Favorite "Indie" Games - Page 2

DakaSha · #11 June 19th, 2009, 02:16 AM

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

tgbob · #12 June 19th, 2009, 02:50 AM

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.

meister_miagi · #13 June 19th, 2009, 07:54 AM

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.

SlipperyJim · #14 June 19th, 2009, 08:04 AM

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....

hEad · #15 June 19th, 2009, 09:27 AM

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…

thejeff · #16 June 19th, 2009, 09:38 AM

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.

Agema · #17 June 19th, 2009, 10:16 AM

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.

the Vanishag · #18 June 19th, 2009, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hEad

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.

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.

Baalz · #19 June 19th, 2009, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hEad

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.

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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hEad

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.

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...

Makinus · #20 June 19th, 2009, 01:58 PM

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...