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Empty Black

18 September 2012

news

Couldn’t be simpler than a few white squares and the empty black universe… but multidisciplinary NY-based artist Mary Rose Cook has just made an improved and even more appealing version of her previous 2D shooter “Pistol Slut”.

New dynamics for Empty Black which proposes something as simple as guiding your own squared hero through an empty world with a simplistic atmosphere reminding us of Mike Bithell’s Thomas was alone, although much simpler, and just as enjoyable.

Fire a few bullets to stun an enemy, then close in and stab them to death with your sword. Fire a rocket from a distance and blow an enemy off a ledge. Deftly jump from a wall to a collapsing pile of crates to another wall, then drop down in a surprise attack. Use your sword to throw a crate onto a button to release some more crates that will form a platform over which to slide another crate to another button. Blow a door with a perfectly judged throw of a time bomb. Use a portable turret to draw fire and then sneak round the back and clean up.

Sounds easy… but you definitely have a great shooter in-front of you and all you need is a browser supporting HTML5…. play it here.

Game ON

5 August 2012

An exhibition about games? Sounds like fun. Except that’s where I was half wrong.

It’s not an exhibition.

Joue le Jeu (Image via GL - Maxime Dufour photographies) — Joue le Jeu (Image via GL – Maxime Dufour photographies)

“Joue le Jeu” (Play Along) at the Gaîté Lyrique describes itself as a celebration of “toutes les formes d’interaction ludique” (all forms of game-playing interaction) but denies that it is an exhibition in the strict sense of the word. Rather, it is an exploration of our relationship with leisure, leading on from last year’s “Public Domaine”, where skateboarding was the thematic du jour. The Gaîté Lyrique, known for its focus on contemporary phenomena, invites adults, children, groups and individuals to come and explore their 9500m² playground… Continue reading Game ON

you only die twice

Don Tercio, 2 August 2012

interviews

Vektropolis

30 July 2012

news

Endless Space release

4 July 2012

news

Today is the day!

One of the most anticipated indie strategy games of the year just saw the daylight today via Steam. A Frech-way of reviewing and refreshing the well-known 4X genre (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate) that many of us loved and learned to play in the 90s such as Civilization or Master of Orion.

The studio behind ES (Amplitude) was founded by Matthieu Girard and Romain de Waubert just over a year ago and with a team of 15+ experienced developers (including Art Director Corinne Billon or Script Writer Jeff Spock) they’ve been really trying to create the next 4X hit.

Endless-Space - System View — Endless-Space – System View

Redefining the genre is rather impossible… but creating an engaging and unique new universe is always welcome. Endless Space proposes 8 different civilizations racing for galactic supremacy… and the usual subtle (and not so subtle but neither bloody) strategic moves will play a key role in their (your) success.

From the evil United Empire able to buy their way to supremacy to the genetically engeneered warrior race “The Cravers”, you’ll find an endless list of tactics and elements to take into account.

30€ (35 for the Emperor edition which includes some unique skins & heroes) is certainly not cheap… and you shall expect a very rich and immensely deep game. So do we, but given the trailers, the 20K members of the Games2gether community which have somehow participated in the design and the first few reviews… we can only hope this universe will continue growing in the coming years.

Sine Mora

19 May 2012

news

Not everyone is dying to get their hands dirty killing evil creatures from Diablo 3, some of us want that, and want also some heavy fine scrolling shooting.

Released a couple of months ago Sine Mora is one of the best shooters we’ve seen in a while combining a bullet orgy and a traditional game structure with some amazing visuals and game dinamics that can only be enjoyed in a home TV screen. Sorry iPad & Android lovers, this is no game for you.

The Hungarian studio Digital reality allow you to take control of a time traveling ship to fly the skies of all steampunk imagined worlds to battle humanoid creatures and their gigantic mech monsters.

You’ll have no health-bar but a timer instead, your sky race is against the clock guiding your group of partisans against serial-killer Ronotra Koss who’s willing to commit genocide.

A scrolling shooter for Xbox owners (available through Live Arcade) made in Europe with Japanese love from sound designer Akira Yamaoka and all the Hungarian toughness you can ask for. More this way.

Papo y Yo

15 May 2012

news

Days, weeks… hopefully not months… June sounds like an ideal release date… but nothing is officially official as of today. We’re genuinely excited for the upcoming PSN game which was originally announced at last year’s E3. Since then it hasn’t stopped receiving attention and global recognition for its surreal puzzle approach.

Unfortunately as many other PSN-funded games those not having Sony’s console may never experience the playfulness, storytelling and depth of the game, the fears, dreams and fascinating world the main character moves through. With a heavy autobiographical component “Papo & Me” takes a South American kid from the slums, Quico, through a foldable labyrinth of favelas, mountains and endless obstacles.

Throughout the journey Quico will be helped by his two friends… Lula the robot and a pink “Monster” (the game creator’s father representation) playing in a constantly-malleable scenario, resizing the character’s own hometown by transporting buildings, interacting with unconceivable gears and manipulating whatever is necessary.

A first for Minority, the Montreal-based studio founded by ex-EA design director Vander Caballero who will surely make of P&Y one of the most anticipated games of the indie scene this year. So while we wait, we may as well follow what Vander tells us about the game on his developer video diary.…

Lone Survivor

3 April 2012

news

It doesn’t have to look pixelated and have an “indie” label on it to look good these days, just add an adobe photoshop filter to your whole game concept art (in this case Patchwork) and you’re set!. Although… in the case of Jasper Byrne who’s been working on Lone Survivor for quite a looong number of years, and whose artwork hasn’t changed that much (unlike its name) over the course of the decade, we’ll think it’s more than just a mere filter.

Lone Survivor (which came out last Tuesday) is about “You”, a masked protagonist who’s got to scape from a city ravaged by disease… but is not only about fighting zombies and monsters … but “You’s” own hallucinations as he starts to see things when tired & exhausted. The game mode are much for the player to choose as “You” can either be a tough fighter always on drugs to stay awake… or a silent assassin playing stealth mode, either way you’ll have to take care of your mental health, your most valuable survival tool.

The best thing of all is that while the game is priced @ $10 (super deluxe edition @ $50), you can play the demo on-line, which gives you a great idea of the anguishing atmosphere a pixeled came can have. Ahhhh we were missing the arrows….

Antichamber gets Technical Excellence IGF award

12 March 2012

news

Ok so Fez finally won the biggie indie game award last Thursday, the Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($30K) well earned and better received by its lead developer Phil Fish. One more award for the collection right? Now that it’s about to be released on Xbox Live arcade this month it needs one last little buzzy push!

We won’t question the decision because it’s probably this year’s indie game without a doubt, but …. we felt Antichamber (Hazard: journey of life) deserved a little more than just a Technical award.

There were far too many good games this year too, from Dear Esther to Botanicula, but the claustrophobic Cubesque puzzle clearly stood on top of most finalists. It already has a good collection of awards since it won at the Sence of Wonder Night (Tokyo game show) back in 2009… yep, Japanese know how to appreciate “non-Euclidean labyrinths of manipulable geometry”.

We’re eagerly awaiting its official release date … and we’ve been waiting for too long! Still, a Technical Excellence award and $3000 will hopefully accelerate the release process… or not. Congrats Alex & co!

Running with rifles

28 February 2012

news

Because not everything in the world of indie gaming are prefabricated 8-bit games Finnish game developer Pasi Kainiemi (behind the project as Modulaatio Games) has been proposing since last year this great shooter for Windows (are we allowed to catalog it as real-time strategy game too or is it going too far?) which brings us inevitably to think about that endless list of 90s shooters (C&C, Close Combat, or any Westwood saga).

Whether you’re a Westwood studio lover or simply new to this top-down shooter approach “Running with rifles” is a great time killer. RWR puts emphasis on cooperation, squad leading and “being a tiny soldier in a big war”. As any other sandbox game, everything takes place on an open battlefield. You’ll take the role of a private and fight along your comrades controlled by AI, slowly gaining influence over fellow soldiers through rank promotions from success in battles.

The game is still in very early stages, needless to say Pasi and the whole community of testers have a long way to go with a good number of improvements on the way (not only Linux & Mac support but tooons of new maps, weapons, playing modes…etc).

You have a demo or can grab the 0.59 beta version which just came out for 5,6€ knowing that you’ll gain access to the full version when released and that on-line gaming is already supported. Very very good looking and we honestly can’t wait to see the final outcome of RWR… oh and as a bonus here’s a little review by Josh Mathews (GFTL) on the latest beta.

AR Spaceship

23 February 2012

news

A little AR app for the weekend? We know you have plenty of time this end of week (school vacation and so on..), so why not adding a new Augmented Reality spaceship app to your list?

Hong Kong studio Visionaries 7 just released last Tuesday a rather impressive AR game which doesn’t add any juicy features or crazy gaming experiences that you won’t find in previous AR iPhone or Nintendo DS games, but… the quality and sharpness of the game make many other AR apps look cheap.

To play “AR Spaceship” (for now only for iOS) you’ll need however an AR Card (a marker) which you’ll need to print, then you’re set to control the ship from left to right to fly through as many gates as possible by shooting lasers and avoiding red mines.

Very simple as you can see, hopefully they’ll make it much more fun by adding extra obstacles, customizing features and else, if not, it’s still worth 5min of your time… because it’s free!

Botanicula

13 February 2012

news

The most talked-about Czech gaming studio in the last couple of years are preparing the release of one another beautifully attractive point & click adventure: Botanicula.

The “organic” title, and personal project of one of Amanita Design’s members: Jaromír Plachý, will give you the control over 5 plants, stick insects or… botanical creatures that while wondering around their own ecosystem (a big tree) will try to stop dark spiders who seem to be sucking the life out of everything they encounter.

Much like their blockbuster Machinarium and their previous Samorost series the game will appeal to those who love puzzely adventures with foreign atmospheres and cute characters. Rescuing and exploring Botanicula’s ecosystem while listening to the soundtrack by Czech alternative band DVA is something we’re convinced will transform once again into that successful formula that only the guys @ Amanita Design have learned to develop over the years.

What changes in Botanicula is that you’ll have to control the group as a whole, as a collective rather than focusing on a single character much like in Machinarium, John Walker from rockpapershotgun had a hands-on preview last year and many things have changed since, so we highly recommend you keep track of the release in the coming weeks. More info on their fb page.

Kickstarter starts competing with VCs

10 February 2012

news

When we interviewed Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler just over a year ago they were already the big elephant in the crowdfunding on-line space. Figures and stats wouldn’t stop growing and projects such as Tik Tok had already raised over half a million $$$ at that time.

Well, yesterday I realized that the number of people in the KS office had more than doubled in a year and then read via ATD that 2 projects had surpassed the $1Million barrier, “the iPhone dock Apple should have manufactured” and an adventure game by gaming studio Double Fine. Who needs investors when you have KS?!

The first, “Elevation Dock” has just 1 day to finish its pledge of £75K, but Casey Hopkins stopped worrying long ago. He now has over $1,2million to fully launch one of the many iPhone accessories that have been funded via KS. The difference about this project is that it doesn’t add a feature to the Apple phone, but solves one of the biggest problems Apple has with its proprietary pin connector: undocking its flagship device.

The second project has more than a month to go, and already has nearly $1,4Million. For what? For an “Adventure game” by some of the biggest game gurus in the industry: Tim Schafer & Ron Gilbert, along with the rest of the crew @ Double Fine.

Both a signature that crowdfunding (and maybe in particular KS) is not only here to stay, but a solid funding alternative to traditional production & funding techniques.

Monaco playthrough

23 January 2012

news

Good to know MIM continues its steady polishing and coding evolution towards a potential 2012 release. That maybe discussed another day, today we shall give room to Andy‘s latest demo he just uploaded to youtube last Wednesday.

The 6min video shows a full level playthrough of the Monte Carlo Casino Heist stage with 2 of the characters: the Hacker and Pickpocket rushing through all 4 casino floors to get their trophy and scape through the roof…. so we all get an excellent idea of the playability, speed and complexity that awaits us. Imagine much more complex scenarios being played by 4 characters simultaneously… pure joy.

Monaco poster

Our last year interview with Andy this way.

Stasis

6 January 2012

news

While considering a mention on indie game developer Ferzan Kanat Aygen’s new game (and also his new studio) Shadow of a Soul (we’ll talk about it another day when theres more substance), we came across this dark sci-fi adventure from South African lands: Stasis.

Besides IndegamesMag not much buzz has been created around the sci-fi game with clear ALIEN influences (just have a look at the trailer) the developer team themselves admitted in an interview using the discovery of the Space Jockey as a seed for the game.

Level 2 of The Hawking is Maracheck’s home

Stasis, conceived as a survival-sci-fi adventure, tells the story of John Maracheck, a man searching for his family, in a seemingly abandoned research facility. Going back to classic adventure game mechanics, you have to solve puzzles, and use objects around you to progress, and to find Marachecks family.

The name of the game comes from the suit Maracheck wears… which gives you direct access to an Emergency Medical Kit. A piece of equipment that has the ability to break down any object of a certain weight and size into its base elements, and store it for future use. While normally it is used to store small medical supplies, Maracheck uses it as an easy way to keep and transport found objects. Objects can be stored, accessed, combined, and brought back into the ‘real’ world at any moment.

No release date so far, although we know that even if very little of the game has been completed (Chris B mentioned around 5%) the whole storyline has been written and the first version may be free and self-published. All we can do at this point is wait and see… maybe their blog & newsletter will ease our pain.

Escape Plan demo

30 December 2011

news

With recent news pointing out a sharp decline in PS Vita sales numbers in Japan in recent weeks …. and even if it’s too early to judge (take into account is not even available worldwide until late Feb) Sony’s new portable gaming & killing machine needs less shooters or uncharted and more “casual” puzzle & indie adventures to win the casual gamer market, something Nintendo understood many years ago.

“Escape Plan” (developed by funbits) was unveiled last summer as a puzzle adventure taking advantage of Vita’s multitouch display, rear touch panel and gestural swipe interfaces adding a dark Limbo look&feel. And even if we’ve already seen a few demos on Youtube, Brian Crecente from Kotaku makes it look realistically fun… even for those of us who are crap with touch-based controls.

Basicallly you’ll have to guide Lil and Laarg to survive a perilous labyrinth of puzzles and booby traps… not only with the screen and rear touch pad but also by blowing into the microphone … and a few other tricks. No idea if Escape Plan will be available for other platforms (apparently not), so maybe you’ll never get to play it… unless buying an expensive Vita of course.

Fireplace

28 December 2011

news

Released exactly a year ago for Windows Ted Martens hasn’t stopped receiving petitions to adapt his particular “Fireplace” game….thing as he describes it for Mac, well, it finally is here! A 7mb executable file conceived more like an interactive screensaver (people still use these?) to sit back and relax during these wintery days.

Ted wanted a big-pixeled fireplace to keep in his bedroom and thought … maybe other people might too, so he designed the art and programming himself. Some of the words you can use include: marshmallow, firecracker, fireworks, sausage, hotdog, smore, blow, wood, eat, photo, paper.. and water of course to end it all. The log will burn down to ashes about an hour later… and you can always suggest him to add more commands e-mailing him: fireplacegame@gmail.com.

You can download it here and see a few examples of how people enjoy the warm fire this way.

Cobalt goes alpha

19 December 2011

news

I was keen to talk about contagion… but besides their new website & trailer there haven’t been many new announcements last week. The guys at Oxeye Game Studio & Mojang on the other hand are bringing substantial news for game lovers: last Friday the debut alpha version of Cobalt finally saw the daylight.

The Oxeye team helped by Minecraft developer Mojang (for distribution mainly) brings a big-eyed cyborg to your computers “for long missions with low chance of success”. The game which has been in development since 2009 is basically a 2d platform game for PC users (although it wouldn’t surprise us if they release an iPad version short after the full release), which despite being originally developed as a single-player game it has now become more of a multiplayer co-op mode game (like many others… single player is no fun anymore).

Also noticing the music & sound by Anosou which gave the game an audio nomination for this year’s IGF awards…. and while we wait for the full version, the alpha version is already available for $10 (we wish it were free…. or at least a paywhatyouwant formula), the figure surely justifies an early hands-on into one of the most anticipated games of next year. More info on plans, level editors, community… etc… this way.

Winnitron

17 December 2011

news

We recently discovered this bunch of people from Italy (the ones behind Indie Vault) who are willing & determined to bring the Winnitron movement to their southern European country. As of today, there are already 7 Winnitrons (… arcade cabinets) around the world: Winnipeg (Canada, where everything started), Utrecth, New York, Pittsburgh, Shanghai, Christchurch (NZ) and Melbourne, and if everything goes well Italy will have their very own box very soon.

We’re pretty convinced that Vicenzo, Ciro, Federico, Marco, Paolo, Luca and the incredible guyz @ Santa Ragione don’t need any of our help to make this happen in the boot. They’ve already started building the unit and have already raised more than 60% of their $2,500 goal. Still if you’re a good Italian game lover you shall give them a hand and read carefully about the initiative on their IndieGoGo page.

On our side, we’ve decided this time to support the global Winnitron movement…

Born originally as a brainchild of a group of Canadian developers (Alec Holowka, Marlon Wiebe, Noel Berry, Kert Gartner, Tom Rab and Joel Forest who call themselves the Bit Collective), the Winnitron 1000 is an arcade cabinet, playable by anyone, which features new games created by indie game developers from Winnipeg and across the globe.

the original Winnitron 1000 at LowPub

From the 2010 Canadian beginnings it quickly spread to Utretch (The Netherlands) with the help of The Dutch Game Garden, Paul Veer and Vlambeer, then New Zealand, New York last summer and now there’s even one in China!

The movement is spreading pretty fast and pretty much anyone can build their very own box on their town (we’re expecting one here in London, Paris or Madrid… anyone???), with a decent list of games to choose from, support from the original developers and the community, and guidelines on how to add your own games. So there it is… anyone joining?