An indie game that might surprise you...

[wolf]

Check out this little indie game called Mount & Blade (http://www.taleworlds.com/), it's a 3rd person perspective RPG where you get to ride horses in combat, recruit troops if you want to, fight with one and two handed swords, bows... you can only advance as far as level 6 in the shareware version but you can pay to unlock the rest... gfx are rudimentary but the gameplay is a lot of fun, and that's all I care about these days. It's basically a freeform game where you can go where you want, do what you want, and the combat engine is really well done. Takes a bit of getting used to, but the payoff is worth it.

Since this is the non-DL section of this forum and so many of you seem to have had it with this game's flaws, I thought I'd recommend this game since I've had so much enjoyment out of it and its developers have taken a lot of care over it... I promise I am not a troll or a spammer, I'm just passing on a recommendation that was given to me that turned out to be worth investigating.

Cheers

[Elvisman2001]

Taking your advice I went and downloaded this. It does seem to have a lot of promise and is really good considering who made it (2 people as I understand it?). I will be keeping my eye on this one. Nice to see they are releasing modding tools for it as well... that says a lot for me! That could be a decding factor for me buying a game a lot fo times (if its going to be mod supported).
I recommend everyone having a look at this as well.

[Super Smurf]

This was mentioned sometime last week in another thread, might have been you Wolf, not sure. Any way, I downloaded it either Wed. or Turs., and I have not been able to stop playing since. This is a great game, the combat system is phenomenal. The graphics might be a bit dated but the gameplay is top notch. I think some of the bigger devs need to start taking notes. I highly recommend this game to anyone that's an action RPG fan, even in it's work in progress form. Riding by enemy infantry and raking them with my sword never seems to get old. :D

[3days]

Totally agree. Great game and I hope it goes somewhere as I get ready to put in my $12. Nice nice game. To bad DL didnt do something similiar and let people work out the bugs before hand at a small price. Great idea for a business model and a lovely game so far.

Zacho

[txa1265]

Another really nice small-dev game is Fate (http://www.playfate.com/) which is a action RPG, with a fun system of skills and reputation, in which you have a cat or dog as your companion.

Get this - it has a JOURNAL!!! ;)

You get up to level 6 for shareware, and pay to unlock for $20.

Mike

[3days]

Thanks for the tip Mike I will have to check that out.
Zacho

[wolf]

I was just checking back here to add my two cents worth about Fate, but you beat me to it, Mike! It's a fun little game, with almost the exact same gameplay mechanics as Diablo (the only major difference being the pet and the whole fishing thing), and it's addictive as ****!

I'm pretty sure that you'll be thinking you got double the game DL is for half the price... yeah I know this kinda sounds like spamming (it's not!) but Fate was really impressive considering it took less than a year to throw together (tool development included!). Give it a shot and give deserving devs your hard earned cash...

[txa1265]

I'm pretty sure that you'll be thinking you got double the game DL is for half the price... yeah I know this kinda sounds like spamming (it's not!) but Fate was really impressive considering it took less than a year to throw together (tool development included!). Give it a shot and give deserving devs your hard earned cash...

It is so true ... and the great thing is you can get a bunch of gameplay for *free* by downloading the demo (25MB in low-res version).

The main dev is an active participant on the forums.

Thing is - read the interviews with Tristan - he knows what the game is and isn't, and the game succeeds pretty well at being what it sets out to be. That is what makes games like Fate or Painkiller or Serious Sam cool - they are not high concept, but they succeed at being what they set out to be.

Mike

[wolf]

I don't work in the gaming industry so I really don't have much of a clue about the business model beyond that which I can surmise from the little I've read about it, but it seems to me that a viable model would be to have a department that works solely on budget titles, where manpower requirements are not huge, where the games are simple but fun and priced so that casual gamers won't be afraid to pick them up.

That way you can aim to make a little money which you can put towards other budget titles or, after a string of budget hits (should you be so lucky) you put it all towards a triple-A title. This is probably terribly idealistic and there are realities which I am unaware of, but it just makes sense to me that developers focus on making the best games ever while at the same time devoting some time to creating software that sells so that they can fund their big game projects. The assumption I am making here is that the resources pumped into a big-budget title are not always recouped.

Like for instance, a team that specialises in FPS games can outsource their skills to architectural firms by creating virtual walk-throughs of proposed projects (I imagine that should be a snap to any experienced developer). Or even devote some time to creating a toolset that is easy and intuitive for architects to use in their projects.

I've also heard of programmers who have left the gaming industry for less glamourous, but equally as lucrative jobs creating software for other industries (minus the 16 hour days and 18-month "crunch" periods), which to me says that diversifying the markets software is being created for is a good idea for any gaming company's bottom line (since that is so important to them). This has to have occurred to someone within the gaming industry, so if anyone reading this has any insights into the current business model, I'd love to hear them.

Fate is being delivered via the web through WildTangent's DRM system (which was, until recently, considered to be Spyware) so it is easy to obtain plus also comes on a CD for an extra ten bucks for those who like to hold their purchases. I wish them all the best, and hope it sells enough copies that we see an addon or a sequel in the future.

[3days]

On the business model idea I was merely thinking how cool it is from an old gamer to be part of the growing up of a game. If DC had done something similiar where they were willing to give Heuristic Park the time needed to finish the game , (which since I am an unbiased fan of CHUK and his work dont believe for a second they did) and and said hey here's the game as is, beta test and give us ten or fifteen bucks I would have jumped at the offer to play the game since I have been waiting for almost a year and the general public and the Hardcore gamers would have known the state of the product in question. 'Blade and Mount' is very simple in graphics, design and is definitely Alpha or even pre Alpha but the feel is great. I believe the same to be true for DL yet the game and the Dev's were never given the chance to succeed only given the chance to fail which totally sucks for them and us. Hopefully DC admits the error and allows for serious continous patching process in order to salvage what I believe to be a potentially great game and a classic. (which Mount and BLade looks to be as well). That was the mindset where I said that. I just consider the idea of a continous beta test and allowing a group of gamers to play to be a novel approach and one that produces a solid grass roots following that will promote and advertise a game for the dev's and ultimately make or break a new game.

Zacho

[Mefi]

Fate is a lot of fun to play.

Mount & Blade is a cracking game.

My hopes for an RPG game from an Indie are in a game provisionally titled Age of Decadence. It's scheduled for an autumn release so keep your eyes open for it. The gfx may not appeal to many, but the lead dev. seems to have a very firm grasp on gameplay and what makes an RPG good to play.

[3days]

Does Age of Decadence have a site to check out? TIA
Zacho

[txa1265]

I haven't heard of that one, but IGN just released a very large (~175MB) bink video from a Russion game called 'Blood Magic', which looked really cool ... at least it seemed to be cool looking, what they showed was mainly graphics and battles, so I have no idea about story.

Mike

[Xyyth]

I downloaded FATE and having some fun with it. It's a well done game for what it is.

[Mefi]

www.rpgcodex.com has the forum where the developer shares his ideas. Going on what he has put out so far it looks like a game which will be enjoyable from a role-play point of view. As I said, if you are looking for 1337 gfx then it probably won't be the game for you.

[Xyyth]

Thank you for that link. I'm more interested in fun gameplay than impressive graphics. Both are nice to have but the gameplay is what keeps me coming back.

[spockperfect]

Yes! This game rules, and is far smoothed out and has less bugs then Dungeon Lords.

I bought it last month and it suprises me more and more with every patch.