Today’s round-up includes Interactive Fiction awards, Guacamelee sales news and the current state of the PS Vita.

As Vita languishes, why is Sony still gunning for indies? (Gamasutra)
“Gamasutra’s UK editor Mike Rose ponders the larger role of his beloved PlayStation Vita in this opinion piece.”

This Game Looks Quiet, Beautiful, And Absolutely Fascinating (Kotaku)
“This is The Novelist, an upcoming indie game by veteran designer Kent Hudson. It looks kind of amazing.”

Monaco developers wanted to add competitive Cops and Robbers, Thief vs. Thief modes (Polygon)
“The developers of Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine wanted to include two competitive multiplayer modes in the game but cut them because of issues with balance and quality, said creator Andy Schatz in a Reddit AMA.”

Guacamelee dominates April’s PSN charts in US and Europe (Joystiq)
“Sony reports that DrinkBox Studios’ side-scrolling luchador brawler Guacamelee emerged as last month’s biggest seller on the PlayStation Network, topping the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita sales charts in North America and Europe.”

The Monastery (Indie Gamer Chick)
“Yea, I know. The game is called “the monastery” in one of those strange cases where capitalization is denied. There’s irony in that, because the developers didn’t capitalize on solid 3D graphics to create something worth playing.”

Steve Gaynor On The Weirdness Of Gone Home (RPS)
“There’s a weird tension to Gone Home. On the one hand it should be the most normal thing in the world: an American household. On the other, well, it’s unusual for games to try and tell stories about everyday lives. But that’s precisely what it does, and that’s just part of what makes it so beautifully weird. I met Fullbright’s project lead, Steve Gaynor, and talked about that. This is how we got on.”

Live Free, Play Hard: Princess + Bomb = Cake (RPS)
“Princess + bomb = cake. Wasteland baseball brutality. Endangered hypertext preserve.”

IF News: The XYZZY Awards (and context) (IndieGames.com)
“The voting is over, the champagne corks have been swept out of the auditorium. (It’s a MUD auditorium, sweeping is quick.) The winners of the IF community’s annual awards for best interactive fiction of 2012…”

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Links Round-Up: Aesthetically Pleasing

It’s been a while since I last talked about ZED Absolution (ZED). It turns out the guys over at Zombie Killers have been working tirelessly on ZED and there has been some big developments.

ZED is a top down gauntlet shooter that takes inspiration from such classics as Smash TV and Robotron 2048, updating this model and bringing it to us in an all new fast paced HD and 3D format, that’s right ZED will support the Oculus Rift.

It seems ZED is getting close to the beta stage, but before the game can reach its completion Zombie Killer will be looking for some additional funding to move ZED over the line. They hope to obtain a little extra funding through the games pre-orders that offer four different packages to suit your every need and range from $15 to $45. Alongside the game you can also buy a rather nice ZED poster to put up and show your support in the real world.

In addition to the pre-orders Zombie Killers are looking to start-up a Kickstarter campaign in the hopes of raising the required capital to finish the game, and maybe implement some of the teams more ambitious ideas. Like any Kickstarter expect to see some rather great physical rewards from soundtracks to models so stay tuned for the launch.

If you would like to find out more about ZED be sure to head over to the all new ZED homepage for additional information about the game. ZED is also looking for additional up-votes on Steam’s Greenlight service, so if you would like to see ZED on Steam be sure to up-vote.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘ZED Absolution’ Gears Up For Fund Raising And Beta

A new platform of crowdsourcing games has emerged in Europe with ambitions of breaking into the market so firmly controlled by Kickstarter. Gamesplanet Lab is a join venture between the already well established companies Gamesplanet and Ullule. The former has offered on demand games to the public with its now well established Gamesplanet distribution platform, and the latter Ullule is already a well established crowdsourcing platform in europe.

It is hoped that Gamesplanet Lab will prove healthy competition for Kickstarter as they are working on the principles of both companies involved in Gamesplanet Lab contain commendable track records in the field of digital distribution and crowdsourcing, so when combined it will allow for projects to be delivered to the public in a highly effective manner. As Kickstarter does not have a distribution platform with at present the developers distributing their own products which can prove challenging for new companies, so it is hoped that Gamesplanet Lab will remove this headache.

Gamesplanet Lab also state that they hope this new venture surpass a mere platform for crowdsourcing but becomes a full environment dedicated to the video game universe. In most crowdsourcing ventures the responsibility of delivering rewards is all down to the project holders, this leaves the backers to bear all of the risks. Gamesplant Lab hopes to move away from this model and start to implement a few quality measures to assure the backers they will indeed receive a high quality product at the end.

Gamesplanet Lab looks to be an interesting new competitor for Kickstarter and only time will tell how successful they become. With titles from 3AM (ex Frogware Team who developed Sherlock Holmes), Pendulo Studios (well established developers in point & clicks with Runaway/ The Next Big Thing) and even the potential for a french studio famous in the RTS genre to join it is anyways bet how well this venture will go.

Gamesplanet Lab can be found here and although it is still early days this new venture looks promising and very interesting. For all the latest news as it breaks be sure to check back to The Indie Games Magazine.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Gamesplanet Lab’ Europe’s Answer to Kickstarter

Developers Nemesys have announced that Knight Fortix 2, the handheld spin-off of its popular PC classic, Fortix 2, will be released in North America as a PSN Mini via the Playstation Store on Tuesday 8th May.

The game, already released in Europe, will be cross-compatible with both the Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable consoles, allowing players to play either on a big living room screen or on the move. Described by the developers as as cross between Qix and a “backwards turret defense game,” in which you play as the poor sod having to fend off enemy sentries and snipers, Knight Fortix 2 is based around the concept of conquering territory in order to lift a curse placed on the landscape by Xitrof, an evil dark wizard.

Knight Fortix 2 boasts thirty levels set in four different geographical environments, each of which are designed to test the player’s tactical awareness and physical reflexes. Skilled players will also be able to try their hand at some mightily taxing difficulty modes, including the aptly named ‘Impossible Mode,’ which ought to both delight and frustrate punishment gluttons in equal measure.

For more information on Knight Fortix 2, check out Nemesys’ official website.

After much commotion and nail biting, Ronimo have successfully released their MOBA game, Awesomenauts, on to both PSN and XBLA in all planned regions.

Some people’s first reaction to MOBA is “excuse me?” Let’s alleviate that right now by giving you this long winded summation of Awesomenauts: side scrolling multiplayer online battle arena game. Comprendé? Of course, Awesomenauts is a little more…uh, awesome than just a description as it contain six madcap characters to choose from and go head-to-head with in the battlefields.

Jasper Koning, the head game design chap at Ronimo, has been the one worrying a lot the last days due to the publisher filing for insolvency but he seems very relieved now that the game has been released:

“We’re super happy the game has finally come out after three years of hard work! And we look forward to working with the community to continue improving and extending the game for a long time! But for now I just want to get online and play some Awesomenauts!”

Don’t we all? Yes in fact, we look forward very much to blasting through your lines of defense and then taking down your base in the game’s online multiplayer. By the way, you can play splitscreen and link up with just your friends online too – if you want some privacy that is. Whether you’re in Europe or the US, on PSN or XBLA, we’ll be looking for you though in order to take you down. Nicely, of course.

More information on Awesomenauts can be found on the game’s official website.

We had a chance to speak to one man Android developer, Ernest Woo, about what he thinks of Android development before moving on to the specifics of his own games. So far, Woo Games has released two titles – the first was FRG, a pretty successful arcade shooter. The second has only literally come out on the Android Marketplace but has been looking fantastic for a while, ErnCon is a multiplayer-enabled shmup in which you attempt to take over the galaxy.

Who are you and what do you do in the games industry?

My name is Ernest Woo and I’m the founder of Woo Games, a small indie studio based in Boston, MA. Our goal is to create great real-time mobile multiplayer games that appeal to hardcore and casual players alike.

What is your background in game development, any other previous projects?

I’ve been working on games since I was 8 – when I got my hands on a Commodore 64, actually J  Almost all of my game development experience is driven by independent projects including an old shareware game I wrote called Orb Rush, FRG for Android, and now ErnCon.

I’ve also been involved with other players in the industry – I wrote the Java Applet version of TipTop (published by PopCap) and I’m part of the 1^st party mobile browser games team at MocoSpace.

Why Android instead of iOS? Any thoughts on Windows Phone 7?

The jump to Android was very easy given the Java connection; after all, my career has been dominated by Java for web applications and enterprise development.  Android’s decision to use the Java language convinced me to develop Android games right off the bat.

Interestingly, my first Android game (FRG) was a Pascal project originally intended for the desktop. When Android Developer Challenge 2 was announced, I thought “Hey I got three months to port this to Android.”

Windows Phone 7 will probably continue to be a 3^rd or 4^th tier platform for a long time coming.  WP7 doesn’t have enough market penetration for an indie developer like Woo Games to even consider diverting resources.  It’s already hard enough to make money on Android and iOS!

Do you like where the Android platform is going with Ice Cream Sandwich?

I’m ambivalent on ICS right now. I’ve been happy with what Android has provided for game development since Android 1.5 and the only OS-level feature I’ve really cared about was JIT (just-in-time compiling), introduced in Android 2.2.

Mobile browser gaming is a segment I want to dig a little deeper.  It turns out Facebook’s Android app links only to browser-based apps and games, making such games an untapped segment.  The ICS Browser has regressed in CSS and Canvas performance (compared to Gingerbread); I’m unsure how feasible Android browser game development will be in the short-term.

How do you like being a one man studio? Do you prefer it?

I love being a one-man studio!  I get to win almost all of the technical and game design arguments

I do hire contractors to complement my abilities (I can’t draw or compose music — I don’t know anything about PR/marketing either) but I still get to set the pace of development to something that suits me best.  When I’m ready to take Woo Games to the next level I’ll find a partner to work with. For now, Woo Games is a one-man operation and I’m having way too much fun to think about hiring a Number 2.

Where did the idea for ErnCon come from? Any other influences?

ErnCon has existed in some form or other since 1995 when I learned Pascal in high-school. After finishing my first summer programming course, my computer teacher started me on a game project to keep me engaged (not that I really needed the help). Star Control was still fresh in my mind at the time so my teacher and I thought up of a one-on-one space combat game. The DOS executable for Star Control was “starcon” so he suggested “ErnCon” as the name of this project.

ErnCon went through some variations over my high-school years – at one point it was an RTS because I was playing lots of Command & Conquer. The last Pascal incarnation of ErnCon allowed 8-person multiplayer over an IPX LAN influenced by playing lots of multiplayer Doom and Descent. I made a lot of my high-school peers happy by circumventing the “no commercial games” rule for the computer lab!

What have you learned from releasing FRG that you have used in designing and programming ErnCon?

ErnCon is actually using an improved version of the FRG graphics and networking engines.  The FRG engine was designed to run on 1^st generation Android phones like the G1 so I was quite confident it could keep up with the design demands of ErnCon when running on modern Android devices.  Using an engine I am intimately familiar with has resulted in me being able to concentrate on actually creating a fun game as opposed to getting caught up in technical minutiae.

There are a number of things I learned from releasing FRG that no longer apply to today’s users and phone technology.  For example, a 5MB game was considered huge for a G1 and FRG received negative reviews because of that! FRG was also lovingly tuned to minimize object allocations and garbage collection pauses as a result.  Given improvements in Android’s garbage collector and phone processing power, I haven’t had to worry as much about errant garbage collections that would lead ErnCon to pause.

How do you design one app for a phone and tablet?  That seems like quite a challenge.

While developing FRG, I forced myself to learn Android’s way of doing user-interfaces with nine-patches, layouts, device-independent-pixels, and handling orientation-switches.  Using Android’s built-in UI framework rather than rolling your own UI in an OpenGL surface allows you to easily handle the screen-size fragmentation issue.  If you have the proper resolution graphics, porting your UI to the tablet becomes a couple nights worth of work.

ErnCon is now is beta, how do you plan on monetizing the game?  Do you have a post launch plan yet?

ErnCon will always be free-to-play.  For players who feel ErnCon is worth spending money on, I’ve designed a Premium Currency to be used for special weapons and custom colored robots and fighters.  This Premium Currency can be purchased with real-world dollars through Android Market In-App-Purchases or Swarm Connect’s Paypal API.

The post-launch plan involves designing new robots, fighters, and weapons at all price points (including free DLC) to keep players engaged.  ErnCon will also slowly roll out to other countries outside of North America and Europe as demand increases.  If commercial acceptance of ErnCon goes well, I will start working on the iOS version of the game.

How has the beta gone? I can imagine there is a huge influx of feedback, what are the biggest things you are seeing?

The beta has gone great so far! With over 3,500 players, I’ve received lots of feedback and awesome bug reports.  One thing I love about the beta is when I see games with 4 or 5 players.  Epic space battles are happening as we speak, which makes me incredibly happy.

Anything else you want the Indie Game Mag readers to know about Woo Games or your upcoming ErnCon release?

If anyone has an interesting story to share about their time with ErnCon, please drop me a line!  I love hearing from users that they enjoy playing one of my games. I’m always open to feedback and bug reports as well – so keep me up to date on your ErnCon experience.

You can find out more information on Woo Games over on the official website.

The doors are now open for hopeful developers to submit their game to the A MAZE. Indie Games Award 2012 in hope of being internationally recognised and receiving that nifty cash prize.Taking place as part of the Deutsche Gamestage 2012 in Berlin from April 26th to the 27th, the A MAZE. Indie Games Award 2012 will be given to the “Most Amazing Indie Game” as picked by the event’s high profile international jury.

Original Source: A. MAZE Indie Games Award 2012 Now Open For Submissions

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