Want to get funding for your indie game?  One of today’s Developer Links addresses how to approach publishers, while another discusses what’s currently going on with indie games on Kickstarter… and in another, a developer explains why he doesn’t use Kickstarter himself.  Also, a look back at a famous indie game that was released two years ago and is still selling strong, and an indie developer shares some of her earliest, previously unpublished efforts…

Amnesia – Two Years Later (In The Games Of Madness)
“It has now passed a little more than two years since we launched Amnesia and one year since the last report, so time for another! One would think that there is perhaps not much to be said this long after release, especially for a single player game with no built-in social features. But the fact is that Amnesia is still going very strong and 2012 will probably be the best financial year here at Frictional Games, which we would never had expected two years ago.”

My Kickstarter Love/Hate (Cliffski.com)
“So kickstarter has raised a bazillion dollars for games. rejoice hurrah etc! I have a love/hate relationship with the idea. On the one hand, it’s awesome to see indie devs get games made that they didn’t have the money to make otherwise, as the alternative (gradually building up over time) took me about ten years to get to the standard of games most people know me for… On the other hand, it’s selling a dream, and a pretty unlikely and far-off dream at that.”

XNA-To-Unity: The Radiangames Method (Radiangames)
“Now with 4 full games ported to 2 major new platforms (iOS and PC/Mac), an all-new game based on the same XNA-based game structure, and another larger game on the way, I think I can say the transition was a success.  Many more XBLIG developers have made the transition from XNA to Unity, but some are still in the process or are only considering it still.  For them, and for others who prefer a more code-based game structure than Unity normally provides, I’m now going to share more details of my particular XNA-to-Unity path.”

What Publishers Want: 10 Tips For Getting Your Game Funded (Gamasutra)
“In such a competitive landscape, how does a developer possibly stand out when trying to land a deal a game publisher? Perfect World’s VP of business development John Young shares what he looks for in a pitch.”

Indie Tools: Blender (IndieGames.com)
“You may have already heard of Blender, the 3D open source suite, as an excellent option for creating 3D graphics and models. Well, that is definitely true. Blender is a 3D tool that actually makes sense for me (I successfully created an almost passable castle) and everyone seems to agree that is both powerful and pretty straightforward to use… The game creation advantages are pretty obvious, especially for artists and indie devs wanting to impress with shiny 3D stuff, but what really impressed me is the fact that Brender actually comes with a complete Game Engine.”

PAX 10! IndieCade! Freeplay! Oh My! (Cipher Prime)
“PAX Prime was awesome! Big thanks to everyone that came out to see us! It was great meeting some of you for the first time and showing off Splice one-on-one with folks. If you missed out on PAX or weren’t able to stop by the booth, there’s a great write-up on the PAX10 over at Geek’sDreamGirl.”

kid stuff (AuntiePixelante)
“here’s some stuff outta history.”

The Video Game Kickstarter Report – Week Of September 14 (Zeboyd Games)
“The big new kickstarter for this week just started a few hours ago. It’s a new RPG from Obsidian Entertainment called Project Eternity. Goal of $1.1 million but they’re already up to $344k after a few hours so they probably will make it.  The game is designed to be a great homage to classic PC RPGs like Baldur’s Gate & Planescape: Torment and will feature the talents of Chris Avellone, Tim Cain, and Josh Sawyer.”

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Dev Links: Game Pointer

After the success of ‘Loren the Amazon Princess’, developer Winter Wolves, has decided to expand upon the game, by releasing the expansion: The Castle of N’mar.

With the expansion, the core game is enriched with additional non-linear quests through unexplored lands and also with the introduction of several new playable characters. Brand new quests offer fresh insight into existing characters, and the multiple endings will ensure that one play through is simply not enough.

The story of The Castle of N’mar begins when Amazon scouts go missing while investigating disturbances in the haunted land of N’mar. All evidence points to the vampire-infested Castle of N’mar.  It falls to Loren and her companions to find out what is really going on within the land.

Sauzer, Mesphit, and Chambara from the original game are now playable. They each feature different combat behaviors and two pairs of them come with complete romance arcs which have the potential to change the main story: romance Chambara and Mesphit with either Saren or Elenor.

The Castle Of N’Mar is not the only new zone included with the expansion. Also included are the Catacombs, the Orcish Village, The Tomb Of Twilight, Cyclopes Hunting Grounds, The Haunted Mines and more, with new enemies and boss fights for each area.

The expansion also comes with additional tweaks and rebalances to provide a better gaming experience.

The Castle of N’mar requires ‘Loren the Amazon Princess’ to play. The game is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

A free demo is available on the official website, here.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Expansion for ‘Loren the Amazon Princess’ Released

A little after four years since Castle Crashers released on Xbox Live, the game has finally made its way onto the PC and Mac.

Castle Crashers is a casual side scrolling hack-and-slash, set in a cartoony hand-drawn version of the Middle Ages. The Behemoth developed Castle Crashers, receiving acclaim for the game on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Castle Crashers became known for it’s easy to play co-op, and lighthearted action. The game tells the story of four knights on a crusade to rescue a handful of princesses from an evil wizard. Each player controls one knight, and each knight (red knight, blue knight, yellow knight, and green knight) have slightly different abilities at their disposal.

The game is broken into zones, and each zone contains a handful of levels which progressively tell the tale of the rescuing of the captured princesses. Experience is gained by slaying enemies and the larger bosses scattered throughout the zones. The experience points eventually level up the knight and new abilities can be unlocked to aid players through their crusade.

Through Steam, Castle Crashers supports single-player, multiplayer, cross-platform multiplayer, local co-op, Steam Achievements, Steam Leaderboards, and the use of Steam Cloud storage.

Castle Crashers has two DLC packs available, both featuring an additional character not included in the regular game. ‘The Blacksmith’ and the ‘Pink Knight’ DLC are both available on Steam for an additional 99 cents.

Follow the developers on Twitter: @thebehemoth and check out Castle Crashers in the Steam Store, here.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Castle Crashers’ Finally Arrives on PC/Mac

Would it be possible to make a game like Portal in 2D?  Or a stealth game where you can’t see the movement of enemies out of your character’s line of sight? Or a game where things that aren’t illuminated cease to exist?  Today’s Indie Links say yes to all of these, and more.

If Portal Were A 2D Platformer It Would Go Something Like This (Kotaku)
“Coming this week to Steam and Xbox Live Indie Games, Gateways is a 2D retro-style platformer that creator David Johnston describes as ‘like Portal, only better.’ Those are fighting words, Mr. Johnston.”

To The Moon: A Lesson In Interactive Storytelling (Funsponge)
“Being a younger medium, interactive storytelling is still defining its language. Writers from more traditional backgrounds are adapting their tool kits, but dictating our experience in those terms often comes at the expense of interactivity. To the Moon falls into this category, for the most part you’re just along for the ride, but when the ride is so compelling, none of that seems to matter.”

I Have Played: Dark Scavenger (Scripted Sequence)
“Many of the best things in life derive from unexpected combinations. The peanut butter and jam sandwich, for example, is humanity’s single most glorious achievement, and yet a mathematical quandary: the sum is greater than its parts. Psydra Games’ adventure-RPG Dark Scavenger is born of a similar (if less hyperbolic) phenomenon. It sequences DNA from Phantasy Star and Zork, adds a dash of Discworld: The Trouble With Dragons, and feels like it might have been lovingly raised by Armando Iannucci’s comedic imagination — an analogy that’s bereft of Dark Scavenger’s triumphs and near-misses, but full of its spirit.”

Review: Mark of the Ninja Brings 2D Stealth With Style (Ars Technica)
“Mark of the Ninja is utterly defined by the lack of information it gives players in key situations. If you want to know if there’s a guard in the next room, you have to lean up against the door and look through the keyhole (and be sure to dart away if he’s about to open that door). If you want to know if you’ll be spotted when you climb up over that ledge, you need to carefully peek your head up around the corner first. When you duck back down, a hazy, slowly fading red outline will tell you the guards’ last observed position, but you can still track their movements by watching the small grey circles that represent their subtle footfalls.”

Wot I Think: Closure (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
“How many lives must be expended to put in a lightbulb? If a tree falls in a forest but there is no light to show its final position, can it bridge the gap across a chasm? These and other philosophical quandaries are answered in Tyler Galiel’s Closure, a platform-puzzler that constitutes a sinister journey comprised of a thousand tricks of the light. Here’s wot I think.”

[PAX] Turning Into A Chicken: A Hands-On With Guacamelee (Twinfinite)
“Metroidvania games have become as numerous as the leaves in a tree. Two classic series with admirable gameplay? Who wouldn’t want to mash them together and try to make a game. More often than not, the game is mediocre or just plain bad. Sometimes it turns out pretty good. Rarely, the right ingredients come together to make one damn good game. Guacamelee falls in this last category. Hit the jump to see why.”

Portabliss: Super Hexagon (iOS) (Joystiq)
“I feel weird about rendering a verdict about a game I’ve played for, at most, 48 seconds in a single session, but that’s just how Super Hexagon works. Besides, that 48 seconds was hard-won after dozens of less successful, even briefer attempts. I’m reasonably sure I get the idea.”

Storyteller Is An Incredibly Original And Surprisingly Deep Indie Game (FULLNOVAZERO)
“…His own game, Storyteller was going to be shown for one hour the next day. I, as always, was curious to see what this was all about. My friends and I got locked into a match of Natural Selection 2 the next morning and when everything was done I checked my phone and ran over to the Spy Party booth with only 10 minutes left. Now I’m glad I did, because this is one of the most original games I’ve played in a long time.”

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Links Round-Up: Big Smile

In the current time when all things zombie have ignited the pop culture circles it is often hard to not find a story pertaining to zombies in any way shape or form. InSignia Studios are yet continuing this current zombie trend with their latest game Total Decay a turn based strategy game.

Total Decay is still under heavy development but at least from what InSignia Studios have been saying about it I have high hopes for this new title. Total Decay mixes Turn based strategy, RPG, Empire building, Sandbox and zombie survival assets to allow for a unique title putting a new spin on the zombie apocalypse genre.

The idea of Total Decay is to survive for as long as you can, it is not to win, no one can win but merely survive. It is an interesting idea and I do like this idea as it take a lot of the influence from sandbox titles such as Sim City where eventually you fail but the replayability is in the way you learn and adapt for the next playthrough.

It is a great way to take the zombie scene and although a few games have done this sort of thing in the past it has always been on a more limited scale, or so I found.

Some of the key features are:

• Dozens of weapons, armor and clothing
• A wide range of random events, ranging from bandit attacks to raiding slavers, travelling merchants to fleeing refugees and zombie hordes breaking down your settlement walls
• An unending procedurally generated city
• Leveling system for each individual survivor
• Dozens of unique building that you can upgrade to give you powerful bonuses

The game sounds great from all that I have read, I just hope that the imagining becomes the reality next year with this highly customizable and deep strategy game.

Read up on the entire article on indiedb here, and be sure to check back to The Indie Game Magazine for all the latest news as it breaks.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – First Look At ‘Total Decay’ A New Zombie Strategy

THON is a Sci-Fi board game that is essentially Star Wars meets Warhammer 40K. It’s supposed to be fast paced and offer extremely tactical gameplay between two players. Developer Tinderbox plans on making each army unique with their own variation of units and commanders. THON is essentially its own Starlight System in the sense that it’s going to be a massive artificial planet with its own self-sufficient fortress-world that was created for the sole purpose of protecting the inhabitants of the world. That includes the inhabitants living on the surface of the planet along with the inhabitants entombed within the planets “Soul Core.”

Tinderbox has three different modes planned for the game with the first being a versus mode. This will be your standard battle that you would see in any action board game, or video game even. Games should only be lasting around an hour with within the versus mode. Players can alternate between Move, Move, Shoot Shoot (or moving again), and will then be followed by combat (something you would see in games like Warlock: Master Of The Arcane). Commanders and Overlords in THON will have the ability to buff units at any time once per turn. This will allow you to increase your units movement and accuracy among a bunch of other stats and abilities.

Another mode this game boasts of is called “Narrative RPG.” This is supposed to be your typical Pen and Paper RPG setting with a Game Master (GM) called Lar along with a bunch of other players playing cooperatively to meet one goal. In this mode, Players will be able to create characters, choose their very own classes and also arm and equip them. They can then begin playing with the narrative that is provided, or they can create their own narrative. Tinderbox has promised that new narratives will be released periodically.

Lastly, the game boasts of a multiplayer mode called “SCOMA.” This mode stands for Self-Contained Mobile Armor, and is supposed to be the most casual mode out of the three options. This mode is supposed to be a design-your-own-free-for-all. Players playing with SCOMA will get to decide on an experience pool and then build their own character using that pool. With that pool, players will be able to duke it out in a PvP arena.

So far, the game is shaping up to be something very unique and maybe even worth your time. Tinderbox plans on starting a Kickstarter for the game on November 11th to fund it. He hasn’t released any information on when we can see this game, so we’ll probably have to wait until after the Kickstarter to find that type of information out, or at least an ETA.

If this sounds interesting to you, and you’re interested in getting a early look at this, just head on over to the THON forums and sign up for the beta testing!

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Tinderbox Creating New Star Wars And Warhammer 40K Inspired ‘THON’ Board Game

Heard about the new $100 fee charged by Steam Greenlight?  Well, today’s Indie Links include articles discussing it… along with games about bootleggers, hexagons, and space trees.

You Probably Can’t Last 30 Seconds In Super Hexagon, But Buy It Anyway. (Kotaku)
“After two weeks of careful study, I have determined that Super Hexagon is the bullriding of video games. It may not look it. It may look and sound like an old Atari game that fell through a timewarp and re-emerged on the iTunes store today. But it is, in fact, an experience that will break you, repeatedly.”

Eufloria Adventures Bringing Procedural Fun To PlayStation Mobile (Gamasutra)
“Eufloria Adventures, the game’s working title, is set within the original universe, but it has very different gameplay mechanics. You control a single seedling ship this time around, sent out to study and collect ancient artifacts with which you can enhance your ship’s abilities.  As you explore deeper into the world, survival becomes far more taxing, and constant upgrades to your ship are necessary for defeating enemy colonies and discovering your exact role in the underlying story.”

Cannon Brawl Brings 2D RTS To The PAX 10 (Joystiq)
“The PAX 10 picked some excellent titles to show off right outside of PAX’s Indie Megabooth in Seattle last weekend. Of the indie games on display, a 2D real-time strategy game calledCannon Brawl was my favorite. Cannon Brawl (formerly called Dstroyd) is the product of four developers calling themselves Turtle Sandbox Games, and was a winner of the Activision Independent Games Competition last year, picking up $175,000 and a chance to be published with Activision.”

“Super Hexagon Doesn’t Hate You,” Cavanagh Tells MCV (MCV)
“Having enjoyed a brief pseudo-launch last week, yesterday Super Hexagon finally arrived proper on the Apple App Store.  And if your Twitter feed is anything like this author’s, last night was abuzz with chat about the title. And for every ‘Wow this is amazing’ there was a common caveat.”

This Old-School RPG Might Give You One More Reason To Buy A Vita (Kotaku)
“Here’s another look at Dragon Fantasy Book II, out for PlayStation 3 and Vita early next year. As you can see, it’s very SNESish. Gotta love that fake Mode 7.”

You Light Up My Life: What Steam Greenlight Is For Indies, From Indies (Joystiq)
“Steam Greenlight isn’t for everybody. Literally – five days after pushing Greenlight live, Valve implemented a $100 barrier to entry in the hopes of eliminating the barrage of prank game ideas by people who don’t ‘fully understanding the purpose of Greenlight.’ Before the fee, it was difficult to know what Greenlight was going to mean for the indie community, since its ‘new toy’ sheen hadn’t yet dissipated. It’s even more difficult to gauge what Steam itself wanted Greenlight to accomplish, with or without the fee.”

A $100 Lottery Ticket: Indies Discuss Steam Greenlight’s New Fee (Ars Technica)
“So to help ‘cut down the noise in the system,’ Valve announced late Tuesday that it was immediately instituting a one-time-per-developer fee of $100 to gain access to the Steam Greenlight submission system, with all proceeds going to Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity (so Valve doesn’t make any money directly from the new rule). ‘It was obvious after the first weekend that we needed to make some changes to eliminate pranksters while giving folks in the community the ability to focus on ‘their kind’ of games,’ Valve UI designer Alden Kroll told Ars.”

Land Ahoy: Proteus Gets Big Update, Oct Steam Launch (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
“Oh how I adore Proteus. It’s equal parts minimalistic, enchanting, and really, really difficult to describe to people who haven’t played it. I mean, the point is to just walk around an island that looks like heaven as imagined by the tiny, tribal colony of Atari 2600s that have been forever exiled to your closet. And then things kind of just… happen. Except when they don’t. (See what I mean about the description thing?) Ultimately, though, it’s about taking in wondrous sights and sounds. And, as part of a brand new beta update, you can now share yours with everyone else. And not just with screenshots.”

Thirty Flights Of Loving And The Invention Of Videogame Space (Game On)
“Usually, videogames inhabit spaces. They set them up to be populated, they create functioning, navigable environments that in some way or another have an unbroken connection to a previous space, even if it is only by virtue of the player’s memory. There is usually no cut. Like a long take from A Touch of Evil or Children of Men, the player wanders throughout a space at leisure, bearing witness to spatial connections unable to be hidden or emphasised through montage. But not always. Thirty Flights of Loving is a very unusual videogame. Thirty Flights of Lovingis a videogame that cuts space up.”

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Links Round-Up: Cannon Law

Next Week will see the much loved Castle Crashers making its last move in its console wide conquest and finally reach the PC community. Castle Crashers is a great game full of irrelevant humour from the creative minds at The Behermoth, a two man team consisting of Dan Paladin and Tom Fulp.

The Behermoth was founded in 2001 when Dan Paladin and Tom Flup met and creating their first title Alien Homind. Needless to say from the release of Alien Homind on Newgrounds it was an instant success and allowed the two to take the game to the console market.

Castle Crashers began development in 2005 wrapping up in 2008 with its debut on the Xbox Live Marketplace in August of 2008 and was from its start a very well received title averaging 80%. It has been a much loved title by many and is such a fun game to play with a group of friends in its 4-player co-op on one console.

The jump to PC may be partly in line with Steam’s new Big picture as I am sure this will take full advantage of the new interface in Steam, creating a more console feel. It will also support full internet multiplayer that is also going to be cross platform. This is a great addition as you can play with your friends on console who got Castle Crasher back at launch.

Castle Crashers is a really fun game to play with a group of friends and has a fantastic art style along with highly enjoyable gameplay. I am sure many PC owners have been waiting for this title for a long time now, but your wait is finally over. The price has not be announced yet but the Steam page can be found here, it is available for both PC and Mac. To keep up with all the latests from The Behemoth their official site is here.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Castle Crasher’ Crashing A PC Near You

Yesterday, nWay proudly revealed the first trailer for their upcoming hack-and-slash game, Chrono Blade. Featuring RPG elements combined with a classic arcade smash-em-up gameplay style, Chrono Blade could easily gain popularity from its clean visuals and addicting gameplay alone. But nWay has bigger plans for their debut title.

Chrono Blade is set in a parallel reality where Earth is under siege by an alien race capable of breaking through the boundaries of reality and invading other worlds. Players create a hero and fight back against these reality-bending aliens. Each hero has over 30 attacks which can be combined in various ways to form chain-attacks. Attacks can also be dodged, blocked, and countered, so skill and timing are integral.

Because the aliens can warp reality and travel through parallel universes, every zone has a unique theme to it and offers players new types of enemies to dispatch. As with most RPGs, players will unlock abilities through leveling up their character and utilizing progression points to fill up various skill trees.

nWay is launching Chrono Blade on Facebook first, but they plan to branch out to other platforms (Mobile/Open Web) down the line. The game will be easily accessible, as it requires no payments, and no large files to download. Players will be able to hop in and start playing instantly for both solo gameplay and co-op or player-verses-player action. Microtransactions will fund the game, but nWay promises that all purchasable items are either cosmetic or temporary boosts. Chrono Blade will not be pay-to-win.

nWay is being pretty ambitious with Chrono Blade, but if the game catches on, it has all the probability of becoming the next big thing.

Follow the developers on Twitter: @nWayGames and sign up for the beta testing on the official Chrono Blade website: chronoblade.com

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Ambitious Hack-and-Slash ‘Chrono Blade’ Announced, Trailer Released

Hey there party people and welcome to another IGM Limelight, where each week we showcase 5 games which are up for voting on Steam Greenlight that we think are super cool. Last weeks 5 picks can be viewed here. So, without further ado, and because I know you didn’t come here to listen to my ramblings, here are our 5 IGM Limelight picks of the week:

Receiver from Wolfire Games- As an entry into the 7 day FPS challenge, Receiver is a FPS with a focus on gun mechanics and, more specifically, pistol mechanics. Receiver was also made with an unordered story in mind, which unfolds through players hunting down missing tapes. The guns in Receiver operate through independent parts, each of which the player must learn about and come to know to have success. Players must manually reload, cock the revolver, as well as maneuver around corners, etc. The goal of Wolfire Games was to make a much more realistic first person shooter, which demands more out of a player than a spray and pray approach. It would appear they have succeeded in doing so. More info on Receiver can be found on its official website, which also offers the game for purchase as well as the Source Code for you happy modders out there.

Platformines from Magicko Gaming- In Platformines players are faced with a boatload of networked mines, which are guarded by enemies and traps, but also include incredible treasures. Platformines uses a combination of RPG, platformer, and shooter elements, with an emphasis on weapon combinations. The weapons are randomly generated to create, what is apparently, a gazillion weapons. Likewise, each dungeon in the 6 to 8 hour campaign is randomly generated to improve replayability in the single player hybrid. If Platformines seems up your alley you can check out more and try the beta at Platformines’ official website.

No Time to Explain from tinyBuild Games- I do not have much time to explain No Time to Explain. I mean I only get a paragraph to tell you about there being No Time to Explain. Ugh, ugh, schtick. But seriously, No Time to Explain is an action-packed platformer filled to the brim with time paradoxes, dancing, crabs, lasers, bosses sharks, and future yous telling you “there is no time to explain.” The whole game is a comical journey of utter non-sensical confusion. It is right up my Douglas Adams inspired alley. If you enjoy some comical platforming from time to time check it out. For more info on No Time to Explain check out tinyBuild Games offical website.

Heaven Variant from Zanrai Interactive- Posed as a “love letter” to side-scrolling shoot em’ up games while staying away from the meat head generalization of the genre, Heaven Variant is an impressive 3D spectacle. The story is somewhat confusing, but it seems you are helping out orbiting earth colonists by taking control of some powerful weaponary. That weaponary turns out to be a bunch of accessible cannons, machine guns, swords, and flamethrowers. Each of the weapons has a unique angle for firing to challenge players to adjust to the oncoming enemies. More info on Heaven Variant can be found on its official website and Zanrai Interactive‘s Twitter.

InFlux from Impromptu Games- InFlux is a mixture of adventuring and puzzle-solving within the realm of mysterious and abstract environments. Players control a small sphere which travels from cubic glasshouse to glasshouse; each of which is a puzzle in its own right. InFlux aims to be a relaxing experience, which too is supported by a original soundtrack. The graphics are fairly high end and were designed with the Unreal Development kit. More on InFlux can be found at the official Influx website or on Joe Wintergreen’s Twitter.

Once again, it has been wonderful writing for you guys to read. I hope you enjoyed the Greenlight picks in this weeks IGM Limelight. We’ll be back next week with another spotlight on some Greenlight games. But if you’d like us to consider YOUR Greenlight project for IGM Limelight, send in your submission to editors@indiegamemag.com with the subject “IGM Limelight”. Didn’t see your game this week? Stay tuned for next weeks round-up and you may very well be one of our top picks!

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – IGM Limelight: Week 3