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Ep.195: SGF, Next Fest, Tribeca, Oh My! [Part II]
107 Plays4 months ago
Been pretty busy lately, huh? Time to circle back to the indies we had the opportunity to go hands-on with between SGF, Next Fest, and Tribeca!
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Transcript
00:00:18
Speaker
I
Episode Introduction
00:00:19
Speaker
appreciate the history. Welcome to episode 195 of the six one indie cast. I have your host this week. Kyle Stevenson alongside me is Becca Smith. Hi. be hello kyle Austin Ernst. Hello, Austin. I'm here. Finally. Hello. And Harry Loizzides. How are you doing, Harry? I'm good, but is it me you're looking for? It always is Harry. It always is. ah Mike is not joining in this week. He has some family things to take care of, but he will be back next week for sure.
Podcast Focus and Support
00:00:45
Speaker
um This week, we're going to do a continuation of what we talked about last week. Cause there's still plenty more next best previews and Tribeca fun games that we need to chat about.
00:00:55
Speaker
and get on your radar. So before we do that, ah this is the weekly video game podcast, amplifying the indie scene and smaller games outside of the AAA space. New episode strap each and every Monday morning on all major podcast feeds and youtube dot.com slash six one indie supporters on patreon dot.com slash six one. And he can tune in live as we record and gain access to clocked out the indie cast post show. But if money is tight, no worries. You can still support us with a simple click. wherever you're listening, go ahead and leave this podcast and review follow six one India on social, subscribe and hit the bell on YouTube. Follow on Twitch and tell your friends all about us. Shout out to the PD fans, Brett Griffin, Colby, Cordes, Ellie, JC, Jill Groat, Marcus O'Neill, Nick, Nicole Humphrey, stone cold ET, still can it.
00:01:40
Speaker
Nicholas Johnson, The Compound, and Cole, AKA The Good Sir.
Upcoming Events and Previews
00:01:44
Speaker
A little bit of housekeeping. 6.1 Indie Showcase is back on September 19th. We're knee deep in submissions. It's going to be a strong show, everybody, so keep your eyes peeled to our socials for any updates on the show. Mike's got more Summer Game Fest previews dropping on the site whenever he can. ah Indie Council is going strong and well, and that's going on every single week. And, uh, yeah, we're going to, lots of coverage from next fest and, and summary of this happening on the website. Austin, why are your cats
Cat Behavior Anecdotes
00:02:14
Speaker
fighting? I don't know. Are they not play fighting? No. So the white one is much older and slower, but every once in a while she takes her hits and she's like, this is my moment. Yeah, for sure. Speaking of hits, who wants to talk about a hit during next fest that they played?
00:02:38
Speaker
Okay. I think that means
Game Spotlight: Super Farming Boy
00:02:39
Speaker
me. I think that means me. So I have another one. I have two that I want to talk about and one of them I didn't, I don't really think is a hit. So I'll talk about the one that I do think is a hit has the all heard of super farming boy. Yes, yes we have. Yeah, so this is a really, really, really like shiny, poppy art, like cartoony art style, where you're a little boy named Super, and you have these Super abilities, and you use that to farm. And it's more of a combo-based game, which I didn't understand fully at first, but you have to like plant crops in a certain like ah formation to get combos. And when you when you pull up the plant, it will pop out the like coin you get, and it will move down the chain, so you have to properly place your crops.
00:03:21
Speaker
But the thing about this that is so like bonkers is that you were a kid named super, you get approached by a cloud named Corpo and your mom is a star and your house is a bubble named house.
00:03:36
Speaker
I love it so much. It's crazy. It's all these things. Corpo kidnaps your mom, who again is a star. Do they explain that? No. But Corpo shows up, steals your powers. Do I know what your powers are? No idea. Because if the demo opens, he's like, I'm taking your powers. And you're like, no, my powers I don't know anything about. Cool. And then you farm and then give all the money to Corpo. He comes to take a all your money, but in the middle of the night, uh, he visits you in your dreams and it's this dream sequence that you can use to like buy gear and see, well, I don't know if there's, but you buy like stuff like powerups, like you kind of buy your, your, your powers back. You can get like a better tool or a better combo stuff like that. So I just thought it was just bonkers. And I, it was one of those things where I initially was like, Oh, I started a valley. No.
00:04:24
Speaker
No, it's not. It's not at all. And it's one of those things where it's addicting. There is definitely a strategy to it. Do I felt like I got the gist of a strategy? Not at all. But I'm just super intrigued by the by the art style, by the ah having to genuinely plan out how you go. And there's other their little neighboring towns. Didn't even visit those, but I think you can buy like seeds and stuff like that from neighboring people. so It's just a bonkers, colorful game that I think has a genuine promise, but I can also see it being a little overwhelming, because sure there's just a lot to it going on at the beginning. And the demo takes a while to like genuinely open up. like its Immediately when the demo drops, you're kind of just left there to do what you're doing, and you're like, I have no idea what's happening. And then Corpo shows up and steals all your crap, and you're like, cool, awesome. But but yeah keep your eye on Super Farming Boy, because it's just a flamboyant, genuine like strategy farming game that I think is, ah again, just bonkers.
00:05:17
Speaker
It's also a genuine question that I have for that, that is bonkers in and of itself. But I think might be true based on a cloud stealing your mom who's a star and you live in a bubble are the or the
00:05:32
Speaker
ah like Do they have a personification to them? Like, are they talking and have personalities? Okay, so they do. I don't think they have, well, they might have personalities in like how they shake or something like that, but they're all just kind of doing like the general kind of thing. And okay yeah yeah and they're not like, oh no, I kind of wish they would like scream or something like that. but Yeah, like that could be added in you know later on in dev time. But but yeah, they they they do have like eyeballs, and like they do seem like they're alive until you take pull them. And so I remember that I think they had eyeballs, I'm pretty sure they did. It's been a minute shot state okay it so it's been a man since I played this demo now, but I'm pretty sure.
00:06:09
Speaker
And it's it's just growing the crops and reselling them and building them. Yes, but you can vary because like you have to like where it is sort of value where like you start with like your little plot and then you had to get rid of the stone, but you don't have that you don't have the tool to get rid of the stone, so you had to build up to get that. You had to get rid of the random tree stumps, build up to get that that proper tool. So once you eventually clear it out, um you can plant the ah crops the way you want. But every time you go to you go to sleep and wake up, if you didn't do some properly, which I don't exactly know how to do yet, because again i only played the demo um more like rocks or stumps will like appear. so you can't You can't just like clear it out and be like, haha, now next morning I can plant what I want. It's not exactly how it works. so you kind of had to so It's like a give and take. one Two steps forward, one step back, kind of a deal as you progress. But you get more better gear and stuff as you go. so awesome Really liked it though.
Game Spotlight: Spilled
00:06:57
Speaker
yeah ah Becca, you want to tell us about a game you played during the next fest? Yes, I have three left on my list to talk about. um How many of them are VisNabs, as Mike would say? yeah None of them. Oh, OK. I'm shocked. I'm shocked. Not that I didn't play any, because I sure did. But no, I like these three. um I'll start with Spilled. It's Spilled, exclamation point is the full the full title of it. um It's like a super relaxing cozy game where you're just like driving a boat and you're cleaning up like oil spills and you're cleaning up trash in this big ocean area um made by one woman. And what I love about her is she actually lives on a boat.
00:07:43
Speaker
And I subscribe to her like email and I'm on her discord and she's like updating it constantly. And she sends the most adorable cute little like email updates with like pictures of her own bow and stuff like that. um And apparently she has somebody new on her team that's been doing like a graphical overhaul for her. So she's got an update coming up for it with a new demo in the next couple of days. But the demo I played is super cute. It's like Pixley. You just control the boat and like you can do everything in whatever order you want. Like you can finish. I'm pretty sure you can finish the game without upgrading your boat at all if you don't want to. Um, but you get coins with every like oil spill that you clean up every like piece of trash that you clean up. You get coins and then you can upgrade like how fast your boat goes. Um, the area of your like little claw that like gathers stuff for you.
00:08:31
Speaker
and the size of your like oil tank on the back of your boat, which like collects the oil for you. So you just kind of like slowly upgrade things. And really, that's it. The only other thing in the game is there's like you can collect little critters. like You can like go in like a back corner of the level and you find like a little critter. So it's it's really meant to be probably just like a one-sitting, kind of chill little thing. Yes, Austin from 6.1d. Hi, hello. What do you think is like an apt price point for something like this? Because it does seem like a cozy like weekend at most, so I'm just wondering what you think would be a correct way to price this.
00:09:05
Speaker
Honestly, in terms of pricing, because it seems like from the Steam page, she's intending it to be a one sitting kind of thing. I'm thinking $2.99, $3.99 maybe. oh really okay um It had a really successful Kickstarter and you know I think it's it's worth, I mean, ah less than, she's saying finish it in one hour. So it could be oh well you know it could be as little as $2.99, $3.99. It's just, it's so cute and it's just super chill, probably like a one time play. Um, but I just love the look of it. And the more that you clean up, the more areas open up. So there are like different biomes that you're unlocking as well. At one point you unlock a little sprayer so you can like get trash off of the like mountains and stuff too. And it's just like genuinely really, really cute. But yeah, I wouldn't pay, you know, a huge amount for it since it's such a short experience, but.
00:09:58
Speaker
It is ah important to note, if you think that sounds exciting, on July 5th, the graphics update will come to the demo, so we'll get a new look at how it looks after the graphic couple overall. some like side-by-sides, and I do like the the way the update looks, yeah genuinely. like You can actually like see more like in the water, it looks like genuine water rather than just like the design of, I don't know how to explain it, but it looks it looks great. Sure. And as you're cleaning up as well, you can see not just the not just about the graphical changes that you saw in the side-by-sides, but in the game, in the version of the demo that I played, like once I fully cleaned up an area, like the water gets clearer, you can see the animals clearer. That's awesome. Yeah, and I think it's something wonderful from somebody who's basically up until now worked on it completely by herself.
00:10:42
Speaker
so Is this like the boat version of, what's that simulator, Power Wash simulator? Is this like the boat version of that? Clean up the ocean simulator. I love that though. That's great. Nice. Awesome.
Game Spotlight: Goodnight Universe
00:10:55
Speaker
Harry, you wowed us with your take on NEVA from Tribeca. Did you get to play anything else while you were there? I sure did. NEVA's so good. It's been like two and a half weeks and I'm just like, I want to play it again. Do you want to talk about nether somewhere? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Well, what I will say is now the,
00:11:17
Speaker
The music to the sequence of the opening cinematic is now available on Spotify, and I've been listening to it for a while. he's insane So that's very good. But aside from Neva, the other game that I was really impressed with and won the pretty much game of show from Tribeca, is Goodnight Universe, which is a game that a lot of us have been aware of since it was announced probably like two years ago, or maybe a year ago, I don't know, times a flat circle.
00:11:50
Speaker
um But it's basically a game from the developers of the people who made Before Your Eyes, but it's a new official developer. I didn't know you played this. Oh, my God. Oh, it's OK. So what I will say is never I played for almost an hour. This one was like 12 minutes. So it's a lot, lot, lot shorter. most of the time was just me setting up the premise, which is you're playing with a camera that tracks your eye motions, your blinks, you're smiling and you're frowning. And then I think it was like a slightly like head movements.
00:12:27
Speaker
So that took a couple minutes to orient to make sure it was good. There was a lot of natural lighting so it didn't work as great as it could have. um But you basically play as this baby who somehow has super innate powers. Pretty much like telepathy and not telepathy psychic psychic abilities and is like crazy smart. um But he can't verbalize in words how smart he is. So he's kind of just being like, I'm super smart. I can't wait to tell my parents how smart I am and how much I love them. um And then he does some other things.
00:13:01
Speaker
So the premise of it is just that you're a baby trying to figure out how to live and then you use your powers to kind of navigate scenarios like it's bedtime but your dad's tired so he's not really doing everything he's supposed to do so you kind of help him out or you're in the kitchen and the dog's hungry so you use your powers to move some dog food so he's munching on it. Um, it is, it was very segmented. So I kind of got bits and pieces of probably the opening bits of it, but the deep story I have no idea about. So it's kind of like you're the baby doing some wrote checklist stuff, blinking your eyes. Um, something that I thought was really interesting that, uh, I don't think before your eyes had was when you close your eyes, that's one of the motions and you hear things happening.
00:13:51
Speaker
And one of the developers was behind me and I opened my eyes i'm like, Oh, is there actual things happening with my eyes being closed? He's like, yeah. I'm like, Oh, that's such a cool feature that I can play by myself, but then someone else who could see me either. not in camera or watching the video later is going to see what's actually transpiring. So I thought that was a cool little thing. Yeah. And before your eyes, when you blink, the scene would change. Yeah, it was just blinking. Okay. Um, and blinking does perform actions too. So it's like you close your eyes to do some things you blink once or blink twice to do something else. You like navigate your eyes to motion things.
00:14:31
Speaker
um Smiling and frowning is kind of like how you want the pe the world to react to you. So if you're smiling, you're happy baby. If you're crestfalling, you're sad baby. um But then things go awry and then some shenanigans happen, but you don't see the outcome of that. And it's just a segment and be like, all right, well, I have a lot of theories on what's going on. But then at the end, you're the baby and then you go into a lab. So kind of fizzles with that. I'm like, what's going to happen with the baby? Or like what sad thing is going to get me emotionally devastated to get to that point and get me out of that point? Because, Oh, before your eyes destroyed me. only expecting this to do the same I could not believe how much it like wrecked me. Um, and then what I really liked was, um, I was able to talk to Graham and rich, who were actually the developers of this. And then they also worked on.
00:15:23
Speaker
before your eyes. So it was really fun to kind of pick their brains and be like, well, what how were you guys expecting the reception? like Was it as much of a hit that you were hoping for? they're like we had like They were kind of like excited about how much it blew up. And they wouldn't tell me anything about Good Night Universe, which was great. um But I was giving them my fan theories. And they're like, oh, that's really interesting. Ooh, hereditary stuff? Oh, interesting. I'm like, you're not going to budge. They're like, no, we can't. And I'm like, all right, well. I got to interview the Before You Rise team a couple of years ago, and i and I was kind of asking them the same things about Before You Rise. like And i'm I'm just so happy to see that they're continuing with the trend because I just thought it was such a unique idea and the way that they really pulled it off. like I had didn't have very many issues with the blinking mechanic.
00:16:14
Speaker
I know they, they, they implemented where you could click your mouse instead of blinking. Um, if there was a situation where your camera wasn't picking up your blinking, but I didn't have that problem at all when I was playing. So I thought it was so unique and interesting. And it's really great to see that team doing more with that. Cause that's great. I never played it, but I, I feel like I would just get angry. Like I feel like I would blink and be like, son of a, but that's part of the journey too. Like you want to keep your eyes open for a certain story beats or. you have to keep your eyes open from like watering your eyes. Cause you're like, Oh my God, I want to see what's happening. see I have a thing with eyes like ah in in movies, if anything happens to someone's eyes, my eyes get a lottery. like Like I can't do it. So if I consciously know that my eyes, like I'm trying to get my eyes open, I'll just be blinking nonstop and that game will be terrible. Like I just, I won't experience any of it. Yeah.
00:17:05
Speaker
but it But just so you guys know, Before Your Eyes is less than $3 right now. It's $2.49 on the summer sale. Oh, it's incredible. So there's no excuse. Just play it. It's like a 90-minute game. It will emotionally destroy you. Anyone who ah owns a PSVR 2 and is PS Plus subscriber 2, you can get it for free if you remember. Amazing. um So yeah, that's that's something really exciting. I'm hoping we can get them on a like a dev interview soon. They're all about it. So I'm like, all right, once you guys go back to your respective locations and everyone's recuperated from Tribeca, receiving all the accolades, because I didn't realize Tribeca was such a long event. hu So they they must be very tired. So we'll try together as a summer adventure.
00:17:48
Speaker
That dev interview will just be Harry theorizing the entire time. All right, this is the thing about the baby. This is the thing about the sister. Where does this fit in the boss baby universe? Is this the origin? When do you team up with Jack Jack from the encroach? Exactly. Well, knowing how before your eyes plays out, I was like, all right, every like 30 seconds, I'm like, well, this is going to emotionally destroy you. Well, this is going to emotionally destroy me if that happens. So how sad am I going to be? Yeah. Scale of scale of one, two, absolutely correct. Generally speaking, there's a mom and a dad and the sister. So like sad face on one of them, probably there's an old dog. So sad face on that. There seems to be financial restraints or something. So sad face on that. Like there's, there's every moment.
00:18:43
Speaker
I was playing the game like, all right, this could possibly emotionally destroy me. And then the baby going in the lap at the end, I'm like, well, okay, that's obviously gonna emotionally destroy me as well. It's going to be, I don't know if y'all, there's this TikTok, it might've been a different video before, but it was like someone starting up Red Dead Redemption 2 for the first time. And they're like, what am I even doing? Why am I walking everywhere? And then it just skips to him at the end and he's just devastated watching like the sunset. I don't want to say, but like the sunset. And you're just like, yep, that that's video games, baby. Mm hmm. Anyway, absolutely. God, can't wait to play it. Any hint on when it's coming? Because on the scene, it's just it's coming. soon Oh, no, they they were just very tight. Eventually. I'm like, OK, but i think I feel like we've heard. I feel like we saw 2025 or am I just to lose name that? I'm probably going to lose name that. I don't know. I don't think it's this year. I think it's it seemed like they were still working on it. So what was the title of this game?
00:19:35
Speaker
Uh, good night universe. It won their like a Tribeca game of show for the video games. That's awesome. Which was super cool. Especially out of like the, the seven or eight games, like they're all bangers. So the fact that this one was like, yeah, we think this is the best of the best. I really loved the way this game looks to you with the art style. It's very, very cool. Yeah. It's almost like it reminds me of Coraline without the creepy button eyes. Mm-hmm. with like 5% less claymation. Sure. yeah i see the guy There's a game in former article that says 2025. Okay. Sweet. So hopefully January 1st, 2025. And not December 9th, 2020. You want to start the year off with an emotional game? Hell yeah.
00:20:26
Speaker
i don't I have like four days in January where I don't have school or work. So I'm just like, all right, I'll get emotionally devastated January 2nd. I go back to work fifth or sixth. Sure. That'll be enough time for me to be like, okay, I'm stable enough to talk to seven. fair
00:20:43
Speaker
Awesome. Do you have another game? You, uh, yeah, I can. Uh, Harry didn't mention that the dog is like a little wiener dog and I'm just seeing the dog and it looks like the dog like almost has a wig on, but I think it's his ears. It's just the screenshot looks funky, but anyway, it look cute. Okay. So.
Game Spotlight: Avoid
00:21:04
Speaker
There's a game called Avoid that I played ah demo at Nexfest. Have you all played a game called Cluster Truck? There's a game called Cluster Truck. It was on Game Pass a while ago. It's not on it anymore. I looked. um And these these games aren't one-to-one, but it's first person. It's kind of like an endless runner and first person you're going, but in Cluster Truck, you are jumping from truck bed to truck bed or like the top of a trailer, right?
00:21:29
Speaker
Avoid is that, but like minus that the truck aesthetic and it's more like with more like a style and more like polish and more like pizzazz to it. But I still kind of like cluster truck more because avoid feels like more of the, what's there's, there's a saying it's like all style, but no substance. And that's kind of the feeling I got from playing avoid. And again, it's only a demo. So who knows? But I do genuinely think that like, there's like, I don't want to say more effort put in, because I don't know what the devs who made Cluster Truck. Maybe it was one person that spent like eight years. like I have no idea. but like ah it just This one feels definitely more polished and more like a genuine product, but like the vibe I got playing Cluster Truck just kind of felt more wacky and fun, and this felt like they were going for something.
00:22:10
Speaker
And it probably is a better game with like a, it has a nice good quick restart. You're just running it. The stage will like turn on you. You have to kind of like time that and there's jumps and you can kind of dive under stuff. Again, it's like a first person on this runner like that, but it has a lot of style to it. You can't slow down stuff like that. There are flips. There are some segments that go, um, like on um on rails and like, it gets faster and you have to like do these like quick time events and stuff like that. So um again, there's more to it than cluster truck. And I keep mentioning cluster truck, but I think if you want a game like this, I think you should just play cluster truck. But um if the full release comes out, if it's something that's like super cheap, because I looked up cluster truck is like 15 bucks. If a void is around that price, I think i think it's worth it. I think it's awesome. but A void came out on the 17th, and it's for 10 bucks. perfect That's a perfect price point, I'm telling you. That's awesome. But but yeah, if if you look at that and you're like, I like this style, like this kind of like simple gameplay with like you know ah trial and error and getting better and and as you go, i think I think it's worth it. But I just i couldn't help but just be like, I could play Clustertruck. And again, they're not one-to-one, they are different. Clustertruck is literally just jumping from truck to truck, and they have like weird, wacky environments. And this one does like turn on its head, and it's more on rail segments. but
00:23:22
Speaker
yeah I just got the feeling like this is that one's more my cup of tea. This one reminds me a whole lot. And I don't know if I'm dating myself here with the computer games I would play at school. um There was a flash game where you would control like a little penguin and you would have to rotate around the walls to avoid the holes in the floor. Sure. And that's what this gameplay reminds me of where you're just It's really you're controlling the camera um But with more with like sliding and jumping now with this one It sounds like I do I will say like school because you you said you're you're controlling the camera There is like a head bob to it Not like a motion sick head, bobb but it does it does like feel like it is an actual person's perspective when you're doing it That's good. so That's that's nice, but sweet awesome ah Becca
00:24:05
Speaker
Oh, you got me yawning. I know.
Game Spotlight: Lock
00:24:07
Speaker
I'm sorry. Bed timing. I just bored her so much with my avoid slash cluster truck talk. but can Can somebody tell me how many times Austin said cluster truck? I really wish I said avoid more, but I just play both of them. i guess Fun fact for you guys, but I looked up cluster trucks so I could see what it looked like. Also a delivery only restaurant with menu inspired by the best street food in the nation. Excuse me. Oh, it's like a, it's like a food truck. It's a delivery only food truck. So there you go. It's a good name, closer truck. I like it. So a game I wouldn't normally go for and one that I downloaded just because I like the art style and I wasn't sure that I would like it and would probably give up on it and never talk about it again. It is Lock, L-O-K. Okay. um And I loved it.
00:25:00
Speaker
I did get stuck a lot because I'm not good at puzzle games like this, but I really, really like it. So basically there's not really a story, but the story, if you there was one, is that there's these little like worm boys and each worm boy has like a different role for the puzzles that you're doing. So for lock, you're basically on a grid of squares and the squares are blank or they have letters on them. And your goal is to eliminate all of the squares in the level using the the rules for each little wormy.
00:25:35
Speaker
So the first little wormy, you have to... Are we sure they're not worm men? All right. They're little wormy boys. Okay. So the first one is you have to put together the letters L-O-K. And then once you do, the little wormy pops up and you use him to eliminate any square on the map, any additional square on the map. So at the beginning, not very hard. There is like tricks and rules where like all the letters have to be touching, but like if it's LO and then a blank square and then K, you've got to get rid of the blank square before you can put the letters together. So like there's rules like that. There's different puzzles and rules like that.
00:26:18
Speaker
What's really interesting is that it adds new words as you go. So it's not just lock. Then eventually you'll add, um, it's, it's T L a K. I was just, yeah, the gift is says has that word. I was like, yeah, I was just, they misspelled talk. it's Just calling it Slack wow and Slack. I think when you get it, you have to, you can eliminate two boxes that are next to each other or like above. Up and down, up up and above and up and down. You know, you know what I'm saying? sure Two that are near each other or right next to each other. So each little wormy has a different rule. So lock has just gets rid of one, slack gets rid of two. And then there was another one that once you got that word, um it eliminated, you pick a block. And so if you pick like a blank block, it gets rid of all the blank blocks on the level. Or if you pick a block that has a K, it gets rid of all the K's on the level.
00:27:13
Speaker
Um, and that's, that's gent genuinely, that's it, but like it gets so complicated because they add tons of rules and then you're having to try and like, like it's really brain puzzle. You're having to try and be like, which one of these do I eliminate first? And there is a hint system that helps. Zero. It helps. Not at all. It basically tells you what order to use the words in. So if it's ah if it's a whole level that's got like lock, plaque, lock, and then it's not like, you know, the all the other words on it or whatever, it tells you what order, but it doesn't tell you which one. So if there's like four locks that you have to get on the level, it doesn't tell you which one is the first one. It just tells you the first word that you're going to want to do is lock or whatever.
00:27:55
Speaker
So the hint system, the worst. I see, I see in one of the gifts on the steam page that there are numbers involved as well. Yeah. So the number puzzles too. I didn't get that far okay yeah in the demo cause I got stuck. I think I got stuck on my fourth word and watched and I played for like 40 minutes. So like this demo had a ton that you could play. Um, it seemed like, But so, yeah, like I don't know if I would actually like continue playing it or if it was just like this was really cool and addicting for like 40 minutes um because it looks so complicated. But the people that kind of like crave that mind bending puzzle, like the really complicated Sudoku and things like that, the ones that aren't just like the regular grid and like the things that like really make you think I think people are going to go crazy for this. um And what's fun about it, and I mentioned this in my
00:28:51
Speaker
preview on the website, ah just 61indy.com, um is that it was ah i was a physical book before he made it into a video game. So you can actually get the physical book as well, which sounds horrifically difficult to me because you don't get the hints in the book. Oh, I suppose the answers would be at the end, but that's cheating. You heard it here. yeah And then, oh, and the the other thing that I want to mention is um eventually they stop telling you what the rule is. So at the beginning, they tell you what happens when you when you use lock, it says like use lock and and then eliminate one thing. When you use Slack, it says use like and then you eliminate two things. After that, you're on your fucking own. Yeah, like there's one that's like top and you you have to experiment and be like, all right, well, I'm stuck. What do I do? You do TA and something happens. You're like, whoa, I just like some things happen. Like what did I just do? I'm adding this to the list. I love this game. Yeah, it's so good.
00:29:51
Speaker
um Just as a clarification, the ones with the numbers, I think, from what I understand, those are the puzzle numbers. So, like, giant air quotes, one island could have 12 puzzles, so you're just going through all of those. Unless there is numbered ones I didn't get to, but I played about the same as Becca. I played maybe an hour, and I'm like, Oh, this is this is working my brain. Yeah. I'm curious to see how difficult it's going to be, because then it's going to drop with fun factor. Yes. It started dropping by word three for me. Yeah. um But I did look at the paper version. The paper version looks super boring, where it's just you're just circle, you're just coloring in the boxes. So like you can just lie and be like, oh, I figured it I colored in out all everything black and done.
00:30:40
Speaker
Um, so I think that's so weird. I think it was really meant to be digital. Yeah. Like there's this, ah this enhances the, whatever idea they had on paper, because now you can see the actions in real motion. So I will say with it only being like a black and white game, it's really pretty. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, just the just the key art is what made me download it. I was like, I'm not usually good at these types of puzzle games. I'm going to finish like two of the puzzles and then I'm not going to be able to do anymore. It's going to make me feel stupid. But yeah, no, I played I played like an hour and it's just it just got more fun and I got more satisfied, you know, as I was playing the levels. But I think more than four words, too much for Becca. Gotcha. This is going to be a game where I'm going to have like a list of
00:31:26
Speaker
rules and things on the side. Yeah. Like this is my summary of what the things, but it was cool. It's awesome.
Game Spotlight: Ranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure
00:31:36
Speaker
Uh, Harry Tribeca, anything else you played that's not emotional or did you only play emotional games while you were there? ah
00:31:46
Speaker
So one, two, three, four, five. There's five more games. I'll try to focus. I'll do rapid fire for the ones that I was a little bit more meh on later. But one of the ones that is also available at home, which I played at home because time is important to me, is a ranger, a role-playing, a role-puzzling adventure. So right when I went there. I know Mike played this at SGF. So here are his thoughts later. So I asked them before I did anything. I'm like, is this the same one as at home? They're like, yeah. I'm like, OK. So I don't get pressure to play it here. um But it's pretty much you play as this character. But the movement of the world is based on a grid that you are manipulating. So I don't know how to explain it in a non a-psychotic way, but I think. I feel like it's the the square that you are on.
00:32:43
Speaker
is what moves, right? It's like the dial, you focus on that one and it's like a Rubik's cube and everything else is moving around you. Okay. That's good. Where, you so you're starting at one spot, you're flipping over each of the lines, horizontal or vertical, um, to kind of get to places. So if I wrap myself around a four grid, my last grid, if I push forward, then I loop around and go to a quicker spot. Um, That got really wild really quick, but it does a great job of introducing you to mechanics of like, all right, well, if you're stuck, flip over and go to the other side. Or if you have to move an item, like you should do like a grid pattern to push it out of the way. Or how to use weapons to attack creatures, or how to solve puzzles with narrative stuff. um That tripped me up a lot more than I was expecting, but
00:33:36
Speaker
Eventually, you can kind of like flub your way through moving through the world. um The characters are really whimsical and like funny, I would say so far. But I don't have a sense of how deep the story goes yet. Like so when I saw this at Tribeca, I was genuinely surprised. I'm like, all right, well, is this a story focused game? Is it mostly meant to be like an environmental storytelling. But so far, it's awesome gameplay. So that's front and center. And then the story so far is like whimsical characters, but I don't know where it's going. So I'm hoping you know in July, when it comes out, that we'll get a better feel for what's going on with it. But it's really pretty. It's like such a stylized 2D adventure where you're moving around the world. The music is vibe enough.
00:34:32
Speaker
And the introduction of mechanic is really cool. The one thing I hope it has is like an assist mode or help mode, because like instead of banging my head and kind of getting diminishing returns, I'd like to be like, all right, maybe go up, down, left, right. And then you're good. But yeah, that's the one concern, because at home when I played it, I ended up playing like the first 20 minutes twice because when you save, it doesn't actually save. Yeah, that was really annoying. So then I'm like, all right, I think I've had enough of this game until release, but I'm intrigued to see more of it. So I'm excited. no i'm I'm watching because I didn't get to play it while I was there or at home yet, but I'm watching some of the gameplay that they have in the scene page. It looks like there's like storybook pictures in the background as you're maneuvering through the world. Oh, yes. Is that kind of how
00:35:27
Speaker
the stories unfolding as well, like in picture book form. So it it also it kind of does both where there's a lot of dialogue. But as you're especially in the introductory moments, like there's this person who has a baby, but you see panels as you're traversing me like she's running in the forest and then she gets emotionally devastated by leaving the baby there. Um, so that's a cool thing. I don't think it's a interactive thing. I think it's more of a, here's more context clues of what's happening in the world um or like what you're expected to focus on. So like, if you're in the house, there's like a bird with a window sealed big, Oh, this is my view from outside. Or if you're in the library, there's books in the background, like, Oh, like this is a book, like, um,
00:36:16
Speaker
stuff like that, but yeah, that true it's pretty. Gameplays, rad stories to be determined. Cool. Awesome. ah Austin. I don't have any more. I'm sorry. no I just have the, I just had to avoid was the one that you were. Yeah, I
Game Spotlight: Grun
00:36:33
Speaker
was kind of met on avoid. So I'm just here for the vibes now. Sure. Let's vibe out Becca. Okay. What else do you have for us? um The last demo I played was Grun, or Grun. Okay. G-R-U-N-N.
00:36:51
Speaker
um This is you're a gardener and you get hired to do maintenance work. I'm just reading the Steam description because it's easier for me. ah There are some tools missing. The owner of the garden is not around. Their house is off limits. Um, and there's like, like weird townsfolk. So you first show up and you are just kind of like dropped off and you go over a bridge to get to the house that you're working on. And the bridge behind you breaks and it's like, buper like what does that mean? Um, and then you just like, the opposite of. then and and
00:37:31
Speaker
So you just like you find ah one of your like shears or whatever and you can just start like trimming the grass and stuff and there's a little percentage in the bottom corner that says like you're three percent done cleaning or whatever you're three percent done like trimming the hedges you're five percent done trimming the grass. So you just start like trimming stuff but then like there's nothing else you can do because you don't have tools for this or whatever so you just kind of like start venturing around and you find like little Polaroid pictures that when you pick up it like shows something And then like, like one of them, for example, showed like a picture of a broken, um, piece of wood on the fence. So then you go behind and you find the fence and then you can break through there because it shows you like, this is how you progress. Um, but yeah, it's like this first person game. And I don't know why the key art just like pulled me in. I was like, that gnome looks suspicious as heck. so Do you see your character? You don't see your character at all. So are you just a tall gnome?
00:38:24
Speaker
Yeah, I probably. Cause I saw the hands and I was like, you're a garden gnome. Yeah, it looks like a garden gnome. That's going to be the end. It's just going to reveal your face and you'd be like, but there's like this weird, just like. I didn't see the fourth tag is horror and I didn't see that when I first downloaded it so just like imagine like little old me going into this gardening game and I'm like this is so cute and then all of a sudden there's like a creepy guy in the window that like pokes his head out at you it's and I'm like
00:38:56
Speaker
What is this? What is this? And then suddenly it starts getting really creepy and then there's this weird stuff happening and you're not supposed to go out at night and you like go into this church and there's like a skeleton and I'm like, what what is going on? So it's like this big mystery that you're having to kind of piece together. like It's got this, it's got this really intriguing art style that I've never seen before. That's like, everything's kind of just off looking And, but like at the end of the day, you're, you have to finish gardening by Monday. So I'm like, I want to go and investigate that thing, but I should probably finish trimming the grass. well I picked up, I picked up like a clarinet at one point. You can go around just like honking at everything.
00:39:35
Speaker
And I was able to like smash one of the gnomes and there was like this really eerie sound and I'm like, did I just fuck up? Like what did I do? You just killed your brother. So it's really good and really unexpected because I didn't think it was going to be something scary when I went into it. I thought it was just going to be like. you get to clean up. Like I love yeah pat like power wash them. So I'm going to be honest, and it be like you added horror and I'm like, I'm in. It's so good. It's really good. I like how they're leaning into it a little bit too. Cause like some of the, the steam black updates out here are like grunge, just a normal gardening game. yeah like
00:40:11
Speaker
They're hinting at something and it's supposed to be supposed to be designed, uh, after his like uncle or his dad's like actual garden or something. Okay. Um, but yeah, like the people are like just a little bit creepy. There's like, even the features they're like, explore a scenic village, enjoy the lovely weather, listen to the birds satisfying gardening, discoverable blendings. Try not to die. like I do. I do love how they are marketing this game. Yeah, no, it was it was it was a really, really pleasant surprise. I really loved it. And I got I got like there was five endings that you could get in the demo. I think I got two out of the five um just because I didn't have enough time playing it. But yeah, one of the endings I got was really horrifying. So look forward to that. It was it was one of those like never ending hallway endings. And then, you know, stuff happens. No spoilers. But yeah.
00:41:02
Speaker
I was like, oh, it's one of those, it's like that, like, I can't, like I keep turning around. Cause like this side won't let me continue. So I turn around and then I'm going this side infinitely. And then I turn around and a you just like stuck in a never ending loop. I was like, I was like playing like ah like ah something's going to pop out at me, but it was really good. I'm downloading it right now. Yeah, that's a good time. Harry, what else you got for us? Uh, so let me do the meant one that we briefly talked about.
Humor and Gameplay: Thank Goodness You're Here & Skate Story
00:41:35
Speaker
So thank goodness you're here. I thought was meh, I didn't like the comedy too much, but I'm hoping. and
00:41:41
Speaker
Maybe it was just Harry was tired and emotionally devastated. Comedy is a hard thing to do in games. so yeah Everyone has their their own sense of humor. I played the demo for that, and I thought it was really, really good. so so not like I'm not like arguing with you. yeah i mean If you don't like it, you don't think it just... I want to like it, but I don't know if any of the jokes landed. Other than like everyone looking so derpy, that was my favorite part. sure We didn't laugh at the flowers. The flowers made me laugh so hard. Oh, the the lawnmower one. Yeah, that one made me chuckle. But yeah, I don't know. I think I wasn't in the mood for it. So I was like, mar so hopefully if I try it again, it'll be. And ah what what does it say? Matt Berry. Right. From what we do in the shadows is voicing the character, I think. I don't know. I think so. I'll look that up. Make sure it's definitely like like acquired taste kind of humor, like
00:42:34
Speaker
yeah ah Skate story, I think I talked about last week. I liked, and for someone who's not a skate bra, I was able to like do ollies and grinds. Whoa, okay. The question marks at the end. I don't remember the other words. Yes, it is Matt Berrien. Thank goodness you're here, by the way. Um, so that was fun and it's bananas. So I'm excited to see how weird it gets. Are they, are they still bananas? Are they still, um, the point of skid story is like escaping hell, right? Or purgatory? Going into hell. but Why would you want to do that? Or like, you gotta go through the nine levels or something. Dante's Inferno vibe.
00:43:23
Speaker
um But with a weird like you ate the moon or the moon exploded or something about the moon I'm like when you when you fail cuz I think you're made out of glass, right? You shot. Yeah. Yeah you will and the reload is really quick. So like each Section could be like zero to five minutes. So like you immediately reload into a spot you keep on going the objectives could either be like destroy the bad guy do a bunch of Ollie's and just get to the end. So it kept me engaged all the time. And I was like, I don't really get what's happening, but this is vibe is great. So I'm hoping and I figure it out later.
00:43:58
Speaker
um And then the last two games is Dark Web Streamer, which essentially is a game
Mystery and Strange Occurrences: Dark Web Streamer & Blueprints
00:44:06
Speaker
where you're playing as like a twitch streamer, but I don't think they say twitch. I think it's just you're a streamer. But the but you're streaming for hell or some vibe of strangeness where things go weird. fourth walls getting broken, you can go on the internet and Google things about feet, or things about death, and there's other options, and it gets real funky. Death, please. Yeah, so. I like how feet and death are the first thing. Well, because when you start the game, it's like things that you like, things that you hate, and I'm like, I'll do a random everything, and it's like, I hate feet, and I'm like, all right, I guess that's the thing that I'm not gonna do. Death for 100, please.
00:44:55
Speaker
yeah um So it was really interesting that it was like you're managing your life as a streamer. So you're like, okay, I got to check on my contacts. I got to check my website. I got to check into my friends. I got to stream and do some silly stuff or some serious stuff or whatever the chat wants. So you're like interacting with them as an actual streamer. But then things get weird where it's like, Ooh, like, did you get my gift? Like, did you get my package or like an envelope gets slipped under your real world apartment?
00:45:26
Speaker
left to the side. Am I going to read it in real life? Well, yeah, like IRL. Or you start bleeding for no reason. And you're like, Oh, what do I do? Um, and like, I wish I figured out how to play the game a little bit better because I'm dying for my blood wound, but I'm like, ah, but then I was talking to, o my pan told dan ah Rich, who may was making goodbye good night universe, and he was saying, oh yeah, like you got to Google like head wounds or something to figure out how to heal. I'm like, all right, well, there's no way I would have thought about that. That's crazy. Google bad headache. Yeah. But I what do then i don't want a WebMD in a game. I already did enough in real life. Right. So it it was wild. Did you say the developer's name? No. The developer's name is, we have always lived in the forest.
00:46:19
Speaker
That's a great dev name. Yeah, it's worthwhile. But yeah, the guy I was talking about was Rich, the guy from Goodnight Universe. won um But what really intrigued me was like when you die, you get like the blue screen of death pretty much like from like Microsoft PC stuff. And then you start the game over again. So I'm curious to see if it's going to remember me dying, or if that's part of the game and it's not the end, sure it's like, OK, well, hey, we missed you. what happened like What happened when you died? Or like, why have you been gone for three days? Curious how that's going to plan out. yeah But there was there was a line happening, so I didn't want to be like, I'm just going to play the whole thing over again.
00:47:03
Speaker
I imagine that same little girl that was mad at you waiting for never was also waiting for this one. Oh my God. It was so funny. I can't, I still think about that. She's like, Oh, finally. And then the mom was like, I forgot her name was like, Chrissy. I'm like, it's fine. Like I didn't realize I was playing for 45 minutes. I wonder if this is going to do some things kind of like Doki Doki literature club where I'll like mess with the files and you have to It totally is outside of the game. I know in the game, there's like I didn't get this, but the trailers and stuff showed like ah almost like one bit colored shadow stuff that you're watching in your streams. That looks like almost like Blair Witch, where it's like, oh, my God, what's happening? I can't tell. It kind of looks scary, like stuff like that. So I'm sure it's going to get scary. And then you have to like check the Internet and it'll get really meta and that.
00:48:00
Speaker
I'm going to play this with the lights on. I'm sure you played this, Harry. I know you're not a scary boy. So well, i if it if it's into the ominous vibe, sure. If there's a jump scare, I'm absolutely out. Absolutely. That's like my non-negotiable. I cannot like I i can't process it. I'm like, and I'm done. Like, oh, he's double done. That bit did not work. But um yeah, like it doesn't seem like it's going to be a a jump scare kind of game. I think it's going to be more of a
00:48:32
Speaker
Ominous, what is this vibe? Scary mode. On the scene page, it does have the rogue-like tag. So I wonder what carries over in between runs. I feel like people are just adding that tag on everything now. But but still, ooh. Yeah, I think it's it's going to be part of like, oh my god, you died. Let's get more views about that. I think it's going to be. That's fair. What did you learn? Yeah. So we'll see. And then the last year. And then the last one, which is also available at home, is blueprints, where essentially you're you inherit a giant estate that has like, I think it's 45 rooms and you have to find the 46th room. It's like a whole mystery thing. But what's really cool about it is that each type of room has their own abilities or their own riddles or their own puzzles.
00:49:24
Speaker
um But you're filling out the rooms as you're going each day But you want to maximize your space. So like let's just say you can do a maximum of 20 rooms You want to make sure that you give yourself space to open up Opportunities for new rooms. So if I do the living room, maybe there's left up and right But if I put that on the corner room, then I don't go left because there's no more space So you really have to do like multiple management of the room, of the mysteries of the puzzles, and then the overarching puzzle, which I thought was really cool. And like I play probably an hour of this at home and I was like, this is wild.
00:50:06
Speaker
um because you're gradually getting information about everything and you you pretty much have to write it down because there's way too much information. You have to manage like, oh, well, this has to be in the West Wing, but then this has to be to the left. And then I guess there's like a master way to do it to get that mystery room. And then why do you have this? Like, where is this going? What's the whole vibe of it? So that has me intrigued. It looks very cool. Yeah. And there's no release date. So eventually, but it's definitely worth a demo check out because it's cool. According to Daniel Mullins, who created an inscription, he said, said it was the best thing I played. Yeah. Well, so high bachelor I was so happy with Tribeca because like pretty much every game is a banger, even if it's not my jam, like it's like I get it. Sure. This is so good.
00:51:00
Speaker
So they, they've been really curating a bunch of really intriguing and interesting games. Yeah. I hope they continue doing that forever. Yeah. They have done a great job of just, like you said, the game selection process. Cause the, I think the first year they did it, I got to play Cana. I think it was during the pandemic and, and I believe also like, I think Harold halibut was a part of it earlier too. So they definitely know how to pick them. That's awesome. Agree. Uh, Becca, just you have one more, right? Nope. Oh, you're, we're all done. Perfect. for now just hear from the vibes like i yeah exactly It's vibing time. Um, thank you all for doing so much work and previewing all this stuff.
Recent Indie Releases Discussion
00:51:41
Speaker
That's great. I hope everyone at home gets a.
00:51:43
Speaker
go play 70s demos, because like we said last week, a lot of them are still up there, so go check them out. um We'll do a really quick This Week in Indie from ah last week, because we ran out of time. On June 24th, the Dyson Fold came out, ah which is a turn-based dungeon crawler where your only way of attacking the enemy is by rolling dice. Roll dice to damage enemy cards to fold, inspired by classic solitaire and a top-down table and enemies made out of cards. Try to beat the dungeon with 20 unique classes, build your deck, kill monsters. I've been playing this all week. It's great. Awesome. yeah cool ah June also had until then a faithful meeting sets off a chain reaction, upending Mark's life. People disappear at memories, prove unreliable, uncover a hidden truth with Mark and his friends and this narrative adventure and race to unravel the mystery before it's too late.
00:52:35
Speaker
And also, I believe on June 25th, stratum or stratum descent. A micro rogue light deck builder where you forge customize customizable cards, so navigate through dangerous stratoms and confront powerful stratum lords. Upgrade your character, collect relics and delve deeper into an ever challenging journey. How far will you descend? That was literally games on Becca's wish list. Sweet, that's awesome. um Just keep doing that until we we catch on. This upcoming week, there's not a whole lot of indies just because of the American holiday, so it's a good time to catch up on your backlog or experience something else that you want to catch up on. There's not much time left. Do it now while you can. Yeah, exactly. I'll be playing the Grun demo. I don't have any reason to say, but I want to say it's Grun. I don't know why, but it's Grun. It looks like Grun. Well, it's like gnome, right? Like it sounds. Yep. Maybe that's my subconscious logic. Who knows?
00:53:35
Speaker
Yeah, I've been playing ah the.
00:53:39
Speaker
Cult of the Lamb, there you go. From the first time. Yeah, I mean, I played a little bit of it when it got released and I'm like, I'll get back to it in two years later. I'm like, I'll get back to it. um I'm finding it much easier than I thought. Yeah. Same, same for me. Those yeah those games usually aren't for me. And I, I, I don't want to say a hundred percent, but I played a lot of that game and the co-op version is coming soonish like August. I right? I don't know. we Soon. Um, and it's, it's simple enough. I'm like, I'm going to try to play this with my wife. She can do like the cult stuff back at the base and then I'll hand handle all the combat. It'll be fine. It'll be fun.
00:54:14
Speaker
Yeah I beat all but the final boss in Colton and the Lambs so i'm sure get it I'm not good at those kinds of games. I'm not either but the trial and error was was good so. Yes it's been a lot of fun like the two days I've been playing it and that's not an on set but. Consistently, and I'm like, I'm digging the vibe. The cult management camp area was my favorite part of that game. When people just die and they're like, oh. I'm getting a lot of dissenters and I'm like, I want to slap them like, shut up. There's no option to just like slap them across the head. So I just got to be like I got to reeducate you on the My favorite part is and they come up to you and they're like the cult is disgusting. Like why is it so filthy? I'm like, I just watched you shit on the floor Well, I didn't really know how to fix that the beginning so I'm just like stop shitting everywhere I don't know what you want from me, but you figure it out. Yeah Just watched you poop on the floor Did you see what I did over there? It's gross. The best is when they themselves poop and then look at it and then make themselves throw up. It's like, you just did that. What do you mean? Be like, I don't care if this guy desserts. A lot of them. The moral of the story, if you haven't played Cult of the Lamb, go play it. Go play it. Becker Austin, have you been playing anything else, IndieWise? Not IndieWise, I've actually, just real quick, I've been playing Persona 5 Royal on Switch, because it's like, I knew I'll never complete it unless I play it on Switch, so I was like, I'm enjoying Switch, I'm loving it, so.
00:55:57
Speaker
Awesome. Cool. I've played four hours of Dyson fold because I got stuck basically to there's like 20 heroes to unlock. I got, I beat first try the very first one that you unlock fourth or fifth try. The very second one that you unlock got stuck like 10 tries on the next one. And I just beat it like five minutes before we hit start on. Whoa. I love that feeling. that That's such a good feeling. Yeah. And then I put, I've put three hours into into cra another crab's treasure. I got it in the steam sale. so yesterday And I've put three hours in and I am completely addicted. and yeah It's pretty nice. That's a good one.
00:56:32
Speaker
I've just head down an elder the ring, which is definitely not indie. I got to beat that game and then it's try about the dlnc bring bringing it back to another crab's treasure. I love seeing the tick talks just like on my normal feed, which ah is isn't filled with indie games. There's a few, but not a lot. Um, but tick talks about like that, that one track on there. That's like the boss fight music or whatever people are freaking out about that. And it is really good, but yeah, it is a good music track. Yeah. I love it. Love it.
00:57:03
Speaker
I apologize if you hear my nieces spraying water at my basement window. i did I didn't know what I was hearing, but I definitely heard it. There it is. With that note, friends, thank you so much for listening to indie cast. ah We'll be back next week. We love you very much and go play more Indies. Bye. Bye.