A year on from the release of their first game, Dustforce developer Hitbox have posted an article that delves deep into the financials of making an indie game and how essential promotions like Steam’s midweek sales and the Humble Bundle were to their company’s solvency.
It's been a hard 78 hours, fraught with chipped nails, energy drinks, and the smell of cold hard coding, but Mojang's second Mojam has come to a close with no fatalities, for the second year running. The event ended with nine games rapidly developed for those who paid into the more-than-$450,000 donation pot.
If you were one of those types who got up in arms about the last Humble Bundle being full of DRM and Windows-only games that you'll likely be pleased to hear that the Humble Indie Bundle 7 is choc full of Linux and Mac games.
After making more than $5 million in the THQ Humble Bundlle (which a portion of will have gone to charity) THQ are considering developing for the Linux OS.Our Spotlight units plug content our journalists have made, that our advertisers want to promote. Sometimes the promotion is paid for, but the content they go to is always independent with no client oversight or approval.
Just as indies took to Twitter to (wittily) deride Humble Bundle’s partnership with ailing publisher THQ, another great multitude began frantically entering their card details in a desperate attempt to rid themselves of a few dollars more. They haven’t stopped since, and with 12 hours to go THQ now appear to have the most successful Humble Bundle to date on their hands.
THQ’s Humble Bundle is in danger of becoming more of a Humblebrag Bundle. The ailing publisher has assembled the best of its recent back catalogue for the pay-whatever-you-fancy sale, which began with Saints Row: The Third, Darksiders, Metro 2033, Red Faction: Armageddon and a host of Company of Heroes’. Now, a pretty addendum to add to that list: stellar Diablo 2-alike Titan Quest.
It might be that I was watching events unfold from within the fireplace, but my indie-dev-heavy Twitter feed was ablaze last night with jibes about the new THQ Humble Bundle. Because while buyers found themselves subject to a shockingly good deal - and nobody needs a few spare bob right now like THQ - many simply saw the purveyor of all things indie in bed with a major publisher and found their credibility compasses spontaneously exploding.
For the next thirteen days you can pay what you want for a collection of games and soundtracks that would otherwise be worth $190, or more than £110. It's an amazing deal that gives you a chance to enjoy a bunch of fine games and also donate to charity. It's worth noting that the pack is worth getting for Company of Heroes alone, though there's plenty more good stuff in there too.
The latest Humble Bundle is a little bit special, instead of whacking together great games and letting you buy them for whatever you're willing to spend, this time you are paying for game ideas to be made for you by Double Fine.
Okay, let's break it down a little. Each year, Double Fine runs a two week game jam called Amnesia Fortnight, they halt work on all their other projects to prototype a few new ideas from the team. All of Double Fine's recent output, such as Costume Quest, Iron Brigade, and Stacking, was a result of these jams. What you are paying for is to vote for one of the pitch ideas from the Double Fine team to be selected to prototype over the fortnight. then you'll recieve the game at the end of the two weeks whatever state it's in. You also get your hands on the prototype versions of Costume Quest and Happy Song from the very first Amnesia Fortnight.
Check out a few of the pitches below:
While we love our games here at PCGamesN we're in deep with a number of debting angencies, namely Goons Inc, Goon Ltd, and Argos. It's not stopped us buying games, just made us a little thrifty. Here are the best games at the lowest prices, from us to you. Follow our lead, son. And all this can be yours.
Indie bundles are brilliant. You'd have to be the lousiest kind of curmudgeon to think otherwise, but there's a niggling problem inherent with taping a cluster of discounted games together, one that's been scratching around the backs of our skulls since they exploded into fashion: they nearly always contain a game you already own. Bundles aren't neat, often leaving you covered in digital game crumbs.
IndieGameStand aims to side-step this problem. It'll place a new indie game on sale every four days, DRM-free, for however much you're willing to pay, with 10% of proceeds donated to the developer's chosen charity. It's a laser-focused alternative to the Humble Bundle's shotgun, and it launches on September 26th. PCGN's Julian Benson spoke to IndieGameStand's Mike Gnade about the new service.
Alright, stop throwing things, I can explain - I know this isn’t AndroidGamesN. Where do you even get hold of rotten fruit at such short notice? Fortunately I’ve a Humble Bundle representative to hand to set you makeshift mobbers straight: “Don’t let the phone fool you, these games work great on Mac, Windows, and Linux and are redeemable on Steam and the Ubuntu Software Centre as well!” So there. Are we good?
