BroBots – Where One Player is the Bullet!

Screenshot of BroBots

BroBots is a delightful little game I ran into at GDEX 2018. When I first played it, I did horrible because I didn’t realize what was going on. There were two robots – a big one and little one – and swarms of enemies. It looks like a twin-stick shooter – a genre of games loosely based on Robotron and others like it.

So What IS BroBots?

The developer happened to be there and pointed out what I was missing. One player is the main character, the other player is the weapon! Player one is a big, slow robot named “Big Bro” and he just wanders around collecting power ups and earning points. The other “Lil Bro” is a super-fast smaller robot who is invincible and damages any enemies he touches. It’s the very essence of couch co-operative play.

What’s Good About It?

The music is upbeat, the enemies are varied, and there are things enemies drop that you can collect to build up special powers for both robots. Big Bro can spawn a field around himself for a short period of time that slows enemies significantly, while Lil Bro can activate a laser that bridges between Big Bro and Lil Bro that does huge amounts of damage to any enemies it touches.

What’s Bad About It?

The only downside to this game – anyone wanting a wide variety of levels and game modes will be sadly disappointed. It’s one scene with constant streams of enemies coming at you until you die and the only object is to rack up the highest score possible. I am fine with this because it’s a fun little game you can pick up and play with someone for a few rounds and enjoy it immensely. And it’s going for $2 USD on Itch.io or more if you feel like it’s worth paying the extra.

What’s My Verdict?

I would love to see more local cooperative multiplayer games like this. I also do enjoy the fact that with the 40+ hour mega-blockbuster suck up all your free time games out here, games like BroBots are still being made. These indies are made with tons of passion by developers who are bringing back the fun of local multiplayer games. Find a friend, grab a couple controllers, and enjoy!

BroBots available from from Itch.io

BroBots logo

GDEX 2017 – Amazingly Creative Community and the Rise of Indie Developers

Indie devs at GDEX

The event I’d been looking forward to for weeks finally came along at the end of September 2017 – GDEX 2017. GDEX (The Game Developer Expo) is a major game developer expo in Columbus, Ohio of all places. I’m so lucky to have this event in what is pretty much my backyard. This is my third time attending this event and its fifth year running.

What makes GDEX so special? It’s mostly made up of super-passionate game developers, artists, musicians and people doing related stuff all coming together to show off the work they have poured their hearts and souls into. This year they had 100 exhibitors on the show floor.

The people exhibiting range anywhere from college kids making their first game to industry veterans going off and founding their own studios and sharing their new creations. On top of this, there are almost always sessions going on where you can hear inspiring talks and learn new things about making games. Continue reading