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[Guert]

(Part of TIGSource's Guide to Indie Gaming. )

Hello everyone!

I recently noticed that of a lot of people are starting to play indie games but don't necessarily know where to start. So, I decided to make a list of games that the new comers could look at to find indie games.

I see this thread more like a list of games that "introduces to indie games" rather than top favorites or personal pics. A bit like the tool thread in the "Developer" section where you find useful links to interesting tools

I didn't categorize the game so that, if you don't know what a game is, you'll just have to try it out!

(There are currently 107 games in the list)
Please report any broken or erroneous links. If you feel that some games should be added or removed, go ahead, tell me!

Games

#
5 Days a Stranger (Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw, PC)
6 Days A Sacrifice (Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw, PC)
7 Days a Skeptic (Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw, PC)

A
Akuji the Demon (E. Hashimoto, PC)
Alex adventure (Szybiak, PC)
Alien Hominid (The Behemoth, Web-Other)
Anchorhead (Michael S. Gentry, PC-Mac-Lin-Other)
Apricots (Mark Harman, PC-Lin)
Armadillo run (Peter Stock, PC)
Ark 22 (David Smithson, PC)
Aveyond (Amaranth Games, PC)

B
Battle for Wesnoth, The (Collective, PC-Mac)
Big Adventure of Owata's Life, The (To be determined, Web)
Blockland (Step 1 games, PC-Mac)
Blocksum (Infotech, PC)
Blurred Line, A (Lysander86, PC)
Bridge Builder (Chronic logic, PC)
Bubble thing (Queasy games, PC-Mac-Lin)

C
Castle of Elite (Remar, PC)
Cave Story (Pixel, PC)
Chalk (Joakim Sandberg, PC)
Chocolate Castle (Lexaloffle, PC-Mac)
Cholo (Ovine by Design, PC)
Clean Asia (cactus, PC)
Cloud (Student Collective, PC)
Cortex Command (Data Realms, PC)
Crayon Physics (Petri Purho, PC)
Crossing, The (Orisinal, Web)
Cute Knight (Hanako Games, PC)

D
Darwinia (Introversion, PC-Mac-Lin)
De Blob (Collective, PC)
Death Worm (JTR, PC)
Defcon (Introversion, PC-Mac-Lin)
Democracy (Positech, PC)
Diver Down (Grenideer, PC)
DoomRL (Kornel Kisielewicz, PC-Lin-Other)
Dwarf Fortress (Bay 12 games, PC)

E
Echoes (Binary Zoo, PC)
Eets (Klei Entertainment, PC-Other)
Endless Forest (Tale of tales, PC)
Eternal Daughter (Blackeye Software, PC)

F
Façade (Procedural Arts, PC)
Fedora Spade (Radical Poesis Games, PC)
FlapFlapFlap (Lackey, PC)
flOw (thatgamecompany, Web)
Fraxy (Mon, PC)

G
Galatea (Emily Short, PC-Mac-Lin-Web-Other)
Gamma Bros. (Pixel Jam, Web)
Geshundheit (Matt Hammill, PC)
Gish (Chronic Logic, PC-Mac-Lin)
Glest (Collective, PC)
Grid Wars (Marco Incitti, PC-Mac-Lin)
Grow (v0.3) (Eyezmaze, Web)
Guardian of Paradise (E. 'Buster' Hashimoto , PC)
Gunroar (ABA games, PC)

H
Hakaiman (Ikiki, PC)

I
Immortal Defense (Radical Poesis Games, PC)
Infinity String, The (Sektor 13, PC)

K
Kudos (Positech, PC)
Kudos: Rock legend (Positech, PC)
Knytt (Nifflas, PC)

L
La Mulana (GR3, PC)
Liero (Joosa Riekkinen, PC)
Lugaru (Wolfire Games, PC-Mac-Lin)
Lyle in the Cube Sector (Bogo, PC)

M
Masq (Alteraction, PC)
Missing (Radical poesis games, PC)
Motocross Challenge (DHG Games, Other)
Mr. Blocko (Perfect Run, PC)
Mr. Robot (Moonpod, PC)
Mutant Storm (Pom Pom Games, PC-Mac-Lin-other)

N
N (Metanet Software, Web)
Ninkujin (Ikiki, PC)
No-Action Jackson (Britton O'Toole, PC)
Noitu Love & the Army of Grinning Darns (Joakim Sandberg, PC)
Notrium (Monkkonen, PC-Lin)

O
Oasis (Mind Control software, PC)
Outpost Kaloki (Ninja Bee, PC)

P
Peacemaker (Impact Games, PC-Mac)
Penumbra (Frictional Games, PC)
Photopia (Adam Cadre, PC)
Poyo (Avalanche Studios, PC)
Punishment (Messhoff, PC)

R
Rameses (Stephen Bond)
Retrobattle (Daniel Remar, PC)
rRootage (ABA Games (Kenta Cho), PC)

S
Samorost (Amanita design, Web)
Samorost 2 (Amanita design, Web-PC-Mac-Lin)
Seiklus (Clysm, PC)
Shiva, The (Dave Gilbert, PC)
Shoot the Bullet (Team Shanghai Alice, PC) [demo link anyone?]
Spider and Web (Andrew Plotkin, PC-Mac-Lin-Other)
Stair Dismount (Jetro Lauha, PC)
Starscape (Moonpod, PC)
Sumotori Dreams (Archee83, PC)
Sunset Over Imdahl (H3Who, PC)
Sword of Jade (Radical Poesis Games, PC)

T
Tale in the Desert, A (eGenesis, PC-Mac-Lin)
Toribash (Hampa, PC-Mac-Lin)
Trilby's Notes (Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw, PC)
Truck Dismount (Jetro Lauha, PC)
Tumiki Fighters (ABA games, PC)

U
Uplink (Introversion, PC-Mac-Lin)

V
Varicella (Adam cadre, PC)
Veck (Smayds, PC)

W
Warning Forever (Hikoza'n Chi, PC)
Weaponed Head (Collective, PC)
Within A Deep Forest (Nifflas' Games, PC)

Non-PC List

A
Alien Hominid (The Behemoth, Web-Other)
Anchorhead (Michael S. Gentry, PC-Mac-Lin-Other)
Apricots (Mark Harman, PC-Lin)

B
Battle for Wesnoth, The (Collective, PC-Mac)
Big Adventure of Owata's Life, The (To be determined, Web)
Blockland (Step 1 games, PC-Mac)
Bubble thing (Queasy games, PC-Mac-Lin)

C
Chocolate Castle (Lexaloffle, PC-Mac)
Crossing, the (Orisinal games, Web)

D
Darwinia (Introversion, PC-Mac-Lin)
Defcon (Introversion, PC-Mac-Lin)
DoomRL (Kornel Kisielewicz, PC-Lin-Other)

E
Eets (Klei entertainment, PC-Other)

F
flOw (Jenova Chen, Web)

G
Galatea (Emily Short, PC-Mac-Lin-Web-Other)
Gamma Bros. (Pixel Jam, Web)
Gish (Chronic logic, PC-Mac-Lin)
Grid wars (Marco Incitti, PC-Mac-Lin)
Grow (v0.3) (Eyezmaze, Web)

L
Lugaru (Wolfire Games, PC-Mac-Lin)

M
Mutant storm (Pom Pom Games, PC-Mac-Lin-other)

N
N (Metanet software, Web)
Notrium (Monkkonen, PC-Lin)

P
Peacemaker (Impact Games, PC-Mac)

S
Samorost (Amanita Design, Web)
Samorost 2 (Amanita Design, Web-PC-Mac-Lin)
Spider and Web (Andrew Plotkin, PC-Mac-Lin-Other)

T
Tale in the desert, A (eGenesis, PC-Mac-Lin)
Toribash (Hampa, PC-Mac-Lin)

U
Uplink (Introversion, PC-Mac-Lin)

[Derek]

Guert, that's great that you're making this post, because I've actually been gestating a feature that is basically this very topic.  What I had in mind was essentially a combination of "The Spirit of Independent Gaming" and some parts of the "Thoughts" discussion, plus a list of the canonical indie games, plus a little bit about the history of indie gaming, plus some editorials on where we're headed for the future.

If you wouldn't mind, could we make this a thread a place to discuss said feature and have people contribute to it?  Community effort?

Does a feature about this sound good to people in the first place?

P.S. Regarding games, Cave Story should be there, considering that every indie game ever made has ripped it off.

[Guert]

Good idea!
Let's discuss then!

We definitivly need to add cave story to the list! 

[Paul Eres]

My list of which I think should also be considered for the "canon" list:
- Warning Forever
- Clean Asia
- Veck
- Fraxy
- N
- Toribash
- Seiklus
- La Mulana
- Echoes
- The Shivah
- Blocksum
- Kyntt
- Uplink
- Chocolate Castle
- Shoot the Bullet
- Democracy
- Kudos
- Cute Knight
- Aveyond

Okay, that may be too much, but I do think that people new to indie games would probably enjoy most or all of those games.

Drawf Fortress probably also deserves a mention from what I know about it, although I haven't had time to try it out yet. I also haven't tried Lyle or Within a Deep Forest, but I've heard those are great too.

[Guert]

I'm gonna be a bit of a bastard here but, I'm thinking that we should also tell why we choose the game to put on the list. If we do it all together I think it'll be quite interesting. We'll know why we like the games we like and see how others see the same subject. 

A game I really like (and also mentionned in rinkuheroe's list) is Knytt(http://nifflas.ni2.se/). Very simple and charming, Knitt isn't only about the story of our avatar looking for ship parts; it's also dozens of different stories that are not told but shown while exploring the land. I remember the part where a lone woman waits for her love on the other side of an uncrossable lake or an underground village living in the dark. Nothing is told about these characters but we still understand where they come from and what they're doing just by watching them... The mood and representation of the game fits the pace of the action and offers a good challenge without becoming too hard. This is the kind of game that anyone can pick up and finish. 

[Paul Eres]

I think saying why we like those games is a great idea, but it'd take time for me since my list is so big. I'll do it a few at a time.

[Keops]

Is a well known, classic open-source game such as Battle for Wesnoth considered indie? XD I feel stupid asking this question, as I'm almost sure that the answer is YES. If so, you need to add it there

[Paul Eres]

I would, it only had a small team and no funding (as far as I know), so it's not really a borderline case the way, say, Dofus is.

[Paul Eres]

Okay, first one. I'll replay each game a bit to remind me why I like each.

I like Warning Forever because of the feeling of going up against an unbeatable enemy which starts out simple, but when it's destroyed it revives, stronger than before, continuously, and how it returns -- the new weapons and parts it returns with -- depends on how you killed it last time. The name was a great choice too, warning, forever. There's something very eerie about the idea of the game. I don't know if it actually has an ending or not, but I hope not. I also love the aiming system, although it takes some getting used to it works extremely well.

-
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_Forever
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N16IWf5qjAQ

[Alex May]

Great topic and Warning Forever is definitely canon  Great game

[Paul Eres]

Now for Kyntt! I think this game does atmosphere (by which I mean creating maps which have an emotional tone or color) better than any indie game I've played, even Seiklus (which the game borrowed a lot from). And the variety of those tones was pretty good -- ancient castles, dark tunnels, jumping in the sky, there was a pretty huge variety of strongly atmospheric maps for such a short game. And I do think it was too short, but it was definitely worth the hour or two it took to get through it.

Also, this might sound strange, but I like how fast the character moved. In most platformers the movement of the character is extremely slow, Knytt and 'N' and Sonic the Hedgehog and a few others are the exceptions. It only takes about a second to walk from one side of the screen to the other in Knytt, even though you're extremely tiny in comparison to the size of each screen. By comparison, you probably walk around ten times as fast as you do in Seiklus.

Not that you'd always want to do that, I'd often stop to look around, but I think the speed of the character's movement made it clear that when you stopped to look around it was a conscious choice, because you couldn't just traverse the maps at full speed at the same time and enjoy the scenery at the same time, so I think (consciously or unconsciously on the developer's part) how fast the character was highlighted the 'stop and look around' point of the game.




- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIJj5By472Q
- http://nifflas.ni2.se/index.php?main=02Knytt&sub=02Pictures&shot=1

[Alec]

I really liked how Knytt somehow had emotion through simple animations and atmospheric sound/music. The part with the spider is super freaky, and there's something moving about all the little creatures that are living in the world. I started reading a lot into what the main character would be feeling upon meeting each character. Feeling joy to finally see another living being, but not being able to communicate, etc.

The whole place feels alive - but lonely, like every creature is on their own. Things are strangely detached from each other. Its as if your character is the only one that's been able to notice this as well. That feeling gets enhanced by the lack of character dialog.

[lowpoly]

Within A Deep Forest without question.

Also, I shill like fuck for it, but Mutant Storm got me into indie gaming. Furthermore, I think PomPom is a good example of a small shop blowing up, for any inspiring dev.

[Kon-Tiki]

These haven't been mentioned yet, but should've been:

Action
Chalk
Mr. Blocko
De Blob
Weaponed Head

Adventure games
The Infinity String
Fedora Spade
No-Action Jackson
Missing

Platformers
Akuji the Demon
Noitu Love & the Army of Grinning Darns

RPG
Ark 22
Guardian of Paradise
Sunset over Imdahl


Personally, I though Knytt was OK, and did enjoy playing it, especially due to its atmosphere, but it was lacking life in and interactivity with the game world, which was a bit of a downer.

[Derek]

Great ideas, guys!

Definitely what I'm looking for are games that typify a genre, especially genres that you don't see in mainstream gaming anymore, or are handled better by indies.  I also want to feature games that are extremely polished all the way though.  The games where everything fits perfectly to create a coherent vision.  Diversity is good, too.

In the end, a lot of good games are not going to make this feature, just because it's supposed to introduce people who are not familiar with the community.  Once they're in, they can explore to their heart's content and I'll have a link to this thread where they can check out all the games suggested (and also see how the feature was put together).

Here's a really rough idea of one way we could structure the article, based on what I've heard so far.  It needs a lot of work and I'm not sure whether separating by genre is the best idea.

Platformers:
Cave Story
Gish (mention Loco Roco perhaps?)
N
(Developer Spotlight on Nifflas)

Shmups:
(Include a link to our doujin shmups article.)
Warning Forever
Echoes
Veck
(Developer Spotlight on Kenta Cho and cactus also?)

Puzzle Games:
Chocolate Castle
Blocksum

Adventure Games:
(Mention Adventure Game Studio.  God, there are so many adventure games out there, it'll be hard to just do one or three.  Any that really, absolutely stand heads and shoulders above the rest, or are super unique?  The Shivah?)

Interactive Fiction:
(Despite my saying for a long time that I want to get into the genre, I still know nothing about IF. )

Roguelikes:
(Throw in a mention for Nethack and Angband and ADOM, but they probably won't have their own sections.  Link to Rogue Temple.)
Dwarf Fortress
DoomRL

Unique:
Toribash

Remakes:
(Should probably get the Retro Remakes guys to write a little something here about the remakes scene.)

Need something about Introversion.

Also want to mention Tom Fulp and Newgrounds and the Behemoth somewhere.  Shit, this is going to be a huge article.  I'm going to have to figure out how to make it relatively compact...

Feel like I'm missing a lot, though.  Which is why this thread is great!  Need to piece it all together...