When all the E3 hubbub was happening, Erik, John, and I had a chance to drop by an indie meeting put together by Headcase Games’ Ron Alpert. I was fortunate enough to meet Lorenzo Scagnolari, the lead composer, of 93 Steps. Scagnolari and his buddy Marco Pivato are true aces when it comes to music, and 93 Steps is their soundtrack studio outfit. While 93 Steps provides the soundtrack, developer Drakkar Dev provides an incredible world for the sound to populate. Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel looks to be a very intense new action title on iOS and — rather surprisingly — it seems to have impressive visuals.

“The core gameplay resembles the classical single player side-scrolling genre, but it uses significant variations. All aspects of the game are actually designed to have a very flat learning curve players because it relies on well known core mechanics. Innovation from taking various gameplay modes from all time classics and merging them in a more fluid and complete experience. It then gradually expands to become richer as the game proceeds and characters collect new objects, equipments and weapons.”

What Guardians looks like to me, really, is a side-scrolling (almost on-rails, even) action game filled with badassery and superb attention to technical detail. That being said, it’s hard to make any final judgments not having played the game. But really, there’s no way that any gamer viewing this trailer could possibly turn away.

To complement the epic-ness of Guardians through sound requires a studio with trained ears and 93 Steps have shone through exceptionally. I highly suggest checking out the 3 tracks from the game at their SoundCloud page. There are 7 songs total that the Italian studio wrote for Guardians, meaning there are still 4 tracks to be uploaded upon the game’s release.

Look for the release of Guardians: The Last Day of the Citadel July 13th on iOS.

[93 Steps, Drakkar Dev]

Since Erik reported not too long ago that, contrary to earlier reports, Limbo would finally see the light of day on both the PlayStation Network and Steam, I’ll keep this short. Playdead have now officially revealed the dates when the game will be released (and, just as a side note, “very soon” was an understatement).

Limbo will be available on the PSN in America on July 19th and in Europe on July 20th. Its Steam release will be August 2nd. Though there have been no details on its pricing, one can gather that it will probably be somewhere around its initial cost of $15. The game may not release quickly enough for the currently-ongoing Steam sale, but maybe there’s a special discount in the works?

Regardless, gamers now got what they were asking for! And furthermore, this whole Xbox “exclusivity” thing seems to have become very shortlived — which is fine by us.

[Playdead]

I don’t think any of us can get enough of these sales; they are friggin’ extraordinary. Team17, the developers behind Worms, have announced some whopping price drops on their stuff. For the Steam Summer Sale specifically, Worms Reloaded and Alien Breed titles have been cut by 50%. That brings Worms Reloaded to $9.99/€9.99/£8.99 and the Alien Breed games individually to $4.99/€4.49/£3.49 each. However, if you purchase the trilogy of Alien Breed games altogether, it will cost you $11.49/€10.49/£8.49.

Furthermore, the 4-pack of Worms Reloaded is offered at $33.98/€33.98/£30.58 and four new PC DLC packs for the game are at $4.24/€3.39/£2.54. Finally, for iOS gamers, Worms 2: Armageddon is available for $0.99 and so is the Battle Pack in-game content — naturally, only for a limited time!

Phew, and that’s it for Team17. I hope you guys take advantage of the incredible sale prices on Steam this weekend and thru the 10th!

[Team17]

Though football/soccer season is at a lull, Simon Read has been hard at work on the follow-up to the award-winning indie soccer franchise: New Star Soccer. The latest installment, New Star Soccer 5, will feature loads of additions and things to do. Players will take on the life of a young football star whose only wish is to achieve success on the pitch, earning the adoration of fans and other players. There is a “whole host of leagues” available for play here, among other competitions such as the World Cup and European Championship.

New Star Soccer 5 will be coming out on August 11th (right before the seasons begin!) and it will be available at $20. However, if you pre-order the game from the official website, you’ll get it for 25% off and, additionally, will have access to the beta version (both PC and Mac) of the game going on now!

So get ready to develop your player, score goals, and hit the casino. If you’re thinking, “The casino?” Check out this badass trailer here!

[New Star Games]

Ragtime Games must be delighted to see what was originally just a student game project made in Flash turn into an acclaimed iOS title that has the potential to become extremely popular. Having already won the Best Student Game award at the 2010 Independent Game Festival and the Gameplay Innovation Award at IndieCade 2010 for Continuity, the release of Continuity 2: The Continuation marks an already lengthy history of success for Ragtime.

I’m curious to see how the game works in iOS, as the its 50 brand-new levels are said to have been designed specifically for the platform. And yes, in case anyone is wondering, Continuity 2 is indeed a universal app that can be played on iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Ragtime have decided to offer it for an introductory price of $0.99, so maybe jumping on this thing now is your best bet!

If you haven’t tried the first Continuity and aren’t so sure about making a purchase, play it here.

[Ragtime Games]

Folks, it looks like Radiangames’ Bizarro Sale, which offers 7 of Radiangames’ popular titles for 80 MSP ($1) each, will be around for a couple more days, till June 28th — so get on it! After the sale is over, all of the games will be sold at 400 MSP ($5) which, albeit kind of strange, suits us just fine considering you should really jump at the opportunity of getting the Radiangames titles for a buck each.

Developer Luke Schneider released all seven games throughout an 11-month span and managed to rack up some impressive numbers with over 155,000 downloads and over 43,000 sales. (There’s even a post-mortem on Gamasutra for them!) Also from now until June 28th, each game’s soundtrack is available at $0.99, down 50% from its regular price of $1.99. The price increases that follow the sale on June 28th will be permanent.

Again, all 7 games will be 80 MSP each and each game’s soundtrack will be $0.99 as well until June 28th. Get on it!

[Radiangames]

I’m kind of amazed this went over my head; Farbs, the renowned developer of Captain Forever, Captain Successor, and Captain Impostor is working on his next title. Surely enough, it follows the “Captain” suit and it is called Captain Jameson. Currently, the game is still in Alpha Build 0.3, but it is definitely shaping up nicely! This time around, it’s clear Farbs is looking to try some different things.

The build is reserved for registered supporters (and you can become one for just $20, after which you’ll be able to play Captain Successor and Captain Impostor). Captain Forever is free to play for all, so if you never gave that a try you may want to! It’s one of those titles that has so much character and personality brimming at the seams that you’ll want to keep playing. There’s nothing incredibly complicated about it either: you shoot other ships and build your ship up by salvaging parts.

Anyhow, build 0.3 contains these additions and fixes (among other things you can find listed on the website):

* New gameworlds! One original recipe and one hardcore jalapeno
* Warehouse stations, which hold 3-5 modules
* Hot rocks. DO NOT TOUCH!
* Pilot and station admin names
* Made settlement names more relevant and diverse
* All nav layers on by default
* Slower death fadeout
* Directional explosions
* Fixed bubbleshield upgrade bug
* Fixed station group level bleeding bug
* Fixed pilot reset on reload bug
* Made guardian spawning less crashy
* A SECRET THING

Onward, Captain!

[Farbs]

Well, that’s not entirely true. In order to destroy anything in Detonate, you certainly have to build it first. Likewise, Minecraft also involves some destruction of its own. Anyhow, thanks to a tip-off from somewhere on Twitter (I just made one and my, my, is it proving useful!) that I cannot for the life of me remember or find, I am now acquainted with Wildebeest Games’ Detonate, and of course I want to tell you about it!

As the “part time project of Mark Judd and friends,” Wildebeest has employed a special emphasis on physics-based gaming. Though Detonate is not a new title by any means — it was released in late 2010/early 2011 — the game retains its attractiveness for those seeking pure destruction. Essentially, all you’ll be doing in this sandbox-style create-and-demolish game is just that: creating buildings and demolishing them as you see fit. The coolest thing about Detonate, of course, is that the way its physics operate are much more accurate than you’d think!

As it goes:

“With the in-built editor, create your own buildings using the library of hundreds of varied parts. Choose from brick, concrete, timber or steel materials, arrange them to your requirements – let your imagination run riot! Once your building is standing you switch to explosives placement mode, where you can choose the strength and timing of your charges. See how few charges you can use to bring the building down.Or perhaps you’d like to see how far you can fling the debris?”

Doesn’t that sound just F%@#$!$ AWESOME!? Detonate has been featured in PC Gamer before, acquiring a score of 70%. PC Gamer noted its basic graphics, but it praised the simple fun of destroying things realistically in-game. Detonate costs 5 euros, or about $7.10. Lucky for you, there is a lite version of the game available absolutely for free! It does not contain the editor, but you can still blow stuff up!

Check it out.

[Wildebeest Games]

There’s just something about Cell Bound that really made me want to play it from the get-go. It’s probably the incredibly simple but ridiculously attractive trailer which shows off the match-3 puzzle-laden gameplay. Cell Bound looks way too addictive. Plus, I trust Hothead Games, these are the guys who gave us DeathSpank and Swarm, and now they’re partnering with other really cool indie developers in order to bring awesome titles to more platforms.

Anyhow, in Cell Bound, players are in control of a sterile culture dish. Unfortunately, once the player touches the dish, it becomes contaminated by colored cell structures. As such, the objective here is to spin the dish around and match 5 of the colored cells, thereby clearing them. The game packs three different modes:

• Infinite Mode: The main mode, colored cells drop towards the center and explode when 5 like colors are connected. All of the cells can be burst using the smart bomb trigger in the center of the dish. More smart bombs can be accrued by racking up points.
• Timer Mode: Gain as many points as possible in 1:30 minutes. There are no smart bombs, and for every 1,200 points, one more second is added to the timer.
• Burst Mode: Cells that connect and are not the same color turn black and inert, obstructing the new cells.

Cell Bound is available on the App Store for $0.99. Want to see how the gameplay works? Check out the trailer.

[Hothead Games]

Shadegrown Games’ upcoming music game/shooter, Planck, seems to be on its own level. The Washington-based developer has revealed a new gameplay video that centers on a brand new level complete with fresh art, music, and yet another look at the gameplay mechanics of the game (which essentially consist of shooting everything coming your way!). Shadegrown prides itself by asserting that “each piece of music gets its own unique visualization designed to precisely match the aural component on the screen.”

But Shadegrown are also quick to point out that Planck does not depend on timing or rhythm, but shooting instead. Its colorful graphics and original sound aim to impress both the tone-deaf and the musically-gifted. With studio head Matthew Burns’ industry experience, the indie devs look towards compelling and fresh entries into the gaming medium, hence their peculiar name, Shadegrown Games — drawing on a metaphor for coffee production and growth, as production may be quicker under the sun but the soil will be exhausted.

“I think Planck makes a meaningful contribution to the future of music games. We see it as the natural follow-up to titles that rely solely on timed button presses meant to match pre-recorded, licensed music content. There’s so much yet to explore where music and gameplay meet; it’s one of the most exciting areas you could be working in as a developer right now. We can’t wait to see what gamers make of it.”

- Matthew Burns, Founder and Project Lead at Shadegrown Games

There is no set release date for Planck but developer diaries and an upcoming beta test should get us closer to getting our hands on the game. Check out the new gameplay trailer here.

[Shadegrown Games]