To end the week I thought I would pull yet another game from the Ludum Dare competition. I know I have covered this competition a lot lately but with all the awesome games that have been generated for it I feel this is completely justified.

Today’s game is EraserLand by Little_Polygon and it’s a rather interesting little experiment. The whole idea of EraserLand is to remove certain aspects of the screen to meet certain win conditions, which you find in a very trial and error manner as you wildly erase all manner of things before finding the true way to win the level.

Although a very short game and a game that often feels like it lacks direction the idea is very nice, and something rather different. The style and gameplay really make for a very fascinating game from start to finish.

Average play time – 5 minutes

EraserLand is a very well thought out game that brings about some rather novel puzzles and some even more creative solutions to the game. In many ways it’s great to see a minimalistic game encourage even more minimalism by making it the main mechanic for the game.

EraserLand can be played online for free. If you would like to find out more or even download an offline version be sure to head to the Ludum Dare site.

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 – ‘EraserLand’ Sometimes Less Is More

Krillbite Studio’s Among The Sleep has been attracting attention since it first started development back in 2011, when it was announced as the winner of both the Norwegian Game Awards Hype and the Hamar Game Challenge. Currently under development for the PC and Mac (with Oculus Rift support in the works), the game will be Krillbite’s second official release following the freeware experimental game The Plan, which was completed and published back in February.

Put simply, Among the Sleep is a first-person horror adventure game in which you explore a world somewhere between reality and dreaming as a two-year-old. Going deeper (because, with dreams, you always have to go deeper), it’s a game about vulnerability, perspective, imagination, and the things that go bump in the night. Simple tasks like opening doors or navigating through clutter become difficult obstacles, and ordinary, everyday objects and hallways are transformed into strange, otherworldly landscapes full of terrifying unknowns. Self-defense, of course, is out of the question; hiding, or crawling/tottering away quickly, are your only options should something scary find you.

The game begins with a lullaby, your mother’s sweet voice singing you to sleep as you struggle to keep your eyes open. But as the melody fades, it becomes increasingly clear that something is not right. Teddy bears, for instance, do not simply slide up and out of cribs and across the floor by themselves like something out of Paranormal Activity. Gameplay begins when the crib is tipped onto its side and you find yourself rudely tossed out of slumber-land and back into your room, which doesn’t seem so welcoming in the middle of – you guessed it – a dark and stormy night. The door creaks open, threatening and yet inviting at the same time, tempting you to face your fears and discover what’s lurking beyond the threshold.

Anomaly 2 is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Anomaly: Warzone Earth. Maintaining the core elements of the original, Anomaly 2 adds new features to the single-player campaign and puts player’s skills to a test in a completely unique experience: the tower defense vs. tower offense multiplayer mode!

Anomaly 2
Steam

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Created by Zephyr Moore

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Source: The Indie Game Magazine – IGM Let’s Try- ‘Anomaly 2′

Today’s pick of the web is a rather interesting roller-coaster designer that goes by the name of PaperCoaster. PaperCoaster was created by Elisée the whole idea is to create a roller-coaster which both scores you a good score whilst functioning.

PaperCoaster is a game of two halves as you must first draw the roller-coaster on the paper and then run it in real-time to ensure it works correctly. The drawing stage does take sometime to get use to, but after you get the hang of it the idea is rather straight forward.

The next stage where you must test the coaster is a little bit more difficult as you quickly begin to see flaws in your design as you try time and time again to get your coaster to the finish intact.

The concept is genius and brings about many very straightforward ideas which when put together make for a very fun game.

Average play time – 15 minutes

PaperCoaster is of such a high standard that it’s hard to believe this was designed in just a weekend. It’s a game with a great deal of potential and with some added development I could see this taking prime position on mobile devices, as the controls are very simple I feel it would be suited well to touch devices.

Of course the mobile version would need more levels and the ability for users to create and share their maps with others. Be sure to download PaperCoaster now and see what you think.

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 – ‘PaperCoaster’ Sometimes The Theory Is Different To The Reality

The Unmechanical Team is proud to announce that their game, Unmechanical, has sold over 100,000 copies since its release, last August.

To celebrate this milestone, the team has made room for a number of promotions.

Currently, Unmechanical is being promoted on Indie Game Stand, for a pay-what-you-want price. With a little less than two days left, buyers can get Unmechanical at whatever price they feel is fair. Buyers who beat the average (currently $1.24) will get the game’s original soundtrack and two unique early-build prototypes.

A more permanent discount comes in the form of Unmechanical Begins, an iOS exclusive version that is broken into four parts. Players can download and try the first chapter absolutely free, and if interested, can opt to pay $.99 for the remaining chapters.

Unmechanical is a puzzle platformer that features over thirty logic/physics/memory-based puzzles. We previously reviewed Unmechanical, and gave it a 70%, enjoying its challenging puzzles, dark atmosphere and soundtrack, but finding fault in the game’s lack of story direction, overall length (too short), and some physics-based bugs.

From the review: …despite its flaws, Unmechanical is worthy of a night of gaming. No, it will not have you yearning for another playthrough, but it is a pure puzzle game. Those riddles are coupled with an outstanding soundtrack and awe-inspiring visuals, and if you can overlook the flaws and focus on the ideas you are in for a great experience, because most important is that the game is enjoyable, even if it is not motivational.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Unmechanical’ Sells 100,000 Copies, Celebrates With Sales

Just a quick announcement to let you know that The Indie Game Magazine  is now available through Google Currents!

Search for us there!

To learn more about Google Currents, visit the official website. Apps available for both Android and iOS devices.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The Indie Game Magazine Now Available On Google Currents

Memory of a Broken Dimension is an exploration based, otherworldly adventure through the visual representation of a damaged computer system. The player attempts to realign aspects of this virtual world in order to allow further advancement through the broken landscape.

What makes Ludum Dare special, indie RPG combat mechanics and abandonware on today’s Indie Links.

Indie Corner (RPGamer)
“Greetings, and welcome to the newest RPGamer column, Indie Corner. This is not a weekly column, but will instead be a sporadic look at the indie RPG development scene. And again, it’s not a typical column. Instead of directly reporting about indie RPGs, we’ll be bringing in the actual creators to talk about development and other aspects of the RPG scene. Interviews, in-depth discussion, talk of inspiration, and other editorial content directly from indie devs will be highlighted here. To start things off, we’ve gotten a few RPG devs to share how they feel about combat and battle systems. We talk about the most important aspects of a battle system, their inspirations, and what combat pitfalls they most worry about falling into and how best to avoid them. Today, we talk with AckkStudios, Sinister Design, Breadbrothers Games, Muteki Corporation, Zeboyd Games, Eden Industries, and Experimental Gamer.”

Surgeon Simulator 2013: death in your hands (VG247)
“Surgeon Simulator 2013 is a strange, almost morbid game that proves VG247′s Dave Cook should never be trusted with a person’s life under any circumstances. Get disturbed here.”

Unfinished Business: Super Hexagon creator reveals his abandonware (Joystiq)
“This Vine represents eight of VVVVVV and Super Hexagon creator Terry Cavanagh’s unfinished projects – the first of three like it recently posted to the game designer’s Twitter account.”

Thomas Was Alone review: Mastering the inverted fall (Joystiq)
“On the surface, Thomas Was Alone appears unremarkable. It breaks platforming mechanics down to their most basic levels, quite literally, replacing characters with colored rectangles and environments with precarious arrangements of black rectangles. To reiterate: Thomas Was Alone is a platformer starring a cast of little, colored blocks.”

Indie Pleas: Indie game crowd funding roundup for April 26, 2013 (IndiePub)
“This week’s Indie Pleas include: A.N.N.E., a metroidvania pixel art adventure; Rex Rocket, a retro sci-fi adventure; My Temple, a fun iOS fitness game; and Ghost of a Tale, where you play as a mouse in a medieval world.”

Andy Schatz talks Monaco’s delay and fan reactions (Edge)
“Last week, Andy Schatz, founder of Pocketwatch games, found a bug in the Xbox 360 build of his game Monaco that caused players to consistently get dropped from multiplayer matches. As a result, he decided to delay its release mere hours before it was slated to come out. We talked to him about the aftermath and how player reaction shapes his development process.”

Piracy or baiting? The thorny legal question of Game Dev Tycoon’s honeypot (Ars Technica)
“Earlier this week, the developers at Greenheart Games distributed a crippled version of its new game Game Dev Tycoon disguised as a “cracked” version of the full game. The little Internet experiment served as an ironic and humorous poke at software pirates and a smart way to call attention to the challenges indie developers face with piracy.”

Here’s what makes Ludum Dare so special (Gamasutra)
“Whether you’re an indie developer or not, you’ll likely have heard of the Ludum Dare 48-hour competition and game jam. Three times a year, hundreds of developers come together online to create games based on a set theme over a single weekend, and subsequently vote for a winner in the weeks after.”

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Links Round-Up: Grandfather Clock