

2005 Independent Game of the Year Awards 137
cyrus_zuo writes "For anyone looking for something different Game Tunnel presents the 2005 Independent Game of the Year awards. Game Tunnel's list of
the Top 10 Independent
Games of the Year covers gaming from a different angle, looking at the
Independent and the Innovative. The awards also include the best of each genre
as well as technical categories. Last year's results are still available."
Google Caches (Score:4, Informative)
2005 Awards [64.233.161.104]
2004 Awards [64.233.161.104]
Re:Google Caches (Score:1)
Talk about reverse advertising! I don't think I'd go with a place that folded so readily!
exciting? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:exciting? (Score:1)
Re:exciting? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, you mean when games were fun?
Re:exciting? (Score:3, Insightful)
Zzzzzzzz...
Everyone crystalizes a certain era of their life (usually early/mid teens) as being the most fun period of time in the history of the universe, to all people, over all time. Of course this is complete B.S. - Like you I had this foolish notion that earlier games were much more original and enjoyable.
Then I booted up MAME, and several other emulators. Boy did I have my rose-coloured memories shattered. The Pitfall of my memory turned out to actually be some trivial,
Re:exciting? (Score:1)
I'm not saying that good games are not made anymore - I just don't have the time to search
Re:exciting? (Score:1)
Sure, there are some games which definitely don't live up to the memories, but then there are a good number that do. I'd much rather play Rampart, Robotron 2084, ToeJam & Earl, ZANAC or the original Legend of Zelda than, say, God of War.
Re:exciting? (Score:2)
That's funny, the games I think of back then that were more original are from the time period $BEFORE_I_WAS_BORN to about age five. I didn't really play many games back then.
Re:exciting? (Score:1)
If you are a fan of turn based strategy, and if you liked previous games like Militray Maddness or Advance Wars, you will probably love Battalion. Best of all its mostly free and multiplayer if you want. At east worth checking out, I was hooked for a few months.
Re: (Score:1)
Didn't take long to die (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Didn't take long to die (Score:2, Interesting)
why do people bother with nyud.net? (Score:2)
Re:why do people bother with nyud.net? (Score:4, Insightful)
But yeah, that is a big practical limitation of Coral because you don't know which sites are going to go down and so you don't know which ones should be linked through Coral!
Re:why do people bother with nyud.net? (Score:4, Interesting)
Enemy Territory (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Enemy Territory (Score:4, Informative)
Aside from being released almost three years ago (hey, it's 2006!), ET doesn't exactly qualify as an "independent" game. It was published by Activision, and would've been commercial if all the factors had lined up properly.
Just for clarification, "independent" != "free". The games on the list may have demos available, but most (if not all) of them will cost you $10-$20 for the full version. That's still better than $50-$60 you'll pay for a commercial game, but it's definitely not free.
Re:Enemy Territory (Score:1)
Re:Enemy Territory (Score:1)
Download this game. It's not warez, it's free (as in beer) and high quality. Oh, and for the most part, punkbuster actually keeps out the punks.
Don't keep saying 'I need a medic!' over and over tho, I hate that and give the offenders my knife (combat surgery?) instead of my morphine.
Re:Enemy Territory (Score:1)
Re:Enemy Territory (Score:1)
Re:Enemy Territory (Score:2)
Mirrors (Score:2, Informative)
Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 2.0).
HUGE increase in Mac/Linux representation (Score:3, Insightful)
For 2004, only ONE title (Gish) was listed as supporting Mac and Linux. In 2005, there are no less than FOUR.
I wonder if this means that more titles overall are being released for these platforms.
Re:HUGE increase in Mac/Linux representation (Score:5, Interesting)
That's right people, Tribal Trouble was created by a long-time Java programmer. Don't be surprised if more and more Indies are done in Java. Cross-Platform support comes free, and development tends to be easier and faster. Tribal Trouble wasn't the first Indie game done in Java (*cough*heresafew [puppygames.net]*cough*), and it won't be the last.
Re:HUGE increase in Mac/Linux representation (Score:1)
Yeah, if you look around a bit, you'll see a lot more cross-platform releases, and that's great. A number of indie developers started reporting large Mac sales in 2005, like 30-50% compared to their Windows sales. As a result, a lot of devs started writing cross-platform code so they could hit Mac OS X. It wasn't hard to port to Linux if you were already developing for Mac, so Linux players got some trickle down.
Oh, yeah? (Score:1)
They might still be spinning around on the server's disk, but they're not going anywhere for a while.
Where are the physics based games? (Score:3, Informative)
In fact, the latest "game" I enjoyed most is the Falling Sand [chir.ag] game.
Re:Where are the physics based games? (Score:2)
Right, but those games are not from 2005.
Games from last year available on Xbox 360 (Score:4, Informative)
If you're lucky enough to have a 360, you can play both Outpost Kaloki (original [ninjabee.com], 360 [xbox.com]) and Wik: Fable of Souls (original [wikgame.com], 360 [xbox.com]. Mutant Storm (original [pompomgames.com] on Windows, Mac, and Linux, 360 [xbox.com], original Xbox Live Arcade [xbox.com]), the winner from 2002, is also available on 360 and was available on Live Arcade on the original Xbox as well. On the 360, these games go for $5-$10 (400-800 Points, where 80 points ~= $1), and Mutant Storm is $9.99 on Xbox. Compare that to $20 for the PC versions of Mutant Storm and Outpost Kaloki.
Re:Games from last year available on Xbox 360 (Score:2)
Re:Games from last year available on Xbox 360 (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Games from last year available on Xbox 360 (Score:2)
Let's just say it involves Bill Gates, oral sex, and a willingness to swallow your pride.
-Eric
Re:Games from last year available on Xbox 360 (Score:2, Interesting)
It's only $400 (premium system, or a core + hard drive) + $6.25 (Wik is 400 points, but the minimum amount of points you can buy is 500 for $6.25). I'm also assuming you already have or want a 360 for other reasons (like Geometry Wars [xbox.com]). If that's not the case, then of course it's not a good deal.
Besides, my comment was intended to point out how Microsoft's Live Arcade is opening up new venues to i
Re:Games from last year available on Xbox 360 (Score:2)
Re:Games from last year available on Xbox 360 (Score:2)
Quick list: (Score:5, Informative)
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
http://www.newstargames.com/ [newstargames.com]
9) DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold
System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Linux, Mac OS X
http://www.caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/JtRH
8) Professor Fizzwizzle
System Requirements: Windows or Linux, Mac OS X
http://grubbygames.com/ [grubbygames.com]
7) Darwinia
Windows 98/XP/2000, Linux, Mac
http://www.darwinia.co.uk/ [darwinia.co.uk]
6) Democracy
Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
http://www.democracygame.com/ [democracygame.com]
5) Mexican Motor Mafia
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
http://www.scienceoftomorrow.com/mmm_main.htm [scienceoftomorrow.com]
4) Tribal Trouble
MacOS X / Linux
http://tribaltrouble.com/ [tribaltrouble.com]
3) Zombie Smashers X2
DirectX 8+
http://www.totallyscrewed.net/newsite/home.htm [totallyscrewed.net]
2) Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/digital_eel/weird_wo
1) Oasis
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
http://www.oasisgame.com/ [oasisgame.com]
Whats the deal with the weird worlds thingy? (Score:3, Interesting)
I managed ONCE to get a chance encounter that actually didnt kill me...
Am i something missing or is this really like elite 1 20 years ago, only 20times more retarted and with worse graphics?
Re:Whats the deal with the weird worlds thingy? (Score:2)
Re:Whats the deal with the weird worlds thingy? (Score:1)
Re:Whats the deal with the weird worlds thingy? (Score:2)
Re:Whats the deal with the weird worlds thingy? (Score:2)
But I cannot sell or by anything, and whereever i move there usually is an enemy (who will kill me with the starting equipmnt).
Ok, twice i found an "artefact ship" instead, once it had a weapons (that wasnt much stronger than the build in one9, but the other time it became hostile and killed me, too).
Maybe the demos timeframe is just to short, because serching for non-hostile stars will make the game end before you find one, usually...
Re:Whats the deal with the weird worlds thingy? (Score:1)
Only proprietary and commercial games? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Only proprietary and commercial games? (Score:5, Insightful)
Bob
Re:Only proprietary and commercial games? (Score:1)
Don't you think your reaction was a *little* overstated? Calling his comment zealotry hardly seems called for concerning the tone of his post....
Oh, and for the record, last year's prominent placer Hamster Ball Gold is more or less a ripoff of Super Monkey Ball.
Re:Only proprietary and commercial games? (Score:3, Insightful)
For those who buy a new car every year (Score:2, Interesting)
FOSS games seldomly fall into a single year and almost never get a final release
Neither does Madden NFL, which gets annual updates just like any automobile does.
Shout out to Spiderweb Software (Score:4, Interesting)
Another nice one... (Score:4, Interesting)
Check it out here: http://www.inhumangames.com/ [inhumangames.com]
Here's some stuff off the site:
Dec 27. Trash earns Game Tunnel's 2005 Multiplayer Game of the Year Award!
Dec 6. Indie gaming news site Game Tunnel gives Trash a 9 out of 10!
Nov 12. German language site rebell.net gives Trash's multiplayer 80/100.
Oct 29. Trash gets 4 out of 5 in review at upallnightgaming.com. "Trash puts the fun in RTS"
Re:Another nice one... (Score:2)
My favorite of the bunch... (Score:1)
Re:My favorite of the bunch... (Score:2, Informative)
I played the demo of Darwinia sometime a while back when it was shown on TechTV, and enjoyed it then. When I saw it pop up on Steam recently, I downloaded it again and was pleased to see that the controls were much improved (you used to have to draw mouse gestures to run programs, and you used to have to aim both sides of a dish to cross open water). I haven't purchased the full version yet, but at $20, I may just have to.
Darwinia (Score:5, Informative)
This game is sadly overlooked, and although independent it blows away the competition in terms of gameplay. And yes, I have the boxed version, even though Valve took pity on the devs and released it over Steam to give it a US audience.
Bob
Smoking kippers (Score:3, Funny)
Okay, I tried smoking a kipper but it just wouldn't light. Is there a howto for this?
I was thinking that inhaling a burning fish sounds pretty odd, but then inhaling burning plant is rather odd too when one thinks about it. So I started thinking about other things one could smoke but decided to stick with plants after the flashing image of myself with a burning gerbil between my lips. And spare me the Tom jokes, please.
Happy New Year from Boise, Idaho
Re:Smoking kippers (Score:2)
Happy New Year to you as well
Bob
Re: Smoking kippers (Score:2)
Whatta guy! [sadgeezer.com]
One of the very best episodes, IMO.
Re:Smoking kippers (Score:1)
Re:Darwinia (Score:5, Interesting)
But us Yanks didn't actually have to go through Steam to play it until it was released on Steam. I ordered the game the old fashioned way before its Steam release, and was able to download it from Introversion's servers as well as receive a hard copy on CD shipped from the UK.
Why they changed their distribution method, I don't know, unless it was somehow actually cheaper to use Valve as their US vendor rather than doing it the other way. Or maybe Valve is giving them promotional opportunities (i.e., advertising) that they couldn't get before.
Re:Darwinia (Score:4, Insightful)
They changed because they couldn't afford the money to get shelf space. This way, they can't lose money if the game doesn't sell.
With Steam, they save bucketloads of money and get a virtual box in the shelf-space on every of the millions of computers that have Steam installed. Every user sees that advertisement every time they go to pick a Steam game to play unless they've changed that option in the Steam settings. They can play the demo in just a few minutes on any computer that they want to since a Steam account can be used on as many computers that the person want to play those games on.
I run LAN servers and notice that very few people shut off the advertisements because the target audience is the correct one, the ads don't take any extra time to load, they can be disabled, and the ads aren't obnoxious. Instead, people are more likely to talk about the new games that show up in the advertisements or news.
Re: Darwinia (Score:3, Interesting)
It would have done better, if not for the high-profile competition from Intelligentdesignia.
I wonder... (Score:4, Funny)
I really liked (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I really liked Thomas and the Magic Words (Score:1)
Apologies on the server... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Apologies on the server... (Score:1)
Re:Apologies on the server... (Score:1)
Re:Apologies on the server... (Score:2)
Damn, I forgot to put Troll Snacks[TM] on my shopping list.
Bogus list? (Score:2)
Seriously though, Angband is great,a modernized descendant of the old Unix "Rogue." If you think you are a tough, hardcore gamer, Angband will humble you thoroughly in short order.
Re:Bogus list? (Score:2)
Alas, my favorite Rogue descendant is still Nethack. :)
Re:Bogus list? (Score:3, Insightful)
I have a high quality jones for this Rogue-type game.
Greeting cries of the American Nerd (Score:2)
Angband? Angband Angband! angangangBAND Angband Angband! (beats chest)
Nethack! NETHACKHACK Nethack! NetHACK! (makes threatening gesture with found stick)
Angband! Angband! (slinks off into woods)
NetnetHACKnet. Nethack. (sits in clearing, preens, looks in vain for females)
(another approaches) Er... Diablo?
(Nethack becomes enraged, Angband returns from woods, and the two team up to rip the third to deserving shreds)
Minions of Mirth (Score:1)
Re:Minions of Mirth (Score:1)
Favorite game (Score:1, Funny)
My friend keeps talking about some penguin slalom game, but how good could something thats free be? Hell, I paid $125 to get Blue Screen of Death, and I'll be damned if I won't take advantage of it.
Fail (Score:1)
Re:Fail (Score:1)
And dude, have you even played the other games? I hear a lot of whining in this thread about "no way my favorite game isn't there". Tunnel vision. Play some of those other games--they are pretty much all outstanding.
Re:Fail (Score:1)
Derek Smart!!!!! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Derek Smart!!!!! (Score:1)
Now you've gone and done it..
Like a true spawn of satan, all it takes is for someone to invoke his name.. and he appears..
I think that man has shown up on more internet forums than the infamous goatse.cx pics.
Derek Smart!!!!! (Score:1)
How many of these games run on Linux ? (Score:2, Interesting)
Well, at least DROD does... (Score:1)
Re:Well, at least DROD does... (Score:1)
and have 'default' builds of 5.4 and 6.0 (others may be added) so I can do proper testing.
A new and uptodate FreeBSD beta should be released soon for anyone who is interested -- see my homepage
Re:How many of these games run on Linux ? (Score:1)
Four. You just have to read the system requirements that are next to each game on the original page (or copied into this thread). Barring any errors in the listings, the 4 Linux-running games are:
So 40% of the games in the top 10 run on Linux. And cross-platform indie developers report about 10% of their sales come from Linux games. So don't bitch too much.
Re:How many of these games run on Linux ? (Score:1)
That is good to hear. But seriously, more and more game developers should consider Linux as a viable platform and start developing games for linux. As far as bitching is concerned
Re:How many of these games run on Linux ? (Score:1)
Better yet... buy some Linux games. Nothing works better than that for getting attention.
How about top ten open source games? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How about top ten open source games? (Score:1)
Re:How about top ten open source games? (Score:1)
Oh, and it's what made me buy JtRH and a CaravelNet subscription... ^_^
np: Flanger - Hope To Hear Back Soon, Honey (Spirituals)
Darwinia (Score:2)
Oasis is ungood (Score:2)
And I could have sworn it was winning Independent Game of th
Re:Oasis is ungood (Score:1)
Live for Speed? (Score:1)
Re:Live for Speed? (Score:1)
http://www.liveforspeed.net/ [liveforspeed.net]
Be warned: DROD is dangerous (Score:1)
TFA doesn't quite "get" DROD. It is a pure puzzle game with a tongue-in-cheek premise ("Deadly Rooms of Death") and a surreal background. The community is a big part of the fun. Most of the entertainment value comes from community created "holds", not just the hold that comes with the game.
The game runs on Windows and Linux. A Mac version is on th
Generally cool, but... (Score:2)
When you install a game to your hard drive, that usually takes a while. It fills up a good chunk of space, especially with some games. Then, you start playing, and just when it starts getting good, [TIME LIMIT EXCEEDED PLUNK DOWN CASH FOR MORE]. Then you have to buy it or uninstall it, which also takes a while, and unless the uninstaller is very well made can leave cruft in your registry.
At this point, the player is usually pretty pissed at the short period of the demo. So it woul
A shame (Score:1)
Re:Democracy (Score:2)
Still I like it a lot and will probably buy it tonight.