Sometimes I get into certain gaming "moods". By this I mean I crave a certain kind of game, and lately when I'm not working on beating Assassin's Creed 3, I pick up various indie games I have come across.
Through various sources, I found Kickstarter-funded games that had a lot of heart and dedication. For those who don't know, Kickstarter is a website that allows people to propose a project and have visitors back them monetarily. Usually, when these projects are backed and an alpha/beta build is ready, backers have access to it. When I realized how creative some of these developers were, I proceeded to back and follow three of them.
It was during this indie binge that I realized what a wonderful community these types of games can have behind them. One of the games I followed was a voxel-based game called Timber and Stone. It follows the basis of other building games such as resource gathering and base building and adds its own mechanics and personality.
While still being in beta, listing features may prove to be difficult as they may change but the fans of the game often talk in the forums, discussing new builds of the game, helping each other with strategy and even suggesting new additions to the game. The most interesting part is that Robert Reed, the sole developer of the game, often seeks the community's input and interacts with them a great deal through the forums and website like Reddit and Twitter.
The most interesting thing about games starting on Kickstarter is the vast difference between fans of these indie games and fans of the mainstream gaming market. While Robert's game had developed more-or-less on schedule, many games I have followed have had minor setbacks and the developer(s) would address the fans directly, apologizing and promising a polished game in return for their patience. There were very few negative reactions in most cases and even words of encouragement from the community, as if it were their job to support their beloved indie developer. This was certainly a refreshing sight compared to the pitchforks gamers get when a mainstream game gets delated. A particular example that comes to mind is Star Wars: The Old Republic as it was delayed and every mention of a later release date was followed by cranky gamers threatening to get a refund on their pre-order.
Self-entitled nerds aside, stay tuned for more indie-gaming talk as I post during the week and maybe you'll find a game or two you'd like to follow!
Stay Toasty!
No comments:
Post a Comment