TIGJammin’

By: Derek Yu

On: March 16th, 2009

Our first TIGJam was a hell of a lot of fun, but unfortunately, it only happens in one spot (the Flashbang Studios in Phoenix, Arizona), once a year (September). If we had our way, it would take place in an orbital space station, and we’d come and beam people up right from their bedrooms once a month. Alas, the coffers are running dry these days – not because of the economy (manhugs and womanhugs are recession-proof), but because we spent a lot of money on research and development of a reasonably-lifelike android of Jeff Lindsay that will be attending GDC this year in his absence. (Look out, the routines we wrote to manage waste removal are slightly buggy.)

But enterprising game makers have found truly indie ways of extending the jam to new places and new times. Those jolly Brits put together a hell of a TIGJam in London last October, and earlier this month, the Dinowaurs team hosted their own jam in the midwest (despite my ultimate FAIL in not properly promoting it on the front page).

Now Matt “YMM” Thorson (FLaiL, Untitled Story), ChevyRay (SkullPogo), and the Canucks want to throw a jam in western Canada (Edmonton, Alberta, specifically) in May. Interested parties should follow the link and sign up, so that Matt and gang can decide whether there are enough takers (and when the jam should take place, exactly). MAKE IT HAPPEN.

If you’re interested in hosting a jam, or proposing a jam, or just want to talk about jams (please, no jelly lol), hit up the TIGJam forums. So that until we get that space station operational, the spirit can live on, all frickin’ year. One love.

Cactus’ New Site

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: January 27th, 2009

Cactus has updated his site with a new pinked-out style and sexy banners and everything. It makes my brain feel dirty, but in a good way. Plus, he’s added his most recent works, bringing his grand total of released games to forty (40!). Crazy.

Oh, also, there are new screenshots for Brain-Damaged Toon Underworld, Mondo Nation, and some WIP goodness. Word.

Update: Aha, the BDTU screens are on the Lofi Minds site. My bad.

Play-Make.com

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: January 13th, 2009

This post is long overdue. Shame on me!

Ivan “Russia’s Gift to Gaming” Safrin (“toastie” on the forums) has launched a sexy new indie gaming blog, all grey and pink and personal, featuring significant contributions from Adam “Host of Killer Pool Parties” Saltsman (a.k.a. “adamatomic”), called Play-Make.com. It’s more developer-centric than the average blog, with many links to postmortems, exclusive interviews, and other excellent things.

Beyond that, it provides a new perspective on The World of Indie Games, if you’re interested in that sort of thing. (And my guess is you are!) I love how personal it is. There’s even some juicy behind-the-scenes details on the first TIGJam!

While I’m writing this post, I might as well mention that Ivan’s been The Official TIGSource Photographer since Gamma 256. You can find his photos of numerous indie events on his Flickr photostream. (That is, if you really want to get an idea of just how infrequently I bathe!)

I was going to add this to the External Links section, but apparently I already did when I first sat down to write this post!

2009 IGF Main Competition Finalists!

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: January 7th, 2009

‘Tis mighty stupid of me to have ’s Quest: Milestone 2 TIGS post">posted BQ yesterday, completely forgetting the nominations for this year’s Independent Games Festival were coming out today! Oh well, what can ya do:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:

– Blueberry Garden
– CarneyVale Showtime
– Dyson
– Night Game
– Osmos

Excellence in Visual Art:

– Cletus Clay
– FEIST
– Machinarium
– PixelJunk Eden
– Zeno Clash

Excellence in Audio:

– Blueberry Garden
– BrainPipe
– Musaic Box
– PixelJunk Eden
– Retro/Grade

Excellence in Design:

– Musaic Box
– Night Game
– Osmos
– Retro/Grade
– Snapshot

Innovation Award:

– Between
– Coil
– The Graveyard
– Mightier
– You Have To Burn The Rope

Technical Excellence:

– Cortex Command
– IncrediBots
– The Maw
– Osmos
– PixelJunk Eden

Congrats to the nominees! 30% more entries this year than last year’s huge amount. (Find out more at IGF.com!) Whole lots of awesome, a little bit of WTF?, and my impressions after the jump…

SO MUCH AWESOME:
– Dyson! An entry from Alex “haowan” May into TIGS’ very own Procedurally Generated Content competition. Extra awesome.
– Snapshot! Turns out this one’s actually made by Kyle Pulver, creator of BONESAW and Verge, winner of the recent Commonplace Book Competition.
– Cletus Clay! True creator of Platypus Anthony Flack’s clay-mation magnum opus. (Anthony, I haven’t seen you around in a while! This was such a pleasant surprise.)
– The Graveyard! Another somber and inventive game from TIGS allies Tale of Tales. (And another IGF nomination!)
– Cortex Command! Will this be the year the excellent Cortex Command gets its IGF dues?
– Night Game! Nifflas’ most ambitious project yet. (See also: WADF, Knytt, Knytt Stories)
– Blueberry Garden! This game looks so lovely I almost can’t stand it.

Congrats again! To all the nominees. (I’m sure I’m missing something.)

WTF?:
– PixelJunk Eden? Isn’t that game, like, already out on PSN? I thought that would be against IGF submission rules… or at least the spirit of the competition.
– You Have To Burn The Rope? Hahaha — wait, really?
Update: Check out Kian’s response. I found it genuinely touching. Games like YHTBTR getting nominated may be a blessing in disguise — it means you can work from unadulterated creativity, even on a relatively small scale, and still get noticed. That is a good thing! (Thanks, Simon!)
– Goo!? Mondo Nation? Solar Plexus? Just a few awesome and likely awesome games without a nomination. (I’d venture to say there are at least a couple spots these games could have filled…)

DISCUSS.

Crayon Physics Deluxe on January 7th

By: Derek Yu

On: January 2nd, 2009

Here’s something to be super excited about: Petri Purho’s long-awaited Crayon Physics Deluxe is finally heading to the PC on January 7th, and he’s doing a week-long series of daily updates to celebrate the release! Fans who pre-order the game before tomorrow will receive the game a few days earlier, on January 4th. It was also announced that CPD is now being published on the iPhone by none other than Hudson Soft (the creators of Bomberman and Adventure Island).

Crayon Physics Deluxe was the grand prize winner of the 2008 Independent Games Festival, and is undoubtedly one of the best indie games I’ve ever played. Congratulations, Petri!

Happy Holidays From TIGSource!

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: December 26th, 2008

Indie-tastic Greeting Card by Annabelle Kennedy.

Happy Aquaria Day!

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: December 10th, 2008

Well, Aquaria has been out for over an Earth Year now (as of December 7th). Pretty hard to believe. I remember back in the day when it was all, “Why don’t these damn turtles move?!” And now look at it. All grown up and shipped and critically acclaimed and everything.

Here is the newest trailer ever, in honor of the game’s anniversary and, more excitingly, Big Update. This weekend, Bit Blot will release Aquaria version 1.1.1 (for Windows). This patch includes “widescreen, graphics and audio enhancements, improved puzzles, a new/awesome map system and more.” And a reduced price.

Alec and Derek have been working hard on this update since the game launched, addressing all the feedback the game’s received. (And that’s a lot!) If there was ever a time to get Aquaria, it’s now. (Yeah, I’m talking to you — no more excuses!)

Congrats, guys! A series of increasingly complex high-fives is in order.

NOTE: Dunno why this ain’t been posted yet, but a Mac version is also now available.

Make Games Not War

By: Derek Yu

On: December 8th, 2008

I think we can all agree: one of the many nice things about having good independent gaming communities around is that you can always find friendly people to talk with, to laugh with, to drink with, and yes, to make sweet, sweet, passionate games with. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and then you have… the facts of life. The facts of life. Let’s make games together!

Jonatan “cactus” Söderström teamed up with our very own Terry Cavanagh last month to create Xoldiers, a war-themed action game where you control a squad of deadly troops. There are a couple of neat things going on here: 1. the challenges and trade-offs of controlling a group of characters moving as a cohesive unit, and 2. the built-in level editor that lets you upload levels online. Good stuff!

And here’s a collaboration to keep your eye on: Tom “CoolMoose” Sennet has paired up with Matt “YMM” Thorson for RunMan: Race Around the World, a sequel to the seminal RunMan’s Monster Fracas. The game has been in development for three years and is finally nearing release. That video gives my brain a happy-boner.

You know, the forums are always bustling with new collaborations. So what are you waiting for? Find a nerd who loves games as much as you do, and make the beast with two keyboards. Go on! <3

It might have a touchscreen, but it still uses ASCII…

By: Alehkhs

On: December 6th, 2008

Ah, new-age meets old-school!

It’s Rogue for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Free from Gandreas Software, this iteration of the father of dungeon crawling is advertised as being faithful to the original. This version is controlled via touch using a ‘Commands’ menu for actions such as opening doors and climbing stairs, although these actions also have a gesture-based ‘hotkey’ for those of us just barely patient enough to play a traditional roguelike.

Playable in both the original ASCII as well as a nice tileset.

iSplume Out Now (w/ Video Proof!)

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: September 11th, 2008

iSplume (that’s Splume for iPhone/iPod touch, kids) is now available for purchasing in the iTunes App Store… for, like, three bucks. (What’s that, a pack of gum nowadays?) And it incorporates all that touch screen and tilting wizardry I’ve been hearing so much about. It’s even getting mentioned alongside the likes of Spore: Origins in press releases and such. (Which means something, I think?) Quick tangent: What the heck could Spore: Origins be about, anyway? Doesn’t Spore have you starting out as a single-celled organism? We developed the theory on Skype the other night that this “Origins” installment will have you starting out playing as God or The Big Bang or the primordial ooze itself or something. Of course, going from God to microorganism would be a bit of a letdown, wouldn’t it? I’m just saying… I’m glad I’m not the one to have to answer these questions!

Splume (which you can play here) was the first release in a series of games started as an experiment in rapid development by the gentlemanly and modern gentlemen at Flashbang Studios, who went on to craft such indie touchstones as Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Jetpack Brontosaurus, as well as host the first annual TIGJam. (For future reference, you can find their weirder, mostly dinosaur-themed games over at their new site, called Blurst — I guess maybe to create some distance from Flashbang’s more “casual” reputation?)

Dang, this might be the best TIGS post I’ve ever written. I mean, look at all the formatting. And the video! I’m going to take this moment to point out that my first article on TIGS was also the first (yes, in the world) to break the news of gaming on the iPod, and now it’s like the gosh-darned Golden City of Milk & Opportunity over there! I humbly accept all credit for this and wait patiently for the numerous parades in my honor.*

Hrm, I just noticed we haven’t yet posted the first gameplay video from Jetpack Brontosaurus. Shameful! Dare I create a new article? No, that’d make for one-too-many videos on the front page… Okay. I’ll stash it after the jump. With a secret TIGJam-related note!

*Also, I’m a huge narcissist now?

SECRET NOTE FOLLOWS: Derek, Jeff, Steve, Matt… someone. I need to go to TIGJam. Fantasy Grill alone sparks a roaring fire in my loins. And I was thinking. I’m like the F’n Senior mother-F’n Editor of mother-F’n TIGSource, mother-F’ers. For word. Like, I should already be on my way via a courtesy rickshaw following a path of, like, rose petals or peonies or whatever. Lilies. Some pimp stuff.

But seriously, I know I haven’t been the most consistent “mother-F’er” on the planet, and I know this article is pretty erratic (likely to the point of warranting concern), and I know I could be contacting you guys directly (wait, why haven’t I done that?), but this would bring me scads of happiness. I wanna see you guys again! I wanna smell you guys again… I mean it. Gimme a call or email or something, yeah? Hopefully we can make this happen!

And so ends the last article I will ever write… today.