Independent Adventuring Leads To New Horizons

Thanks to DIY Games for its column discussing the state of freely downloadable independent PC adventure games for July. The author raves: "I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say that July was by far the best month for independent adventure gaming this year", and goes on to profile titles such as A Very Special Dog ("You play a German shepherd with the task to save a life and find the culprit... you'll sniff objects, bark at people or lick them, all in order to successfully complete the game") and Apprentice II: The Knight's Move ("top quality independent gaming... [with] a very deep story and great character development.") Talking of character development, I'm afraid this is my (simoniker's) last ever Slashdot story post. Read on for details... Firstly, thanks to everyone who's helped make Slashdot Games (as well as my work on the Slashdot main page) a pleasure to edit over the past 18 months (and 3000+ posts) or so. It's been a wonderful experience, and I'm really going to miss it. Unfortunately, this is the final story I'll be posting, since I'm off to videogame trade site Gamasutra.com, which I've written for fairly extensively in the past, to take up a managing editor position.

I believe there will be an announcement about a new Slashdot Games editor reasonably soon. However, I'm sure the other editors will pick up some of the slack in the interim, so hang in there, everyone. In the meantime, please inundate the submission bin with stories about obscure Japanese console re-issues, why the Infinium Phantom is going to trounce the Megaton, and why the Reggielution is absolutely, positively going to be televised. Later, all.

Comments

Free adventure gaming

[Nomihn0]

Any month in which a single game worth playing is released for free is a good month. That said, the good folks over at Hack'n'Slash are on their way to delivering. Check it out here. Admittedly, it is an action rpg, not really an adventure game - but I figure that it would appeal to a similar crowd.

Re:Free adventure gaming

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Can't believe that no one has mentioned Peasant Quest. Joke or not, one of the funnest games I've played in years.

Add this to the pile...

[Axem]

You'll be missed simoniker. Ever since the games section has introduced on Slashdot, it was my most regularly checked section of the site (aside from the main page of course ;-)).

I gave up on reading IGN, and gamespot a long time ago. Way too many ads, flash elements, and sponsored garbage. But here, it was much easier to digest. Thanks for making it so enjoyable, and good luck on your new job. =)

PS I think it needs to be said that this color scheme is my favourite (No joke).

That would be incorrect

[Midnight Ryder]

Now, how can it be used in "NON-FREE COMPUTER GAMES" if its under the terms of the GPL? Doesn't the GPL force any derived work to be freed whether it wants to be or not?

You missunderstand the GPL. I can, with no problems, create a game that utilizes a GPL based engine, but copyright the content that makes up the game. Sure, the engine can be reused at will, and I do have abide by the terms of the GPL (making all of my programming changes available to PURCHASERS. Note that word - purchasers can redistribute it to non-purchasers, but I can choose to only make the source available to anyone who I provide a binart yo.) But the content? That CAN (your option) be strictly copyrighted material. Check the GNU site for more information on the subject.

Re:Peasant's Quest!

[Alkaiser]

Seriously. Peasant's Quest was WAY cool and free...and somehow totally ignored by the article.

http://www.netjak.com/review.php/668

What's extra cool is how the guys at HSR kept updating the game. =) Try making friends with Kerrek now.