Indie developers and small studios have traditionally used shows like GDC, E3 and other gaming conventions to showcase their game, make deals, and get people excited for their titles.
With cancellation of these conventions to preserve public safety during the pandemic, they’ve been hit particularly hard.
We've begun setting up a list of these games to help raise awareness, hoping to direct more eyeballs towards them during this tough time.
If you’re an indie dev or small studio who has been affected and would like to add your game, we encourage you e-mail contact@extra-credits.net for more information!
If you're a publisher, media outlet, or someone who just loves games, please check these out, leave a like, add them to your wishlist, download the demo, watch a trailer, and/or purchase the game (if it's something that interests you)!
Thank you, stay safe, wash your hands, and be excellent to each other!
Check 'em
out!
GAMES
(In-Progress)
Terraformers
Studio Name: Asteriod Lab
Description: Terraformers is a single player 3X game about terraforming Mars. It features stunning 2D artworks, roguelite- and roleplaying elements, and a realistic simulation of the planet’s evolving climate based on data and imagery from Nasa. How will you terraform the Red Planet?
Impact: We had planned to go to San Francisco for the GDC (already booked our flights and airbnb) mainly to look for a publisher/investor, as we are currently still funding the project from our own humble savings (we started the studio 1 year ago and this is our first title). Apart from the travel & time investment, the moment would have been great for us to meet publishers and extend our network and exposure, as we now have a representative demo to show.
Puddle Knights
Studio Name: Lockpickle
Description: A unique mud-based logic puzzle game where you use capes of chivalrous knights to cover puddles and help nobles away from badly sanitized streets. 15-30 hours of playtime to get through 100 increasingly difficult levels. It's out now on Steam for PC and Mac, and more platforms will be announced soon!
Impact: We were planning our first trip to Nordic Game, the biggest gamedev event in the Nordic region, which cannot take place in May as planned due to the covid-19 pandemic. There will still be some remote networking possibilities, but we're just starting to reach out to partners so being there in person and being able to easily show our games would've been valuable for us.
Kaijack Card Attack
Studio Name: Arcane Circus
Description: BIG MONSTERS, BIG EGOS! Cheat and outplay your opponents in a turf-war strategy card game. Crash and conquer the city with your Kaiju gang in a hand-drawn 90’s Saturday-morning cartoon world.
Impact: We were going to showcase our latest build for Kaijack: Card Attack at GDC. This obviously fell through so any exposure, such as Indie Game Megaphone, is greatly appreciated! (Now hopefully we can get our plane ticket costs back from the flight companies…)
Tales of the City
Studio Name: Silver Games LLC
Description: Over the top anthro pulpy adventure with support for Pathfinder 1, 2 and D&D 5th edition. Tell your cotton tales and pony tales here!
Impact: We were going to go to BABScon, which was cancelled due to Covid. Of course, the shattered plans of our supporters is also hindering the effort.
Oirbo
Studio Name: ImaginationOverflow
Description: Explore a labyrinthian spacecraft and discover its mysteries and purpose. Help Oirbo navigate a metroidvania inspired, 2D action-platformer full of secrets to uncover, areas to explore and enemies to dismantle. The choices are yours to make, how will you unravel the twisted story?
Impact: Were planning on using some conventions to expose their Alpha build in preparation for a summer early access release, both of which won’t probably happen since we’ve got to cut dev hours since the virus affected our regular jobs.
Eye of Prophecy
Studio Name: Stroopwafel Game Studio
Description: Eye of prophecy is a retro dungeon crawler mobile, with rogue like elements, which the player will have to face challenging and dark labyrinths full of enemies.
Impact: The Studio's plan for this year was to attend to Brazil's Independent Games Festival (BIG), the most important festival in Latin America, that have been postponed to 2021.
Privateers
Studio Name: Monster Tree
Description: Privateers is a nautical-themed role-playing game with pirates, monsters, and magic. Assemble a crew with different abilities, collect and equip them with the powerful loot reaped from fallen foes. Interact with the peoples and monsters of the world, make hard choices that have far-reaching consequences, and when the situation calls for it, lead your crew in fast and strategic combat.
Impact: We weren't going to any of the big conventions. We were looking at taking the game to a few smaller ones which have been postponed or cancelled.
Kakatte Koi Yo!
Studio Name: BackSlash Games
Description: Kakatte Koi Yo! is a platform fighter where cats battle with powerful fish. With a Japanese aesthetic and adorable cats, KKY is a fun, fast-paced, competitive game. Players can fight in 1v1 or 2v2 matches where they have three ways to win the round!
Impact: The pandemic has postponed or cancelled local industry events, disrupting networking and showcasing possibilities. Job searching and stability has also been disrupted, resulting in less consistent time and resources to devote to development.
Adeona
Studio Name: Box Attack Studios
Description: Fight your way to gods in a retro role-playing adventure. Can you survive a series of dungeons, hordes of minions, and blistering bosses? Amber is armed with slasher-style sword attacks, arrows, bombs, and a dash to solve the puzzles of Adeona. Explore and discover the rich history of Arkadia in classic 2D action.
Impact: Game would've been shown at local conventions in Long Beach and Los Angeles, along with possibly Indiecade at E3 and Indiecade.
Guild of Ascension
Studio Name: WhileOne Productions
Description: Guild of Ascension is a Tactical-Action-RPG, mixing turn-based tactics and real-time gameplay, where your turns are short bursts of action-packed combat!
Impact: We were planning on going to GDC and Gamescom to showcase our game to Publisher and gamers alike, but had to cancel due to COVID-19.
SP:IN - Starship Partners : Interstellar Nuggles
Studio Name: Schrödinger's Kitten Studio
Description: The Nuggles need you! Play cute animals who must save their planet from a black hole and have fun with our unique one-tap gameplay! But beware, it may be harder than it seems! You will find many obstacles to overcome such as asteroids, deadly dust clouds or radioactive areas.
Impact: SP:IN had been a passion project for the better part of a year before COVID 19 hit. The bright side of losing hours at our regular work has been more time on SP:IN and we were able to launch early April.
Sons of Ra
Studio Name: Pharaoh Hound Games
Description: A competitive tower defense game that pulls elements from real-time strategy and auto-battlers, built around a controller based control scheme.
Impact: Sons of Ra was accepted and would have been shown as a part of the Indie Megabooth showcase at GDC. This would have been the team's first GDC.
Everhood
Studio Name: Everhood
Description: Expect the unexpected in an ineffable tale of the inexpressible world of Everhood. Amusing rhythmic battles and with a promise to fulfill all your dreams. To simply put it: You are in for a ride.
Impact: Were planning on going to conventions like Game Week Berlin, Granada Gaming, and GameLab, in order to test the demo for their new game.
Toasterball
Studio Name: Couch Game Crafters
Description: A ball, two goals, and... toasters : Welcome to Toasterball. Play against your friends in this unconventional tournament, where toasters are athletes and the laws of physics are merely a suggestion..
Impact: Were hoping to get exposure at GDC and Games Week Berlin as well as attracting a publisher for their next game.
Enemy on Board
Studio Name: Windwalk Games
Description: 6 players wake up on the spaceship Andromeda, two of them are secretly aliens. Last team standing wins.
Impact: Were planning on using conventions to create exposure for their debut game and because of cancellations, it's been hard to get eyes on their alpha.
Medium Rare
Studio Name: Tricycle Games Inc.
Description: Co-op and competitive party game where you and your friends battle as cute (but deadly) dragons in the playful fantasy-themed world.
Impact: The group have cut back team hours due to the crisis but are still working for the time being. The main source of funding for the studio come from outside jobs that have been badly impacted by the virus.
Climb!
Studio Name: ZeroHourGames
Description: A mountain climbing game in the same vein as QWOP.
Impact: Had successfully exhibited the game at MAGWest, Playcrafting, and Triton UCSD Gaming Expo and were hoping to showcase it at one of the GDC afterparties.
Forge and Fight
Studio Name: Flamebait Games
Description: You are a blacksmith gladiator. Forge over the top weapons and wield them in the online arena.
Impact: Planning to release early access for early summer and preview it at game events, but are left uncertain of how to show their game to people.
LithoBreak
Studio Name: Tau Ceti Labs
Description: Mine moons to survive and thrive, leveraging engineering simulations to build an empire. LithoBreak will be an episodic story following Eli, a deep-space moon mining mastermind working on the next big thing. Unfortunately, Eli has made a powerful and persistent enemy in his rise to the top who is driven to upend all of Eli’s plans.
Impact: A sci-fi game developer who had plans to have team members attend GDC this year and are developing the first alpha tests for their episodic game LithoBreak.
360 Break
Studio Name: Stone Lamp Studio
Description: Brick breaker game where the paddles in most levels can be dragged around the entire play area.
Impact: COVID-19 has made their day job income unstable, making it harder to promote the game. The dev was also working on an Apple port for the game which has been delayed due to slowdowns.
Runaway Mage
Studio Name: Misfit VR
Description: A VR experience designed for people suffering from anxiety & PTSD aiming to be released in 2021.
Impact: Was hoping to go to GDC to get Runaway Mage in front of an international audience and gain attention of publishers so it can be developed in release. The dev has been left with $4000 AUD in nonrefundable expenses and no idea what their project timeline will be.
Super Shooter
Studio Name: DanDans
Description: Power arm lets you interact with the environment to solve puzzles and recoils so you can jump.
Impact: Was going to go to GDC until the official statement came out, submitted game to IGF and Game Connection Awards.
Goin' Mutts!
Studio Name: Them Handsome Fellas
Description: A puppy daycare squad game for up to four players in local co-op (Think Overcooked, but with puppies).
Impact: A studio based in Santiago, Chille, they had a build and gameplay teaser ready to show a prospective publisher and spent money on planes, airbnb, and tickets.
RESOURCES
(In-Progress)