What are Reddit's favorite Platform Game Apps?
Cave Story (Dokutsu Monogatari)
Mari0
Spelunky
Super Meat Boy
N : The way of the Ninja
Risk of Rain
Shovel Knight
Ori and the Blind Forest
Celeste
Knytt Stories
Hollow Knight
Cuphead
Limbo
Frogatto & Friends
Rogue Legacy
Inside
Trine
Secret Maryo Chronicles
SuperTux
VVVVVV
Badland
Super Mario Run
Castlevania The Lecarde Chronicles
Nikki and the Robots
Sonic Robo Blast 2
Rayman
Alex the Allegator
Dead Cells
Capsized
Mega Man Rock Force
Metal Slug
Shank
MegaMan Unlimited
JVGS
PGE Project
Prince of Persia
Sonic The Hedgehog
Iconoclasts
Mega Jump
Top Reddit reviews mentioning Platform Game Apps:
CAVE STORY. Here's a link to the downloads, just pick the language that suits you. It's a great game, a classic indie made by one person in his spare time over the course of five years.
Edit: A lot of people are asking about this, so to clarify: this is the original version of the game. There are various paid versions floating around which are essentially remakes. You can find these on Steam, Wii, 3DS, and DSi. The steam version, Cave Story+, is probably one of the more popular versions. It includes updated graphics, difficulty levels, challenges, Curly Story, and more. None of these things are present in the original game. Oh, it also includes an updated soundtrack, but it's generally regarded as not very good. Luckily you can switch between original and updated in the settings. Anyway, if you like the free version, I'd ask you to please consider purchasing one of the many paid versions. They're usually about $10-15 USD. Support the dev, and all that.
CAVE STORY. Here's a link to the downloads, just pick the language that suits you. It's a great game, a classic indie made by one person in his spare time over the course of five years.
Came here to say this. Cave Story is one of my all time favorite games. Beautiful story, solid platforming, catchy sound track and an extra challenge for those that will seek it out. The whole game was developed completely by one talented person.
Here's the unofficial website with downloads:
Anyone else amazed that Mari0 hasn't been DMCA'd, yet? I get that it adds a lot of functionality thus making it way more "transformative" than a straight port, but you can also ignore the portal mechanics and play through the original Super Mario Bros in a near 1:1 port on modern PC's for free.
Definitely Spelunky.
There's the free (Windows only, I'm afraid) original version, and then a massively expanded version from Steam etc.
Procedural generation, nethack-style shops and what have you. I'd recommend it.
As tamekitty mentions they're likely quite fine as the game has been selling gangbusters.
If you are genuinely interested in donating, though, they do have a way to do that set up on their website.
Shovel Knight is the main character of his game, which was made thanks to a very successful Kickstarter campaign. It's another retro-styled indie game, except Shovel Knight is actually really really good.
People are voting for him for Smash because he's a unique character who would fit in the game well and because his game was prominently featured on Nintendo consoles (it was only on Wii U, 3DS, and PC at launch, and the PS4 and Vita versions were announced much later). Realistically he has no chance, but better odds than Goku at least.
Wait, what? There's going to be a new Meat boy game? I thought they said they wouldn't make a sequel.
Ninja Edit: It isn't a sequel. It's a touch based mobile remake. :( http://supermeatboy.com/120/smb_tg_update___toys_/
One of the Knytt Stories default stories is based around exploration. While there are power-ups, obstacles and a ultimate objective, a lot of effort was put into making an explorable world full of details.
If you're going from scratch, then even smaller than that, but that's the gist. Don't wait until you have a character model and a world to put it in. Render a sphere and a box, and when the user presses the direction keys have the sphere move in relation to the box. Something on that level of complexity. Obviously if you're starting from an already established library you can move up a few levels, but the idea is the same.
There was an awesome article written by Tommy from Team Meat a while back about how to start making a game. I'll just quote the relevant part, but the whole article is pretty good.
> Super Meat Boy started off as a quad with the image of Meat Boy on it. Mew-Genics started out as a black square that moved back and forth on the screen. Goo! started out as circles with smiley faces on them. “Game 2” started out as a vectorized image of the character in “Game 2”. Everything starts out at the very most basic level and builds up from there.
>...
>For a more detailed example, let me go through how SMB started. Once I had that quad with the MeatBoy image on it, I hooked up input so I could move it back and forth. After I played with that a little bit I made it so that when I pressed a button my Meat Boy quad would jump, then I worked on stopping him when he landed on a platform, then I worked on stopping him when it he a wall, then I made him stick to walls, then when he stuck to a wall and I hit a button he would wall jump, then if he hit a greensquare he died and so on and so on until the last line of gameplay code was written and Super Meat Boy was complete.
Looking at the source for Mari0 might help. The developer provides the source as a .love file, which is just a zip file with a changed extension. So just change the extension from .love to .zip and extract it.
Also, reading up on prototypal inheritance would be helpful if you're only vaguely familiar with it. It's the style of OO that Lua (and Javascript) uses.
If anyone hasn't played Cave Story yet: it's free, and you can download it here:
http://www.cavestory.org/download/cave-story.php
The steam version adds remastered music, some updated graphics, and more post-game content, but you won't miss out on the bulk of the game by playing the original free version.
Cave Story. It's just fun enough to play more than once.
EDIT (off mobile): You can download it for free, here! It's quite easy to install and it's an excellent game.
Might seem a bit trite, but Half-Life 2 is definitely an essential part of any PC gaming library.
On the other hand, if you're looking for something free, Cave Story is a classic.
Sad but true. I blame Spelunky.
Most gamers don't actually like real roguelikes, it seems. Being turn-based is a vital part of why I love them so much, though!
Upvote for Spelunky. That game is awesome. expect to die horribly everytime, & it gets less frustrating. I found out yesterday that there's a Jetpack :D ! (then I died on spikes D: )
Edit for link: http://www.spelunkyworld.com/
I really wish the game had gotten more attention and Bioware would make more titles with such dynamic combat mechanics instead of the tired RPG combat.
A platformer-roguelike crossover with randomly generated levels and with perma death it's as punishing as old school games.
I would recommend Cave Story. It's a neat little pixel art platformer game. The original version is free, although there is a Cave Story+ on Steam with updated graphics and a little extra content.
Cave Story is arguably one of the best games ever - the fact that it's indie is just icing on the cake.
EDIT: Key words: ARGUABLY ONE OF. I'm not implying that it's Game of the Millennium, but I definitely feel that it's up there with Super Mario World and the other legendary titles, and have spoken to many people that agree. Hell, beat the average on the bundle and judge for yourself, or download the original freeware release with fansubs.
EDIT2: The original freeware's theme song is also responsible for this amazing Fresh Prince mashup.
Trine 2 and the 'in development' Super Meat Boy 2 :) EDIT: cancel that I was completely wrong about the Super Meat Boy sequel and I don't know where I even got the idea that is was happening. My bad http://supermeatboy.com/52/No_SMB_2_/
that is Mari0 of which is still available today.. http://stabyourself.net/mari0/
the way i have seen nintendo act is they are fine with any fan made project, no matter its capacity.
however, if you put in a 'donate' button, then you end up like full screen mario, and if you put a 'buy now' button.. expect a call from their lawyers.
Laccnow
Lac c now
Lack Vitamin C Now
What does lack of vitamin C cause? Scurvy.
Where is scurvy mentioned most? Pirate movies.
Pirates use ships.
What's on those ships? Portholes.
Portholes.
Portals. Portal.
There were four Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
The last one wasn't as good. 4 - 1 = 3.
You think this means Portal 3 confirmed? Think again.
There's only two portals in single player and four in co-op.
They come in the colors blue, orange, red, and yellow.
Red + yellow = orange, and blue + yellow = green.
But there is no green portal.
Also blue + red = purple. There is no purple portal either.
Because purple isn't actually a color.
This means there's only importance in the lack of a green portal.
Where is something green that acts like a portal?
Mario's pipes.
But there is a game that combines Mario and Portal. Mari0.
M a r i 0
Marry 0
Marry no one.
THE FACT I AM NOT MARRIED TO ANYONE CONFIRMED.
Cave Story! Available here!
A GREAT platformer featuring a great story, multiple endings, satisfying weapons and an awesome soundtrack that is also available on the website!
Jep, Risk of Rain update 1.2.1 was just put on Steam which added Linux and Mac support.
http://riskofraingame.com/risk-of-rain-patch-v1-2-1/
They spent the last several months to port their game from Game Maker 8 to Game Maker Studio, which they just finished like a week ago. Perfect timing for Humble Indie Bundle 13 I guess.
Some interesting notes from the announcement: http://supermeatboy.com/158/Announcing_Super_Meat_Boy_Forever_/
Super Meat Boy: Forever will be released on Steam, tablets and mobile phones in 2015. They are just two months into development, but it's moving fast forward. The game is not a port of the original game, it'll be a totally new experience.
Will feature a full story that stretches over six chapters. It'll also double the amount of bosses compared to the first game.
The game is not an endless runner like Cannabalt, but it will feature an endless mode with online high scores and daily runs.
Will feature procedurally generated level structure that ensures that the level will change on each death. The game will also feature a dark world, dark warp zones and new playable characters.
The game will not feature any in-game purchases or other elements to cheapen the experience.
For those wondering about MewGenics it's currently on hold, they'll continue to work on the game once Super Meat Boy: Forever is released.
In my opinion it's one of those games that deserves full price. It doesn't have a great story but it manages to make you like the few and simple characters it has. Anyway anyone having doubts you can download the 8bit version for free to try it out http://www.cavestory.org/
FYI: Starting in spring 2017, the base game will go up in price on all platforms and the expansions will be sold as separate games so people can pick and choose how they want to play the campaigns. Directly from the FAQ: http://yachtclubgames.com/shovel-knight-treasure-trove-qa/. I would recommend buying the game now (I own the physical PS4 version and the Steam version) as all upcoming updates will be given free to all current owners of the game. Along with Body Swap mode, Battle mode, and the Specter of Torment expansion, there is another expansion planned for later in 2017. Even if you pay $20-$30 for the PS4 version of the game, the value you're getting here is astounding and Yacht Club Games should be commended for it.
LittleBigPlanet 1/2, the new Sam & Max games, the new Monkey Island games.. Knytt Stories is also an interesting low-key 2D platformer that's not overly difficult or punishing of failure and focused on exploration.
link to the freeware version of Cave Story.
link to the paid version of Cave Story on the Steam storefront.
The freeware version is the full game in its entirety and is 100% adequate, the paid version just has a few extra niceties. Everyone should have some Cave Story in their lives.
Please be aware: Cave Story+ is available on Steam/PC for a price.
You can legally obtain a free copy of the original Cave Story by downloading the game + translation patch from http://www.cavestory.org/download/cave-story.php
XCOM: EU or XCOM 2
Titan Souls
Reigns
Alien: Isolation
Hotline Miami
Race The Sun
Most roguelikes would be good too, like The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Dungeons of Dredmor, Nuclear Throne, Spelunky, etc. Spelunky has a free version you could try out.
For those who don't know, this is a game by Edmund McMillen.
With great games such as Super Meat Boy and The Binding Of Isaac: Rebirth.
Definitely! I've been using LOVE for a good 5 years now and I've never had any problems with speed, aside from some very shader-intensive games.
Just to list a two large games that use the engine - Mari0 and Move or Die.
To answer your questions as well:
1) GTA2 can be comfortably made in LOVE if you're a bit clever with the pseudo-3D.
2) How open-world are we talking about? There have been LoZ1 type open-world games made in LOVE before and I have made a Terraria clone a while back with infinite worlds and chunk saving and such, so it is entirely possible.
Just remember that LOVE does not handle anything except for the very basics for you - some tips for open-world games include only drawing things that are visible on the screen and using ECS. LOVE requires you to have a pretty good knowledge of how things are meant to work, not only from a gameplay perspective, but also from a technical perspective. If you're okay with that, then you're looking at an incredibly flexible and fast framework!
There's always the classic Team Fortress 2, which is free on steam.
Also I like to play Dota 2 and Heroes of Newerth on occasion.
Mari0, a spin on mario and portal, is also really fun to play. requires love 0.8 to play, so you can just do
sudo apt-get install love
If you're using ubuntu.
I've read cave story is a fantastic free single player game.
Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist http://store.steampowered.com/app/409160/
^ this one was interesting. really short though, like 25-30 mins of play.. though I get the feeling there was more to do based off everything left all over the game. I didnt do that. Its made by the same guys who did Stanley Parable. Its pretty neat.
Cave Story - Free
Platform: PC
Year: 2004
Genre(s): Platformer, Metroidvania
Multiplayer: No
Why you feel it's a good choice: It's free all the time, can run on pretty much anything made within the last fifteen years with a functioning processor, and is a great game overall that pretty much anyone can play.
This has been my goto game when people have asked me for good free games. There is now also a paid version with updated graphics and music as well as a new game mode iirc.
-I couldn't recommend Cave Story enough: http://www.cavestory.org/downloads_game.php (Don't forget to download the English patch)
-Any of Jason Rohrer's games.
-There are also some incredible indie games like Machinarium, Samorost, World of Goo, Minecraft etc. These aren't free, but are very cheap and very awesome.
The previous announcement for the upcoming update mentioned they're upgrading the engine, with the notable note of "Better performance (MUCH better. Actually-runs-the-final-level-at-60-fps better.)"
http://riskofraingame.com/blog-61714/ For the rest of that post.
It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I recommend Cave Story, a freeware Japanese platformer. It only takes 4-6 hours, but there's a lot of depth to the story, gameplay, characters, etc. It's known as one of the original "indie" games, if that sort of thing interests you.
PSA for anyone interested in Shovel Knight:
Starting tomorrow (March 2nd), the MSRP will increase to $24.99 and comes with the addition of the upcoming Specter of Torment and Treasure Trove DLC.
- All owners of the original game will get the new content free.
- If you purchase it today at $14.99, you will receive upcoming DLC free.
- Specter of Torment will arrive as a free update to Shovel Knight in April.
- These DLC's are title updates and do not show up as DLCs to purchase.
- Additional Q & A from Shovel Knight Developers
There's no deadline because there's no DLC! These campaigns are delivered as version updates to the game, so you don't have to download/claim/reserve anything from the eShop if you already own Shovel Knight on the system.
Hope that helps! For more, check out our FAQ here: http://yachtclubgames.com/shovel-knight-treasure-trove-qa/
Treasure adventure game. Amazing game by one person and it's free!
https://www.gog.com/game/treasure_adventure_game
Almost forgot about Knytt Stories! Also free and by one person. Highly recommend.
Yeah - some of the C-sides got changed to make them easier in the 1.2.6.0 update back in January. Most of them were pretty minor changes; 5C was by far the biggest.
This is Matt Thorson's reasoning for the change (from the Discord Server:
>I do think the c-sides were a bit too hard. They had the least testing of any levels in the game because I made them right at the end. I decided to address it before the new content because it will probably be gated behind the c-sides
http://www.cavestory.org/ The original version of the game is freeware so you can play through the whole thing and decide if you'd like it on the switch. Check it out for yourself to see if you enjoy it. I think Cave Story+ adds an updated soundtrack and graphics and a few new speed running levels. Even though it's one of my favorite games of all time it's hard to justify $27 when it's free on the PC
Played both original and +. Even if both were free I would still play the original because fps is different and it affects the game a bit.Also I prefer 16px tiles to 32 Download
Cave Story is a bit old, but it's considered to be a classic indie title that showed what one man could do. It's a 2D platformer/shooter/cave exploration that tries to recreate the 8-bit era of games with its (gorgeous) pixel graphics. Cave Story features the greatest level designs and story anybody will ever find. Great music too. If you haven't played it, you're missing out.
I also recommend playing without a guide for the first run, which is fairly easy, then playing with a guide for the second run, because there is a ton of content that can't be unlocked except for the extremely perceptive.
You can build great games using GM. It's slow when compared to other programming languages but it's much easier to use and comfortable.
Spelunky and Castle of elite are two of my favorite games ever and the authors used GM to create them.
All I"m seeing is that in 2011, they signed a development and distribution agreement with MGS. No details on the agreement itself.
Edit: Found it. The were an independant studio, the agreement they signed was them being bought by MS to become a 1st party studio.
From the Ori website:
>In 2011, Moon Studios became a Microsoft First Party Developer and is now working on Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
If you're looking to learn some x86, here's an excellent intro. It's probably the most straightforward, comprehensive intro guide I've found, and it's tons of fun to follow, too.
You haven't played Cave Story yet? Boy you've been missing out. It was one of the first indie games to ever make it big and it holds up great even today.
You can download the original game here for free: http://www.cavestory.org/download/cave-story.php
Or, if you'd like to support the creator, there's a remastered version with remixed music, better graphics, additional challenge levels and an entire different game mode available on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200900/
About a month ago, the devs posted on their website that although they've been busy with university and such, there is a new patch available through Steam's beta program.
It seems like it's just bug fixes and optimizations at the moment, but it shows they still are dedicated to the game.
The updates are free for people who own the game now. The complete package will be called "Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove". After the cutoff date, you will be able to buy Treasure Trove for the higher price, or buy the three individual games separately (Shovel Knight, Plague of Shadows and Specter of Torment). Specter of Torment will be $9.99. The other individual prices haven't been announced but I'm guessing they will be $9.99 as well, and they can go on sale from there.
You're wrong, this is on the newest patch (1.2.4.1), what has been patched out is the menu storage, which is not used in this run, as you can see, because this is on the newest patch. Also if you're curious what is patched and what is not you can see it in the official patch notes. Please first make research or just talk about things you're sure about.
Edit: http://www.celestegame.com/changelog.html
Here you have the changelog in case you can't find it.
You can make progress and save. It's not a roguelike, if you were led to believe that, it's a metroidvania game with a story. It's also great, everyone should play this game at least once. Since it was originally free (and still is, despite the enhanced paid re-releases), everyone can!
Cave Story 3D is a remake of the free PC indie game Cave Story, completely updating its graphics, remixing the soundtrack, and adding some changes to lower the difficulty, among other new features. There's also a paid remake on Steam that makes the graphics "HD" (but not completely overhauled like the 3DS version is), adds some of the newer features, includes the new soundtrack, and is much cheaper (you can wait for a Steam sale for as low as $2.50). In addition to that, there's a port of the regular old free version for sale on the eShop. Every version is the same in terms of gameplay and plot, though.
It's the general consensus that Cave Story 3D is inferior to the version with pixel graphics, with people making the arguments that it "loses its charm" or "doesn't feel right", but I think that's a load of bull, and also playing it without having ever played it before might be interesting coming from an unbiased point of view.
In my personal opinion, Cave Story is a straight-up masterpiece (though I'm sure this isn't the first time you've heard it), especially if you enjoy Metroidvania games. The gameplay and the storyline are timeless no matter how its presented. You should at the very least play the free version or the Steam version if not on the 3DS.
Second this! It's an absolutely fantastic game. Besides the art being a shining example of sprites, it has a solid story, smooth gameplay reminiscent of the 2d Metroids, ect ect... One playthough should take about four hours. I highly recommend you take the time to play through this gem!
Plus, it's free! Shareware to be precise. Download page here. Quick heads up; besides the main installer, you'll have to grab the language patch underneath.
Also, DAE lament Fire Emblem moving from sprites to realistic as greatly as I do?
Disclaimer: IANA Game Developer. A hobbyist, at best. But I also speak as a designer.
Pixel art is- surprise, just that- quite an art. Applying a mosaic filter to higher resolution assets shows, and often doesn't look good at all. The biggest problem modern developers have when going for that coveted 'retro look' is assuming blocky graphics = pixel art. Metal Slug sprites are gorgeous pieces of art that took a lot of expertise. There are many, many secrets to drawing something so tiny and making it look legible. I don't know those secrets. :( But I can share more about pixel art.
Most pixel art is scaled up 1x, 2x, or sometimes even 3x. Those Metal Slug sprites you shared are often either viewed on a low res screen, where a lower resolution makes the sprites show up larger (like on a MAME arcade screen), or blown up. Risk of Rain does this- you can choose to play the game at 1x, 2x, or 3x.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, you should start to examine how other pixel art is made, and it looks like you've started there. Sprites are the traditional way to go. No matter what you use, you need to stay consistent: You should only have one measurement that is 'one pixel,' one unit. Even if it means drawing a game window at 320x240 and upscaling it to, say, 640x480.
I'd suggest spending some time at 1600% zoom, figuring out how to draw legible lines (hint: you probably should never work at over a 1px pencil brush/line tool unless you're filling something in/drawing large lines) and using scale with the nearest neighbor/none option (Or else you will get fuzzy scaling) to see how your pixel art looks scaled up. You could also go for a style like kenney, but that might take a more sophisticated graphics package/a lot of brush and eraser tool.
Anyways... Hope that helped somewhat!
I've been addicted to Risk of Rainrecently. It's an action-platformer with rogue-like elements, has over 100 unique items, and has a binding of isaac feel. It has hat "Just one more Run!" feeling, where after you die you tell yourself that you can fit in just one more run. I've had runs which lasted a few minutes, and I've had other runs last up to forty minutes. Honestly, I'd say it ranks up there with Binding of Isaac and FTL for me. Fantastic game, and I'd highly recommend taking a look. http://riskofraingame.com/
Warioworld. Unless you previously have had a game released on a Nintendo device, you have to submit what you are using the development kit for and show examples. Also, Nintendo is pretty notorious on making you get a smaller game out before you get a green light on anything remotely controversial. Anyhow, this is just Team Meat trying to be provocative. It would not be the first time they had a game denied or removed under sketchy circumstances and raised a fuss about it.
Hey, I'm one of the handful of guys whose hobby is modifying the game's files.
Noxid (The guy who made Booster's Lab), has a standalone TSC editor you can find here, which would allow you to edit and overwrite the files without having to decrypt/re-encrypt, and it doesn't have all the tilesets and stuff you wouldn't need to mess with. The TSC files would get you the dialogue/inventory, but not the menu, map names or graphics. You would have to do the map names in Booster's Lab (or Cave Editor) since these are coded in the .exe file itself, the graphics using an image editing program (after you take out the coding that forces the special .pbm format and instead uses regular .bmp files), and the menu names would be changed using a hex editor or resource hacker.
Basically, we have everything you would need to edit all the strings fairly easily, if you are willing to learn to use a variety of tools to reach the locations of the scattered data.
Due note that the message box has a limit of 35 characters, and even less when a facepic is being shown. Depending on the language this might force you to add more text and therefore you will need to move around the <NOD commands which tell the game when to pause the text until the player uses a button to advance. You'll want to have them no more than every 3 lines or else the player won't be able to read them before they scroll off the page.
But uh, yeah you can hit me up I guess or ask over at this forum thread for questions regarding acheiving this momentous task. Wish you the best of luck.
Oh boy, I'm the guy to ask. I've played through all the versions of Cave Story on numerous platforms. Here's a list of the different versions. The first version I played was the DSiWare version on my DSi. When I traded my DSi in for a 3DS, I didn't do a system transfer for some reason so I repurchased the DSiWare version of Cave Story on my 3DS. When Cave Story+3DS (the eShop version) was released, the DSiWare version of Cave Story was removed from the eShop. So there are only two versions that you can buy at the moment for the 3DS - either Cave Story 3D (a retail-only game that has all the environments and characters remade into 2.5D models) or Cave Story+3DS (an eShop-only game that is like the original Cave Story+, which has some extra modes to play other than the story mode, such as time attack. Cave Story+3DS has 2D environments and characters, but there is a bit of a 3D effect, so there is a visible difference between the foreground and the background). Personally, I would go for Cave Story+3DS since it is cheaper, easier to get, and some people complain the 3D models of Cave Story 3D ruin the nostalgic feelings of the game. But Cave Story 3D is better if you've already played some of the other versions, also it has a bit of a novelty since it is hard-to-find. Copies of Cave Story 3D run for a lot of cash because it's out of print and it has a cool 3D effect on the cover of the game's box.
Why should anyone care about things like that? It's not an enjoyable game. I don't see how having one guy behind the project makes it okay for a game to suck.
Want a fantastic game made entirely by one guy? Play Cave Story.
EDIT: Seriously, play Cave Story.
Yacht Club said that you're not going to get Shovel Knight on Switch for free if you already own it on some other platform (source), so I don't think that will carry over.
The original and free version of Spelunky is super lightweight to download and also doesn't require Steam, personally love playing it since it uses ZXC AS whereas new Spelunky is ZX only, might be ZXC totally forgot.
Likewise, you can even download Cheat Engine to change life, ropes, and bombs to 99 and freeze the value at that for non-stop fun with bombs lol, you could even use the program for Borderlands and Borderlands 2 (yes, even in multiplayer lol)
Edit: to be clear, this is something I'd recommend to play on school computers, and for Work computers with closed internet and also no other devices allowed on-site the Dino Game Easter Egg is so good. welp for some reason it doesn't work.
Given the kind of games you've played and enjoyed (so called roguelites, like @WinterShine said), you may enjoy Spelunky. The original one is free and as good as the remake : )
This was part of oriblindforestshop.com which was the place for official merchandise. That shop has been shut down and replaced with https://www.orithegame.com/store/ where you will not find any shirts. So as far as I know, that particular one is no longer available.
Even games like Celeste introduce constraints into the art direction in order to give it a unified look and feel. Look at the snow around the first cabin. It only uses 5 colors. They could have easily applied some sort of shader or shadows that give it a much broader range but they didn't.
​
It's not about making the art "worse," it's about how limiting your output range to a clearly-defined box makes it easier to give the game a unified aesthetic look. This is how developers can create a game that looks like it was all made by the same artist even when that may not be the case.
It still takes talented artists to make good results within those constraints. Nobody is suggesting that removing colors from a finished piece is a magic formula that suddenly makes bad art "good."
He might not have been the cause of the Indie upswell post-2004, but I like to think so. Pixel was the first independent developer to put out something that could be unanimously be considered more enjoyable than most of the AAA games you found at retail. The game's client was under 1MB in size, which meant it could be sneezed onto any USB key (Even the shitty 64/128MB dongle you had lying around), or even put onto floppy disk (I used this to play on junk school computers with no USB ports).
It took me roughly over 21 hours of playtime to "complete" Cave Story, thanks to having to do multiple runs. That game was the most unexpected thing to come out that year, and had far reaching effects (Much like WoW and HL2/Valve during that time).
I agree with Cave Story. But you can find it here for free: http://www.cavestory.org/download/cave-story.php
Cave Story+ has new additions, but I've never gotten around to unlocking them all. If you're on the ropes, you could try the free version (which is essentially the full game minus extras) before going for that.
Cave Story. It's a side-scrolling shooter with metroid-like elements.
It's free here: http://www.cavestory.org/
Or there's an "enhanced" version on steam here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200900/
Cave story was a labor of love by one guy, (and another guy for the music), so don't let the aesthetic turn you off, it's an amazing game with very fun gameplay, likeable characters, and multiple endings.
Though do note, that some of the endings require you to do some bizarre things to get them, so after your first playthrough I would recommend looking up how to get the rest of the endings.
I will say, the one and only time I beat it, I got the "bad" ending and missed like 30% of the game. I think I'll replay it soon.
> I am looking for something (an article or a book) that discusses the architecture of 2D, tile-based game engines
I know it's not an article or a book, but I am currently working through a video series called Reconstructing Cave Story, in which we rebuild Cave Story from ground up.
Cave Story is an Indie tile-based platformer, a lot like Metroid or Mega Man.
> but not the overall goals of what we're trying to accomplish.
In each episode I spend a few minutes at the beginning presenting the problem and trying to motivate why the solution I propose will solve this problem.
> Or, people who can code a tile engine from scratch, how did you get to that point?
It mostly comes to breaking the engine up into small enough parts that you can solve, which is in itself a difficult problem! Sometimes that means solving a problem, and then coming back to it and needing to change your solution. I think it requires a lot of tenacity to develop the skills, but I'm a firm believer that experience is the best teacher.
A suggestion might be to take a spoon-feeding tutorial and make something similar, but different. You'll come up with a lot of specific questions that you can ask on the gamedev forum or programming.
This is, by far and large, the biggest issue I take with the gaming press.
They'll run a fucking dozen stories and follow up's on the latest game-breaking exploit in a game like Destiny that they themselves critically panned, but won't even bother with a fucking weekly roundup of promising indie titles.
Like, do you get that? Do you realize that a site as massive and fast-paced as fucking Kotaku doesn't even have a fucking weekly roundup or any recurring write up of up-and-coming indie titles? For fucks sake, you could get a ~~slave~~ intern to do a breakdown of the most popular TiGsource threads over their lunch break and accomplish more for the indie scene than those jokers.
And it's not like Kotaku is alone in this, most of the big name sites don't give a shit. RPS even ended up retiring their indie column.
This is why there is no love lost on the games press by indie developers outside the "clique" that get reviewed regardless how shitty their games are.
You want proof of this in action? Let's take a look at motherfucking Risk of Rain. This game is an indie success story both critically and financially, its a testament to what a 1-2 man team can do with a development tool like Game Maker. It's been talked about in indie circles to death.
Would you like to know how many times Kotaku even mentioned it? Take a look for yourself, you can scan these 2 pages of search results pretty quickly.
In case you don't feel like looking I'll speed things up for you: They didn't.
In summation: As everyone already knows, the quality of your indie game has next to nothing to do with it's chances of getting mentioned in the major press circuit. Rather, the clique you hang out with and the color of your hair are the biggest contributors.
The huge problem with RoR right now is that it was created in GameMaker 8. GameMaker Studio, the most recent version, is much much more efficient. Hopoo is currently having RoR ported to Studio; when that finishes, there will be an update pushed out. There is also a chance that it'll become available on Mac and Linux (cross-platform multiplayer is iffy). Anyway, GameMaker Studio should allow your clearly decent PC to play through an entire game at 60 FPS. There's an article on the blog, here http://riskofraingame.com/blog-61714/
This is actually because of RoR pushing the limits of the version of GameMaker it was made with. The devs just announced they're porting it over to GMS, which should net a big performance boost among other things.
I've looked into information about coin-operated machines for my city and the tax requirements, but one question still remains:
What legal requirements do I have to have to sell 'time' on a computer (or game)? If I constructed my own arcade machine, and built an overlay on a system that allowed users to insert money for either 'time' in a game, or some other arbitrary requirement (like a life system), do I need specific permission and licenses from the games playable on the system?
Could I put a game like Spelunky in an coin-op machine that allowed you one 'life' for a certain price? What if I had the original, free game in there instead?
Edit: Thanks for doing these, by the way! It's always fun to read all the answers!
You can still download the original version of Spelunky for free.
Spelunky was one of the early December topics of discussion over at /r/GameSociety. /u/RJ815 went into massive detail comparing the HD version available on Steam to the original. I suggest looking there if you want a really in depth response. Personally, I enjoy Spelunky (it's one of the games I'm actively playing these days) and would say it's worth $2.99.
Spelunky (free Windows version)
It's a platformer with a great feeling of adventure created by randomly generated levels, permadeath and variety of items - discovering what items do and using them to your advantage reminds of roguelike mechanics.
> Iji and Cave Story
Both of those are really good... BUT, they are pretty difficult games to start out with.
Knytt Stories would be a good starting point, though. There's enough challenge to be interesting, but it's more about the exploration and general sense of wonder.
Off the top of my head. Look em up on Steam! :
Super Meat Boy - Hard platformer
VVVVVV - Hard platformer
Knytt/Knytt Stories - Ambient platformer (Old. And Free. But I like 'em)
The Binding of Isaac - Twin-stick shooter-ish? I dunno what to call it.
Aquaria - Exploration
Osmos - Ambient puzzle
World of Goo - Physics puzzle
Braid - Puzzle platformer
Anyone who enjoys this will probably love Knytt Stories, Knytt, Within a Deep Forest, any of the games by Nifflas. They have the same feeling of exploration, and the environments are quite beautiful at times. Within a Deep Forest is pretty good for its metroidvania aspects especially. I think he has all these games up for free download, check them out if you like this:
Knytt Stories should be added to this list. Not to mention that it has dozens of amazing free user-made levels.
They're often very silly. Don't be so offended. I'd heavily bet on the fact that he's intentionally trolling because he knows that Linux has the most devoted fanbase of pretty much any OS.
Also, it's been announced that Super Meat Boy is heading to Linux at some point . Most likely as part of the Indie Bundle, I'd presume.
The reason I'm assuming that they're simply saying stuff like that to rile people up is because they're considerably level-headed on issues that directly effect them, such as the piracy of their game:
>“Our game was hugely pirated – we don’t fucking care. If there are let’s say 200,000 copies of SMB that are getting passed around for free, that’s 200,000 people who are playing th game. If they like this game there’s a really high probabability of their friends coming around and seeing it or them posting about it on their blogs. And it’s not cool to go round and say I really like this game that I stole, so they’re not going to say that. So it’s going to come around to sales.”
Yes, I am very serious about opening up a game studio for premium games (whether it be for mobile, consoles, or PC) and specifically aiming to make games like Ori and the Will of the Wasps (https://www.orithegame.com).
It’s relieving to hear that there are lower taxes for small businesses and there would be a lot of people who are passionate about game development.
I don't get why I was down voted?
On the official site, you can scroll down and see that the original freeware version is on pretty much everything for free.
Not speaking for him, but I think a lot of issues with Nicalis come from the value proposition of the ports themselves. Since the base game is free, anything they add is what you are really paying for, which isn't enough for some people, which I understand.
Since this post is about + on steam, try playing any of the challenge modes. If you're on windows it will crash 100% of the time, and you will be unable to view the leaderboards without the game crashing. If you're on Mac, the game won't run at all, and has been dropped from the steam store. The base game runs fine but as the original is free that's a requirement.
> but the ports wouldn't have happened without [Nicalis]
Cave Story port list Nicalis requested development to stop on the Nintendo handheld ports (which is understandable).
Cave Story. It's amazing, and free. There's also a deluxe version available on Steam if you feel like supporting Pixel. He designed the game 100% by himself, from the engine up.
Cave Story + is a great platformer, metroidvania style game. You can get a free version, but the + version is the 'remaster'.
I don't think it will be the same, his prevous games weren't a lot like doukutsu monogatari, of course, it's visually similar since he's the on doing the sprites. It actually looks a lot more like ikachan.
Due to the endless recommendations for this game, I've been considering playing it for the last few months. This post is the final straw. Tonight, I will (finally) download and play it!
Link time! http://www.cavestory.org/downloads_game.php
If you're doing local multiplayer, I would check out Hard Lander. Best played on a big screen too. SUPER fun local multiplayer game. Lots of yelling and expletives will be had. It's hard, but tons of fun.
Another good local multiplayer game would be Risk of Rain. Lots of variety as you keep playing. Fun strategies emerge when playing with multiple people. Great local multiplayer game.
I like linux mostly because it is free, I really love getting new software updates, and I like the philosophy behind it.
Thanks, I read in the Risk of Rain faq that they were planning on supporting Mac/Linux if things worked out, and I just wanted to make this post to remind the developers that there are linux gamers like me that really want to buy and support the game if it supports linux. :D
Best option: go to the YCG page for Shovel Knight. The bottom option is a button to make a donation (they made it for people who want to help or want to show appreciation for all the free DLC we get). Make any value of donation and you get a sweet download - a folder titled THANKYOU full of avatars and wallpapers. There's 16 official wallpapers included (I just counted now).
If we're talking about Binding of Isaac and Risk of Rain, you have to mention Spelunky! I often see these 3 games grouped together as the most popular modern "rogue-lites." Spelunky is one of my favorite games of all time, and it is definitely my favorite rogue-lite.
There's so much replayability. I have about 100 hours logged on Steam (this doesn't include the countless hours I played the original before it was out on Steam), and there's still so much I haven't done (Hell runs!).
Try out the old free version if you want -- but trust me -- the "HD" version improves on everything!
You can try the original free version of Spelunky, which is AWESOME.
Vagante, I played the early free alphas and I love it, it's my number one game in my wishlist (somebody? =P)
I haven't played Catacomb Kids, but I heard good things about it.
Spelunky is a free dungeon-crawler / roguelike platformer. I think it's really fun and I'm kind of surprised it wasn't mentioned yet. Basically most roguelikes are quite difficult. I say give it a try. It's free!