Hi there, I’m Chris Natsuume from Boomzap Entertainment, the one of the sponsors of Casual Review. It’s been six months since Casual Review went online, and I just wanted to drop in and talk a little bit about what they have accomplished, and how pleased we are with what they are trying to do here.

This site was begun with the dream of giving some more attention to the casual game development community – especially the little indie studios that are working on shoestring budgets keeping the dream of independent game development alive. They wanted to focus on rewarding even the smaller studios who are making games with a few warts, but enough great ideas to bring joy and happiness to gamers.

As a long time game developer myself, I know full well that even terrible games take a great deal of time and energy to make (and I should know, I have made a few real dogs myself!), so I didn’t want to be involved with a site that gets attention by taking cheap shots at games that missed the mark. It’s way easier to tear something down than build it up, and there is more than enough to celebrate every day to fill a site like this. The guys at Casual Review wanted to create a place where we could all truly celebrate the people who are bringing us great entertainment. In that spirit, they brought in some writers who truly love indie gaming, and gave them a simple mission: “Only review games worth playing, and review them honestly.” And they have done just that, with a review almost every day since October of great casual products – every one of them worth your time to download and try.

But they wanted to go even further in celebrating the makers of these games, so they now do a developer interview every week. In these interviews, they give another outlet for these great guys and gals to share their unique voices. And we have seen some great people here on the site, from great studios like Amaranth, Papakari, Positech, Rusty Axe, and more. Most of these people aren’t famous or rich – but they are working every day to bring you great entertainment. The guys at Casual Review wanted you to meet them, and hopefully follow the links along to their sites to see what else they have cooking on the stove. I sincerely hope you have gone and done just that.

But even then, they felt they could go farther in celebrating real indie development. To that end, they started Indie Monday, where they spotlight games you probably haven’t heard a great deal about, which have enough spark and originality to deserve a second look – and it’s become the most loved feature on the site. As a game developer, nothing makes me happier than seeing real proof like this that people really are into originality in games, and have a real hunger to find games that show them something new, and challenge current game genres. So they’re going to keep scouring the world to bring you more great indie games. If you haven’t been checking out these great little gems, go look through the archives and try a few. I promise you will be amused.

And now I’d like to ask you to do something to support these great artists.

Casual Review, if you haven’t guessed already, is a money-losing enterprise – and will be for the foreseeable future. But we’re okay with that, because sponsors like Boomzap are more than happy to keep supporting this site. We see it as a small way we can give back to a great development community that has treated us so well. We’re a growing indie studio as well, but to be honest, the costs on running a site like this are quite low, so we have renewed our pledge to keep supporting Casual Review.

But the developers we feature don’t have a sugardaddy like that to keep them alive. They need you to buy their games if they are going to stay in business. If you have learned nothing else from the developer interviews, I hope you have seen that for a little studio making independent games, every single sale makes a real difference – again, trust me, I know his from experience! And when you think about the cost and ease of buying a casual game, you really have no excuse for not putting some money in these people’s pockets. $20 is less than most people pay for a lunch for two or a case of decent beer – and I would argue that games provide at least as much happiness, without the indigestion or hangover.

So I ask you today to go buy a casual game. It doesn’t matter which one, and it doesn’t matter where. Whatever it is you have been playing lately and enjoying, wherever you got it, go drop 20 bucks and invest in making sure that these games keep getting made. All it takes is 5 minutes of time and your credit card. You can do it right now without even getting out of your chair. Join us in the fight against mediocrity and keep independent game development alive, one sale at a time.

Thanks again for reading Casual Review.
Chris Natsuume