Plus – Free Indie Soundtracks

By: Derek Yu

On: August 7th, 2008

II (“Pause”), the retro/chiptune music label and community, has launched a new section to their website called Plus, which is specifically devoted to free indie/doujin game soundtracks. So far there are only two albums available, the Rescue: The Beagles OST, composed by Disasterpeace, and the Another Bound Neo (doujin FPS) OST. Label co-founder and artist Phlogiston says more are on the way, but he’d love to see developers contact II and release their soundtracks. You might recall that Phlogiston is the musician behind cactus and VilleK’s Brain Damaged Toon Underworld, among other things. He’s also collaborated with the chiptune music collective 8bitpeoples.

Great idea! Developers, submit your music – I hope to see many more games on there in the future. And definitely poke around the rest of the II catalog, too.

(The Rescue: The Beagles album art displayed above is by the very talented Annabelle Kennedy. Full version of the artwork can be seen here!)

TIGdb: Entry for Rescue the Beagles

Cactus interviewed by Game Maker Television

By: Terry

On: July 25th, 2008

Quoth Cactus:

The fourth episode of Game Maker TV was posted here yesterday. Check it out!

.

Addendum: He also released a new game, called Stallions in America, which is an existential adventure in the art of killing people on the beach, and man is it a doozy!

Watch out though, the balloon things drop eggs.

Kryzta and Precision

By: Derek Yu

On: May 16th, 2008

Two new mini-games released by cactus recently! The first is Kryzta, an “anti-shooter” where you defeat your enemies with their own bullets. Collect the power-ups they drop to shield yourself (or press “Z” to unleash a devastating attack with them). Its fun and fast, and features another great track from John Marwin (the musician behind Clean Asia).

Kryzta was made for a minigame competition at The Poppenkast.

The second game, Precision, is all about precision platform jumping. The way jumping works in this game is interesting, though – you have no control over the jump while in mid-air. The length of your jump is determined entirely by your velocity when you leave the ground. It definitely makes it challenging to get through the game’s seven levels, but fortunately, your character leaves a trail which can be reviewed with each successive attempt.

Obviously I’m already a big fan of cactus (some have argued unfairly so!), but I feel like these two games, aside from being imbued with cactus’s inimitable style, do a great job of exploring the nuances of the game mechanics they employ with such needlepoint focus. And the fact that he can make these games so quickly (6 hours for Kryzta) reminds me that we’re at the point where game development can really be as spontaneous as doodling with pen on paper. Sweeeeeet.

(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)

Brain-Damaged Toon Underworld Teaser #2

By: Derek Yu

On: May 2nd, 2008

BDTUW is looking good! Made by Lo-Fi Minds for our VGNG Competition, the actual compo entry was a sweet promise of something more… much more! This vid drops its trousers a little lower, revealing brand new areas, characters, and mechanics. Yum!

On the Lo-Fi Minds blog, cactus explains that the aspect ratio has been changed to accommodate HD.

(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)

Ad Nauseum 2

By: Derek Yu

On: April 15th, 2008

Dear cactus has released another shoot ‘em up. Ad Nauseum 2 (direct download) features seizurific special effects, some slightly obscene artwork, and a soundtrack that I’m pretty sure is meant to induce bowel movements. It’s also very easy to die. You have been duly warned.

For those new to cactus, you may want to try out Cactus Arcade (direct download), a collection of 17 of his games, including a handy interface for playing them.

(Thanks a lot for the tip, Bas! And to the various peeps that brought Cactus Arcade to my attention.)

500 Bananas!

By: Derek Yu

On: March 15th, 2008

cactus and VilleK have set up a new blog for Lo-Fi Minds. Their inaugural post has screenshots and descriptions for their two current projects, Brain-Dead Toon Underworld (made for our VGNG Compo), and Secret Agent Hotel. Both games look/sound absolutely fantastic, natch.

I also thought this would be a good time to make a request for donations to our friend cactus. I’ve gotten more value and excitement from all his games than your average triple-A mainstream title. His work inspires me every day as a game designer and an artist.

cactus is incredibly creative and talented, but could definitely do more to market himself. But I really wonder if he should have to? Shouldn’t being good at making games be enough to make games for a living? I think so. And I’m dreaming about alternative business models to let people like cactus make great freeware and keep at it.

But until then, let’s give a little back to this supercool dude and support him on his quest to entertain and amaze us! Everyone who met him at GDC fell in love with him (for some *cough*Brandon*cough*, it was romantic love). He’s a really nice, genuine guy, who just wants to make games and be happy. It would be awesome for cactus to be able to put all his energy into being himself and not have to get a ho-hum job to make ends meet.

I’m putting in $20 to start, and suggesting $5-$20 donations from those who want to. We can’t easily keep track of how we’re doing, but feel free to post a comment letting us know why and/or how much you donated. I hope you do!

Donate here! (PayPal link at the bottom of the page.)

GDC: First Night

By: Derek Yu

On: February 16th, 2008

GDC Proper doesn’t begin until Monday, but tonight I met Mark “Golds” Johns and Jonatan “cactus” Söderström at San Francisco International Airport. cactus is staying with me through GDC. His game, Clean Asia, is nominated for two IGF awards: Excellence in Visual Art and Excellence in Audio.

Speaking of which (via cactus’s website):

Alright, yes! cactus, as you might imagine, is a pretty chill guy. And yes, Mark, they do have donuts in Sweden. I told the lady at my local donut shop that Mark and Jonatan also make video games, and she was like “so you’re all game buddies?” HA. Well, time to go play with Mark’s Wii (cough)…

It’s really awesome to know that all these TIGS people are going to be at GDC this year. Seriously, if you can’t make it next week, try to be here in 2009. Or at any events where TIGer’s might be… see you tomorrow!

Shotgun Ninja

By: Derek Yu

On: January 29th, 2008

Another week, another game from the almighty cactus! This time you play as an angry, gun-toting ninja, trying to get his money back from his conniving accountant. Run, jump, gun, and grenade through 8 short-but-sweet levels. Getting used to wall-jumping and wall-climbing takes a little while, but once you do, it’s a blast. Ceiling kills for the win!

Add to that an online high score list (can you guess who’s number one?), and you’ve got a really addictive little platformer.

I love the graphics and sound… this could be one of my favorite cactus games yet!

(Source: Tim, via The Indie Games Blog)

SeizureDome

By: Derek Yu

On: January 16th, 2008

Trippy visuals and a pretty ridiculously catchy tune are infused in SeizureDome, a new overhead arena shooter from indie wunderkind cactus. Use WASD and the mouse to control your character, who must avoid getting pushed into the borders by his nude opponents. Chain combos, power-ups, naked people… this game’s got it all. But it did get slightly repetitive for me after a few playthroughs!

Be sure to check out the high score list here. Who will dethrone the mysterious warrior known only as “FAGGOTBITCH?”

(Source: Tim, via IndieGames.com)

Gamelab Interview: cactus

By: Derek Yu

On: January 11th, 2008

Speaking of cactus, here’s an interview that Gamelab did with him recently.