Hello!

I'm trying to do something different this month on GT. I've actually tried this idea in a lesser form in the past, but gave up on it for the time being. Now I'm going to take another stab at it.

It's not original, it comes from EGM who used to do a quick panel of 4 people on every game that came out during the month. The amount written about the game was minimal, but I always found myself basing my opinion on the game more on the panel then on the review (which I rarely read due to the length)

So I'm going to try a monthly round-up for June based on the same concept...but I need help, so if you can volunteer...greatly appreciated...

Here is what I plan on.

Three 50-75 word reviews of each game released in June and an overall score by July 1st. (Using the GT scale of 7 being average, 8 above, 6 below, 9 well above, 5 well below, and 10 being perfect)

My list of what came out in June is (probably incomplete...but...):

Puzzle Express
Eddie Galaxy
Brave Dwarves - Back for Treasures
Dark Ore
The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle


So basically I need 12 reviews that are 50-75 words long. (which is very short and requires a lot of skill to make it worthwhile) I'm planning on writing 6 of the reviews but if I have enough volunteers would step away from games that take more play time (like Dark Ore).

If this works...
I'll look to doing a panel with more consistent members and doing 4 snipit reviews for each game.
I'll also look to contacting the developers to see if we can get review copies...until then the basis for the "review" will be the demo.

So...why?
The reasoning behind this is to give a broader opinion base on each game. The reviews will be too short to be of any real value to the developers...

...that being said, the hope is that having quick opinions from multiple people will be more helpful to potential customers. Of course if all three/four reviewers rate something poorly I expect more hate mail, but that's the business.

The second reason is to try and collect a list of the games released each month and to mention them. There isn't enough people around willing to review games to properly review every game that comes out each month. This will at least get them some mention and a little exposure.

The third and most important reason is that I really enjoyed this feature back when I got EGM 10+ years ago and feel it is very helpful in sorting out what games are available.



So that is it...I think every post on this forum is met with criticism, so I expect that, but would appreciate in addition to that any suggestions and ESPECIALLY anyone willing to try this...my hope is to post the round up on July 2nd, so there isn't a big window for playing and writing.

Thanks for reading!!

I'd be HAPPY to review Eddie Galaxy and Spooky Castle for you!

Originally posted by Hamumu
I'd be HAPPY to review Eddie Galaxy and Spooky Castle for you!

Right after you finish the pontifex 2 review right?

- S

No, I'd give them priority.

Hmmm...

I've actually been interested in doing some reviews, but the usual bajillion word requirement has kinda put me off. Anyway, I might be able to contribute a handful of reviews for ya.

I'm gonna go check out Dark Ore, and I'll PM you with a sample review, k? :)

Originally posted by Hamumu
No, I'd give them priority.

Actually come to think of it, I'd be a good guy to review those games. I've played both already and I know how many R's there are in cra... err well I'll save it for the review.

- S

Originally posted by Hamumu
I'd be HAPPY to review Eddie Galaxy and Spooky Castle for you!

:) Nice and impartial I'm sure :)



PM-ing me is great as is email.

Thanks!

I'll do it. I've been doing something similar on Quarter To Three for the last couple months anyway, and will have a regular column there starting in July.

I believe there are more games that were released this month though, I'll reply later with my list and we'll see if there's any differences.

I do want to say the best thing about Indie Gamer when it was nondefunct (due, of course, to reviewers being slow I am sure) were the blurbs on everything new in Indieworld for the month. I don't even need reviews, just to hear what all is happening is a great feature, and lets me check out a lot of things I would not otherwise know anything about. I think that's a lot more important than how many games you get a proper review of. And it helps that it's all in one place instead of news updates every time something is released.

(and here's my review which can be used equally for both Eddie Galaxy and Spooky Castle: "INCONCEIVABLY MIND-NUMBINGLY BONE-RATTLINGLY AWE-INSPIRING!!! The Citizen Kane of indie gaming! Anyone who doesn't buy this should be dismembered and fed to hyenas!" That should quell any rumors of partiality!)

@ Hamumu

:) Doesn't even need an edit.

@ Greg

THANKS!!
I look forward to the list you have and anything else you have time for, I've been dieing this month and next only looks slightly better. I'm sure I've missed a few.

Puzzle Express
Eddie Galaxy (would this be counted? It is a re-release afterall)
Brave Dwarves - Back for Treasures (Released in May. Although, near the end)
Dark Ore
The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle
Hazard Ball
Blades of Avernum
Meteor (I believe)
Kaijin
Aqua Words
Skools Out
Weave Words

Pretty sure i'm missing some, but there's a tentative list.

Thanks! I went through the game to check dates as we are hitting the end of the month and anything I can pull out is probably helpful in getting this done.

Definately June
Puzzle Express (http://www.hipsoft.com/)
Eddie Galaxy (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=EDDIE I figure it is new to most...since they couldn't buy it last month)
Dark Ore (http://www.raylogic.com/)
The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=SPKY)
Hazard Ball (http://www.hazardball.com/)
Blades of Avernum (http://www.avernum.com/blades/index.html should have remembered this one, we've got the press kit)

Nearly June, but planned for inclusion
Brave Dwarves - Back for Treasures (http://www.gameover-games.com/games/dwarves/ I had it June 1st, but wasn't sure on the date should it be skipped?)

Definately Not June, but should we include them anyway?
Meteor (do you have a web address for this? are we talking about http://ovine.net/game_meteor.php I don't think that game is quite up to snuff)
Kaijin (was actually released in March...I reviewed it then...was going to skip it here as March is really pushing it)
Aqua Words (http://www.realore.com/news.php I've got this one as April and was going to skip it...thoughts?)
Skools Out (http://www.muckybaby.com/games.htm late April actually, was going to skip it...thoughts?)
Weave Words (http://www.redclawgames.com/ This one was from the middle of May so I had planned on skipping it...thoughts?)


So any thoguhts? Am I trying to pull too many? Are there any that should be left in from the third part of this list?

I'm really excited about this and think it is going to turn out to be a real useful archive of what has happened in indie gaming over the month. (much like Steve's list was)

I of course can provide a link back to whatever site anyone wishes if you are able to do a review on one of these. I've added the link to the website for each game to hopefully make it easier to navigate.

Thanks everyone who can help!

Just browsing through dl.com to see other games that seem to have been released in June:


Wordcrafter (greenhorngames.com)

Mahjong Rain (iwritesoftware.com)

Rock Story (unikgame.com)

DemonLisher and Rule the Rail (brainbombers.com)

Madblox (witchspire.com)

Manager in the Net (managerinthenet.com)


I don't know if you're planning to mention only games that are 'worthy' or not. :)

Definately do have to have a cut-off on what is 'worthy' there are just far to many games out there if you have no standard.

I was most interested in the brainbombers stuff based on the screenshots and am downloading now...but whenever I start downloading a .zip file instead of a .exe I immediately start thinking I'm wasting my time.

The madblox website isn't done, so I think we'll skip that one. Manager in the Net doesn't appeal to my main audience, so I'm of the opinion of skipping that one.

Due the fact that the list is growing, but I haven't had any volunteers to help I'm also thinking that Wordcrafter and Mahjong Rain should be skipped.

I'm not sure Rock Story is up to standards and will check it out.

So that leaves leaves:
DemonLisher (http://www.brainbombers.com)
Rule the Rail (http://www.brainbombers.com)

and probably:
Wordcrafter (http://www.greenhorngames.com)
Mahjong Rain (http://www.iwritesoftware.com)
Rock Story (http://www.unikgame.com)

Definately appreciate the help!!

Well DemonLisher is definatley out, it is really bad, nearly unplayable, and no mouse support. Their Rail game plays quite differently I've got to think there was a year between the two.

So the current list:

Puzzle Express (http://www.hipsoft.com/)
Eddie Galaxy (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=EDDIE)
Dark Ore (http://www.raylogic.com/)
The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=SPKY)
Hazard Ball (http://www.hazardball.com/)
Blades of Avernum (http://www.avernum.com/blades/index.html)
Brave Dwarves - Back for Treasures (http://www.gameover-games.com/games/dwarves/)
Rule the Rail (http://www.brainbombers.com)

Another thought would be to include the other games and rate them harsher. Rock Story for example is likely around a 5 in my opinion. DemonLisher is maybe a 3 or 4 in my opinion. Again I would typically just skip that type of game, but with enough people I don't think it would be necessarily bad to include them as perhaps it gives more credence to the judging scale?

Thoughts?

For short reviews I vote in favor of mentioning bad games as well if there's the time. :) (Here I find myself downloading that demon thing just to find out what's so bad about it!)

I'd be willing to help write short blurbs but I'd need an example to know what to aim for...

I appreciate the offer...

What I'm looking for :) I think each person's individual style is good and hesitate to give an example due to not wanting everything to sound like mine.

However, knowing the value of an example...here's 50-75 words about Airstrike II (which came out in May so it won't be included).

"Airstrike was clearly one of the best graphical games last year and the sequel is just as stunning. Unfortunately the same play control issues exist making it difficult to avoid enemies and their fire. Despite that issue, this is a game that I really enjoyed and one that fans of the first should love."

That checks in at 54 words. Main things I think to go for in a 'review' of that size are key good and bad points and a more personal tone.

Does that help?

Thanks for the help/support...here is where I'm at with the needed number of reviews to the left of each:

2-Puzzle Express (http://www.hipsoft.com/)
2-Eddie Galaxy (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=EDDIE)
3-Dark Ore (http://www.raylogic.com/)
2-The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=SPKY)
3-Hazard Ball (http://www.hazardball.com/)
3-Blades of Avernum (http://www.avernum.com/blades/index.html)
2-Brave Dwarves - Back for Treasures (http://www.gameover-games.com/games/dwarves/)
3-Rule the Rail (http://www.brainbombers.com)
2-DemonLisher (http://www.brainbombers.com)
2-Rock Story (http://www.unikgame.com)
3-Wordcrafter (http://www.greenhorngames.com)
3-Mahjong Rain (http://www.iwritesoftware.com)

Couldn't get Dark Ore to run, so I'll try a couple of others from the list and email you the reviews... sorry for the delay, just been putting out fires at work :(

We released "Arrow Antics" in June, would this be suitable for review?

We're likely going to revise the game a little to help guide a new player better, but the core game isn't going to change. A download link to the trial version is in my sig.

Skools Out was released on approximately june 13th if I'm not mistaken, it's why we held off on our interview. I know the demo came out before that, and the website gave the impression it was available, but from what he told me it wasn't for sale.

But anyway, that's a good list to be sure. I'm not sure if this is a huge problem, but I won't be able to get it to you until Saturday because of the long hours I'm working. Let me know if that's a problem so I can tell you to stick it.. Ok, just kidding. But let me know and we'll work that out.

Sunday is great!

I really appreciate it Greg. Are you going to try to do one on each or specific ones? (this is real interesting to coordinate, but cool to see the extra help)

Let's add Skool's Out to the list and Arrow Antics. That's 14 total I believe. It always amazes me how overwhelming keeping up on all of this is.

Originally posted by cyrus_zuo
I really appreciate it Greg. Are you going to try to do one on each or specific ones? (this is real interesting to coordinate, but cool to see the extra help)


It's my pleasure, should be cool. I'll do entries on all the games listed since I have to do it anyway for my column. I, of course, won't copy and paste my thoughts between the two columns, so no worries there, hehe.

:)

I have another 4 games I could add to the list that I've gotten wind of in the last few days, but figure I'll do them next month if I try this again... (hopefully with enough support we can do it every month)

Feel free to include them if ya like, I'm cool with that. Although, which games? I can think of a couple I've heard of in recent days, but not 4.. hmm

Star Wraith 4
Galactic Federation
Megabomber: Mars Under Attack
Funny Faces
BVS Solitaire Collection

Though based on what I see I don't believe we'll get three reviews of each game as is. If you (Greg) have time to do one of each on the list, then this is how it looks (numbers to the left are what is needed to get to 3):

0-Puzzle Express (http://www.hipsoft.com/)
1-Eddie Galaxy (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=EDDIE)
2-Dark Ore (http://www.raylogic.com/)
1-The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=SPKY)
0-Hazard Ball (http://www.hazardball.com/)
1-Blades of Avernum (http://www.avernum.com/blades/index.html)
1-Brave Dwarves - Back for Treasures (http://www.gameover-games.com/games/dwarves/)
2-Rule the Rail (http://www.brainbombers.com)
1-DemonLisher (http://www.brainbombers.com)
1-Rock Story (http://www.unikgame.com)
2-Wordcrafter (http://www.greenhorngames.com)
2-Mahjong Rain (http://www.iwritesoftware.com)
2-Skools Out (http://www.muckybaby.com/games.htm)
2-Arrow Antics (http://www.homebrewsoftware.com/html/arrowantics.htm)
2-Star Wraith 4: http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/starwraith4/index.htm
2-Galactic Federation: http://www.am-games.com/GF/downloads.html
2-Megabomber: Mars Under Attack: http://www.wonderspecie.com/erp1megabomber.html
2-Funny Faces: http://www.arcadelab.com/face.html
2-BVS Solitaire Collection: http://www.bvssolitaire.com

And can I just say...wow...for everyone out there who take for granted what Greg and I and Bytten try to work though each month, now you see why it can be discouraging to try and dig up all this information on your own and realize that you most certainly missed something.

If I can get any more help on getting those 2s down to 0s I certainly would appreciate it, after just coordinating this I'm already wondering if I want to try it again ;)

Oh and I totally skipped Voyager:
http://www.stormcloudcreations.com/voyager.htm

Due to time and audience interest I want to remove the Mahjong and Solitaire titles. Also thought the scoring scale might be helpful:

1 - Just Unbelievably Bad
2 - Terrible
3 - Quite Poor
4 - Way Below Average
5 - Below Average
6 - Average
7 - Above Average
8 - Way Above Average
9 - Nearly Flawless
10 - Perfection

This is where we're at. Big thanks for all the help!!!

0-Puzzle Express (http://www.hipsoft.com/)
1-Eddie Galaxy (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=EDDIE)
2-Dark Ore (http://www.raylogic.com/)
1-The Adventures of Bouapha: Spooky Castle (http://hamumu.com/game.php?game=SPKY)
0-Hazard Ball (http://www.hazardball.com/)
1-Blades of Avernum (http://www.avernum.com/blades/index.html)
0-Brave Dwarves - Back for Treasures (http://www.gameover-games.com/games/dwarves/)
2-Rule the Rail (http://www.brainbombers.com)
1-DemonLisher (http://www.brainbombers.com)
1-Rock Story (http://www.unikgame.com)
1-Wordcrafter (http://www.greenhorngames.com)
1-Skools Out (http://www.muckybaby.com/games.htm)
1-Arrow Antics (http://www.homebrewsoftware.com/html/arrowantics.htm)
2-Star Wraith 4: http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.n...aith4/index.htm
2-Galactic Federation: http://www.am-games.com/GF/downloads.html
2-Megabomber: Mars Under Attack: http://www.wonderspecie.com/erp1megabomber.html
1-Funny Faces: http://www.arcadelab.com/face.html
2-Voyager: http://www.stormcloudcreations.com/voyager.htm

What is the definition of "average"?

Cas :)

Average is whatever you think it is. I know you disagree with numbering systems, so I'm willing to leave it at that. The hope here is to get a range of numbers and give some basic information. With 20 games in a month, there is no way that people will check them all out. Having scores can help people quickly identify games that other people liked in groups or that just individuals liked.

Thanks for the help all!

It is up here: http://www.gametunnel.com/html/section-viewarticle-51.html

Good stuff. It's interesting how close many of our scores were. Then again, it's also interesting to see how different some of them were.

Bahh, Hazard Ball should have scored hire, damn you guys!

Excellent work guys. It looks great, and having multiple reviewers is always welcome.

Also, great to see the scoring scale is explicitly laid out at the top of the page.

Nice one.

Bahh, Hazard Ball should have scored hire, damn you guys!

LOL

I really did like it though :)

Looks like Seth Robinson (rtsoft) will be helping out next month as well. So maybe we'll get those 4 angles per month starting in July. Glad to see this so warmly received, I think it was good fun and useful :)

Oh, small point, but linking to a larger screenshot would be appreciated.

The review for Voyager was nice, but what was this, i'm just curious:

"Unfortunately due to system incompatibility issues no-one else from The Illustrious Panel was able to play this game, so we are only able to provide one viewpoint on Voyager."

Hundreds of people tested the game before its release and had no trouble really running the game.

What "system incompatibility issues"? Does it have to do with refresh rates/resolution issues? If so, there's a new version being released soon that will deal with that.

Thanks!

Derek
Stormcloud Creations

Very well done guys! I hope you guys are able to do this feature every month. :)

What "system incompatibility issues"? Does it have to do with refresh rates/resolution issues? If so, there's a new version being released soon that will deal with that.


Hmm, perhaps the page could be updated if the compatability issues are sorted out reasonably soon?

While I understand that if it doesn't run on your machine, then it doesn't run and that's that, it does come across as especially damning when the game is depicted as only working for one out of (apparently) 4 reviewers. Which might just be an unfortunate coincidence.

Speaking for myself, the only technical difficulty I had with Voyager was that it wasn't on the list I saw of games to try! I cut & pasted the list, and deleted games from it as I did them. I still managed not to do 6 of them, but the technical difficulties for Dark Ore are accurate (it ran, but my experience was a lot like GM's... and I call it technical difficulties, because the instruction pages were blank, but still had invisible clickable links)!

Thanks for the reviews of Arrow Antics. I found it interesting that all three reviewers had the same problem with the arrows being cleared on "restart" - this is something we've had feedback on & fixed in our internal builds, with the plan of releasing an updated version of the game with this & other fixes/tweaks.

When we release the updated version, would it be possible to get a note added to the review saying this issue's been fixed? Just so people don't a decision not to try the game on something that's no longer a problem.

Love the style of all the reviews - it shows a lot of effort, but the talking head feel works well for me.

I typically don't make changes to reviews of games after they are reviewed. The reason for this is that indie developers are really good to update their games, in fact soo good that I realized early on that I just didn't have the time to update all the affected reviews. Sorry :)

I typically don't make changes to reviews of games after they are reviewed. The reason for this is that indie developers are really good to update their games, in fact soo good that I realized early on that I just didn't have the time to update all the affected reviews. Sorry :)

The problem with this is you aren't taking full advantage of a key strength with indie devs: they DO update their games regularly and do offer excellent support. This should be *emphasized*, not ignored, IMHO.

I've been thinking of starting an slickly designed indie game portal for awhile now, just listing all the cool indie games out there and links, build strong traffic for it, and maybe charge a nominal fee for inclusion, with frequent updates, patches and the like posted with each listing. Maybe I should do it one day. :)

The problem with this is you aren't taking full advantage of a key strength with indie devs: they DO update their games regularly and do offer excellent support. This should be *emphasized*, not ignored, IMHO.

I've been thinking of starting an slickly designed indie game portal for awhile now, just listing all the cool indie games out there and links, build strong traffic for it, and maybe charge a nominal fee for inclusion, with frequent updates, patches and the like posted with each listing. Maybe I should do it one day. :)

For anyone who has the will to do so I strongly suggest it. I believe it will only help Indies in the end.

I would be quite happy to do updates of each of the game, but there is a time issue. I of course work full time, which means 60 hours a week. Beyond that I try to put together the indie stuff in addition to the other major website that I do. The truth is that there just isn't time to do everything. Putting in information on every update means not putting in information about some new games. If GT was a full time gig or even a part time earning one, then I would be happy to, but I have to make choices along the way and we do the best we can.

Sorry you are not happy with the result.

Just one more reason to make sure your game is as finished as possible before putting it out :)

For anyone who has the will to do so I strongly suggest it. I believe it will only help Indies in the end.

I would be quite happy to do updates of each of the game, but there is a time issue. I of course work full time, which means 60 hours a week. Beyond that I try to put together the indie stuff in addition to the other major website that I do. The truth is that there just isn't time to do everything. Putting in information on every update means not putting in information about some new games. If GT was a full time gig or even a part time earning one, then I would be happy to, but I have to make choices along the way and we do the best we can.

Sorry you are not happy with the result.

Well, not to say i'm unhappy (with the way the review for Voyager was written; ie mostly positive, it seems like it should have scored higher than a 6, but that's just a quibble), just that type of site gameplan kinda ignores one of the primary advantages of indie games, which is customer responsiveness and frequent updates. To that end, I just issued a major patch today for Voyager that adds many new features and changes, due mostly to customer input.

I was just voicing an observation, not a gripe. :)

Derek
Stormcloud Creations
www.stormcloudcreations.com

Hey, I love the way it turned out! Sorry I wasn't able to contribute, but the real world decided to unload a bajillion things on me at once! Hopefully I'll be able to help out with next month's one, if you'll let me :)

If you want, I could toss in a couple of late reviews to flesh out some of the games that you weren't able to get many people to look at... but I'm not sure if you're going to want to mess with a finished article like that. Ah well, I'll have my turn with the July games, I suppose :D

Hey... This is very very nice. I liked it a lot. It is a little like what I was doing on Indiegamer before, but it's nice to have the ratings and multiple responses. Maybe I'll weigh in next month if you like. I'm playing all these games anyway.