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."

Comments

Google Caches

[Anonymous Coward]

Since the server is already getting crushed:

2005 Awards

2004 Awards

Didn't take long to die

[MasterDirk]

cache available at (no pics, it seems) http://www.gametunnel.com.nyud.net:8090/articles.p hp?id=412

Enemy Territory

[Fusen]

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

Re:Enemy Territory

[Osty]

Aside from being released almost three years ago (hey, it's 2006!), ET doesn't exactly qualify as an "independent" game. It was published by Activision, and would've been commercial if all the factors had lined up properly.

Just for clarification, "independent" != "free". The games on the list may have demos available, but most (if not all) of them will cost you $10-$20 for the full version. That's still better than $50-$60 you'll pay for a commercial game, but it's definitely not free.

Mirrors

[Anonymous Coward]

• 2004 page
• 2005 page

Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 2.0).

Where are the physics based games?

[vitalyb]

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.

Games from last year available on Xbox 360

[Osty]

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.

Re:Games from last year available on Xbox 360

[Sparr0]

And it will, because no other independent game developer has any clue how those 3 got their hands on dev kits.

Quick list:

[B5_geek]

10) New Star Soccer 3
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. html

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 /Windows NT/2000/XP
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_wor lds/1.htm

1) Oasis
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
http://www.oasisgame.com/

Darwinia

[CowboyBob500]

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

Apologies on the server...

[cyrus_zuo]

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

Re:My favorite of the bunch...

[Avogadro65]

I agree.

I played the demo of Darwinia sometime a while back when it was shown on TechTV, and enjoyed it then. When I saw it pop up on Steam recently, I downloaded it again and was pleased to see that the controls were much improved (you used to have to draw mouse gestures to run programs, and you used to have to aim both sides of a dish to cross open water). I haven't purchased the full version yet, but at $20, I may just have to.