Zukalous

I really like the discussion about these smaller "walking simulator" games like Dr. Langeskov. I feel like indie games lately have grown too fussy and concerned with high-fidelity (such as the Witness and Mushroom 11). I kind of like games that don't have a long development time, are half-baked and are just ready for download. The whole draw of indie is to be risky, kinda rough around the edges and avant garde.

Arachnophobia is really interesting in gaming. That ios game Spider has a non-spider mode funny enough. I have also read of skyrim mods that swap out all spider models. If you are a game dev, don't add spiders.

Ok I know this is going to be a hard sell but stick with me... This is one of the most eye opening, enlightening talks I have ever watched. It is all about how to develop games for casual gamers. What is cool is it treats those players (mostly women) with respect and complexity. You see the motivations and what drives casual gamers. What you realize is that they are not just mindless people who buy whatever, they are really discerning, spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on games. Also they really keep an eye out for games with the best graphics. It is a real interesting look at the other side. Most interesting fact is how much whether or not spiders are in the game affect its popularity. I though it was so funny I browsed the big fish forums and there are whole threads dedicated to which games do or do not have spiders. Also look at app-store reviews of hidden object games with spiders in them - they instantly get 1 star reviews with people complaining about them.

Wow sounds like a great variant. It's like game mods but programmed through gentleman's (or women's) agreements.

About making up your own rules to games... my friend and I played so much SNES Mario Kart that we made variants. You could only move clockwise around the battle arena. You could only fire green shells. Eventually we figured out that if you stand still and your friend shoots a red shell while moving at full speed, you can get the red shell to orbit the standing-still guy. Man we had a lot of free time.

I think this is across media. If you look at indie book publishing they often use the same tactic. I am actually going to try it in some games that I have in the works for mobile and steam.

Did you see Dan Cook talk about Road Not Taken during Beat the Dev: http://www.twitch.tv/beatthedev/v/27715286 It was kind of a downer. Like as he was playing he realized none of the game made much sense. I feel like he put too much emphasis on trying to get game design principles to tell this story and nobody got it and it was too hard to play. Really love the Spryfox guys but sometimes I feel they overthink things

Back when I was 13 I played soo much of the Wolfenstein 3D demo I finally said I am going to buy the full version. So I mailed in my money ($20-$30 I think) and got the disks shipped to me. I played through Episode 2 of the game and then my friend brought over the Doom shareware demo disk. I never played Wofenstein again.

I am working on a game-a-month project. I would really like to get your feedback on my March Game. You can play it here: http://returntoadventuremountain.itch.io/pixelartshooter The game is a picross-style make-a-picture as fast as possible game.

City Tuesday By: Me! (Chris Zukowski) Available: Xbox Live Indie games Synopsis: 2D platforming game where you relive the last 5 minutes before a terrorist attack (Groundhog Day style) http://www.youtube.c...ed/Zi3TnXqXbj8

With every ARG, I always wonder how many ARGs have actually failed. What happens when a game's fans aren't smart enough to decode the clues or no one cares. If an ARG fails does the company responsible just pretend it didn't exist and just do a traditional press release? Or would they just try and drop obvious hints?

I just booked tickets to go to my first GDC. Are any other Idles out there who want to meetup and talk about Far Cry 2?

I agree, I played so much PJ Monsters that Pixel Junk Logo burned in to the bottom of my screen.

Ya this game is worse than Banjo-kazooie 64 on the collectibles. At least in B-K each gadget and gizmo didn't have a weight. I noticed you put the collectible in spoiler tags. I wouldn't have minded having a list when I started this game that said "FYI: Save all pre-war books, scrap meta, etc... for later you will need them."

What do you all collect that is not necessary to any game quest? I have at least 75 baseballs and 25 toy cars stored back at the house that I will probably assemble into some virtual art installation.