Indie Gems: Released May 1 - 8, 2013

Indie Gems: Released May 1 - 8, 2013: Hi, let's take a look some awesome games which released last 2 weeks.. Sorry for late posting, I got internet trouble in several days this week......

Introducing my New Blog

Hi, everyone I decided to make a new blog... In this blog, I mainly focus into indie games on iOS platform or I can say it as hidden gem. That's why my new blog named Indie Gems . Actually, it's not for indie developers only, but for all small developers with potential and great iOS apps to be showed. Here is my introducing post

I'll try to keep both of my blogs up to date. However, it's not easy enough since I'm still in school and I have a part-time job too. Your support will keep me along in to this. If you found a great indie iOS / Android game, please let me know. I'll try to put it in to my blog.
I know if my blog is so far from the word of "Perfect", but I'll try my best to make this blog better than before.
If you like my blog, please help me to share and spread it to the world. You're not help me only but also other people, especially for indie developers.

Why I choose iOS/ Android?
Because, I love to play games especially on iOS. Beside, I've limited budget and can't afford PC game's price yet. That's why I choose mobile platforms. People often look into popular or experienced developers only. Sometimes they're forget if indie or new developers can make great games too. That's why I prefer Indie first..

In this blog, I won't post about games only, you might found other informations here. However, in my other blog, you'll  find all about games only, especially indie games. That's why I decided to separate it. Don't worry if you're too lazy to visit my other blog, I'll put the link to the post here. :)
Thanks for your attention....
Have fun... and keep playing !

Pembajakkan: Hal yang Terlalu Sulit untuk Dihilangkan

Sedikit berbeda dari biasanya, kali ini saya ingin menyampaikan unek-unek saya tentang pembajakan.
Apa itu pembajakan ? Bajak-membajak di sawah? Eng... Bukan itu yang saya maksud. Pembajakan di sini merupakan tindakan menggunakan / mengambil suatu produk tanpa ijin yang jelas. Saya tidak berkata bahwa saya 100% pure bersih dari benda bajakan, namun saya hanya kecewa ketika mendengar sebagian orang Indonesia yang berkata: "Ngapain beli kalo ada yang gratis?"

"For what we must buy if we can get it for free?"
Damn, that quote is really broke my heart. . . Yes... Yes that's true, but...
Okay, saya tidak munafik, kalau saya juga menggunakan benda-benda bajakan. Namun, saya berpikir, saya kuliah pada jurusan IT yang pada akhirnya terkait secara langsung atau tidak, suatu hari nanti saya mungkin akan membuat app sebagai mata pencaharian utama saya. (Pemikiran yang egois nampaknya... Come on, ini pekerjaan saya, dan saya bekerja untuk mencari uang).
Saya bisa membayangkan posisi saya jika saya adalah seorang developer yang appsnya dibajak. Oh, man... I got no money, no food, no life then Dead :P

Kemudian saya berpikir mungkin itu sebabnya, perindustrian di Indonesia agak susah maju. Sebagian orang terlalu banyak memegang prinsip, "GRATIS PANGKAL KAYA"
Jika gratis di sini, gratis dalam arti sebenarnya , saya tidak masalah dan justru mendukungnya. Namun, nyatanya gratis di sini: mencari benda bajakan.

Oke, jika kita mendownload suatu lagu secara gratis melalui internet, saya masih bisa memaklumi hal itu. Salah satu sisi positifnya, lagu penyanyi tersebut lebih cepat terkenal, dan tangga chartnya pun cepat naik. Penyanyi tersebut juga bisa diundang ke sana kemari untuk mengisi acara.
Lalu mendownload film bajakan. Paling tidak sebagian dari kita masih ada yang menonton di bioskop bukan?
Namun lain halnya dengan suatu aplikasi. Jika kalian berkata, pembajakan itu membuat suatu app terkenal. Ya, memang benar. tapi, kita tidak bisa melakukan hal sama seperti yang penyanyi lakukan pada kelanjutannya. Apps juga tidak bisa diputar di tempat lain. Pemberian lite version atau demo adalah salah satu cara menghindari pembajakan. Mungkin kalian belum punya cukup uang untuk membeli suatu app. Oke lah, jika menggunakan bajakan terlebih dahulu, namun hal itu bukan untuk selamanya atau kalian juga bisa menggunakan freeware dengan fasilitas sejenis.
Bayangkan saja, jika semua orang di Indonesia selalu berharap gratis (memakai barang bajakan). Bagaimana Teknologi di Indonesia bisa maju? Untuk apa ada kuliah jurusan IT?
Kami yang belajar dan berkarya pada bidang teknologi dan perangkat lunak, mencari sesuap nasi melalui karya yang kami buat. Namun, apa yang kami dapat?
Software hasil karya kami dibajak. Pembuatan suatu app bukan lah peristiwa 1 atau 2 hari yang mudah seperti membalikkan telapak tangan.
Ada perjuangan keringat, waktu, ilmu, tenaga, dan uang yang dikeluarkan untuk melakukan hal itu.
Oke, kalian bisa bilang, "Kalau ga mau dibajak, cari pekerjaan lain ... (Maksudnya jangan bikin apps, kembangkan yang lain seperti hardware atau perangkat kerasnya saja)

Baik, kita tidak akan bekerja sebagai pembuat aplikasi dan kalian jangan pernah lagi berpikir bahwa negara ini bisa bersaing dalam kancah Internasional di bidang Teknologi.
Sekarang ini Teknologi kian maju, kita semua juga ingin maju, kita belajar dari negara-negara maju, membuat aplikasi perangkat lunak yang dipergunakan untuk kemajuan bangsa. Jika kalian berpikir bahwa aplikasi itu tidak penting, kalian salah besar. Kehadiran suatu komputer atau mesin tidak akan berarti tanpa suatu pemrograman di dalamnya. Jika kita sukses, kita bangga karena bisa membawa harum nama bangsa. Kalian sebagai WNI pasti turut bangga bukan?
Tapi apa? Nampaknya masih banyak orang-orang di sekeliling kita kurang peduli akan hal itu.
Mereka hanya melihat dari hasil akhir bukan dari proses perjuangan yang dilakukan.
Mereka tidak menghargai kerja keras kami. Mereka melihat kami dari permukaan luarnya saja.

Saya menulis hal ini bukan karena saya kuliah pada jurusan IT. Saya juga bukan seorang developer. Saya menulis ini karena saya prihatin dengan sikap sebagian orang Indonesia yang kurang menghargai hasil karya orang lain. Jika gratis yang mereka cari memang asli berasal dari developer (promo code, game freemium, freeware, shareware) saya tidak masalah. Namun jika gratis yang diharapkan adalah hasil bajakan seperti (jailbreak, hacking, dsb) , saya sudah tidak bisa bilang apa-apa lagi. Kalian sendiri yang berhak memutuskan apakah hal ini memang layak atau tidak?

Jika kalian mengeluh, akan maraknya game-game freemium akhir-akhir ini. Sampai Real Racing 3 untuk mobile yang sebenarnya layak pada kisaran $4.99-7.99. Kenapa mereka memilih freemium dengan segudang IAP di dalamnya?

Mungkin ini didasari oleh sifat kebanyakan orang yang suka akan gratisan. Jadi, kembali lagi ke diri kita sendiri , bagaimana sikap kita sebenarnya...
Memang sulit untuk menghapus pembajakan. Kalian mungkin tidak bisa menghapus hal itu dengan mudah. Beberapa pihak juga dapat kehilangan pekerjaan karena penghapusan pembajakan. (Contoh: Penjual DVD dan CD bajakan)
Namun paling tidak, mulailah dari diri kalian sendiri, kurangi penggunaan barang atau aplikasi bajakan.
Perluas persepsi kalian akan apa itu makna GRATIS sebenarnya. Lebih mulia menunggu diskon daripada mengambil gratis yang tidak sepantasnya :p

1800: Are you Quick Enough?

So many games on AppStore today can make you confused to decide which one to try, moreover, almost everyday there's at least a new game coming in to AppStore, and also most of them are provided for free.
I'm here to tell a new game which interesting enough to be play for all ages.

1800

With a simple UI, don't let this game deceives you.. Firstly, You might think it's not interesting for a game with too simple graphic. Dominant with white and pink color, it also has very simple gameplay. The main goal is to stop the arrow in the middle of the rectangle. The arrow will move automatically, all you need to do is tap the screen to stop it rightly in the middle of the rectangle. As your level increase, there're more lines to make complexity of scoring. If there're 2 lines, you need to stop the arrow between (inside) the lines, if the lines are more than 2, the lines are counted from the outer lines, so make sure to try your best for stoping the arrow between them.

An easy gameplay, but addicting is the main goal of every game. I found that this game is almost doing it well. 20 level package with time mode unlocked after gain 40 stars from 60 stars, make this game has bigger replay value. I also found that people might be challenged to beat their previous score and make all levels perfect scoring 1800.
For time mode, try to tap in the middle as much as possible. You only get 60 seconds for doing that. Just use it wise.

The main key to play this game is the right timing, also how quick your finger tap the screen to stop the arrow. You might feel some frustration while you've already try for several times, but still got nothing perfect .. Me feel bit same too.
Overall, 1800 is a good game for testing your reflex. So, what are you waiting for? Just take your copy right now, n prove who is the quickest.. :)

Graphic: 3.5 of 5
Music and sound: 3 of 5
Gameplay: 4 of 5
Replay Value: 4 of 5
Overall: 3.625 of 5

1800 is a simple game that's tasty enough to train your reflex. I wish they update the game with more levels and features in the future.

Download 1800 for iOS Devices

Overkill 2: Kill Madness

If usually, I play puzzle, adventure, simple platformer, music, arcade games. I also like RPG too, such as KRPG, but unfortunately never finished the game... Normally, I only play until 88-95% progress :P

And this time I try a new genre (game), a FPS (First-Person Shooter) game. I never pay attention about this genre before, moreover to play kind of this game cause I think it might be boring (okay... may be because I'm a girl :P). However, I definitely have wrong mind this time. I hooked up in to this... and I realize that a FPS game is so much fun to play.. (That's why my friend whos a girl too is so in love to play a fps game :D , and now i know how does it's feel.. :* seriously, it's really fun and challenging to play.. lol)

Okay, I tried Overkill 2 game. I might not ever play the first one (Overkill), but I doesn't matter, also I don't think the game has a sequel story line related into the first one. Cause the game is only shoot, shoot, and shoot, and survive as long as you can. I'll post some tips and trick of this game later. 

Overkill 2 has been released since late last month on some AppStore only. Finally, Craneballs released it worldwide on April 4.

There's no story line in this game. All you need to do is kill your enemies. There are 2 mode of the games, Battle mode and Survival Mode. The battle mode consists of 20 stages for each area (current version has 3 area, so total there're 60 battles). It's kind of Tower Defense game, which some wave (enemies) come to attack you, and you must survive till the wave cleared. And to defense your self, you need to shoot all of your enemies. Nah, here is the best part.

In the first time, I found it might bit weird for me to play, but it's really attract my reflex to shoot. So, after a few minutes, I know how to play the game properly.

The control are great , the left screen is to set the position of your gun, and the button in the right screen is for shooting. To reload the bullets, just shake your device or reload it manually using the reload button in the right side.

There're many kinds of enemies, and if you want to play the game and win it , all you need to do is learn how your enemies work and search their weakness. ;)

Some power ups box, such as Air-Strike (BOM), Healthy Box (+30% health), Armor are really useful during the game, so don't forget to shoot the boxes too when you see them.

In the survival mode, play and survive as long as you can. The health is based by your multiplier, in the first time you only got 2 multiplier, equip some armor or level up your rank to increase your multiplier. If your health is decreased to zero, your multiplier is decrease too, and you'll die whenever your multiplier goes 1. You can switch the gun during the gameplay, so you can easily shoot enemies with your favorite gun. Currently, I only have 3 guns, 2 of them is black market guns which I got for free (the developer is still generous, they give the premium gun for free). They are AK47 gold (can be used while you reach rank 8) and MP40 (rank 3). Not too bad, but as you play the harder level, their performance are bit dissapointed. (I know.. i know, better to buy another guns) but I prefer to save my money for buying the best gun of all may be I'll buy Famas (still need to level up my rank, since it only be used on rank 19), so right now I only use 3 of them and upgraded them to max for playing the game, may be will buy another one later... (I have spent my money to buy armors :'( need to gain more money)

The game is free-to-play. However, I don't think the IAP is agressive enough, there're about 30 kinds of guns in the shop, also Black Market guns. The game has 2 kinds of currency, coins and overkill medals. You'll get 5 medal for each time you level up or complete some missions. The coins which you can get is about 3000-5000 for each playing in battle mode, and relative for survival mode. Only, if you want to buy the best guns directly, you'll need to buy the IAP, but if not, the grinding is so much fun. Just do the grinding on survival mode. 

Unlock the survival mode on rank 10 (if i'm not wrong, forget for this one), 15, and 20.

In the shop, you can also prepare your army from head to toe (build your best armor to defense yourself). Buy some grenade or medkit if necessary.

Right now, I'm in level 15, and I still need some friends (Ps: friends can help you to revive / continue the game without pay any medals), if you need an ally, just add my GC ID okay... Don't forget to mention it on your friend request message, so I can know if you play Overkill 2 too. :)

Download Overkill 2 for iOS Devices

Note: It will coming soon in to android, I'll update the link later after they release it.

Graphic: 4.5 of 5 (the graphics are good, some explode effects make the games more alive, the bloody thing also nice :) )

Sound/ Music: 4 of 5 (No need to background music afterall, the bullets shooting sound also breath sound effect are already good for kind of this game)

Gameplay: 4.5 of 5 (Controls are good enough, can set the sensitivity on options menu. Bit monotone gameplay, but still fun to play. IAP are not agressive....Totally, a  nice game to play)

Replay Value: 4 of 5 (Kind of replay value here is the survival mode, try to be the best in the leaderboard. I wish they integrated the global leaderboard into the GameCenter Leaderboard too. The various missions make this game has more good replay value.)

Overall: 4.25 of 5 

Overkill 2 is a good FPS game to play, though it'll bit monotonous to see the same environments during the 20 stages. Fortunately, the challenging gameplay can hide this minus side, many kind of customization guns (the upgrade) make the game more interesting. So, what can i say anymore, just try this game and decide it by yourself :)