Posts from ‘Multiplayer’ Category

Warsow 1.0

By: Derek Yu

On: August 1st, 2012

Warsow

Warsow is a free, open source competitive FPS game built on Qfusion, a heavily modified version of the Quake 2 engine. In development for 7 years, the design is based on Quake 3 but adds new movement abilities – such as dashing, wall jumping, and ramp sliding – that are accessible via a special key. Additionally, Warsow has a number of features that make it easy to modify the game and spectate matches.

The game finally reached version 1.0 yesterday.

(Thanks, Türbo Bröther!)

Read the rest of this entry »

StarForge (Alpha v0.100)

By: Derek Yu

On: June 13th, 2012

StarForge is an ambitious 3d action game that’s currently in development. According to the game’s wiki, it’s inspired by “Halo, Warcraft 3, Borderlands, Terraria, and Minecraft”, and features a number of modes that let players build bases and wage war across randomly-generated alien worlds. Player movement is entirely physics-based and body parts react (somewhat) realistically to every impact.

The first public alpha was released earlier this month and is free-to-play, although you can purchase “Hatch Points” to spend on player models and other assets to use within the game. The developers have warned that this alpha is unoptimized, may have performance issues, and does not include every feature shown in the trailer.

Punch the possum for a fan-made video which explores the alpha in more depth:

Read the rest of this entry »

Frozen Synapse: Red

By: Derek Yu

On: June 2nd, 2012

“Red”, an expansion pack for the turn-based strategy game Frozen Synapse, has been been released and offers two-player co-op, a riot shield unit, a new “kill the hacker” multiplayer mode, three mutators, a 15-mission single-player campaign, 10 single-player challenge missions, new music from nervous_testpilot, and “Red Mode”, which lets you play the game with red environments. The $10 expansion is available from the Frozen Synapse website or Steam (Steam keys are provided even if you buy directly from Mode 7 Games).

On top of that, the game has received a free update that adds Hotseat Mode, timed turns, and non-randomized multiplayer maps for competitive play. See the Mode 7 Games blog for more details.

TIGdb: Entry for Frozen Synapse

GDC Trailer: Depth

By: Derek Yu

On: March 15th, 2012

Here’s a new trailer for Depth, a stealth-based multiplayer game that pits a team of divers against a team of man-eating sharks. Sharks are much more powerful but have limited vision – to catch their prey they have to rely on disturbances in the water and heartbeats. The goal of the divers is to sneak treasure out from the sea floor without being killed.

No release date has been announced.

Alientrap Announces Next Game: Apotheon

By: Alehkhs

On: February 23rd, 2012

Apotheon 1

Alientrap, the two-man team behind last year’s Capsized, has just announced its next project: Apotheon. As an “an open world, action/stealth, 2D sci-fi sidescoller game,” Apotheon sports a unique art style that mimics classical Greek pottery and promises to “have both a sprawling, open-world singleplayer campaign where you climb your way to the top of Mount Olympus, gaining divine power and deadly enemies along the way,  and online multiplayer battles with tactical bronze-age combat (spears and arrows!).”

Apotheon 2

Alientrap has only revealed two screenshots at this point as well as the game’s synopsis:

“Apotheon is a 2D platform action-rpg set on the rich stage of ancient Greek mythology. Hera, the queen of Olympus, has overthrown her husband Zeus, and taken his throne as ruler of the Gods. Bitter and scornful towards the race of mortals, she launches a murderous campaign to scour them from the earth. As humanity’s last champion, you must pass through the land of the dead, infiltrate Mount Olympus, and end the wrath of the Gods. With sword, spear, and shield in hand, you will sneak, conspire, loot, and battle your way through majestic palaces and chthonic depths as you climb towards godhood. Only by stripping the old gods of their powers, and taking control of the elements as your own, can humanity hope to survive the coming oblivion.”

Hawken Beta Signup

By: ithamore

On: February 7th, 2012

Hawken
From the Hawken blog:

“Head on over to PlayHawken.com to sign up for the Hawken beta!

“That’s not all though, we have some big news about the game. We are confirming that Hawken will launch as a free-to-play PC game. Initial release is officially scheduled for 12/12/12.”

No new videos have been released recently, but the latest previews of this mech combat game were posted earlier here.

Natural Selection 2 (Build 194) – Gorilla

By: Alehkhs

On: February 2nd, 2012

The long-in-development indie FPS/RTS title Natural Selection 2 has reached an important milestone: The gorilla-like evolution for the alien team, the Onos, and the marines’ jetpack accessory (both of which were important facets of the original Half-Life mod that NS2 is the sequel to) are now in the game. These additions, along with a brand new map, “Mineshaft,” are just some of the over 100 new features, balances, and tweaks for this build, which is now available to all pre-order customers.

Check out the fantastic new trailer that shows just how far this project has come:

Dustforce

By: Derek Yu

On: January 22nd, 2012

Dustforce, by Hitbox team

The levels in Dustforce aren’t long or particularly difficult, but my progress has been really slow. This is due in no small part to the results screen, where, if you’re like me, you’ll likely spend an inordinate amount of time checking your ranking, checking your friends’ rankings, watching replays, and formulating plans to improve your run. Case in point, I probably replayed the tutorial level a dozen times alone before I was satisfied enough to move on to the rest of the game.

I’ve seen Dustforce compared to Super Meat Boy as an “ultra-hard platformer”, but the point of both games seems different. The challenge of Dustforce isn’t so much to beat each level as it is to beat them well, achieving S ranks in both completion (debris cleared) and finesse (number of deaths), and doing it as quickly as possible. This point is driven home by the climbing and dashing mechanics that are based around speed, and the fact that enemies end combos and slow you down, but never outright kill you. You also get keys for SS ranking that will unlock more levels in the hub world.

The controls feel great (gamepads supported) and the levels are designed well around the game’s purpose and your character’s moveset. Watch the replays of the highest scorers and you’ll see some amazing precision, but even with just a little practice you TOO can feel like a ninja! The graphics, which are stylistically too close to free Flash web games for my taste, nonetheless animate extremely fluidly and support the acrobatics nicely. No complaints about Terence Lee’s soothing soundtrack, though, especially “9-bit Expedition”, the song that plays during the tutorial.

Aside from a few interface issues I ran across, I’m having a wonderful time with Dustforce. It’s a great release to ring in the new year with.

TIGdb: Entry for Dustforce

Read the rest of this entry »

Preview: AirMech

By: Derek Yu

On: January 16th, 2012

Before Warcraft and before Dune 2, there was Technosoft’s Herzog Zwei (1989), a Genesis/Mega Drive game that laid the groundwork for real-time strategy games. Whereas the majority of RTS games that followed put you above the action, Herzog Zwei had you controlling a mech directly. This commander unit could fight, issue orders, and transport units.

Cut to today: Carbon Games is working on AirMech, an RTS game that is a more direct successor to Zwei. The small team comprises the core members of the now-defunct Titan Studios that developed Fat Princess for PS3.

If you want to join the alpha, sign up here and post in the forums here, letting Carbon know that you want to play.

Updates: By the Numbers

By: Derek Yu

On: December 9th, 2011

Minecraft, by Mojang
Screenshot and texture pack by Leostereo of the Minecraft forums.

A number of alphas/betas I follow have had significant updates, so I thought I’d mention them together. Also, I’m updating the neglected “Dev Roll” on the sidebar to feature games that are in long-term development.

The first update is from Minecraft, which finally reached v1.0 last month, during the two-day Minecon that was held in Las Vegas. The update adds a proper ending and “hardcore mode” to the game, among other things (full changelog). After the release, Notch announced that he is relinquishing duties as lead developer to Jens Bergensten, who was originally hired to do back-end programming.

It’s worth noting that Minecraft made its public debut on TIGForums on May 17th, 2009. Check out the thread for a “Before They Were Stars”-style stroll down memory lane!

Read the rest of this entry »