Ambush? No, of course not…would you believe me if I said I was selling these fine leather jackets?

Players can choose to create either male or female Mukashi, ultimate warrior-scouts chosen for their supreme combat and exploration ability. They’ll journey to Kanoko Island in search of the Scrolls of Hope, which are rumored to contain the location of a safe haven where their people can escape the rising ocean that threatens to destroy them all. Mukashi are customisable with items picked up in game or gained through completing quests.

In an interesting move, the developers have announced that they intend to keep the title as an OUYA exclusive, at least initially. The console supports indie developers and has an extensive list of experimental titles which they feel would be a perfect fit for the type of game they’re trying to create. OUYA is itself an indie console successfully funded through Kickstarter, and a platform the developers are keen to support. The game will be developed using the Unity 3D engine, a tool traditionally popular among indie developers for its multi-platform support. Once a fixed term of exclusivity has passed, Mukashi should then be available on other platforms.

Mukashi and the Scrolls of Hope is currently set for a release early in 2015.

[Editor's Note: As of August 20th, the game has now shifted to a PC exclusive.]

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

In Turf Raiders, you play as the leader of a horde of blue kitty commandos (they look more like squirrel…bear…things to me, but hey! Still cute!) on a mission to collect energy cubes known as gluons which power your defenses against the diabolical red dog hoards. In order to do this, you and your enemy take turns playing cards that have a variety of abilities, such as summoning units to the grid-like field, moving your own or your opponent’s units, or even getting rid of your opponent’s units! Each part of the grid yields certain items, such as gluons or cash which is essential to being able to play cards at all. In essence, Turf Raiders is a tactical area control game in a vein similar to the classic board game Risk.

Despite its strategic leanings, Turf Raiders is simple and easy to learn. After a few tutorial levels, the player is thrown right into over forty different missions which all feature different field layouts and enemies that get increasingly aggressive. While it’s a free game, there is an in-app currency that allows you to buy ‘Perks’: one-use items such as extra cash or cards to give you an edge over your opponent. I found that I usually had enough of the currency available that I didn’t really need to opt for actually buying more.

Turf Raiders feels like a game that appears simple but actually hides complex and engaging strategy beneath the surface. If only this were true. The game is awkward, teetering on the edge between something casual and light and something deeper, something that I need to sit down and consider. There are elements which are annoyingly slow, such as having to touch the screen every time both my opponent and I draw a new hand.  The cash as the beginning of my turn takes way too long to auto-gather to me. I end up just touching on the little sprites myself to have them available faster. These are, admittedly, minor grievances, but the constant touching for aspects that should be automatic wore down on me. It was tough to continue in this war of attrition, having to convince myself to play the next mission and deal with the weird slowness of it all.

I like cute games with adorable characters, but maybe Turf Raiders was also a little too cute for me. The bouncy music became repetitive, speeding up to a stressful crescendo at odd intervals, leading me to eventually turning it off. Overall, I was saddened that Turf Raiders became an unpleasant, tedious experience for me. Perhaps some tightening up of certain mechanics and a little more variation in music and animations would improve the experience, but for now this is a game I’d rather skip.

Turf Raiders Card Battle is free and available in the Google Play Store. You can find more information on the developer’s website.

Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

What does this score mean?

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

So the story goes, an organization of scientists, in an effort to expand their knowledge, creates the “Chronova Device”, a tool that would enable them to unlock the universal ‘real-time’ and introduce it to their turn-based world. But, as these experiments often do, everything goes wrong, and a vortex sweeps them up from their world. Now it’s up to you, in your little orange “Nova-111″ starship, to rescue the crew.  Will your harmless research vessel be up to the task?

The player will be faced with a series of obstacles, such as alien enemies and puzzles. Your vessel won’t be completely helpless, as collectible upgrades and abilities will allow it to defend itself and fight back. As you advance, the world will slowly shift from turn-based decisions to making the player react in real-time environments. And gosh, what environments they are. If you’re not already interested, the visuals should definitely hook you. The game simply looks splendid, and the character portraits are to die for, really. The mix of pixel and painterly styles makes the levels truly shine. And the music ain’t too shabby either, apparently being dynamic and suiting itself to your individual play style.

Though no set date has been announced, Nova-111 is supposed to be released some time later this year for Windows, Linux, and Mac. To find out more, visit Funktronic Labs’ website for the game. You can also follow the developers on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Khaba at first seems like a simple enough puzzle game. Using statuettes and mirrors, players reflect and direct a beam of light onto a door which leads to the next level. It is a simple and logical concept that would probably become boring after a while if not for all the little tricks and additions Hello There pulls off. There are other doors acting as obstacles in your path that can only be opened by directing light towards certain orbs. Some of these doors remain open, while others close up again if the direction of the light is changed.

A few levels in, another type of light is introduced as well: dark light. The beam of dark light can only be activated if the beam of sunlight continually hits a blue orb. Both of these kinds of light must be used in tandem to reach the final door, but there are a few conditions. There’s only a limited amount of reflecting statuettes and mirrors, and the dark light and sunlight cannot use these objects simultaneously. What at first seems like a simple game ends up offering a satisfyingly cerebral challenge as players have to test out different set ups and figure out in what order to open certain doors and other obstacles. Unfortunately for some, the sheer level of challenge might put them off. Khaba has a few tutorial levels followed by some levels with a fairly reasonable difficulty curve, but then suddenly ramps up the difficulty to a point that might end up causing a lot of frustration. A few levels definitely forced me to walk away for a bit and try to come back later with a different perspective. This isn’t exactly conducive to quick bouts of gaming on the go, but might appeal to someone looking for a hard puzzle when they have a meatier chunk of time available to them.

Besides its difficult and cerebral puzzles, what sets Khaba apart from a lot of mobile puzzle games is that it features a fully voic-acted narrative tied into the puzzle mechanic. Players take the role of Michael, an explorer seeking vast treasures and excitement within the pyramids. Mysteries abound as Michael ventures deeper into the pyramids, and it actually ends up being a neat little story. Besides small “cutscenes”, collectable scarabs are introduced which not only add another element of challenge to the puzzles, but also give up more tidbits of the overall narrative. These aren’t mandatory to collect, but offer an extra reward for players that find interest in the story. Probably my only nitpick story-wise is that Michael’s voice acting is a bit cheesy, but not so much that it really detracts from the game.

However, my biggest issue with the game is its touch controls. I have small hands and I still found myself getting frustrated when the game would misinterpret my finger touches and I would end up moving statuettes entirely when I just wanted to change the direction of the light beams. Certain parts also required an amount of precision that had me re-doing things so many times because objects would move when I lifted my finger up from the screen. This is mainly a problem with playing Khaba on a mobile device with a smaller screen though–playing the game on a tablet was significantly easier. Nevertheless, I found myself wishing there was also a desktop version as the idea of playing this game with a mouse really appeals to me.

So, while not for folks looking for a lighter puzzle game to play on short car rides or on quick breaks in between other obligations, Khaba does provide for folks looking for something with a little more substance in their mobile gaming needs. If you can get past the sometimes frustrating controls, Khaba is a real treat. The game is available for both iOS and Android tablets and mobile devices, and more information about it can be found on the developer’s website.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

An Android review copy of the game was provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Released on Steam as an ‘Early Access’ build last month, Maia started as a Kickstarter and Indiegogo project. Developed by Simon Roth, who previously worked in AAA game development and on Terry Cavanagh’s VVVVVV, Maia is a colony-building and management sim set on a hostile, but habitable planet located about twelve light years away from Earth. Taking inspiration from games like Dungeon Keeper, Dwarf Fortress, and The Sims, the player must work to ensure the colonists survive in their harsh new environment. Build shelters, construct power sources, regulate food production, keep a careful eye on the mental and physical health of your colonists–everything you would expect from a good simulation is there. What’s also neat is that, being on a volatile planet, the colonists are not only subjected to the more routine aspects of survival, but also foreign toxins, alien flora and fauna, dangerous geological events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and extraplanetary hazards such as solar radiation and meteors of a much more violent nature and frequency than that experienced on Earth.

While the construction of the facilities in which the colonists will live initially starts underground, the player will be able to explore the planet’s surface and conduct research and experiments which will expand their knowledge of the planet and their colonists’ chances of survival. Robots and a first-person mode seem like it’ll make this facet of the game extra interesting, especially considering the look of that mode. Despite the fact that I normally don’t care for first-person perspective in games, I’m actually pretty excited to try this mode out when it’s added to the game. The visual style of it is a total blast and I hope Roth introduces more elements which will emphasize its uniqueness.

Speaking of style, there’s more that will make certain sci-fi fans–me included–salivate at the mouth: Maia also takes a lot of influence from the aesthetic and functionality of 70s science fiction. The technology in the game will be reminiscent of the era in many ways, and the look and music will surely bring folks back to their favourite 70s sci-fi movie. I know when I first heard the haunting sounds of the Kickstarter trailer I was flung back to when I first watched Alien.

Anyway, Maia looks to be a highly ambitious game. The map will be 2km x 2km and procedurally generated. The colonists you manage will all have distinct personalities and skills which you’ll have to pay close attention to in order for the colony to thrive. Like any good game that even mentions terraforming, the player will be able to change the environment and change certain settings which will influence the difficulty and direction of the game. But everything will have its trade-off. Want more minerals? You’ll have to contend with increased geological activity which will put your colonists at risk. Playing around with the amount of light that reaches the planet from its star? Plants will grow faster, sure, but that might also attract more wildlife, and where the prey is, there are predators. This attention to detail is incredibly enticing, and I sincerely hope Roth is able to pull off everything he hopes for in this game. Simulation games are great for creating unique stories, and a story about colonists hashing it out on a hostile planet is too good to pass up.

As mentioned previously, Maia is available on Steam as an ‘Early Access’ title, which means you’ll be able to follow its development first-hand and receive future updates to the game directly through the client. A word of warning, though: Maia is still in very early Alpha, so it’s still got a hardy amount of bugs and is far from polished and feature-full. The developer seems to be consistently putting out updates, however, so if you’re interested in seeing the game grow as you play it, check it out on its Steam page. You can pre-order the game on its official website as well as find out more information about it on there and on its Facebook and Twitter accounts.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

We’ve entered the new year, so it’s high time we started to look at the cool, creepy, and downright strange games hoping to find success in 2014. So, we gathered together around the Indie Mine table, and came up with a list of our most anticipated releases this year.

Spy Party

Ever wanted to shoot someone at a fancy soiree? Well Spy Party offers the ability to do just that with two players assuming two very different roles. The first is an assassin with a single bullet on a mission to murder an unsuspecting party-goer. The second role is occupied by the spy who must complete a series of challenges whilst mingling amongst a sea of NPC’s and remaining anonymous to the ever-watching scope of their would-be killer. The game’s focus on keen observation, perception, and crafty use of psychology helps create this ‘battle of wits’ atmosphere, making each round as tense as the last

Spy Party is currently in open beta, and available to buy now for $15

Magecite

2D side-scrolling RPG platforming is the name of the game in Magicite from student developer Sean Young. You assume the role of a beleaguered human, removed from your home and forced underground by an evil scourge. Whilst taking refuge in the tunnels below the surface, you discover an ancient system of caves filled with magical creatures and ancient gods. You and a group of friends can gather together and plunder the depths, fighting baddies and looting treasure on the way. Expect procedurally generated caves, boss battles, character progression and perma-death in this neat looking action RPG.

Assault Android Cactus

Arcade games were awesome back in the day, and the developers of Assault Android Cactus know this. So much so that they’re making their own bullet hell title… with 100% more robots. Assume command of a number of unique characters, each equipped with different weapons and tactics to take on the hordes. Paired with an addictive rank system and leaderboards, AAC is great fun even in its current state and will be one to watch for when it’s finished.

Assault Android Cactus is currently available on Steam Early Access for $14.99

Chroma Squad

Chroma Squad is a unique spin on the tactical ‘XCOM’ turn-based combat game genre. In essence, you assume control of a TV studio, and you must manage its production of a Sentai TV series (think Power Rangers). Buy new equipment for the shows production, ‘fight’ over-the-top menaces of the galaxy, and even square off against other ‘shows’ in multiplayer ‘episodes’.

No Man’s Sky

No Man’s Sky was revealed to the world during last year’s controversial VGX awards and whilst most of the show will fade into a distant memory, this game definitely left a lasting impression. With promises of an ever expanding universe, No Man’s Sky is set to be a big deal. Details are sketchy at best right now, but we do know that this is a space/planet exploration game in which everything is procedurally generated. Everyone will start their adventure on the outskirts of the universe, with the goal of making it to the centre for reasons unknown.

Volume

Volume is pegged as a retelling of the Robin Hood legend set in the near future, so expect more robots and neon glow to go along with your ‘steal from the rich’ narrative. As hero Locksley, you’ll be sneaking through each level avoiding crossbow wielding robot patrols and stealing everything on your path to the exit. Those familiar with the Metal Gear Solid series will feel noticeable similarities with the gameplay in Volume, as the game draws influences from Kojima’s earlier releases. Bundle all this with some great voice talent (Danny Wallace, Charlie McDonnell) and it’s easy to see why you should be watching this one.

Starbound

There’s a good chance you’ve already played this game considering the pre-orders alone breached the $1 million mark. Now currently available in a beta state on Steam’s Early Access, Starbound is set to make waves in 2014. The game is akin to Terraria in that it’s cast in a side-scrolling 2D view and shares a heavy focus on exploration and resource gathering. You’ll also find yourself sailing across the stars in a huge procedurally generated universe. Jump from planet to planet as you search for new equipment, new species and a new home. The game includes both single and multiplayer modes, allowing a number of friends to explore the universe together in what has so far been an enjoyable experience.

Starbound is available on Steam Early Access for $14.99 and is currently in its beta phase.

Son of Nor

If you’ve ever wanted to set giant rocks on fire and throw them at lizard men in the desert, Son of Nor is the game for you. Featuring a unique telekinesis and element manipulation mechanic, you’ll be expected to utilize every aspect of your surroundings to fight off your reptilian overlords and solve a variety of physics based puzzles. Multiplayer will also feature in the game and will include a number of extra abilities to make it more interesting like the newly introduced spell fusions. These allow you to combine the elements into bigger and better spells.

Son of Nor is still being developed and planned for release in Q2 this year, but you can purchase a $5 ‘Sandbox demo’ if you can’t wait that long.

The Witness

The latest project from fan favourite ‘Indie Darling’ Jonathan Blow, The Witness is an homage to the older days of exploration and discovery. Drawing from the MYST series, the game aims to allow the player to advance at their own pace, progressing as they solve puzzles and venture deeper into the island. Little more is known about The Witness other than we’ll be seeing it launch on PC and PS4 simultaneously, with an IOS version planned afterwards.

The Forest

As if getting lost in a forest wasn’t bad enough, The Forest introduces a bunch of genetically mutated wood-folk into the mix to add that extra ‘Oh crap!’ factor. Explore the lush undergrowth during the day as you scavenge for food and supplies. Once night falls you can expect your jolly through the woods to take a much more sinister turn. With full Oculus Rift support, The Forest is sure to have us on the edge of our seats.

Transistor

Creators of the isometric narrative-action game Bastion are onto their second endeavour now with Transistor, a sci-fi action RPG focused on a mysterious weapon of great power. Framed in a similar style to Bastion, the game will showcase some of the most loved aspects of its predecessor as you seek out the mysteries behind the Transistor’s previous owners and unlock the secrets of its power.

Overgrowth

Rabbit ninjas fighting each other to the death? Yes please! Overgrowth is all about the fluidity of play, from its almost gesture based combat to its parkour platforming, there’s a ton of potential in this game. In its current state, the game is more of a sandbox than anything else, with a robust editor included to make your own fun happen. Eventually we’ll see an entire campaign spring out of Overgrowth, and judging by the content so far it’s going to be bloodier than a screening of Watership Down.

Overgrowth is currently available via Steam Early Access for $29.99

Paradise Lost: First Contact

Metroidvania fans take note as Paradise Lost is something you should already know about. If not, then allow me to implant some knowledge sacs into your body. You play as an unfortunate extraterrestrial, which crash landed onto earth straight into the arms of a shady government organization.  It’s up to you to sneak and slither your way to freedom, using a number of skills and tactics to evade the guards and scientists roaming the facility. Expect an expansive game world, with chambered rooms and loads of content to explore.

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is set to be a finely polished story driven adventure title from The Astronauts, a small team of ex AAA developers. The narrative centres on Paul Prospero, an occult detective with the ability to peer into the final moments of a murder victim’s life. You must use supernatural detective skills to investigate a series of murders in the picturesque setting of Red Creek Valley. There will be no combat in the game, so expect this to boast a strong focus of what the developers describe as ‘weird fiction’.

The Long Dark

Forged in the fires of post AAA development, a small team of developers hope to create this “first-person post-disaster survival simulation”. In The Long Dark you’ll have to combat the elements and inhabitants of the wild as you struggle to survive in the icy tundra. To go along with the challenges of surviving in the wild, you’ll have to make morally questionable choices as you encounter others in the fight for survival.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Drone Invaders

Drone Invaders is a shoot ‘em up in the same vein as the original Space Invaders except with a small twist–there’s no ship on-screen. Instead, the game is over when at least one drone reaches the bottom of the screen. It’s a simple change, but it makes the game work effectively on mobile devices and frees up space that would otherwise be occupied by way too many fingers. The only really obtrusive element on display is the ammunition and subsequently the reload button which sometimes obscure incoming drones, making them difficult to parse and hit.

Done for a LudumDare challenge and completed in only 23 days, Drone Invaders has a nice level of polish. The music is catchy and the visuals are decent. The drones are actually pretty cute, especially the bosses. Eventually the player will spot the patterns in drone arrangements, but they never feel monotonous.

Other than that, Drone Invaders has all the regular trappings of a free mobile game. There are missions, daily challenges with bonuses for completing them all in a row, weekly hunts, upgrades that use in-game currency, and real money microtransactions. The bonus in-game content is actually fun to try and beat. The microtransactions luckily remain non-invasive and, if the player so chooses to spend money for in-game coins, actually provide a good enough amount to justify the purchase.

If you’re looking for a free shmup to play every so often, try out Drone Invaders. It’s completely free on the Google Play Store. You can also find out more about the game on the developer’s website.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Tower of Elements 2 has so many elements smashed up against each other that I’ll be impressed if they all work together seamlessly. The game combines classic city building with real-time strategy combat that mixes together match-3 puzzles and tower defense. All things that sound right up my alley, honestly.

The city building has everything you’d expect from the genre. You choose a continent on which to build your city, with each of the three having its own advantages and disadvantages. From there, you have a variety of building types to choose from, resources to manage, citizens to allocate to different jobs, and policy decisions that affect both your city and your troops on the battlefield.

Actual combat takes the form of match-3 puzzles. Match the runes and elemental bolts blast out from your tower and hit oncoming foes. Other aspects of tower defense games are included, such as building barriers and deploying troops. There will also be a good bunch of challenging bosses to take on, as well as a bestiary from which to view and play around with the various enemy types you encounter. Really, it all looks like a ton of fun.

Having already gone over its goal, Tower of Elements 2 is a safe campaign to pledge towards. $10 is the minimum amount you’ll have to pledge to get a DRM-free copy of the game for PC, Mac, or Linux along with a Steam key if the game is Greenlit. The Kickstarter is getting pretty close to its first stretch goal, which is one that’s actually pretty cool: an alternate board layout. It’d definitely be worth it to unlock this goal as it’d really increase the replayability of the game overall.

Anyway, go on over to the Kickstarter page and pledge towards the game. You can also vote for Tower of Elements 2 on Steam Greenlight, follow its development on Twitter and Facebook, and find out even more on the developer’s website.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

A direct sequel to the original Chibi Knight flash game, Super Chibi Knight is a hack n’ slash adventure with RPG elements. It’s quite traditional in its set-up, hearkening back to Nintendo’s Zelda II. Exploration takes place in a top-down overworld with a village and various other locales to explore such as forests and deserts. Enemies are not random encounters but rather can be seen in the overworld and engaged with. Entering areas or battles switches the game to a side-scrolling 2D perspective.

The hack n’ slash elements are pretty standard. The player can attack, jump, and block, and while completing a particular quest they get access to certain special attacks that use up power. Once a player gains experience, they can choose to level up their armor, their special attack power, or their sword strength. Each armor and sword level has a distinct look, which is really nice, simultaneously being pretty cool and cute. Eventually the player can choose a career path of either a sorcerer (giving you access to spells) or a beastmaster (allowing you to ride giant beasts). I’m always up for riding and fighting alongside big brutes, so that certainly got me excited.

The art style is simple and colourful, and there’s no shortage of quests to complete despite the game being in beta. However, I still eventually felt dragged down by repetitiveness. Experience from battle was in abundance and yet I still had to grind a lot. Many of the quests also involved simply finding objects and returning them to townsfolk. It’s fun for a while, but having returned to many games of my childhood, I find that I have less patience for this than I did as a child and subsequently have less patience for new games that continue this trend.

Despite that, it’s exciting to see kids getting in on the development side of games. What person that played games as a kid didn’t dream of making their own some day? What child didn’t have that perfect game they were going to create and share with others? With a greater abundance of tools at hand, I hope this becomes a possibility for even more children.

Super Chibi Knight is up for voting on Steam Greenlight. You can also follow the developer Pesto Force on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, and join the Super Chibi Knight beta at its official website.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer: These words are solely mine alone and do not reflect in any way on those of the management team here at The Indie Mine. I would also like to note that our policy on the subject of paid reviews is straightforward. We never have and do not foresee a future where we ever will charge for reviews.

It’s a taboo that’s plagued the games media for longer than I’d care to imagine, be it in the passing whispers of game developers or the rather loud declarations of groups like AppyNation. The idea of paying for articles can throw the very substance and credibility of any piece out of the window and into the already oversized piles of advertising that creeps into our view each day. So why does anyone think that it’s the right way forward? What could drive an organization to risk their reputation as an impartial source of information for a few extra dollars?

If you haven’t yet seen, this discussion was first sparked when Twisty’s Asylum dev ‘Twisted Jenius’ posted this community blog over at Destructoid in which the author mentions receiving an email response from Indie game focused publication IndieGameMag.com. The email, sent by IGM publisher Chris Newton, mentions a few noteworthy points that have since been considered an issue for many developers, journalists and readers across the board, with claims of conflicts of interest and lack of integrity taking the forefront of many people’s concerns. In response to these issues, Chris has since released a statement on why they have decided to implement this new policy.

(Now before we continue, I want you to think of all this as one big issue to the industry, for all parties concerned. Forget about IGM and focus on the issue of this being considered as acceptable behaviour. They aren’t the first people to run with this plan, and they most certainly won’t be the last.)

By now some of you may be thinking “Hey, it’s only a few dollars and that helps the writer/site stay afloat” and in many ways you’d be correct in assuming the money gained does indeed go towards funding staff wages and site costs. Like most of the developers they report on, many sites that choose this option are independent and without much external funding, usually being run off of what little ad revenue banners can muster or from the wallets of management themselves. It can be pretty dire for lesser established sites and in many ways contributes to this ‘last resort’ of charging for coverage.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and without the allure of cash some sites will struggle to uphold a stable work environment. Whether it’s struggling to retain low paid/volunteer staff or fronting the costs of site maintenance, there will always be a possibility of making a loss. In an ideal world these costs would all be covered and those contributing their time and effort would receive a fair reward for their articles, but unfortunately that’s not how the cookie crumbles

It’s fair to say when people begun finding out about IGM’s policy change, a great deal of people weighed in with their own take on the subject, with most not only expressing disappointment with the new policies, but the overall idea of paying for coverage. From blogs like this, to tweets like these

Indie devs: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, pay for reviews. Ever.

— Mike Rose (@RaveofRavendale) November 28, 2013

yeah, don’t pay for reviews – you don’t need to and it’s silly

— Mode 7 (@mode7games) November 28, 2013

I’d want a disclaimer on a review saying it wasn’t paid for. I can see that going down well.

— Byron Atkinson-Jones (@xiotex) November 28, 2013

What’s gotten everyone so riled up then? Well depending on which side of the gate you’re on – be it developer, journo or ‘consumer’ – this practise will have a different impact on you.

Developers

First time and lesser known developers are more at risk to engaging in these paywalls where the fear of their projects falling into obscurity clouds their judgement and desperation overrides common sense. This fear isn’t as foreign as some might think, with some devs spending hours reaching out to sites/podcasts/YouTubers in an effort to get their game seen, only for a crushing blow to be dealt as 90% of the people contacted don’t even bother replying. It’s truly soul crushing and can easily cause a spell of short-sighted desperation in the strongest person. However, as plainly put in the tweet below:

“No respectable site asks for money in exchange for a review. No site with any influence asks for money in exchange for a review.” bang on.

— Lewie Procter (@LewieP) November 28, 2013

Above all else, it looks shady from the outside. Developers should never risk their credibility or reputation on the off chance of coverage. But there’s something more troubling than credibility at stake here. If this was to become a widespread policy across the majority of media sites, you’re going to be looking at an empty wallet to go with those shredded reputations. If we let this become a precedent, it’s sure to spell more trouble for both yourselves and the developers of the future.

What you can do about it: Simple, they need your games to review. If you refuse to supply codes, their budgets will become much thinner. Don’t underestimate the power of pressure.

Journalists

We should be angry every time we see this. Pitchforks should be raised and torches lit, because it’s acts like this that have a negative impact on how we are perceived by everyone else.

“What? NEWS SITE X only gave this game a 7/10. What’s the matter, did publisher X not pay you enough money?!”

Let’s not kid ourselves. This isn’t the first time anyone’s seen this post before. Sure, in most cases like this it will have more to do with the individual aimlessly ranting frustration from a low score, but the underlying message is one of distrust. A lack of faith in journalistic integrity and the belief that corruption exists within a medium that’s supposed to provide an impartial perspective for the consumer is something we should all concern ourselves with. It doesn’t take a genius to recognise that if you accept compensation for an article it looks dodgy as hell! You can scream and shout about how impartial and unbiased the published articles are, but at the end of it all the target audience will have a hard time believing that the piece was in no way influenced by payment.

What you can do about it: Call it out, wherever you see it. Don’t be afraid to speak up and name sites that do this. If we idle around while it goes on, who else will fight it?

[Side note to sites considering this] Seriously, don’t. There is no point throwing away your reputation. Your readers trust should always be at the forefront of everything you do, because without an audience your words mean nothing. Respect the time they dedicate towards reading your site.

‘Consumer’

You don’t read articles and watch videos to hear about some pre-paid advertisement, cleverly reworded to sound like an informed and independent assessment of the latest ‘must have’ shooter. You read them for an honest opinion of what the person writing/recording the review thinks about the game. Each review is subject to the author’s own personal preference, but as a member of the audience it shouldn’t be too much to ask for that content to be free from any hidden agendas, or at the very least if there is any compensation for the content, that it is clearly shown somewhere in the content. This isn’t rocket science, its common decency.

How to oppose it: Ultimately, without you they have no audience. If you want to see change, you can help simply by supporting those who don’t employ these policies.

Before this comes to an end, there’s just one point I’d like to cover. There will inevitably be those questioning my own agenda for this article, and while I would like to claim complete and total impartiality that would be incredibly hypocritical considering we are, for all intents and purposes, a competition site to the initial publication in question. I write this article not as a member of this site, but as a journalist. In an effort to reinforce this, here is a list of sites that cover a wide variety of indie games without charging them for any coverage, because it can be done:

• Rock, Paper, Shotgun
• Indiestatik
• Pocket Gamer
• IndieHaven
• Indiegames.com

[Update - December 1st, 2013] Indiestatik is reporting that Chris Newton has stepped down from his position at IGM, Director of Business Relations Chris Adkins is taking over, and that the pay-for-review policy is being abolished. You can find out more in Indiestatik’s editorial.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.