Deep in a dark room all you can hear is the puncturing sound of a heart melodically beat, over and over. Today I look at Save a game created for the Global Game Jam 2013 by TrueBlueCreature.

Save is a maze game in which you must navigate largely based on the sound of the heart. It’s an interesting idea and one I feel can work very well, however it did feel that Save had some issues with this method of navigation. The biggest problems came on the latter levels where the heart would beat you to the person but failed to take into consideration there where now teleporters.

The graphics choice being created in such a minimalistic manner is great and emphasises the character much more.  Although the colour pallet does feel a little bit grey the overall idea was a good choice, even if the colour pallet was not ideal in my mind.

Average play time – 10 minutes

Save is quite the innovative little game that adds a whole other level to puzzle games by changing the focus from visual clues to audio ones. It’s a great idea and one that with added time can be fleshed out a bit more and with the addition of power-ups and more varied levels Save could become a very interesting little game, maybe for mobile.

Check out Save’s GGJ2013 page and give it a go.

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 – ‘Save’ How A Bat Must Feel

Following on today with more Global Game Jam 2013 games I bring you Amidos Entertainment’s entry, Simple Love. Following the theme of a heartbeat Amidos takes the concept rather literally as you navigate around this maze by following the sound of a heart beating.

In my opinion the heartbeat idea is an interesting one. However in Simple Love the heart beating did feel a little over engineered as the maze was very straightforward, and short. I assume this comes down to the game being made in just 48 hours. But I think this concept could be elaborated on and worked into a game to revival secrets and such.

The art style was very nice, it was very minimalistic but suited the game perfectly – and I have a thing for minimalistic games. With a puzzle game that takes such a minimalistic approach there is always the problem of creating room after room of the same thing, luckily this was not the case here. The game progresses nicely and even though being a top down game Amidos introduces a jump mechanic that I personally quite enjoyed, it just added a nice extra challenge and worked surprisingly well.

One of the biggest weakness however comes from Amidos not being a native English speaker. This becomes ever more apparent with the text seen throughout the game which suffers from being written by a none native English speaker. It is because of this it falls short of being romantic, and even occasional borders on the creepy side. No doubt the game being done in such a blitz didn’t help this and I feel the writing suffers a little because of it.

Average play time – 5 Minutes

Simple Love is a charming little game that plays surprisingly well. Of course being created within 48 hours getting a game from a blank screen into a working model can be very challenging, however Simple Love feels rather good for a jam game. Of course there is still a fair amount of refinement to be done here and there but overall Simple Love is a solid entry into the competition.

You can play Simple Love on Newgrounds (or other sites), The Global Game Game 2013 page for the game can be found here and Amidos entertainment”s 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 – ‘Simple Love’ Jump For My Love

I finally managed to get around to playing the second instalment of The Tower, A highly atmospheric and original game from Narrow Monolith. I have been waiting to play this for sometime now, after enjoying the first instalment (previous article here) greatly, but being away at the Eurogamer Expo I had no time to play the new instalment.

The second instalment this time it takes place in the past with the aim of highlighting some of the developments that occurred prior to being shackled in this prison. Teleported back into Eliot’s former life on his farm, now seems alien from the harsh realities of The Tower.

This dynamic is commonly used in all forms of media and works as a great vessel to add depth to the narrative and the character overall, however I feel in The Tower it missed the mark. Going back to Eliot’s past life living and working on a farm in a very idyllic part of England, is a stark contrast from what we saw in the first installment of  The Tower. The setting is fantastic and really shows how Eliot’s life has changed in a heartbeat, using rich colours and fantastically lit environments the pallet choices are great and the scenery does look equally as fantastic.

It started off very interestingly, creating a big contrast in environments. From this leap back I expected to be washed over with a rich narrative of Eliot’s past life, his experiences and all manner of interesting points in his life. In actually I felt little character development actually occurred. The instalment felt more of a tech demo or stop gap episode rather than anything more meaningful, as you fulfill all manner of meaningless farm chores.

Eliot did not speak much at all, only providing a basic introduction to his farmhouse and a rather basic outro. The rest of the time spent in this dream was silent and monotonous, with little story actually being developed.

I felt a lot of the tasks took a very long time to complete and were rather boring and uninspired, I wouldn’t of minded having to do some basic tasks if Eliot would offer up more story whilst I did, but this didn’t happen. The tasks were capped off with you having to wait in silence whilst your food cooked again missing a key point to develop the character or narrative more. All these extended tasks, the long lengths of time waiting for your food to cook, felt just like Narrow Monolith where padding out this installment and I was very disappointed.

After the first Instalment which I found well paced with a very interesting narrative (although very short), coupled with some great ideas in the puzzles encountered. I expected the second installment to contain more of the same and a continuation in the narrative to really pull me into Elliot’s life. Narrow Monolith really did miss the mark with this installment, I am not sure what happened but it really could’ve been a great addition to the story. The vehicle for advancing the narrative was in place, I just felt it was overlooked sadly.

This instalment was not a bad addition, just it did not offer quite what I had expected. I still hold high hopes for the next instalment, as to me the story seems very engaging and I felt a little short came across this time.

The Tower is Available on Desura here, Narrow Monolith also have an Indiegogo here. I encourage anyone who has enjoyed the game to consider donating to Narrow Monolith as I am sure The Tower still has a lot to offer.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Delve Deeper Into ‘The Tower’ In The Second Instalment

This week I have been running down all the winners from the latest Ludum Dare. This week has seen many great games from the jam all of which have some great themes and ideas. The sheer volume of great content in the jam is always good to see and although there can only be one winner everyone who took part should be happy with the results. As always the title will link to the post and the image will like to the game.

Day 23 – X-0ut – Winner

A great space shooter that really brings back the old styled genre. Great retro gameplay with awesome music over the top. It has a very interesting evolution style that allows you to survive by increased damage and survivability. It is a fantastic fusion of retro with modern with great score attack gameplay making this a worthy winner.

Day 24 – Super Clew Land – Second place

A fantastic retro game that goes back to the golden age of Mario on the SNES, with fantastic colours and great sound effects this title is a very cute and fun little game. The evolution theme has been implemented in a very interesting way, using a mini game to create the correct protein blocks to evolve. It all works together very well as you evolve you can unlock new areas and eat new food to evolve. Very fun platformer that is a great vision of all the things that I have loved about the platform genre.

Day 25 – Death Death Evolution – Third place

Many of games generally use death as a negative, however in Death Death it is often the only way to beat the game. When you die you evolve to try and over come the problem that led to your death in the first place. This is a smart idea and it does make sense really, just it is not seen very often. The gameplay is solid and reminds me a lot of the Lion King one of the classic platforming games of yesteryear, and with a great graphics style overall the game plays great.

Day 26 – Porte Par Le Vent – Forth place

A very interesting title using checkpoints in this interesting flight simulation. The hardest part is the initial starting point in the school building however it gets easier as the game goes on. I love the way you evolve from a paper plane to an actual one over a series of unique levels. The only thing this game lacks is sound which has totally been missed, but I assume this was to allow for a much greater focus on the overall gameplay and level design. A great title with awesome graphics that really stand out from a lot of the competition.

Day 27 – Psychiatric Evaluation - Fifth place

A great journey through the ages of gaming starting in the great text based exploring world and evolving past the ASCII to actual graphics, the gameplay is very well thought out indeed. The puzzles are also great often requiring a lot of thought to complete and changing between the game modes. Although not a really long game the gameplay it offers is very fun and a unique experience.

This Ludum Dare has been filled with many great titles yet again and I am greatly looking forward to the challenge new month before the next Ludum Dare in December. If the last jam is anything to go by the future events will contain even great titles. I will be bring you an all new series of coffee break games to get you through the day starting 12 noon tomorrow.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Intermission Week 5 – LD24 Winners Sunday Round Up

Vitrum is a newly released game created by developer 9heads Games. You play as an android that has been created to have capabilities in converting energy from crystals into various powers. The android is able to absorb energy in either of his hands, which will allow him or you to take that energy and combine into different unique powers that you wouldn’t otherwise see on their own. In Vitrum, supposedly one of the most awesome powers you can use is the ability to invert gravity. This is because the player or “android” will be able to choose when and where to invert gravity along with the fact that the game is made in 3D. It makes for some really interesting gameplay and puzzles to solve.

Vitrum takes place in a desert laboratory full of different colored crystals that possess certain abilities. This way, some crystals are actually harmful to the android. In this laboratory, there are 45 different challenges. Some challenges are easy in the beginning, but as you go on it gets tougher and tougher until you think it’s completely impossible to beat. I’ll let the gameplay trailer explain it for me.

If you’re interested in trying out this madness and solving these insanely difficult stages in Vitrum, you can head on over the 9heads Games‘ official website for a free demo and a link to purchase the game. Vitrum has also been put on Steam Greenlight, and looks like it’s doing well so far. Hopefully we’ll officially see it on Steam soon here. For updates on Vitrum and all your other indie gaming needs, stay here with Indiegamemag.com.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Developer 9heads Games Releases ‘Vitrum’ With Mind-Boggling Puzzles

Psychiatric Evaluation is a quirky little title from ConflictiveLabs that used the evolution theme in a very unique and interesting manner in this game. Psychiatric Evaluation puts you in charge of a patient at a psychiatric hospital trying to progress through the level, although pretty much no story the game plays very innovatively.

The key element in Psychiatric Evaluation is the gameplay. It plays very interesting as you start off in text command, like the old adventure games of old and can be evolved into ASCII style to full graphic style. This evolution is done by talking to the doctors to regain some of your sanity, where talking to patients will cause you to drop sanity.

Psychiatric Evaluation plays very well and is a very clever little game where all the puzzles revolve around the use of this evolution/ devolution mechanic of the minds state. The graphics range from just text to full images and although nothing is that complex the graphics all look nice and are very functional.

The music is quite nice and works well with the game overall and although not massively varied the game is quite short and at least some audio was included, as this is normally neglected. The music comes in and goes as you evolve/ devolve which is in keeping greatly with the game and adds to the feel.

Average play time – 10 minutes

Psychiatric Evaluation is a great little title that really plays with the theme of evolution in a completely new and interesting manner. The puzzles seem a little difficult at times and not always intuitive, but with some commitment it is possible to get to the end quite easy.

Psychiatric Evaluation can be played here, and the original Ludum Dare page 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 27 – LD24 Fifth Place ‘Psychiatric Evaluation’

Robots are amazing these days. They’re not only compact, but quiet as well. So quiet that, despite having followed the development of this promising platformer since the early days, the release of Joyride Laborotories Nikki And The Robots last week went completely unnoticed by me, and that’s just sad. Maybe it’s the chunky, colourful sprites. Maybe it’s the fantastically bouncy chiptune music (seriously, it’s goooooood) and maybe it’s the fact that secret agent Nikki is planning on saving the world wearing her most kitty-tastic catsuit, but the whole package is just strangely loveable. Here’s a gameplay trailer featuring all of those things, and more than a few robots:

This is one of those releases where everyone wins. The game will run on just about any hardware that you can put it on, and there are Windows, Linux & Mac versions available. The game itself can be downloaded for free, and if you don’t pay a penny then you still have access to both the level-sharing hub and the level editor. If you think the game is actually worth some money, though, you can pay whatever you want (anything over 1 euro will get you Desura/Steam keys as and when the game reaches those platforms) to gain access to an official level set. Right now it’s just one episode, but there’s more coming in the future.

The game is fully DRM-free, a small download, has a built-in updater and (as mentioned above) there’s an integrated level-sharing hub. It’s a remarkably fleshed out package, so give it a try. For those still on the fence against all reason (if nothing else, you can play a large chunk of the game for free!), we’ll be giving it the full review treatment once we’ve conquered the occasionally-fiendish first episode.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Adorable Puzzle-Platformer ‘Nikki And The Robots’ Released As Pay-What-You-Want

Broken is a top down, 2D puzzle game being developed by G.R.N Studios. In the game you play as Jim, a man that suffers from a mental illness known as dissociative identity disorder. Jim stays in a mental hospital, but while he stays in this hospital, his mental identities break free and began to cause some crazy amounts of trouble within the facility. In Broken, you must navigate through the mental hospital simultaneously with your different alternate personalities (which, might I add, is pretty cool). So far, it’s really shaping up to be a really cool game, and to help fund it, the developers have even put up there game on Kickstarter, which I hope gets the funding it needs.

The Broken Kickstarter page goes into depth on what they will be using the money they are able to raise. Not only that, but G.R.N Studios has a pretty cool story about the company posted on there. The developers threw up a video of the game showing off what it’s all about. You can watch the embedded video below. The video is only 30 seconds long, but it gives you a pretty good idea of the game.

As you can see, it’s quite a unique style and you can also see that the game could potentially get really difficult when it comes to puzzles. Honestly, if anyone has ever played the original Portal challenge levels, I can imagine that this game could get that difficult. Whether they are aiming for that or not, I don’t know, but it would be pretty cool to have some extremely challenging aspects to the game. I’m personally a fan of puzzle games, and seeing the potential that Broken has, I seriously am getting pretty geeked out about it. Not only do the visuals look nice, but the concept they have produced in general is rather amazing and extremely creative.

If you want to support the G.R.N Studios team in getting this game developed, just head on over to Kickstarter and toss ‘em a few bucks. Hopefully we’ll see the title popup on Steam Greenlight eventually. I wouldn’t mind seeing a DRM-free version either.

Are you a fan top down 2D puzzles, or am I just nuts?

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Broken — A 2D Top Down Puzzler Looking For Kickstarter Funding

Soon after the release of Gateways on Steam, Desura and XBLIG, Smudged Cat Games’ hit title, The Adventures of Shuggy has been reduced down to a low price of $5 on both the PC and Xbox 360. The Adventures of Shuggy is a retro-styled 2D platformer widely known for its intuitive puzzles and many special abilities. The game is currently available through the developers website as well as the two digital platforms Steam and Desura. This price drop is perfect time as Smuged Cat Games is getting ready to add a new level pack to the game called, “Shuggy’s Teleporting Troubles” It should be released just in time for Halloween, so shelling out $5 for this fantastic game is really worth it.

We did a review onThe Adventures of Shuggy a couple of months ago and came to the conclusion that it was great and really worth the purchase. Overall the game was met with some really good reviews, also finding a great deal of joy to be had with Shuggy. The Adventures of Shuggy is available for both PC and the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade.  The cool thing about the PC variant of the game is that it is DRM free via Direct Download from Smudge Cats own website.

If you’re heavily into retro games and indie titles while also enjoying some fantastic puzzles, this game will not let you down whatsoever.

If you’re looking into purchasing this game, you can head over to Smudge Cats website to purchase it, or alternatively Steam or Desura.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘The Adventures Of Shuggy’ Price Reduced In Anticipation Of “Shuggy’s Teleporting Troubles”

Currently in development by Impromptu Games, InFlux is a meditative exploration and puzzle solving game. InFlux features vast levels of natural and abstract environments to explore, and with the ability to recline in your chair and utilize an Xbox 360 controller while doing so, InFlux should be on your radar.

As a metalic ball which fell from the sky, InFlux has players rolling around a seemingly abandoned island, solving the puzzles found encased in mysterious cubes scattered across the island. With no story or driving force to speak of, this allows players to relax and take their time exploring the lush island, rolling and bouncing along, checking out every cave and mountaintop for another puzzle to solve.

The video above showcases the island portions of InFlux, where players will roll around and look for new puzzles. The second video (below) shows off what exactly are in those cubes scattered over the island. The impressive visuals are product of the Unreal Development Kit.

InFlux is Impromptu Games’ second title, and a departure from their tongue-in-cheek Vroom! which Impromptu developed and released last year. Currently in development for PC , Mac, and iOS devices, InFlux is due out around the end of the year.

Help bring InFlux to Steam by voting for it in Steam Greenlight, here. The feedback has been largely positive but they still need your vote.

Follow the developer on Twitter: @joewintergreen and check back to IGM for updates, as they become available.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘InFlux’ Looks Like A Puzzle-Solving Ball of Fun