Kinda busy here, sorry, but I wanted to point out a few indie games that have caught my eye of late.
First up, Jay from Rampant Coyote has finished his Frayed Knights game! I’ve been following his excellent developer articles on the game for a while now. He used to work here at Wahoo/NinjaBee, but he left shortly after I started, and he’s been working on Frayed Knights for a while. It’s great to see it in finished form, and I wish him much success with the game. I’ve not played the demo yet, but I’m going to make time to do so.
Second, the Humble Bundle guys are at it again. This time, there’s a new twist; you can get the core Frozen Synapse for any price (and it’s a fantastic game, one I highly recommend), but if you beat the average price, you get a handful of other games. It’s a clever marketing ploy, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out.
Third, Muckbeast and his Frogdice team have whipped up a curious game they call Coin ‘n Carry. It looks a bit like Puzzle Pirates to me, and that’s a Good Thing. I’ve not tried this one either, though I intend to when I can make the time, but Muckbeast is putting his time and money into an indie game he believes in, and that’s the heart and soul of the indie movement. It’s worth checking out.
…and yes, I’m busy, at least partially working on my own games and illustrating a book for my mother. The economy and politics aren’t very kind to startup businesses at the moment, so it’s a scary climate, but it’s very satisfying to work in and see others find success in. if you get a minute, please check out the work these guys have been up to.
…and in the meantime, speaking of indies, I still have Storybricks to investigate some more. So many cool things to do, so little time.
Thanks for your recommendations I’ll try to fit a couple of them in.
Tesh, thank you so much for mentioning Coin ‘n Carry. This is our first mass market game, and our first non-RPG so its a big, scary step for us.
As with all our games, we maintain a very close connection to our players and are super receptive to feedback. Anyone who tries out the game, please make heavy use of that FEEDBACK link at the top of every page, and/or join our forums and facebook page. We interact with our players constantly and want to make the game the best it can be.
Thanks again Tesh!
I’ve been playing Coin ‘n Carry on and off for the last month or so, and I’ve been really enjoying it. I’ve played a few of the Facebook games, but it’s hard to compete against people who are willing to play those games for hours on end to level up their character.
With CnC however, it’s great. The only person I’m competing against is myself, unless I decide to go after one or more of the top 10 spots on the leaderboards that each mini-game has.
The best part is that I can do an entire mini-game/crafting session/shop day in ~15 and then go back to whatever it was I took a break from.
I really like Coin n’ Carry. I can play several different kinds of games quickly. The crafting and strategy involved in deciding what to put in the shop is unique and very interesting.
I’ve been really enjoying Frozen Synapse. This isn’t the first time Humble Bundle has done their little “bonus games” trick; I happily took advantage of it last time they did it. This time I already had all of their bonus games, though, so I passed on that. It’s a solid idea, though!