

Humble Indie Bundle 8 - minimaxir
https://www.humblebundle.com

======
Centigonal
Here are the games in this bundle I have played, and what I thought about
them:

Hotline Miami, in my opinion, is the centerpiece of this bundle. It's about
storming a building and killing all of the occupants in interesting ways. It
channels this weird 80s rave aesthetic and feels like something between an
arcade game, a puzzler, and an action movie. The art uses low-res 2D graphics
in a way that's distinct from the usual "8-bit emulation" style, focusing
instead on small details. The gameplay complements the art/sound/story
elements, and somehow manages to convey more violence than I felt playing
Gears of War. I mentioned a story -- it's pretty good, I think, although it's
not really the main attraction of the game. Hotline Miami is a game that works
very hard to make you feel like you're part of the universe, and, for me, that
definitely paid off.

Little Inferno is lots of fun, and casual enough that you can play it in
little bites sometimes. If you're going to play it (and you should!), I would
not recommend reading past this point. I really like Kyle Gabler's description
that "Little Inferno is a quiet introverted art project masquerading as a loud
extroverted shopping game." It's fun (although not really challenging or
game-y, not that it's designed to be) at first, and then pulls you into its
story very effectively. The result is that I didn't notice that my little
casual play session had turned into a kind of desperate dash to unlock the
next tidbit of story until the game commented on it. It plays on your feelings
very well, and the ending is up there with Portal as far as innovation and
poignancy are concerned. Both Little Inferno and Hotline Miami gave me trouble
sleeping the days after I finished the game, and that's a good thing.

Awesomenauts is like DotA, but 2D and simpler. The graphics look a little
childish, but that belies the tightness with which everything handles. It's
well made, and fun for the occasional bout of competitive play, especially if
you don't have the time/nerves to get good at DotA/LoL like me. That said, I
don't find myself playing it very often, although that's probably more because
of me than because of the game. Oh -- and it has microtransactions, but
they're well-managed and totally optional.

~~~
iddqd
I paid a tenner for Miami Hotlines soundtrack.

[https://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-
of...](https://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-official)

EDIT: Looks like the soundtrack is not included.

~~~
swah
Its extractable though I don't understand if that is
legal:"<http://blog.hartwork.org/?p=1964>

------
kbenson
I have absolutely no willpower to resist buying these, even though I never
have time to play them. I buy them for the fantasy that some day I'll have
free time for games again and can spend it all playing good games.

It's the same reason I've bought 50 games on GOG.com so far, and actually only
found time to play 2-3 for short periods. The price per purchase (even when
purchasing multiple on a weekend deal) is low enough to not make me feel
guilty, and I get something to look forward to.

~~~
rosser
I buy pretty much every Humble Indie Bundle, even though I'm really not a
gamer, and have played I think about six games to completion in my life. I do
it to support the indie game phenomenon more than anything else. The $10-15 it
takes to beat the average a handful of times a year is worth it to me on that
basis alone.

Well, that and the fact that I have several dozen games I could futz around
with should I find myself suddenly possessed of the "free time" to do so.

~~~
Cub3
Exactly the same as myself, I haven't played any of them (well maybe one of
the android games).. but I have purchased every single bundle to date. I
usually buy a few codes for myself / brothers always at over the average...

For the $30 (or whatever it is) / year I can feel good about contributing to
indie devs + charity, and that's worth it for me.

------
jere
This would be worth it for the soundtrack of Hotline Miami alone. This is
probably a butchered description, but the game reminds me of the most intense
scenes from _Scarface_ with the aesthetics and music of _Drive_. If you're not
convinced, listen to some it: <http://youtu.be/oKD-MVfC9Ag>

Also, the developer deserves some success; he has released 50+ free games over
the years: <http://indiestatik.com/2013/04/25/who-is-the-next-cactus/>

~~~
jay_m
The soundtrack is incredible, but sadly it looks as though it's not included.

~~~
jere
Argh. I thought the way this work is you got soundtracks for all the games.
Anyway, it's worth it just to play the game and hear the damn music. I linked
the full soundtrack, though not in the best format.

~~~
jay_m
Absolutely, the soundtrack alone is worth the playthrough. Here's a link to
the studio's soundcloud which has the soundtrack up at what I think is a
better quality than youtube is offering.
[https://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-
of...](https://soundcloud.com/devolverdigital/sets/hotline-miami-official) (be
warned it autoplays at quite a high volume)

~~~
iddqd
It's definitely better quality than the youtube link. The volume is the same
as the youtube clip if anyone is switching.

------
atesti
If you use eight different email addresses to buy each bundle, then you get a
glimpse of their A/B test for newsletter subjects: Got lots of "Introducing
Humble Indie Bundle 8" and one "Introducing Humble Indie Bundle 8: Name your
price for seven amazing games!" and one "Lock, stock, and 7 smoking games:
Humble Indie Bundle 8 is here!"

------
chrisfarms
I played Hotline Miami at the Eurogamer expo last year, it was total chaos,
you die every 5 seconds, it pumps horrendous techno at you.... and it was
great fun! grabbed my attention way more than the trippleAs

------
dripton
Steam won't install Linux versions of Dear Esther and Capsized. (The Steam
keys imported okay, and those games now show up in my Steam library, just not
as Linux games.)

Maybe they're just being slow getting them uploaded, but it's a disturbing
trend. I think there are now 23 games in my Steam library that claim not to be
available for Linux, even though Linux ports exist. Writing games is very
hard. Porting games is hard. Uploading games is easy.

~~~
dfxm12
Is there a reason you care about Steam (social? something else?)? I mean in
the spirit of free software, why do you want middleware to play your games
through that just gets in your way and at times, could potentially _prevent_
you from playing your games?

You don't need Steam to play these games.

~~~
jsnell
Ease of use. The downloads from Humble Bundle come with all kinds of random
installers that work in different ways, and by default install your games into
different places. Additionally there's no notification of updates being
available, let alone downloading + installing the updates automatically or
with a single click.

It's like the difference between distro packages and stuff you've compiled
from release tarballs.

~~~
dfxm12
Ok, thanks. I get that it is more convenient, but be careful with this:

 _It's like the difference between distro packages and stuff you've compiled
from release tarballs._

Steam collects information about you, and when Steam is down, there's a
possibility that you won't be able to play your game. If you bypass steam you
don't get these issues. Given this, that simile isn't apt.

~~~
merijnv
Using the Steam DRM is optional for developers. There are DRM free games on
Steam, which means that even if Steam is down, they will still work. That
said, I've never had problems with DRMed Steam games not working if the
internet is down (you just need to make sure you check the "remember my login"
thing when authenticating).

------
minimaxir
All games in the Bundle grant separate Steam keys.

~~~
ihuman
This allows you to give the game away if you own it already.

~~~
unfasten
This does not seem to be encouraged behaviour.

via
[http://support.humblebundle.com/customer/portal/articles/243...](http://support.humblebundle.com/customer/portal/articles/243192-if-
i-already-have-a-game-s-in-the-bundle-do-i-have-the-ability-to-gift-the-extra-
copy-in-the-bundle-)

    
    
            If I already have a game(s) in the bundle do I have the ability to
        gift the extra copy in the bundle?
    
        Unfortunately, if you already have a game in the bundle you will
        not be able to gift the extra games to a friend.
    
        Please consider your bundle a "unit", and not to share copies of the
        games or Steam keys from it.
    
        If you'd like to give a copy of the games away, we have a system in
        place that allows you to buy a gift key from www.humblebundle.com so
        your friends can have access to direct downloads as well as any Steam
        or other keys we have included.

~~~
ihuman
Then how come they are separate? If they want to discourage people from giving
away the games as a non-unit, shouldn't they make it one code like they used
to?

~~~
EvilLook
It's probably harder to create a "unit bundle" key with Valve for Steam if
you're only going to sell this bundle once and never in the future. You don't
need any coordination with Valve to give away Steam keys. You only need
coordination with the game developer.

------
ryanSrich
I've never heard of humblebundle and I never play video games but the
production quality of those games and the pay what you want model has me sold.

------
mythz
Bought it just to play Little Inferno, the soundtrack of which is incredible:

SoundCloud: [https://soundcloud.com/kylefromthefuture/sets/little-
inferno...](https://soundcloud.com/kylefromthefuture/sets/little-inferno-
soundtrack)

YouTube: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1HfqnBfYcg>

~~~
srgseg
Thanks for pointing this out, I'm a big fan of Kyle Gabler's work on the
soundtrack for World of Goo.

He makes them both available for free download here:

<http://kylegabler.com/WorldOfGooSoundtrack/>
<http://tomorrowcorporation.com/little-inferno-soundtrack>

~~~
Centigonal
I just want to point out: Gabler writes about what he was trying to accomplish
with the soundtrack as a whole and on a song-by-song basis on both of those
soundtrack pages. Readers skimming this section who are interested in music,
game design, or both would do well to give those summaries a read, as it gives
some neat insights into why he made the game sound the way it does.

------
msg
I've played 5 of these:

Dear Esther is a first person explorer that plays with narrative in an
interesting way.

Thomas Was Alone is a platformer about a rectangle named Thomas and his
quadrilateral friends. They become self aware. Story narrated in a great
British accent. Lovely short-form game.

Proteus is a first person explorer where the soundtrack mirrors the landscape.
It has a lo fi beauty.

Hotline Miami is a very violent, very tightly designed kill em up. It is the
meatiest of the five I've played.

Little Inferno is a graphically beautiful comment on skinner boxes and recent
trends in game design.

------
sergiotapia
I've wanted to play Dear Esther for so long. I have NO idea what it's about
other than you're alone in an island with no soundtrack or guns, etc. Just you
and the open field. Love the idea!

~~~
marksands07
There is a soundtrack, actually. It was even nominated for Excellence in Audio
at the 2012 IGF awards. <http://jessicacurry.bandcamp.com/album/dear-esther>

------
jcomis
Too much awesome not to buy. Really like Thomas Was Alone.

------
archagon
FYI, the lead programmer for Awesomenauts has a fantastic dev blog that delves
into the inner workings of the game:
<http://joostdevblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Awesomenauts>

(And it's a really fun game too! Easily worth the price of the bundle by
itself.)

------
yew
For anyone who's played 'Thomas Was Alone',

On my system (running Linux) whenever the game starts playing a new song it
keeps playing the previous song too. The longer I play the louder it gets -
eventually it's impossible to hear the narrator.

I'm assuming that isn't supposed to happen. Is anyone else seeing similar
behavior? Also, is there a bug list (or some other method of reporting issues)
anywhere? Looking around, I don't see anything - and I'd like to keep abreast
of what's going on with the port.

It's a wonderful game otherwise - reason enough to buy the bundle all by
itself, in my opinion.

------
nathas
There's a secret ending to Hotline Miami that made it one of the most thought
provoking games I've ever played.

Rarely am I moved by a game nowadays. It's heavy. Hotline Miami alone is worth
it.

------
hoka
Awesomenauts is fantastic; I have over 100 hours played on that game alone.
After 80 hours or so, I made the jump to Dota 2, where I have 300+ hours
played in a much shorter timespan. In my opinion, Awesomenauts should be a
mandatory 20+ hour tutorial before anyone is allowed to play Dota, Dota 2,
League of Legends, etc. Think of Awesomenauts as the helpful Sherpa/Mountain
Guide to the Everest-like skill cliff that is Dota 2.

Hotline Miami is great as well!

------
myth_drannon
And Notch just paid 5000$ for the bundle.

------
darxius
This is something I can never resist buying. DRM-free cross-platform games
where you can decide what portion of what you decide on spending gets sent to
who.

Its a brilliant business model and it proves it can be profitable.

------
oxwrist
There goes my productivity for the next 3 days.

