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Tag: Ouya

Game Review: House Of The Lost By F5 Games

House of the Lost by F5 GamesI am a sucker for my Ouya. I backed it when it was on Kickstarter and love it every time I pick up a controller to play. There are so many great games on it and I never seem to run out of something new and interesting to try. So imagine my excitement when I learned that F5 Games, out of Tulsa, were releasing their rogue-like game House of the Lost on the Ouya.

I had played HotL a couple of times on my phone but never really could get into it because of the touch screen controls. They were a bit unwieldy for me. I could never make it through more than a couple of rooms. So when I learned about the Ouya version, I just had to try it out with a controller.

To give you an idea of what HotL is like, it is what is considered a rogue-like game. These are games that feature often brutal difficulty, randomized levels and perma-death. HotL features both perma-death and brutal difficulty and slightly randomized levels. Each level has a bunch of different predefined layouts but the game randomly picks which one you play.

I picked up HotL on Monday night and have played it every night since. Unfortunately, I don’t think I am getting much better at it. I have probably played every incarnation of level one there is, but have only been to level 2 a couple of times. I did manage to make it to level 2’s boss at one point, just to be fried with a laser beam almost immediately. So I have not experienced the full game yet but one of these days, I might just be able to.

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Ouya Matching Funds A Great Deal For Developers

The Ouya $1Million Free The Games Fund

With the news yesterday on Ouya’s plans to match the successful Kickstarter campaigns of potentially Ouya exclusive games, a lot of people, both press and developers alike, have wondered if this is a good deal for indie developers. After thinking about it and seeing some numbers, I think it is.

The first thing going for Indie developers is that there are roughly 58,000 Kickstarter backed consoles in circulation right now. That is not including the thousands sold both by Ouya directly and participating retailers. That means there are 10s of thousands of console owners hungry for quality games to reach the console. While asking those console owners to wait a year or more for your game might seem daunting, it is nothing new. It happens all the time on Kickstarter.

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Ouya Seeks To Free The Games With $1 Million Matching Fund [UPDATED]

The Ouya $1Million Free The Games Fund

After scoring support from the Kickstarter community to the tune of $8.6 million dollars last year, the makers of the indie based console are seeking to return the favor. Ouya has put together a plan to set aside $1 million to match the successful Kickstarter campaigns of Ouya exclusive games. There are some restrictions of course.

At the Free the Games website, they list the restrictions that apply to this campaign but they aren’t bad. First up, you have to let Ouya know that you plan to participate. Second, you have to include a specific notice on your campaign. Then you have to successfully meet your funding goal and raise a minimum of $50,000 to qualify for matching funds. Finally, your game must be an Ouya exclusive for a minimum of 6 months after release. That’s it.

Their hope is that they get a lot of attention from indie developers who want to get their hands on some of that money and who are willing to release exclusively for the console. I have been really enjoying playing on my Ouya and would love to see more quality games come to it. This could be that nudge to get even more great content.

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