Friday Double Eleven, the studio behind the successful Little Big Planet PS Vita release issued a statement on their website stating they are going to venture into video game publishing.
In their statement they talk about how independent studios focus largely on the PC, iPhone and Android markets, however see very little presents on the PSN store. It is indeed true that the PSN has not seen a great deal of indie titles over the years and has somewhat lost that market to Microsoft, making this is a rather interesting move to say the least.
Double Eleven however are hoping to change this in the hope of bringing some of the best indie developers to the PSN. They state in their blog that indies are “…missing out on the huge 100 million strong PSN membership.” and claim they can greatly increase the audience size by bringing their titles to the PSN.
It’s very interesting to see Double Eleven looking to bring more indies over to PlayStation and begs the question; are they are working on behalf of Sony. It is of course no surprise to anyone that Sony have over the past year have been trying to improve their PSN service in an attempt to draw more people away from competition, and in my opinion it has been working well.
With the amount of free game giveaways and goodies Sony already offer on the PSN is it really much of a surprise they are making a move on the indie market. This feels like a pre-emptive strike from the Sony camp in-line with the next generation of consoles, no doubt Sony has seen how lucrative the indie market is becoming and wants in.
This revelation from Double Eleven is an interesting one and does raise a whole host of new questions about this new publishing venture. For me the most prominent question is have Double Eleven struck up a deal with Sony to do this?
With 2013 promising to be another huge year for indie developers how will this move to bring indies on to the PSN effect the indie market? And can they compete with the likes of Microsoft and Valve for this heavily contested market? Be sure to leave your comments below.
Longing for some chunky retro vibes and aesthetics with a modern gameplay twist? Skyrise and MixedBag are offering to let you join their development by participating in beta builds of their free game, Futuridium.
Futuridium is a fast-paced, action-packed, classic shoot-’em-up, but with an extra dimension. The visual style hails to classic arcade-style saturation of colors and overlays similar to how the pixels on older machines would burn into the screen and blend together. Rather than stick to the classic shooter conventions, Futuridium is a 3D arcade shooter that gives the player a camera following their ship from behind and the ability to turn their ship 180 degrees. Each level is a massive alien flagship, and it is up to the player to fly back and forth along the length of the ship and destroy all of the blue energy cubes so the player can reveal the golden power cube and take the ship down. Without any upgrades, special powers or bonuses, Futuridium focuses on pure player skill to adapt to the different ships and scenarios you will face.
Your score is determined by a chain multiplier that continues to increase until you die. By destroying the blue cubes in fast sequences, you can make the chain longer, giving you a larger bonus score when the chain stops. Alternating between enemies and cubes will raise your score even higher.
This article has been a long time coming especially in conjunction with our IGM awards which will be announced very shortly. I’m going to start by covering all the games that made it into our IGM nominations and then move onto the games that we missed.
How could the spiritual sequel and successor to the immensely popular Terraria not make this list? While Chucklefish is a new studio, it was started by Tiyuri one of the designers behind Terraria and their game Starbound looks to be incredibly grand in scope. Starbound begins with you fleeing your homeworld in a space shuttle, just as it’s destroyed by an unknown enemy. With nothing to guide it, the escape pod shoots into space without direction, becoming hopelessly lost in a sea of stars. Starbound promises to expand on Terraria’s core gameplay mechanics by mixing in influences from Diablo, Metroid, Castlevania, and Pokemon while promising an endless number of procedurally generated planets to explore.
Gnomoria is clearly inspired by Dwarf Fortress, a game that I could never quite get into because of its crazy ASCII graphics and steep learning curve. Gnomoria makes the core gameplay and depth of Dwarf Fortress much more accessible. For those that don’t know, Gnomoria is a sandbox village management game. You help a small group of gnomes start a new kingdom and survive as long as possible. The game has already been in development for over a year and was one of the first games to get Greenlit despite being in alpha. Gnomoria already has huge promise and a ton of features even in it’s current state so it will be very exciting to see what the full and final release entails.
The Buzz for The Banner Saga started with a massively successful Kickstarter (raising $723,886) partly due to the fact that Stoic is made up of a bunch of Bioware RPG veterans in the industry. The game boasts a fantastic art style that harkens back to the fluid 2 dimensional graphics of adventure games like Dragon’s Lair, Monkey Island and more. The Kickstarter was so successful because of the amazing trailer that oozed production and the faith that gamers have in folks from Bioware, but it’s the solid Multiplayer in the current beta that has us so excited for this epic RPG to come out.
One thing the Walking Dead tv series and the slew of zombie movies out there have taught us is that When the Zombie Apocalypse happens, you eventually die. One of the coolest things about Project Zomboid is that there is no winning. The game is all about how long you can survive said Zombie Apocalypse. At it’s core the game is a survival RPG sim with plenty of ways to die: starvation, exposure, disease, mental breakdown, zombie bite… you name it – you can die from it. It’s great to see the game building up a community of modders and fans especially after the theft and setbacks that struck the development team. That’s all behind us now and each new update to the game proves that Project Zomboid’s isometric survival game may be one of the best indie games of 2013.
The Witness by Jonathan Blow
What the heck has that guy who made Braid been up to? Jonathan Blow has been hard at work on the Witness since late 2008. The Witness is described as an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island. Blow has been tight-lipped about what the game is about, so there is a degree of mystery surrounding the game. That coupled with the fact that Blow made Braid makes this game one to add to your watchlist.
Here’s another game that was recently greenlit that is still in the early stages. Kenshi is an open ended, squad-based Strategy RPG that revolves around some cool concepts: You can play the game as 1 character or 50 and the player characters and NPCs are always on equal footing making survival an ever present struggle in Kenshi. The open world spans 400km and is seamless and open. All of these features work together to create an enticing, interesting and different kind of RPG.
Proteus represented on the Indie Awards circuit last year picking up a slew of nominations and awards at the IGF, IndieCade, and AMAZE. Proteus is also very close to being “released” as a final version (it’s been playable and purchaseable in beta for quite some time). Described as a game of audio-visual exploration, Proteus really isn’t about anything more than stopping and smelling the digital flowers. It’s an escape, a gaming vacation if you will. Now is the time to buy your ticket.
Ah, the age-old (and possibly exploitative) method of using canine-powered transportation in snowy terrain. It’s not something that has featured too heavily in video games over the years, but development collaborators Dan Fitzgerald and Liska_B intend to put this right with their upcoming game Dog Sled Saga. The game is set in the highly competitive world of sled dog racing, and intends to capture the spirit of the sport via simple arcade gameplay dynamics. It is slated for a 2013 release on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS.
Interestingly, the player is not given direct control of the dogs’ movement in Dog Sled Saga. Instead players are positioned as the human rider, trying to maintain and optimize the performance of their dogs in order to secure first place. This is where the game’s core gameplay comes in —the primary challenge is to keep the balance between the dogs’ hunger level and their finite food supply in check by continually feeding them throughout the race. There are food restock points along the way, but if you use all of your food for a short term speed boost immediately after restocking, your speed is likely to be hindered by hunger before the next restock point. It is essentially a risk vs. reward dynamic, with a focus on strategy and timing.
As the rider, feeding the dogs is no simple task either. The food needs to be thrown across to the dog who needs it, but this is fraught with potential issues — the presence of wind can significantly alter your trajectory arc, and thrown food will also ricochet off any in-range trees. Whilst dealing with this, there are also some boulders which need to be jumped over during the race, dealing out hefty speed reductions to those who fail to avoid them. In this regard, the game seems like a kind of action-packed example of on-the-fly resource management, without any of the complicated or tedious connotations.
Dan and Lisa are boyfriend-and-girlfriend collaborators (awwww!). Dan is responsible for all the technical aspects of development, as well as the audio side of things, whereas Lisa is responsible for the Dog Sled Saga‘s retro visuals. The pair seem keen to point out that the art is very much in progress, so the screenshots featured here may not be representative of the final game. Nonetheless, I think that its current state is rather pretty. Below is an example of Lisa’s work, a .gif of the dog’s running animation.
Now getting close to the end of the week we are reaching the end of this great game jam. With over 1,400 entries this time LD25 really has been yet another success and even though these top five games are great examples of the quality games it has produced, these are by no means the only good games in the jam so be sure to check out more on the Ludum Dare site.
The game that managed to reach the number two spot is Extinct: Humankind Fade In The Mist (Extinct) by Benjamin and is a rather none conventional puzzle game that really is a great deal of fun.
The whole idea behind Extinct is that you must stop the humans from reaching the food, which of course is much harder than you may first expect as humans really are a resourceful bunch. Each level gives you a selection of obstacles from poisoned apples to sabre tooth tiger, with the devil being very much in the detail as the puzzle element is arranging them correctly to stop the humans dead in their tracks.
Extinct has a great interface and a rather nice graphics style that highlights the style of the game rather nicely and it plays out flawlessly. My only real complaint is the game lacks a fast forward button but other than that it is a very solid game.
Average play time – 40 minutes
Extinct is a prime example of a great puzzle game and its rather hard to believe all this was done in the space of just 48 hours. Extinct really is a very nice and somewhat unconventional puzzler that really does not feel like a puzzle game but more of a strategy game.
Be sure to check out Extinct: Humankind Fade In The Mist on the official LD25 site.
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!
Today is the number three placed game in the LD25 top five, although technically this game and yesterdays where both tied in the third place (I just went off the ordering on the LD25 site). End Boss was created by Ditto and has you on the other side of the hail of bullets you normally must navigate.
In End Boss you play as the boss finally in a bullet hell shooter and you must try to crush the enemy space ship and end the hope for the galaxy. It’s a very interesting concept and works well as you spawn more and more bullets across the screen.
End Boss has some great music and a really nice overall aesthetic that really lends itself to a bullet hell shooter. Although the sound effects are rather lacking and the lack of boss variety and pick ups make the game very limited.
Average play time – 5 minutes
End Boss is a nice concept and comes across very well as a small throw away game, however there is a lot of potential to develop this type of gameplay into a full game. Playing through a whole host of bosses in an attempt to crush the good guy with a variety of mechanics would amplify this game greatly.
In its current state End Boss is a fun little bullet hell told from the bad guys side and I would love to see someone take this concept and develop it into a full game as I believe it would be rather unique and fun.
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!
This week’s show features an interview with Eron Rauch, a professional photographer who has spent a lot of time comparing the landscapes of World of Warcraft to the photos of the old American West. Rauch explains how exploring a videogame world is a lot like walking around on a Rodin sculpture–or a guided tour of Disneyland. We also hear from composer AJ Lornie about how he combines shredding electric guitar with sounds from old appliances to create the soundtrack to Earth Alliance. Producer Dan Cox talks with Ben Rivers, developer of the pixel-horror-adventure game Home about GameMaker and the creative boom in indie games.
There are a lot of different reasons to fall in love with a strategy game. The fantastic balance between sides, the rich depth of the gameplay, or the expansive nature of the game. Of course this is not an exhaustive list but all of these factors are covered in the rather simple but deeply involving Breaking The Tower.
Breaking The Tower is a Ludum Dare game, but before you moan it is not from the latest LD, not even the one before that. In fact it’s from a good few years ago now (Ld12), and was created by the one and only Notch (Markus Persson), one of the founders of Mojang (but I don’t have to tell you that).
The whole idea of the game is to build up your population to take down the monolithic tower that resides on this island. I’m not sure on its purpose or even how it was built on such a tiny island, this is irrelivant however as your task is to destroy it, and pick by pick you will chip it down one stone at a time.
Breaking The Tower although a very small game and in essence a very simple one the gameplay is actually much more complex then you first may expect when you just start the game. This is no done by having elaborate crafting systems like in Settlers, far from it. The complexity is largely in-part due to you not having direct control over your population and although frustrating at times it does make for a rather interesting game mechanic.
You are more like a hands off style God (not quite the wrathful type of old) and must guide your peons to their task… subtly. This is where a lot of the challenge lies as if you could just select a group of warriors to kill off the enemy soldiers and then send in some miners you would be set in minutes. Breaking The Tower really does make you work for your victory and it does so in such a great sense of fairness in may ways it feels unjust.
Average play time – Less than an hour
Breaking The Tower really does strip strategy right back to the basics and allows for you to tailor your moves the way you want, even if they rarely play out quite as simply as you may expect. Although the pace is rather slow you will quickly be engrossed into the game and will not be content until you destroy the oppressors ivory tower!
It’s free and it is indeed great fun to let the people of the land rise up. Breaking The Tower can be played here, for more information about Mojang be sure to visit the official site as they have some rather awesome games that you may have heard of…
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!
This week marks the start of The Indie Gala Magicka bundle that brings a flurry of awesome indie titles spanning a substantial number of genres. The Indie Gala team really know how to start the new year with a bang bring a bundle full of awesome titles out of the closet to celebrate the new year with. There are also three secrets to unlock, and will require you to pay more than the average to obtain them.
The Indie Gala Magicka bundle includes the following games (hint. Magicka is defiantly one of them)
Pay more than $1 to receive:
You Are Empty – Set in Soviet Russia You Are Empty has you playing as the protagonist out to save the day from all manner of horrific Russian experiments, creating an all new action experience you don’t want to miss.
Trine – One of the best puzzle platformers to of ever been released. You take up control of a band of adventurers each with their own unique abilities to try to solve the puzzles they are laid out before you.
Beat the average (current at time of writing $5.93) and get:
Magicka – The ultimate in co-op dungeon crawling gameplay. I say co-op loosely as will you after you spend the first hour or so of the game just finding new and innovative ways to kill each other.
Cities In Motion – Takes a slightly different tack than most city management games and gives you more of a mayoral role within the game. In Cities In Motion you are able to govern numerous global cities how you see fit and try your hand at balancing the books. If you’ve complained about government spending maybe you can try you hand here.
Deponia – A lovingly created point n click adventure game from the indie heavy weight Daedalic entertainment. Follow this zany adventure throughout this weird and wonderful world.
Painkiller Black Edition – If you are a fan of old schools FPS games such as Doom or Quake you may be very excited to find a newer addition to this genre here. What many regard as one of the modern greats in terms of FPSs Painkiller will have you mowing down room after room of hell spawn to some rather great tracks.
Magicka Vietnam (Secret unlocked)
The bundle brings some of the best indie games to have been released over the past few years together and is quite the steal at the current price point. Each game is great fun and if you have yet to play Magicka get some friends together and get ready for hours of hilarity as you try to get through the levels without killing each other.
The Indie Gala Magicka bundle can be purchased from the official website now.
For many people the Ouya is going to be the really big deal this year, in terms of indie gaming. It promises a new and exciting platform that should bring about a major improvement in the games we traditionally see on Google Play.
Hopefully the Ouya will move the mobile market away from just the traditional quick throw away games, and start to develop some games that actually have more substance for a sit down console.
Earlier this week we saw some early gameplay footage of the Ouya playing Roasty Roosters on the development console. It’s still early days and the game has yet to be optimized for the console but it proves an interesting first look at the console (even if it seems to only raise more questions than it answers). Check out the video below:
Although the Ouya’s release is still a little way off they did run a competition over the Christmas period that would allow developers to get their hands on the console early and for free. These early developer builds have proven to be difficult to get hold of for many developers due to their high price point, but Ouya assure us this will drop once the console ships this year.
The competition saw 13 developers scoop up a free Ouya development console that will allow the developers to port their games to the new console. Of course this is a great idea for Ouya because it will help bolster their launch titles as these developers will be ahead of the game.
In all honesty it’s quite a diverse range of games and games like Journey To Hell should really push the Ouya’s graphical processing to its limit. However personally I am really looking forward to seeing how Legend of Dungeon and Starbound fair on the new mini system.
This year should be a very interesting year for the indie scene as many companies push out mini consoles leading the way to new and exciting ways to play your games who will win out in the end.
Be sure to check the Ouya site for all the latest news about the console.
