For many people the Ouya is going to be the really big deal this year, in terms of indie gaming. It promises a new and exciting platform that should bring about a major improvement in the games we traditionally see on Google Play.

Hopefully the Ouya will move the mobile market away from just the traditional quick throw away games, and start to develop some games that actually have more substance for a sit down console.

Earlier this week we saw some early gameplay footage of the Ouya playing Roasty Roosters on the development console. It’s still early days and the game has yet to be optimized for the console but it proves an interesting first look at the console (even if it seems to only raise more questions than it answers). Check out the video below:

Although the Ouya’s release is still a little way off they did run a competition over the Christmas period that would allow developers to get their hands on the console early and for free. These early developer builds have proven to be difficult to get hold of for many developers due to their high price point, but Ouya assure us this will drop once the console ships this year.

The competition saw 13 developers scoop up a free Ouya development console that will allow the developers to port their games to the new console. Of course this is a great idea for Ouya because it will help bolster their launch titles as these developers will be ahead of the game.

But who are the luck 13, well lets find out:

• Fists Of Awesome
• MechKnight Chronicles
• Syder Arcade
• Kid Electro
• Space Runner
• Legend Of Dungeon
• iMech Online
• Dusty Revenge
• Journey To Hell
• Starbound
• Cloudbase Prime
• A Tofu Tail
• Festival Magic

In all honesty it’s quite a diverse range of games and games like Journey To Hell should really push the Ouya’s graphical processing to its limit. However personally I am really looking forward to seeing how Legend of Dungeon and Starbound fair on the new mini system.

This year should be a very interesting year for the indie scene as many companies push out mini consoles leading the way to new and exciting ways to play your games who will win out in the end.

Be sure to check the Ouya site for all the latest news about the console.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Ouya’ Begins To Heat Up As The Development Consoles Arrive

Divine Space is a whole new take on sci-fi games introducing in a huge range of detailed RPG elements to the genre whilst giving it the flexibility to be played on your prefered device. That is right Dodo Games are planning to make Divine Space available on every platform known on this earth.

Dodo Games are a small indie studio from Russia who have only recently launched their Kickstarter project and have in the very short time already gained much traction. Raising over $10 000 in the first few days Dodo Games are still a fair way off their ambitious $100 000 funding goal however.

An ambitious goal maybe, however the scope of this game sounds quite phenomenal. With a fully customizable ship you really are able to play the game anyway you want. Fitting it with a whole host of weapons and items creating quite the individual experience.

The level of customization of the ships alone seems very detailed and really what you would expect from a Sci-Fi RPG. I really like the way Dodo Games are taking this project as they are going to develop a whole galaxy for you to explore.

You will be able to fight, explore and even mine giving you almost a new EVE like game. Holding a conventional story arch it will contain all manner of interesting twists and turns finding you exploring far flung areas of the galaxy and seeing innovative and new worlds.

Divine Space aims to really reach out into cyberspace and begin to redefine the playing field by creating this highly engaging and exciting new title. Divine Space is going to be a free to play multiplayer title working, eventually on all platforms.

If you like what you see about Divine Space I encourage you to head to Dodo Games’ Kickstarter page here and support this extremely ambitious but totally awesome title. The Kickstarter page also contains a great deal of extra information in case you really need more reasons to back it. Also be sure to check out the official site here.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – It’s A Space Sim, But not As We know It, ‘Divine Space’ Redefines Action RPGs

For better or for worse, Valve Software really do seem to be maneuvering themselves into position as a cornerstone of the indie gaming business, and now they’re getting right in on the ground floor. It’s been known for some time that Steam was going to be expanding to support commercial software soon, and now it does – the very first app on the pile? YoYo Games’ incredibly popular GameMaker Studio.

It makes sense – GameMaker has been the development software of choice for a lot of indie classics over the years, including the original version of Spelunky, Immortal Defense, freeware hits such as Iji and Hero Core and even the Cactus’ upcoming hyper-violent 80s action game Hotline Miami (coincidentally Steam-bound soon) were all developed using the package. Just about the only thing it can’t do consistently well is 3D graphics – Unity, UDK and Cryengine fill that niche, though.

What makes the Steam launch of Game Maker so important? Steam Workshop integration. Previously, games were showcased, launched and often completely lost on YoYo Games’ own showcase site. Now, games developed with Game Maker can be directly uploaded to the Steam Workshop where players can find, download, play and rate them. It effectively turns Steam into an almost Newgrounds-esque freeware hub filled, if you know where to look.

As with the regular site-bound version of GameMaker, the Steam edition comes in Free, Standard and Professional editions, and with optional upgrades to export titles as iOS, Android & HTML5 packages. Right now, there’s a 10% launch discount on all the software, and there’s even some strange Steam-specific perks, such as achievements… Yes, achievements. An amusing lot, including ones for racking up a certain number of compiler errors. Guess you’ll be able to see which of your friends suck as programming.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘GameMaker: Studio’ Debuts on Steam’s New App Store

Last week had a somewhat heavy Ludum Dare focus (arguable like most weeks), so this week I will aim to avoid Ludum Dare, simply for a bit of verity. Today’s entry comes from the two man team at Toge Productions from Australia and is a very interesting zombie infection game.

Each level on Infectonator 2 you are given a scenario in one of the places around the world. In each of these scenarios you are given a variety of different goals for that scenario to complete. The goals range from the easy to the much more taxing and can take a significant time investment to complete them all, this is why the save feature does come in handy.

The infection mechanic is great and works well overall. There are upgrades that tie into the mechanics of the game which work well in adding additional levels of variety and customization.

The overall graphics styling has been very well put together in a great cartoon manner that adds a bit more of a light hearted take on this zombie epidemic. All the scenes have been lovingly created with a nice amount of variety, yet they all feel consistent within the theme the game portrays.

The audio has been put together well with a few interesting musical choices which vary enough to keep the music continually interesting. Although it has clearly been put a little bit on the back burner it ties into the game well and is something that cannot be complained about overall.

Average play time – less than an hour

Infectonator 2 is a fun little time waster which does feel repetitive after a short time, but it works perfectly as a minor distraction. It is well worth your time and has very well constructed gameplay mechanics that works well for its duration.

Infectonator 2 can be played on Newground here. Toge Productions site can be found here.

If you are a developer with A fun indie game that can be played over a coffee break, we want to hear from you! Private message us on twitter @IndieGameMag or shoot us an email at editors@indiegamemag.com with the subject “Indie Intermission” and you could be our indie intermission pick of the day!

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Intermission Day 28 – ‘Infectonator 2′

Does anyone remember Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo? It was a puzzle game created by Capcom. It featured Street Fighter Characters and was eventually rereleased for the PSN and XBLA. Yes? Oh, you loved its lightning fast puzzling and 1-on-1 style action? Well then, mysterious gamer from 1996, you are in for quite the treat. Developer Novaleaf have announced a competitive falling-block puzzle game made in the spirit of Puzzle Fighter. They call it God of Puzzle.

God of Puzzle plays nearly identical to Puzzle Fighter. Two players have their own Tetris-style area into which blocks will fall. Blocks, which are called gems, drop in different combinations of colors. The combination of like-colored blocks will create bigger more powerful gems. Eventually a diamond-shaped gem, called a breaker, will begin descending. If the breaker is of the same color as the combination of blocks it touches, the gems will all break. This causes counters to fall on your enemy’s screen. These counters are unbreakable until their number reaches zero. If a player’s side fills and no blocks can fall, that player loses.

 Other features of God of Puzzle include “lag free” multiplayer, HD 3D graphics, and a feature which is described as “play it your way.” This feature allows players to play with classic Puzzle Fighter rules, new God of Puzzles rules, or customize the game to their liking. God of Puzzle rules include special abilities for different characters, which allows players to choose a character which gives them an upper-hand in puzzle battle. One example is character Aphrodite’s ability “Love & Lie”, which causes the opponent to be unable to see the color of dropping gems once they leave the preview window.

God of Puzzle is also Novaleaf’s answer to a problem they found with Puzzle Fighter on XBLA and PSN; it is tough to find an online match.  God of Puzzle answers this problem with a modern-day solution; cross-platforming. God of Puzzle will be available on iOS, Android, PC, and Mac, and all owners can play other players regardless of which system they are using. The hope is that lovers of the game will always be able to quickly match make and find an opponent, which will be made easier through the planned match-making, clan, and friends system integrated in God of Puzzle.

Novaleaf has hopes of gaining some additional funding for God of Puzzle through Kickstarter. They are currently $9,900 short of their $10,000 goal with 24 days to go. You can also check out more God of Puzzle at the official website, and check out Novaleaf online or on Twitter. Keep checking back on IGM for more details on God of Puzzle and all of your Indie gaming news.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘God Of Puzzle’: The Modernization Of ‘Puzzle Fighter’

Gene Hunter Studios, an indie game company from Melbourne, Austrailia, has recently released their first prototype for Dr. Hex, a tower defense game with a tiny twist towards hex strategy games.  Instead of having the loose structure that typical tower defense games have, Dr. Hex adds a bit more puzzle and rigidity to the equation, allowing you to change the attack range of each one of your towers based around its hex placement system.

By using this hex placement system, where you decide to put your towers becomes ever more important since you have such limited space to place your towers when you compare it to a majority of other tower defense games.  The strategy part of the hex system makes it so that any towers within one of the blocked off hex areas can only affect enemies that are moving along a path that connects to its area, making placement a key part of Dr. Hex‘s gameplay.

Dr. Hex is only available as a prototype for now, so it doesn’t have the best graphics or any audio / music, but its gameplay is fairly solid already and it has plenty of room and time to grow and be refined.  If you want to try it out in its current state, you can check out the prototype (but be gentle!  its the first prototype of their first game!).  If you want to keep up with the development of Dr. Hex as it happens, you can check out Gene Hunter Studios’ official website.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Dr. Hex’ Preview – Tower Defense With A Twist

Flyleap Studios, an Australian indie studio previously creating mods, announces the release of their first mobile game, Little Dragon 3D. The game is out on iOs and Android, so thanks to Flyleap for not making us wait several months for a Droid version!

Little Dragon 3D is described as a physics-based gliding game, but from the looks of the trailer, this is hardly a typical flinging-objects physics game. Instead, players learn to master the effects of wind resistance, lift, gravity and drift in the air as they learn and improve at dragon flight. Once the adorable little dragon is a competent flyer, players will have new flying challenges, with different maps and obstacles. Some are pre-existing levels, and some are randomly generated, but allare  composed of these eye-catching cell-shaded environments.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Take Flight With Sweet ‘Little Dragon 3D’

I guess we’ve moved past the concept of ‘bundle season’ – you can’t go a few weeks without someone bundling up a pile of indie (or less-than-indie) games, slapping a pay-what-you-want pseudo-pricetag on the lot and calling it a day. Still, can’t sniff at this lot, even if it’s not nearly as grandiose as previous Humble Bundle offerings. Here’s the official launch video:

As always, it’s a fully cross-platform bundle, so despite the ‘Android’ part of the title, everything in here will also run on your PC, whether it’s using Windows, Mac or Linux. It’s a good set of games, too. We’ve got super-popular Tower Defense game Fieldrunners, musical Breakout-esque game BIT.TRIP BEAT, award-winning, brain-crushing puzzle game Spacechem and Introversion’s ‘the future according to the 80s’ hacking simulator Uplink. All great games, although definitely an eclectic bunch. The over-the-average bonus game is Spirits, which I’ve honestly not heard much about, but it certainly looks lovely.

As is Humble Bundle standard, a chunk of the money goes to charity as well, at least by default. You’re free to decide how much of your money goes to the developers, the charities involved and the Humble Bundle organizers. As mentioned, this isn’t exactly a mindblowing bundle, but it’s a solid pack of games, and probably worth it just for Spacechem, which I will happily recommend to anyone with a functioning brain.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The Third Humble Android Bundle Launches Today

For a while there, it was looking seriously bleak for Shadowrun Online. Perhaps it’s because there was already an official singleplayer Shadowrun game licensed and in development? Either way, not too many people seemed willing to bite, and the game was short of its funding goal by a full quarter with just one day left to go. It seemed unlikely that they’d raise 25% of the target money in 3% of time. Statistically, it seemed likely that the game would go unfunded. And then they pulled out all the stops.

At the time of writing, there’s an hour or two left to put your money down for early Beta access to the game, and they’ve cleared their $500,000 target and sailed past it to the tune of $25,000. The ambitious multiplatform (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android & even Ouya) turn-based tactical fantasy/cyberpunk MMO is good to go. Despite their difficulty finding funding, the game actually looks remarkably solid already, with a fair amount of gameplay footage being available for viewing on the Kickstarter page.

Can the market bear two related, but fundamentally different Shadowrun games? Well, it could back in the 90s – Shadowrun titles rolled out on both SNES and Megadrive/Genesis consoles, and despite both being great games, they were wildly different. So, I reckon there’s room for two sets of cyber-decking ne’erdowells on the post-cyberpocalyptic streets of Seattle. Congratulations to Cliffhanger Studios (what a name choice, eh?) on funding their game – here’s hoping that development goes smoothly from here on in.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Shadowrun Online’ Kickstarter Clears Its Goal With Just Hours To Spare

I’ve spent far, far too much of my life in dank, monster-infested dungeons, scavenging for food and weapons. And in videogames, too, although that’s another thing entirely. Delver is an early-in-development freeware attempt to blend the first-person, tactile real-time dungeon crawling experience of Ultima Underworld with modern roguelike design. It’s only in Alpha right now, but there’s a good bit of gameplay hiding under the simple, generic tileset art currently being used.

Unlike your average roguelike, Delver keeps its controls simple and minimalist. Your inventory is limited to an off-screen bag and a small hot-bar at the top of the screen, and a single button-press on the corresponding number of the box will equip or de-equip the item. There’s a definite quickfire, arcade edge to the design. The game is currently in development for Android and PC, and as it runs in Java, just about any PC with a Java interpreter should be able to run it.

It’s a fun little bit of adventuring already, and some folks have already produced alternate graphics packs to reduce the size of the pixels in the current build. You can find these mods-in-development over on this TIGSource forum thread, where the game is actively being discussed. I hope this project continues to grow – there’s something just pleasantly satisfying about holding the mouse to wind up for a harder swing that causes an enemy to explode into a cloud of blood particles. I dare say I want more.

You can grab Delver here and now.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Freeware Game Pick – ‘Delver’