The Little Big Bunch
The latest in the line of indie bundles arrived today: the Little Big Bunch, with five indie games on the usual pay what you want scheme, with money being split between developers and Games Aid as you wish.
This one has a minimum price.. something I’m glad of after seeing a guy taunting one of the indie devs on Twitter this afternoon. He was bragging about only having paid 1 cent for the game.. less than a penny.. which would have been bad enough without the taunting!
I already owned one of the games: Mode 7‘s strategy game Frozen Synapse, so this one is going to Tim, and maybe we’ll get to play together at some point 😉
Also in the bundle are two platformers, one with destruction: Explodemon, by Curve Studios, and one with aliens: Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee. Finally there’s New Star Soccer 5, a football career sim, by New Star Games.. which isn’t really my type of game. The one I’m most interested in here is 2d platform shooter Serious Sam Double D, from Mommy’s Best Games, and supported by Croteam through their Serious Sam Indie series.
Serious Sam Double D is via Steam code, while the rest of the games are available via Get Games‘ download system. I have to say I much prefer Steam, knowing that I can download the games as many times as I want, and that updates will be applied as they appear. Get Games’ FAQ says that the number of activations per game vary between publishers.. while I don’t mind if I lose a cheap indie game after a couple of reinstalls, I’d be wary of buying anything I forsee playing over and over again.
Impending Indie Bundle Overload?
Yesterday, I got the latest of the indie bundles, the Indie Gala bundle.. though I felt a little of the excitement for these bundles had gone.
Now, I see that yet another bundle is coming soon.. the LittleBigBunch, which will include five games, with the pay what you want price being split between developers, site and charity. The LittleBigBunch website isn’t live yet, but the games are reported as: Frozen Synapse, Explodemon, Serious Sam Double D, Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee and New Star Soccer 5.
I already own Mode 7‘s strategy game Frozen Synapse, so right now I’m looking at the other games in the bundle.
Explodemon, by Curve Studios, is an action platform game with puzzles, and could go either way. I’m curious about the next game on the list: Serious Sam Double D, from Mommy’s Best Games.. this is a 2d platform game with lots of guns and silliness, and is supported by original Serious Sam developers Croteam as part of their Serious Sam Indie series. Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee looks like a fun adventure platform with added alien abduction, from Oddworld Inhabitants. New Star Soccer 5 is a football career sim, by New Star Games.
As the purchase of these bundles supports indies and charity, I feel that I should carry on and support them too.. but I am starting to feel that it’s becoming a little mechanical now, especially as some of the bundles release every two weeks already.
The Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle!
The Humble Bundle is a pack of indie games offered at a price set by the individual customer.. literally “pay what you want”.. where the money gets split between the developers, charity and the Humble Bundle site itself.. again as each customer sees fit.
Supporting indies and charity? I don’t see a downside.. 🙂
This particular offer was headlined by Frozen Synapse, a turn-based strategy game which seems to have rated highly justabout everywhere. While you could choose to pay just £1 for the game, paying more than the average also nets you some bonus games..
In this case, the bonus pack was the Humble FrozenByte Bundle, including: Trine a puzzle-action game featuring a thief, a wizard and a warrior, action games Shadowgrounds and Shadowgrounds: Survivor, a pre-order of Splot, a fairytale adventure, and Jack Claw, a prototype game featuring a guy with a rather large claw!
Trauma has since been added to the bundle, and can be downloaded by those who had already paid and redeemed their codes simply by visiting the unique link sent via email. This one sounds like a different sort of game, described on the site as a “photographic experience” in the mind of a traumatized young woman.. I’m half-expecting something on the lines of Korsakovia, but we’ll see! 🙂