So… Indiecade was a while ago. I’m quite ashamed to be releasing this so long after, but hey I’ve been busy so quit judging me, me. This post ended up being so long, and it was taking me so long to write, that I decided to take Katie Leone’s advice and split it up into a series. The games are not listed in order of how much I loved them, but in order that I played them. I’m going to write about 16 games in total, so I guess that’ll mean four posts. Whew!
I had such an amazing time; everyone there was so nice and inclusive and supportive and excited and happy… I spent the entire weekend with a perpetual smile. My jaw was in pain there, at the end. It was a giant glob of people who love games coming together to celebrate games. It was great. I will most certainly be going back. Anyway, I just thought I should give a shoutout to some of the games that I played. I’m sad I didn’t get to more booths, but I’m grateful that I got to see as many amazing games as I did. If you know anyone considering going to the festival next year, definitely suggest they do it!
Note: I am not a game critic. I play games, and I get excited about games. Prepare for gushing, not invested inspection and critique.
Ever wanted to read a comic book, but with the ability to rearrange the panels so you could change flow of the story and the outcome of the protagonist? Probably not. That’s incredibly specific. However, that doesn’t change the fact that being handed that ability turns out to be incredibly fun. And I bet those of you that have had that dream just got pretty excited. Or weirded out. I’m not reading your journal, I promise. This grungy film-noir styled puzzle game gives you a sequence of events presented in graphic novel format, and your task is to arrange the panels in such a way that you accomplish your objective. I didn’t play long enough to get a full sense of the story, but it seemed that I was a shady character trying to escape the Coppers. I’d like to think I was a daring vigilante combating a corrupt police system, but that’s very likely not the case. Art looked nice, puzzles were clean, and I’d really like to play it some more to get a sense of the story.
This isn’t the first time Never Alone has come up in our various BTA endeavors, and I certainly hope it won’t be the last. I’ve spent the last couple months hearing amazing things about the game, and I’m so happy that I finally got a chance to play it! Never Alone is a wonderful example of what amazing stories we could bring forward if we spent more time working with cultures and listening to their stories instead of appropriating them. The game was built in partnership with the Alaskan Native community, and it’s story is inspired by Kunuuksaayuka: “The story of an endless blizzard that threatens the survival of our people. A story of a dangerous and cold journey at the top of the world. A story of bravery and true friendship“. Not only is the game gorgeous, but contains videos of the Iñupiaq community sharing their wisdom, stories, and perspectives. Seriously, this game is definitely one to look out for. Learn about a culture, experience some gorgeous game art inspired by the Alaskan wilderness, all while playing a fun game! Oh, did I mention that it can be played co-op, and player two is an adorable Arctic Fox?
This game represents something absolutely amazing going on with gaming industry right now. In my opinion. This, and a few other games I saw over the weekend, show us exactly how accessible game development is now, and how quickly and easily an idea can be applied and brought to life as an interactive art piece. Not to say that the developers of these and other similar games aren’t exceptional human beings (seriously, they’re badass) but these and other Game Jam pieces were taken from concept to completion in just a few short days not only due to the sheer awesomeness of their creators, but due to the ease and accessibility of game development tools. The ability to make a game about beating barbies together awkwardly to figure out how sex works without having to do a cost benefit analysis or worry about losing money on the project opens up amazing avenues for prototyping games, or just creating nonsense that might shine light on crazy new perspectives of gameplay. If you didn’t catch it before, this game is about a girl who is, as we all were in our youth, curious about sex while still being pretty ignorant about it. While your mom is out, you take two of your barbies and maneuver them together in various configurations, trying to figure out how it works. Playing this game at a convention with people around was a hilarious experience, as I couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed mashing the naughty bits of two dolls together in an effort to ‘do sex better’. I’m not sure if it had any intention of making its players look inward and take inventory on how we feel about sex; but I got the impression that it almost forced you to do so. I asked one of the developers what sort of reaction she got from other attendees, and though I got the impression that feedback was overall great, there were apparently a few that were miffed and/or offended. I guess you can’t please everyone.
Gonna put this out there, I really thought I’d be biased toward this game because a friend of mine helped with the audio for it. However, I can say with 100% certainty that I would have fallen in love with it anyway. Not only because I’m an idiot-bucket who forgot to even put the headphones on for a few moments when I first played it (sorry Akash) but because it’s precisely the kind of game that I enjoy. Leaving aside for the moment its gorgeous art style, it boasts a really clean action-RPG gameplay that certainly doesn’t hold your hand. I watched many warriors fall at the hand of this game while waiting in line to play it. Levels require planning and dexterity–you can’t always just run screaming into a room, slashing about with your sword until everything is dead. You’re equipment is limited to a sword, a gun, and a scant handful of lives. Lives that are pretty easy to burn through, mind you. Like the super fun Zelda days of old, playing is about knowing your enemy’s patterns, and using the tools at hand wisely. Back to that art style though… *DROOL*. Seriously. Go to the site and check out the screenshots, ’cause though I really want to, I’m not going to post them all here. The color scheme is bright and amazing without taking away from the dark broodiness of the game (seriously, how the fuck even?) and the animations, especially dem’ sword swings, turn jagged pixels into smooth liquid blooms of amazing. To be fair, though, I have a pretty bad hard-on for anything sporting good pixel art. Oh, and that audio? Yeah, I’m probably biased. But I’m also fascinated by how important sound is to weapons, and the sound design led to a couple enthusiastic conversations later that day about the game’s ‘pew pews,’ with tasty words like ‘crunch’ and ‘impact’ and ‘zzrrrts.’ The music was delightful and kept me locked into that strange dark and uncertain place, and might be precisely how they pulled off making such a bright game feel so dark. Keep an eye out for this one. Many of Indiecade’s games stood out because they were messing with new mechanics, trying a new way of storytelling, or just flabbergasting you with weirdness. Hyper Light Drifter’s oldschool, clean gameplay and visuals may have made it stand out less in this respect, but it’s still definitely in my top games for the show.
Sunday Night, one of my favourite indie game developers hosted an after-party at his home. Turns out when he throws a party, he does it well. I got the impression that the entirety of Indiecade was there at this house, and I was overcome with a level of euphoria I’ve rarely felt. Everyone I talked to there worked in or around game development and was incredibly nice and interesting to talk to. As things wound down, a few of us sat on the rooftop balcony (including Mr Gatsby himself) chatting late into the night. As a good percentage of the group was musically inclined (myself not included), a smattering of various vocal music performances broke out (including some Tibetan throat singing), leading up to and concluding with an enthusiastic performance of ‘Be a Man’ from Mulan, sung by (seemingly) every single one of us. Others on the rooftop stared (and possibly judged). I’d like to think they were impressed by our obvious level of awesomeness.
