Support NeoGAF

[mollipen]

The Adventures of Captain Becky is a perfect example of the reason why I love Xbox Indies so much.

But, in a completely different way, so is Chieri no Dokidoki Uukemuri Buraritabi (the hot springs game). Wow - played the demo, then purchased it as soon as my demo timer ran out. Really fun little game, GREAT concept, a blast to play once the controls click with you. I only wish it had online leaderboards, but hey.

 

[toythatkills]

Awesome stuff, would buy if I didn't have it on PSP already...

Great game though

 

[mollipen]

Wait... the hot springs game is on PSP?

 

[sciplore]

Wait... the hot springs game is on PSP?

Nope but Monsters probably stole my princess is. With the exception of the halfbrick games and Monsters have any of the psp mini games been transferred to minis or vice-versa? Protect me knight would actually be kinda awesome to play on the psp.

 

[HadesGigas]

Nope but Monsters probably stole my princess is. With the exception of the halfbrick games and Monsters have any of the psp mini games been transferred to minis or vice-versa? Protect me knight would actually be kinda awesome to play on the psp.

Funky Punch XL is on Minis. And still awful.

Star Hammer Tactics came to Minis as well.

 

[mollipen]

Oooooooooooh. I got confused because toythatkill's reply was right after my post.

 

[Gowans]

On wow Monsters Probably Stole My Princess is great! Need to get my jumps right but bought!

 

[toythatkills]

Oooooooooooh. I got confused because toythatkill's reply was right after my post.

Sorry, your post wasn't there when I started typing and I didn't notice it afterwards!

Still got some catching up to do and loads of games just came out today, have these for now:

Jump 'n' Bounce was enjoyable. You're a constantly bouncing ball and you have to traverse levels going for speed or collecting pick ups to get your score, risk/reward. Enemies halt your progress. It's fun though, feels really retro but in a good way, like you're actually playing a NES.

Monsters (probably) Stole My Princess is a great game, but not really the most effort filled port from the PSP. Plays with huuuuuge borders. It's still fun though, and if you don't have it on PSP you absolutely should get it here. You have to chase monsters up a vertical level, double jumping into them three times to kill them. he twist is in the score/combo system. To get better combos you have to jump on each platform once, and jumping on a platform twice resets the counter. Lots of scope for perfect runs, etc. Controls excellently. It's good, but if you've got a PSP maybe get it on that instead.

Amazing Facts was boring, it's a series of facts of questionable validity and that's it. Boring until I got to this: "Due to the angle at which the optic nerve enters the brain, staring at a blue surface during sex greatly increases the intensity of orgasms." Amazing scenes. Can anyone verify? :lol

Bigger And/Or Better started well, it's just Sokaban with a decent enough skin. Then I realised that actually you're being timed and you have to complete x amount of levels in a certain time to advance, like hitting checkpoints in Outrun or something. There's LOADS of repeated puzzles though, I probably played 50 levels and saw ten puzzles, then the same ones rotated. Doesn't work so well as a timed game, it turns out.

When Zombies Meet Avatars babies cry.

Stick Massage isn't a game even though it pretends to have something gamelike within.

The Zombie Shotgun Massacre is a strange beast. You are a bikini clad girl and you defeat zombies in a level that's angled like Golden Axe or something. It's retro sega reference day. Anyway, you perform fetch quests and, bizarrely, pick up cards now and then with scantily clad women on for little apparent reason. I'll be honest though, despite it not being great, I was actually having fun with it. There's humour.

Got Balls was fairy bad. A series of mini games like "click on the balls" or "set the angle and shoot the ball into the basket." The former is boring, the latter (and a basic billiards game) both suffer from poor physics.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Zombie Shotgun Massacre is terrible. I'm sorry I bought it.

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

As bad as some of the XBLIG games are, I have to wonder what "games" didn't even make it through approval.

 

[toythatkills]

As bad as some of the XBLIG games are, I have to wonder what "games" didn't even make it through approval.

Everything makes it through approval unless it crashes or is broken or breaks the laws Microsoft set on Indie Games. No nudity as a reward, etc.

Approval isn't based on quality.

 

[LocoMrPollock]

:lol @ Balloon Boy

 

[BlazeHedgehog]

Everything makes it through approval unless it crashes or is broken or breaks the laws Microsoft set on Indie Games. No nudity as a reward, etc.

Approval isn't based on quality.

That explains so much.

 

[Gowans]

Everything makes it through approval unless it crashes or is broken or breaks the laws Microsoft set on Indie Games. No nudity as a reward, etc.

Approval isn't based on quality.

What ever happened to that channel 4 sex education game? It was released a good few weeks ago on pc.

 

[yyr]

ToyThatKills, thank you so much for the great first post. I didn't release anything last month so obviously I'm not in there, but this gets me excited about releasing my next project... knowing that you take a good, hard look at everything and then post in such a great format means a lot!

Anyway, I just wanted to briefly mention that I'm currently running contests (USA only) for my titles Falling and Sharpshooter... they end this Saturday so there isn't much time, but the competition is relatively sparse, so I feel that anyone here with some gameplay skillz could wind up with $20 in Microsoft Points somewhat easily. There's $100 in MSP up for grabs in total. If you like retro-style arcade games, give it a shot =)

For more info on the contests:
http://www.snake360.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=73
A review of Falling:
http://www.brainlazy.com/article/video-games/falling-review/
A review of Sharpshooter:
http://www.pwnem.com/t-sharpshooter-review

Thanks everyone. I'm glad that you all continue to check out XBLIG. To this day I'm kind of surprised that people don't mention it more often when talking about the strengths of the Xbox 360. There is a LOT of fun to be had on there, and there's nothing like it on any other console...but you know that already, don't you? =)

 

[HadesGigas]

Gravitron360 is out for 80msp. It looks like a new entry into the series, but I'm not sure. Gravitron 2 is on Steam for $5 in any case.

Trailer

 

[Stumpokapow]

Captain Becky was hilarious. I spent about 4-6 minutes playing the game, said "meh", loaded up the editor, and then generated a bunch of slimey oozie ugly poorly proportioned freak boob women and laughed at them.

Monsters (probably) Stole My Princess is a great game, but not really the most effort filled port from the PSP. Plays with huuuuuge borders. It's still fun though, and if you don't have it on PSP you absolutely should get it here. You have to chase monsters up a vertical level, double jumping into them three times to kill them. he twist is in the score/combo system. To get better combos you have to jump on each platform once, and jumping on a platform twice resets the counter. Lots of scope for perfect runs, etc. Controls excellently. It's good, but if you've got a PSP maybe get it on that instead.

Yeah, I wasn't really a fan of the demo. Only two levels, and the huge borders were pretty annoying. I like the concept and everything, but what was there didn't convince me to spend $3.

Bigger And/Or Better started well, it's just Sokaban with a decent enough skin. Then I realised that actually you're being timed and you have to complete x amount of levels in a certain time to advance, like hitting checkpoints in Outrun or something. There's LOADS of repeated puzzles though, I probably played 50 levels and saw ten puzzles, then the same ones rotated. Doesn't work so well as a timed game, it turns out.

I think that the concept here is cool (and I like the droning corporate angle that the author took) but the repeated puzzles suck... but the real problem with the game is that to pass many checkpoints past the first one, you basically need to not only solve the puzzle quickly, but you need a preternatural knowledge of how to solve them. It's fine when you're playing a level for the 4th time and you are in the groove, but when you see a level for the first time you're basically guaranteed not to make it to the checkpoint just because it takes a few seconds to read the screen and start moving.

 

[N4Us]

He's making that.

http://www.ska-studios.com/category/zp2kx/

Best news I've read in a while. Thank you.

 

[fernoca]

Gravitron360 is quite nice, but dissapointed that it looks a little blurry. Still for $1, was a no brainer. Also got Shoot1Up.

 

[HadesGigas]

Sword of Rapier -ソード オブ レイピア- out now for 400 msp. It's an action RPG about "a girl looking for her lost memory". Sadly the no doubt hugely original story is all in Japanese. There are instructions in English so you will be able to understand most of the battle system. I don't really get the "jump 50 feet in the air sometimes" part, but yeah.

Official Japanese Site
Trailer

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Haha I love the look of it.
It's like Falcom did a line of coke and made a Ys spin-off for the Dreamcast.

 

[Dr Zhivago]

Gravitron looks great, love the glowy vectors.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Gotta admit Sword of Rapier is really growing on me.
It's definitely got a Ys flavor to it as there are levelups but they're only just enough to get through to the next area. Rarely do they make it easy to mash away. Furthermore the second boss I faced off with was one rough customer and I had to learn how to parry effectively to survive.

Yep that's right by tapping RB at just the right moment the player can avoid all damage. The timing is pretty generous as I've even parried huge spreads of fireballs and other crazy attacks. :lol . Parrying also gives a sizable boost to SP, which is needed to use spells. The spells are pretty handy as some effect the enemy in different ways(like juggling them, knocking them away, and so on).

Still it's tough to get into cause while the controls are fair and the graphics are uh..there the mechanics tend to not add up quite right. At times it's probably safer to throw a block/parry out cause there aren't much in the way of close calls. It's pretty easy to die cause enemies do a lot of damage and like to gang up. I'm sure future bosses will be even worse as even the second one could put me away in 3-5 hits. Parrying is essential basically.

The rapier has a basic three-hit combo or a two-hit launcher. The launcher can be handy as it'll prime the enemy to be knocked back to the ground, which does good damage and has also works as a bit of an AOE on others. Most enemies can block though so while it's easy to corner one and mash away it can take awhile, best to move back, let the enemy make a move, and then resume pounding.

The story is...well it doesn't matter. I got attacked early on, shot with a freaking gun, pushed off a waterfall, and some girl gave me magic spells. I've just reached some ruins for whatever reason, probably to search for some new high heels.

I kind of like it. I mean sure it's certainly no replacement for a Ys title(except maybe original Ys 3 *shudder*) but so far it ain't too bad.

 

[Dr Zhivago]

Gravitron is win BTW.

 

[Rad-]

So I finally got fed up of MS not bringing Indy's here and made me an US account. These are what I found interesting:

Miner Dig Deep
Arkedo Series - Jump!
Arkedo Series - Pixel!
Johnny Platform 1 & 2
Platformance
Tobe’s Vertical Adventure
Apple Jack
Soulcaster

Any other great titles?

 

[Kafel]

So I finally got fed up of MS not bringing Indy's here and made me an US account. These are what I found interesting:

Miner Dig Deep
Arkedo Series - Jump!
Arkedo Series - Pixel!
Johnny Platform 1 & 2
Platformance
Tobe’s Vertical Adventure
Apple Jack
Soulcaster

Any other great titles?

Mamotte Knight
Shoot 1UP
Joy Joy
Breath of Death VII
Lumi
Crossfire
Beat Hazard
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1NIT!!!1
Leave Home
Along Came A Spider
NINJA BROS
Your Doodles Are Bugged!
Pixel Boarder
MagicalCube
Kodu Game Lab
Weapon of Choice
CarneyVale Showtime
Sol Survivor
Halfbrick Echoes
Slingstar
Flotilla
...

 

[Forever Giraffe]

Just to set the record straight, "Chieri no Doki-Doki Yukemuri Burari Tabi" would translate to something along the lines of "Chieri's Heart-Pounding, Steam-Swinging Adventure"

I haven't tried it yet, but I just added the trial to my download list for when I get home. I hope it's as awesome as that title makes it sound!

 

[Kafel]

Can you link us to the game ? It's difficult to know what you're speaking about for non-japanese speakers.

 

[Cerebral Assassin]

As acidspunk gave me a free code to dl Avatar High Five I thought I'll let you guys know what the game consists of:

You start with your avatar in the middle of the screen, with a Union Jack(I assume as I have a UK account) behind you & a outline of a hand in front of you. What you have to do is choose High Five or Fist Bump & as your avatar moves to do the motion a QTE appears, if you get the QTE's right 3 times fireworks go off, your avatar celebrates and a conga line of random(I think) avatars scroll behind you, thats all I can find to do in this "game"( you can play it in "3D" though but I don't have any glasses so I can't tell you how well that works).

So in summary don't waste any points on it.

 

[Forever Giraffe]

@Kafel
Chieri no Doki-Doki Yukemuri Burari Tabi ("Chieri's Heart-Pounding, Steam-Swinging Adventure", AKA "the hot spring game") is this one:

ちえりのドキ★ドキ湯煙ぶらり旅 (Doki Doki Something About Hot Springs Goolge Can't Translate Vey Well) is a "hot spring shooting wire game" where you play as a little girl with a grappling hook bunny and gun (water cannon?) trying to save her father from some sort of evil hot spring. You have to shoot at the rubber duckies without falling in the water or getting shot by the enemies. Not bad once you get used to swinging around to "aim".

I just checked it out and it is indeed very cool, even though I suck at it Backwards shooting controls are hard... but the main character is an anime girl wearing only a towel, so that totally makes up for it.

 

[Kafel]

@Kafel
Chieri no Doki-Doki Yukemuri Burari Tabi ("Chieri's Heart-Pounding, Steam-Swinging Adventure", AKA "the hot spring game") is this one:

I just checked it out and it is indeed very cool, even though I suck at it Backwards shooting controls are hard... but the main character is an anime girl wearing only a towel, so that totally makes up for it.

There's been a batch of 4-5 JP games released lately and since their themes are often the sames I couldn't know. :lol

I noticed this game though, I'll try it. Thank you.

 

[Kafel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOd8w-UTdQY

OMG Table Soccer ! YES !

edit : the physics seem incredible ...

 

[qupe1975]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14xEyp7xj-Q

Take a look at the video and the excellent www.indienerds.com site

 

[Rad-]

Already bought about 30 bucks worth of stuff but I can't move on from Soulcaster. My god, this game is brilliant. Feels like a genuine NES game.

Edit: Nooo and it just ended.

 

[toythatkills]

Already bought about 30 bucks worth of stuff but I can't move on from Soulcaster. My god, this game is brilliant. Feels like a genuine NES game.

Edit: Nooo and it just ended.

You'll be pleased to know there's a sequel coming (sometime)

 

[Nert]

This question may seem a bit random, but does anyone here have some soundtracks from any XBLIG that they would recommend? I've never really given any of these games' soundtracks a listen and I've love to check out some of your favorites.

 

[SapientWolf]

This question may seem a bit random, but does anyone here have some soundtracks from any XBLIG that they would recommend? I've never really checked any of these games' soundtracks out and I've love to check out some of your favorites.

Solar Hoops had a pretty great soundtrack.

 

[toythatkills]

The service has gone 2D platformer mad over the last week or so, still haven't had time to try them all catching up though! KALM looks like it's gonna come out any second if not already and I have high hopes for that one!

Adventures of Captain Becky, I can't really say much that hasn't been said. Edit mode is hilarious, and the platforming is surprisingly competent. No problem with buying this for 80 points at all, graphics are nice and sharp too.

A Jumper Robot Adventure is not so good. Jumping is slow and floaty, there's not really any physics or momentum to speak of and it feels awkward and nasty. The game itself borrows heavily from Mario.

Non-platformer stuff:

Castle Ninja is a block pushing game which is basically the same as Summer Vacation and Hunter's Lunch. You have to collect gems which are guarded by cannons which shoot you if you get in their line of sight, to avoid them, push blocks in front of the cannons. Cannons fire very slowly though so half the time it's not even necessary and you can half-complete a puzzle and still beat it. The other games I mentioned are better.

Avatar Man is a maze game where you have to step on every tile on a floor, and avoid other avatars which are running on set paths. So learn their routes, then avoid them. It's alright and it works, but it's hardly compelling. There's a score mechanic whereby stepping on unlit tiles builds a combo which could have made searching out more efficient routes interesting, but the game forces you to step on unlit tiles a lot of the time so it feels pointless trying.

Balloon Boy is based on that topical news event, the balloon boy thing that was in the news recently. No, wait, not recently, almost an entire year ago. You just float and avoid stuff while travelling as far as you can. Collision detection is awful which makes it unplayable. It's impossible to tell whether you're at a safe distance from a hazard.

 

[Liquid Helium]

KALM looks like it's gonna come out any second if not already and I have high hopes for that one!

Just got approved not even an hour ago I got an email saying it'll be on the marketplace within 48 hours, when it does I'll give some free codes out on gaf.
I am hoping to clean up the source code and release that sometime in September, I'm also thinking about doing some free updates with stuff like more levels and enemies and other stuff you guys think could be added, although that will probably depend on how XBLIG deals with updates, so no promises.

 

[Rad-]

Just got approved not even an hour ago I got an email saying it'll be on the marketplace within 48 hours, when it does I'll give some free codes out on gaf.
I am hoping to clean up the source code and release that sometime in September, I'm also thinking about doing some free updates with stuff like more levels and enemies and other stuff you guys think could be added, although that will probably depend on how XBLIG deals with updates, so no promises.

It's up.

 

[Liquid Helium]

It's up.

Nice


Here are some codes for you gaffers to get it for free

B768P-B6P3F-34RPF-Q8PQX-Q82WW
GM3X8-DD2C7-926PP-6V2FQ-YPDTB
TB3M2-439PM-WW369-8H28P-4CDTD
J8G3J-WMC9X-RGRV9-PR6HM-3VJCT
K8HP9-GQMJD-GDH6K-6DV38-VW2W8

For those of you who don't know: KALM is a game I made over the past couple of months, the aim was to create multiple short metroid-vania style levels while having platforming and shooting elements. I don't know if I succeeded on that goal but I guess you guys will be the judge of that. I am just a student programmer so don't expect anything other than 'programmer art' and royalty free music :lol . I will be releasing the source code soon and hopefully (but maybe not) putting out some updates with more levels and the such. So yeah, tell me what you guys think of the game.

Also, on a side note, does anyone else who has published an indie game knows what happens to the money I made off of my game if I haven't put my bank details in yet? My bank isn't open until tuesday


Edit: Gameplay video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWCwXSM78Kk

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Well whoops kind of at a loss on where to go next in Sword of Rapier.
I reached the end of these ice caverns expecting a boss or something and nope..just a big empty room.

I guess I'm missing something here but between the story being in Japanese and no real indicator on where to go next I'm feeling a bit stuck. I guess I'll go wander the old areas. At least I'm level ridiculous so it won't take long to run through them.

It's fun stuff even though I'm starting to level too quickly and feel kind of overpowered. Plus my explosion spell pretty much one/two-shots tons of stuff.

 

[Spyn Doctor]

Also, on a side note, does anyone else who has published an indie game knows what happens to the money I made off of my game if I haven't put my bank details in yet? My bank isn't open until tuesday

It just accumulates in your account, waiting there patiently until you finally get around to entering your bank details. It will then be paid out with the next quarterly payments. If you have exceeded the $150 minimum that is. Otherwise it will continue to sit and (hopefully) accumulated until the minimum is reached in a later quarter.

Doc

 

[Liquid Helium]

It just accumulates in your account, waiting there patiently until you finally get around to entering your bank details. It will then be paid out with the next quarterly payments. If you have exceeded the $150 minimum that is. Otherwise it will continue to sit and (hopefully) accumulated until the minimum is reached in a later quarter.

Doc

Ah, thanks a bunch. That's a load off of my mind.

 

[toythatkills]

I hope the people that took the KALM codes will be back with impressions later

KALM has the same problem that most XBLIG platformers have, the jumping doesn't feel very nice, it's a bit too fast. By no means the worst though and if you can get past that, the level design is pretty nice (and the trial is generous) and has tons of potential. The double jump makes the jumping a biiit smoother.

Codex is a pretty decent puzzle game. You have a 4x4 grid of tiles and you have to match a pattern by sliding them. Sliding a line knocks a tile off the end and you control that tile. It adds in blocks that can't be moved and stuff to keep things interesting, and there are pretty harsh caps on the numbers of moves you can make so you really need to think about what you're doing. Liked it.

Avatar Grand Prix is nice, seems hard though. The second track in particular looks fantastic and has all kind of IP theft going on. Anyway, just a racing game really but it lets you qualify, which is nice. The BIG problem is that the drift controls don't work very well. The idea is to hold the brake button when you've got speed around corners and if you hold it, you get a boost. If you don't have enough speed you don't drift and you stop, and if you drift too long you slow down and also stop. Absolutely needed to be on a different button or require a tap to operate. Quite fun driving around otherwise but you probably won't win without mastering the boost.

Avatar Slam Dunk has two modes, the main slamdunk mode is a rubbish QTE game with really lax timing requirements so you'll never miss. Shooting mode is basically this but with avatars and is quite good, most importantly it feels right when you shoot.

Akimbo Paddles sings a troll huntin' song. It's kind of like volleyball but you control both sides with the analogue sticks. Balls bounce in and you have to keep them alive as long as possible. Physics and collision detection are all wrong and the game suffers.

Astro Taxi 2 is 2D Crazy Taxi (sans time limit) crossed with Lander crossed with something that looks a bit rubbish. It does what it wants to do, I suppose, it just doesn't make me want to play it very much.

Avatar Cash Dash is just a mini-game from Mario Party or something. You collect coins while other players collect coins and see who gets the most coins. Not much game.

BLASTER AND MORIONブラスターアンドモリオン is a game where enemies try to knock you off of the platform while you shoot them and collect gems. Hilarious running animation, ineffectual weapons. You'll give up shooting pretty soon and just try to run to the gems/checkpoints and it's pointless.

Escapism is another ball dropping (shush) puzzle game which has gimmicks but literally nothing that makes it feel different or in any way interesting. It pretends to be some kind of art statement but is astonishingly ugly.

 

[qupe1975]

I hope the people that took the KALM codes will be back with impressions later


Codex is a pretty decent puzzle game. You have a 4x4 grid of tiles and you have to match a pattern by sliding them. Sliding a line knocks a tile off the end and you control that tile. It adds in blocks that can't be moved and stuff to keep things interesting, and there are pretty harsh caps on the numbers of moves you can make so you really need to think about what you're doing. Liked it.

And the harder puzzles move on to 5x5 boards. I liked it too. Shame it's getting low scores so fa

 

[toythatkills]

And the harder puzzles move on to 5x5 boards. I liked it too. Shame it's getting low scores so fa

Yeah, weird. I'm not sure what people must've been expecting when they downloaded it!

Gravitron X is excellent.

Extreme Ball is not. It's just weird. You move a ball left and right along a moving platform and avoid obstacles until you get to the end which is very close by. You can complete the entire game in about 90 seconds, if you play that long.

Fork Lift is Doodle Jump but you don't have to jump on the platforms, just near them, and it's impossible to judge whether or not the game is going to count where you are as a platform or not. Bad game.

Meep is Doodle Jump but sometimes it puts you in situations where it's literally impossible to advance so is totally rubbish.

G! I'm not really sure about because the trial doesn't really let you be. It only lets you play normal mode which is far too easy to the point where I suspect the game will go on forever. Harder difficulties are locked. You move a craft around and collect green things to get more mass and more points. Hitting red things destroys a bit of mass but not nearly enough to kill you EVER. So, might be good when it's harder, or might still be too easy, I've got no idea. Looks nice though, and the gravity effects are neat.

Hideout! looks nice as well and has cool presentation. You control a box and you have to rescue people by pressing A and stopping when an alien ship is nearby (so they don't know you're there!) The first six or so levels don't actually increase in difficulty, this could be a problem as the game goes on.

Jet Pack Wars is the next nice looking game but I couldn't play it. It was so fast, impossible to work out where you were being attacked from, and impossible to work out if your shots were hitting the enemy. Controls are so twitchy that it's really difficult to aim precisely. Also, pretty much online only and I've no idea how easy it'll be to find games of this ever.

King Spray is, bizarrely, one of the best looking Indie Games available. It looks excellent. It's not a game, though, it's just a grafitti simulator (I guess.) I was about to write it off as MSPaint with cumbersome controls but actually, the effects you can get from it are awesome, and if you put some effort in you'll create some excellent stuff - I dunno what you'd do with it then though.

Little Green Men is Lemmings. The moves are all from Lemmings, the mechanics are all from Lemmings, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that the levels were just skinned Lemmings levels.

Perplaxis is like Hexic with squares. You rotate balls to try and match six. It's too slow to get going and the trial doesn't let you see much more than that. There are also a load of unnecessary power-ups and special moves shoehorned in which don't really add anything - aside from the "press A" one.

 

[mujun]

Anyone know what was updated in Avaglide?

 

[Kafel]

the boxart ?

 

[DancingJesus]

Thanks for the thread. The OP is very informative.