I also spent a fair bit of time sampling a bunch of indie downloadable games. I was generally impressed by everything I tried; there's a lot of great games out there, and the level of polish required in be a success in the indie market appears to be extremely high. Yet I'm also feeling more confident in myself that I could be capable of making something of that standard if I really try. I'll post more on this later after I've had time to sample a few more of the demos; some of the more graphically intense ones weren't operational on the computer I was using.
While I didn't end up purchasing any indie games while away (still deciding which ones to buy), I did spend a small fortune on virtual console games for the Wii. I never owned a console when I was a child, being a PC gamer until playing games on a SNES emulator taught me how great console games could be. I ended up buying a Ninentdo 64 and the sequels to the games I enjoyed, but I'm glad I can now buy copies of those SNES games for a console I own. Plus I can also play through all those well-known game series that everyone mentions as an inspiration but I never actually played, such as Mega Man and Castlevania. However I also suspect I got sucked in to spending slightly more points then was healthy; the abstraction of real money to points, just like chips in a casino, removes some of the mental barriers to realising how much money you're spending.
Still, I feel pretty pepped up for the month of July and the rest of the year to come. I'm starting to feel I can elevate this game development hobby of mine into a proper cottage industry with a bit of planning, a lot more practice and a heck of a lot more work in the right directions.
