though, it did take me a while to be comfortable playing a blood nation in Dom - sensibilities eh? They turn on and turn off!

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Sorry, missed this, Yes - I haven't got the thumb for consoles. :)

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

The first half of that, while widely quoted, is a rather poor translation.

In the original German:
"Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein."

A better translation to English:
"He who fights monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

I don't really see any differences between the two versions of the quote except that one takes 30 words to say it and the other 23?

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Omg, I'd forgotten all about LSN. GREAT game. In fact, I'm going to go fire it up now and see how it's changed since I last played it (they were just introducing the 3rd "race"). Thanks for the inspiration.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

The difference, as I see it, is that the first translation precludes battling with monsters on the premise that you will become one, while the second merely warns of the danger that this might happen.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

There is no immutable truth in the word lest from the first definition. Indulging the activities of monsters raises the possibility of becoming one yet, it would be the capacities of the individual not the activity itself, which would finally decide who would become a monster and who wouldn't.

What I perceive both quotes to be clearly saying is that if you don't want to face the possibility of becoming a monster, don't play with them.

Both definitions say this, to me at least, by implication - one just says it with less words.


Welcome to the forum by the way. :)

I dug out my old Imperialism disk and gave it a whirl for old times sake - 4 hours went by, be great if someone would remake these games.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

I've always took the phrase as meaning that when you battle against "evil", you may be tempted to stoop to their level to combat them. Either way, I really like the quote, the widely accepted translation and your version.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

That, and the instant teleporting of troops. But it's still one of my all-time favorites.

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And by the way, I just finished playing a few games of Laser Squad Nemesis with my wife. It's as fun now as it was then. Even more so now, probably, with the introduction of 2 new races since I last played. And they've added a web interface to handle the email component. You just click on the web buttons to process and send files, no fiddling with attachments.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Nexus war eh? Does that mean that that's Agema from Team Laser Explosion?! It's Bang/Dethnutz/I'm an engineer... small world eh?

Regarding independent games, Mount&Blade is a great medieval mounted/army combat game with an active modding community. It's been in development for years and keeps getting better. Demo lets you get to level 6 before having to buy.

Transcendence is a completely free action space roguelike developed by a single (awesome) person who has added tons of modding support over the various iterations. It's basically a finished game, although he'd like to add some extra content on the end and frequently adds new content to what's already out there. There's an active modding community there, too (check out the enhanced weapons mod if you try it, definitely worth a download).

I second Weird Worlds: Adventures in Infinite Space as a great game. I love the fact that it really does only take 10-30 minutes to play through a game once you get the hang of it. It's like candy.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

mandatory seconding of the plug for DF. also, must note that I've heard starchamber is favored amongst dominions players, but I just really can't get to like card based games.

Also, if it hasn't been mentioned, Mount and Blade is very good.

EDIT: oh... I'm about 15 min too late with M&B. Wow, transcendence looks slick. It reminds me now of another indie-outerspace-roguelike: Flatspace.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

I just wanted to add a note to thank whoever it was that mentioned Laser Squad Nemesis. I am hopelessly hooked again and bought several subscriptions for the family. Simple game on its face like chess is simple ( :cool: ), full of strategic and tactical depth. If anyone wants to fire up a game, send Regnor Vex (two words) a challenge.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

I enjoyed Battle for Wesnoth. Possibly the best free strategy game out there. And it is fantasy based!

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

the first public release of 3069 was made just hours ago!

it's based upon the futuristic roguelike '3059'. gameplay seems very similar too. I like 3069 because it has qualities that I'm using in the dominions roguelike, namely non-tile based world and different sized stuff (i.e. an elephant doesn't occupy the same space as a roach).

get it here:
http://sites.google.com/site/free3069/

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

id love to try laser squad nemesis but the thing is:

dominions is hands down my fav game(and believe me i have played ALOOOOOT)... the only thing that sucks is that singleplayer is worthless and MP is only done turn wise(a reason im going for the 1vs1 league :P ). I need something to fill the cracks between my turns without starting a buttload of MP games and getting frustrated and stalling/quitting.

laser squad is sadly also played like dominions though in MP :(

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

ugh. thanks ill try. big roguelike fan here :)

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Well explicit meaning is explicit, and implicit meaning is implicit ;)

Thanks for the welcome. :angel

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Regnor, I sent a game invite.....just wanted to see if the demo version works with the full blown version of LSN

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

Yep, I got the Challenge and accepted it and have already deployed. ;-) Good luck!

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

OK, but I cant seem to get the game turn. I switched off the email option and when I try to get the game by typing in the game number, it just says my orders were sent succesfully, but I never sent any orders cuz I never gave any.

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Never mind. I think I figured it out.

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

I'm having trouble using mods in Dominions 3.I unzip in the mod folder.Doesn't effect the game?

Re: Favorite "Indie" Games
 

check the FAQ (stickied Here) under the "How do I install and enable mods?" heading.