Games based on depression, an award winning game we’ll never get to play, and other interesting titles in today’s Indie Links.

How Jason Rohrer Won The Game Design Challenge (RPS)
“A real high-point of every GDC is the Game Design Challenge. Well, was. Sadly the tenth year of this annual treat was the last, with organiser Eric Zimmerman bringing proceedings to an end. And wow, did it go out in style. With the apposite topic, “Humanity’s Last Game”, some of the biggest names in the industry put forth their pitches for the last game we’d ever need. And one man entirely stole the show. For a second year, that man was Jason Rohrer.”

Voiceless and forgotten: facing depression through play (VG247)
“Depression Quest and Actual Sunlight are two games based on depression. Dave Owen speaks with their creators to find out how they can help.”

The Cat that Got the Milk sequel revealed, leaps from freeware to commercial (IndieGames.com)
“The Button Affair super stylish developers, now called Modern Dream, have announced The Cat that Got the Milk will receive a sequel. Titled Abstract No.3, it will expand on the series’ twitchy, path-weaving gameplay and will be the team’s first commercial release.”

Mobile review: Ridiculous Fishing (Shacknews)
“Fishing is a tough endeavor, one that isn’t as easy as it looks on TV or in the movies. Homer Simpson once had an idea to dump a plugged-in bug zapper into a lake and it resulted in a whole lot of easy-to-catch (if somewhat high voltage) fish. That’s a ridiculous idea. Yet it’s not as ridiculous as some of the heavy artillery that’s used in Ridiculous Fishing, the latest iOS title from Vlambeer (Super Crate Box), Greg Wohlwend (Puzzlejuice), and Zach Gage (Halcyon).”

Storyteller preview: In the eye of the beholder (Joystiq)
“”Wait, save that. No one’s done it that way before. You made it more complicated.” Daniel Benmergui reached out to grab the mouse and save a screenshot of my panels in his comic-book narrative game, Storyteller, where I had just concocted a tale of love and loss based on the page’s prompt, using a trio of static characters. One click and Benmergui let me regain control – he resumed his place over my shoulder in a quiet room off of the main GDC concourse, paper and pen in hand, taking notes on my visible thought processes as they played out on-screen.”

Preview: Hiversaires (TIGSource)
“After years of releasing engaging short-form games, prolific digital artist Aliceffekt is nearing completion of his first independent commercial project, Hiversaires, for iOS. Committing himself to full time development at the beginning of February, Aliceffekt has worked solo on the game, handling design, code, art, and music.”

Little Inferno scores big sales (Destructoid)
“Little Inferno didn’t have a lot to help it become a financial success. A fireplace simulator made to parody and critique current trends in videogames isn’t exactly what the big publishers would call “a surefire hit with a huge pre-installed fan base.” Thankfully, word of mouth, positive reviews, and the reputation of the game’s all-star development team seemed to have made up for any lack of marketability.”

Second Thoughts with the Chick – Terraria (Indie Gamer Chick)
“I reviewed Terraria for PlayStation Network/Xbox Live Arcade. I said that I did have fun playing the title, but I didn’t recommend it because it was too glitchy and unfinished. I also said that I had lost interest in the game. Since then, there hasn’t been a review up at my blog. Why? Because I’ve been busy playing Terraria. So allow me to eat some crow and do a 180 here. Terraria IS worth your time, glitches and all.”

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Links Round-Up: Intangibles

With eleven days and just under $30,000 to go on the Chasm Kickstarter campaign, Discord Games is anxiously eyeing the clock. So far, over 4,500 backers have pulled together $121,800 in funding, but Kickstarter campaigns have fallen short on much smaller budget gaps. With an updated demo and a new trailer, Discord Games is hoping to generate the momentum needed to meet the complete goal of $150,000.

Discord Games in incredibly optimistic.

“The response to our Kickstarter has been overwhelming positive,” developer James Petruzzi said to IGM. “A community of passionate fans has quickly sprung up in the last few weeks, and the demo has given them a lot to talk about. We’ve had many people tell us it’s the first Kickstarter they’ve ever backed, primarily due to the demo.”

To reinforce their optimism, Discord Games hopes to not only meet, but surpass the $150,000 goal, as evidenced by the stretch-goal announcement, made yesterday. The very first stretch goal, at $160,000 is an extended soundtrack, followed by the implementation of Achievements into the game at $170,000. The extended soundtrack will come along with the regular Chasm soundtrack, which is available entirely for free on Discord Games’ SoundCloud page.

Some of the changes to the demo of Chasm include revamped graphics, a hardcore and time-trial mode, additional weapons, as well as over a dozen bug fixes.

Visit Chasm’s Kickstarter campaign page where the demo is available for download.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Chasm’ Gets New Trailer And Demo Amidst Funding Campaign

Are games art? Are gamers artists? What do you suck at? Is it launching your game? So many questions (and luckily plenty of answers) in today’s Dev Links.

Are Game(r)s Art(ists)? (Gamasutra)
“”Interactivity’s a very interesting word, because it implies that this is something we didn’t do in art before, which is complete nonsense, because the only interesting art experiences are the ones that engage you in that way; in which you are invited to become part of the authorship of something in some way or another. And usually in some more meaningful way than choosing whether to open this door or that door.” - Brian Eno”

What do you suck at? (Develop Online)
“Mike Bithell on why it is important to be aware of the gaps in your game development skills.”

Launch Day 2.0 (AltDevBlogADay)
“I didn’t sleep well the night before our Sunday launch of Vex Blocks. Despite the weeks we’ve had the game in the hands of testers, a new bug had come to light late Saturday evening. While not game breaking it still needed to be addressed. I stayed up working on the problem until solved. Chat messages, frantic on my part, went back and forth between myself and my partner until between the two of us we were able smooth things out. I then prepped the build for the next morning’s launch and finally after a long day allowed myself to push back away from my desk just after 1am. I tried and failed to sleep after that.”

BattleBlock Theater (Beta): User Created Levels (The Behemoth)
“Ah, yes… the BattleBlock Community Theater. Even after 3 years of playwriting levels, how those Beta builders still managed to surprise me! And kill me. And then surprise me again! Whether I was flung through explosions into rooms made out of teleporters or flung through teleporters into rooms made out of explosions, the experience was quite the rollercoastery deathtrap of emotion.”

A tree killed his Granny! Jack is STEAMing (Owlchemy Labs)
“Mobile’s most poplar game is now available on Steam! Stack beards, chug syrup, and rock flannel as you axe your way through the forest on your PC/Mac/Linux machine and make your Granny proud.”

Receiver’s Greenlight Journey (Wolfire Games)
“Receiver was finally released on Steam today — check it out here! There is a one-week launch sale bringing the price down to $3.99. If you already have Receiver or Overgrowth, then you can claim your Steam key on your Humble Store download page (linked from your purchase email). Whenever a game is greenlit, there are always two questions that come up over and over: “How did it take THIS LONG for this game to get greenlit?”, and “How did THIS game get greenlit?” In this post I will try to answer both questions about Receiver!”

New HUD Layout (Krooked Gaming)
“So after a lot of adjustments, I think I’m finally happy with the new HUD. While I have a few concerns about how complicated it may look to new users, it does contain a lot of useful information.”

Indie Tools: PolyVox (IndieGames.com)
“PolyVox is (according to its developers admittedly) “a fast, lightweight C++ library for the storage and processing of volumetric (voxel-based) environments” that can be used for anything from games to scientific applications.””

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Dev Links: The Next Plateau

Cry of Fear is a psychological single-player and co-op horror game set in a deserted town filled with horrific creatures and nightmarish delusions.

Cry of Fear originally started out as a Half-Life modification, set in the same vein as the classic survival horror games of old. Four years in the making and picking up several modding awards on the way, it is now a free standalone game for anyone to enjoy.

Cry of Fear
Steam

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About the Video:
Created by Zephyr Moore

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Source: The Indie Game Magazine – IGM Let’s Try- ‘Cry of Fear’

As the Indie Game Magazine’s resident point-and-click adventure fan, I feel compelled to point out the Kickstarter for AR-K, an upcoming episodic series of adventure games. The title may sound familiar from the 2011 release of first episode of Gata Salvaje Studios’ comedy sci-fi game series, Sex, Lies and Classwork. The first episode told the story of Alicia – a journalism student living in a utopian society who tries to solve the mystery of the life changing golden sphere, while dealing with day-to-day problems.

Gata Salvaje Studios has asked for funding to help finishing developing three more episodes of AR-K. These new episodes promise better writing than the first, with the help of comic book writer Greg Rucka. The Kickstarter page brags that Rucka is known as a writer of strong women characters, so I am sure he will be a welcome addition after the first episode’s somewhat poor English translation.  Also added to the team is Ash Sroka, voice actress of fan-loved Tali Zorah from the incredibly popular Mass Effect trilogy.

The most impressive aspect of the campaign is their goal to use funding for adapting the game for the visually impaired. Spending limited funds and development time on a feature a lot of developers consider optional or as a ‘eh, maybe one day’ feature like this is applause worthy. We’ll see how detailed the feature is when episode two releases, but until then Gata Salvajae has asked for your funding. If you aren’t sure, why not download the free first episode of AR-K?

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘AR-K’ Devs Ask for Funding for Remaining Episodes

Cubemen 2 is a fast paced, action packed, original 3D Strategy game where you use your little Cubemen units to defend and attack enemies in a range of awesome game modes including CTF, Skirmish, Territory and more.

Cubemen 2
Steam

Be sure to Subscribe to our channel to be notified of our latest content. Please let us know what you think of the game. Leave your comments below!

About the Video:
Created by Zephyr Moore

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Source: The Indie Game Magazine – IGM Let’s Try- ‘Cubemen 2′

Ecotone is a game from Sundae Factory which actively seeks to be different. Be it the unusual dark storybook visual style, the ambient, understated and unsettling nature of the soundtrack, or the dreamlike atmosphere, this is a game that doesn’t wish to run with the pack. For some of you, I am aware, simply knowing this fact is making you lose interest. Indeed, there are many gamers who are more puristic in their views of video games, and reject indie developers’ predilection for the avant-garde as nothing more than pretension. However, based on the playable alpha demo, Ecotone’s strengths are more than merely skin-deep.

The quality of the game’s artwork is immediately striking. As I touched upon earlier, the game world really does look like a storybook turned sinister, with the player character isolated against a starry backdrop in a world filled with peering eyes. In fact, with its dream-like quality, unique use of ambient sound and puzzle platforming gameplay, the game which Ecotone reminded me most of was Limbo. Both games excel at implying their stories rather than explicitly stating them, and for making you empathize with their protagonists despite their basic, largely faceless design.

Possibly the most effective and unique element of Ecotone is the way in which every new screen is introduced with a sentence. These sentences can relate to the introduction of a new mechanic, provide a snippet of insight into the mysterious protagonist, or often both. An early example is ‘I think I had a Brother…’ On this screen, your input controls not only the player character, but also his ghostly parallel who stands on a platform above. Your goal is to deliver both safely to the other side. This is a good example of how the system works, and it’s a novel way of introducing new mechanics and interspersing narrative elements into the game. Personally, I find this to be a really interesting hook for the game, and it makes you want to play on for the next drop of text-based character development.

Having greatly enjoyed Christopher Whitman’s Run, a primarily platform-based game with a heavy focus on narrative and poetic language, I welcome more conceptual platformers with open arms. After all, in a genre this saturated your game really does need to do something different, and find its voice to stand out. Refreshingly, Sundae Factory have proven themselves willing to go out on a limb with Ecotone, and to deliver a new experience to their players.

Ecotone is coming soon to PC and Mac, but in the meantime you can grab a taste of the playable alpha build in your browser. If you’re taken with Sundae Factory‘s intriguing vision, you can back them on Steam Greenlight, or follow the official Ecotone Twitter account for updates.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Unique Platformer ‘Ecotone’ Gets an In-Browser Demo

Black Annex from Man Fight Dragon is an upcoming isometric espionage action game. Currently, the developers are seeking support through Greenlight, and developer Lance E. McDonald’s Twitter feed is always full of Black Annex media.

Black Annex official website

Announced last May, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing has received a promotional “Pre-order and play the Beta” trailer, for the game’s impending May release. Neocore Games put The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing through a make-over last fall when they announced that the original concept of playing as young Van Helsing didn’t feel adequate. They allowed fans to choose from three new character-concepts (The Mysterious Stranger, The Chevalier, and The Veteran) and fans ultimately chose The Mysterious Stranger concept.

“Being indie is a great challenge and a very exciting experience with incredibly long working hours and plenty of difficulties,” Neocore says on their developer’s blog, “but it’s worth it! We consider it a gift that we can create something permanent and fun. Independence allowed us to keep you up to date during every phase of the development. Thanks to you, now we already have a very supportive and active community who are eagerly looking forward to the launch of The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.”

Visit the official website, where pre-orders are being taken. Pre-ordering gets access to the current Beta-build as well.

Gunpoint Gadget has been floating around for awhile now. For at least two years, Tom Francis has been developing this quaint spymaster game that relies on player’s cunning to successfully complete the missions presented. A recent trailer, narrated by Francis, demonstrates a number of the tools at the player’s disposal, to solve the various puzzles in each level. In the trailer, Francis also reveals that Gunpoint Gadget will be coming to Steam, when the game launches. Steam contacted him awhile ago, but now is the first time he’s been allowed to say anything about it, Francis explains in the video.

Visit the official website to learn more, and follow the game on Twitter.

In today’s game you take control of a somewhat unheroic child caught out in a storm. It is your job to guide him away from all the rain and keep him dry for as long as possible in Don’t Rain On Me by Matthew38940.

Along with the basic movement controls you also get power-ups in the form of rain coats and umbrellas which will give you more chances to hit the rain before failing. Of course it will be important for you to get all the power-ups you can as after a short time out in the rain it will start to literally rain cats and dogs.

The added animal obstacles really make the game ramp up in difficulty as you must also jump over the frightened dogs and cats along with avoiding the rain falling from the sky.

Don’t Rain On Me is a delightfully simple game that offers a great distraction from you day as a fun arcade game with some simple yet fun mechanics.

Average play time – 5 minutes

If you are looking for a minor distraction from your day Don’t Rain On Me may very well be what you are looking for as it offers a short yet fun arcade game.

Don’t Rain On Me can be played on Kongregate.

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 – ‘Don’t Rain On Me’ The Exploits Of The Least Heroic Child