20th Dec2011

Supporting the Widdle Guy

by Doug

I am a fan of indie game developers (as I’ve previously stated). I try to always reward great games with continued loyalty and praise. So it only seems right to do the same thing for the promoters of indie games.

Humble Bundle is now on their fourth sale. They don’t just sell games at discounted rates. They do even better than that! They sell bundles of games, let you pick what you want to pay, and where the money goes! That means if you want to buy the bundle for just $1, you can. Then you divide the money between the developers, the Humble Bundle Team, and charity (one of them being an amazing charity that I LOVE!). But with that kind of power why would you ever pay more? Simple, because you want to support these people! We want sick kids to play games, because we want developers to get paid (and make more great games), and we like Humble Bundle for putting this all together. Plus if you give more than the current average, you get a couple extra games…so…greed actually helps push us away from cheap-skate-hood.

Go and support these awesome organizations, and be sure to beat the current average, because you’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and dog-gonnit…people like you!

Category : Game Development, Gaming, PC, Products
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04th Dec2011

The Indie Games’ Promoters

by Doug

I don’t have any market research that tells how and why this seemingly ENORMOUS surge has hit the indie gaming world. But I know what has nudged me in the direction of buying small:

  1. iPhone – I remember the joy of having an iPhone 3G before anyone else I knew had a touch screen phone. And I remember the day I got Angry Birds. It was so fun, and such a simple concept! Yes there are plenty of levels with hardly any real continued evolution of the game-play (compared to the MMO’s I’m used to). But it was great for what I was looking for: a fun time killer. Any novice game developer can make something that is worth $.99. It puts the satisfaction of customers in indie developers’ grasps. They don’t have to be intimidated by the expectations of a $59.99 game.
  2. Steam – I rarely buy a game that I haven’t played that is not BRAND new (let’s be real, Skyrim seems old already). But when Steam puts it on sale for $4.99 and shows me how much my friends have loved it, I can’t resist but ask them “Hey, did you like Terraria?” To which they reply “Yeah, if you’re looking for a great game to play for a couple of weeks I’ll play with you! Oh and here’s our server info.” Again, low risk purchases make for great satisfaction. Even if I only played it for a week, that’s pretty good for the money I have in it.
All-in-all I believe that we are going in the right direction. Yeah there are companies out there that want to shift it back to the high financial commitment, low satisfaction COUGH Origin COUGH! But as long as there are things like Humble Bundle, and Kick Starter we should be seeing oodles of great indie games, and I’ll be the first to talk them up!
Category : Gaming, PC
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