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Pontifex man, pontifex was my main time killer for a long stretch way back when, I bought poly bridge out of pontifex nostalgia :
https://www.chroniclogic.com/p... - seems like they are still atround too and have released a bunch of follow up games. Hmmm, may need to buy some of these.

Pontifex has more content than poly bridge and is only 1Mb!

A few indie game studios have been forthcoming with data, although as he points out not a lot apart from the real blockbusters or bankrupt ones. One I'm familiar with, though, Chronic Logic, has released some numbers.

One of their more high-profile games was the platformer Gish, since it won the 2005 IGF grand prize (an indie-game award); it sold 4,500 copies at $20 apiece, netting about $121,000 after expenses. Slightly under half of those were in the first year out, a bit over a quarter the second year, and the rest trailing in in subsequent years. The puzzle game Triptych (2002), sold 1,000 copies at $15 apiece, netting about $25,000 after expenses. Again about half were in the first year out, but sales straggled in more slowly but consistently after that, with about 15% of the total in each of the following 3 years.

I haven't been able to find sales stats for probably their best-known game, Bridge Builder, though; pointers would be interesting.

A few indie game studios have been forthcoming with data, although as he points out not a lot apart from the real blockbusters or bankrupt ones. One I'm familiar with, though, Chronic Logic, has released some numbers.

One of their more high-profile games was the platformer Gish, since it won the 2005 IGF grand prize (an indie-game award); it sold 4,500 copies at $20 apiece, netting about $121,000 after expenses. Slightly under half of those were in the first year out, a bit over a quarter the second year, and the rest trailing in in subsequent years. The puzzle game Triptych (2002), sold 1,000 copies at $15 apiece, netting about $25,000 after expenses. Again about half were in the first year out, but sales straggled in more slowly but consistently after that, with about 15% of the total in each of the following 3 years.

I haven't been able to find sales stats for probably their best-known game, Bridge Builder, though; pointers would be interesting.

A few indie game studios have been forthcoming with data, although as he points out not a lot apart from the real blockbusters or bankrupt ones. One I'm familiar with, though, Chronic Logic, has released some numbers.

One of their more high-profile games was the platformer Gish, since it won the 2005 IGF grand prize (an indie-game award); it sold 4,500 copies at $20 apiece, netting about $121,000 after expenses. Slightly under half of those were in the first year out, a bit over a quarter the second year, and the rest trailing in in subsequent years. The puzzle game Triptych (2002), sold 1,000 copies at $15 apiece, netting about $25,000 after expenses. Again about half were in the first year out, but sales straggled in more slowly but consistently after that, with about 15% of the total in each of the following 3 years.

I haven't been able to find sales stats for probably their best-known game, Bridge Builder, though; pointers would be interesting.

Nobody I know who writes games is working on $20 million dollar games, though. For example, I frequently work with these folks, who do a good business for themselves on development budgets measured in the thousands of dollars (sometimes tens of thousands; never millions). It's not the high-profile stuff, but there's a lot of other stuff going on besides EA and friends.

While I agree that some of the Mac shareware culture is kind of ridiculous, along the lines of trying to charge $20 for every variation of a digital clock, the fact that people are willing and used to paying $10-50 for a downloadable piece of software from an independent development company is good for indie-game companies, whose development model is exactly that.

I don't have any numbers, but I've heard anecdotally from folks like Chronic Logic that the number of Mac users who will shell out $10-20 for the full version of a game after trying out the free demo is much higher than what you'd expect from just Mac vs. Windows market share. Of course, there are other factors at work there too, like Mac users having fewer gaming choices overall, making the market less competitive.

But they're still making 2d platformers!

New Super Mario Brothers for DS
Gish for PC
Mega Man 9 for Wii

They aren't as common as they were, but there are still some cracking 2d platformers out there. While some are sequels from the big studios, titles like Gish (it's cheap and on Steam) show that indie developers can still produce innovative mechanics in one of the oldest genres.

Because when the Wine people screw up, you get blamed.

Haha, no.

Care to explain your position? Or would you rather just troll?

Being featured on Slashdot won't get you added sales, sorry.

This guy got almost 400,000 hits -- for some christmas lights. Keep in mind, that's actual hits, as in actual click-throughs from Slashdot.

According to this page, cost per click is between 5 cents and $1. At 400,000 clicks, that's between $20k and $400k in free advertising -- from a demographic already predisposed to gaming and technology in general.

And that's ignoring any additional sales.

Put another way, why do you think Blizzard is letting Slashdot interview them? Out of the goodness of their heart?

Quake Wars is irrelevant in the grand scheme of the industry.

However, Id tech is not. Nor, for that matter, is Epic.

Popularity isn't a measure of technical difficulty, I never said it was.

Yet you continue to ignore how technically difficult it isn't to port to Linux, particularly a game.

What was the point of mentioning popularity, anyway? It has nothing to do with the technical difficulty, as you've just admitted, and the feasibility of any port is based on percentages, not popularity.

Putting something on Linux will get you about 17 extra sales.

Pulling a number out of your ass will get you nowhere.

Let's try some real numbers from a tiny indie game. Turns out the number is actually 333 -- out of 3635.

The breakdown was:

73% Windows
20% OSX
7% Linux

The math is very simple: If it takes less than 7% of their time to develop and maintain a Linux port, Linux is a profit.

Given how much effort goes into Warcraft, particularly the content, it would take significantly less time to develop a Linux port than goes into, well, any aspect of the game today. And I forget, but what's 7% of 10 million customers?

The only remaining question is support -- and Linux users would tend to be more self-sufficient, on average, meaning the support costs would be proportionately lower.

It is NOT worth the effort by any convoluted, exaggerated, emotionally charged measure.

Let's be blunt -- you've given me a single number, which you pulled out of your ass. I've given you actual statistics. If we are playing facts versus subjectivity and emotion, I think I win by default -- you haven't contributed a single fact.

As an added bonus, you'll be supporting independent developers who come up with innovative gameplay ideas. I'm liking some stuff from Chronic Logic lately, most of which even comes for Linux (in addition to Windows and OS X).

There are some 3D games that run on Linux.

I'm going to mention one that I play myself, Urban Terror (a semi-realistic shooter based on Quake 3).

Sure, it's a few years old. I don't care, it's still just as fun. Occasionally I'll even play some good old "regular" Quake 3.

To be perfectly honest, I don't run UrT or Q3 on Linux myself, I run Mac OS X. The point is, if I ever decided to switch away from Mac OS X to Ubuntu, almost all the games I have on my computer right now would run on Linux as well. Actually, let me go through my Applications folder right now:

• Bridge Construction Set -- yes, it runs on Linux
• DEFCON -- yup. That too.
• Kill Monty -- unfortunately, no. :-( (Then again, that doesn't run on Windows either.)
• Frets On Fire -- yup. It runs on Linux. And way better than on OS X too.
• OpenTTD -- yep. It runs on Linux too.
• IOQuake3 -- sure.
• SNES9x (and by extention, a collection of Super Nintendo games), sure, works on Linux
• Tetrinet Aqua does not run on Linux, but other (and better) Tetrinet clients do.
• The Ur-Quan Masters runs on Linux.
• Uplink runs on Linux.
• And finally, as discussed before, Urban Terror runs on Linux.

So, all the games I actually have on my hard drive and play would run on Linux if I decided to migrate. Except for Kill Monty. (But then again, that doesn't run on Windows either.)

The lack of games are not what's keeping me on Mac OS X on my machine.

Oh, and in response to your issue about not being able to flash because you'd need either Windows or DOS -- I give you FreeDOS.

Gish!

Great single player platformer, with 2-4 player deathmatch/race/etc modes.

My dear daughter, age five, loves video games. She's been raised with them from an early age. They made a great thing to do while she was little. She'd sit there in wonder and awe while her Papa made the pretty colors move around and make funny sounds. Now they're more directly part of her life. We love to play Gish, and she tries her hand at it occasionally. We also like to play Gish IRL -- I'll be Gish, she'll play a piglet, something like that, and it involves a lot of wrestling ("rassling") and monkeying around.

Recently, her step-grandmother got her a Gameboy DS, which has proven a bit of a bane in my house. I've dealt with this by enforcing its non-use while she's with me. Her mother (my now ex-wife whom long-time /.ers will remember as a hero(ine)) recently asked for it back after I made it "disappear" over a visit. Honestly, do not like her (my daughter) sitting there and playing with her "intendo" while she ignores us. It's actually very different from if she and I are sitting together and playing Gish or Zuma, and htose of course are very different from playing old-fashioned board games, or better yet, engaging in some good old fashioned horseplay. But it's part of her life, as it was part of my life from about her age, which for me is now... uh... :::calculate::: over 25 years. Wow.

Actually, the other day I was thinking about having her play Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. While it has very dated gameplay in terms of graphics and whatnot, I believe the message and values at the core of it remain largely unparalleled. It literally shaped my life and character for the better. I'd like her to get the same message, that Truth, Love, and Courage can change your life and the world. I guess it's a good thing I fall back U4 more than Wasteland or Snack Attack. ;->

I love the chronic logic bridging games! My favorite being Bridge Construction Set, because it has clients available for Windows, Linux and OSX. Under 20MB, and entertaining for hours. Frustrating at times, but thats part of the fun, or so I'm told... But really, this will run on damn near any computer. Its 3D also, but very basic. Turning off shadows and reflections helps. http://chroniclogic.com/bcs_download.htm --- Demo.

If you liked that you might like Armadillo Run or Pontifex One or Two. OK they drift from 2D, but are still very fun construction type games.

If you liked that you might like Armadillo Run or Pontifex One or Two. OK they drift from 2D, but are still very fun construction type games.

What's this "we" business? DX10 is only available with Vista, and Vista sales are abysmal. And with this being a *nix-oriented site, it's falling on deaf ears.

The summary states that DirectX 10 was "introduced" to by the hardware manufacturers and Windows adopted it. I have always understood it to be the other way around. If it is the hardware makers, then why are they actively supporting two different 3D APIs (DX, OpenGL)? Does this mean that DirectX could be adopted by another OS, say Linux? Only for a fee?

I urge everyone to vote with their wallet and try games that support OpenGL and Linux. Sure, you may never get to play Halo 3 in Linux, but if the game developers see the market growing there, I'm sure we'll start to see more big names soon. It will be to their ultimate benefit, too, since they can take advantage of the advanced technologies that Linux has to offer (mostly for free). Can you imagine games or applications that worked with Beryl to create actual 3D desktop objects instead of just 2D windows. Or how about a Linux LiveCD that did nothing but boot a kernel with drivers and ran a dedicated game; every single CPU cycle would be dedicated to giving you frames per second.

Personally, I've been addicted to this great 3D bridge-building game, Bridge Construction Set. Of course, it supports Linux

Um, Gish comes to mind as a 'rolling blob game' that came out a year or two ago, so I don't think these games coming 'out of the woodwork' as you so put it is an entirely new thing.

I don't know... I'd almost rather drive over a bridge designed by a student who copied a tried and true design than one who made an original. Heck, I know I've made some pretty neat and original bridge designs, but I wouldn't really trust their safety.

Viewtiful Joe, while a great game, is not 2D. The action may take place on a rail, but it is a 3D game. Everything is rendered in 3D. I'm glad to see Yoshi's Island on the list. I've always loved that game and it had such a fantastic look. I didn't like Yoshi's Story's style as much, but it was often stunning looking. Loco Roco looks neat, and I'll probably buy or rent it, but to me it just screams "Gish!" so loud, and I want to yell at all the magazines and websites that don't pick up on that obvious similarity (although I realize there are differences). I would have put Super Mario World on there also. I still think that is easily one of the best games ever made, graphics and all.

Fluid physics and dynamic lighting FTW.

Screenshots.

My favorite RPGs were fallout and fallout 2, very cool retro cold war/post apocalyptic sort of feel. Kind of old now but still incredible. Another game I like is an indie game called Bridge Construction Set. You're given the challenge of designing bridges to meet constraints like load, materials, and cost. Very addictive, though some of the harder ones will probably make you want to smash your laptop.

GetUserInput()
Practically a no-op, in CPU terms.
DoAI()
Parallelism shines here for large-scale AI (i.e., many actors).
UpdateWorldState()
With AI out of the equation, this is essentially game logic and physics. Physics calculations are particularly well-suited for offloading to an SPU (or three). I expect the actual utilization here to be quite high, considering the emergence of specialized game physics libraries. Game logic is rarely CPU-intensive enough to warrant mention.
PlaySound()
PlayMusic()
Again, not a lot of CPU relevance here.
DrawScreen()
The GPU is separate, so the bulk of the operations can (fingers crossed) be performed here. Even the stuff that can't (some dynamically-generated graphics content) can be offloaded to an SPU.

I'm looking for more than innovative gameplay here. Indy games provide plenty of that (Gish for example). What I'm looking for is an innovative gameplay experience, the like of which has been restricted by hardware limitations as of yet. I don't really expect it to happen with the next generation of consoles, but new hardware has usually been the key to these kinds of leaps (like it or not, Quake was a staggeringly different experience than its predecessors).

At the very least, the Cell should provide enough CPU horsepower for the kinds of games we're used to already (which, let's face it, made up the bulk of the offerings for the last generation of consoles as well). At best, a few talented developers will have the time and budget to use it to create more immersive and/or new styles of games. I'm sorry the PS2 didn't live up to your expectations, but that's just not really relevant to the discussion of a new emerging standard for consumer electronics CPUs. Marketing hype is always marketing hype, I'm simply talking about raw potential.

That's the kind I enjoy the most. Such as "Pontifex" (Bridge Builder) and to a lesser extend "Gish" (same from the same company by the way.

In fact, the latest "game" I enjoyed most is the Falling Sand game.

Here you go:

Winblows Version
Anti-social elitist nerd version

The bi-curious version (OSX) is labeled as 'cumming soon.' Sorry.

Here you go:

Winblows Version
Anti-social elitist nerd version

The bi-curious version (OSX) is labeled as 'cumming soon.' Sorry.

Once you get Jets'n'Guns to start, Pontifex to not crash over sound buffer underruns constantly, Simcity 4 Deluxe to start (note: Not just SC4, the deluxe version), and Tropico to run, I'm sold.

But if you think you can replace Windows with WINE right now, you're deluded. I've got hundreds of PC games going back about 12 years. With programs from before 2000, it's about 50-50 run/won't even start. With more recent stuff, maybe 1 in 4 or 5 will run something resembling correctly. Let's not start about those games that don't like my 'debugger' or have DRM on the CD.

On a more positive note, Outpost 2 runs nicely, as does 1602 AD and Cyberstorm II.

If someone here hasnt heard of/played Gish, it is a wicked indie game that is a ton of fun to play.

Also for win/osx/lnx.

http://www.chroniclogic.com/gish.htm

(Disclaimer: Not affiliated with chronic logic..just thought the game was fun)

• Starscape - the undisputed king of indie space shooter adventurey type games.
• Darwina and Uplink - I have to admit, I could never get into either, but you have to be impressed with what they have done, and their fanbase is huge (so I probably didn't put the time in).
• Gish - which you know don't you?
• War World - possibly the best looking indie game out there. Currently thin on gameplay but still loads of fun, plus they are working on lots of improvements for it.
• Fate - a nice diablo clone.

• Girls Inc. Team up. - opinion is divided on this - I like it, and everyone else is wrong :)
• super gerball, and hamsterbal - great marble madness type games.
• Chuzzle - crack like in it's addiction levels, and guaranteed to turn your girlfriend/wife into a furball popping addict (I am thinking of setting up a Chuzzle widows club to support all the neglected men since Chuzzle came out)
• Altitudes - a favourite puzzler of mine, that I keep coming back to and hacking away at.

Hey, I thought this same thing a week ago until I downloaded the demo of Gish. That game has completely restored my faith in game developers (althought I think it's an independently published game).

http://www.chroniclogic.com/index.htm?gish.htm

With indy games like Gish getting rave reviews, proof that the indy scene is more than tetris, breakout, and R-type clones.

The indy scene really is about the people who are ok plunking down $20 for a game that they can just pick up and play for 20 minutes, isn't overly involving, and can be put back down. People ranging from your Mom playing Zuma, to your kids playing Chuzzle, to Dad playing Jets 'n Guns

I like Indy games, especially for my young daughter, that I know are fun and entertaining, innexpensive, and have replay value - and the $20 price tag on most makes them worth while to me.

In other news, Rearden, Inc said to be interested in working with engineers from Pontifex and Railroad Tycoon as part of next-generation simulator to be coded in Objective C!

Small, indy games exist and are a lot of fun...
For example the games here (free):
Aba games
Hizoka Chi's games
Or Cave Story, japanese indy game translated by fans.

Or various other indy games such as Ballance or Chronic Logic's games, or CrimsonLand.

Ofcourse, hardly anyone ever heard about these games, but it doesn't mean they don't rock. Just download the demos and see for yourself. None of these games are "GTA, Halo or Everquest clones", but rather truly original ideas (playing a ball??) or fun ideas that somewhere disappeared (shooters, platformers)...

The common sentiment seems to be that the video game industry churns out nothing original, and has not for years. The article certainly reflects that. I suppose it isn't difficult to feel that way when you see so many licensed games and sequels on the market. Regardless, I have to voice my dissent.

If you look deeper at the underground independent games you will see a totally different situation. Just check out the one source for independents that sometimes gets kinda-sorta media attention, the Independent Games Festival. Look at last years winners such as Gish and Wik and the Fable of Souls. Intensly original and very fun. How about Strange Adventures in Infinite Space, a charming little game designed to be replayable, with each game finishing in about 5 minutes.

Go to The-Underdogs and just browse around their top-rated titles. There are tons of freebies that are top-notch, very fun, and quite original.

I feel that this situation can be compared to looking out your in your backyard vs traveling to the rainforest. If you sit at home and look in your yard you see tons of squirrels, moles, etc. You get jaded and start to say that there are no unique animals. Occasionally perhaps a deer, and you get worked up over something that isn't really that spectacular. But if you go out and really explore the more wild area you will find tons of great stuff. It is not brought to your doorstep, and it is quickly being eroded away, but it is out there. Just go look for it.

Actually while I do feel that the independent underground is the best source for creative original titles, there are tons of published games that 'fit the bill'. People loooooove to spoute Katamari left and right, and it is an original game, but how about.. Mizuguchi's line of original games (Lumines, Meteos, Rez). How about Wario Ware? How about Dance Dance Revolution? Even the Battlefield series added major innovations into the FPS genre (the huge scale of combat and variety of vehicles) and Guild Wars is an MMORPG that pretty much seems to go contrary to every other MMORPG on the market.

Finally, the 80's were not the golden age of game innovation that people give them credit for. Currently I am intently reading through a great book The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon. Long story short (I realize my post has already crossed from '?interesting? comment' into 'psychotic rant') the 80's original and innovative games were simply original and innovative because there were so few games created yet! Once any succsessful game formula was established, there were an incredible amount of clones. The fact that is true now, is true then. Popular games are copied, repeated, and sell like hotcakes. Pac-Man, for instance, was beat in coin-op sales only by Ms. Pac-Man! There is constantly an influx of new game ideas, the 80's arn't so special.

/prepares to be modded into oblivion by the legion of /.ers weaned in the arcades.

Honestly, the Dreamcast was the end of big-title PC Gaming for me. After that point, game makers decided that they would focus on graphics above gameplay. Apart from Gish, there haven't been any "must-have" PC titles in many years.

If there are one or two games that you absolutely must have, spend as much money as you think is appropriate to get whatever hardware they need to run on. If there was a PC game I thought I just had to have, I probably would have ante'd up for the hardware necessary to run it. If you're like me, and you just want the opportunity to (casually) play an amusing or entertaining game when you feel like it, ANY system -- PC, XBox, PS2, Gameboy, PSP, or any of the next-gen consoles -- will have a selection that's more than large enough to find lots of good games, and the overall price of the solution and the hassle of maintaining it will decide.

Unless the author of the article knows for a fact which platform is going to have the most engaging and amusing games, and which ones are going to be duds, any speculation at this point is worthless. People don't buy game systems as much as they buy the ability to play games. Which platforms will have popular games? That's anybody's guess.

Well, first thing you could do is check out the annual Independent Games Festival, then there are a few game sites devoted to just indy games, like Game Tunnel, or for a good example games you could try something like Gish or Saga of Ryzom. And, if people started taking more notice and buying more, we'd see a lot more indy developers giving it a shot.

If you don't want to play Madden 2021 and Halo 6 then you don't have to! To many people the golden-age of video games is the NES/SNES days, or the ULTIMA and SIMCITY 1 days on for PC gamers. This is after the reflex/memorization only games of atari but before the games got overly graphics oriented. It's now actually a hell of a lot easier to make a sidescroller or overhead rpg then it used to be when the game was coded in assembly. Here's a list of a few one man or small team games that are pretty damn amazing and fun to play.

http://www.avernum.com/ -ultima only bigger and buggier!
http://www.freeciv.org/ -not exactly eye candy, but good
http://www.chroniclogic.com/gish.htm/ -inovation!
http://www.dominategame.com/website.php?/ -addiction!

Soldat, Pontifex and Starscape are three of my personal favourites.

Which reminds me, what about the Roller Coaster Tycoon games? Weren't they largely a one-man effort?

Global Defense Network

Wik and the Fable of Souls

Rocketbowl

N

http://www.steermadness.com/
Alien Hominid

Gish

Protothea

Personally, I think the open category is between Alien Hominid and Gish.

Alien Hommid is the only non-PC (PS2 and Gamecube) game in competition, and has a very solid following via Newgrounds since the game started as a flash-based game.

Gish wins out in both looks and physics. Epically the physics. It also shares a fan base from Newgrounds as they advertised heavily on NG and post NG content.

Personally, I hope Alien Hommid wins. I have no real reason that it beats out the other. Both are very good games.

Now next year, I'm hoping Antidote sweeps the awards!

* Poster is the creator of Antidote.

From the screenshots on the site, it looks like a standard side scroller, how does it justify these requirements? Link

Erm.. Gish eh. Looks nice but the "Minimum Requirements" seem high..

Minimum system requirements:
# Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, Linux or OSX 10.1+
# AMD,Intel or G3 1000+ Mhz processor
# OpenGL video card with 32 mb of memory
# 256MB of memory

Looks like a SNES/N64 game with the beef required for an Xbox.

but GISH is a very cool indie game with a demo...

neato physics engine, quirky character adds another dimension (figuratively) as a cool platformer game.

IMHO anyways...

e.

Gish is just a ball of tar, and makes a great game.

If anything, it shows the power of marketing : these all appear to be good, original and fun games (except for the 3-4 rehashes of old games such as Marbles and Arkanoid), but I NEVER heard of them ANYWHERE. Which doesn't help me to buy them... which doesn't help the independant programmers of these gems... which doesn't help them to pay for marketing I guess. Vicious circle indeed.

I managed to get to the end of the list before a complete Slashdot (happened while I downloaded a top10 game... BreakQuest. Irony?). GISH, the Tarball adventure game is first, and it deserve it. Fun, VERY original gameplay and VERY challenging. Free demo available too.

http://www.chroniclogic.com/gish.htm

Gish works in Linux and OSX. The demos are here:

http://www.chroniclogic.com/gish.htm/

Chronic Logic's main website

The civil engineer / Lego building side of you will appreciate this game... this is one of the few games that I've paid for to play on the Mac. Also, to give you an idea of quality, it was an Independent Games Festival winner in 2002 or 2003. The original concept has been in development since at least 2000 when the 2-D version was released.

It plays like your typical platform-puzzle game with two major things that stand out. The first is the excellent physics incorporated into the gameplay. The second is the fact that you are playing as a ball of tar. You can make yourself sticky, slippery, heavy, and any combination of these things in order to navigate the cleverly designed levels.

There is a demo available here. If you like it, definitely buy the full version and it will be well worth your $20.

Another game that makes use of Torque and has recently been ported to the Mac is Bridge Construction Set from Chronic Logic. They have only just recently started porting their, Torque based, games to the Mac and Linux.

Torque, from Garage Games is great for anyone wanting to start getting into game development, since it is relatively affordable. There is a demo of what the engine can do on the web site.

Another game that makes use of Torque and has recently been ported to the Mac is Bridge Construction Set from Chronic Logic. They have only just recently started porting their, Torque based, games to the Mac and Linux.

Torque, from Garage Games is great for anyone wanting to start getting into game development, since it is relatively affordable. There is a demo of what the engine can do on the web site.