Using some of the best graphics software available to developers, Mountainwheel Games is bringing the Stone Age, to gamers, later this year. Stone Rage is set to be a free-to-play, third-person, multiplayer action game where players are divided into three teams: humans, neanderthals, and animals. Each team will have distinct abilities and classes for players to master, as they compete for victory across Stone Rage’s beautiful looking maps. With CryEngine 3 backing up the graphics department, even in it’s earliest forms, Stone Rage looks amazing.

Earlier this year I interviewed Isaac James, Stone Rage’s game designer. We talked at large about the team’s overall plans for Stone Rage. One of the first things I asked Isaac is what the difference between the human and neanderthal teams, will be.

“The class specifics are to be determined,” Isaac explained. “The big difference we’re playing with right now is that humans are encouraged to work together and neanderthals compete with each other for kills.”

Along with the humanoid teams, there is the animal team that will allow players to control various prehistoric animals, and utilize their natural advantages to counter their weaponized enemies. So far, Mountainwheel Games has revealed that they plan on having an Entelodont (boar), a Wolly Rhinoceros, a Gastornis (ostrich-like bird), a cave bear, a Saber-tooth Tiger, and a mammoth, available on the animal team.

“Animals tend to have movement-focused abilities and really disruptive melee-range abilities,” Isaac told me. ” We’ve got some crazy ones planned, like a bear biting off someone’s head and a [mammoth] smashing a foe into a tree.”

Stone Rage is planned to be a free-to-play game, and last I spoke to the team, they planned on monetizing unlockables, but Issac assured me that only aesthetic items and some boosts (increased XP gain, higher currency find for unlockables), will require a purchase. Everything else (classes and weapons) will be able to be unlocked eventually by non-paying players.

In an industry that is nearly dominated by games that rely heavily on modern or futuristic settings, it is nice to see a developer go the opposite direction in time, and be able to make something that looks to be just as fun as its alien-and-laser brethren.

Visit Stone Rage on IndieDB and visit the official website to check out more media, and their forums.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – CryEngine 3 Meets The Stone Age In Free-To-Play Multiplayer Action Game, ‘Stone Rage’

Puzzle platformers have always been popular within the indie circles, and because of this we often see many of them developed each year. It looks like 2013 will be no different and brings with it Anki, a brand new puzzle platformer from I love Krupiński.

Anki is a platforming game that looks like to me it is trying to bring back a lot of what made ‘90s platformers great. It has the very distinctive and vibrant pallet set I’ve grown to love and the really over the top level setups it really does look great.

One of the major hooks in Anki is the ability to wrap the screen in every direction. Although not innately a new mechanic the ability to use it to wrap the entire games level to help you overcome the puzzles is not all too common, and adds a nice little twist to Anki.

Anki aims to be a more arcade like platformer that encourages unlocking pretty much everything through diligent playing of the game. Everything is unlocked via crystals which can be obtained within the levels. Over time the collection of the crystals becomes increasingly more challenging and therefore forces even better play to ensure you can carry on with the levels.

Anki just looks to be a very fun new platformer that tried to bring back some of the magic we have lost from the ‘90s. There is currently a demo available to be played and can be downloaded via IndieDB. Expect to see the full game released on 14^th of March this year for the PC. Track the progress either at IndieDB or the I love Krupiński site.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Anki’ Platforming Your Way This March

Overgrowth is one of those games that seems to have been in development forever. Announced in 2008, this compelling action game developed by Wolfire has seen a number of development milestones as the game has become more and more complete.

What used to be weekly alphas provided with a video have now become much more spaced out. Written bug-fixes and changelogs have now become common. However, their most recent update includes a video demoing some very exciting new improvements and features.

The in-house developed Phoenix Engine has seen a lot of optimization in the last month and the developers are finding ways to make the entire game and editor work better and more efficiently. Now Overgrowth works a lot better on many types of computers. In addition, the scripts have been reorganized so that scripts can attach themselves to levels and characters, making modding an easier affair.

The most exciting feature, however, is the new arena level. This level generates an enemy with randomized attributes to make them more aggressive or defensive, as well as a few other attributes that keep what enemy you face varied enough to always keep you on your toes. As you defeat enemies, the difficulty progresses upward based on your performance and will generate increasingly more difficult enemies.

Klei Entertainment have released an update for their game, Don’t Starve, still strongly continuing down their oh-so successful self-progressed path of sadism and science. For those of you that are currently unaware of this title, Don’t Starve is a game that challenges the player to survive through the necessity to both eat and contain yourself by a fire which seems an easy prospect, but it does truly feel like Klei Entertainment really does want you to die while you play the game.

The update is titled “Spoiled Rotten”, and what a treat they’ve produced for us. But of course, where must all science lead but to the development of electronics? With the introduction of a new character, WX-78 (a robot, incase the name wasn’t enough of an intimation for you), players must now take further responsibilities into account such as the fact that everything still hates you and wants you to die, except more so while playing as a robot, which is simply lovely.

Fortunately our new friend WX-78 cannot be at all harmed by eating foods barely passable by the standards of even a college student. However, food will eventually deteriorate and spoil nonetheless, meaning that the only remaining uses are that of fertilizer, or to burn entirely. In a twist that seems common to the updates of Don’t Starve, there is a further addition to combat this disadvantage: players are now able to craft a refrigerator to lengthen the life-span of any and all foods, which will certainly make your safe-haven slightly more cozy. Metaphorically speaking of course, it is a fridge, after all.

Aside from a few of the main updates as mentioned, there is more, including the additions of various other items and mechanics to make the game even more interesting than has already been achieved. I am personally quite obsessive about the food I eat anyway, so to introduce restrictions and guidelines as to the food you eat seems like a rather wise idea.

You can read further about the game on Klei’s official site.

Or, if you would like to ask them any questions regarding their game or anything, why not contact them on Twitter.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Don’t Starve’s’ Autonomic Update

As Indie Royale is known to do, it released a new bundle to the masses. This bundle, in particular, is different from their usual bundles, in that it is conjured up with a Halloween theme and is available for the next six days only.

The Halloween Bundle includes the full season of Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse, Home, Pathologic, MacGuffin’s Curse, and EvilQuest. All of the games are available on PC; Sam & Max and MacGuffin’s Curse are the only titles also available for Mac.  All of the games come with a Steam Key, a Desura Key, or both.

Indie Royale is offering the previously sold-out Home: Old-School Collector’s Edition to the top donor. This is a physical version of Home that includes a printed town map with mapping tools, game manual, artifacts from the game universe, and it is signed by the creator, Benjamin Rivers.

Buyers can elect to pay the current minimum or anything higher. Paying higher than $8 will get buyers a digital copy of the album Preschtale by C-jeff, a $5 value.

The minimum price of the bundle slowly rises over time, but donors who pay over the recommended amount have the ability to reduce the minimum price for everyone. For example, paying $25 for the bundle lowers the minimum price by 5-cents for everyone else. The more you donate, the more people like you, it’s common….cents.

The Halloween Bundle is the last Indie Royal Bundle until the Harvest Bundle which is still four weeks away. So grab up this bundle before it expires at the end of the month, from the Indie Royal website.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Royale Rolls Out Spooky Bundle for Halloween

Alright, on to part three. Here’s another lot of great aussie games I had the luck to check out in person during my EB Expo adventure, starting with:

Giant Robot Destroy Everything (by Team Robot) - So instead of leading a giant robot into battle, why not try to defend the hero by drawing lines across the screen to deflect incoming fire from enemies? That’s what Giant Robot Destroy Everything (GRDE) is all about, and it’s easy to pick up and play so anyone should be able to get into it. GRDE is like an 80′s arcade game with a sprinkling of modern game play, or as the Team Robot guys like to call it, the elegance of Pong combined with the spectacle of the Power Rangers, which is actually rather spot on. It has to be said, deflecting enemy attacks in other enemies or using the barriers to block fast moving targets was rather satisfying. I had a lot of fun with this one, though I’ll need to work on my high score a bit!

Protocol E (by Silver Nova Software) - Being a Tron fan, Protocol E’s cyber inspired world caught my eye. It’s an RTS by nature, but in a very different style to the previously mentioned Frozen Hearth. Instead, you’re main hero craft will be surrounded by a number of minions, who you will lead into battle to take down the enemy as quickly as possible before they do the same to you. You’ll have different combat techniques, ranged minions and the ability to fully control were said minions go. There’s a few different game modes in the works too, though I think where this game will shine is in the competitive multiplayer scene. There’s plenty of potential there to build upon, why not try it and let me know what you think.

Bouncer (by Brennan Hatton) - Bouncer thankfully doesn’t have anything to do with that really bad Squaresoft game on the PS2. It’s a point and click puzzle game that you can download directly from the official site where you must correctly direct the bouncing ball towards the exit goal. Thankfully for me, failing a few times just gives you another ball to bounce and correct your mistake. While the existing bouncers stick around to remind you how bad your earlier attempts were. Not that I made that many mistakes. Honest. This is another one of those addictive puzzle games I just can’t seem to get away from, and that’s a good thing. It isn’t Brennan’s first game, but it’s arguably his most entertaining, so check it out!

Buzzy Republic (by Lime Rocket) - I briefly mentioned Buzzy Republic in part one, and it really is the kind of game you’ll have to pick up and play in order to understand the concept. What I did see though, was a team that’s really keen on building something beyond a standard MMO, where you can play anywhere at any time with anyone around the world. Like the above photo illustrates against a massive outdoor wall.

More specifically though, it’s about building a community around the concept of rebuilding a galaxy through multiple avenues. Say for example playing on a massive screen or said side of a building, while people wait at a bus stop or in between a time out at the basketball. While Buzzy Republic may act as a tech demo that other devs should be interested in getting to know more about the game itself looks the goods too! You can sign up for the game here.

BlastPoints (by Pub Games) - The action of BlastPoints is full on space combat. Built using the Unreal engine, what I saw looked very smooth and it’s great to see a combat game that makes use of the iPad’s grunt to create something visually powerful enough to pull off such a game style. The enemy A.I. seemed challenging, with a ton of them on screen at any one time without any sign of slowdown. Again, it’s the kind of game that’s perfectly suited to the multiplayer world, though there’s the promise of plenty of content and the ability to create your own ship from a plethora of part types and upgrades. If you’re a fan of Starfox 64 like I am, this one’s for you, so keep an eye out for it.

Vigilante: Speak for the Dead (by Divisive Media) - So imagine if you had your own clan and you wanted to put a hit out on another clan. You choose your target and set the price, then watch as every other clan around you reacts to your choice by either joining in or fighting against you. Vigilante gives you that choice among many others within its social building design, but like Buzzy Republic, it’s a little difficult to explain it all without getting in on the action. But you won’t have to wait long as it’s due very soon to coincide with the release of the Australian produced movie ‘John Doe’ (BSG alumni Jamie Bamber is in it!). As a social game, the concept is tremendous fun and apparently it’s already got some interesting feedback during beta testing, which came to a close just the other day.

Dream Chaser (by Evoke Method) - Last but certainly not least we have Dream Chaser, which is in early development but is already looking mighty promising. Like a cross between Temple Run with a deeper, more meaningful storyline. You’ll play a boy who runs through his own dreamscape jumping and dodging through very strange environments. I got some early hands on time with the dev build and though I’m not the best ‘runner’ in the business, I had fun with the concept and there’s certainly a market for games like it, especially something with solid controls. What’s also promising is the early character designs, the young boy in pyjamas not unlike the child from Where the Wild Things Are. You can check out the prototype and give the team some much needed feedback here.

–

Now I will have a lot more on all of these and the games I mentioned in my next part over the coming weeks, including some back story and behind the scenes exclusives. But in the meantime a big thank you to all of the studios who spent some time with me, the experience was one of a kind and I hope, for everyone involved, the feedback and support passed down by fans and devs alike was rewarding in itself.

Every game I played or checked continues to prove the consistent quality of production in the local Australian indie scene, which continually grows every day. As a fan and as a writer I’m proud and excited about what’s around the corner, and you should be too.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The EB Expo Wrap: Part Three – More Games

Kudos to the sagely Pixel Prospector for spotting this one. If there’s one thing that I’ve learnt over the past decade of gaming, it’s that physics make everything better. From the earliest, wobbliest ragdoll death animations to splooshy fluid dynamics and even just small details like sparks from impacts skittering across the floor. I’ve also learnt that retro mash-ups are rad. Frank Force’s Faster Blaster (formerly known as Mother Lover) is doubleplus extra badical, for these reasons. Take one part Metroid, one part Blaster Master and 9.8g’s of physics, shake (not stir) and serve on the rocks.

There’s no plot to speak of here, but let’s just assume that the miraculous super-tank Sophia The 3rd got lost (should’a taken that left turn at Albuquerque) and ended up on Planet Zebes and decided to explore a little and maybe kill Mother Brain. Also, physics. I don’t really know how to explain the lack of abstract 8-bit movement, but let’s not think too hard about that. Faster Blaster is still officially in development, but the current beta build is largely feature-complete and well worth playing. What you’ve got here is a great big non-linear game-world filled with critters to shoot, platforms to jump on and secrets to find. Metroid, really. But with a tank. And physics.

You’ve also got a lot more to master, controls-wise. Clearing larger jumps is a matter of building up speed and ramping off ledges, and landing needs to be controlled with your brakes or you can end up overshooting the mark. You have semi-limited ammo for your main gun, too. It continually recharges, and the first shot has a little extra kick to it, but every shell launches in an arc affected by your momentum. Later, you get your standard range of Metroid-style upgrades, from basic health extensions to extra weapons. The classic Metroid missile launcher has been upgraded to a manually guided fly-by-wire design, and there’s an even more physics-oriented ‘digger’ gun to excavate your way into new caverns.

The concept is solid for the most part, although controlling your tank takes some time to master, especially given the floaty (jet-assisted?) jumping, and just how easy it is to snag yourself on the corner of a platform and bounce helplessly off. Still, for every moment of frustration there’s one of equal satisfaction. Nailing a fast-moving flying enemy by accelerating your own shot through movement is strangely reminiscent of Starsiege: Tribes. While the game boasts full analogue gamepad support, it’s probably best to use mouse and keyboard. The extra precision with aiming matters when your ammo is semi-limited and that first shot counts more than the rest.

Faster Blaster is available (in beta) now, weighs in at a tiny 8mb download, and should run on just about any PC from the past six years. The engine the game runs on seems smooth and well-optimized, although that shouldn’t be too surprising, given the retro nature of it all.

Now here’s a question for you eagle-brained (and presumably elephant-eyed) folks in the community: Are there any other retro + physics mash-ups that you can think of? Mario-Portal blend MariO springs to mind, but are there any other notable hybrids that we might have missed? Feel free to share, comment, heckle or otherwise make noise in the comments box below.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Freeware Game Pick – ‘Faster Blaster’

Collectible card games – CCG’s – are a bit of a weird thing for me. I’ve always loved the core concepts of games such as Magic: The Gathering, but the actual gameplay never really grabbed me. However, instances where CCG elements have been transplanted into other genres such as Sony’s PoxNora, EA’s Battleforge, or even Mojang’s upcoming Scrolls, I find the whole experience more compelling. No longer are summoned creatures just illustrations on a piece of card, but units on the playfield with their own stats, abilities and movement  ranges – a much more satisfying way to play, so I was intrigued when I was invited to a closed weekend play session of Abrakam’s upcoming browser-based CCG/Hex-based strategy game Faeria. Here’s how things went down:

[This Content is Exclusive for Insider]

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Faeria’ Hands-On Preview – Magic: The Hexening

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

Hello again, everybody! Today I am going to continue what I started last article, and discuss about some more of the new items and mechanics that have been added to Minecraft and will appear in the “Pretty Scary” update.

Command Blocks

First of all, today I am going to discuss Command Blocks. Have you ever been playing an adventure map, and you received items or rewards through the use of chests or dispensers? The times have changed, my friends, as such methods are no longer necessary. Command Blocks are basically blocks that can be triggered by a Redstone signal, be it by Pressure Plate or lever, and send out a command to the server you are playing on. Virtually anything can happen through the use of Command Blocks, and some common commands that could be applied are /give and /tp (teleport). By right-clicking on the Command Block, you can set the command you would like to take place when a Redstone signal is present, as well as who you want the command to affect. Currently, the commands can target the nearest player, a random player, all players, or the player farthest away from the Command Block. Traps can be drastically improved with this new addition, along with Adventure maps. In conclusion, Command Blocks have endless possibilities, and add an exciting new twist to working with complicated and generally boring Redstone circuits.

Quick Facts

• Currently, there are only a few commands which cannot be triggered through Command Blocks. These are: /kick, /ban, /op, /deop, /stop, which are excluded for obvious reasons.
• Command Blocks will be disabled by default, and have to be changed through the use of the /gamerule command
• Command Blocks were first mentioned by Jeb in a tweet on July 27^th (2012)
• Through the use of Command Blocks, you can now make teleporters to different areas, instead of using Nether portals
•  Command Blocks currently cannot be crafted, and can only be illegitimately spawned through the use of the /give command

New Crops

Just when farming wheat was getting boring, Mojang stepped in and added two new types of crops to the game. These news crops are Carrots, and Potatoes.

Carrots

As you know, the new first crop is the Carrot plant. It is worth mentioning that Carrots are fairly difficult to obtain; they can only be found as a rare drop from a Zombie, or as a naturally spawned crop in Villages. Carrots have a number of possible applications, the first one being crafting a Carrot on a Stick. This can be done by placing a Carrot diagonally to a Fishing Rod within a Crafting Table. The Carrot on a Stick item can give a little bit of purpose to riding on Pigs. Now, you can actually control them through the use of your Carrot on a Stick, and get around where you want to go. However, the Pig can’t move very quickly, and the Pig can’t jump, so it is very difficult navigating on rough terrain. The second application for the Carrot item is to encase the Carrot in Gold Ingots, through the use of a Crafting Table. This will craft a Golden Carrot, which, with the help of an Awkward Potion, creates a Potion of Night Vision. This, as the name describes, allows you to see objects while it is night, as if it were still day, and will be discussed in greater detail in the next article. So, Carrots are a cool, welcomed addition and provide an option to take a break from that Wheat farm.

Potatoes and Poisonous Potatoes

Next up is the new Potato crop. Similarly to Carrots, Potatoes are difficult to obtain, are also rare drops from Zombies, and are found naturally generated alongside Wheat in Villages. Unlike Wheat, however, the Potato plant only takes 4 stages to grow, whereas Wheat takes 8, so it is much quicker to grow Potatoes. One Potato plant yields one to four Potatoes, and there is a two percent chance that a Poisonous Potato will be dropped. Potatoes can be cooked through the use of a Furnace, which makes a Baked Potato, and can restore six hunger points. What about Poisonous Potatoes? Well, Poisonous Potatoes is essentially the same as a regular Potato, but has a chance of poisoning the player, similarly to Spider Eyes. Again, Potatoes, their poisonous relatives, and Carrots, are welcome new guests in Minecraft and we are looking to see more of them (sorry, not you, Poisonous Potatoes).

Quick Facts

• When farming a Carrot crop with a Fortune Pickaxe, the number of Carrots yielded increases
• The Carrot’s texture was changed in Snapshot 12w37a
• Fortune Pickaxes do not affect the number of Potatoes dropped when harvested
• Potatoes are currently the only Crop that can be cooked in a Furnace
• Poisonous Potatoes restore more hunger points than regular Potatoes

Conclusion

So, that’s all for tonight, folks. Look forward to hearing from me again next Thursday, when I discuss the new Potions that have been added, and some of the smaller, less noticeable changes in Minecraft. My question for you today is: Do you think more crops should be added to Minecraft, or is this enough? Leave your creative response in the comments below. As always, thank you for reading!

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Minecraft Update: New Blocks and Crops (Part 4)