Little games are largely ignored by the gaming press. Sure, there are sites that cover them; Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a particularly good record of covering little games, and even Kotaku throws an indie title a bone now and again, but by and large the press is focused on the big games. Partly that's because of access. Big publishers have established relationships with media outlets, making it far easier for them to get exposure. Partly it's resources. Small developers don't have the time and money that the big guys do, let alone dedicated PR teams. Whatever the reason, the end result is that on a site like Kotaku we get an article saying that there's a countdown clock on the Mass Effect 2 website - essentially an announcement that there will be an announcement - but the existence of a truly fun little dungeon crawler, Desktop Dungeon (pictured above) gets no mention at all. I'm not really trying to rag on Kotaku here; they are what they are. Rather, what I'm trying to say is that these games deserve more exposure, and that's something we can do at NoG.
The great thing about little games is that they can try new things. They can evolve unpopular formulas. They can push the envelope in ways that the big games can't. That's not to say that all little games are good, far from it. The ratio of good games to crap is probably about the same for little games as for big games, but since there are so many little games, that still adds up to a lot of good gaming to be explored.
So let's have it; what are your favorite little games? What do you play on the sly while at work or school? What's the one little game that you want to share with the world, that simply not enough people have heard about? This week, the hosts will share our favorite little games, and we hope to have a lot of yours to share as well!
Spencer Williams
It's gotta be Dwarf Fortress. I don't wanna re-write a ton of stuff, so just look here: http://itwongo.arson-media.com/?p=11
ReplyDeleteThree words: Robot Unicorn Attack
ReplyDeleteI counter SlicedBread's three words with two: Chip's Challenge.
ReplyDeleteThere is one little game that is so bright and happy that it's perfect for playing on your own in the middle of the night in a dark room.
ReplyDeleteIt's called Eversion: http://zarat.us/tra/offline-games/eversion.html
One thing to note is that you can only "Evert" in certain areas. These areas are hidden except when you stand in them. You'll know that you've found a spot when the music changes slightly and the background colour will also change slightly.
Great Indie British game designer: Introversion www.introversion.com
ReplyDeleteThey are the last of the bedroom programmers, apparently. They've made games like Darwinia, DEFCON, Uplink and Multiwinia. Try them out!
At first glance I thought by little game you meant simply an unpopular/known one. Unfortunately there's this one game that's a favorite of mine that doesn't have a place in this topic because while it's pretty much unknown, it's publisher/developer is Capcom. And also while I can probably peruse through my games and find some good ones to discuss, they don't hold a candle to the one I want to talk about...
ReplyDeleteJust to at the least mention it, it's called Gotcha Force and to briefly talk about it it has a bad "story" but it doesn't matter because playing it is fun, addicting, and strangely not too repetitive; it's got great gameplay and an addictive quality to it.
I've got a couple. Surprise surprise.
ReplyDeleteASCIIpOrtal -- the mental image invoked by the title is probably quite accurate to but nowhere near as awesome as the actual game. Go play it, srsly: http://cymonsgames.com/asciiportal/
Passage -- very artsy game about life, marriage, and... opening chests. Playing it makes me tear up (or is that the allergies? Damn they're bad this year). And yeah, this is one of those games that was mentioned on all the blogs, but it was a couple years ago and most people either forgot about it or missed it completely. http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/ Check out his other games too, they're all pretty good.
Rom Check Fail -- classic games in a jumbled mess that is sometimes hilarious, sometimes frustrating as hell. It'll take you a few tries. http://www.farbs.org/games.html Also good fun: Polychromatic Funk Monkey.
Within a Deep Forest -- You're a bouncy blue ball defeating the evil scientist. Huge game, lots of puzzles and the like. http://nifflas.ni2.se/index.php?page=Within+a+Deep+Forest
That's all I'm going to say for now. I'm a give other people a chance to say some.
I sometimes find myself playing flash games more than my console or PC games from time to time. They have there place and can essentially go under the radar where big games can't due to there press. Mostly though flash games have a few gems in it and with the use of XBLA and the iphone games, things like that they will get there place in the limelight.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem I have with XBLA is that its expensive for a game. Its about a third of the price I think about 20 bucks but i will have to check that. It was better when it was 5 or 10 dollars for one which is why I like the itunes store more now.
What I was talking about leans more towards underrated games so I guess just ignore me.
ReplyDeleteThe Path. Ask spencer about it
ReplyDeleteI can't believe no one's mentioned this yet, so I will.
ReplyDeleteIt's called Cave Story: http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/
My favorite little game is a flash game called Clush the Castle (http://armorgames.com/play/3614/crush-the-castle)
ReplyDeleteA fun little game about using a catapult to crush castles and kill the people inside. You can build your own castles.
There is also a iPod touch/iPhone version (http://itunes.apple.com/app/crush-the-castle/id318639200?mt=8) and a free demo (http://itunes.apple.com/app/crush-the-castle-free/id329941560?mt=8)
Awesome game!
One flash game that I absolutely adore is called "This is the Only Level". The basis of this game is to guide an elephant through this one level and reach a pipe. The catch is that you play the same level over again, but with a gimmick such as a different control scheme, low gravity, the level is turned upside down...etc. It forces you to think outside the box and the only hints you have are the names of the variations of the level. In one level you even have to go to the credits page to complete that section of the first level. Look it up on armor games or search for it on google. It is definitely worth a look at.
ReplyDeleteI found this fun multiplayer flash game on 4chan (don't worry, it's not bad). It's a training game for the Swedish Armed Forces. You and three other random strangers complete simple minigames to give more time to your teammates to complete their minigame. It's very fun and definitely worth a look:
ReplyDeletehttp://team.forsvarsmakten.se/english/
a few little indie games
ReplyDeleteMinecraft @ www.minecraft.net
building worlds out of blocks. Me and some friends spent a whole weekend on this in multiplayer mode building towns and walls with 8-bit art
The Phoenix Wright series
while it is produced by capcom I don't think they really marketed it very much outsiede of japan (could be wrong, not many games are marketed down here in Australia). A very liner story driven text based detective/attorney game with lovable characters
Karoshi
karoshi is a Japanese word and means "death by overwork", just a little puzzle time waster flash game floating around, some levels are very challenging =]
Owata
little 2chan inspired platforming ASCII game that does not forgive, and has tricks at every turn. Extremely frustrating but addictive none the less =]
Crayon Physics
2008 winner of the Indie Games festival. Its a simple puzzle physics sandbox game with a beautiful score and interesting puzzles well worth looking at
Thats all aside from the obvious ones on steam such as Osmos, The Path, World of Goo and such. Indie games definitely offer that fresh feeling to them as the gameplay doesn't have a steep learning curve which allows anyone to pick it up and play. There is no worry about getting bogged down in a heavy story just before your going out for dinner and are a perfect way to kill time.
This is going to be a great resource, I don't know many of these!
ReplyDeleteI don't have much to add, but the only "little" game I play right now is Cube Runner on the iTouch.
These comments are not complete without vvvvvv. It is the best small game I've played so far this year: a fiendishly difficult and addictive retro platform game with fantastic game design.
ReplyDeleteGame comes from http://www.thelettervsixtim.es/
For mobile gaming the best I've played so far on android is simply called "Bad-A** Game" (including the asterisks) and is a pirates vs ninjas vs zombies vs etc fighting game. It is a little large but puts most of its stuff on the SD card to save space. It plays great on my rooted G1 so people with newer android phones will have no trouble with it.
They have ported FrozenBubble to Android, this is a bubble bobble clone for linux that seems to have been ported to everything else. I used to have it on my old nokia smartphones before I defected to Android. It is still a good way to kill time although I wish they had included the music from the desktop version.
Are there any fans of the Touhou project games? Some of them might count as "little" games as they will run on anything that is new enough to still boot up. They are, again, difficult games to play but very addictive, and require fan made translation patches so you can read the dialogue.
p.s. Will there be a NoG radio play to follow on from the epic CP ones?
I Wanna Be the Guy. It's probably about the most frustrating thing ever created, not even kidding. I would only recommend playing if your windows are too small for your computer to fit through. Also if a nurse is standing by with sedative ready. http://kayin.pyoko.org/iwbtg/
ReplyDeletea couple of my favorite flash based games are ExMortis (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/189227) and ExMortis 2 (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/303832) They are similar to games like Silent Hill and and Overblood. They're really well thought out and well written.
ReplyDeleteAs far as most little games go, especially flash based games or iPhones apps, they are mainly for a fun little sit down. I play them when Im downloading things or trying to pass some time waiting for something. Its true that not all of these games are good, and Ive played some bad little games, but even though there are bad, they are still entertaining and good time passers
Geometry Wars on the 360 and Peggle on the iPhone/iPod touch are my favorite.
ReplyDeletePlants vs. Zombies: [iPhone, PC]
ReplyDelete- srsly, if u don't know about this one, go look it up. (as with any PopCap game, really) :p
AudioSurf: [PC]
- This game is a really nice way to actually take time to listen to music but still "do something" while listening. Alos the fact of global/local highscores makes it somewhat competitive. (also, this game would be really cool on the iPhone)
Diddy Kong Racing: [Nintendo 64]
- ok, so this isn't exactly a 'little' game, but as I play it on a emulator on my laptop at school I consider it like one. Also, it was the first driving/racing game I ever experienced to have a "adventure" mode. (Think collecting stars and navigating the castle from Super Mario 64) Not to mention the 3 different vehicles.
Wild Metal Country: [PlayStation, PC]
- You control a single tank against everyone else in a vast wasteland, on a mission to win back "powercores" that the machines took from the humans. It's free, why not check it out? http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/?id=2
I downloaded World of Goo for less than $10 on the Wii, and LOVED it. One of the most fun games I've ever played with amazing music.
ReplyDeleteShattered Horizon.
ReplyDeletehttp://store.steampowered.com/app/18110/
DEFENSE GRID
http://store.steampowered.com/app/18500/
Braid
http://store.steampowered.com/app/26800/
My absolute favorite flash game on the internet, with which no other game can compete: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Ridiculous/areas?acomplete=areas
ReplyDeleteAs for non-flash games, Eufloria (on steam) is definitely a win.
[...] NoG Blog: The Little Games [...]
ReplyDeleteOH! i forgot to mention
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youhavetoburntherope.net/
Oh, I forgot! N-game! great platformer puzzle game. http://www.metanetsoftware.com/
ReplyDeleteAll the bloons games, including the tower defense and other variants.
ReplyDeleteBy far, Bloons TD 3 and 4 were the most fun (and the hardest) of the franchise.
ReplyDelete