Star Chamber's Indie PC CCG Goodness Probed

Thanks to Ferrago for their in-depth review of PC online collectible card game Star Chamber, praising the relatively unknown indie title as "an invigorating little game", and suggesting: "It's been a long time since this jaded gamer was so captivated by a game." The same site has an interview with the creators from Nayantara Studios, in which they discuss the genesis of the game (from "a love of well-balanced, simple-yet-complex boardgames and adding a CCG element to be able to produce a high-quality 'CCG meets computer boardgame'"), and the future of indie gaming ("I do think that with the big publishers and teams focused on producing massive uber-budget games and MMORPGs, and especially with the consoles starting to dwarf PC sales, I think there is a significant window for the smaller, independent studios to take back some of the PC market.")

Comments

Re:2 things

[Cosmik]

Awww, heck. HTML would be useful. Here you go:

"I do think that with the big publishers and teams focused on producing massive uber-budget games and MMORPGs, and especially with the consoles starting to dwarf PC sales, I think there is a significant window for the smaller, independent studios to take back some of the PC market."

2 things:

1) Big publishers are defined as having big money, and therefore, naturally, they are going to make "uber-budget" games. Big publishers aren't interested in small budget - that's how indie came to exist. It's nothing new. You can't take back something that you are.

2) If PC sales are being dwarfed then that means relatively, less PC games are being sold. That means with a smaller window, the big budget games will have more shelf space, media coverage, more exposure. That means a smaller window for indie games. How they intend to take back some of the PC market from big-budgets in a smaller environment baffles me.

It's only ok

[Apreche]

I played it when Tycho mentioned it. It was ok, but like most CCGs he who spends the most money and has the best cards wins. Skill in playing the game is not a major factor in winning. Luck and money are the primary determiners. It's pretty neat because it plays like a simplified Master of Orion. But its really just another CCG in disguise. They didn't fool me after I played it 3 or 4 times.

Re:Tried it..

[Txiasaeia]

I guess I just don't like online games. What am I paying for? The pleasure of gaming against another human? I can do that already with MTG or yu-gi-oh, and at no additional cost.

When I play comp games I want to play against a kickass AI - my schedule is crazy and sometimes I only have 5, 10 minutes to play before I'm out and about again. I suspect that a lot of people are like me too.