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Submissions Now Open for IndieCade Festival 2012

Sam Naylor — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:00:34 +0000

Independent game artists and designers are being asked to being submitting their projects for the 2012 IndieCade Festival.

The festival aims to bring attention to independent games worldwide, completed or not. The submissions will be shown at the event on Oct. 4 – 7, 2012, as well as online.

Anyone who submits a game gets a festival pass and an invitation to IndieXchange (“a day long program offering practical workshops, networking opportunities and one-on-one meetings with art leaders, publishers and potential funders.”)

Stephanie Barish, CEO, IndieCade said:

Our mission is to spotlight the best cutting-edge work and the most innovative game designs- often thriving at the fringes of the game industry. Our goal is to bring public as well as industry attention to exciting, innovative games, created by independent developers.

Dave says he’s going to make a submission this year. Here’s how he describes his future masterpiece:

Its a side scroller where I chase down fat girls and have to beat down the big black guys who are trying to get to them first!!

The Watercooler: Indie Music Is Rubbish

Sam Naylor — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:00:25 +0000

Warning: The Watercooler is the best thing you will see on the Internet today, mainly because it is the best thing I saw on the Internet yesterday. Be advised that The Watercooler is not necessarily videogame related (it usually won’t be), and is often silly, controversial, and/or not safe for work (NSFW). If this type of content frequently offends you, please be aware that I just warned you — if you still click through and get offended, it will be your own stupid fault. Otherwise, please continue…

If you’ve not heard of Beardyman, you really ought to be shunned from society and eaten by rabid wolves. By that, I mean you should watch this video. It not only showcases his fantastic oral musicianship, but explains very carefully how rubbish Indie and Dubstep music is.

Wub wub wub. Leave a comment. Wub wub.

Think you have something that could be Watercooler material? Send it to me via email: sam@ripten.com or on Twitter: @greeneggsnam. If your submission gets featured, you will win a prize package full of pride and accomplishment.

Minecraft LEGO Will Likely be a Real Thing Soon

Sam Naylor — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:15:21 +0000

Minecraft has passed review by LEGO, and will likely become an official product, though a timeframe was not given.

Last month Mojang (Minecraft’s developer) submitted a design to LEGO Cuusoo, a site which allows users to submit designs for sets. It quickly reached the 10,000 supporters it needed to turn it into a real product.

It is still too early to say whether a Minecraft play set will become a LEGO product as it still needs to go through a review and approval process to ensure it meets our usual LEGO standards, but it is certainly a lot closer.

This is great news, not only because LEGO is fantastic, but because it will introduce the magic of Minecraft to loads of kids if it goes into production. I would have loved Minecraft when I was a child, mostly because I loved LEGO- there’s a clear link between them.

Via [Joystiq]

Minecraft Hits 20 Million Registered Users

Sam Naylor — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 16:31:40 +0000

Notch, the creator of Minecraft, has said that the game now has over 20 million registered users.

He wrote:

Minecraft now has 20 million registered users. At 70 kg each, that’s 25% of the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Notch, however, wasn’t counting on the fact that Dave Oshry is one of the registered members, and thanks to being a gigantic beefcake he makes up 25% of the weight of the Pyramid alone. All muscle.

I feel it should also be pointed out that not every one of these users is actually playing the game. Like me- I tried it and can see the appeal, but I soon realised that my complete lack of creativity or patience killed the fun straight away. I made a house which got blown up by a creeper and never came back.

Via Davetaku

The New Years Indie Royale Bundle Goes Live

Catherine Cai — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:40:11 +0000

Just a few days back, Indie Royale announced that its pre-orders for its New Years bundle were open, accepting any payment amount above $3.99. The announcement also included some vague descriptions of the games that were to be included into the bundle.

The New Years bundle has finally gone live today. The following games are included (with their descriptions from the bundle pre-order announcement):

The premiering game: Super Crossfire
FPS/RTS experience: Nuclear Dawn
Music puzzler: Fractal
Award-winning 2D platformer: Max and the Magic Marker

Damn, this bundle is stacked with good games. At the time this article was written, the amount minimum is $4.12, which is still cheaper than a Starbucks ice blended drink… so grab yours today.

Microsoft Tweaks Indie Game Size Limits and Pricing On Xbox Live

Catherine Cai — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:30:21 +0000

Indie games published on Xbox Live can now be bigger and cheaper.

Microsoft has changed the maximum file size limit of indie games on Xbox Live from 150 MB to 500 MB. Indie developers also now have the option to price small games (< 150 MB) on Xbox Live at 80 MSP, the equivalent of $1, when before the pricing options were set at 240 or 400 MSP. This price reduction allows indie developers to price their smaller releases accordingly. Cthulu Saves the World, for instance, has already been reduced down to 80 MSP. Hopefully, it’ll see better sales figures at the reduced cost.

Microsoft announced that it was making these changes in order to ”enable our developers to make even better content for Xbox Live Indie Games.” Good news, indie developers. Microsoft still realizes that supporting indie developers is probably somewhat important. But no, access to the Xbox Live Indie Games section is still buried deep within the recesses of the new Xbox Live dashboard. Hopefully, Microsoft will realize that indie developers rely on the fact that Xbox Live users stumble onto the Xbox Live Indie Games in order to explore and buy indie releases. Otherwise, there’s really no reason for Xbox Live users, who usually wouldn’t (care to) be informed about indie releases to wander into the Xbox Live Indie Games section since it’s buried multiple clicks deep into the dashboard.

[Via Edge]

Indie Game Music Bundle Offers 10 Sweet Soundtracks For A Dollar

Sam Naylor — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:10:21 +0000

The Indie Game Music Bundle offers 10 indie soundtracks (DRM-free) for a dollar, but it’s a one day only offer.

The pay-what-you-want deal is available here. The soundtracks on offer include Minecraft, Super Meat Boy (one of the best soundtracks to any game, ever) and VVVVVV, so it’s a superb deal. If you pay over $10, too, you get the soundtracks for these games as well:

Wind-up Knight OST (Josh Whelchel)
The Binding of Isaac (Danny Baranowsky)
72 Minutes of Fame ( C418 )
MilkSnake OST (yogurtbox)
Antigravity (zircon)
Extreme Road Trip (Souleye)
Contingency (Big Giant Circles)

Shame it’s one-day only, but luckily I’m not reporting this too late for you- get over here and stick in however much you want to pay. This is probably the best Black Friday sale yet and it’s had no promotion, so why not support them, eh?

Good God! Another Humble Indie Bundle!

Catherine Cai — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:00:34 +0000

What started off as half-year releases, Humble Indie Bundles are now coming through the woodwork every month or so, bringing more cheap indie goodness. It has even inspired other indie bundles, such as the Indie Royal Bundle.

The latest Humble Indie Bundle, so dubbed the “Humble Introversion Bundle” contains Uplink, Darwinia, DEFCON, Multwinia, Subversion City Generator (alpha), and Voxel Tech Demo. Aquaria and Crayon Physics Deluxe are added as bonsues for paying over the average amount spent on the bundle, which at the time of this article sits at $3.34.

Considering that this bundle is cheaper than a McDonald’s meal, you probably can afford this. Yet again, this bundle has fantastic indie games.

Yet Another Humble Bundle: The Humble Voxatron

Catherine Cai — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:45:44 +0000

Yup, the Humble Indie Bundle guys are at it again.

This time, it’s for Voxatron‘s alpha release. If you have no idea what Voxatron is… think destructable 3D pixels. Yup, the entire world is made up of destructable blocks. Before you start making the Minecraft comparisons, which I suppose are valid based purely off of the aesthetics, take a look at the preview video:

The alpha build, which normally would cost $15, is now pay-what-you-want on the Humble Bundle website. As per usual, putting money into the game also donates to charity.

I suggest you put money in now. The Humble Bundles tend to add in more games over time and really make it worth your time and money. Considering all the games are DRM free and get you Steam keys, all for the grand total of however much pocket change you’re willing to spare… what have you got to lose?

Free TF2 De-Make “Team Fortress Arcade” Out Now

Sam Naylor — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:48:50 +0000

A free Team Fortress 2 arcade de-make by indie developer Eric Ruth? has been released today.

You might remember when we reported on this in July, and now it’s finally out. It’s completely free to download from here, and looks really significant for a free game, especially one based on a bigger title.

For one to four players, there’s nine stages, each with one class from the Red team as the final boss, and some sort of Portal reference in a final tenth stage.

Latest Humble Bundle Offers Frozen Synapse and Frozenbyte Bundle

Sam Naylor — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:51:38 +0000

The latest pay-what-you-want bundle, the “Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle”, includes both the tactical shooter Frozen Synapse and a handful of other Frozenbyte games.

If you opt to go low on the price, you’ll just get Frozen Synapse, but if you beat the average price paid (currently $4.52, though it will no doubt rise) then you will also get Trine, Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Survivor, the Splot and Jack Claw. You also get soundtracks included for all the games in the bundle.

Remember that as well as the indie developers, charities (the EFF and Child’s Play) also get some of the money raised from the bundle, so it’s always a worthwhile purchase even if you don’t play the games. Though you should.

Flash Game Friday: MCPIXEL~!

Allen Park — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 01:00:59 +0000

Sorry for not being here last week, wieners; a failed hard drive is bad luck, but two failed hard drives is just plain crappy. Still haven’t gotten that fixed yet, but luckily I was able to borrow my bro’s laptop to give you this edition of FGF.

On tap for today? A few short-but-sweet games featuring action, exploration, and a little bit of terror.

Hollow

Hollow is an eerie platformer by Connor Ullmann that proves that simplicity and bare essentials can create the most effective atmosphere. You appear to be some robot-ghost thing that’s stuck underground with nothing but himself as a light source, and he must jump and headbutt his way through twenty levels.

The creative level design makes for some challenging platform elements as well; you’ll have to use the right combination of jumps and headbutts to get to certain platforms, all while avoiding enemies. You’ll probably blow through it in one sitting like I did, but it’s most certainly a good ride while it lasts. Check it out here.

Reprisal

To call Reprisal a full game would be a lie; in its current beta state only two brief islands are available for play. However, there’s a lot of game in those short moments, to the point where I can’t wait for the full version. I’m normally not a fan of god games, but this one has just enough old-school charm and casual-yet-deep gameplay mechanics to keep me interested.

You’ll control a small village and have them settle on other lands, while attacking other villages and taking over their settlements. Additionally, since you are a god, you have various abilities that’ll alter the landscape, such as terraforming, inserting and removing bodies of water, and creating fires. The beta version doesn’t show much, but it shows more than enough to keep me entertained on a bored work day. Play it here.

McPixel

McPixel may be the briefest game of them all, but it might take you a fair amount of time to actually finish. An obvious riff on MacGuyver, it’s a simple point-and-click adventure that consists of six separate puzzles, each involving a dangerous situation to defuse. You only get 20 seconds to finish each, and fail or succeed, you’ll move onto the next scenario. This continues until all puzzles are solved, and if you find all the possible endings to each, you’ll get a special bonus ending.

The charm is strong with this one, and all the puzzles are so obtuse, you’ll be chuckling at the solutions, rather than being frustrated at the difficulty. It doesn’t take too long to get the final ending, as all the outcomes are definitely worth seeing. Hit it up right here.

Pre-Orders Open for Indie Car Company Sim ‘Automation’

Sam Naylor — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 17:43:53 +0000

If you’re a car enthusiast and want to actually build cars rather than just race them, you could do worse than pre-ordering Automation.

The game, developed by two man team Camshaft Software, aims to simulate the process of building a car company from the ground up, including intricate design of your own cars as well as selling them on a global market. As the indie developers explain in the video below, there really isn’t anything like it on the market today:

The game has been of interest to me since I spotted it a while back, but it’s great news that the game is now up for pre-order: it might actually be released! The pre-order money received will go directly into the cost of developing the game, meaning it can come out faster, so put down your money if you’re interested. It’s always good to support indie developers, right?

The best way to get a hold of how interesting this game is to proper car enthusiasts is to watch the video below:

You can pre-order here. Here’s the details on what you get for your money:

Preordering allows you to not only save $10 off the final price of the game, but also grants access to extra content once the demo is released. All games and preorders will be distributed by digital download.

We will be releasing the car and engine design aspect as a demo ahead of the game for our community to tinker with and get a taste of what Automation is all about. Allowing people to design, build and share their car designs before the game is complete.

The demo will be restricted in content (to only 4-cylinder hatchbacks) whereas if you have preordered you will get access to all content as we complete it. As more content is added(for example V8 engines, or convertibles) the preorder price will incrementally be raised until it reaches the final sale price of $30 once the game is completed.

I’m really behind these guys as I’ve been looking for exactly this game- I’m just grateful they are going to the lengths of making the bloody thing.

Team Meat: Not Making Games for PC Would Be “Stupid”

Sam Naylor — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:06:34 +0000

Team Meat, creator of Ripten’s 2010 game of the year Super Meat Boy, has said it will never abandon the PC platform.

Speaking on an IndieGames.com podcast, Edmund McMillen said:

We’re never going to make a game that couldn’t also be on PC. That’s a stupid thing for most indies to do. PC is crucial.

An excellent thing to hear for PC gaming fans, and it makes a lot of sense. Getting your game out on PC is so much easier then trying to get it approved by big console companies, and the huge PC following of indie titles makes it more likely to be a success as well.

Via RPS

Super Mario Bros Meets Portal in Indie Title ‘Mari0′

Sam Naylor — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:34:36 +0000

What would happen if you stuffed Super Mario Bros and Portal into one indie game? Well, Mari0, obviously.

Mari0 is a free game in development now (release date: don’t ask) which blends the two games. “The primary maps will have a story and some portaly puzzles,” say Stabyourself, an indie developer made up of Maurice Guégan and Sašo Smolej.

The game will include all the SMB levels, including the Lost Levels, and you can even edit them on the fly. There’s even simultaneous multiplayer.

The gameplay looks like it really blends the two games well:

It’s not often I see a mash-up game like this and think it looks good, but the video above really shows how well the two games go. Too often these sorts of things are a silly little diversion for ten minutes but this one looks great. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Flash Game Friday: Wacky Hijinks

Allen Park — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 23:33:36 +0000

Another Friday, another hand-picked selection of absolutely solid browser games to distract you from your work. It’s been a bit of a slow week in terms of Flash releases, or rather, good Flash releases, so there’s one somewhat-oldie mixed in with a couple newer entries.

The theme for this week? Cartoony, wacky, absolutely charming games.

BioGems

Developed by MochiGames, BioGems was released a month ago, and it’s still one of the most addictive games I’m playing now. It essentially takes the Puzzle Quest formula and refines it into a package that’s simultaneously more strategic and about fifty gajillion times more adorable.

Gameplaywise, it’s your standard match-three puzzle fighter deal, except each gem gives a specific attribute on your character a boost. So blue gems will increase your defense for the next turn, green gems will heal you, and so on. As more battles are fought and won, you can collect jewels which can be used to upgrade these attributes.

I’m a sucker for puzzle RPG type games, so this one sucked me in fairly easily. There’s not much in the way of plot, but you get to play as an anthropomorphic dog fighting spiders and snakes, so it doesn’t really matter now, does it? Play it here.

Safety Instructions

From Pippin Barr comes one of the more entertaining typing games I’ve played in a while. Safety Instructions is a game in which you’re a passenger on a flight that’s going down fast; using your amazing typing skills, you’ll have to instruct him on how to safely evacuate the burning wreckage and get rescued.

It’s short and it’s simple, but the sheer character in the game is what makes it oh so sweet. Playing through the game once will take a decent typist two minutes, but multiple playthroughs unlock more bonus stages and harder difficulty levels. On top of that, you’re probably going to want to fail each stage once, if only to see the hilarious death animations that result from your ineptitude. Check it out here.

TransDimensional

TransDimensional might be one of my favorite exploration-based platformers in quite a while. Created by Willem Rosenthal, it features a robot assigned to a fetch quest who ultimately somehow ends up in another dimension. The controls are simple and the gameplay is nothing to write home about, but the game is absolutely overflowing with character and charm.

The graphics are your standard “indie game” pixel art, but it’s made exponentially gorgeous by the vibrant colors that are used. One of the early stages is perhaps the brightest dark orange I’ve seen in real life in quite a while, so much so that I almost felt blinded. Additionally, all of the characters and NPCs are definitely humanoid, but they’re all ever-so-slightly off-kilter and quirky that you can’t help but love all of them.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but TransDimensional is just a pleasure from beginning to end. There’s a nostalgic air about it that instantly puts me in a good mood, and brightens up my day. Revel in it here.

Flash Game Friday: Death, Sass, and Srs Business

Allen Park — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 00:56:40 +0000

Welcome, boners, to a new weekly segment where I’ll be highlighting some of the best and brightest browser games on the Internets. We’re at a point where independently developed Flash games can rival or even surpass those that are downloadable and/or purchasable, and I’m here to make sure you all know that.

For the inaugural edition, we have something morbidly wacky, something just plain wacky, and something that’s just the absolute opposite of both of those combined.

The End

The End‘s a game that’s meant to teach kids and teens about life, death, and everything inbetween. Commissioned by Channel 4 Education and developed by Preloaded, the game has you playing as a kid that’s freshly dead, thanks to a rogue meteor. As your custom-created character, your goal is to meander around something similar to purgatory and reflect on life, and subsequently deal with death.

It’s a platformer at heart, but The End also provides “boss” sections at the end of every level, at which point it turns into a strategic card game called Death Cards. It’s quite simple, but still engrossing; I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get hooked on those from the get-go. Additionally, for a Flash game, The End is surprisingly expansive, and provides a vast wealth of content not seen in many indie games period. More importantly though, it manages to succeed in its original goal, and educate the player on certain ways of life, and philosophies to abide by, while still maintaining a lighthearted atmosphere. Check the trailer out below.

Lee-Lee’s Quest

Lee-Lee’s Quest is another winner in the Adult Swim library of games. It’s not quite as out-there as some of the favorites, but it’s still wacky, raunchy, and just in-your-face in all the wrong ways. Another platformer, this one has you rescuing someone or something; it’s not too clear what’s going on.

It doesn’t matter, because the highlight of this one is the endless snappy dialogue that occurs between the main character and all the enemies onscreen. The discourse here isn’t exactly witty, but it’s so sarcastic and douchey, I can’t help but chuckle. Lee-Lee’s Quest is basically a game where everyone’s a scumbag, and you absolutely love them all for it. Hell, even the power-ups are absolute boners to the main character; some of them aren’t even “power-ups”, per se.

If you have ten minutes to spare, check it out here.

Trauma

To call Trauma a game would discredit the meaning behind it, but it’s fitting. Developed by Krystian Majewski, it’s a gesture-based adventure game based on real-life photographs centered around the memories of a woman fresh out of a terrible car accident. There isn’t really any goal per se, except to uncover the memories of said woman, and figure out who and what she really is. Check the trailer below for more deets:

I haven’t delved too deep into this one, but it’s by far one of the more compelling “art games” I’ve played. It’s firmly rooted in the real world, which is a welcome touch, and the gestures are intuitive and work well with the mouse. There’s been a lot of buzz on the Interwebs over this one, and after completing the first couple chapters, it’s clear to see why. Check out the Flash version here, and if you really like it, don’t hesitate to purchase the downloadable version on the same page.

Third Humble Indie Bundle Raises Over $2 Million

Sam Naylor — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 20:07:39 +0000

The third ‘pay what you want‘ Humble Indie Bundle we reported on last month has hit sales over over $2 million.

The second Bundle’s record of $1.8 million has been broken, making this the most profitable pack so far.

The bundle, which includes And Yet It Moves, Atom Zombie Smasher, Cogs, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Hammerfight, Steel Storm, and VVVVVV as well as a host of bonus games, is coming to an end in one day’s time- so if you’re interested then bloody well buy it now you fool.

The site lists the average payments from each platform. Windows users paid $4.89 on average, with $7.73 being the average for Mac users. Linux wins outright as usual, however, with an average purchase of $12.04.

Via Shacknews

Fotonica is Like Mirror’s Edge, Minus All The Extra Crap

Allen Park — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:25:39 +0000

Remember the very first time you tried out EA’s Mirror’s Edge and was blown away by how real and truly exhilarating the first-person free-running felt? Remember how that was immediately followed by the massive disappointment of the wonky action mechanics that were seemingly shoe-horned into the game, and you wished you could just go back to running, FOREVER?

Well, all you jaded gamers can now find solace in Fotonica, a new indie game that’s all running, all the time, without any parkour combat or assault rifles polluting its true gameplay. Developer Santa Ragione has effectively concentrated the greatness of Mirror’s Edge, Sonic the Hedgehog, and numerous other speed- and free-running-based games into a gorgeously minimalistic one-button arcade game.

The controls are simpler than anything you’ll play this year: the left-mouse button is all you need. The music fits with the stunning wireframe visuals: it’s utilitarian, functional, and very appropriate for the setting. The gameplay? Run, and make sure you don’t fall off. There’s five stages, along with a procedurally generated endless level, so boredom is entirely out of the question.

Check out some gameplay:

Sounds simple almost to a fault, but I’ve had Fotonica for a couple of weeks and every other night or so I’ve started it up with the intent of burning five minutes. Half an hour later, I’m addicted and still trying to finish that last tough-as-hell level without plunging to my death.

The best part? It’s donate-what-you-want, so if you’re a scumbag like myself, you could download it for free, through a torrent no less.

Seriously though, a studio as talented as Santa Ragione truly deserves the money, press, and everything it can get. Hopefully they’ll make enough dough from this to possibly port it to consoles, or better yet, the mobile gaming market. I can’t even imagine the kind of visual orgasms an iPad version would cause on everyone. Download and donate here, and get the word out; I wouldn’t be surprised to see these lads make it big sometime soon.

Pay What You Want for the Third Humble Indie Bundle

Sam Naylor — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:02:09 +0000

The Humble Indie Bundle is back for a third time- this time including great indie games like VVVVVV and Crayon Physics Deluxe.

All the games in the Bundle work natively on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, with no DRM- and can be redeemed on Steam. The most important thing, however, is that both indie devs and charities (Child’s Play and the EFF) benefit from the sales: and you can choose how much goes to each.

It really is both a great cause and an amazing deal. Do everyone involved a favour and don’t pay $0.01 or something; be nice.