Captain Jameson Alpha

By: Derek Yu

On: May 30th, 2011

Farbs has released an alpha version of Captain Jameson, the latest game in his Captain Forever series. Jameson has a lot of new features, including asteroids that block your path and large docking stations where you can sell scrap and buy add-ons, among other things. By far the most important station is the oxygen station, though – your oxygen levels deplete quickly and it takes many trips to explore even the perimeter of your starting area. New stations can be unlocked by trying to dock with them and defeating the guardian ships that appear.

Captain Impostor

By: Derek Yu

On: March 3rd, 2010

Farbs just released the latest episode of his Captain Forever series, called Captain Impostor (available for all registered players). CI puts you at the helm of The Narcissus, a new type of ship that’s powered by a CLONE DRIVE. The CLONE DRIVE lets you steal entire ships and make them your own. However, the strength of the parts cloned depends on how much clone power you have. Destroy other ships to raise your clone power!

So far I’m enjoying the cloning mechanic, but the lack of construction makes it a little less interesting than Successor, in my opinion. I’m still waiting for a more cohesive world and story, but I don’t know if that’s in the cards or not. In any case, it’s fun to see the series evolve and try new things.

Captain Successor

By: Derek Yu

On: November 20th, 2009

If you’re a registered supporter of Captain Forever you no doubt just received an email informing you that the next installment of the series, Captain Successor, has been released. The basic game mechanics are the same, but Successor puts you in control of a new ship, Eris, that is piloted by Captain Lan, and the game features a variety of new ship parts, like torpedoes, homing missiles, ramming spikes, and auto-repair systems. The ramming spikes are fun, I’ll tell you that much.

Not only that, but Forever is now free to play, so give it a go. If you enjoy it you might consider paying $20 to support the project. Supporters can play Captain Successor as well as any further games in the series.

Captain Forever (Pre-Launch)

By: Derek Yu

On: September 8th, 2009

Captain Forever is the latest project of Farbs (ROM CHECK FAIL), and his first commercial project since he quit his job and became a full-time indie developer. In the game you pilot the Nemesis, a spaceship which can be modified with scrap parts taken from enemy ships. Despite the relatively few types of ship parts in this version and the limited scope of the game’s world, I found Captain Forever to be quite enjoyable – the pacing feels brisk and there’s always another ship design to try (or admire) on the horizon. This makes deciding whether to fight or flee and how to do it a blast.

Although there’s no demo for the pre-launch, Farbs himself gives a few good reasons for why you should or shouldn’t buy it now ($15 for pre-launch, discounted from $20). Personally, I’m glad I got it early, because 1. the game is already great fun, 2. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s coming in the supporter-only updates and 3. it’s easy to want to support Farbs, creative and lovable bastard that he is. You might also check out the TIGSource thread for more opinions about the game.

TIGdb: Entry for Captain Forever

Farbs – A Message for 2K Australia

By: Xander

On: April 28th, 2009

Farbs, who created the VGNG Competition winning ROM CHECK FAIL has released a new game intended to be A message for 2K Australia, his current employers.

All I can say is that it’s good to see more from Farbs, and I somehow get the feeling that we might just see more from him yet.

Somehow…

ROM CHECK… SUCCEED!

By: Derek Yu

On: April 9th, 2008

The results are in! Voting for The VGNG Competition is now over, and our buddy Farbs caught 16% of the vote with his really-rather-brilliant ROM CHECK FAIL, followed close behind by Farmergnome’s excellent My First Skydiving Academy. All in all, the VGNG Compo was a huge success. It’s been said before, but all the entrants should be really proud of themselves for participating, and making some really good shit!

Regarding the next competition… keep your eyeballs peeled. You never know when or how it’s going to hit. But you can expect that it’s going to be a lot of fun!

Congratulations, Farbs, and all the entrants!

Polychromatic Funk Monkey

By: Derek Yu

On: July 12th, 2007

Polychromatic Funk Monkey made it’s way to the feedback section of our forums, and boy, is it swell! Pick up color blocks and drop them to get to higher areas. Collect “telefunks” to increase the number of blocks you carry (to a total of 10). Telefunks also serve as warp nodes, and trust me, you’ll need to warp back and forth plenty as you’ll often get stuck.

This game grew on me like a mold. There were countless times I thought I’d trapped myself for good, or had no good way up, only to find that, with a little ingenuity I… could… do it! The levels are randomly generated, so I wonder if it is ever possible to get completely stuck. But regardless, the feeling of accomplishment at making it to the next telefunk is tremendous.

Clever game, great presentation. The only thing missing is some actual funk. Where’s James Brown at?

Gameplay video courtesy of Soldat Movies in the extended: