GDC 16: The best of the Indie Mega Booth

pon writing this very intro to my coverage of this year’s piece to the Indie Mega Booth, I’ve realized that this is my eighth time covering this spectacle. While this may not seem like much in hind sight, it’s incredibly fascinating to me that this exhibit continually manages to not only get bigger with the subsequent event it visits, but by each and every venue that it’s hosted at as well.

It never ceases to amaze me just what I’ll find at the Indie Mega Booth either, I’m always reassured with this sense self-fulfilling prophecy of relief within the industry that I’ll come away with these new fresh. And innovative experiences that’ll be sure to impress me.

Here are some of the games that gave me that sort of feeling at the IMB.

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GDC 16: Mixing it up at the 5th Annual MIX

s GDC celebrates its 30^th anniversary, there’s another event that’s hit its 5^th year of life with the conference and beyond—the Media Indie Exchange, or as we’ve come to affectionately refer to it, The MIX.

A host of developers and media hover around the cavalcade of new indie games to get featured throughout the offices of IGN, all buzzy and tingly from the adult concessions of the hour. It’s a great event to check out some of the latest offerings from the indie dev community, and like any event; I took the opportunity to walk through the aisles to play everything I could.

Here are some of the games that really caught my attention; I’m ready to hype y’all through some cool shit.

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GDC 16: Celebrating the teamwork of Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes

n spite of all the hype-train madness that VR has brought upon the gaming scene, the potential there is genuinely exciting, and nothing proves that more than the indie title Keep Talking & Nobody Explodes. One of the lead members of the development team, Ben Kane, of Steel Crate Games, took to the stage to discuss the approach they took with the game, and why the asymmetrical cooperation elements of it transcend the concept of simply playing a game itself.

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GDC 16: Examining the importance of Game Balance

he invisible metrics that operate behind the scenes of a game are arguably the most important aspects behind its design, because let’s face it; developers can have the coolest idea for a title on paper, but the magic won’t happen until it’s properly coded with all the information it needs to successfully work.

This is a topic of design that Game Design Professor Ian Schreiber cites to be criminally overlooked, and has taken it upon himself to make GDC 16 the ideal platform to share his views, and their significance in the ever-changing landscape of video games.

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Bullet Heaven EX, Episode 23 - Deathsmiles Revisited

n episode 86 of Bullet Heaven HD, we took a look at Deathsmiles, am occult-themed, gothic-lolita styled danmaku shooter from cave with gameplay cues straight out of games like Side Arms and Formation Z. We seriously dug it, and now it's available on Steam,  thanks to Degica Games! Just how does it hold up?

 
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Bullet Heaven HD, Episode 144 - Vector Strain

e've been on hiatus for way longer than we should have. But how do we get back into the swing of things? Vector strain might hold the answer... but is it worth your time otherwise?

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Love is Over, but that's OK: Afterthoughts on Catherine

he connotation behind a calendar date that celebrates the idea of sharing a romantic union with someone gets more crippling by the year to those who don’t have that privilege. Honestly, I blame a lot of that on this new, invisible layer of social pressure that’s been introduced by the internet, and the steadily increasing exposure it’s given to the holiday in this tech-addicted generation.

Now, full disclosure; this feature doesn’t stem out of any kind of resentment over the relationship I just recently got out of shortly after Valentine’s, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it did help inspire the idea for the feature. I mean, I wasn’t really all that happy in it after the “butterflies” settled, and well, considering the experience I've had being single too, I felt like I had an obligation to call out the negative stigma attached to the status quo, because I think it’s bull shit—you can totally be happy when you’re single.

In fact, I think people can live healthy, fruitful lives being single, and this outlook gets lost in some sort fearful crossfire between what you perceive is best for you, and what others may perceive is best for you—it’s bogus.

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QCF: Megadimension Neptunia VII

t was really all just a matter of time. After a long run between the PlayStation 3, Vita and Steam with a huge array of games, versions, re-releases and spinoffs well into the double-digits, Idea Factory's Hyperdimension Neptunia series has finally made its way to the PlayStation 4 for a new generation with Megadimension Neptunia VII (pronounced V-2). I've been around the block with a huge number of these games, so I was ready for a game that was more or less par for the course.

But is it; in a word, no—quite the opposite in fact.

Megadimension Neptunia has evolved the series into something pretty special actually. New cast members, new gameplay mechanics, a more manageable difficulty and a fun plot contribute to what I have to say is the best Neptunia game there is to date. How could this be? Let's take a deeper look.

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