Slated to be Norwegian developer Rain Games’s first release, Teslagrad is a steampunk-styled 2-D puzzle platformer currently in development for the PC, Mac and Linux. Set in the titular capitol city of Elektropia, the game promises to be an electrifying escapade full of perilous puzzles designed specifically to test and tantalize one’s brain.
This is technically Rain Games’s second game; their first project, a multiplayer game titled Minute Mayhem, was put on hold in favor of finishing Teslagrad first. Despite vastly differing gameplay, both are set in the fictional universe of Chroma, and the developers have hinted at a desire to continue exploring Chroma in future releases.
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 14th of March this year for the PC. Track the progress either at IndieDB or the I love Krupiński site.
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.
It is another one of those dreary days outside, rain pouring down in an endless monsoon and a sky so saturated in clouds it tints the whole world gray. In order to get through days like this, I at least need some distraction from reality. Digi Adventure is that distraction and it is quite the interesting platformer from the guys over at Insert Coin Studios.
Digi Adventure follows an unemployed college gamer who receives a popup on his computer one day for the best job ever. Digi initially ignored the popup but then decided to click it, resulting in him being sucked into the digital world. Greeted by his antivirus software Digi is tasked with the job of cleaning up the digital world from the onslaught of viruses.
Digi Adventure is a very well put together adventure game created in Unity3D with a fantastic visual style. The style used does suit the narrative very well as it has clearly had some Tron inspiration but actually made an attempt to create a story around its premise at least.
I really like the use of lighting in the world, the close nature of the lighting makes the world feel very closed and electronic. All the blocks having interesting moving pixels and circuit board platforms really make the game feel very electronic and work great in the theme of the game overall.
The audio is also great, really adding to the electronic feel with its melodic overtones that provide enough ambience to make the game feel much more complete. The tracks although seeming a little limited, are not tracks you would quickly get bored with as they continue to play in the background, they are not overly overt.
Overall Digi Adventure is a great little platformer with a large selection of levels to get through, all created in this great electronic style. There is also the ability to put on time attack mode and a one death mode adding to the difficulty of the game, along with increasing the replayability. It all just works very well together and I had a lot of fun playing the game. There is a few bugs in the game one of my biggest was, when what i assume is my life counter hit zero it would just keep my dead. There was no option to restart the level or at least push me back to the main menu automatically.
Insert Coin Studios continue to support Digi Adventure publishing new levels and fixing bugs continually. so i assume all the small problems will be ironed out over time.
Average play time – under an hour to complete
Digi Adventure is great fun and is a worthy distraction from the hectic real world. Play it for free in your browser here. If you would like to find out a little more about the studio their site can be found hereand follow them on Twitter.
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 I have been running down all the winners from the latest Ludum Dare. This week has seen many great games from the jam all of which have some great themes and ideas. The sheer volume of great content in the jam is always good to see and although there can only be one winner everyone who took part should be happy with the results. As always the title will link to the post and the image will like to the game.
A great space shooter that really brings back the old styled genre. Great retro gameplay with awesome music over the top. It has a very interesting evolution style that allows you to survive by increased damage and survivability. It is a fantastic fusion of retro with modern with great score attack gameplay making this a worthy winner.
A fantastic retro game that goes back to the golden age of Mario on the SNES, with fantastic colours and great sound effects this title is a very cute and fun little game. The evolution theme has been implemented in a very interesting way, using a mini game to create the correct protein blocks to evolve. It all works together very well as you evolve you can unlock new areas and eat new food to evolve. Very fun platformer that is a great vision of all the things that I have loved about the platform genre.
Many of games generally use death as a negative, however in Death Death it is often the only way to beat the game. When you die you evolve to try and over come the problem that led to your death in the first place. This is a smart idea and it does make sense really, just it is not seen very often. The gameplay is solid and reminds me a lot of the Lion King one of the classic platforming games of yesteryear, and with a great graphics style overall the game plays great.
A very interesting title using checkpoints in this interesting flight simulation. The hardest part is the initial starting point in the school building however it gets easier as the game goes on. I love the way you evolve from a paper plane to an actual one over a series of unique levels. The only thing this game lacks is sound which has totally been missed, but I assume this was to allow for a much greater focus on the overall gameplay and level design. A great title with awesome graphics that really stand out from a lot of the competition.
Day 27 – Psychiatric Evaluation - Fifth place
A great journey through the ages of gaming starting in the great text based exploring world and evolving past the ASCII to actual graphics, the gameplay is very well thought out indeed. The puzzles are also great often requiring a lot of thought to complete and changing between the game modes. Although not a really long game the gameplay it offers is very fun and a unique experience.
This Ludum Dare has been filled with many great titles yet again and I am greatly looking forward to the challenge new month before the next Ludum Dare in December. If the last jam is anything to go by the future events will contain even great titles. I will be bring you an all new series of coffee break games to get you through the day starting 12 noon tomorrow.
Just a friendly reminder: Cortex Command officially launched yesterday, and since it was included pre-release in a few Humble Bundles, you may have a free download waiting for you.
With the soaring popularity of indie bundles, it is far too easy to forget which game came with what bundle, especially when the game was included pre-release, as Cortex Command was. If you remember buying Humble Indie Bundle 2, or paying above the average price for Humble Indie Bundle 3, then you will have a key waiting for you.
If the bundle-mania has clouded your memory, fear not, for there is a really easy way to check which games you own from any Humble Bundle you have purchased. You will just need to remember the email address you used to create your account, and of course, the password to log into said email.
If you go to the official Humble Bundle website, here, simply click the “Log in” button in the upper right-hand corner. From there you sign in with your email and Humble Bundle account password. There is an option to reset the password, if you have forgotten it.
Once logged in, click “My Account” and you will be taken to a page displaying all of your Humble Bundle purchases which that email address is associated with. You can choose to download Cortex Command as a standalone file, or if you scroll to the bottom and click the link for a specific Humble Bundle purchase, you will be taken to a page which allows you to claim Steam/Desura keys for the specific bundle (seen in the image, above).
That is it, easy as making a Hot Pocket!
If it turns out you do not own Cortex Command already, you can buy the game from the official website, here.
Cortex Command is an RTS platformer where players control artificially intelligent soldiers, attempting to defend their “brain bunker” headquarters from invading troops. Cortex Command features pixelated graphics and an extremely detailed physics engine.
As a huge fan of Arcen Games’ previous outing – AI War: Fleet Command – I really didn’t go into A Valley Without Wind wanting to dislike it, but the experience just left me cold. The underlying concepts were enticing, but the art style felt like a mash-up of default Poser models and Photoshop effects, the core gameplay felt poorly defined, and there was just something about the way that the game moved that gave me blinding headaches after just a couple hours of play. While the latter point seems to be just limited to myself, the critical reaction to the game was fairly muted across the board. It seems a good decision, then, that Arcen are officially calling a Mulligan on the first release of the game, and are skipping straight to the sequel.
As revealed in this extensive development blog-post, AVWW2 will be free for anyone with the original game. Not only is the game getting a complete visual overhaul (the above picture being a mock-up gameplay shot using the new art assets), but the core gameplay is getting reworked as well. The biggest change is actually a return from the beta era of AVWW – city-building is coming back. Heavily inspired by the SNES platform/strategy hybrid Actraiser, you’ll be alternating between expanding your town and adventuring out in the field. At home you’ll be assigning citizens to duties around the homestead, producing resources and gear, and gearing up for adventures. On the platforming side, you’ll be fighting enemies and clearing new lands for colonization.
There’s going to be a much heavier focus on victory this time. Where AVWW was effectively an infinite treadmill, AVWW2 sets you a goal right from the start – kill the evil overlord of the continent and his five lieutenants and free the land. Game flow on the overworld will play out as a turn-based strategy game, with enemy forces pushing at your borders. The on-foot action sounds more interesting as well, with the levels being randomly generated once more, but this time using hand-built building blocks rather than being a fractal maze. Think along the lines of Spelunky, with its familiar chambers but random arrangements of them each time.
Even the controls are getting a massive overhaul, lending more weight to the Metroid/Actraiser inspirations. Free mouse aiming is no longer in, and is being replaced with pure keyboard/gamepad-driven platforming action. If the levels and combat are designed with this in mind, it could result in a much more satisfying game to play. The core theme seems to be traditional metroidvania gameplay married to a suite of Actraiser-style strategy elements in a persistent world and a constant, singular threat to deal with, as in AI War.
AVWW2 won’t be ready to show to the world for some time, but Arcen hope that the first beta builds will be rolling out sometime this November. I knew that no matter what state AVWW launched in, that Arcen would give it all the post-release support it needs. It seems that they’re going above and beyond people’s highest expectations with this new take on the formula, though. I wish them good luck and a following wind, and can’t wait to try out the revised, refreshed and redesigned AVWW2 later this year. Keep an eye on IGM for more news on this fascinating project as it unfolds.
A Jolly Corpse, the diabolical madmen behind the upcoming puzzle platformer Wyv and Keep have been hard at work on another game: SmashBox. All of the info we have on the game is contained in the trailer down below:
The following is an attempt to sum up everything in the trailer, in case the buttons on your mouse somehow stopped working as soon as you started reading this article, and you can’t click on it to watch it yourself: SmashBox is a game about a pink haired protagonist in a robot suit who hates boxes for some reason and feels a burning need to smash them all, but there are green radioactive boxes that you can’t smash, because who wants to touch radioactive waste? Certainly not our dapper young protagonist of indeterminate gender; s/he knows that radiation never leads to anything good, even if you’re using your robot fists to punch it out of a box with a trefoil on it. The game also involves a good deal of running and jumping to avoid said radioactive boxes as well as other dangers like TNT boxes, purple slime, spinning gears and falling platforms spread throughout the game’s 100+ levels. All of this is set to a killer techno soundtrack by Luke Thomas, who also did music for Landa-a Panda, Tobe & Friends Hookshot Escape and A Jolly Corpse’s own upcoming Wyv and Keep.
That the description I gave in the last paragraph sounds… ridiculous, to put it politely, should in no way read as being dismissive of the game since it looks like a well made piece of classic, bang-your-head-against-the-wall-hard platforming in the vein of indie darlings Super Meat Boy or Spelunky. Not that I’m comparing it to them directly, mind you, it just seems to be going for a similar difficulty curve.
SmashBox is out now for PC, and coming soon to Mac/Linux and sells for $2.99
The Third place entry in LD24 is yet another great title and has been created by Adhesion. Death Death Evolution is firstly a great name along with being a very interesting spin on the puzzle platformer genre as a whole. Generally death is bad in any game, however in Death Death Evolution it is somewhat encouraged.
Death Death Evolution has a great mechanic which I have not seen in any other game, it relies on you actually dieing as once you die you are reborn with extra attributes to help you overcome the problem that killed you in the first place. This is truly great thinking and it does make sense in a roundabout way and fits the LD24 theme perfectly.
The visuals in Death Death Evolution are great, they are again done in a retro style (which is what people seem to love… nostalgia) which works very well in the puzzle platformer genre in general. Full of great colour pallets and distinctive scenery it really makes for a great looking game that looks retro but has the crisp graphics of technology.
The audio also is very good it is also distinctly retro (can you see the theme) adding a nice complete feel to the game. Even the sound effects have a distinct retro quality about it making this game a very well planned out venture.
Death Death Evolution is a game with a great deal of potential, I am sure with extra time this title could easily be extended into a fully featured title that many people would be happy to buy. As all the key elements exist in the game all that it requires is additional content to make it really shine.
Average play time – Less than one hour
Death Death Evolution is another great puzzle platformer that reminds me a great deal of the Lion King (great game) and is well worth your time. It can be played in your browser here, the original LD page is found here.
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 is the second place finalist in LD24 and is quite a great little title from Team Clew. Super Clew Land is a great evolving platformer where you play as this green blob creature which evolves as it eats more insects. The gameplay is great fun as you navigate around, with each evolution being slightly more difficult to achieve and with each a new talent is unlocked.
The gameplay features a lot of traditional styled jumping puzzles seen in all classic platformers, however Super Clew Land actually adds extra dimensions. The evolution works well however the innovative part about the evolution is the way that every time you eat a creature you obtain “protein blocks” which you must build with the arrow keys arranging them in the correct colours. This additional innovation really puts this game ahead of many of the other awesome titles in LD24 and makes its second place totally justified (if not first place).
Overall the gameplay is great with the evolution allowing you to unlock new areas and eat new food types and it is a whole load of fun.
The visuals are generally great and do really throw back to the greats such as Mario (The title should give this away), with a very similar style that is indeed great. The colour schemes and graphical choices overall are great and really add a lot to this game making it definitely one to play.
On top of this the music is great and very in keeping with the theme, in fact I feel it adds a lot to the game. It is always great to see awesome music choices in jam contest games because I understand this is hard to get them in, but if executed well it really sets the game above all the competitors.
Average play time – 30 minutes
Super Clew Land is a great title and the second place winner of the LD24 jam. It can be played here, and the link to the original LD post is here.
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!
