There’s no question that with as many indie games as I’ve played over the past generation plus, the best thing indie developers can arm themselves with is a relatively simple but great idea. Granted, I’ve seen titles that have obviously been driven by good ideas but then backed up with lackluster play, so the bigger picture is still vitally important. But there are also plenty of well-executed games out there with nothing new to offer, and that are thus utterly forgettable.

The challenge is that what constitutes a great idea isn’t cut and dry by any means. Sometimes it’s a matter of doing some genre bending, taking something familiar and moving it in a different direction, or even breaking all of the rules and coming up with something completely new. Or, as is the case with Rollick N’ Roll, you can take inspiration from classic toys or games from yesteryear, and figure out ways to help apply the fun they offered in a new digital form. If you grew up somewhere in the vicinity of the 80s, you may have been exposed to games like Madcap Marathon or some others that were focused on a variety of mechanical skills you’d need to demonstrate in order to move what was usually a ball through a course of some kind. Whether that would test your sense of timing, your reaction speed, or any number of other simple skills, you were either racing the clock or some friends who were playing with you, and though these games were typically quite simple, the fact that their memory has stuck with me over the decades demonstrates their staying power as well.

While Rollick N' Roll isn’t exactly in this same mold, its style of puzzling and visuals do share some commonalities. Your job will be to get some sort of vehicle through a track, pressing buttons or turning dials to manipulate different elements along the way. Starting out this is easy enough, simply needing to get one vehicle from start to finish, but additional challenge levels will add more vehicles, requiring you to stay alert, do a bit of planning, and hopefully avoid disaster along the way. While it shares similarities with a previous indie title named Airport, for whatever reason this stands a little taller in my mind, perhaps due to the fact that each stage is made to look like a singular unit, representing a physical game I never got to play back in the day but no doubt would have enjoyed. It may be a bit niche in its design and style, but for the right gamer this should make for a reasonable and satisfying budget-friendly challenge.