Can Indie Developers Save Local Multiplayer Gaming?

May 4, 2015 0 By Gary

Friendships were made to be broken (live and in person)

Games like #IDARB, Knight Squad, and Clusterpuck 99 for the Xbox One, and Resogun for the PS4 are just a few of the titles that have launched or will be launching that are a part of this resurgence, putting fans of the couch wars back into the driver’s seat.

These games are produced by independent studios that recognize that there’s space in the market for local multiplayer. In fact, not only is there space, but there’s demand! The fans WANT local options and are telling that to developers.

“Local co-op was added [to Resogun] because of the community being quite vocal about it,” said De Benetti of Housemarque.

It’s not that they didn’t think about local co-op for Resogun right off the bat, “but because we had limited time to get Resogun done before the PS4 launch,” it wasn’t included until after, he added.

Since they gave the fans what they wanted, it’s hard to give them a hard time about that!

Clusterpuck 99: THIS. IS. CLUSTERPUCK.

One of the interesting things about Clusterpuck 99, currently available on Steam but launching soon for Xbox One, is actually that it’s local multiplayer only.

Clusterpuck 99 is great for recreating the couch wars of youth because it supports up to eight players at once (and it supports Smartglass controllers!).

The best way to describe Clusterpuck 99‘s gameplay is that it’s a hybrid air hockey/soccer/pinball game meets Thunderdome. The object of the game is to score in your opponents goal while navigating your opponents, bumpers, speed boosts, and spikes that can destroy you and keep you out of the game for a few seconds (see the Thunderdome reference?).

“From the very beginning Clusterpuck 99 was designed to be a local multiplayer experience. Our goal was to recreate the experiences we had as younger gamers when friends came over with controllers and got rowdy playing games. Those were great times,” said Madonna.

The learning curve for Clusterpuck 99 is low, but don’t let that fool you. With tons of levels, each introducing a greater level of difficultly and obstacles, there’s a ridiculous amount skill required in Clusterpuck 99; just because you CAN play…doesn’t mean you’re good.

It is simple to pick up and learn how to play on an open level without any spikes or obstacles…but add pits, and spikes, and speed boosts, it’s a whole new ball game; er, puckgame, rather.

And seriously… the first time you speed boost your buddy into a spike and watch his avatar explode, you’ll be hooked.

Resogun: An explosive shoot’em up

Resogun (and its two expansions Heroes & the recently released Defenders), available now on PSN (and in Season Pass form, if you’re looking to bundle), has been variously described by its developers as “a new take on Defender for the modern [age]” and (thankfully for me, since I’d never played Defender) “a game with ’80s attitude for explosive action and skill based [play].”

Resogun takes an inventive approach to the shoot’em up games by adding a heroic element; namely, not only do you destroy your enemies, but you can save people to gain bonuses to your final score.

With multiple ships available, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as upgrades and power ups available through each level, Resogun offers a little something for everyone…particularly if you like destroying aliens!

Nominated for Action Game of the Year at the 2014 DICE Awards, this side scrolling shooter is definitely worth a look!

#IDARB: It’s a Freakin’ Catalina Wine Mixer!

#IDARB, currently available for Xbox One, is wacky kind-of sports game for up to eight players that steals elements from all over. At its heart, the purpose of the game is simple: grab the ball, shoot it in the goal. Standing in your way could be a team of moustache cops or even bacon and eggs. You play until one team wins. At the end, the losing team can fill up the screen with their tears. Literally.

Ironically, #IDARB is one of the most online friendly local multiplayer games around. It’s ironic because designer Mike Mika didn’t plan it that way.

“#IDARB was originally local only…we hadn’t even considered it for on-line, which was painful later when we actually realized we should support an online audience,” he said about the game’s early development.

It’s ironic because one of the most interesting features of #IDARB is related to online play. The game gives you a unique game identifier in the form of a hashtag and if you send a tweet to @idarbwire with your game name and one of various commands (#ricky to Rickroll the game is one example) you can bring about mayhem in your friends’ game.

It certainly makes SPECTATING an #IDARB match more interesting when you can lob troll grenades at your buddies while they’re playing.

If the thought of Rickrolling your buddy’s game while you’re sitting on the couch doesn’t pique your interest, this game might not be for you.

But if it does? It’s definitely right up your alley.

Knightsquad: Super Bomberman meets Gauntlet

Knight Squad, available now on Steam early access and soon for Xbox one, supports local and online play for up to eight players, but developer Jean Simon Otis from Chainsawesome Games thinks, for his game, the couch wars are the way to go.

“[A]ll the action happens on a single screen…[and] [t]he game is designed in a way that the optimal experience is locally with a bunch of friends just shouting at each other and having a good time, [while] slowly obliterating your friendship,” he said.

In Knight Squad, each player is a knight representing a particular colour, and the objective varies from game to game. It can be as simple as teaming up with friends and trying to beat the other team down or it can be a free for all where you’re trying to score points by capturing the grail and getting it to your scoring area.

The game is in many ways reminiscent of Super Bomberman for the SNES because with one hit kills and a variety of weapon upgrades almost drawn out of Gauntlet (see what I did there?) such as long swords, bows, and boomerangs you need to be quick to survive!

The only thing harder than waiting for this game to release on Xbox One is trying to contain your laughter as you snipe your buddy from across the map with a well placed arrow and watching him curse your name for all to hear.

With eight players, it’s complete mayhem…and a total blast.

The End?

What’s becoming clear is that Indie developers are saving the couch wars. They’re creating fun, inventive, and exciting games that all your friends can play in the same room. It’s great ’cause you can’t elbow someone when you’re playing online. All attempts to do so have failed.

By investing development time in local multiplayer gaming, these amazing designers are breathing new life into a genre that was slowly dying.

These featured games represent only a handful of titles that have begun to revitalize this market on next-generation consoles and one that I hope continues in the future.

And thanks to Indie developers the couch wars aren’t ending; they’re beginning all over again.

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Special thanks to Mike Mika, Tommaso De Benetti, Jean Simon Otis, and Nick Madonna for their contributions to this article.

To learn more about Clusterpuck 99 click here