Links this evening has some clarification with all the big news swirling around following the premiere of Indie Game: The Movie at Sundance last week. Plenty of new for/from developers, game picks, and of course the usual round of interviews.

Links this weekend has a a few notable news bites (along with the standard batch of new interviews and suggestions for games to check out) including the passing of game designer and musician Bill “Phosphorus” Sears, a man described as a great ally in the indie game effort.

Today’s links have word on a couple of upcoming indie jams and events, a few titles we ought to be investing a bit of time in, and some fine interviews.

Links this week has some cathartic responses to the recent IGF finalist announcements, and behind those are some hidden gems to look into, a few excellent interviews, and more news from around the indie globe.

I’m (supposedly) going to have the time to hang around here much more the next month. So I’ve decided to try something that’s probably pretty stupid for several reasons: I’ll be attempting to play 60 different games (some of which have been sitting in my queue for quite a while), and then subsequently write about them as previews, reviews, impressions, etc. here and on my other landings. The catch is I have to have the final game played/article published before we hit 2012. Can I do it? I sincerely doubt it, but I owe a lot of good devs a look at their respective games and can’t think of a better way to go about it than make something both over-glorified and self-initiated I can latch onto when sanity starts to slip.*

The Indie Links are strong this time around, with several nuggets of hand plucked joy from all over the web to take in. Featured today are new reviews, interviews, and editorials on games such as Amnesia, Eufloria, Cortex Command, and more.

Interviews, reviews, discoveries, and more on today’s Indie Links. Music and culture included, as if there was ever any doubt.

Void Gaze, A Text Adventure By The Man Known As Nullsleep (Game, Set, Watch)
“Most know Jeremiah Johnson by his stage name, Nullsleep, and his work in the field of chiptunes. But some many be surprised to discover that his penchant for coldly calculated deconstruction, coupled with a burning passion for mass-destruction, is not purely contained to the aural spectrum.”

Round-Up: Indie Video Game OSTs on BandCamp (Indiegames.com)
“After putting up a post about Jasper Byrne’s Soul Brother OST (Go buy it and go support the making of a brilliant game and the brilliance of an existing game!), I immediately found myself being reminded that there were plenty of other soundtracks floating out there too. Some of these gems have received extensive coverage both here and elsewhere while others have received significantly less attention. Obviously, the latter needed to be corrected.”

A Brief Look At Berlin’s Caffeine Filled Indie Game Jam (Game, Set, Watch)
“Not only do game jams happen all over the place, their specific locations vary greatly as well. Take the Berlin Indie Game Jam for example. The four day long event, which consists of three hour long development contests and talks from esteemed colleagues, all happens at café in the Mitte district.”

Impressions: Ruins (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
“Cardboard Computer, the indie developer behind A House In California, has created Ruins, a short, desolate game in which you play a dog. Chasing some rabbits. But there’s a little more to it than that.”

Interview: Molleindustria On Phone Story’s ‘Objectionable’ Message (Gamasutra)
“Gamasutra talks to Molleindustria about Phone Story, the hardware industry critique that’s been pulled from the App Store — and about the culture of complacency that surrounds mobile game development.”

Wroom (PixelProspector)
“Wroom is some sort of racing platformer mix with physics for up to 4 players.”

Eufloria (PS3) review (Shacknews)
“Eufloria is a game about spreading the beauty of nature in a real-time strategy (RTS) setting. It found success as a PC title and is now attempting to translate that same appeal to PSN. For the most part, Eufloria remains an enjoyable experience, though there are some aspects of the game that come across awkwardly in its new console iteration.”

Interview: Jeff Rosen of the Humble Indie Bundles (Destructoid)
“It surprised me when I realized the first Humble Indie Bundle was only released in May 2010, just under 18 months ago; it seemed to be part of indie gaming’s rapid ascent in popularity over the last few years. The first Bundle was a collection of some of the best indie titles around — World of Goo, Penumbra: Overture, Aquaria, Gish, and Lugaru (eventually Samorost 2 was added as well) — and gamers were encouraged to pay what they wanted, with some of the proceeds going to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play, in addition to the developers themselves.”

Knights of the Chalice (TIGSource)
“Knights of the Chalice, by Heroic Fantasy Games… that almost says it all, really. Released in 2009, this tactical RPG won a cult following for its close adherence to Dungeons & Dragons rules (the game uses the d20 Open Gaming License), the strength of its artificial intelligence, and its high level of difficulty. Despite its rough presentation (which is rather charming, actually), the game’s interface is actually quite easy to use, putting the burden of success squarely on the player’s heavily-armored shoulders.”

The Last and Final Word: Noonat (Quote Unquote)
“After some convincing from his friends, Noonat quit his job to join GameClay. Now he faces another challenge: how do you keep the fun in and the grind out of game development when you can’t choose your own hours.”

Indie Links are here once again bringing interviews, previews, and other news around the net relating to indies both familiar and strange.

Be Heartening: A Bastion Interview (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
“Artful dungeon-crawler Bastion charmed us with its strange world, solid combat mechanics, and elegant narration. John loved it. It even inspired Alec to a big old cleverthink. I decided to have a chat with Greg Kasavin, creative director and writer on the project, to find out a bit more about how Bastion came to be, and what the future holds.”

Recall (PixelProspector)
“Recall is an upcoming first person puzzler with a time-rewinding feature. The video gets pretty interesting at around 2:00 min when the character encounters a tower of blocks.”

The Indie Pitch: City Tuesday (Joystiq)
“This week, Chris Zukowski asks the tough questions about free will, terrorism and beards with his artistically charged indie (which was featured in the Xbox Live Indie Games Summer Uprising), City Tuesday.”

Interview: How GAMBIT’s A Closed World Tackles Sexuality, Identity (Gamasutra)
“One common criticism of video games — often levied by those most passionate about them — is that the range of experiences they represent is too narrow. These players are tired of games that all seem to tell the story of the archetypal, male bald space marine, and are looking for more diversity on the frontiers of gender, race and sexual identity.”

Q&A: David Lloyd & Larry Oji of OverClocked ReMix (IndieGames.com)
“During last month’s Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, David Lloyd and Larry Oji took part in two panels: on the subjects of videogame music influencing mainstream culture and the operation of their online game arrangement community OverClocked ReMix. For more than ten years OCR has been posting submissions and organizing free compilations of game remixes. We caught up with the founder and head submissions evaluator to hear how more recently the website has become involved in publishing indie game soundtracks.”

Fez delayed (again) to early 2012 (Joystiq)
“Fish just tweeted, buried in between parentheses of what we can only assume to be shame, that the game’s been delayed yet again. It won’t be out until at least 2012.”

Interview: The Shifting Saga Of Sound Shapes (Gamasutra)
“It took four years for Everyday Shooter developer Jon Mak to get his next game, Sound Shapes up and running — but it’s shaping up to be one of the PlayStation Vita’s most anticipated titles, and he discusses it inside.”

Max and the Magic Marker dated for PS3 (Shacknews)
“The upgraded Gold Edition of Max and the Magic Marker will hit the PlayStation Network on September 28 in Europe, and October 18 in North America. Developer Press Play announced the release date plans today, following the recent announcement of the port.”

New Patches for King Arthur’s Gold (IndieDB)
“We’re releasing quick patches every day now because we’re ironing everything out before the next major builds that will bring some awesome new stuff like a bomb workshop and coins!”

And A Bunch Of Other Random Indie Bits (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

IndieCade seems to grow in popularity every year, this time around you could just feel the pull of the event from travelers far and locals alike. The press presence was much more noticeable this year as well, especially around the Game Walk.

Below is all the coverage I’ve been able to dig up of those who’ve provided some coverage from the event this past weekend. We still have a ways to go on our coverage from the festivities, so check back here all week for new previews, interviews, and video footage from all the panels and hands-on sessions we were able to fit in.

IndieCade: Inside Jonathan Blow’s Puzzle Design Process (Gamasutra)
“At this weekend’s IndieCade, Braid developer Jonathan Blow expanded upon his “philosophy of game design” he originally presented at GDC Europe, discussing how it works in concrete terms for puzzle design in Braid and his upcoming puzzle title, The Witness.”

IndieCade 2011: Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn misconceptions (Joystiq)
“Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure may be one of the weirdest anomalies in gaming lately — it’s a LucasArts-style point-and-click adventure game that was actually designed by someone who wasn’t even alive when any of those games were released. 5-year-old Cassie Creighton designed the game with her father, Ryan, at a Toronto game jam, and when it was published online, it started spreading like wildfire around the blogs and Twitter accounts of game developers and fans, leading all the way up to its current status as a finalist at this weekend’s IndieCade Festival.”

Indie Jeff’s Guide to IndieCade 2011 (Shacknews)
“If you haven’t been before, when you first get to IndieCade, it won’t likely be what you’re expecting–but in a good way. One of the festival’s primary venues is in the Culver City Firehouse, another is in an art gallery within walking distance.”

IndieCade 2011 – Friday October 7 – A Photo Diary (IndieGameReviewer)
“An amazing day of panels, games, art and outdoor antics ended with the Game Jam at IndieCade village. Housed under tents and lit by the glow of projected laptops, some twenty young developers stood before the assembled, chilled by the cooling autumn weather, and presented their games in 110 seconds or less.”

More Game Coverage From IndieCade 2011 – Saturday October 8th (IndieGameReviewer)
” Today we spent less time in the conference rooms and more time checking out the games on display around the various locations in Culver City. It was great to see developer Jesse Vigil sitting at a table with several guests playing a round of his paper-and-dice board game Application Crunch that makes the process of applying to and deciding which College to attend into a parlor game.”

Tidbits from IndieCade (The Behemoth Devblog)
“How are you fellow Behemothians Pretty swell over here! I discovered a little event called IndieCade in Culver City (a city within the city of Los Angeles, CA) this past weekend. It’s an International Festival of Independent Games that’s focused on games that you wouldn’t see just anywhere. Packed full of game developers with a passion for creation, competitions, conference sessions, demos and general enthusiasts…it’s quite amazing to see everyone come together for the love of gaming.”

IndieCade Awards And Alternatives (RPS)
“I spent the weekend in a haunted watermill, which was pleasant and all, but I would rather have been at the Indiecade festival, battling inanely with invisible weaponry and rearranging boxes with strangers. The whole thing is done with now and that means it’s time for me to take a look at the winners, some of which I’ll cast no more than a sidelong glance at because they aren’t coming to PC. Last time I spoke about IndieCade I named my pick of the entrants as Proteus. Read on to see if the judges paid attention to my words and for a PC-centric awards ceremony of our very own.”

IndieCade 2011: What Brings You Here? (IndieGames.com)
“We caught up with independent game developers from Facepalm Games, Metanet Software, thatgamecompany, Kokoromi and Distractionware to hear what brings them to the IndieCade independent games festival in Culver City, California.”

IndieCade: Canabalt’s Adam Saltsman’s Pursuit of the Infinite (Gamasutra)
“As part of IndieCade in Culver City, CA, Semi Secret Software’s Adam Saltsman (Canabalt) discussed his “exploration and pursuit of the infinite” through his game and game tool development.”

IndieCade Day 1 — IndieCade Day 2 — IndieCade Day 3 (Gabotron)*
“Indie Cade is a conference and festival in beautiful Culver City, that is focused on the world of independent video games. Game makers from all walks of life come together to learn from and get inspired by each other. This year I decide to take notes in each of the sessions. It was a challenge, and I was a bit nervous, but it was a lot of fun and very rewarding.”

IndieCade 2011: Tom Sennett cares about Deepak Fights Robots (Joystiq)
“When Tom Sennett stepped on stage to pick up the Game Design award at this year’s IndieCade, his entire speech suggested strongly that he doesn’t, um, really care. But here’s his secret: He actually does. “I take the work very seriously,” he said. When it comes to Deepak Fights Robots (currently available on Mac, Windows and Linux), Sennett actually cares very much.”

IndieCade 2011: Award winners and inventive cooperation (Shacknews)
“One of the best things about this year’s IndieCade is the particularly wide assortment of incredibly innovative cooperative experiences. Given that all those in attendance love videogames–or at the very least, have a healthy curiosity–an enthusiastic collaborator is always in within arm’s reach.”

IndieCade 2011: The Takeaway (IndieGames.com)
“On the final day of IndieCade 2011, we spent time with independent game developers from LoadComplete, the Copenhagen Game Collective, Pixeljam and Haunted Temple Studios to hear what they will take away from the festival in Culver City, California.”

Hands-On/Previews

IndieCade 2011: Desktop Dungeons’ inspiration, past, and future (Joystiq)
“If you enjoy PC games, especially action RPGs like Diablo, but you’ve never once played Nethack, you probably should. No, seriously — go, right now, download it, and check it out. Sure, it’s hard, not very accessible (there are no graphics, only ASCII symbols to represent the player, items, and monsters), and enormously complicated. But it’s also essentially the root of the “roguelike” genre (named after a game called Rogue), featuring random dungeons with dozens of levels, exciting turn-based combat, and plenty of unpredictable magic. Desktop Dungeons is a game that continues in that tradition, though with one important twist: While Nethack, Rogue, and all of the other roguelikes take place over huge dungeons with multiple levels and lots of complexity, Desktop Dungeons champions simplicity… And it’s glorious.”

The Indie Fix: IndieCade Review of Games (BnBGaming)
“I spent the whole day at IndieCade yesterday, the annual indie gaming festival/awards… thing, and while I was there, I played the bulk of this year’s finalists. Before going on, I’d like to say that every game I played was impressive in at least one way or another, if not an all-around innovative, inspirational, or downright awesome experience. These games, and their respective developers, all deserved to be there, and each was a pleasure to experience.”

IndieCade Day 1 — Shadow Physics, Hohokum, BasketBelle (Shacknews)
“The first day of IndieCade found developers setting up their booths and getting their games ready for attendees to play this weekend. While several were still getting settled in, I was still able to get some play time in with a number of the festival’s games. I tried out demos of Honeyslug’s Hohokum , Michael Mollinari’s BasketBelle, GAMBIT Singapore’s Improviso , and SCAD USA/Hong Kong’s tabletop game Black Bottom Parade.”

IndieCade 2011: Molding The Swapper out of clay (Joystiq)
“The Swapper is one of IndieCade’s most fascinating finalists this year. While the trailer will definitely pique your interest about the title (it features some really interesting “create-a-clone” gameplay — more on that in a bit), what’s most incredible about this one isn’t how it looks or plays. It’s how it was made.”

IndieCade 2011: Johann Sebastian Joust (Shacknews)
“Copenhagen Game Collective is not known for creating conventional games. They’re constantly thinking outside the box, looking for different, more exciting ways to utilize the gaming hardware at their disposal. Last year, CGC enthralled many IndieCade 2010 attendees with their oddball contribution, B.U.T.T.O.N. (Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now), and took home the Wild Card award, as a result. This year, CGC brought another bizarre and creative game to IndieCade 2011 called Johann Sebastian Joust.”

*Those notes are amazing! Gabotron is awesome.

Various projects kept me awfully busy these past three months. They’re fantastic stuff to work on, but it hurts not being around here all the time anymore. For here resides my favorite place to share what I or others have found in the limitless indie games toy chest.

Let’s resume Indie Links and get it back to form as if it never took that awful hiatus.

Hooray For The Indie Games Arcade Winner! (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
“If you were lucky enough to be among the gaming hordes at the Eurogamer Expo you might have noticed a booth with “PC Gaming Since 1873″ emblazoned upon it. Inside are twelve games. Some of them are even PC games! We saw them. We judged them.”

The IGF is Broken (#AltDevBlogADay)
“The Independent Games Festival is broken and needs to be fixed. To my knowledge it is the only respected award of any industry that is given to something that is not only unfinished but may be unfinished for years. That is absurd and the submission requirements should change.”

Interview: The Stanley Parable developer Davey Wreden (Shacknews)
Developer Davey Wreden made quite a few waves in the indie gaming pond with the relatively recent release of his free, narrative-driven adventure, The Stanley Parable. Built using Valve’s Source SDK, The Stanley Parable effectively plays with pre-established conventions when it comes to storytelling, and raises some thought-provoking questions about game design in general.

Indievania doesn’t want your dirty, stinkin’ money, but its indie devs might (Joystiq)
“Indie-game developer Lee Vermeulen began Indievania with a dream, a dog and a 9 percent rate for hosting indie games — now his dream is coming true, the 9 percent rate has transformed to 0 percent and the dog has mutated into a dashing young prince (OK, maybe we lied about the dog). Just as magical though, Indievania doesn’t keep any of the money developers charge for their games, which is exactly how Vermeulen wanted his site to operate.”

The Last and Final Word: David Shute (Quote Unquote)
“David Shute showed his immense promise as an independent videogame developer by winning the JayisGames Casual Gameplay Design Competition #6 with Small Worlds.”

8-Bit Night (Pixel Prospector)
“8-Bit Night is a pretty clever puzzle platformer with a fresh swapping mechanic that allows you to turn the world around you vertically and horizontally. In the game you control 2 guys at once (the main character and his phantom counterpart) with the goal to collect all golden pixels on the screen.”

Interview: Lifeless Planet’s David Board Bursts Onto Indie Scene (GameSetWatch)
“Who says that an indie developer needs to build up a presence in the scene before they can truly capture the imaginations and hearts of the close-knit community? Sometimes an indie title fires out of the blue, instantly grabbing the limelight and building up unfathomable intrigue.”

Indie Jeff’s Weekly Picks: September 26-30 (Shacknews)
“I’d like to kick things off this week by recommending one of this year’s IndieCade finalists, called Loop Raccord (see top image). Developed by Plural Games (Nicolai Troshinsky), it’s a game centered around manipulating a number of brief (and completely disparate) video clips in such a way that the action from one flows seamlessly into the next.”

Interview: Soldat’s Marcinkowski On Why Alpha Funding Will Save The Games Industry (IndieGames.com)
“How many games do you know that still have an active player base nearly 10 years after the original release? How many of those originally had just one developer? Polish 2D side-scrolling multiplayer shooter Soldat was released in August 2002, and still now receives updates to keep its fanbase happy.”

T-17 Tanky (TIGSource)
“As our column of tanks rushed down a hill towards an enemy column, one of my fellow tank commanders – apparently a raven wearing a top hat – screamed, “Kill them all!” That was the moment I decided that T-17 Tanky was a game for me.”