With over twenty days left for the Kickstarter campaign, KING Art Games is sitting comfortably above the goal they initially set. The current count has Battle Worlds: Kronos sitting just above $165,000, which is $4,500 over their starting goal. Now, the developers are trying to keep their momentum going, by pushing for success on Steam Greenlight.

Earlier this week, Valve revealed they would announce the next batch of titles to be Greenlit on Steam on April 17th. KING Art Games undoubtedly would love to see Battle Worlds: Kronos included in that announcement, and seeing the success that they found with the Kickstarter Campaign (fully funded within seven days), being approved for Steam in twelve days doesn’t seem like such the impossible feat.

“We’re blown away by the support we’ve already received on the Greenlight campaign; it’s great to know we have so many committed people behind us on this,” Said Jan Theysen, Creative Director, KING Art Games. “We’re expecting to reach our first Kickstarter stretch-goal very soon, so that with the help of our loyal backers and community, we can bring an even more amazing experience to Steam.”

On Wednesday, KING Art Games posted a new update to the Battle Worlds: Kronos Kickstarter campaign page, featuring the Greenlight announcement, as well as the second video in their Battle Worlds Academy tutorial series.

The developers plan on providing Steam keys to Kickstarter backers, if the game becomes Greenlit, at some point in the future.

“We talked to some other developers with Kickstarter and Steam experience and it looks like we’ll be able to provide enough codes for every backer interested… if we get on Steam, so please vote,” KING Art Games said in the newest Kickstarter update.

Visit Battle Worlds: Kronos on Kickstarter, and visit the game’s new Greenlight campaign page. KING Art Games has setup a donation method through PayPal, if that is preferred, which can be found on the game’s official website.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Amidst Sucessful Kickstarter Campaign, ‘Battle Worlds: Kronos’ Pushes Momentum For Greenlight Approval

For anyone who has followed the Ludum Dare contests over the past few months you may have seen one game by a small developed team known as Shiro Games who created Evoland.

Evoland won the Ludum Dare 24 contest for its highly innovative take on RPG history. In Evoland you play starting with a monochrome top-down view which was seen in the early Zelda games. This then gradually progresses through the ages right up to the 3D rendered worlds we all know and love today.

Evoland quite obviously has had a great deal of influence from classic RPG titles like Zelda and Final Fantasy but it’s able to combine them here in a rather unique and fun way not seen before in RPGs.

Evoland really is quite the trip down memory lane, bringing back many of the awesome features we have seen in the past, while making for a completely unique game that really does stand up on its own.

After doing so well in Ludum Dare the team decided to flesh out the game even more and even managed to get it Greenlit earlier this year. Now, several months later, Shiro Games have finally released Evoland on the PC via Steam.

Evoland has evolved from the critically acclaimed mini-game created for Ludum Dare into a full-fledged title now available to buy via Steam.

Evoland was released yesterday on Steam and is currently on sale, allowing you to save 10% until the 10th of April.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Evoland’ Evolves From Game Jam To Full Release

One of the most talked about indie games ever is finally making its way to PC after spending one year on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Fez the genre defining smash is at long last going to make the leap to the PC which will no doubt put a smile on many PC gamers face.

Fez is focused around the main character Gomez who appears to live in a two-dimensional world, this is the case until he comes across a mysterious artefact which grants him a magical fez allowing him to perceive a third dimension.

Fez is a puzzle platformer in which you must use your new power to navigate around the world in ways previously unbeknown to Gomez in this beautifully created three-dimensional world. Fez has won many awards in its history both after release and prior, and quite rightly so considering just how bigger impact this game has had on the community at large.

Fez will support controllers along with all the standard achievements for you all achievement hunters out there and will even include Steam cloud saving so you can take the game with you anywhere.

Fez will be available from Steam from May 1^st however the price point has not yet been announced. To find out more be sure to visit the Steam store or the official site.

One of the most talked about indie games ever is finally making its way to PC after spending one year on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Fez the genre defining smash is at long last going to make the leap to the PC which will no doubt put a smile on many PC gamers face.

Fez is focused around the main character Gomez who appears to live in a two-dimensional world, this is the case until he comes across a mysterious artefact which grants him a magical fez allowing him to perceive a third dimension.

Fez is a puzzle platformer in which you must use your new power to navigate around the world in ways previously unbeknown to Gomez in this beautifully created three-dimensional world. Fez has won many awards in its history both after release and prior, and quite rightly so considering just how bigger impact this game has had on the community at large.

Fez will support controllers along with all the standard achievements for you all achievement hunters out there and will even include Steam cloud saving so you can take the game with you anywhere.

Fez will be available from Steam from May 1^st however the price point has not yet been announced. To find out more be sure to visit the Steam store or the official site.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Fez’ Finally Makes The Leap To PC

Today, Steam launched a nine day sale featuring indie games. The well-timed Indie Spring Sale will overlap both PAX East and the 2013 IGF awards.

The sale page is a little misleading, though. The page claims “hundreds of games” are on sale, though when you click through the banners and get into the sale page, there are only six games featured, and broken down into the PAX and IGF categories there are only twenty more total. I imagine Steam will shuffle through the entire list, daily, throughout the duration of the sale…but it is unlike Valve to make it difficult to find sales. Luckily you can search for “indie” in the store and it will aggregate all of Steams indie titles, for easy viewing.

Some of today’s featured titles include:

Guns of Icarus Online – 75% off – $4.99
Capsized – 70% off – $2.99
Awesomenauts – 50% off – $4.99
Gish – 75% off – $2.49
Samorost2 – 70% off – $1.49

Some other deals that caught my eye while browsing through the full list:

NightSky – 80% off – $1.99
Terraria – 75% off – $2.49
Dungeons of Dredmor – 50% off – $2.49
Trine – 75% off – $2.49

Visit the Steam Store Indie Spring Sale page, to see the featured titles (which can be speculated to rotate once a day), alternatively one can also view all of the games on sale by searching for the term “indie” in the store, or simply by clicking this link.

The Indie Spring Sale comes a day after the announcement that Steam would begin selling alpha builds of games, that people can get continually updated, as the developer furthers progress on completing the game. Some of the first titles included in Steam’s Early Access program include Gnomoria, Under the Ocean, and StarForge.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – IGF Finalists and PAX East Games Among Many Featured In The Indie Spring Sale

Tower Wars is a very interesting tower defence game that seems to take this genre, spawned back in pools of Warcraft and really adapts them to be their own. Tower Wars came out back in August from developer SuperVillain Studios and looks very good.

For one reason or another I have not played Tower Wars. I do still need to as I love strategy games, and with Tower Wars SuperVillain Studios put a lot of work into the game to really differentiate itself from the crowded market.

Tower Wars really fuses the two different components of strategy. Taking the tower planning, which is of course routed in tower defence games with the upgrading and risk rewards. Then coupling it with a great deal of elements found in RTS games from mining resources to tech trees, Tower Wars really takes a fantastic stance on strategy.

What I find really inspired about Tower Wars is making the game a 1 vs 1 where it is two human players competing for supremacy, something I have not seen in other tower defence games. In this vein SuperVillain Studios have only recently announced a great update in addition to this gameplay you will soon be able to play a new Co-Op mode.

So far, all that SuperVillain Studios have released is the lore for the new co op map, which is a great story (abridged version to follow). A once lively drifter town nestled in the clouds was plundered by pirates in an attempt to seize all the trinkets this town had and would continue to acquire. Their greed however, sank their own ship under the weight of the plunder they had acquired.

A tempest wind arrived not long after to swallow up this once lively town, desolate after the pirate invasion. Casting the town adrift along with all manner of trinkets and rum.. lots of rum. The king fortuitously came across the derelict island and claimed it as his own. The pirates did not take to the King taking the haul for himself and so the rum war begun.

Tower Wars already offers a fun filled game on Steam for $9.99 .This latest addition will no doubt add a great deal of extra playability to an already substantial game. Be sure to check back to The Indie Game Magazine soon, for the full report on the update along with more information on Tower Wars.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – A Soon To Be Co-Operative Rum War In ‘Tower Wars’

Originally released as WiiWare in 2009, and then later on Nintendo’s 3DS in 2011, Gaijin Games’ BIT. TRIP CORE has finally made it to PCs and Macs.

Released yesterday on Steam, BIT. TRIP CORE is available on PCs running Windows XP or better, and Macs running Snow Lepord 10.6.3 or later. Both versions require half-a-gigabyte of RAM.

BIT. TRIP CORE is the second game in the BIT. TRIP series, directly following BIT. TRIP BEAT, and was inspired by Cosmic Arc, an Atari 2600 game which was a personal favorite of the game’s designer Alex Neuse.

Players control a small four-sided core at the center of the screen. The objective is to fire lasers from each of the four sides and hit incoming blocks for points. The rhythm of the soundtrack helps keep players in-tune to when to fire at the incoming blocks, essentially making it a rhythm game akin to Guitar Hero.

The game reviewed favorably with most critics, and carries an 80/100 score on Metacritic.

BIT. TRIP CORE features a single player mode and a 2-player local co-op mode, a “thumpin’” chiptune-inspired soundtrack, epic boss battles, leaderboards, achievements, and a new easy mode for newer players.

Steam is offering BIT. TRIP CORE in three bundles. There is the standard game-only package which is $9.99. Buyers can elect to purchase the game with the soundtrack for $11.99, or buy the standalone soundtrack without the game for $5.99. Finally, for mega-fans, Steam is offering a $35.96 BIT. TRIP collection which includes BIT. TRIP CORE, RUNNER, and BEAT, and the soundtracks for the three games.

Pick up BIT. TRIP CORE on Steam today, and follow the developers on Twitter.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘BIT. TRIP CORE’ Releases on Steam, First Time in HD

Recently, Recoil Games posted a rather spiffy video showing off some pre-production gameplay for the Rochard: Part 2, the possible sequel to last year’s sleeper gem Rochard.

Shortly after the original title dropped on the Playstation Network (following last year’s PSN Play promotion) the team at Recoil began work on Rochard’s next interstellar adventure. Sadly, a series of financial drawbacks put the brakes on the game’s development. As stated by Recoil, their woes began when the PSN Store got hacked, soon after that Rochard’s release date was postponed until late September; making layoffs inevitable. Luckily a small group went on to polish up and port the title further for its Steam and Mac App Store releases.

Recoil went on to state “When the game finally became available on the PSN Store on September 27th 2011, there was not enough buzz for it to sell despite it being IGN Editors’ Choice and getting other great awards. We had no funds to do any marketing ourselves, so there was no choice but to rush the PC version to Steam despite the bad market timing.”

As of now production on Rochard’s sequel is at a standstill while the company attempts to obtain some additional funding. They’ve also stated plans to release some DLC at some point (of which I will gladly buy). Recoil was able to slightly alleviate some of their financial difficulties by releasing their gravity defying puzzle-platformer both in the last Humble Bundle (Humble Indie Bundle 6) and in a physical boxed format. Hopefully things will begin looking shape up for these guys, as they set their sites towards Kickstarter and Indiegogo for funding, and with any luck we’ll all get to join Rochard and his kooky gang on another adventure.

If you haven’t checked out the first title and own a Playstation 3 or a computer capable of running I strongly recommend it. The gameplay is fast and fluid, the mechanics are far more than solid, the dialogue is witty, and above all: its one of the most fun titles I’d played last year (and still one of the best physics based puzzle-platformers I’ve played thus far).

You can find out more info and read Recoil’s devblog over at rochardthegame.com. And as always keep your sights set on IGM as we’ll surely keep track of this title’s progress.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Recoil Games struggles to fund ‘Rochard’ sequel

For better or for worse, Valve Software really do seem to be maneuvering themselves into position as a cornerstone of the indie gaming business, and now they’re getting right in on the ground floor. It’s been known for some time that Steam was going to be expanding to support commercial software soon, and now it does – the very first app on the pile? YoYo Games’ incredibly popular GameMaker Studio.

It makes sense – GameMaker has been the development software of choice for a lot of indie classics over the years, including the original version of Spelunky, Immortal Defense, freeware hits such as Iji and Hero Core and even the Cactus’ upcoming hyper-violent 80s action game Hotline Miami (coincidentally Steam-bound soon) were all developed using the package. Just about the only thing it can’t do consistently well is 3D graphics – Unity, UDK and Cryengine fill that niche, though.

What makes the Steam launch of Game Maker so important? Steam Workshop integration. Previously, games were showcased, launched and often completely lost on YoYo Games’ own showcase site. Now, games developed with Game Maker can be directly uploaded to the Steam Workshop where players can find, download, play and rate them. It effectively turns Steam into an almost Newgrounds-esque freeware hub filled, if you know where to look.

As with the regular site-bound version of GameMaker, the Steam edition comes in Free, Standard and Professional editions, and with optional upgrades to export titles as iOS, Android & HTML5 packages. Right now, there’s a 10% launch discount on all the software, and there’s even some strange Steam-specific perks, such as achievements… Yes, achievements. An amusing lot, including ones for racking up a certain number of compiler errors. Guess you’ll be able to see which of your friends suck as programming.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘GameMaker: Studio’ Debuts on Steam’s New App Store

McPixel was one of the first games that had been greenlit on Steam, and is now available for purchase. McPixel had originally launched earlier this year back in June on the 25th. McPixel is also available on both Windows and Mac and will only cost you $4.99. It was originally $7.43 and was previously cut down from $9.99. This new pricing scheme will stay the same permanently. Also, everyone who previous purchased McPixel before the game was released on Steam, you will be receiving a code to redeem the game on Steam. Supposedly everyone that received free review codes, the Steam code is supposed to be on the download page as well.

That’s not all the news from McPixel though. McPixel will be receiving their very first free DLC, dubbed “Day 92 DLC,” today. There’s also a set of new user created levels for the game that was released. McPixel also comes with a level editor so you can make your very own levels, and even possibly have them added to the full game! If you’re curious as to what McPixel is about, it’s essentially a crude point-and-click game with 100 different challenges for players to get through. The goal in each challenge is to stop yourself from entirely blowing up into a million pieces by using the tools available to you. Oh and by the way, you only have 20 seconds to win the challenge. I hope you have your thinking cap on, you’re going to need it!

If you want to purchase McPixel, you can head over to Steam right now and give it a purchase. You’ll notice that the game even has the awesome little Steam Greenlight badge of approval!

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘McPixel’ Now On Steam, Offering Free DLC And New User Created Levels