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2005 Independent Game of the Year Awards
cyrus_zuo writes "For anyone looking for something different Game Tunnel presents the 2005 Independent Game of the Year awards. Game Tunnel's list of
the Top 10 Independent
Games of the Year covers gaming from a different angle, looking at the
Independent and the Innovative. The awards also include the best of each genre
as well as technical categories. Last year's results are still available."
2005 Awards
2004 Awards
I really wasn't thrilled with any of thoose, it almost seems like a flash back to early games.
Looks like it was slashdotted already.
cache available at (no pics, it seems) http://www.gametunnel.com.nyud.net:8090/articles.p hp?id=412
"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."
Enemy Territory isn't mentioned much as its a free game but even though it was released mid 2003 it is still in the top 10 most played games according to gamespy and also has a huge fan following with mods still being updated and tournaments still running for the compeition side, I'd recommend people give it a go. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfenstein:_Enemy_Te rritory
Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 2.0).
"Last year's results are still available."
They might still be spinning around on the server's disk, but they're not going anywhere for a while.
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.
If you're lucky enough to have a 360, you can play both Outpost Kaloki (original, 360) and Wik: Fable of Souls (original, 360. Mutant Storm (original on Windows, Mac, and Linux, 360, original Xbox Live Arcade), the winner from 2002, is also available on 360 and was available on Live Arcade on the original Xbox as well. On the 360, these games go for $5-$10 (400-800 Points, where 80 points ~= $1), and Mutant Storm is $9.99 on Xbox. Compare that to $20 for the PC versions of Mutant Storm and Outpost Kaloki.
Since it's slashdotted, if you want to check out some other indie games, check out my game Funky Farm. I also have several other great indie games on there you might dig.
10) New Star Soccer 3
. html
/Windows NT/2000/XP
r lds/1.htm
System Requirements: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
http://www.newstargames.com/
9) DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold
System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, Linux, Mac OS X
http://www.caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/JtRH
8) Professor Fizzwizzle
System Requirements: Windows or Linux, Mac OS X
http://grubbygames.com/
7) Darwinia
Windows 98/XP/2000, Linux, Mac
http://www.darwinia.co.uk/
6) Democracy
Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP
http://www.democracygame.com/
5) Mexican Motor Mafia
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
http://www.scienceoftomorrow.com/mmm_main.htm
4) Tribal Trouble
MacOS X / Linux
http://tribaltrouble.com/
3) Zombie Smashers X2
DirectX 8+
http://www.totallyscrewed.net/newsite/home.htm
2) Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/digital_eel/weird_wo
1) Oasis
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
http://www.oasisgame.com/
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
When posting this, there were only 21 comments total... And yet not only the primary sites, but the Google caches and mirrors were Slashdotted.
Maybe I can come back and read this tomorrow under "Old News".
DOwnloaded the demo, and after 20 tries, a game is always: run around until you meet the first enemy who will kill you dead in 10seconds.
I managed ONCE to get a chance encounter that actually didnt kill me...
Am i something missing or is this really like elite 1 20 years ago, only 20times more retarted and with worse graphics?
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Apparently non-profit FLOSS games such as Battle for Wesnoth (released their 1.0 last year) aren't independent enough...
I can't tell if any of these games were on last years list, but the Avernum and Geneforge game lines by Spiderweb Software deserve honorable mentions. I live for these games! The game play is excellent, the development of characters is fun, and the plot and background of the games are the most original I've ever seen in fantasy RPGs. Jeff Vogel spent time creating whole new worlds. Hats off to Jeff! I salute you with Demonslayer raised high!
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
I just compared the 2004 list with the one from 2005:
For 2004, only ONE title (Gish) was listed as supporting Mac and Linux. In 2005, there are no less than FOUR.
I wonder if this means that more titles overall are being released for these platforms.
I've started playing Trash, an indie RTS game that came out a few months ago. I think its targetted at Starcraft fans, but has some nice, elegant game mechanics I haven't seen elsewhere that are very cool.
Check it out here: http://www.inhumangames.com/
Here's some stuff off the site:
Dec 27. Trash earns Game Tunnel's 2005 Multiplayer Game of the Year Award!
Dec 6. Indie gaming news site Game Tunnel gives Trash a 9 out of 10!
Nov 12. German language site rebell.net gives Trash's multiplayer 80/100.
Oct 29. Trash gets 4 out of 5 in review at upallnightgaming.com. "Trash puts the fun in RTS"
Your signatures belong to me.
I'm surprised this nyud.net fad has survived this long. Usually when the original site is dead, nyud.net is just as dead. Why do people bother with Coral?
(Please browse at -1 to read this comment.)
To be honest I wasn't too impressed with the screenshots of Darwinia, but one day being bored of playing Day of Defeat:Source I downloaded the demo of Darwinia. I was instantly sucked in. I am not too high on the startegy game genre, but found Darwinia to be a 'just fun' game. After finishing the demo I was left with a craving for more and have not regretted it one bit. Darwinia is hands down my #1 pick.
We're all hypocrites. We all have hidden parts, it's the contrast between them that make us more a hypocrite than others
Just checked the game out, looks nice, but it looks I can only play one turn? That doesn't really allow me to get a feel for the game.
Took me longer to download the demo than actually to install and play.
Only number 7? I've enjoyed this more than any other game I've bought in 3 or 4 years including the real biggies such as HL2, Doom 3 etc etc. Yeah it could be longer - but there are mods and rumours of a multiplayer coming soon.
This game is sadly overlooked, and although independent it blows away the competition in terms of gameplay. And yes, I have the boxed version, even though Valve took pity on the devs and released it over Steam to give it a US audience.
Bob
Listen to my latest album here
They probably didnt see being written up on slashdot coming - server down.
Why would you trust a testimonial when choosing hosting?
...if my favourite game made the list: "Let's Slashdot this server". Seems like it did!
Cheers,
RoadkillBunny
Thomas and the Magic Words. It's one of those game ideas that's so simple and cool I wish I'd throught of it :).
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
We actually spent MANY hours trying to be ready for this type of traffic, but apparently fell short :(.
There is a pseudo mirror of the article and website here: http://gt.independentscore.com/articles.php?id=412
Angband is not on the list? The author must be from the Windows dimension, the one I refer to as Dimentia.
Seriously though, Angband is great,a modernized descendant of the old Unix "Rogue." If you think you are a tough, hardcore gamer, Angband will humble you thoroughly in short order.
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
"Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back..."
Okay, I tried smoking a kipper but it just wouldn't light. Is there a howto for this?
I was thinking that inhaling a burning fish sounds pretty odd, but then inhaling burning plant is rather odd too when one thinks about it. So I started thinking about other things one could smoke but decided to stick with plants after the flashing image of myself with a burning gerbil between my lips. And spare me the Tom jokes, please.
Happy New Year from Boise, Idaho
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
Hum, I surprised to see that Darwinia didn't rank higher on their list... It is an excellent game, but I guess I will need to try out everything above it to really tell.
Ryan - http://www.thecosmotron.com/
It was just released last month, but I'm sad to see that Minions of Mirth was overlooked for this list. It is an incredible achievement for the indie community. The two person team managed to create an incredibly engaging MMORPG. The game runs on PCs and Macs. Check out the press release or just download the demo (links on the front page).
--Nycto
FOSS games seldomly fall into a single year and almost never get a final release
Neither does Madden NFL, which gets annual updates just like any automobile does.
My favorite game this past yeat, by far was Microsoft Studio's award winning "Blue Screen of Death". It seems like I wouldn't get more than 5 minutes of work done before I was compelled to play it until my computer rebooted itself!
My friend keeps talking about some penguin slalom game, but how good could something thats free be? Hell, I paid $125 to get Blue Screen of Death, and I'll be damned if I won't take advantage of it.
No Cave Story? These games couldnt even hold a candle to that game. Oh well.
Why isn't he on this list??? His indie Battlecruiser series, now renamed Ultimate Fighting Championship, are the greatest ever, with secret AI goodness! Hell, the man has a PhD! These games by high school dropouts are nothing compared to the masterpieces that have been in development for years! His flamewar was the greatest online game for years - it's time his software was recognized too! Aaaaaahhhhhh!
The big question is how many of these games run on Linux ? And I am not talking of running them using emulation like Wine. But natively. Me being a linux user, will start buying them when they start supporting linux .
Linux Help
for all things on Linux
Almost all of what Chronic Logic offers is good. Also PopCap and Urbansquall offer plenty of fun and excitement.
It's nice to see great games made with Java getting recognition. Now if only more people would pick it up.
DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold has a native Linux version. A FreeBSD version and a Mac version are also in the works. Go to http://www.caravelgames.com/Articles/Games_2/Downl oadJtRH.html to download Windows, Linux, or Mac demos.
No Time....playing Pirates II ...can't stop
These games are all or mostly non-gratis and non-free games. I'd be far more interested in the top 10 list of free-software games. Even if they're not stellar games, at least I can play them for free and without having to deal with the ever tempermental WINE. Having source code adds much more potential fun too once I start getting bored with the game (loads of cheating and modding opportunities).
Dangerous Vaults 2 - http://nearfatal.net/
Darwinia is amazing, but I'm sad that my ATI Mobility-equipped laptop (which can handle Battlefront II) won't run it.
And I could have sworn it was winning Independent Game of the Year awards in 2004 - I must admit it gets me a little negative on the scene.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
Derek Smart only appears if you say "Derek Smart" three times. Otherwise it's not worth the attention of Derek Smart.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
Ditto ..and I'd love to play it (buy it) on my Mac. :)
Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.
I'm surprised not to see this one. In development by three blokes in the UK and distributed via their website (not free, but well worth the 24 quid), this online multiplayer-focused game competes with big-money racing simulations (and comes out on top in many aspects). www.liveforspeed.net
TFA doesn't quite "get" DROD. It is a pure puzzle game with a tongue-in-cheek premise ("Deadly Rooms of Death") and a surreal background. The community is a big part of the fun. Most of the entertainment value comes from community created "holds", not just the hold that comes with the game.
The game runs on Windows and Linux. A Mac version is on the way. Demos are available.
If you do buy the game, be sure to get a CaravelNet subscription as well. Being able to see how other players solved a room adds an suprising amount to the game. (Well, at least I was suprised.) The other benefits are also worth-while. The extra cost for a CaravelNet account may seem like
(Greeting cries of the American Nerd.)
Angband? Angband Angband! angangangBAND Angband Angband! (beats chest)
Nethack! NETHACKHACK Nethack! NetHACK! (makes threatening gesture with found stick)
Angband! Angband! (slinks off into woods)
NetnetHACKnet. Nethack. (sits in clearing, preens, looks in vain for females)
(another approaches) Er... Diablo?
(Nethack becomes enraged, Angband returns from woods, and the two team up to rip the third to deserving shreds)
Okay, here's the thing.
When you install a game to your hard drive, that usually takes a while. It fills up a good chunk of space, especially with some games. Then, you start playing, and just when it starts getting good, [TIME LIMIT EXCEEDED PLUNK DOWN CASH FOR MORE]. Then you have to buy it or uninstall it, which also takes a while, and unless the uninstaller is very well made can leave cruft in your registry.
At this point, the player is usually pretty pissed at the short period of the demo. So it would really help if the game cost, say, five dollars less?
The games I see here go for between $17 to $30, with most in the $20-25 range. The way I see it is, these games' prices are approaching, but are not QUITE at the point yet, where they're more compelling than commercial titles for their prices.
Honestly, I would love to be able to buy the lot of these things for $60 or even $70, then I'd be able to just download the lot of them and explore 'em at my leisure, but instead it'd probably be more like $240. Most of the games here are the sort that encourage play and exploration rather than dominating your free time for weeks, so that makes a kind of sense -- you don't buy them to experience a world, you buy them to play.
That's GOOD, I enjoy play-type games a lot more especially as commercial games slowly tune themselves into the NASCAR and Brittany Spears "wow that looks cool" wavelength that I find anathema (no, I don't AT ALL care that your character has a chain weapon called "the Daggertail"), but play is not something most people can bring themselves to shell out that kind of money for unless its fairly easy to get and extract. Which I think harms games that expect the same kind of install as Mr. Big Budget Commercial Release.
As proof of my premise, I present to you the phenomenon of the Flash game. Doesn't take forever to install, doesn't usually suck your soul out through the computer monitor, usually cheap or free, and they're becoming huge. That's what indie gaming needs, to be huge, huge enough that people don't think buying something that amounts entirely to bits with no physical media over the Internet is overpriced.
An' that's my show-and-tell report for today.
Battalion rules! It got some votes for the players choice indie game of the year! At least it deserves an honorable mention! http://www.urbansquall.com/
Want to know the worst thing about this? The Casual Game of the Year award. It's full of match-three puzzles and very little else. I'm pretty sure that there were more exciting casual games than that out there last year, starting with Jewel Thief, for example.
Suttree, a weblog about casual games development