Apple Announces Free iPhone SDK

By: Derek Yu

On: March 6th, 2008

At a town-hall meeting at Apple HQ in Cupertino, Steve Jobs and company announced the release of a free iPhone SDK for developers, as well as a $99 iPhone Developer’s Program that allows devs to publish their apps (both free and commercial) to iTunes. On top of that, venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is investing $100 million dollars (Dr. Evil voice) to fund development of apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. How that money gets divied up is anyone’s guess, but Apple made sure to point out that it’s 10 times more than what Google has in its coffers for Android devs.

This is all part of an announcement for iPhone 2.0, which is coming to customers in June, and has some nifty new “enterprise features.” But really, the important thing is that now indie game developers with Mac OSX can go apeshit on the iPhone! For details the new SDK, head over here (Gizmodo).

(Thanks, Phil!)

Atomic Cannon

By: Derek Yu

On: December 16th, 2007

Man, I am a huge fan of Wendell Hicken’s classic tank game, Scorched Earth (which you can download here). I’m waiting for a true remake/sequel of this game that isn’t in 3d (nothing against 3d, mind, you, it’s just not the same). Something akin to what Pac-Man Championship Edition did for Pac-Man.

In the meantime, Atomic Cannon will satisfy. It’s definitely missing some of the spirit that made the original game so great, but injects some of its own. I miss my Funky Bombs, MIRVs, and Mag Shields, but the ability to build sandbags, drop automated sentries, and use any of the other new weapons definitely makes up for it. The added customization, various game modes (including network play), and much-improved controls (mouse and/or keyboard) are welcome sights, as well.

The graphics are kind of a hit-or-miss for me. It’s a mish-mash of realistic textures that are obviously lacking the kind of thought put into, say, Cortex Command‘s terrain design. On the other hand, I really like the smoke trails, visual distortion, and other special effects that they used – stuff that wasn’t possible when Scorch came out.

As you can see, I’m of two minds about this game… mostly because I have this idea about what the perfect Scorch sequel would be (I’m sure that’s familiar to a lot of you), and this isn’t it. But the bottom line is that this version is pretty darn fun… fun enough that I might just treat myself to the full game ($20)!

(Source: PCGamer.com)

Megazeux DS

By: Derek Yu

On: September 25th, 2007

Megazeux (MZX), the popular game creation system based on the Tim Sweeney’s legendary ZZT, has been ported to the Nintendo DS by MZX developer and homebrew hacker Kevin Vance.

I had a good time playing with Megazeux as a kid! The simplicity of the engine is great, and it only takes a few hours to make something fun. Some of the classic MZX games (like Bernard the Bard, pictured above) are extremely clever. Good to see it on the DS!

Download MZX for the PC here (Sourceforge), and try the games at DigitalMZX (MZX is required to play).

(Source: Mr. Apol from the selectbutton.net forums!)

Cave Story PSP: Release Candidate 1

By: Derek Yu

On: July 10th, 2007

There are some known bugs as a result of the PSP’s wider screen, but otherwise… oh boy! For the back story and some yelling back and forth, read this post.

(Source: Timmy)

Cave Story PSP (now more free and with less Variant)

By: Derek Yu

On: June 26th, 2007

Some of you may remember the hullabaloo surrounding the legality and morality surrounding Variant Interactive’s Cave Story PSP port (as well as the fatality of originality). It was never verified whether Variant got Pixel’s permission, or if they did, whether he would see any money, but something definitely stank up in there, and it was Variant that was whistling and looking in the other direction. Case in point:

“Faithful,” “upgrading the graphics and sound,” and “marketing concerns…” which one of these does not belong with the others? So yeah, I find it really hard to believe that Pixel would go for anything like that, and even if he did, I still say fuck ’em for doing it. “Upgrade the graphics and music?” Eat a shit sandwich, asshole.

Which is why it makes me really happy to announce that there’s a fan-made, homebrew PSP version in the works! Yay fans!

Word. You can download a buggy, early version of the port from the link above. And while you’re at it, check out this DS port as well (different author).

(Source: selectbutton.net)

Qwak

By: Derek Yu

On: January 3rd, 2007

Qwak is a pretty cool little homebrew platformer for the GBA, developed by Jamie Woodhouse. The first thing I noticed when I played the demo (requires a GBA emulator) is that the game is pretty fast-paced. The second thing I noticed is that you’re a duck who wears armor and throws its own eggs to kill furries. The third thing I noticed is that I was having a pretty good time.

Bottom line: 15 GBP for a fun platformer for your GBA (comes in an actual cartridge).

EDIT: Yes, this is a remake of the Amiga game from 1993.

Apple Reveals iPod Games

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: September 13th, 2006

Greetings! My name is Brandon McCartin, latest and greatest most recent editor here at Ye Olde TIGSource.

Not to bump down the more exciting news, but I’ve got to break the ice with something. So, um… bump?

At its big media event yesterday, Apple revealed, in addition to increasingly microscopic iterations of its various products, some exciting news for prospective owners of the fifth-generation iPod and indie game developers alike. Videogames! On your iPod!

The games may be downloaded through iTunes 7 for a reasonable (in this case, $5) fee, just like MP3s in the days of yore. The “intuitive Click Wheel” is used as a controller.

The games featured in Apple’s announcement include gaming classics Tetris and Pac-Man, casual hits Bejeweled and Zuma, and real world favorites Texas Hold ’Em and Mahjong.

Now if Apple would only make an open SDK available…

The State of DS Homebrew

By: Derek Yu

On: August 17th, 2006

Modojo has a nice article out called “”http://www.modojo.com/features/103/1/“>The State of DS Homebrew” which covers all the basic aspects of the DS homebrew scene, like vocabulary, emulators, games, and apps. It definitely is not detailed enough to get you up and running homebrew games on your DS, but it serves as kind of a nice entrypoint for further research.

The image on the left is from an independent DS game called “No Place To Hide!”

(Source: Joystiq)

In other news, I’ve got a huge amount of space left to write here, because I chose a ridiculously tall image to attach to this post. But I can’t think of anything to say… except “NHP 4 lyfe.”

Upcoming Free Lunch Design Games

By: Tim

On: August 14th, 2006

Free Lunch Design of Icy Tower fame is currently working on three new games. One of them is Hodja and the Sleeping Eggplant. If you’re wondering why the screenshot is rather small, it’s because all three games in development are for the mobile platform! Here’s a description snagged from the web site:

“All Hodja’s sister wants for her birthday is a sleeping eggplant; too bad they’re almost impossible find! Hodja and the Sleeping Eggplant is a non-linear platform game of exploration and puzzles, power ups and surprises. Guide Hodja on his adventureous search for the sleeping eggplant, a journey filled to the brim with excitement! "

One player, with a 2006 release date. Could this possibly signal the end of free meals from FLD? Only time will tell, eh…

no place to hide

By: dessgeega

On: June 26th, 2006

no place to hide is a rather shiny homebrew title for the nintendo ds. it gives off a sort of warioware vibe: your goal in each of its ten minigames is to avoid being touched by things for as long as you can using the stylus. for example, help a cat dodge the rain, keep a sketch ghost away from toothy pac-men, don’t let jesus get hit by dance dance revolution arrows. some of the games are kind of samey, but a couple are pretty good.

it’s wifi-compatible too, which doesn’t mean much for you if you don’t have a passme. i was able to get the game running on DeSmuME, allowing me to sate my need for jesus versus ddr action for one more day.