We did know how to keep a promise. 2018 Results & 2019 Goals

Just one year ago we made a list of our 2018 goals.
What happened?
Let's see it together!

• To improve the Suggestions Area ==>> DONE & DONE
• To Increase the visibility of the website in Russia, China, Korea and Japan -> DONE. We are one of the most visited website about free games in Russia, we're linking our website with a game dev University in Korea and were uploaded a lot of Japanese games.
• To left the developers earn money ==>> DONE
• Virtual Memory Card & to improve the indiepad ==>> The indiepad is improved, now you can use it also on TV using a Chromecast devices. The Virtual Memory Card is still not online, also because several developers are not interested about it.
• Games in Exclusive ==>> DONE

And we added also a lot of new features!

- improved the Notification System & Area

- improved the Badge System for Devs and Gamers

- added Comments Area, Supported Games, Records and Suggested Users in the User Page (to show the latest games commented by the User)

- Score System Completed (now with Notifications and the author can delete the Fake Scores)

- website translated in Finnish (thanks to Virva), Ukrainian (thanks to quizcanners) and Malay.

- added the Date in the Comments

- over 30 Games that support the Score System!

- added new filters in the Advanced Search (Online Games and Games with Scores)

- AMP pages for the User Pages

- improved AMP game pages also with the suggested games

- now the Charts show only the games uploaded/updated in the last 6 months

- Language problem on the website? Now you can select your language on Settings Area!

- Improved Mobile View!

- Added the Adult Filter, that you can switch (on/off) in your Settings

- bugfix, bugfix, bugfix

- Are you playing an online game and received a notification? Now you can move the mouse on the top and open the Notification Area, no exit from your game! 

- New News Area

- New Stats in your own Game Page

- Improved the Game News Area, with buttons to follow or download the game, easily and fastly

And now?

We want to improve the Player-Experience.

Few time ago we make an egg-hunting and it was very funny! Were uploaded a lot of very good games and we helped a lot of developers with their Kickstarter Campaigns!

So, for the next year the word is MORE... those are our Goals:

• More Events like the Egg Hunting!
• More exclusive games, always FREE
• To Continue to improve the Reccomanded Area in Home Page (it's very important for us)
• More Games playable online
• To improve the News Area
• More feedbacks for the latest games
• More way to use the indiepad

It's hard, but we can do it!

Together we can do great things!

indiexpo staff

indiegames Rewind: The Best of 2018

Rewind 2017 video with the Best Indie Games of this year!

Celebrating the games, developers, players and gamers that made 2018. #indiegames

Discover the best indie games and free games uploaded during the 2018. 

The games showed are all free on indiexpo!

in order of appearance:

A Good Day to Die

Book End VR

0R8

Dash Breaker

Alucard

Thirteen Half Cats

Azuran Tales

Way of the Sinner

Black Paradox

Piko Piko Girl

Pylow

Corona Black

Punk-Ex

Noiz

Landflix

Earth Romancer

Naxia the Cards of Wonder

Brutal MooD

Once Upon a Coma

Quando Fuori Piove

ぶきあつめ / Bukiatsume

CHOP

Wings of Bluestar

Just BeatEm Up

Serenade of the Sirens

The Sundew

Triglav

Mechs  v Kaijus

LazerGrrl

Timothy and the Mysterious Forest

Resonance

A Landlord's Dream

Sherlock - The Dark Arts

Birkanoid CG

She Be Free

Transmogrify

Heralds of the Order

Cheat or Cooperate? Nicky Case shows The Evolution of Trust

During World War I, peace broke out. It was Christmas 1914 on the Western Front.

Despite strict orders not to chillax with the enemy, British and German soldiers left their trenches, crossed No Man's Land, and gathered to bury their dead, exchange gifts, and play games.

Meanwhile: it's 2017, the West has been at peace for decades, and wow, we suck at trust.

Surveys show that, over the past forty years, fewer and fewer people say they trust each other.

So here's our puzzle: Why, even in peacetime, do friends become enemies? And why, even in wartime, do enemies become friends?

Nicky Case thinks that the game theory can help explain our epidemic of distrust – and how we can fix it! So, to understand all this...

You can play online his game, The Evolution of Trust, to test several combinations and to learn so more about the cooperation. Is it possible in our modern time? What are the consequences?

It was translated in over 20 languages and share all around the world.

Changelog & redesign!

Hi!
A new post to report the latest news and features on the website!

- New News Area!
Now you can see just two areas: Most Popular & Most Recent.
In the top you can see Recently Updated, clicking on the images you will go directly to the game's News Area (with the latest updates)

- Suggested Users
Now in the bottom of the User Pages, you can see 3 Users with their rank, to discover new players!

- New Stats
Added new Stats in your Game Page!

- Total Stats
Do you have more than one game? Watch the Your Games area to see the stats of all your games uploaded just in one place!

First to the Egg!

Hi guys! The Kibou Entertainment uploaded few hours ago a new game! It's The Mysterious Forest!

Timothy's grandfather is ill and he's going to die.

The magical mushroom is able to heal any wound and illness.

But the magical mushroom only grows into the dangerous and unknown Mysterious Forest.

Timothy starts his journey to find the mushroom and save his grandfather: he did not know what tremendous dangers he would face.

But... Why we're talking about it? And why that image?

As you can see, you can play it online, but there's a secret... stage by stage, room by room, forest by forest, you can find a secret Easter Egg!

Be the first to the Egg and win 500 gems on indiexpo!

Changelog... Chrome Addons, Malay, Chromecast & Bugfix!

Hi indiexpors!
Recently we improved the website with several little features and fixes!
To improve the experience of developers and players!

Let's start!

• Now you can see, in the User Page, the latest Games with Score System Played!
• Added the Adult Filter, that you can switch (on/off) in your Settings
• Improved the Game News Area, with buttons to follow or download the game, easily and fastly 
  
• bugfix, bugfix, bugfix
• Added Malay Language!
• Improved the Recommended Algorithm in the HomePage also for no-logged users!
• Are you playing an online game and received a notification? Now you can move the mouse on the top and open the Notification Area, no exit from your game! 
  

Other nice info!

Over 800 Users are using our Chrome Extension, to play online game from your browser!

Adding the Chromecast Support to our indiepad app, to use your TV like a free virtual game console!

User Stories: Bookend Team - Why do a VR Game?

The whole Bookend team has never worked on a VR project nor have ever been avid VR connoisseurs up until the creation of Bookend. 

"a pop-up book" in VR

What we did know, however, was that we wanted to create a unique, well-designed project meant to wow everybody within the University of California: Santa Cruz’s capstone series.

Our first thought was to develop a VR title. 
This idea was two-fold: first, it was supported by the fact that many of us believe that virtual reality as a concept is only budding. We have yet to see the huge mainstream appeal of virtual reality and the technology is only going to improve. We, as the Bookend team, want to be there for the ride (and get a portfolio boost). Second of which, virtual reality was a means for us to truly create an immersive experience allowing the designers within the group to truly flex their design muscles, and the developers to experience developing with virtual reality in mind.

In an attempt to explore this idea, we began iterating on Beloved, an atmospheric horror game set within a virtual reality space. We iterated ideas over the course of a couple months such as the player having ghost hands and using telekinesis to guide another individual around puzzle situations akin to a second person exploration game. Although the game was only supposed to take place within a household, the project quickly got out of scope within its narrative, art direction, and programming months into our development cycle.

Winning the the Peer Choice Award

We persevered through months of dead-end conceptualization, eventually leading us to create a narrative-centric puzzle game meant to subvert the expected conventions (grab objects and throw stuff) within a virtual reality space. Although started by a core team of ten students for Beloved, we quickly ballooned our team into twenty (ten core members and ten auxiliary members that helped with art, sound/music, and programming) for Bookend’s rise.

We definitely wanted the gameplay to be reminiscent of reading through a pop-up book so heavy design iteration went into honing in on that particular feeling. As such, many of our mechanics are analogous to the features of a physical pop-up book. The music and narrative direction, in particular, serve to enhance the whimsical and enchanting nature of Bookend’s aesthetic.

Creating Bookend was not without its problems, however, as developing through the affordances of VR. We ran through multiple problems that the affordances of a mouse and keyboard avoided. Namely, controls were our number one issue. We changed our controls scheme multiple times due to player confusion with the Oculus controls. At first, we had it so that the player navigated the game space with their headset, looking at objects they wanted to interact with. We quickly realized that this idea was more trouble than what it was worth. Players quickly grew frustrated at the fact that they had to pinpoint their headset at a small object in order to select it. 

We then changed the controls to focus on the Oculus Touch. 

Bookend Team

Our first iteration of this was too focused on the Oculus face buttons (A, B, X, Y). We had players press the grip button on the controller and confirm their selection with either A or X. This caused the issue of the player not knowing which button was A or X causing them to become increasingly confused and frustrated. Through a lengthy design discussion, we finally decided to change the controls to what we have now: Point in VR by closing the grip button and confirm the selection with the trigger button. This was due to the fact that the grip and trigger buttons are the largest buttons on an Oculus Touch controller. This changed proved beneficial as when players would get confused about the controls, they would first attempt to press the trigger and grip buttons. 

Wanting to create a project that mattered to us, the team decided to make a VR project that doubled down on immersion and unique gameplay features. Developing through VR is difficult, especially in the controls department. (Try getting someone to press the A button while they can’t see!) Nonetheless, through multiple months of hard, dedicated work, Bookend slowly yet steadily transitioned from a concept born from the fall of Beloved into a concept that carried its own weight. The last-minute scrapping of our original idea left our team scrambling, but we’re extremely proud with our work thus far. 

We hope that you enjoy playing through Bookend as much as we enjoyed making it.

Book End Team