Alright, I’ve already spent over $80 on Steam games today. I’ve maxed out my limit, seriously. That said, however, I still have yet to even scratch the surface of the Steam Holiday sale. As such, I figured it would be fun to put together my top 10 indie games you should check out for this year’s holiday indie sale.

Keep in mind, these are of my personal opinion. I’m not basing these top 10 games off of score, pricing, or anything of that nature. Also this list is in no particular order.

Super Meat Boy – $3.75

This game released, literally, a few weeks ago. It is quite possibly a game the year contender for both myself and DIYGamer and, really, should be an instant purchase for anybody who doesn’t yet own the game. Seriously, it’s amazing.

[Link]

Metal Drift – $4.99

Released back in 2009, I”ve recently fallen back in love with this game’s unique multiplayer ‘splodey action. It’s a fast and furious gravity tank game that allows for a progressive leveling to assemble bigger and more bad ass weapons.

[Link]

The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom – $0.49

Some people didn’t care for this game, I loved it. It’s whimsical and very charming in that early 1900s sort of way. Plus at less than what a candy bar costs at the local super market? Easy choice.

[Link]

Zero Gear – $4.99

Zero Gear, in my opinion, was a better game than the newest Mario Kart. They have some fundamental differences, granted, but on a pure kart-game basis, I’d choose Zero Gear any day. It’s just plain ol’ fun.

[Link]

AI War: Fleet Command + expansions – $9.99+

Probably the most expensive game on my list but oh so worth it. Seriously, this game offers an incredible amount of depth for a fraction opf what it would cost elsewhere. And now it costs even a fraction of that! Solid choice for strategy fans.

[Link]

Delve Deeper – $2.49

Charming, hot seat action involving Dwarves mining for gold, fighting monsters/dragons and competing with other teams of Dwarves. Seriously, does it get any better than this? Not by much. A great strategy hot-seat game.

[Link]

Amnesia: The Dark Descent – $9.99

Does the phrase “scary as shit” mean anything to you? Pardon my language, but that’s literally the best way to describe this very, very frightening game. People willing to subject themselves to horrors such as this should definitely enjoy the sale.

[Link]

VVVVVV – $2.49

Another great action platformer in the same vein as Super Meat Boy, only this time your taking control of Captain Veridian as he attempts to save his ship mates from impending doom. It’s a challenging, but very satisfying game.

[Link]

Plain Sight – $4.99

Another fantastic multiplayer game that features none other than robot ninjas. Combined with some amazing 3D action and a few unique game modes Plain Sight is a great catch for anybody who’s looking for a new multiplayer game.

[Link]

AaAaAA!!! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity – $4.99

Last, but certainly not least, who can certainly not enjoy a game about base jumping and flippng people off? While the game is getting a little older, this is certainly one of the best first person indie experiences available today.

[Link]

Solid list if I do say so myself. Of course, don’t let this stop you from trying other indie games. There are a lot of really, really good games for sale this holiday season and chances are, even if none of these sound appealing to you, there’s something on Steam that you’ll really enjoy.

Happy holidays.

Everyone’s favorite suicidal robot multiplayer bash, Plain Sight, has dropped to 80% off for Steam’s mid-week madness sale.

Right now, through most likely Thursday, you can nab a single copy of Plain Sight for $2 or a 4-player pack for only $6. Not bad if you and three friends like pieces of sentient metal that enjoy self-destruction.

In his review, Geoff said “there are few games out there that can combine a gaming icon, fast/furious gameplay, and wrap it all up in a mutliplayer-centric game that is actually fairly well populated.” With a $2 Steam sale, that population is all but guaranteed to skyrocket.

Indie Sales may be the only thing these days poking the dead raccoon that is our economy. Each week, I wonder what sale might pop-up and demand that I pay money for a game by giving me an offer too good to refuse. Is there a discount out there this week like that? Depends on who you are, what’s your poison? Steampunky action? Old school RPG? Space Strategy?

Whatever you’ll have, there’s some nice discounts on good titles this week. Go splurge a bit.

On Impulse, Gratuitous Space Battles Complete–which packs the core space strategy title along with its three paid expansions–is $14 off its $40 tag. Review here. Steampunk action game Guns of Icarus is $6 instead of $10. Review here.

Steam has several small launch sales including 10% off RPG Eschalon Book II, 10% off casual puzzler 4 Elements and 20% off strategy title Future Wars. Into trains? Several RailWorks add-ons are 33%-50% off as well.

Neocore’s Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come has been given a 50% off sale this weekend courtesy of GamersGate. That’s $10 instead of $20, from the same team that developed King Arthur — The Role Playing Wargame.

As a reminder from last week since it’s still going on: You still have the chance to pick up Plain Sight for just $5 on D2D.

Beatnik Games’ multiplayer ninja robot exploder Plain Sight is heading for a console release as it’s currently set to arrive Playstation 3′s downloadable service PSN complete with MOVE support. This according to the latest issue of EDGE Magazine via PSNStores.

The much talked-about PC title at one point in time was being developed with XNA to potentially land on Xbox Live Arcade. The last mention of that was September of 2008, and things seem to have changed.

Not much, but on the topic of Move support it was mentioned that the multiplayer servers would likely be divided, so that those using standard controllers and those using Sony’s latest toy for the PS3 don’t mix to prevent unfair advantages either way. More info as it comes.

Indie Sales reappears after a bit of a hiatus. Several sales this week; some little, some big and all awesome. Let’s take the tour.

Direct2Drive, often absent from our inconsistent weekly segment, boasts the best offer both in discount and quality of game. Multiplayer Robot Exploder Plain Sight is 50% off, taking the title down to just $5 through the middle of next week. Check out Geoff’s review for more on the game.

Impulse is running a couple of deals as part of their weekend sale. Christian Teister’s Grappling Hook goes for $9 instead of the standard $15–Arsen and I have covered it fairly extensively. Sigma’s top-down action title Alien Shooter is just $3 instead of the typical $5. However…

GamersGate is offering a better Alien Shooter discount in the three-game Alien Shooter Gold Pack which contains Alien Shooter, Alien Shooter: Vengeance and Zombie Shooter. A $15 price tag slashed down to just $3.73! Not to be overlooked at all, The Scourge Project Episodes 1 and 2 is still 75% off. Check out our coverage here.

In the wake of its enormous discountocalypse, Steam isn’t running any standard sales this week. However, they are offering a few launch discounts including dollar discounts for Binary Takeover’s music-powered title Turba and Telltale’s adventure game Puzzle Agent. The new “Class 02 Shunter Pack” DLC for RailWorks is 33% off as well.

Did we miss something? Email us or leave a comment below so we can share.

It’s an unusually fantastic weekend for indie sales, what’s unusual for us is that it all comes from one outlet. Yes, Steam is having one of its semi-annual blowout sales that sees the vast majority of games in the digital distributor’s catalog discounted somewhere between nice and blatantly absurd, including over 60 indie offerings. Let’s highlight some of the biggest and best, as well as some of the other sites (yes, there are other sales going on this weekend.) Another thing to note about the Steam sales, these go through the 4th of July, but there are also ridiculously cheap daily deals that we’ll have to miss here, though I must mention Galcon Fusion for $2.50 until tomorrow morning!

Out of the many offerings available, Sacraboar at 90% off would seem to take the cake, the well received $20 tile is now $2. Altitude is 66% off at $3.40, AI War carries the same 66% discount as does its expansion. Chains is 75% off at just $1.24, Invent4′s Bad Rats: the Rats Revenge is $0.95 down from $5. Puzzle game Quantz is $2.50 down from $10, Super Laser Racer is $1.25, the list goes on.

Looking to save a bundle on a bundle? Steam’s offering several at big discounts including:

Introversion Complete Pack for $5 (87% off) – Packs Darwinia, Multiwinia, Uplink and Defcon.

Action Indie Pack for $6.24 (75% off) – Packs Larva Mortus, Penguins Arena: Sedna’s World, RIP – Trilogy, Space Trader: Merchant Marine and Tank Universal.

Puzzle Indie Pack for $3.74 (75% off) – Packs Chains, Gumboy – Crazy Adventures, Obulis and Vigil: Blood Bitterness.

Northern Lights Indies for $20 (64% off) – Packs Blueberry Garden, Bob Came in Pieces, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Plain Sight and Saira. That’s a quality bundle of games right there.

Summer Indie Action Pack for $20 (60% off) – Packs Aaaah! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Gridrunner Revolution, Metal Drift, Starscape and Zombie Driver.

Maybe most importantly Steam also offers 50% off on almost every big indie title you can think of over the past couple of years with titles including (just to name a few): Machinarium, Zeno Clash, Trine, Cogs, Eufloria, Gratuitous Space Battles, Time Gentleman/Ben There, Dan That and much more. If you were waiting for any of the various titles we mention on this site to go down in price its more than worth your time to browse through the list and pick up some wonderful games at amazing prices.

Impulse carries a lone independent sale with Zoetrope Interactive’s Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage for $18 instead of its standard $30, a 40% discount.

Direct2Drive also gets in the mix with Kerberos Productions Fort Zombie for 75% off, bringing the title down to $2.50.

Last week, Mega 64 released a hilarious new sketch, one that really speaks to us here at DIYgamer.com. It was simply titled Indie Films and it was about making full motion pictures films out of various indie games such as: Super Meat Boy, Today I Die, Rocketbirds, etc. While the sketch, itself, was really good, it also got me thinking. Maybe indie games aren’t necessarily going to make great films, but what about cartoons?

While Hollywood is only too happy with finding and securing the rights to the major multi-million dollar titles out there like Call of Duty, Metal Gear Solid, and World of Warcraft (seriously), I feel like there is an untapped market for creating children’s, or even adult (that that kind of adult, pervert), cartoons out of some of the great indie games out there today.

I mean, look at it this way, many popular indie games rely on cartoon-ish graphics already, usually featuring some cutesy character, and are almost always fun to watch/play. I’m telling you, kids would eat these shows up just as much as they do their Saturday morning cereal. Mmmmm Kix.

So here are my top ten games I’d love to see made into some sort of animated cartoon.

10.Cave Story

Now don’t get your knickers in a knot simply because Cave Story is so low on this list, where as with most other indie games lists it’s at the top. Cave Story is still very well suited for a cartoon series, but more than likely a kids show, which is fine (I do enjoy me some Spongebob every once in a while), but ultimately not that exciting.

[Cave Story]

9. La Mulana

This is in a similar vein as Cave Story, but with one added feature, the main character is basically Indiana Jones without actually being Indiana Jones, which immediately makes it infinitely more intriguing to watch. As an added bonus, to make it a hilarious adult cartoon, the show could be literally based on the game where, in every single episode, Lemeza (the main character) would die at the end… because that game is freaking impossible.

Alternative titles: Spelunky.

[La Mulana]

8. World of Goo

I don’t know how, and I don’t know why exactly, but you look at World of Goo and tell me that it’s not already completely adaptable to being made into a cartoon. I mean, come on the goo-blobs are adorable! I suppose the hard part would be actually coming up with a story based on them because, if you’ll remember correctly, the game didn’t really feature one.

[World of Goo]

7. Runman: Race Around the World

Parents, and the government, are always complaining about children who are sitting at home playing video games or watching cartoons on the boobtube. Well, why not speak to the children with something they’ll actually pay attention to? And what better vassal to speak to them through than Runman, the extremely excitable running star that, literally, races all around the world just for the hell of it. Perhaps it’ll get the message through to the children, or make them just want to play the game, whatever.

[Runman: Race Around the World]

6. Trine

Talk about epic, is there a better game to make an epic cartoon out of than Trine? I think not. It also doesn’t hurt that the game ends right where the cartoon can begin. Trine was a beautifully imagined indie game and, provided they use a similar illustration style, the cartoon can be just as amazing. Children’s cartoon or not, I’d watch this.

[Trine]

5. The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

Do I even really need to offer an argument or explanation for this one. This game is about a time manipulating, pie thief! Come on! It practically writes hilarious scripts all by itself. The only reason why I didn’t place it higher is because I’m not exactly sure how well a black and white cartoon would go over with either children or adults. Still though, I’d say it’d at least be an interesting ride.

[Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom]

4. Ben There, Dan That

I have trouble not smiling about a cartoon comedy based on this game, but only, and I do mean only, if the original creators Ben Ward and Dan Marshall are brought on board to write/direct. Otherwise who knows what it could turn into. Still though, the thought of this time and space traveling duo on Comedy Central, or Adult Swim is incredibly exciting.

[Ben There, Dan That]

3. Plain Sight

Two words: Robot Ninjas. Sure, there’s no story and really no purpose to the game other than scoring points, but if you can successfully translate these guys into a story that still encompasses their robot ninja-ness while at the same time continuing to make them suicidal, well that… that would be just the best thing ever.

[Plain Sight]

2. ‘Splosion Man

You’ve GOT to agree with me on this one. I mean, first, the game looks like it was created by Pixar already. Second, you look at ‘Splosion Man and tell me he’s not just the most creative and memorable character ever imagined. Tie all that into a hilarious cartoon and you have an instant success. Children or adult’s cartoon, I’d watch it.

['Splosion Man]

1. Machinarium

And Machinarium takes another top spot on a list, but in this one it’s only because the story was so well played out and the animations so elaborately done that, for me, Machinarium makes the most sense to turn into an animated cartoon. Sure, it probably wouldn’t attract the largest audience, and children probably wouldn’t enjoy the macabre colors, but if they could create a successful retelling of the game, or even a series on what happens after I’d be completely overjoyed.

[Machinarium]

Honorable Mentions:

Super Meat Boy, Joe Danger,  and Braid. The former two games didn’t make the list because, well, I haven’t played them yet. The latter because the game’s story was far too abstract for even many adults to comprehend. Still, I imagine, with the write direction, each could be fairly entertaining in their own right.

Did I miss a game you thought would make a great cartoon? Let me know in the comments, or rant about it in our forums!

Spring Cleaning Contest!

Did you know we are running a kickass forum contest where you could win a copy of Machinarium, Shattered Horizon, or Aaaaa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity?

Check it out!

Indie Links Round-Up is king sized this week, we deal with the prospect of being difficult, get a closer look into some Xbox Live Indies and catch up on some indie reviews and interviews from across the web. So enough with the jibba-jabba, let’s cast a line and see what reels in.

My XBLIG game sales numbers (OccasionalGamer)
“I think its about time that I shared some of my game sales so far as well as some insights into the business of making games for xblig. Let’s start of with some numbers. As of April 9, 2010 I have these stats to share.”

IGS 2010: Abusing Your Players Just For Fun (TIG Source)
“IGF Nuovo Award winner and indie mastermind Cactus’ first talk this year, Abusing Your Players Just For Fun, was ostensibly about designing games with obfuscated interactions, bizarre themes, trippy visuals, a high level of difficulty— the kind of stuff Cactus is known for— but really, to me, seemed more about encouraging people who would otherwise not develop games to try, about the desire to see an even greater variety of creative output from the indie games sphere.”

Xbox Live Indie-Dome: March 21st-April 3rd, 2010 (CrushFragDestroy)
“Welcome once again to the wonderful world of “We Sift Through The Crap So You Don’t Have To!” There were some surprisingly strong contenders last time, as well as a few complete turds. So how will our combatants fare today?”

Found Footage From A 1982 Arcade Convention (GameSetWatch)
“Coin-op fans stumbled upon a rare collection of videos documenting an arcade and console game convention in Chicago around March 1982.”

Why am I so…hard? (Team Meat Blog)
“So I’m going to attempt to write about difficulty in game design then talk a bit about the Super Meat Boy design process, namely when it comes to how we approached dealing with difficulty.”

The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Olu (Joystiq)
“This week we talk with Red Button Games boss (and champion Omeganaut) Daniel Frandsen about his new Xbox Live Indie Game, Olu.”

The Joystick Indie Pitch: Plain Sight (Joystiq)
“This week we talk with Robin Lacey, the managing director of Beatnik Games, about his company’s brand new ninja robot multiplayer action game Plain Sight.”

Shannon Galvin’s Contributions to Sleep is Death (SleepisDeath)
“Shannon Galvin worked at Maxis starting back in 1994 and all the way up through Spore, where he did concept art and 3D modeling (remember the plants and the huts—that was him!). He’s currently working as lead 3D artist on Jonathan Blow’s upcoming game The Witness.”

GDC Video: Crashfaster @ GAMMA IV (IndieGames)
“On March 10, independent game designers and game-inspired musicians were brought together under one roof for the GAMMA IV one-button game festival at the San Francisco Mezzanine. Featuring music acts by chiptune artists and indie game creators, the GDC kick-off party was organized by Heather Kelley and the Kokoromi game collective.”

Reviews

Plain Sight Review (EuroGamer)
“You guys are lucky I’m a professional. Otherwise, I might give Plain Sight 12 out of 10 just on principle. I might even do that anyway. We’ll see.”

Wot I Think: Plain Sight (RockPaperShotgun)
“In short: Top Gun with Samurai Robots.”

Interviews

(Short) Interview: Revenge Of The Titans! (RockPaperShotgun)
“Unlikely-named Puppygames developer Caspian Prince has answered some of our questions about the splendid-looking forthcoming not-actually-a-tower-defence-game, Revenge Of The Titans. It looks proper brilliant, and you need to watch the videos I’ve posted below, as well as read the words. You need to. If you don’t then something will happen to your glands.”

GDC10: Owlboy Interview (Youtube)
“The Norwegian indie title Owlboy was one of the nominated titles in this year’s Independent Games Festival. Listen to what the team has to say about this beautiful 2D platformer…”

GDC10: Super Meat Boy Interview (Youtube)
“From the independant games festival booth, Super Meat Boy interview – vegans against animal testing?”

Spring Cleaning Contest!

Did you know we are running a kickass forum contest where you could win a copy of Machinarium, Shattered Horizon, or Aaaaa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity?

Check it out!

Beatnik Games has released a new update for its multiplayer explode ‘em up Plain Sight, now available for download on Steam. The v1.0.1.0 patch brings the new Space Ships map that’s described as pirate-tastic, along with two new achievements entitled “Proud Of Yourself, Little Man?” and “Tempers are wearing thin. Let’s hope some robot doesn’t kill everybody.” Which sound swell.

The update also brings updated dedicated servers and a fix for Intel and NVIDIA 7xxx graphics cards as well. The file can be downloaded now by owners of the game via an auto-update on Steam.

From the change log:

New Content

A new pirate-tastic map! Space Ships!

2 new achievements! “Proud Of Yourself, Little Man?” and “Tempers are wearing thin. Let’s hope some robot doesn’t kill everybody.”

Other stuff

Dedicated servers have been updated to allow for multiple servers running on the same machine. Administrators can now allocate IP’s. Game now runs on multiple ports. See ports.txt for more information.

Fix for Intel and NVIDIA 7xxx graphics cards

Numerous crash bugs (including XML issues) fixed.

Did you know we are running a kickass forum contest where you could win one of two copies of the hilarious, robot-ninja infused multiplayer game: Plain Sight? Well now you do… check it out at our forums!

A fresh batch of links from around the indie world for your essence to intake. I chose the title words to represent today’s grouping mainly because we have a lot of previews, reviews and interviews, all of which represent the depth and dedication of both the developer/designer and the journalist/reviewer.

The result? Quality insight for your brain to consume. Categorized for your organizational pleasure:

Previews/Hands-on

Bad Cop: Hands-On With Sleep Is Death (RockPaperShotgun)
“Last week, I played the upcoming two player indie adventure game Sleep is Death with its creator, Jason Rohrer. He’d created a custom story for me to follow, shape and/or resist. I did all three.”

Hands-on: Raskulls XBLA (Joystiq)
“Most Xbox Live Arcade enthusiasts likely aren’t familiar with Halfbrick Studios, the Brisbane, Australia-based studio that’s only previous work on the platform involved Indie Games that weren’t very successful. After switching gears and offering some PSP Minis titles, the dev studio is back on Xbox with Raskulls, a polished and quirky game that has a variety of inspirations, from Mario Kart to Bomberman to, most notably, Mr. Driller.”

Preview: Sleep is Death (IndieGames)
“I’m a little girl. A moment before, I made a bet with a boy (that I’ve kinda got the hots for) that I could pull a fish from a pond with my bare hands. The boy sounded a little taken aback by my absurd wager, but egged me on regardless. True to my word I dived in, grabbed the nearest fish, and returned to the boy’s side, prize in hand. Then we got naked and jumped in an open grave to talk about marriage.”

Reviews

Knot-Pharmacard Subcondition J (TIGSource)
“There is something very beautiful about the nature of the delicate and tentative interactions that can occur when encountering an unfamiliar system for the first time.”

Plain Sight (BigDownload)
“Plain Sight features robot ninjas battling each other to an explosive climax. For many gamers, the premise alone makes the game worth picking up. The low price makes for a great incentive too. Yet, although the game is fun and wonderfully fast paced, it could benefit from a little more fine tuning.”

Mobile Bomb Squad (TIGSource)
“Mobile Bomb Squad is a puzzle-action game by fuegerstef that is reminiscent of old top-down DOS games like Chip’s Challenge and Hero’s Heart. The player controls a muscled bomb technician who must destroy bombs that have been planted around the city and eventually defeat the mysterious villain who is behind it all.”

Interviews

Eskil Steenberg Explains What Makes LOVE Different (GameSetWatch)
“One-man design whiz Eskil Steenberg talks to our own Leigh Alexander about his just-launched LOVE, its philosophy of multiplayer dynamic storytelling, and his big goals — including a very ambitious mandate for his next project.”

Twisted Pixel’s Mike Wilford talks Comic Jumper (Joystiq)
“After a grinning Peter Molyneux told Joystiq that Comic Jumper reminded him of a game he would have made twenty years ago (that’s a compliment!), we stopped by developer Twisted Pixel’s humble South by Southwest booth where CEO Mike Wilford told us about the encounter.”

Vector Unit’s Small On Starting A Studio And Reviving Hydro Thunder (GameSetWatch)
“Independent developer Vector Unit just announced its first game: a sequel to boat racing classic Hydro Thunder. Matt Small, half the founding team, talks to our own Chris Remo about the studio’s history, game, and process.”