Oct 7, 2009

Independence – Part 3

Categories: PC / Mac

independence

XBLA, PSN, and WiiWare sing a similar refrain; sell affordable, addictive, relatively small in storage size, fun games that people won’t be afraid to invest in. Let’s face it, we will definitely hesitate when choosing which full priced retail game we want to buy. Most of us would be less hesitant on a game that made a smaller footprint in our wallets. This is how indie games found a new and welcome home amongst the consoles that grace our living rooms, giving us a low pressure and convenient shopping experience.

We love the awe insipiring warm hues and invitingly pleasant themes of some games, but we also like to take an occasional stroll down the path less traveled in coarse, dark, surreal games. These are the ones that find beauty in ugliness; triumph in the most unsettling of settings.

Downfall by Harvester Games

Downfall

Downfall is a prime example of the darker side of beauty. All of the environments and backgrounds are hand drawn with a sense of how gritty and dingy life can be. You don’t see too many developers willing to expend the effort it takes to create such a stylish and twisted game such as this. While the game is designed to appeal to the more serious gamers this is in no way an eye candy gore fest like more traditional horror titles. This game is meant to intrigue you mentally and visually and it absolutely accomplishes just that.

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This one is only available at http://www.harvesterindiegames.com/

The Farm by Benedict Webb

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Yet another brilliantly hand drawn masterpiece. This games seeps character right from the very pixels lines in your monitor. You may also notice that there is an almost indefinable union of high resolution images with hand drawn art which gives each scene an added sense of authenticity. Set in an alternate universe where it is illegal to be obese, this is the classic game of developing your character from a nameless individual into an underestimated hero.

the farm

Available for PC and completely free to download here http://www.benedictwebb.com/

Amanita Design

A Czech independent game development studio founded in 2003. Their games are simply gorgeous. They have a series of point and click adventures that meld real images with incredibly well done animations and environments. This group seems to be brimming with so much talent that when you see something cheesy or seemingly amateurish, it makes me feel as if these things were deliberate. This is the same feeling that I get when I look at masterpiece paintings. I truly believe that Amanita Design is destined for greatness.

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Make sure to head over to http://www.amanitadesign.com/ and try out their many free games. You will be pleasantly surprised at the imagery as well as the detail to level design.

World of Goo by 2d Boy

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This game may not fit this articles exact theme, but it is just too big not to mention. World of Goo is by far an achievement for all independent dev houses everywhere. Not only has this game won numerous awards for inventive and inspiring design, but it was put together by two gentlemen who spent countless hours in wifi enabled cafés and $10,000 of their savings in order to develop it. This game has become a milestone in bringing independent gaming into the limelight with its release on Nintendo’s WiiWare where it received a very warm reception and excellent sales figures. In July of this year, one of the creators went on record to say, “It’s been about 8 months since we released World of Goo, and our heads are still spinning… WiiWare is responsible for about 60% of revenue.” I bet we can expect many more independent triumphs such as this one in the future. Once an idea is accepted and brought into a lucrative position, by the consumer, game companies regularly try to recreate the magic with similar ideas.

Find out more on World of Goo and 2D Boy at http://2dboy.com/

Here at LevelSelect we feel that indie game developers just don’t get the attention that they deserve. These are people who are taking huge amounts of their spare time and spare money to create a game that is labor of love. All too often these games are released and we never hear anything about them. There are a few of these games that gain so much momentum that their own critical acclaim becomes their only marketing and the only means they have of spreading much needed knowledge of their product.

We have been a huge fan of indie games for some time now, not just because many of them are free to try but also that they consistently show us how gorgeous and ingenious games can be.

Even though this completes a trilogy of Independence articles it does not end with this. We will continue to bring you the beauty of independence in many different realizations of the sense and we urge you to support the indie scene. Go out and download one of these games today.