Getting in the Indie Scene

Recently, I have had the most fortunate opportunity to interview some people who are in the games industry around the Austin area. I had a great time talking with Jason Hughes and Billy Cain (and if you are reading this, thanks again, and thanks for reading my blog! :D). I had great insights into the video game industry, and got a lot of great advice. I also had fun riding a bus for 4-6 hours (round trip) to see Mr. Hughes and eating great food at Juan in a Million with Mr. Cain. Unforgettable experiences!

I am also starting to get more involved with the indie community in Austin. I went to Pax Britannica. However, I can't get it to run on my computer for some reason, so I can't play it. I would recommend checking it out though, it's really cool!

There were also a couple of interesting ideas presented, and one that stuck with me was "Productivity Hour", which was this idea that you should work on personal indie game projects every day for only an hour. So far, it seems to have positive results as I've made a lot of improvements to my games Math God and Asterble. I'll be posting them soon this upcoming Thanksgiving Break. They're not very interesting though; I made them to improve my programming skills, so the games aren't terribly exciting. I'm going to work on making something interesting next time.

Some other Indie games I've been playing, and what I think about them:

Nitronic Rush - (7/10) An interesting racing game, and something that isn't really fun to play without an xbox 360 controller. I kind of wish they added multiplayer support for it; when I brought it to the EGaDS game night tonight, only one person could play at a time. What's really interesting about this game is that it's claimed to have been written from scratch by students without using an engine. That's amazing! It also reminds me of Tron.

Blocks that Matter - (5/10) I think I've been playing puzzle games too much, because I got rather bored playing this game (I liked SpaceChem more). That, and most games in the Indie Humble Bundle are largely puzzle-oriented games. The story is pretty funny though and there are some interesting puzzle mechanics. Overall though, I feel like I'm just playing another variation of a puzzle game.

SpaceChem - (8/10) I personally find this game to be amazing, but when I think about it, it must be because I like to program. That's what this game is largely about. It's about programming rectors, which are basically functions, to output results that you want. There are all sorts of restraints that get in the way too, so it's not as easy as it sounds. It gets really hard really fast though, which put me off from playing it.

There are a bunch of other games I played in the Humble Bundle, and I liked quite a few of them. I just went ahead and listed some of the ones I've been playing recently.

See ya next time!