When the Xbox One was first unveiled, it was decidedly lacking in indie games. The reason was that Microsoft was keeping its old publishing guidelines around that required indie games to have a publisher before being allowed on their platform. Microsoft quickly removed that requirement, however, when it saw that Sony and Nintendo were allowing indies to self publish on their platform. Since then, Microsoft has welcomed indies to the Xbox One through its [email protected] program.
Microsoft released a video showcasing some of the indie games coming to the Xbox One through its [email protected] program. The games are all self published and free from any of the shackles found in the old indie publishing program. With [email protected], developers have the freedom to pursue whatever they want on the Xbox One and it shows in the games on display in the video.
One of the more promising games you’ll see below is Super Time Force – an arcade shooter with a time traveling twist. As players make their way through fights, they can spawn in a different version of themselves from the past or future. This allows players to have multiple versions of themselves running around in levels fighting enemies.
Another interesting game is FRU – a title that uses both a controller and the Kinect. It’s a puzzle platformer where the player’s silhouette as captured by Kinect reveals hidden paths and doors in the environment. It’s certainly an interesting concept and is the best use of Kinect I’ve yet seen on the Xbox One.
At GDC 2014, Microsoft showed off 25 indie games coming to the Xbox One through [email protected] It says that there’s even more on the way so Xbox One gamers shouldn’t be starved for content in the coming months. In fact, things will likely get even better as more developers hop on board as Microsoft makes it even easier for developers to create games for the Xbox One.
Image via xbox/YouTube
