Everyone’s playing Minecraft these days, so here’s a scene that might be familiar. I’ve built my sweet cliff-side villa and I want to go exploring. The thing is, getting lost is easy when the world is made of blocks. I want to make a monument—an unnatural landmark—so that I can always find my way back [...]
All posts in category Indie Games
Skinny Stone Tower of Babel
Posted by kentsutherland on November 8, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/11/08/skinny-stone-tower-of-babel/
Do I control your body or your mind?
I’m going to talk about Loved now. If you haven’t played it, you should go fix that. It won’t take long. I believe that all games require trust. When we start playing a game, we form a pact with it. To some extent we’re giving ourselves to that game—we’re allowing it to affect the way [...]
Posted by kentsutherland on July 11, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/07/11/do-i-control-your-body-or-your-mind/
Indies already won. Like, years ago
Congratulations, Indie Games! I have good news! The news is: you have already won the battle against AAA commercial games. On several very meaningful levels, the results of the struggle are obvious. You are victorious. It is time to wipe the froth off your beard, relax, and drink some delicious mead out of Bobby Kotick’s [...]
Posted by lauramichet on July 11, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/07/11/indies-already-won-like-years-ago/
Dying in Space
I failed to restore oxygen to the moonbase. It was devastating, at first. I knew that I was going to fail long before the moment actually came—by the time I had about 8 minutes left, I was pretty sure that the end wasn’t going to be pretty. I put it down to my inability to [...]
Posted by lauramichet on July 7, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/07/07/dying-in-space/
A Palmful of Guilt
The sun rises around 6 am and that’s when it starts to come full force. Something about the hazy pink morning light strikes the perfect chord of misery. The mouse in my hand is a palmful of guilt, guilt, guilt, and my fingers clatter on the keys like the legs of a spider. It’s Final [...]
Posted by kentsutherland on May 9, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/05/09/a-palmful-of-guilt/
PAX Indie Showcase
Nestled in the center of PAX East’s enormous expo floor, between AAA game demos and hardware booths, were two low rows of tables crowded with widescreen monitors and laptops. This was the Boston Indie Showcase, a collection of six games from Boston-area independent developers, selected from a pile of submissions. Their prize was exhibition space, [...]
Posted by kentsutherland on May 1, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/05/01/pax-indie-showcase/
Garrysmod anthropologically
Our podcast on griefing and countergaming, and the response to the shownotes, got me thinking about in-game communities and how we police them. What’s the best kind of game community—the one where the players make the rules and ‘police’ themselves, or one where empowered community watchmen—GMs, forum moderators, and the like—control, censor, and organize interaction? What [...]
Posted by lauramichet on April 27, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/04/27/garrysmod-anthropologically/
Let’s come up with excuses for why I die in Spelunky
You’ve played Captain Forever, right? If you have, you’ve picked up the drips and slivers of its story. Despite its neon graphics and cheekily deadpanned flavor text, it’s secretly a soul-crippling tale of sacrifice and cyber-horror! Hooray! Captain Forever is a trapped pilot doomed to fly forever in a kamikaze ship that reassembles itself after [...]
Posted by lauramichet on April 19, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/04/19/lets-come-up-with-excuses-for-why-i-die-in-spelunky/
Second Person Shooter at PAX East!
Laura and I are going to be perusing the games, panels, and booths of PAX East for the next few days. If you’re going to be there, let us know! Here are a few of the panels we’re excited for: Storytelling in the World of Interactive Fiction Text adventures have been quietly experimenting with narrative [...]
Posted by kentsutherland on March 25, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/03/25/second-person-shooter-at-pax-east/
Galcon Fusion is good times, some of the time
The gulf between multiplayer and singleplayer Galcon is like the gulf between an adorable puppy and a dead puppy that is already rotting. Actually, that’s very unfair. But there is a huge divide. In my opinion, this iPhone-game-turned-PC-clickyfest is practically only worth playing on multiplayer. Multiplayer, particularly the team multiplayer, is a strategy-rich experience; the [...]
Posted by lauramichet on March 16, 2010
http://secondpersonshooter.com/2010/03/16/galcon-fusion-is-good-times-some-of-the-time/
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