This was an interesting game for me to report on. When I first started watching, I had an immediate "pfft! wtf is this shitty Mario clone?" which is likely the same thing you will think. But stick with it for a few minutes and boy oh boy will that first impression change! This is actually a classic example of what we discussed towards the end of today's Podcast. Unintentionally, the above video showcases both the best and worst aspects of independant game development.

On the surface Broken Dreams really does look like nothing more than a very lame, very cheap, single screen at a time rip-off of the Mario franchise. But scratch just ever so slightly below the surface and you will see so much more. Some really interesting ideas and an interesting symbolic angle to the gameplay. A love story told out in a literal chase. Which sounds rather disturbing, but with the continuing text narration, I was rapidly sucked in to a tale that transcends words. And therin lays the greatest strengths of the independant model. Such a familiar idea taken in a completely new direction.

The game is currently struggling to find funding on indiegogo, which is really depressing. Go check it out, they're not even asking for much. A measly $500. Seeing other games be ludicrously overfunded to the tune of millions of dollars, seeing a lousy $15 pledged so far is actually really annoying. Come on guys! We can do better than that!