DIY Game's Indie GOTY Awards

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.'"

Comments

Hard road to follow.

[Godeke]

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".

Re:small games

[DrDoombender]

I dissagree, there are lots of games made today that are just as fun as older games. Just because lots of games that are mediocre come out, doesn't mean the level of fun games is less. Some games are just remakes, and some are improvements. I mean, I really enjoyed the RE remake more so than the original. I can see your point in the idea, that its harder to put out an original idea.

I agree with you though, that most games are giant commercial projects now. However, that's the gamers fault I think. Most companies noticed the trend that consumers would buy the games that looked the coolest, rather than the game that was the most fun (am I wrong?).

Open source games is a cool concept because it lets programmers get a feel for how games should be coded. Game programming is hard, and lots of "tutorials" don't tell you all the stuff you have to put into a games engine.

This DIY games idea of awarding the best independent games seems almost equivalent to the cannes film festival. Really, there should be something like that for gamers. Not only would it show off new talent, but also what can be done with a tiny budget.

Over as soon as you finish it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, they actually say this:

brief freeware adventure game that will be over almost as soon as you finish it

As opposed to what, those games that aren't over when you finish them?

Re:small games

[GerritHoll]

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...

Re:small games

[neglige]

IMHO the difference is that today many more games are produced than in the 8bit era. Back then, only a few games from every publisher came out each month (maybe with the exception of the C64 and huge companies like EA), so each game had to be "good" and "outstanding". If it wasn't, it simply wouldn't sell. And you couldn't really rip off ideas, because it would hurt the image of the company or the programmer. Plus, from the business perspective, licensing an engine never happened AFAIK.

Today, this is no longer an issue. Many companies license a 3D engine for example - thus producing "yet another 3D shooter" (hopefully with a different flavour).

The market has also grown, and the PC is reaching new customers which would have never used a 8bit machine, much less played games on it. As a result, games appealing to the casual gamer are created, which are "mediocre" in the eye of the typical gamer.

Re:Cost?

[damien_kane]

It's free.
Download it here: (~2mb) http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~hooks/Dada.zip
(href not posted to save the host's diyserver)

the never ending march of technology

[Anonymous Coward]

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 :)

Re:small games

[*weasel]

Where are the small games? the puzzle games and simple shooters? Here they are.

Popcap

Wild Tangent

The browser has become the defacto platform for 'small' games. Wild Tangent's web driver in particular is available for license as well. It's helping bring accessibility for designers back to where a couple guys in a garage could churn out something fun in less than 3 years.

not a plug, just informational cuz everyone's asking.

Re:small games

[rogabean]

wildtangent's software is also detected as spyware.

Adventure GOTY, where to get...

[Thornae]

Their Adventure Game of the Year is The Adventures of Fatman. Unfortunately, the link to the developer they provide doesn't tell you where to get it, only that it's been released as abandonware.
Naturally, HOTU has it, unfortunately minus the voices.

If someone managed to get the full (with voices) version, I'm sure HOTU would be grateful for a rip...

Re:Broken Game?

[hiroshi912681]

forget it, the game is a mess... it's just plain awful.

it's just overhyped by the person who posted the article. it's not really controversial, and it's not a decent adventure game by any standard. it's not even an interesting experience. the author of the game should have at least made SOME effort in selecting better images to steal.

the game would have made a much better text adventure. even then, it'd still just be a really cheesy game done by some goth wannabe.

maybe next year if they group together another bunch of bad games, and have a category named "most controversial"... maybe a pokemon game will win for being the most violent

this game sucks, don't download it, don't touch it... it's not worth your "30 minutes"