My First Indie Game

[Aussie Ben]

So, at the start of this year, I decided to work on an indie game called MacGuffin's Curse. Bloody scary, I can tell you now, but it's been very exciting to work on something with full control over from the start, rather being told "No" to your ideas.

The game is a top-down puzzle game (elements of Sokoban if you've ever played that, if not, think of the dungeon puzzles in the top-down Zeldas) with some adventure game stuff mixed in (so for example, inventory puzzles and branching conversations) because I've always liked those elements. The puzzles revolve around being able to switch between two different characters, a thief and a werewolf version of himself, to solve each puzzle. Each character can do some tasks but not others, so the player needs to use them both to be successful.

Every Friday, we take a bit of time out to talk about some game-related thing that's happened that week. Partly for ourselves, and partly because it's awesome to tell people what you're up to and give them a little look into what's happening, I think. I always enjoy that kind of stuff, anyway.

We also have a reporter character, and I have been told to include the phrase "hot scoops" in her dialogue at some point, so I guess that'll be in there somewhere.

[Gwardinen]

Sounds cool to me, let us know when it's out!

[Tanukitsune]

Wait, did you work on Jolly Rover, Emerald City Confidential and Avenue Flo too?

Jolly Rover was pretty awesome, so count me in!

[Aussie Ben]

Well, I joined Brawsome for Jolly Rover, and did some writing, scripting and a lot of proofreading/QA on it. :-) But yeah, Andrew Goulding, Brawsome's director worked on all those games.

We're working together on MacGuffin's Curse, it seems to be working well, as we haven't killed each other yet!!

[Tanukitsune]

I like the idea of an "Sokobanesque" adventure, although I must say I'd hate if the puzzles get TOO complex, like the final puzzles in the Prof. Layton games, I can never do those without a walkthrough.

[Alastair]

It's twelve months later, if you'll excuse the bump, and Ben's finally finished his game.

Three points of interest to the Idle Thumbs Demographic:

1) One of the writers (that'd be me, then) is a huge Thumbs Podcast fan who snuck several references under the radar, including one hot scoop (alas, singular only) a Hyperspace Distorter (of The Toons'

fame) and a healthy smidgeon of Jurassic Park winks.

2) Tim Schafer contributed one line of dialogue.

3) Nearly every item in the game has a unique text description - even the mundane lamps and park benches - and it has no bearing on the gameplay whatsoever. This practice became affectionately known within the team as "Molyneuesque".

This was a massive labour of love for Ben and Andrew, who spent a year in indie developer poverty to see this happen. Hope you all like it!

[miffy495]

I was approached by Ben last year to be in the beta for this and have played the game to completion. I can vouch for its quality. It is a fun little puzzle game that, in kind of a Layton-esque way, manages to weave a dialogue system, branching quests, and home decoration into a game that is actually mostly about pushing blocks. Some of the puzzles can be a bit tedious in a "I've figured it out but actually moving everything into place is taking WAY too long" kind of way, but on the whole it was really worth my time. Check it out!

[Tanukitsune]

He he, that trailer was rather awesome! I can't wait to play this!

[Aussie Ben]

Hope you enjoy it guys - it's been exhausting. Also, I've been told that this is apparently very important to the Idle Thumbs crew:

https://twitter.com/#!/AussieBen/status/192793826660851712

[dibs]

Day something perch. I'm to drunk to enjoy now, but I heard there was a twist! Omg.

[Tanukitsune]

When I got I expected Sokoban with a Werewolf, but while there are a few Sokobanesque rooms, these puzzles are MUCH, MUCH more fun.

Sure it's about pushing blocks, but they added some extra elements to make things more interesting, instead of moving a hundred boxes, you only have to get one (Maybe two) to a certain place, but all you have to do is use your common sense and remember what you can do in each form.

It's amazing how they've added so many elements to a box puzzle game and how great they work!

[miffy495]

  Aussie Ben said:

Hope you enjoy it guys - it's been exhausting. Also, I've been told that this is apparently very important to the Idle Thumbs crew:

https://twitter.com/#!/AussieBen/status/192793826660851712

Welcome back Ben! Haven't seen you on Steam for a while (Australian/Canadian time difference too much to overcome, I guess), but wanted to say that I finally finished and very much enjoyed MC during the week I had between classes ending and practicum starting! Cheers to you, sir!

[dibs]

I'm enjoying it so far:) I especially like the little victory dance.

I've come across a bug. When i met the

  Reveal hidden contents

biker guy for the 1st time,m i accidentally hit the quest log button while the knocking out was going on.

. The screen never faded back from black after that and then the game froze. I was left with the side menu bar and a black screen. I had to clear the app from the task manager and restart it. the next time, the event happened fine, but the game froze after i went through the door. Third time was the charm and i didn't have any issue continuing.

One other thing, i would love to be able to move the menu bar. I've hit the buttons a few times accidentally, including one hit of the reset when i had just about cleared a room.

[twmac]

This might seem like a weird criticism, but you might want to sort out a more appealing art asset for when people link it on Facebook. Just did that now and it gives the choice of 17 little images that don't really look all that appealing.

[HPopper]

Day One (Four?) Perch for me as well. This looks great. As someone attempting to self-develop a small indie game myself, it gives me hope when I see a fellow thumb actually take a game to completion. Congratulations, Ben. I can give better feedback once I actually play, but I just wanted to say congrats in the meantime.

[Aussie Ben]

Thanks all for the kind words. It's been a crazy year, and it's nice to see the game is actually out and purchasable. (It's kind of weird, actually.) Rest assured that I am reading all comments and feedback, thanks for all of that.

And most importantly, I hope you enjoy it!

[Tanukitsune]

I can't help to notice that in the Steam forums, a lot of posts are made by users with more "lupine" names.

[Aussie Ben]

Finally, I've conquered the werewolf fan market!

...I'm not sure if I wanted to do that.

[Alastair]

For a while there we were headlining on Werewolf News. A handful of demo players at GDC seemed really impressed by that. Apparently it's the highbrow NPR of lycanthropic appreciation.

[dibs]

  Aussie Ben said:

Finally, I've conquered the werewolf fan market!

...I'm not sure if I wanted to do that.

At least they don't glitter.

[empika]

Getting a 400 error on http://www.brawsome.com.au/

[brkl]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/05/02/wot-i-think-macguffins-curse/

[miffy495]

Good marks! Awesome!

[MrHoatzin]

Oh man, I am a sucker for Sokoban-style puzzle games. I somehow kept missing this thread, but now I found it. Will have to grab this one.