Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

DIY Game's Indie GOTY Awards

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the winners-and-losers dept.

Veryzon writes "DIY Games has posted their 2003 Game of the Year Awards in which they name the best independent games of 2003. In addition to the standard categories such as action GOTY, adventure GOTY, and so on they also have a few fairly unique awards going to leaders in such areas as 'Copyright Infringement,' 'Most Controversial,' and 'Most Overrated.' In the end they hand out 17 awards in various categories. Here's a quote on the most controversial category winner: '...Dada Stagnation In Blue. Technically, Dada is a brief freeware adventure game that will be over almost as soon as you finish it, but those 30 minutes in between are sure to stay with you for some time. True to its Dadaist theme, Dada can be very unsettling for those who might be unprepared to see suicide, domestic violence, and dead fetuses addressed in a game. And if that doesn't mess with your mind then the bizarre environments and disturbing Anne Sexton prose are sure to keep you up a little later at night.'"

5 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. small games by GerritHoll · · Score: 2, Interesting

    this day, games are much less fun than they used to be. Most are giant commercial projects, without the real art of creating a nice-looking game in 16 colours with 320x200 resolution. With small opensource games, it does return a bit, though... P.S. first post?

    1. Re:small games by GerritHoll · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I like it very much when I can see a bit how a game is made, even if it's closed source: I like a game that is "reachable", that could be made in a typical "basement room" where a nerd would spend 12 hours a night programming it: sure, it looks great when the movement of the characters was modelled after real people by high-tech technology, and that is what most people like indeed. However, I'm not like most people :-)

      I think this DIY idea is good, though. It reminds me of The Home of the Underdags, a really nice website...

    2. Re:small games by johannesg · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm not so sure about the actual number of games, but surely the number of types of games has diminished dramatically over the years. Sure, there are plenty of FPS'es and RTS'es, but where are things like The Sentinel, Marble Madness, Knightlore (wouldn't that look gorgeous with 24-bit hi-res graphics), Bubble Bobble, Space Harrier, R*Type, Xevious, or even Tetris? Where are the abstract games? The puzzle games? The 2D shooters? Platformers? etc...

  2. Hard road to follow. by Godeke · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I appreciate the effort and dedication that these people have put into these games. I have thought about producing an independent game title myself, but the amount of effort that goes into doing so is much higher than that going into custom applications. In a custom application for a client I have the database, middeware and UI to worry about. In a game you have the underlying engine, UI and real time programming coupled with music and graphics production (2d and 3d) without the committment of payment on delivery. For some reason my wife is reluctant to let me spend six months with a potential big fat zero return on that time. Pitty really: I would much prefer to work on something that brings enjoyment to people rather than "productivity enhancements" and "better cost control".

    --
    Sig under construction since 1998.
  3. the never ending march of technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would have thought Starscape would have done better, it's a nice little game that is trying to do some different things i.e. mixing up some genres. Is it just the lack of real time 3D because the game still looks great without it IMO and it actually works for me (unlike some of the others). It should get an award just for that! The main reason I started looking at indie stuff is because I can't get most mainstream game to work. I don't even bother looklng if they don't have a demo - too risky.

    Finding a 3D game that looks good and actually runs ok on my PC is quite a challenge. Add to that getting it working on my laptop and you are really struggling. I want more 2D and 3D games that:

    1.look good
    2.work on my 2year old PC (Athlon1700, 32MB Radeon7000)
    3.work on my 1year old laptop (Celeron1600, 16MB GeForce4MX)

    I think a huge number of people have this kind of hardware and have just given up trying to play games. Maybe this is why PopCap make millions with their puzzle games i.e. people can actually get them to work properly :)