Posts from ‘Unique / Bizarre’ Category
Dys4ia
By: Paul Eres
On: March 10th, 2012
Dys4ia is a new game by Anna Anthropy / Auntie Pixelante, developer of REDDER, Mighty Jill Off, Calamity Annie, When Pigs Fly, and other games, and who is also just about to release a book on independent game development, Rise of the Videogame Zinesters. Dys4ia is an autobiographical game about transgenderism and hormone therapy. The music is by Liz Ryerson. From Anna’s blog:
“dys4ia is the story of the last six months of my life: when i made the decision to start hormone replacement therapy and began taking estrogen. i wanted to catalog all the frustrations of the experience and maybe create an “it gets better” for other trans women. when i started working on the game, though, i didn’t know whether it did get better. i was in the middle of the shit detailed in level 3 of the game, and at the time i had no idea what the ending would be; it was hard to envision a happy ending.”
Teaser – Octodad: Dadliest Catch
By: Alehkhs
On: March 5th, 2012
Indie studio Young Horses has released a teaser trailer for their sequel to 2010’s fumbling physics game, Octodad. Titled Octodad: Dadliest Catch, this sequel continues the story of an octopus posing as a human as he tries to accomplish everyday tasks with, and for, his oblivious human family. No task is easy however, when all you have to work with are boneless, suction-cupped arms. Additionally, there’s now a catchy theme song that I’ll no doubt have lodged in my head for quite some time.
The original game is still free for download, and anyone who hasn’t hopelessly smacked every household object in the room onto the floor while trying to turn off an alarm clock played it yet should go give it a try.
The teaser trailer states that Octodad: Dadliest Catch will be arriving on shore in 2013. As a fan of the first game and all things cephalopod, I’m looking forward to getting my two, perfectly human hands on it.
T-17 Tanky
By: Alehkhs
On: October 1st, 2011
As our column of tanks rushed down a hill towards an enemy column, one of my fellow tank commanders – apparently a raven wearing a top hat – screamed, “Kill them all!” That was the moment I decided that T-17 Tanky was a game for me.
T-17 Tanky is the first game by the one-man studio Preen Dog Interactive. The game sees two armies – the bird-populated country of Egalitaria and the rat-lead Crat Empire – warring against each other. While an actual campaign is still on the way, the game currently offers a custom battle option, which places the player in charge of a squad of tanks from Egalitaria and tasks them with destroying similar squads piloted by the Crats. In addition to standard heavy and light tanks, the player can add truck-mounted flack cannons, rocket artillery units, and even airplanes to the battlefield.
Similar to Kerbal Space Program, T-17 Tanky is charming in the fact that it has a very cartoony, very light aesthetic to it, yet goes deeper into the simulation field of gameplay than you would have suspected. Each vehicle has several weapon types to choose from, and can be damaged in various ways: tires and treads can be shot off, engines can be critically damaged, etc. There is a ballistics model and even a simple targeting computer, which the player calibrates for distance by clicking the middle mouse-button to “laze” the target.
Currently, T-17 Tanky is still very early in development and still a little rough around the edges, but there is a free demo available for download at the main site. The developer has also set up a funding page over on 8-Bit Funding, where you can pre-order the game and support its development.
The Binding of Isaac
By: Derek Yu
On: September 28th, 2011
10 months after the release of Super Meat Boy, Edmund McMillen has put out his next game, The Binding of Isaac, a horror-themed top-down shooter that takes its name from the Biblical story where Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his son. The game features short, randomly-generated levels with 100 items, over 50 monsters, and 20 bosses. The soundtrack is by Danny Baranowsky.
Note: Isaac is not a Team Meat release. The programmer for this one is Florian Himsl, who previously collaborated with Edmund on Cunt and Twin Hobo Rocket. Team Meat has purportedly started work on their next project.
Trailer: Incredipede
By: Derek Yu
On: September 18th, 2011
Colin Northway, creator of the popular physics game Fantastic Contraption, unveiled his latest project at Sense of Wonder Night in Tokyo last week, as part of the Tokyo Game Show. Incredipede is a physics-based platformer where you control a little creature that can be built and rebuilt using jointed limbs and muscles. The game will put various obstacles in front of you that you have to overcome with your creations. From the looks of it, you’ll have a lot of options in terms of what you can make and how you want to get past each obstacle!
Colin has made it clear that Incredipede is very much work-in-progress, and the graphics do not reflect the final look of the game. A video of his SOWN presentation can be found below (the noisemakers are provided to the audience to sound their approval).
SpaceChem Currently 50% Off
By: Alehkhs
On: May 12th, 2011
If you’ve not yet tried out Zachtronics Industries’ gem of a puzzler SpaceChem, now is the excellent time to do so. Currently on sale for 50% ($14.99 $7.49) on both the game’s site and Steam, SpaceChem has kept me awake for what is certainly an unhealthy length of time: Increasingly difficult, consistently rewarding, I continue to be amazed by the simple-yet-ingenious mechanics of this highly addictive game.
Check out the trailer above, grab the demo, and if you like what you see, be sure to grab it while it’s cheap!
Dong Dong Never Die
By: Derek Yu
On: March 9th, 2011
Dong Dong Never Die is a 2009 Chinese fan game that has digitized sprites and parodies popular fighting game series like Street Fighter and King of Fighters. According to one of the developers, it took 3 years of work to make and uses 10,000 photos! And it shows, actually – the features include 36 animated backdrops and 24 unique playable characters, each with a full complement of normal moves, specials, and supers.
DDND is not particularly balanced or complex or anything, but I had a good time playing through the Story Mode, which takes you on a quest to find and defeat the mysterious “Biochemistry Man”. The supreme goofiness is obviously the star of the game, but it also handles better than most fan-made fighters out there. A lot of (potentially misplaced) love went into this one! I especially like the long ending sequence that shows off the actors behind-the-scenes.
You can download DDND here, from Game Front. Also, apparently the developers of DDND were working on a PC/PSP HD remake of Streets of Rage and reveal this if you win the extremely cheesy 1-on-7 battle after the credits. If you can’t be bothered to win yourself, here’s a video of it and the “hidden” ending.
Thanks to vani77a for sharing this on the forums.
B.U.T.T.O.N.
By: Derek Yu
On: March 2nd, 2011
The Copenhagen Game Collective has released their 2-8 player party game, B.U.T.T.O.N. (Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally O.K. Now), for the PC and Xbox 360. You can also buy the game from Steam. The game is on sale right now for GDC at $2.70 (normally $3.00).
Hot Throttle
By: Lorne Whiting
On: February 18th, 2011
A little late, but cactus recently released a new game through Adult Swim’s Flash portal [With the help of Mark Johns, aka Doomlaser. -Ed.]. Hot Throttle is a surreal racing game where you unleash your carsona, racing against fellow nude carsonas while avoiding garbage cans, hobos, and robots. The graphics are all simple and pastel, lending the game a simultaneously cute and unsettling look, with the numerous cutscenes definitely contributing to the ‘creepy’ aspect of the races.
In other cactus-related news: he posted a teaser image for a new Mondo game on his blog. Alas, one of the only series of games that actually uses the 3D part of Game Maker.
Megazey and the Demons
By: Lorne Whiting
On: February 7th, 2011
Megazey and the Demons (or, Demon Slasher) is the amazingly bizarre, and equally awesome creation of Russian game maker Sergey Bobrov. You play as Megazey in the game, slashing your way through demons as the games two – apparently interchangeable – names imply. It’s a short game, sometimes frustrating for the way the demons spawn and a few mandatory jumps that you’ll need to make near the beginning of the game, but it’s full of charm and insanity, and it has a movement gimmick that is hilarious for the whole 15 minutes the game takes to complete.
So go play it, already!
The Independent Gaming Source: A community of independent game developers and players.
TIGForums DevLog Magazine
TIGForums Image Crawler:
