Gallery: 7 Indie Games That Rocked at E3
01johann-sebastian-joust
LOS ANGELES — Each year, a small area of the Electronic Entertainment Expo is given over to [IndieCade](http://www.indiecade.com/), the "International Festival of Independent Games." [](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/e3-2012/)"It's about building a community and exposing people to the public," says IndieCade president and CEO Stephanie Barish. "For some, that might just be the chance for somebody to play their game, but for others it's the chance to see their game at the Microsoft booth." Here are some of the best indie games that crashed the big show this year. __Above:__ Johann Sebastian Joust ---------------------- I had never even heard of Johann Sebastian Joust until [controversy kicked up around an alleged clone](http://www.giantbomb.com/news/johann-sebastian-joust-is-latest-ios-cloning-victim/4167/) on the iTunes App Store. Now I can see why you’d want the game on iPhone — people love it. The game asks players to avoid moving or jostling their own Playstation Move controller, while at the same time trying to trip up opponents. The resulting scene: handfuls of people crouching in a circle, glancing warily at each other while occasionally striking out with quick, giggly slaps at those near them. It quickly becomes a public spectacle, and IndieCade was well set-up to accommodate that.
02soundlines
Songlines --------- Songlines is very much a shell of a game at this stage of development. It uses the Kinect to allow players to guide a mythical bird around an environment, shifting the shape and form of the land by raising their hands. A swipe upward could cause a desert mountain to burst from the flat landscape, while dipping downward with the other hand might carve out a deep flowing river. The game has a striking, almost unsettling visual style thanks to designer Samantha Vick’s implementation of an Australian aborigine-influenced art style. It’s very authentic, but I wonder if the harsh colors will work as a barrier for those who would otherwise be interested to try out the game.
03coalesce
Coalesce -------- Like Soundlines, Coalesce is more of a free-form toy than an actual game, something that creator Jeremy Gibson readily admits. The game asks users to draw lines connecting like-colored bubbles. Doing so combines the bubbles into larger bubbles, which you want to do because … well … as I said, it’s a tech demo at this stage. Gibson says he has plans to add in a puzzle mode with challenges and goals, but until then Coalesce is just an inventive use of the touch screen that we haven’t seen before. Here’s to hoping that it turns into something great!
04hokra
Hokra ----- Hokra is the world’s most minimalist sports game. No people, no animation, no complicated rules. Just giant pixels representing each player, a tinier pixel representing a ball and four scoring zones in the corners of the screen. The game only uses the left control stick and the A button, which activates sprint when you don’t have the ball, and it passes the ball when you do. If a player runs into you at a faster speed, it counts as a tackle and stuns you or knocks the ball loose if you were carrying it. During gameplay, numerous situational strategies emerge on their own. For instance, since you can’t sprint while you’re holding the ball, I learned that it’s a smart idea to throw the ball ahead of yourself, then tap the A button to catch back up to it. It’s got all the fast-paced competitive teamwork and maneuvering of a game like NBA Jam. 
05sound-shapes-3
Sound Shapes ------------ I’d heard a bunch of hype about Sound Shapes, and now I understand it. The game’s co-designer, Jonathan Mak (who also created Everyday Shooter), gave me a private demo. He demonstrated a few of the game’s “albums,” which are essentially sets of side-scrolling puzzle-platformer levels with distinct audio/visual styles. Many of the game’s built-in albums have been created by artists like Deadmau5 and Jim Guthrie/Superbrothers. There are nodes scattered throughout levels that serve as pieces of music, since each node makes a different note depending on its placement within a level. Using the level creator/share tools, players are given the abilities to make their own albums (music and level designs) and share it with other Playstation 3/Vita users. Demonstrating the creator’s capabilities, Mak’s fingers flew over the screen, and within minutes he’d created a catchy chiptune sample at 128 beats per minute (which he calls “Deadmau5 speed”). Mak wasn’t even wearing headphones while he tapped out the level’s design, but I was, and that stupid little tune has been stuck in my head ever since. But I’m not complaining. I just want to play more. Luckily, the game is now available on Vita and Playstation 3. *The original version of this story referenced artwork created by a different artist also named Jonathan Mak. The erroneous sentence has been removed.* 
06the-moonlighters
The Moonlighters ---------------- You know that scene in every heist movie, where the team of unlikely collaborators gathers around a table and begins laying out the big plan? As the lead actor speaks, the screen cuts away to scenes of the actual heist in action. The “hacker” type cracks stuff while the explosive specialist sets up their load. The sneaky one climbs into a vent and gets into position. The Moonlighters creators Rad Dragon love that stuff. So what you end up with is an isometric puzzle game about utilizing characters with different skills to knock off casinos, banks and other less traditional “heist movie” settings like a rock 'n’ roll concert. It all takes place in the 1950s and features an original Sinatra-esque soundtrack that I wish I could buy right now. No official platforms have yet been announced, but the devs say they’re shooting for XBLA and PSN. 
07prom-week
Prom Week --------- Prom Week is a free-to-play Flash game that attempts to accurately represent the complexities of social relationships amongst a small group of high school students. It is among the most entertaining and innovative things I’ve yet seen at E3. Yes, I’m talking about a Flash game. Yes, it’s about high school proms. Each level takes place in a small environment filled with a handful of students. You can click on any of the kids to highlight them, and then click again on another student to open up an interaction menu that will present five unique ways for the two to interact. That might include “confide in” or “bully.” Once you’ve chosen, you get to watch a humorously-written dialogue sequence that shows the results of your choice. This affects the way characters see each other, and how they’ll be able to treat each other in the future. It gets more complex, though, because relationships in Prom Week are a web. If Kid A picks on Kid B, and then Kid C is mean to Kid A, Kid B is more likely to feel favorably toward Kid C. Interactions between two characters can completely alter how those two characters later repond to previously uninvolved characters. Alliances are formed, enemies are made and hearts are broken. I wanted to know how dark the game’s story gets, so I asked the title’s lead engineer, a Daniel Radcliffe lookalike with an infectious laugh named Benjamin Samuel. “If it had a rating, it’d probably be T for Teen,” he confirms. So there won’t be any mass suicides or murders in Prom Week, but that doesn’t mean you can’t cause some mayhem. [It’s playable online for free now.](http://www.kongregate.com/games/PromWeekPlaya/prom-week) 
