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[IzzyReggie]

Also it's an actual indie game, ie. one that couldn't have been made by a studio.

lol why not

I was going to ask the same question. I think because studios are only capable of making first or third person shooters?

Anyways, I played this game for a bit, got frustrated with a puzzle on like level 6 or so (I played last night), and gave up. I liked the mechanics and graphics, but wasn't feeling the puzzle design very much. Someone earlier said it felt like it relied too much  on brute forcing it, and I feel the same way. Most of the time I was spinning the perspective randomly, hoping for a solution to become apparent.

Also, some of the platforming bits were difficult because I kept falling short of jumps I felt like I should have been able to make. The character is too heavy 

[unsilentwill]

All right, "wouldn't" have been made by a studio. It's not about capability. Why would you make a game that you know could already (is already being/)be made? I know it's hard to argue about the past but a large studio accepting the early Fez pitch would probably have wanted enemies, bosses, style changes, who knows.

The trend of remakes and demakes by large studios shows that yes companies will make "indie looking games" but only after learning there's a trend and money, and even then they will ad hear to a rigid formula or by copying a popular indie mechanic and style and selling it cheaper.

[Shackhal]

I don't know why everybody keep discussing about Fez and Sky Island. Fez is just a game very polished with a unique gameplay mechanics and lovely graphics. The costumers (or gamers/players) don't care how much time was developed. When released, if is fun, they'll play it. If don't, well...that another story. That's all.

And i am sure that in the future, after Fez is released and if is successful, a lot of "clones" will try to take the market with similar or even better mechanics. Need examples? A lot of them:

• Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM - Heretic, Rise of the Triad, Dark Forces, Duke Nukem 3D, etc...
• Super Mario Bros - Bubble Bobble, Adventure Island, Gremlins, Sonic The Hedgehog, etc...
• Space Invaders - Galaxian, Robotron 2084, Defender, Xevious, etc...
• Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty - Warcraft, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, Starcraft, etc...
• And more...

And Sky Island is one of them. A "first clone one" released before the "original one". Even if Fez could be superior (i can't affirm it because i didn't play it. And is not released yet), Sky Island have some similar gameplay mechanics and is enjoyable to some extend. An acceptable "Fez clone" and one of the first...hmmm...let's call it 2/3D Platform Games.

[Painting]

Why would you make a game that you know could already (is already being/)be made?

Because this is an indie games forum for making the making the games you want to make. Who are you to say what's okay and what's not?

[harkme]

This is partially why I do not reveal what I am doing unless I am absolutely sure I will finish very soon. I haven't made anything mind-blowing yet, but I'm hoping my next project will make waves (hee hee). At the same time, without the proper build-up, there may not be the proper amount of hype to get noticed. In the case of Fez, social links to the community are far stronger than being the first to release, as can be observed by the defence that the game receives in this topic. Because of that, I do not think the creators of Fez have anything to worry about.

Although I highly value originality, I will say that Sky Island released in a timely matter. Say what you will about it "not being as good as Fez" but Sky Island is an actual product, while Fez is not. I'm sure Fez will be more polished and all that on release, but for now, Sky Island is what is available to the public. Who knows, maybe it'll get more interested in Fez.

[Alevice]

I feel like bumpin this is relevant. WIthout tryng to antagonize, how does this game compare to fez? I mean feature wise and shit.

[Christian Knudsen]

It doesn't at all, really. The two games share a core mechanic, but that's it. Sky Island is a simple one level at a time flash game, whereas Fez is a huge world with it's own mythology and inventive gameplay that ends up reaching beyond the game itself. It's like comparing a light snack to a 7 course gourmet dinner -- there's salad and bread in both, but the differences are much greater than the similarities.

[FK in the Coffee]

Not at all.  Fez is spectacular.  It's an amazing intellectual challenge, and it's aesthetically stunning.  You simply can't compare the two, as they're on completely different echelons of quality.

[kiwicode]

C'mon guys! We can't really compare the two games - they are on two different weight classes!

As creator of Sky Island I'm pretty sure I'll give this 2D/3D twist mechanic another try at some point. The 2D/3D thing is going to be a new game genre which has a lot of potential and still has to be deeply explored.

Guys at Polytron Corp. did an extremely great job to start all this.

[NemoDev]

This was one of the better flash games I've played (although admittedly I stopped playing them a long time ago). Really enjoyed it myself, definitely not a waste of your time or talent!

[st33d]

How long till the dino-smash-em-up? That was looking fairly sweet.

[kiwicode]

This was one of the better flash games I've played (although admittedly I stopped playing them a long time ago). Really enjoyed it myself, definitely not a waste of your time or talent!

Great thanks NemoDev!

How long till the dino-smash-em-up? That was looking fairly sweet.

Going to release it this Thursday.

[Udderdude]

This game is pretty cool and well-done, however I have a few issues with the graphics.

One is that when you click and hold down the mouse w/o moving, the graphics switch from 2D to 3D and it gets kind of distorted.  IMO the 3D transition should only start when the player starts moving the mouse while it's held down.

In some instances, some textures were overlapping and popping through eachother, and it just looked like a glitch.

Also, everyone who posted in this thread for the sole reason of yelling "ZOMG HE STOLE TEH FEZ", or even "FEZ is so much more superior blah blah" deserves a nice long forum vacation.  Not only is it flat out wrong, since the perspective switch thing has been done in other games before, but the two games are both going for something entirely different anyway.  FEZ is more like a platformer with Myst-like puzzles and gameplay, and Sky Island is more like a traditional platformer with enemies and consequences for failure.  One is not inherently better than the other.

[dota_mtdew]

One is not inherently better than the other.

fez is just regular better

[Christian Knudsen]

Also, everyone who posted in this thread for the sole reason of yelling "ZOMG HE STOLE TEH FEZ", or even "FEZ is so much more superior blah blah" deserves a nice long forum vacation.

Somebody specifically asked how this game compares to Fez. I and another poster answered that question. Quit making a big deal of it.

[ANtY]

One is not inherently better than the other.

fez is just regular better

Nope, simple reason: I played this and I can't play fez. 

[Manuel Magalhães]

I don't get why some people jump into this guy for copying a mechanic from FEZ. I find stupid when people say "Instead of paying for FEZ play this.", since the games are different in a design viewpoint, therefore this game isn't ripping off FEZ, even if both games share some characteristics.
Anyway I played it and the puzzles were nicely made, so congrats.

[Alevice]

I fucking meant feature wise assholes

[Manuel Magalhães]

I wasn't speaking of you, since you didn't criticized Sky Island's developer for ripping off the 3D mechanic
I don't know what you mean by "feature", do you meant the amount of stuff to do? If so, FEZ has a lot more (In FEZ you've a lot of hidden puzzles and areas to find, while SI is a linear puzzle game.)