NightSky

By: ithamore

On: January 9th, 2011

The PC version of Nifflas’ NightSky is still available for $7.20, but today is the last day to buy it at this discounted release price. Tomorrow, the price will be raised to $10.

If you’ve been looking forward to the PC version, now’s the time to try out the demo if all the previews, reviews, and videos out there weren’t convincing enough for you to have purchased it already. However, if you would prefer to express you enjoyment of and delight in NightSky and Nifflas’ other games by waiting for the $10 price, you also have that choice as a means of expressing your gratitude.

Holiday Trailers

By: Derek Yu

On: December 16th, 2010

As everyone knows, the holidays are a very sexy time of year. And in the spirit of such an occasion, I bring you five very sexy indie game videos to watch while you drink hot marshmallows and launch missile toes at your loved ones. Enjoy!

To begin: here’s some new footage of thatgamecompany’s latest project, Journey. It looks beautiful, natch. But also so very ronery…

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Indie Games! The Big Video Project

By: ithamore

On: November 21st, 2010

In an act of altruism for the indie community, Pixel Prospector has been running a contest to promote commercial indie games, called Indie Games! The Big Video Project, to help spread some love beyond the freeware, WIP-demo core of the site. The contest simply requires players to submit a 6 second clip of a commercial indie game for potential inclusion in a compilation video. Multiple entries for different games are allow per person, and the deadline is December 12^th for submissions.

For the best videos among those selected, there are 185 prizes available: 15 copies of 4 versions of video recording software and 170 copies of 34 games. More details on the contest and its rules and prizes are available at Pixel Prospector’s announcement for the contest.

Happy Wheels

By: Derek Yu

On: November 20th, 2010

Dammit, why are ragdolls so much fun? In Jim Bonacci’s Happy Wheels, you’ll have quite a few to choose from, from “old man in rocket-powered wheelchair” to my personal favorite, “irresponsible dad”, a man with his toddler riding behind him on a bicycle. The goal of the game is to get to the end of each level alive, but in this case, it really is about the journey itself – the best levels in the game are cleverly designed to inflict pain on the happy wheelers in the most absurd ways possible.

Happy Wheels comes with a built-in level editor and users can easily share their morbid senses of humor in-game. Jim is also continuing to work on the project, adding new features and characters (the latest addition is a young couple riding a moped).

TIGdb: Entry for Happy Wheels

Crystal Wave and Sky Scream

By: Derek Yu

On: November 15th, 2010

[This is a guest post by ortoslon.]

Johnny B. of Golden Beast Studios (Anyman, Techno-Drone Alliance) has started a rapid development project called Lazy Brain Games. His goal is to release one game per week, restricted to NES graphics and 8-bit sounds. So far he’s made two little shmups controlled with WASD+mouse.

Crystal Wave is a score-based arena shooter that plays a lot like JW’s Coptra: it goes from easy to crazy in thirty seconds as enemies come from all directions. Score mostly comes in the form of large gems that fly randomly across the screen. The game has a small online highscore table, currently occupied by yours truly.

Sky Scream is a vertical shooter inspired by Sin and Punishment, Contra and Megaman. It takes about four minutes to beat the game but it’s hard enough that you won’t reach the end on your first try. The colorful background looks great in motion:

Link-Dead Public Alpha

By: Derek Yu

On: November 13th, 2010

A public alpha of Michał Marcinkowski’s team-based multiplayer shooter, Link-Dead, was released a few days ago, as donationware. You can pay any price for access to the alpha, although the payment only counts towards alpha builds (beta and final releases will use a different payment system). Currently, the game comes with one map and the game’s map editor.

I’ve never played Soldat, Michał’s previous title, but the combat in Link-Dead appears to bemuch more methodical, with higher priority given to stealth and positioning. There are two teams that you can choose from: Ubermen rely on their heavy firepower and tech gadgets like heartbeat monitors to hunt down the Mutants, who are much weaker but can use cloaking devices and speed to get the edge on their opponents. In “Chemical Factory”, which comes with the alpha, the Mutants will favor the sewers in the lower part of the map, where they can hide easily in the dark crawlspaces and steamy tunnels.

The alpha is buggy and underpopulated, but a lot of fun. Given the slower pacing of the game, combat tends to alternate between periods of tense cat-and-mouse games and explosive firefights. I’m particularly impressed with how important audio is in the game – many times you’ll have to listen to the footsteps of your opponent to determine their location (this is especially true if you’re hunting a cloaked Mutant). Switching the speed of your character using the Shift key will change how loud your steps are. Really cool stuff.

Each match supports up to 32 players, but the biggest group I saw today was 4. Perhaps not surprising, considering the stability of this early build – server disconnections were regular and some players are experiencing graphical issues (older ATI video cards, in particular, seem to have problems displaying the game correctly). That said, Michał seems intent on getting these issues fixed as quickly as possible, and they probably won’t keep me from playing in the meantime. Hope to see you in-game!

Teasers: Friday Night Fights

By: Derek Yu

On: November 5th, 2010

Hey, let’s take a look at some indie fighters that are coming down the pipeline!

First up is a new alpha release video of Wolfire Games’ bunny beat ’em up, Overgrowth. The team reached a big milestone recently and began working on the game’s combat engine. To celebrate, they’re throwing a Beard Drive to get fans to subscribe to their YouTube channel.

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Driftmoon Available For Pre-Order

By: Derek Yu

On: November 2nd, 2010

Ville Mönkkönen, the creator of the cult-hit survival game Notrium, has announced that his latest game, Driftmoon, is available for pre-order at €11.99 (20% off the final price). People who pre-order will get access to the alpha version of the RPG, the game’s editor for making mods, and all the updates thereafter. The latest build adds a new adventure to the playable preview that was released nearly a year ago (since taken down).

According to the announcement, Driftmoon is still some months away from release.

Andrew Plotkin Wants to Write IF Fulltime and You Can Help

By: Derek Yu

On: November 1st, 2010

For fans of interactive fiction, the name Andrew “Zarf” Plotkin should be familiar. Plotkin has been in the scene for over a decade and has not only developed some of the genre’s most beloved games (Spider and Web, Shade), but has also made a number of important technical contributions to IF, including the Blorb archive format and the Glulx virtual machine. Up until now, however, he’s only pursued IF as a hobby. That’s about to change!

With his upcoming project, Hadean Lands, Plotkin would like to make the leap into fulltime IF development. The Kickstarter page for Hadean Lands has already surpassed its goal of $8000 after the first day, but the more the merrier, obviously. Donors can get some fun stuff, like a limited edition or their name in game. Plus, you know, you’ll be supporting the growth of the inspiring IF community.

A very early demo of the game is available to play here, in your web browser. The commercial version of the game will be released on iPhone/iPad for $5.

(Source: george, via TIGForums)

TIGdb: Entry for Andrew Plotkin

Minecraft Halloween Update Released

By: Derek Yu

On: October 31st, 2010

The almighty Notch has released a beefy update to Minecraft today that offers, among other things, an otherworldly new area with new block types and monsters. There are also “biomes”, which is a fancy word for different environment types (see the above video).

Notch also revealed that the “secret pixel artist” his company is hiring is none other than junkboy, the man responsible for this awesome series of demakes. Junkboy will be joining Oxeye Studios‘ Jeb and one other programmer on the talented new team that will be working on both Minecraft and an unannounced new game.