IndieWatch Episode Five

What do rodents, insects, sea monsters, submarines and spaceships have in common?

Some fine Indie Games have gained more spotlight by the recent update of the Kotaku's Favorites list such as the highly addictive, hilarious platformer Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess, which was also featured on Episode 3 of GamePro's IndieWatch series on the Inside Xbox channel of the german dashboard. Episode 5 resumed highlighting quality XBLIG this week with the following lineup:

Review: Along Came A Spider

At first glance, 2D puzzle platformer Along Came A Spider might look a little bland as all of its 20 levels are made up of simple, mostly white lines representing spider's silk. The main character consists of a black circle with white eyes surrounded by dangling, fuzzy legs, only remotely resembling a real spider. But as soon as you start playing, this rather basic presentation will draw you in nevertheless. Complemented by a superb, electronic ambient soundtrack, the constantly swaying gameworld is almost hypnotizing, focusing the player on the obstacles ahead while he is figuring out how to overcome them.

IndieWatch: XBL Indie Games get proper promotion on german dashboard

Somebody's Watching Me

In the UK, there's currently a dashboard promotion for a deodorant that will make hot angel chicks fall from the sky. Why am I telling you this? Well, as I don't intend to ever review a game by Silver Dollar Games, I assumed this would be a good chance to mention hot babes in my blog at least once. Also, there are no such super model angels to be found on the german Xbox LIVE dashboard (no, they don't even have the IGN Strategize babe), but someone came up with a really good idea instead (yes, I'm finally getting to the point of this post). The german GamePro magazine now has a bi-weekly series called 'IndieWatch' on the Inside Xbox channel with videos promoting selected XBL Indie Games.

NET YAROZE - spiritual predecessor of XBLIG - Part 1: Super Bub Contest

Developing games for XBLIG is relatively easy, assuming you have some knowledge of C# and some basic artistic skills (on second thought, the latter is not really a requirement as you can use avatars or zombies), because you can utilize a regular retail Xbox 360 console instead of purchasing an expensive development kit. Back in the old days, in a time nowadays referred to as the 90s, it was much harder to see your own game come to life on a video game console. But there was a way and it was called Net Yaroze, a special slimmed-down PlayStation 1 dev kit for hobby programmers. Net Yaroze games could be found on cover discs of the Official PlayStation Magazine and featured some competent remakes of classics such as Pac-Man or Boulder Dash.

My absolute favorite Net Yaroze title was featured on a demo disc back in 1998 and is called Super Bub Contest, a mix between Puzzle Bobble and Dr. Mario, featuring Tetris-like gameplay on a screen divided into two playfields.