It’s always great to see new strategy games being developed as this has been a somewhat slow genre over the past few years. Wastelands Interactive who may be best known for the creation of Strategic War In Europe are currently developing a brand new 4X fantasy strategy game Worlds Of Magic.

Wastelands Interactive state that this is a project of love and their attempt at recreating the classic 4X Master Of Magic. The hope is to create World Of Magic with heavy influence from the ‘90s classic really bringing back what was so great about Master Of Magic but in a much more modern-day  presentation.

In order to keep every Worlds Of Magic game unique expect the implementation of a procedurally generated universe, ensuring every game is an interesting and unique experience for the players.   Expect all the planes to be randomised each time allowing for a great deal of replayability and unpredictable gameplay as you battle for dominance across this magic infused universe.

Worlds Of Magic will also draw from the D20 system which resembles version 3.5 of the AD&D rules. The D20 system will largely be implemented in the game, however in areas including mana and spell casting it will use a D20 inspired system that makes use of mana points.

Worlds Of Magic hopes to be the game that rekindles peoples love for the classic 4X fantasy genre. Although Paradox Interactive released Warlock Master Of The Arcane the other year that does bring back some of classic World Of Magic vibe we are yet to see how Worlds Of Magic will stack up.

Although not much information has been released yet Worlds Of Magic aims to be the next big 4X. Be sure to follow the development on their facebook page and the official Wastelands Interactive site.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Worlds Of Magic’ A Brand New Fantasy Strategy Bringing Back The ’90s

“Chivalry”, “Hydorah”, “Sugarcube” and “Telepath” are all examples of dactyls, metrical feet consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed syllables. More importantly, they’re all the first words of titles of games covered in today’s Indie Links.  (Heck, one of the titles, Sugarcube: Bittersweet Factory, consists entirely of dactyls. Huh.)

Bleed (Indie Gamer Chick)
“…In short, the name sucks and the price sucks harder.  Are we clear on that?  Good. Bleed is fucking awesome.”

Review: Blood, Grain, and Steel – An Indie Turn-Based Strategy Game (Indie Game Reviewer)
“Turn-based strategies are a delicate art; pacing is everything and it’s important that tactics and balance are tempered with regular reward. The genre, by its nature, provides measured and reasonably slow experiences (compared to other gaming genres at least) and it can be easy to drive away potential gamers with these qualities if the game doesn’t also offer some level of excitement and deep involvement. Blood, Grain and Steel faces this challenge, presenting turn-based strategy elements reminiscent of Total War combined with chess style grids.”

Today I Die Dev’s Storyteller Still Enchants (IndieGames)
“Today I Die and I wish I were the Moon developer Daniel Benmergui is still working hard on his IGF 2012 Nuovo award winner Storyteller. He recently published a dedicated website for Storyteller and announced a late 2013 release for Windows, Mac, and iOS.”

Oh, Sweet Emotion! – Sugarcube: Bittersweet Factory (Indie Statik)
“…Thing is, 2D puzzle-platformers are the ‘bread and butter’ of that thing we awkwardly refer to as indie gaming. If you’ve been interested in this chewy slice of the gaming world for more than a couple of weeks, you can most likely name ten of them off the top of your head. This doesn’t detract from Sugarcube‘s quality in any way, it just means that the game would have to work very hard to stand out in a highly competitive field. There’d have to be something unique to make it worthwhile for more than just the die-hard ‘indie fan’. Which brings me back to the poo.”

Kickstarter Katchup – 15th December 2012 (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
“The temptation is to throw copper coins out of my window at passing urchins, demanding that they purchase food and gifts on my behalf, but instead I decided to tuck into the selection box that is the Kickstarter Katchup to see what’s happening in the world of crowdfunding and gaming. The SPORTSFRIENDS survived, Consortium’s first-person role-playing adventure impressed and much else besides. I would say more but I really need to go and eat some painkillers though…”

GameStop Cancels This Year’s Indie Game Challenge, Future Unclear (Polygon)
“The Indie Game Challenge is on hiatus and will not be held during DICE 2013, a representative from IGC sponsor GameStop revealed to Polygon. ‘The 2012 – 13 Indie Game Challenge (IGC) will be on hiatus while we take time to analyze ways to promote and celebrate the independent game movement,’ GameStop’s media relations manager Wendy Dominguez confirmed via email. ‘We have been committed and continue to be committed to supporting the independent game developer community.’”

Hydorah 1.1 (TIGSource)
“In other Locomalito news, Hydorah has received a nice update to 1.1. According to Zosite on theshmups.com forums this update includes:…”

A Bloody Good Game – Chivalry: Medieval Warfare (Independent Gaming)
“From Torn Banner Studios –  the same developers as the Age of Chivalry mod for theSource engine - Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is a multiplayer-only realistic medieval hack’n’slash on the powerful Unreal engine. It features mostly melee combat but also contains ranged weapons such as the longbow, catapult and ballista.”

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Links Round-Up: Losing Your Head

I hope by now everyone is fully aware of the fantastic FPS Natural Selection 2 (NS2). Released last year by Unknown Worlds NS2 was the long awaited sequel to the original mod and one of the best asymmetrical FPS of all time.

Unknown Worlds have been working tirelessly over the past year to develop NS2 continually post release along with fostering an e-sport community,  and considering it is an online only shooter this is vital. Amongst all of the new maps and updates that have come out over the past few months we now see the actual Decoda integrated development environment (IDE) being released to the public. Decoda was the IDE used to create NS2 with, no doubt many developers have eagerly anticipated this day.

Unknown Worlds co-founder Max McGurie stated the studio was now in a position to give something back to the community and felt Decoda would be a great open source asset for all. Unknown Worlds hope the community will now look to play around with NS2 and their own games using this powerful development platform to create something awesome.

This is great news for developers and modders looking to tinker with some of the tools in the IDE or to start developing their own projects using this powerful system. This should also encourage user mods for NS2 and in time maybe a whole new genre defining game itself.

It’s really great to see Unknown Worlds opening their IDE to all, who knows what next. You can always find out more about Decoda on the official Unknown Worlds site.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Unknown Worlds Release Decoda IDE Open Source

Siege of Turtle Enclave is an interesting looking game in every way. From its cartoonish visuals, concept of leading an army of turtles against a legion of birds, all the way to the unique style of a 4x real-time strategy.

A step-by-step plan of game’s development for the next few months has recently been released, promising to move into beta stage soon. The plan is to release a major update by the middle of March. The closest update will include twelve units, six structures, and new crops. The update will also include a test demo for Mac users to give, “…non-PC heretics a chance to command turtle hordes.”

King Heftig will release build 0.5.8 about a month after that, which will add an even larger number of units and structures.

In the time following 0.5.8, the developers will release the 0.6 beta update for Siege of Turtle Enclave. King Heftig promises the battle system and A.I. will be improved, in addition to features such as specific a unit leveling system. It was also said that, “A sense of progression and goals should be much more apparent in 0.6.” When the game enters beta stage, the alpha funding price of Siege of Turtle Enclave will increase from $4.99 to $7.99. You can follow King Heftig on Twitter, Facebook, or the game’s Tumblr blog for up-to-date info on development! You can also alpha-fund the game on Desura.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Slow and Steady – ‘Siege of Turtle Enclave’ Marches Towards Beta

For all of you puzzle fanatics out there here is one just for you. Cross-Side is the latest game from Room 1 studio, a one man development team.  Cross-Side is the sequel to the studios highly successful iPhone release Ocarbot.

Set in the same world as Ocarbot expect things in Cross-Slide to get even crazier than the original. After a silly accident in the Lobot Lab two bots Ebot and Rbot have been inextricably linked. Now it is up to you to control these two robots in a way that will allow them to circumvent the many puzzles that lie ahead.

Cross-Side has been created in a distinctly NES style that creates a great retro vibe about the game and provides a rather challenging puzzler. It looks funny, colourful and zany but what is not to love about a game like this?

With 60 levels that spread the gameplay over five zones, expect even the most hardened puzzle veterans to find challenge here. Along with the levels you get 12 in game achievements to strive for along with a variety of silly hats (what else) to unlock.

Cross-Side is currently available for pre-order from the official site  for £1.49 ($2 approx)but is due for release on March 11^th. Cross-Side is to be released on iOS, Mac, Windows, Windows 8 and Android available from pretty much every app store.

If you would like to see Cross-Side on Steam you can vote for it via Steam Greenlight and get it onto the popular platform.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Cross-Side’ New Zany Puzzler Now Available For Pre-Order

If like me you have had quite a lot of fun with super hard platformers such as Super Meat Boy and maybe unlike me are actually good at them then today’s pick is just for you.

Taken from The Escapist’s Indie Speed Run jam Spin Cycle is a great platform game created by The Brave Companions and has rightfully be placed in to the final ten as a People’s Choice selection.

Spin Cycle is a beautifully created platformer that will force you to spin and jump your way to the end, it’s a whole load of fun if not very difficult. Although the game may only last a couple of minutes (if you are competent). However it is much more likely you will rage quit in annoyance after only a few minutes, but it’s all fun and games.

Average play time – 10 minutes

Spin Cycle has great graphics and solid gameplay, although the keyboard controls leave a lot to be desired the controller support is great and as they say at the start it is the way you are meant to play it.

If you love Super Meat Boy and other ulta-hard platformers be sure to check out Spin Cycle on the Indie Speed Run 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!

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Intermission – ‘Spin Cycle’ Spin Your Way To Victory

Most of us have played at least one of the original Pokémon games for the Game Boy. Even if you have not, it’s hard to go by without recognizing the charming sprites from these great games. The chunky retro music brings back recollections of intense duels between those small monsters and the travel routes we’ve committed to memory from the countless hours of exploration. A young indie developer from Germany known as nilllzz, is bringing Pokémon Gold/Silver in a way quite unexpected.

Pokémon3D is a three-dimensional rendering of the original Gold and Silver game boy games complete with LAN co-operative play. Pokémon3D is currently in version 0.23 with the daycare system in place, auto-saving, and a completed Route 34 all recently added in.

It’s clear that there is a lot of work left to go, but the concept and execution are compelling enough to warrant your attention now. Being able to play co-op Pokémon and explore the world with a partner is many a gamer’s dream from the Game Boy era. It seems that soon this dream will become a reality.

The visual style looks as if it’s been ripped straight off of a game cartridge or rom and directly placed in a 3D environment. You can visit the official IndieDB page or nilllzz‘s tumblr page to learn more and try out a copy of the free alpha-build. It’s in a launcher format so you can easily keep your version up to date.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Indie Developer Creating ‘Pokemon3D’ And It’s Exactly What It Sounds Like

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.

to read the full post check out Double Eleven’s official site.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Double Eleven’ Announce Entrance Into Indie Publishing On PSN

With the winter holidays now firmly behind us the Greenlight resumes for the first batch of the year. The greenlight system for anyone who does not know works on a system that allows users to upvote games they wish to see on Steam. Valve then push the top ten games from the greenlight platform onto Steam when the developers see fit. In the wake of the IGF 2013 finalists being announced last week a lot of the top contenders for this Greenlight will be taken out, due to Valve agreeing to get any IGF 2013 finalist directly onto Steam.

This left the field wide open and has generated a few interesting surprises, so here are the Greenlit  game this month:

Software greenlit:

• Articy:Draft | Game Design Tool
• GroBoto

Games greenlit:

• Akaneiro: Demon Hunters
• Asylum
• DLC Quest
• Eador. Masters of the Broken World
• La-Mulana
• Leisure Suit Larry
• MaK
• The Age of Decadence
• Unepic
• War For The Overworld

It has been an interesting list of games put through this month with some brand new entries such as War For The Overworld which only finished its Kickstarter at the beginning of the month, along with some long time contenders. The Greenlight project has proven to be a great success so far giving indies a new way onto Steam, but sadly there are of course those that did not quite make it this time. I would like to congratulate everyone greenlit this month and remind the others who came so close to stay positive for the next Greenlight.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – The Next Ten To Pass The Gatekeeper That Is Greenlight

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.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – A New Year, A New Bundle As ‘The Indie Gala Magicka’ Bundle Goes Live