What better way to usher in the holiday season than to cover the snowy North Pole with elf blood!? I know it sounds a little off-balance, but do not worry! Indie developer Games Faction Ltd has submitted its upcoming title, Trigger Happy Christmas, to the Apple App Store. While it is expected that the game will be released on November 21, the second iPhone/iPod Touch title from Games Faction Ltd will be sure to excite fans (like me!) of Zombieville USA.

For only $0.99 at its release, you too can run around as Santa and set those pesky elves back to order. The familiar face of Rudolph will help you in your quest by supplying you with violent–ahem–”persuasive” goods. This includes flame throwers, rocket launchers, and I’m hoping chainsaws. Okay, the gore aspect of this really has me going, sorry! Trigger Happy Christmas will even contain Twitter/Facebook integration as well as Christmas eCards to send to your friends, so you can take a break from the process of brutally ending elf-lives. Interested? I’m sure you are!

Here’s a video of some gameplay footage after the break. If you’re itching for more info, check out the game’s website.

She’s a 78-year-old developer and they’re distributors, Marie Bila (aka Granny Coder) is ecstatic to see her iPhone/iPod Touch physics-based title, Gelex, come to fruition on the App Store with help from Handjoy. Within a few weeks, the puzzler–which, I might add, looks so goddamn addictive–will hit the App Store and wow match-3 fans everywhere. Your objective is to help physicist Alex destroy and vaporize Gelex, a matter which he has invented.

The game is very similar to Tetris and many traditional match-3 puzzlers, but its unique gaming physics offer character that has been unseen in other titles. Now, in its final stages of testing and development, Gelex will see a release sometime at the end of this year in December. Until then, Marie Bila left us a parting gift with this video.

I feel as if–mostly in the world of indie gaming–developers are working together rather than against one another. The same cannot be said for the commercial gaming industry because competition is at the heart of capitalism. However, independent developers understand the amount of soul that goes into each creation and seem to support one another vehemently. When two indie developers work together, it is imperative that their audience will win. By making note of this type of logic, Press Start Studio and Bulkypix are collaborating to bring us Twin Blades, a beat-em-up action game that will take place in a stylized 2D environment.

Players will go through–a familiar enemy–herds of zombies and violently slash them up! The game promises a variety of ranged weapons in addition to your powerful scythe. This is looking like a fantastic little Christmas gift (for yourself, of course…otherwise that’s pretty dickish of you to buy an app for Christmas for someone else). Check out this video after the break, it will only reaffirm what I have told you. What a damn great time to own an iPhone/iPod Touch!

Not too long ago, I reported that Ground Effect, gaming industry veteran Glenn Corpes’s foray into the world of iPhone/iPod Touch gaming, was not too far away. At the time, he had submitted it for approval. Well, the app has been approved! The title had been viciously compressed by Corpes to fit under the 10MB iTunes limit. At 7.5MB, Corpes is excited that this allows him 2.5MB to update as he chooses. By using the accelerometer, you navigate through 14 3D levels complete with their own topographical environments and obstacles, attempting to get from checkpoint to checkpoint as quickly as possible. Yes, I know, it sounds enticing! Here’s some of what you can expect:

• Free roaming – explore at will
• Choice of 10 Ground Effect craft
• Stunning terrains – courses over land and sea – spanning 70 km2
• Speeds of over 400 kmh
• Replay mode – take over and perfect your performance at any point
• Ghost race – race against your own fastest time
• Sensitive and intuitive flight controls
• In-game music by Diefenbach, or choose your own

At $3.99, this is looking like a promising title for the App Store.

The Voxel Agents certainly have an impressive resume. The Australian development team won the 2008 “48-hour Game Making Challenge” with the fascinating title Melonaut. Now, following in the footsteps of innovative games such as Flight Control and the recent Carcophony comes Train Conductor. The Voxel Agents’ new IP is exactly what it sounds like: control train tracks and make sure collisions do not occur. The title is upcoming for the iPhone and iPod Touch and the developers claim the playtesters are already addicted.

The game also apparently contains some twists as all the levels that you complete during the day turn haunted by night. Needless to say, I have no clue what this really means and am waiting to see just how this will work. As far as conducting trains in Australia, please give me the opportunity to do this ASAP!!

Video after the break.

In these modern times, it’s not unlikely to see many games that have developed a following on the PC being ported over to the App Store. The iPhone/iPod Touch has proven a formidable medium through which to distribute independent games. In fact, it has reached an overwhelming level of success. Because of this, anyone who owns Apple’s excellent products of modern technological advancement can savor the abundance of fascinating games available for the platforms. And what’s better than a game in which you maneuver through traffic and attempt to beat your high score repeatedly? I mean, isn’t that what we do daily, sans the high score?

Orb Games, another indie developer from Ukraine (seems Ukraine is a commonground for genius recently), released the Flash version of Kamikaze Race in January of 2009. Now with refined graphics, three unlockable cars, and nine achievements for players, Orb Games relishes in the popularity of its IP and offers a fresh take. I have to applaud their efforts, as the game looks astonishingly addictive.

Video after the break! You can get the game here.

That’s mainly what the characters in the game look like they’re saying when you’re burning them to bits…or eating them…or beating the crap out of the castles they’re in. Chaim Gingold is not a stranger to the gaming industry; he famously worked on Spore, mainly on the game’s Creature Creator but was also a key member for design elements of game. This is a developer who has often shown up to the Indie Game Jam.

Enter the iPhone: just the type of innovative technology that would complement Gingold’s true abilities. The result? Well, basically if I were to transfer this into a mathematical equation, it would look something like this: Chaim Gingold + iPhone = Earth Dragon (I believe in Chinese traditions this specific dragon represents “pure fuckin’ genius.”) Although the style and gameplay feel fresh, I believe there is room for improvement, so here’s the rundown.

The world of independent gaming knows no boundaries. Even from Prague in the Czech Republic, we have the development team of Rake In Grass–who have released more than 20 titles spanning across 5 platforms. If you enjoy RPGs and have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you’re in luck! There are those of us that like to try before we buy and considering Rake In Grass’s new RPG, Undercroft, is $4.99 it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Fortunately, Rake In Grass anticipated this and provided a Lite version.

Undercroft follows that classic story of most RPGs: partake in an adventure filled with monsters and magic. You control a party of adventurers and must investigate the rumors of an evil resurrected in the graveyard of Dolbrad. The game promises over 20 hours of gameplay, which for an iPhone RPG is quite impressive. Interested? Honestly, I freakin’ LOVE RPGs and I’m always ecstatic to game on my iPhone, so here’s that link to the app.

Undercroft‘s official website can be found here. Also, check out the game’s trailer.

Apple has sent an email out to developers announcing a big change in their rules on DLC and or in-app purchases that will certainly affect the way indie devs approach an iPhone release. Previously only applications that cost $0.99 minimum could release extra content, subscriptions and/or digital service as a post launch add-on to the title. Now they’re extending this courtesy to all free applications as well.

This will likely bring about a major shift in how the App store works. For one, it eliminates the need for a lite version of a game as a developer could simply release a reduced version of the game for free and those who are willing to pay for the full version will use in-app purchases to gain the rest of the content. Additionally, developers who already offer up their titles for free can now consider potentially creating extra content for their game at a later date and if it’s successful, potentially earning profit from it. Seemingly a huge benefit for indie developers and their approach to launching their work on the mobile platform.

One of the best Indie games we’ve played this year is packing up its’ stuff and moving into the iPhone. World of Goo, developed by 2dBoy, has decided to port their wonderful catch em, drag em, and build em game to Apple’s popular phone/gaming portal. Of course, this doesn’t come as too big of a surprise given the popularity of both the game, and the platform. Also, the game does seem to be a nice fit for the touch controls…

Anyways, I’m excited about this. There are always plenty of indie games on mobile platforms, but rarely do we see one with such polish and fun aesthetics. It’ll be a nice addition to an already overwhelming app store. Just don’t price it into oblivion…

No release date has been announced.

[via PocketGamer]