Author: Dakota B.
Dakota Barrett is an indie game developer and journalist. His goals are to create high quality experiences and supports those that do as well.
The following is an interview where the questions are asked by Dakota Barrett and answers produced by Dominic de Graaf. Who are you and what do you do? We are three Dutch guys who all have a passion for games. We know each other from work. Matthijs and Dominic both run a game company together called Alterego Games. Matthijs and Dominic have been successfully making computer and tabletop games for more than 3 years. Two and a half years ago they met Vincent, a freelancer who has a company called Digital Forest and has been in the running as a game…
Recently I was able to get my hands on the private beta for Duelyst, a tactical, turn based, multiplayer, strategy game by Counterplay Games. In short the game features beautiful art and surprisingly detailed animations. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of spells, minions, and equipment. Most of which are more than just cards and come to life as detailed characters or objects on the battlefield. Throw on top of that one of the most thrilling soundtracks that will bring you back to the battlefield just so you can get hyped by the music, even if you’re getting your butt…
Who are you and what are you working on? My name is Janice, I’m a (musical)theatre actress and a singer, majored in university in both Theatre and Mediastudies. Growing up as a kid with the SNES and the Playstation, one of my dreams has always been making my own game(s). Some of my favorite games include Star Ocean, Xenogears, Suikoden, Breath of Fire, FF7/FF8/FFT, Lufia and Seiken Densetsu. I’m currently working on a polished-up version of Escalia. Before that, I was working on Startide. Janice – President of JENBO Productions Why did you want to become a game…
Who are you and what are you working on? I’m The Dink. I mean, that’s my internet name anyway. You can call me Joe. I always have a project in mind but right now I’m primarily a student with a nearly full-time job so that keeps me busy and mostly unable to pursue my hobbies/enjoyment/dreams. What is Half-Off Hero? It’s my entry for the IGMC this year! It’s an Adventure, Visual Novel, RPG, with a comedic storyline. At least I’ve been told it’s funny? Humor is subjective and all that. Of course, it’s more than that too I…
Who are you and what do you do? My name is Lucas Schuneman and I’m a working voice actor in the Chicago, IL area. How long have you been voice acting, and for what mediums do you voice acting for? I started looking into voiceover in 2007, took my first workshop in 2009 and got my first “gig” in 2010 (which was for Disciples III: Renaissance). I would consider myself a character voice actor since the crux of my work can be heard in video games… but I’m also heard in anime, cartoons, trailers, commercials, audiobooks and promotional videos.…
IGMC 2015 games will be judged following the same guidelines the official judges do. (Presentation, Gameplay, Engagement, Bugs/Glitches, and 2015’s Twist: Growth) My score has no effect on the actual scores the game’s receive but just represent my own thoughts on the games. Let’s take a look at today’s game… Escalia Background Information: A turn based, RPG, made in RPG Maker VX Ace by the developer JENB Productions. Presentation: From the start of the game you can tell Escalia is going to be a pretty one. As you sit on the main menu the characters travel throughout…
Who are you and what are you working on? My name is Razelle; on the internet I just use the last name Lockwood to keep any semblance of privacy intact. Although, I’ve never met anyone with my name in my everyday life or even online. Grist of Flies is the first game I’ve released publicly, but I’ve been working on two other games off and on, one which will be an episodic story that I plan on finally unveiling sometime this September. What is Grist of Flies? GoF is a RPG that focuses on battle strategy instead of dungeon crawling…
Who are you and what are you working on? I’m just a guy from Georgia. A complete nobody in the world of game development who saw a contest and thought: “Sure, why not?” Game making has always been more of a hobby than anything for me, and I get much more enjoyment out of making something because I want to, as opposed to planning ahead commercially. Currently I’m working on another non-commercial game, which (like all of my previous projects) will probably never see the light of day or come anywhere close to being finished. What is Reminisce? Reminisce means “to…
IGMC 2015 games will be judged following the same guidelines the official judges do. (Presentation, Gameplay, Engagement, Bugs/Glitches, and 2015’s Twist: Growth) My score has no effect on the actual scores the game’s receive but just represent my own thoughts on the games. Let’s take a look at today’s games… Reminisce Background Information: A side scrolling adventure game made in Game Maker by the developer Jesse. Presentation: The beginning scene starts out with a couple lines of text and some music but then as the game starts the music cuts out. The only sounds you’re left…
Starting out as one of the most buggiest, unplayable, piles of garbage that Steam has seen in recent years, Orion attempted to give us dinos to shoot long before Ark: Survival Evolved was ever a thing. But it’s been years since its initial release and the devs have put quite some time into making it better. The game has sold over two million units thanks to those changes, so what is it like now? Well let’s see… The Core Gameplay Orion: Prelude features several game modes but the focus of the game, as far as the player base is concerned, is…
Square Enix delivered quite a surprise when they took over Sleeping Dogs and turned it from a GTA clone to something great on its own. The story was interesting, the gameplay was very smooth and engaging (jumping off a motorcycle and shooting the gas tank in slow motion as it went under a police car never felt bad), and as odd as it was to be driving a car from the right side instead of the left as American’s like myself are familiar with, the driving was very well done. Which made sense for United Fronts seeing as their previous games…
With the release of The Banner Saga 2 not far around the corner it might be a good idea to refresh your minds on what made the first Banner Saga good, and what could be improved upon in the second. For those who haven’t played the first one it’s definitely worth picking up, and seeing as how the saves from the first game carry over into the second it would be a good idea to play though you don’t have to if you want to just skip to the second game. So let’s take a look… The Core Gameplay The Banner Saga is…
Who are you and what are you working on? Hi! My name is Mickaël “Ylzor” Didier, I’m a French indie developer. I’ve released two games so far, one being Save Point for IGMC 2014, and the other being GUILT for this year’s IGMC. This means both of them were made within a month, and they are free! What is GUILT? GUILT is a Stealth/Horror 2D game focusing heavily on its story and atmosphere. You play as a woman who wakes up in a dark forest and you’ll have to find a way for her to get out of it.…
IGMC 2015 games will be judged following the same guidelines the official judges do. (Presentation, Gameplay, Engagement, Bugs/Glitches, and 2015’s Twist: Growth) My score has no effect on the actual scores the game’s receive but just represent my own thoughts on the games. Let’s take a look at today’s games… Half-Off Hero: The World Needs Savings Background Information: An RPG made with RPG Maker by the creator The Dink. Presentation: The painted art that the game focuses on is a cute yet detailed style that really breathes life into each and every character. The artist behind…
The Indie Game Maker Contest, 2015 has completed its submission phase. Any games on the page at this point are final and ready to be played, judged, and enjoyed by the community. Over the next couple of months as the scores are added up by the judges and games are eliminated down to the final few we’ll be taking a look at some of the games that stand out (or fade away) from the crowd. I will judge them following the same guidelines the official judges do. My score has no effect on the actual scores the game’s receive but…
Orcs Must Die has been an action based, tower defense game in which you try to defend a magical rift from Orcs and other evil creatures. You can place traps, use spells, and use a list of weapons to defeat your foes. Each entry in the series has changed the game a little more each time. The first showed us the core gameplay with an interesting story, the second added multiplayer, and it seems with the newest title in the series, the team over at Robot Entertainment felt it was time to bring the series into the…
If Starship Troopers was a videogame, Infested Planet would be it. It’s a game about facing thousands of enemies in every level, likely millions by the end, and blowing them all to smithereens. You have a small variety of unit types, support buildings, and research facilities and you must use them all to your advantage in order to prevail against the overwhelming odds. Gameplay – Out Numbered A Thousand to One In most missions you’re given a small squad and a single base and thrown into a map with several alien bases. Each base can spawn hundreds to thousands…
I’m a firm believer in the idea that you should get your information from multiple sources and form your own opinion regarding any matter. I may write reviews and I want you to read them but I also believe you should read and watch other’s viewpoints as well so that you can get a better idea of the product you plan on spending your money on or in the least, dedicating time to. If you’re going to sink hours into something you should at least dedicate some time into finding out if it’s worth your time. So…
Gunpoint from the creative mind, Tom Francis, is a stealth-based, puzzle-platform game. One that features hacking, jumping, shooting, and a plenty of action based humor. If falling three stories only to land smack on your face and survive is something you find funny you’re going to love this game. The Core Gameplay One of the main abilities you have in the game is to hack objects. Now instead of typing codes and unlocking doors what you’ll be doing here is changing connections between sources and objects. By this I mean if you rewire a light switch…
Back in 2008 there was a promising real time strategy game released as a part of the Tom Clancy franchise called EndWar. It was a good looking game at the time that featured interesting mechanics. Most notably amongst those mechanics was the ability to give orders to your troops through the use of a mic, as this predated the days where many Xbox owners owned a Kinect. The feature didn’t always work how it should and the strategy end of things was unbalanced. If you played as the American faction and put anti air on your…
The “Humble Game Making Bundle” has come to an end and with it the prize pool for this year’s Indie Game Maker Contest has come to a halt with over $70,000 in the prize pool. $26,856.88 of that being the first place prize. Although the prizes have been set in stone at this point, that doesn’t mean the contest has come to an end! The challenge goes on. Gamedev Fort This forum has become the go to place for IGMC 2015 and if you’re interested in keeping an eye on people’s projects as they progress or sharing…
Hello everyone. Dakota of GamerBolt here and I recently had a chat with Pierre Lehnen about his new game, Orange Season. Here’s what he had to say… Who are you and what are you working on? My name is Pierre Lehnen and despite the French name and German surname, I’m Brazilian. On the internet, I’m usually known as Brian Hudell, or just Hudell. I’m currently 26 years old and working as a third party programmer for a company located at the city of Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil. What is Orange Season? Orange Season is a farm-life simulator, the first in…
Developing a game can be difficult, and marketing one can be even more so, especially if you’re not a social person. There’s not exactly a clear path to success and there a lot of options on how to market your game. Today we’re going to look at a few and see how they can help you market your game. Sharing Your Work Many independent developers spend years working on their projects only to find they have no idea how to get people interested in the game. The funny thing about that is they were creating marketing material the whole time.…
To date, the PS4 has sold a vast amount more than the Wii U and Xbox One, so much more that if you combined the Wii U’s and Xbox One’s sales you still wouldn’t reach the number of PS4s on the market. So what is behind this success? Is the PS4 just that great of a console or are the others just bad? Perhaps it is something else entirely. Half the Game As any game developer can tell you, half of the challenge in making your game do well is marketing. The same can be said about consoles. In this…
Since release, the Xbox One has been trailing far behind the PS4, and only doing a fair amount better than the Wii U. With a reputation for being a cable box that also plays games compared to the PS4 being the “gamer’s console” it had a rough start. This was mostly due to a few poor decisions that got picked up by the media such as the Kinect being “unable” to be disconnected, or Microsoft’s overall focus to make the Xbox One to be the average Joe’s console that was more focused on what apps were on the device rather…
There has always been an argument over the value of a game. Do you justify the value based on how long a game kept you busy, or the level of enjoyment you had during those hours? What’s more valuable, a game that can give you hundreds of hours of enjoyment, or one that gives you just a few hours of the best experience you’ve had in awhile? Well, that’s a matter of opinion, and varies from person to person, today we’re just going to look at what good games you can get on the cheap. More specifically, games under thirty…
Summer 2014, many indie developers were surprised with the sudden announcement that RPG Maker and Humble Bundle were teaming up to host one of the year’s biggest indie developer contest, Indie Game Maker Contest 2014. With a $10,000 grand prize and another $10,000 split amongst smaller prizes it’s was a competition that had a lot of people’s interest, as was seen with over 700 entries into the thirty day competition. Participating in the contest, even if they didn’t win, jumpstarted a lot of people’s careers into video game development. This year the contest is coming back with even more to…
Ark is a great game with a few flaws. It’s optimization at launch was horrid though through constant work from the team the game is mostly stable after update 180. The game has yet to bore me. What it has done though is keep me engaged for over 70 hours. It’s one of those games where when you’re not playing it, you are thinking of what to do the next time you get on. When you finally do get on, you’re trying to knock a few things off the checklist, and as you check those off ten more goals take…
MOBAs or Massive Online Battle Arenas, have become incredibly popular in recent years. If you play games on the PC you’ve probably heard of League of Legends or DotA 2. If you’re a console gamer you may have heard of SMITE. These games focus on five versus five combat at their core, with a series of objectives to complete. They’re games that rely heavily on working your team and your experience with these games will often times depend on who you are paired with. Though these games may not be for everyone they have grown a large audience with nearly…
This week of the year has more breaking game news than the rest of the year combined, so it wouldn’t be fair to leave it at just five highlights from E3. That’s why today we’ll be looking at a few more. So grab your seatbelts and buckle up because here is another top five highlights from E3 2015. FireWatch – Campo Santo – PS4 and PC With all the action packed, shoot em ups, it’s nice to have a little adventure game thrown in to give your mind a moment to relax. You play as Henry, a man with a…