RPGWatch - RPGWatch Indie Showcase

We here at RPGWatch are amazed by the sheer number of rpgs that have been released the last few years. When I first visited RPGWatch in 2013, the Game of Year list was much smaller and I at least recognized most of the titles, even if I hadn't played them. Now the situation is so that even all together our staff does not have time to check out all of the games released, even the ones with positive or very positive feedback.

For this reason we have decided to try out an Indie Showcase. The purpose of the Indie Showcase is to give members of the community the chance to nominate an indie game which they like, but which has slipped (mostly) under our radar for our new Indie Showcase. We'd invite the developers to fill out a short interview, and send us some screenshots.

Here's how it will work:

Any forum member with 10 or more posts, who is not the game's developer can nominate a game for the Indie Showcase. When nominating a game, please tell us where you purchased it, and what you like about the game. We will decide which game to choose and whether to contact the developer based on the following criteria:

*The game must be finished and available for purchase. This is not a forum for games in development, crowdfunding games, or early access games.

*The game should be easy to find and purchase. Games on a major platform like Steam or Gog will be given preference.

*Games which have recieved customer feedback and positive customer feedback are preferable to games with mixed feedback, which are preferable to games which have yet to recieve any kind of feedback.

*Rpgs are preferrable to games with rpg elements, but are not classical rpgs.

If a game meets the criteria we will try to contact the developer. And send them an interview. The following is what we've come up with. If anyone has ideas how to improve it, feel free to send us ideas. The only thing is we want to keep the interview to a managable size.

Tell us a little about your background and experience?

How long did it take you to develop your game?

What games inspired your game?

What's the target audience for your game?

How would you describe your game to an interested player?

In a huge rpg market, why should players give your game a chance?

You're game has gotten some positive feedback. Is there any player comments you found especially noteworthy?

Do you have future plans to support your game? If not do you have plans for another project?

Thanks for the time to answer our questions. Do you have any final words for players who consider starting this game? any words of advice maybe?

So if anyone is interested in nominating a game, the Indie Forum is now open!

More information.

I'd say Kenshi since so many love the game on this forum.

As for me I recommend Atom.

Link - https://store.steampowered.com/app/5…ic_indie_game/

PS: We have an Indie forum already.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I'd say Kenshi since so many love the game on this forum.

As for me I recommend Atom.

Link - https://store.steampowered.com/app/5…ic_indie_game/

PS: We have an Indie forum already.

Yes, we do. This will take the form of a short article to inform players of good games they might have overlooked. It will be much more visible and hopefully substantial than a forum entry

I like the idea! I'll make sure to recommend something, when I have the feeling a game deserves more attention.

This is a fantastic premise, kudos to whomever came up with this notion. I don't have a nominee right at this moment, but my thinking cap will go on shortly and I'll have a suggestion in the future.

950 hours played, there is only one game for this showcase. That is Battle Brothers. I have it on Steam and GOG and have also bought it for a few members of the Watch. It also just had an expansion.

Plus the few bugs that pop up are squashed fast. I have more hours in it than Skyrim. I didn't think that was possible.

Originally Posted by Hastar
950 hours played, there is only one game for this showcase. That is Battle Brothers. I have it on Steam and GOG and have also bought it for a few members of the Watch. It also just had an expansion.

Plus the few bugs that pop up are squashed fast. I have more hours in it than Skyrim. I didn't think that was possible.

While I think Battle Brothers is a fantastic game, I've already reviewed it, and I think its pretty well known on RPGWatch. The idea here is more for overlooked games. Something we haven't reviewed or which hasn't got a lot of attention.

I think it's an interesting idea, except well… I don't usually play these indie game until they get famous - I'm just not adventurous enough to pick them up without reading enough reviews/impressions. What I'm trying to say is, I don't know whether there will be enough nominations if we make this a regular thing.

Games which have recieved customer feedback and positive customer feedback are preferable to games with mixed feedback, which are preferable to games which have yet to recieve any kind of feedback.

With this, how are we defining positive feedback? For example, a game with 10 reviews (100% positive) vs. a game with 100 reviews (60% positive) - in this case, are you saying the game with 10 positive reviews will be preferred over the game with 60 positive reviews?

Rpgs are preferrable to games with rpg elements, but are not classical rpgs.

Just wondering what you mean by classical RPGs?

Originally Posted by purpleblob

With this, how are we defining positive feedback? For example, a game with 10 reviews (100% positive) vs. a game with 100 reviews (60% positive) - in this case, are you saying the game with 10 positive reviews will be preferred over the game with 60 positive reviews?



Just wondering what you mean by classical RPGs?

By classical rpg, I mean a CRPG

With feedback its a hard thing. If a game has 60% positive, I'd definitely read those negative reviews to see if they have anything substantial to say. A game with only 10 reviews doesn't have much of a sample size and there's a good chance some have some sort of connection to the developer, but still if we got a ton of recommendations (which doesn't seem to be the case) We'd still need to make a decision on what game we take. In the theoretical case you mentioned its kind of apples and oranges. But I'd take a game with 40 positive reviews of 50, over one with 60 of 100, if I had no other criteria on which to make a decision.

Keep up the great work forgottenlor. I think it's a great idea and like the questions that you will ask.

You guys have me interested about Kenshi now. Can it be played with other players or is it single player only?

Kenshi, if I remember right, is strictly a single player game, no online elements at all. I've still not played it as of yet, but it is a game that I intend to delve into within the next few months.

Is this for new games only? If not, I would recommend

Tales of Maj'Eyal

I know it has been mentioned here on the Watch before, but its a fun game with good updates. Game play is the usual, but with a lot of choices and replayability.

I purchased it on Steam, but it is also available on GoG.

I like the idea.

Only issue I see here is the question of how exactly we're defining an indie game. I think we can safely assume that anything made in RPGMaker is indie and Skyrim is definitely not indie, but there's probably some grey areas in between. I mean, HBS and Obsidian were calling themselves indie studios right up until they were bought by Paradox and Microsoft respectively.

Oh well, I suppose it is just one of those "I know it when I see it" things.

Originally Posted by daveyd
I like the idea.

Only issue I see here is the question of how exactly we're defining an indie game. I think we can safely assume that anything made in RPGMaker is indie and Skyrim is definitely not indie, but there's probably some grey areas in between. I mean, HBS and Obsidian were calling themselves indie studios right up until they were bought by Paradox and Microsoft respectively.

Oh well, I suppose it is just one of those "I know it when I see it" things.

My motto nowadays is if a game has a budget under a few million it's indie. In the past it used to be if you're game looked like a 90's game made on a shoestring budget.

Originally Posted by daveyd
I like the idea.

Only issue I see here is the question of how exactly we're defining an indie game. I think we can safely assume that anything made in RPGMaker is indie and Skyrim is definitely not indie, but there's probably some grey areas in between. I mean, HBS and Obsidian were calling themselves indie studios right up until they were bought by Paradox and Microsoft respectively.

Oh well, I suppose it is just one of those "I know it when I see it" things.

We're talking about games that don't get much coverage, which would pretty much exclude anything made by Obsidian, InXile, Hairbrained Schemes or Larian, since we pretty much publish all interviews, newsbits, previews and we can find from these studios. Its safe to say we follow them closely.

Well, now I've had a day or so to ponder this, and the one game that jumps out for me over the past year is Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. I don't know if it would exactly qualify as an independent release, because the developers have so much experience behind them that it was no surprise that they turned out such a stellar product. While people might harp on the lackluster recent projects such as the most recent Bard's Tale game, or the Ultima Underworld one, I'd rather focus on a successful story, these people took every penny that they raised and made a masterful game.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Well, now I've had a day or so to ponder this, and the one game that jumps out for me over the past year is Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. I don't know if it would exactly qualify as an independent release, because the developers have so much experience behind them that it was no surprise that they turned out such a stellar product. While people might harp on the lackluster recent projects such as the most recent Bard's Tale game, or the Ultima Underworld one, I'd rather focus on a successful story, these people took every penny that they raised and made a masterful game.

That is true, and Corwin already reviewed the game. Its also on our recommendation list, so its another case like Battle Brothers of a very good game which has got pretty decent coverage from our site. We are looking for less well known games.

Dungeons of Chaos might be a good fit, @forgottenlor

https://store.steampowered.com/app/6…EONS_OF_CHAOS/

I have a poor memory, but I remember playing this for hours, so I likely posted about it. Will edit this in a few. LOL, you've reviewed it already. Dunno if you interviewed the guy though.

Originally Posted by crpgnut
Dungeons of Chaos might be a good fit, @forgottenlor

https://store.steampowered.com/app/6…EONS_OF_CHAOS/

I have a poor memory, but I remember playing this for hours, so I likely posted about it. Will edit this in a few. LOL, you've reviewed it already. Dunno if you interviewed the guy though.

Yeah, another very good game, but we are looking to interview people whose games we haven't reviewed. When you consider how many games we cover and how many games are out there, its kind of staggering. I saw one GOTY vote for Dark Quest 2 and another for Ash of Gods, games that I kind of missed. Not sure how many peole know anything about these games, for example. I'm also playing and enjoying the Infinite Labyrinth now. Its a game kind of like Stranger of Sword City. Also a game I'm not sure anyone has heard of.

Never heard of any of these, except Ash. That guy posted here for a couple years didn't he? I don't play low graphic titles though. Bad eyes. DoC was an outlier for me I'm probably too much of a graphics whiner to enjoy most of what you'll cover, but time will tell.