Indie Game Links: Let Me Fix That For You
April 24, 2011 9:00 AM | timw
Today's collection of independent game links includes more indie game previews, a couple of development updates, the usual round-up of interviews with developers from around the 'net. (image source)
Gamasutra: Humble Bundle Backed By $4.7 Million In Venture Capital
"A recent SEC filing has revealed that Humble Bundle -- the company that packages indie games together for charity -- has acquired $4.7 million in venture capital funding."
Soul Brother: All 33 gems (video)
"A playthrough of Superflat's new game on Adult Swim, Soul Brother, with all 33 gems collected. Had seven failures to reincarnate in this video, aiming for zero."
GIRP: playthrough, beaten in 4min 28.7s (video)
"A world record as far as I'm aware. Was incredibly surprised when I did this well, although there are loads of places in this run I could have shaved a couple of seconds off."
GameTrailers: Interview with Chris Hecker (video)
"Welcome to a world of high-class espionage. The practice of spying back to its hay day in this work-in-progress interview with SpyParty's indie creator Chris Hecker at GDC 2011."
DIYgamer: COLORROOM from Polygon Gmen
"COLORROOM is an escape game from Polygon Gmen, and it is pretty darn sweet. There was something very intriguing about getting each of the seven stars needed to complete the game. My completion time was abysmal, but I blame my laptop's mouse pad."
Quote Unquote: Interview with Ted Lauterbach
"Game developer, Ted Lauterbach, has slowly been gaining new audience with each new release. His latest effort, suteF (the anticipated sequel to Fetus), is his strongest yet."
GameSetWatch: Eufloria Releasing On PSN This June
"A year after the port was announced, Independent Games Festival multi-award finalist Eufloria (formerly Dyson) will release to PlayStation Network in the latter half of June."
Game Podunk: An Interview With Indie Publishers Rake In Grass
"Indie isn't always easy. Struggling along without the benefits and money a big publisher can bring in can sometimes be a struggle, but not for Rake In Grass, who I recently talked to about their games, the indie scene and their thoughts on big publishers."
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11 Comments
So the Humble Indie Bundle isn't indie anymore. I guess it was inevitable given its success... It's a real shame though.
Anonymous | April 24, 2011 11:48 AM
Since you are all about improving the website could you improve these Indie Game Links articles by including a description of what the image is about along with the link?
Apesma | April 24, 2011 12:06 PM
@Apesma: If you click (Image Source) in the first para, you'll see where the image came from.
M Rose | April 24, 2011 12:16 PM
Great, so future Humble Bundles will need to make enough of a profit to pay back millions in VC investment? Heck, 47 million, if the venture-capital-wants-huge-returns is to be believed. WTF?
Anonymous | April 24, 2011 5:35 PM
That sure is a lot of money. I'm guessing that a general-purpose pay-what-you-want indie-funding site is in the works. Something along the lines of Kickstarter but for finished projects. $4.7M is horrific, but it could turn out to be a beautiful thing in the end if the Humble Bundle guys stick to their guns.
namuol | April 24, 2011 9:16 PM
But these investors will expect a return on investment. The Humble guys will have to try making that happen. Until now, the bundle was about promoting interesting indie games and freedom while supporting charity. Since that's what made the bundles so popular they won't abandon this philosophy entirely, but from this point on it will be about profit first and all that other stuff second. They have no choice, since they're no longer indie. I'm not against them profiting (they deserve it, they've done a lot of good) but it becomes a problem when it's the main motivation.
Anonymous | April 24, 2011 9:45 PM
Sorry for the double post. The first time I submitted it gave me an error message, so I thought it failed.
Anonymous | April 24, 2011 9:48 PM
Anyway, has anyone asked the Humble Bundle guys about this? Doomsday predictions aside, I'd like to hear what they have to say.
Anonymous | April 24, 2011 10:03 PM
We can probably expect an announcement on humblebundle.com/the Wolfire blog in the coming week or two. It will be interesting to see how John Graham handles the PR for this one.
namuol | April 25, 2011 2:41 AM
@M Rose I am aware of that but often the image link does not explain what the picture is supposed to be about. Wouldn't it be easier to just write a short sentence to explain what it is instead of getting huffy about it in the comments whenever someone mentions it?
Apesma | April 25, 2011 6:31 AM
@Apesma: Apologies if I came off as huffy, all I did was explain to you how to see where the image came from :(
I don't do these posts, it's Tim that does them. I believe the reason he simply posts the image source and that's it is to force you to click through and read up on the image yourself. So for example, if you click through, you'll see this particular image is fan art for a game. Then if you google the game, you'll find where to download it.
M Rose | April 25, 2011 1:19 PM