Would-be testers can sign up for the Forge beta and learn more about the game at www.PlayForgeWar.com. There are 1000  beta slots available.

Via Forge | Pure Fun. Pure PvP

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Dark Vale Games Seeking 1000 Beta Testers for Forge

It might not be the most forward-thinking of genres, but a lot of studios want a slice of Starcraft’s sweet, sweet pie. Indian studio BlueGiant cut their teeth on the genre with the solid APOX, and are now shooting for the big leagues with an RTS called Tryst that looks strangely familiar. Far-future setting? Check. Three factions? Check. Very nostalgic UI? Check. A focus on micromanagement and unit special abilities? Check. Still, despite being fairly derivative-looking at first glance, Tryst may well be worth keeping an eye on for genre fans.

Set in the year 2381, and on a distant planet, Tryst tells the story (at least in the planned episodic campaign mode) of mankind – both rebel and government factions – and it’s war against their former allies, an alien machine-race called the Zali. The focus of the game seems firmly on multiplayer, though, with the developers boasting varied 8-player matches and AI capable of stepping in and reliably replacing players that drop out mid-match. It’s ambitious, and being a competitively-focused game, they’re knee-deep in playtesting in order to make it work. You can sign up for the closed Beta over on the official site.

To be fair, it doesn’t look quite that derivative. The devs seem to be boasting a more intimate, tactical game here, with smaller army sizes and more focus on individual unit’s skills, along with the ability to individually re-arm and re-equip your soldiers. Whether this becomes overly-fiddly micromanagement depends largely on just how well designed the game and UI are in general. The RTS genre is undeniably crowded, and competition is downright brutal. It’ll be interesting to see whether this indie entry will be able to make an impact when it launches.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – BlueGiant’s Sci-Fi RTS ‘Tryst’ Enters Closed Beta

Kiz Studios has announced that their free-to-play MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), SmashMuck Champions, will be entering closed beta on May 29th.

The arena has long been a place of ferocious battle, of death and decay, but SmashMuck Champions adds a bit of sparkle to such a symbolic battle pit. With a cartoon visage, 10 playable characters and four different game modes; SmashMuck Champions might be the best zero dollars you’ve ever spent. Yes, it’s free-to-play but it’s only in its beta stage at the moment and as such you’ll need a beta key if you want in on May 29th when players can have a bash at each other.

We’ve told you about the beta keys before so hopefully you already have one. If you don’t, then there are to be some giveaways over the next few days on MMOBomb, MMOSite, FreeToPlay and other sites so keep an eye out. If you want to get a better look at the game then you can peer through the CGI of the pre-beta trailer below and see some decent looking gameplay.

You can register for SmashMuck Champions and find out more information over on the game’s official website.

The closed beta has come to an end, the servers reset and the player feedback absorbed; now World of the Living Dead enters open beta. Come one, come all zombie-verse fans!The picture about may be a little deceiving if you don’t know anything about World of the Living Dead. The reason for that is because you’ll never really see a zombie in the game. I know that makes no sense initially, but come here and let me whisper the situation into your ear – we don’t want to give our position away!World of the Living Dead is an MMO survival strategy game, which features heavy resource management and decision making

This Article was originally posted on our sister site, The Indie Game Magazine written by Chris Priestman.