After a successful launch of the beautiful Trine 2 late last year, Finnish developer Frozenbyte began work on an expansion to their excellent physics based platformer. Announced just a few weeks ago Frozenbyte has worked fast into adding more to an already substantial game. The expansion titled Trine 2: Goblin Menace features a new story adding to the Trine world.

The original Trine was interesting, because it allowed a player to control three separate characters to solve puzzles. The player would switch between each as needed, or play with two others in co-operative multiplayer. The three characters  – a Knight, Wizard and Rogue, would each used their own skills to help each other move past areas. Trine 2: Goblin Menace adds six new abilities and skills to the player characters, which are useable in Trine 2 as well.

The new story of Trine 2: Goblin Menace focuses around, you guessed it, Goblins. The three protagonists will travel through heat, ice, and “the insides of a giant sand worm.” The expansion also features improved graphics, new enemies, puzzles and Steam achievements. All of the content included in Trine 2: Goblin Menace will also be available in the Trine 2 Director’s Cut when released on the Nintendo WiiU

To find out more about Trine 2, read the Indie Game Magazine review here.

You can purchase Trine 2: Goblin Menace on it’s Steam Store Page. Doing so before September 15th will earn you a 15% discount on the expansion pack. Trine 1 and 2 are also both on sale for a 75% discount. You can visit the developer’s website here, or tweet them here.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – ‘Trine 2: Goblin Menace’ Released

Just look at that screenshot above. Click it, so you can see it in full. Now, putting aside for a moment the fact that it looks more like a menacing dragon than a goblin, let it act as a reminder of just how astonishingly pretty Frozenbyte’s fairytale puzzle-platformer Trine 2 was, and still is. Let’s also remember that Trine 2 was one of the best indie releases in recent memory, offering a meaty, clever adventure under all those stunning graphics. Good, now we can be fittingly excited that it’s getting bigger – coming this Autumn is the official expansion, Goblin Menace. Here’s the also-lovely-looking trailer:

A new story arc, six new levels set across some very fresh-looking environments, and new abilities for all three of the playable characters. Interestingly, the new powers can also be used in the original campaign, which should add a little more replay value to the old content as well. Sounds like a fairly hefty bunch of new content. There’s no specific release date or price tag set on this one yet, but Frozenbyte have announced that the game will be re-launching under the banner of ‘Trine 2: Directors Cut‘ when Goblin Menace arrives.

You can find the official (and rather spartan) press-release here. Included with it is a large gallery of similarly beautiful screenshots – worth a look, I reckon.

Source: The Indie Game Magazine – Trine 2 Expands This Autumn With ‘Goblin Menace’

Technology and charm are not two things that naturally go hand-in-hand. This year has seen massive studios create technologically stunning new ways to render brown dirt roads and shattered concrete – there’s just no room for whimsy in triple-A development, it seems. That’s where the indie scene comes in. Frozenbyte’s Trine 2 is a great big cozy comfort-blanket of a game, but is charisma all this fairy-tale storybook has to offer? It takes more than graphics to make a complex platform-puzzle game sing, after all. Wrap up warm, grab yourself some hot cocoa and read on for our verdict.

Gaming is a pretty divisive hobby, but as of late there’s been two things that gamers have universally agreed on: That Frozen Synapse is an amazing game, and the Humble Indie Bundles are amazing value for money. Those two universal statements have somehow crashed headlong into each other. Now – and for the next two weeks – you can get Frozen Synapse (plus an additional five games by Frozenbyte, if you want to pay a bit more) for a price of your own choosing.

The previous two Humble Indie Bundles have been unprecedented successes, launching otherwise lesser-known independently developed games into the big leagues through a single almighty ‘pay what you want’ sale, and all while helping charity along the way, too. Today, the announcement went out of a ‘bonus’ bundle being organized by Wolfire, featuring three games by graphically adept studio Frozenbyte, one unfinished prototype game (with source-code) and one preorder, all for whatever price you’re willing to offer.

This past weekend, Steam and several other digital distributors had a variety of discounted offerings as most of PC publisher Paradox Interactive’s catalog had been put on sale. A few of these games were included in our latest Indie Game Sales feature, as during the vast majority of development they were considered to be independently funded–and as such fall under what we cover on DIYGamer.

In cases such as this, where a publisher’s name is tagged to a game we feel might fall under our admittedly amorphous coverage blanket, it’s simply our duty to exercise due diligence and figure out where the funding for the game came from. If we conclude the finances came from the developer itself, then we’re free to write on it. There’s still a ton of grey area and this certainly doesn’t explain or justify every game that’s been included/omitted from these pages, but it gives us a floor to walk on so to speak.

We’re a young and ambitious site, some of our golden rules are set and some are still evolving on the subject. In the end we’re human, and many times we’ll error on the side of inclusion if there’s no readily available information stating that the game has received funding outside of the developer’s pocket. If it’s found out at anytime that it proves to be otherwise, we’ll be the first to admit fault and correct our mistake–including full omission of the title in question if need be.

Let’s use developer The Behemoth as an example. Microsoft is considered the publisher of Castle Crashers while The Behemoth is listed as both the developer and publisher for their previous title Alien Hominid. For both games–and presumably their upcoming third effort BattleBlock Theater–the dev claims on their website “Our development is 100% self-funded with support from fans who support our cause!” with a link to their games and merchandise. Taking them at their word that indicates that Microsoft only puts funding toward the exposure of Crashers, not the development.

In that case, I consider the game to fall on the right side of our line. Some wouldn’t, and they’d be tough to argue against, but I don’t feel that if one game receives more marketing support than another it should be forced to give up its indie badge and gun.

It’s undeniable that indie games are as popular as they’ve ever been. More than ever before, the indie scene has been brought closer to the typical gamer’s foremost interests. This has been accomplished through all walks of effort and perseverance from more individuals than we may ever know our give credit to. It leads me to beg the question: Why should an indie game lose its tag when the mainstream shows interest in it?

A notable point of contention in what I’ve written above is that we still cover partially-funded games that come from developer’s who were previously indie/independent such as Runic Games (Torchlight), Frozenbyte (Trine) and ACE Team (Zeno Clash, Rock of Ages.) All three developers have been picked up by publishers to develop sequels (or in ACE’s case a completely new IP) of their successful independent predecessors. Must our coverage halt right then and there because of this? Honestly, the jury is still largely out on the point, but let me explain why I personally feel compelled to write on it for both myself and our readers.

We like these games, and we like the people who developed them. We’re interested in what they’re cooking up next. For me it comes back to questioning why we must stop following a developer’s path simply because a publisher has picked them up based on their past independent success. That success is what enabled them to make their next game one way or another, if they look to a publisher to relieve some of the stresses they had to deal with during independent release (outside of development of course) should we then turn a blind eye?

Obviously, if the developer is ever wholly absorbed by their respective publisher and ceases to be some form of individual entity then there’s simply no argument, it can’t and shouldn’t be posted here.

All that said, and there’s still hundreds if not thousands of individual cases that could be argued either for or against in this never ending debate. There isn’t a single authority who correctly and absolutely categorizes what is considered indie in the vast sea of games and projects out there. So instead we research facts and rely on what are gut says a lot of the time. Not an exact science, but no one has ever claimed it to be.

Again, this is just one man’s (still developing) opinion on a very, very complex subject.

Digital Distributor GamersGate has rolled out a week long sale that includes several titles that we at DIYG both know and love. Discounts range from 50%-75% off and the offers are all lovely, so take a look and see if you can turn your misfortune of not owning/playing these games yet into the reward of solid savings.

Clover: A Curious Tale for $5 (50% Off) — Originally an Xbox Live Indie darling, the enhanced PC version offers 50% more puzzles than the original, multiple endings, full voice acting and more.

Emberwind for $4.78 (60% Off) — A fantasy platformer with RPG elements sprinkled on top. Geoff gave it a sparkling review and also had the pleasure of interviewing Erik Möller, one of the game’s creators.

The Lunar Pack: Wake and Lunnye Devitsy for $3.79 (60% Off) — If you missed the pay-what-you-want sale Boss Baddie ran a while back, here’s your chance to pick it up at a price you could easily see yourself wanting to pay. Our review of Wake and interview with the developer.

Max and the Magic Marker for $5 (75% Off) — The title, also out on WiiWare, offers a unique take at the platformer genre and is really a steal at just $5. Geoff’s review.

Saira for $5 (50% Off) — Another great title from Nifflas, the 2D side-scrolling platformer has players exploring seven star systems and solving puzzles. Our review.

Trine for $6.78 (66% Off) — We’ve written a multitude of pieces on the excellent puzzle platformer. If you haven’t yet picked it up based on that or the numerous times it’s been given this type of large discount, well, now’s your chance. Geoff’s review of the game and interview with Frozenbyte’s Lauri Hyvärinen.

Frozenbyte has announced the release of a new update for Trine in celebration of the one year anniversary of the game’s release. The v1.08 patch is currently available only on Steam (a manual update is forthcoming,) and brings support for Nvidia’s 3D Vision tech. If you have the monitor, graphics card and glasses necessary, you now have the option to play the title in 3D.

The update also brings improvements for the game’s anti-aliasing support and fixes the final level so no new enemies appear on the Very Hard setting.

Steam owners should receive the patch automatically. If you’re unsure fire ‘er up and see if that doesn’t kick-start it.

From the change log:

Trine v1.08

- adds support for NVIDIA 3D Vision

- tweaks the antialiasing method, works better now (enabled in the Launcher or “/antialias_samples 8″ etc in the game console)

- tweaks the last level once again, now no enemies on Very Hard (for the Achievement)

- fixes minor item description text errors

It’s an unusually fantastic weekend for indie sales, what’s unusual for us is that it all comes from one outlet. Yes, Steam is having one of its semi-annual blowout sales that sees the vast majority of games in the digital distributor’s catalog discounted somewhere between nice and blatantly absurd, including over 60 indie offerings. Let’s highlight some of the biggest and best, as well as some of the other sites (yes, there are other sales going on this weekend.) Another thing to note about the Steam sales, these go through the 4th of July, but there are also ridiculously cheap daily deals that we’ll have to miss here, though I must mention Galcon Fusion for $2.50 until tomorrow morning!

Out of the many offerings available, Sacraboar at 90% off would seem to take the cake, the well received $20 tile is now $2. Altitude is 66% off at $3.40, AI War carries the same 66% discount as does its expansion. Chains is 75% off at just $1.24, Invent4′s Bad Rats: the Rats Revenge is $0.95 down from $5. Puzzle game Quantz is $2.50 down from $10, Super Laser Racer is $1.25, the list goes on.

Looking to save a bundle on a bundle? Steam’s offering several at big discounts including:

Introversion Complete Pack for $5 (87% off) – Packs Darwinia, Multiwinia, Uplink and Defcon.

Action Indie Pack for $6.24 (75% off) – Packs Larva Mortus, Penguins Arena: Sedna’s World, RIP – Trilogy, Space Trader: Merchant Marine and Tank Universal.

Puzzle Indie Pack for $3.74 (75% off) – Packs Chains, Gumboy – Crazy Adventures, Obulis and Vigil: Blood Bitterness.

Northern Lights Indies for $20 (64% off) – Packs Blueberry Garden, Bob Came in Pieces, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Plain Sight and Saira. That’s a quality bundle of games right there.

Summer Indie Action Pack for $20 (60% off) – Packs Aaaah! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Gridrunner Revolution, Metal Drift, Starscape and Zombie Driver.

Maybe most importantly Steam also offers 50% off on almost every big indie title you can think of over the past couple of years with titles including (just to name a few): Machinarium, Zeno Clash, Trine, Cogs, Eufloria, Gratuitous Space Battles, Time Gentleman/Ben There, Dan That and much more. If you were waiting for any of the various titles we mention on this site to go down in price its more than worth your time to browse through the list and pick up some wonderful games at amazing prices.

Impulse carries a lone independent sale with Zoetrope Interactive’s Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage for $18 instead of its standard $30, a 40% discount.

Direct2Drive also gets in the mix with Kerberos Productions Fort Zombie for 75% off, bringing the title down to $2.50.

After reading our post a couple days ago about Frozenbyte announcing a partnership with Atlus and announcing a new game at E3, you may have been left wondering just what that game was. Was it a new IP, an XBLA version of Trine, or perhaps a sequel to the original? Well if you guessed the latter then you’d be right as Atlus has revealed that Trine 2 will be shown off next at next week’s E3 convention in Los Angeles, of whch we’ll have the most extensive indie coverage you’re likely to find.

For those who haven’t played the original, I strongly suggest that you do. It is easily one of the best PSN games on the PS3 hardware, as well as one of the best indie PC games available.

The story follows three unlikely heroes: a selfish wizard, a greedy thief, and a clumsy warrior as they attempt to figure out what went wrong with the world and why they seem to be inextricably cursed by a magical device named the Trine.

Read my own review of the game.

The sequel will probably be picking up from where the first one left off, although the manner in which they do it will be interesting. Trine’s ending, without spoiling anything, didn’t really leave much to create a new game off of. Still though, with Frozenbyte’s incredible knack for creating a beautiful story, I’m sure they’ll be able to do it again for the game’s sequel.

We’ll have more information and, hopefully, a hands on experience of the game at E3 next week. Stay tuned!