Monthly Archives: December 2011

Team2Bit’s Top Xbox Live Indie Games of 2011

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We played lots of XBLIGs this year, and these are our favorites. The criteria are subjective, each game is unique and on this list for different reasons, so we’re not going to rank them. Here they are in alphabetical order.

All The Bad Parts:
I had this one on my to do list since the Indie Games Summer Uprising, but only got around to playing it recently. It has the polished look of a creepy cartoon and an unsettling atmosphere to match. There’s also a nice story that pulls you in from the get go.

Dead Pixels:
Everyone loves Dead Pixels, and with good reason. It’s a game that reaches high standards for all around production, from the vaguely familiar 8 bit graphics to the superb grindhouse film filters and soundtrack. Even as someone with no particular affinity for zombies, I could tell this game was a winner from the first seconds I played it. Every XBLIG developer especially should play it, if only so they can see the current benchmark for the platform.

DLC Quest:
A game with perfect pacing. You’re always unlocking something and it never feels like you’re grinding or spinning your wheels. Funny without being annoying, which is harder than it sounds.

Get To The Choppa 2:
Never did make it to the chopper, but I did die trying many, many times. A continuous scroller with a simple concept that produces an amazing amount of fun. Is that a Mike Tyson sample I heard?

Kung Fu Fight:
I think we played more Kung Fu Fight than any other XBLIG this year, both in playtest and with the final product. Another continuous scroller with challenging difficulty, you’ll die often and be ready to try again right away. Sometimes overlooked, but the addictive gameplay and good sense of humor make this a must have.

Tacticolor:
I don’t usually play strategy games, but I liked the polish and simplicity of Tacticolor. Throbbing synth basses gurgle away as players manuever colored armies into skirmishes and ultimate control of the battlefield. I felt like someone had found a 70’s East German board game at a rummage sale and made it into a XBLIG. Good thing all the pieces were there.

Honorable mention: Escape Goat, Volchaos, Battle High: San Bruno, Mute Crimson, Invasion

There were lots of other great games that didn’t make the list, this was definitely a deep year for XBLIG releases. Hopefully 2012 is just as strong!

Fist Puncher: Level Up

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The basic RPG elements of Fist Puncher are now working. Each character has 5 unique qualities that you can assign skill points to after leveling up. By reaching different skill levels in each area, characters can unlock special attacks and perks.

You can’t really make a game like this without a leveling mechanic and character progression. As a hack and slasher myself, I like to have something to show for all of my button mashing.

-Jake

Just How Indie Is Team2Bit?

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Team2Bit is so indie, we only make games while we’re camping.
Team2Bit is so indie, we’re making a game for the ‘Next Gen’ Texas Instruments computer.
Team2Bit is so indie, we invented the urinal controller.
Team2Bit is so indie, we bundle our games with baked goods. Sorry, we don’t ship, but you can stop by to pick up on weekends.
Team2Bit is so indie, we’ve been making video games for 25 years and it never occurred to us to show them to anyone before.
Team2Bit is so indie, we know video games could never be art.
Team2Bit is so indie, our day jobs are lumberjacks.
Team2Bit is so indie, we only know one guy who wants to be an actor.
Team2Bit is so indie, we created the triple stick shooter genre. It’s revolutionary, but not very fun.

Manhunter Musings and Ramblings

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Way back in the late ’80s the pioneering graphic adventure studio Sierra Online released 2 games in the dystopian, alien invasion Manhunter series. These games mixed point-and-click adventure with arcade gameplay and relied on heavy doses of humor and horror to keep the player engaged. Somehow in our youth we landed a copy of Manhunter San Francisco and devoted loads of time solving puzzles in a stylish cloak, avoiding rat-human hybrids, and trying to decipher the meaning of “bat vomit”. In fact, I played Manhunter SF so much that years later after moving to northern California I discovered that I had already acquired a fairly decent handle on San Francisco geography (Coit Tower and the Transamerica Pyramid are real? Videogames taught me something!). Looking back on the Manhunter series now, I’m impressed by the incredible indie feel these games have. Maybe it’s the slightly offbeat humor and dark themes, the strange non-linear gameplay (you never knew what sort of puzzle or challenge might get thrown your way), or the inclusion of the game developers taunting you at every misstep (authorial expressivity and fourth wall breaking on par with Parker Lewis Can’t Lose). Personally, the Manhunter games played a large role in developing my aesthetic preference for games with fringe appeal and atypical aspirations. Bottom line: get yourself an emulator and kill some orbs.