This caught my eye. It’s an old workshop (2007) led by Steph Thirion, who created the iPhone game Eliss. In the workshop, Steph gave students the source code for a simple Breakout game (made with Processing) and had them modify the code to create something new. Most of the students were graphic design majors and not game developers, but they managed to make some cool mods during the workshop.
Now, when you edit animated shapes into a music video, of course they look great, especially if Steph Thirion is the editor. Also, this isn’t really a new concept, considering mods, hacks, and open source have been around since the dawn of games. Still, it’s an interesting idea to create a game that’s made made specifically to be deconstructed and reconstructed like so…
In case anyone’s wondering what to get me for Christmas, Adam Robezzoli’s Attract Mode videogame culture shop has at long last opened its doors. (You may know Adam from the equally excellent ARTXGAME/Giant Robot shows.)
Currently featured are some excellent shirts, a number of chiptune records, Tetris ice cube trays (!), some super cool pins from the likes of Auntie Pixelante and Cactus, as well as gigantic prints from Mr. Craig D. “superbrothers” Adams. (Who you should check out if you haven’t—he’s great!) Tell your moms friends!
If you missed the link: You can find the Attract Mode shop here.
Dust is just one of a number of projects being created under the ‘Elysian Tail’ franchise, which includes an independent animated feature film and of course this very pretty game. Dean Dodrill is the man behind the animation, and the programming, and the sound and.. well everything except for the music.
There isn’t much to go on currently beyond this trailer, but it seems to divulge a fair amount of the gameplay, where the majority of the action is reminiscent of a side-scrolling beat’em up with a dash of platforming thrown in for good measure. So far it looks pretty damn exciting, with special note of course going towards the animation which just makes everthing look wonderful, even if you find the character designs a little offputting at first.
Definitely the biggest barrier the game will face will be trying to cross that strange ‘furry threshold’, as so long as the controls and hit-detection feel satisfying this could be the one of the best games to hit.. actually, what is it coming out on?
As it is being entered into the Dream Build Play competition it maybe a full Xbox Live Arcade title. If not though it may end up as an ‘Xbox Indie’ title. No official word, but expect more soon!
Game creators Chris Crawford and Jason Rohrer will be the main focus of the new episode of “Into the Night”, a joint French/German documentary series. The five minute preview above has been released to give you a taste of the full hour-long documentary that will be aired on ‘ZDF’ and ‘ARTE’, both available free on Astra on July 2nd. Not to fear everyone else outside of europe, as according to Play This Thing! who previously posted a flattering preview also announce that there’ll be an online version streamed much like the preview. Hope you’ll all catch it then when it’s released!
Bonus News: Pre-orders for Perfect Suguri on Rockin’ Android have begun, with a special sale price of $16.99 instead of the regular $19.99, which also includes free U.S shipping. They’ve got my money at least, but then again they probably already did…
(Thanks to Jsticker in tigIRC for the Arte.TV news!)
Just a quick note, the Path now has a demo. It’s not a part of The Path itself, but a new prologue chapter. It’s 56 MB and available for Windows and Mac. Now those in the comments section who complain about it not being a game can at least play first it to make sure :)
The Gutter is a recently released “interactive piece of art” by Jan Willem Nijman and Robin Rodrigo Ramirez Rodriquez. I realise their full names weren’t neccessary, but writing that 2nd name was just such a joy.
Saying anymore would be spoiling things, just be sure to give it a try and post back your impressions. Interestingly you can donate $5 to the creators via email and they will add the feature of ‘Death’ to this “Interactive piece of art”. If you can’t afford the full version however the demo version does still feature the functions VOMIT and FEEL ASLEEP, as well as a number of hidden extras. Happy hunting, TIGobos!
If you happen to be in the area of ‘Manchester, England’ anytime from now until September, you’d do well to stop by the Urbis Centre to check out their Videogame Nation Exhibition which is an exhibit mostly surrounding the British games industry. Interestingly, as spied by Negative Gamer, there’s actually a small section dedicated to indie smash-hit Darwinia. The exhibit as a whole seems to cover everything from the DSi right down to the early days of ‘Jet Set Willy’ and the old bedroom programmers like The Oliver Twins. It’s interesting to see such a thing created surrounding video games, and for there to be an indie presence is rather heartwarming. Be sure to check it out if you have the chance, as it sounds like a worthwhile trip, but if that’s impossible then check the Negative Gamer link for a bunch of photos from the event (Such as the one heading this post).
Posted by Leigh Christian Ashton
Mon, 11 May 2009 14:18:00 GMT
I’d find it hard to believe anyone visiting these pages would need an introduction to Jonathan Blow, the amazingly talented game developer/guru seems to be everywhere at the moment, his game Braid being the darling hit on Xbox Live and having recently stormed onto the PC. I took the opportunity to fire some questions over so that he could pour some honey into my ears in reply (except, being an email interview, i guess it would be my eyes? and metaphorically at that?)
Anyway, without further ado, please read on..
Leigh: Jon, hello, thanks for taking the time to answer some of my questions. Could you please introduce yourself to the crowd?
Jon: Hi, my name is Jonathan Blow. I make games! I started out in games as mainly a technical guy, but recently I have been thinking ever-more about design, and on Braid I cared much more about the game design than the technical parts.
Runner is a freeware game released today, made by three Destructoid Staff Members. Ashley Davis and Johnathan Holmes created the artwork, whilst overall design and programming was handled by Anthony Burch, who as I’ve mentioned before is a major supporter of the Indie Games scene and provided a lot of coverage during GDC.
Runner is a short game, roughly the length of Judith which we’ve covered previously. The controls are simple (Arrows move. Space jumps. The classics.), though it’s suprisingly challenging given the distractions that appear to impede your progress. Also like Judith it’s certainly more balanced towards thematic concerns and aesthetics than gameplay. That said anyone who was annoyed by the lack of ‘interactivity’ in Judith will be a little more satisfied with this as challenge, and indeed failure, are present. Again though, saying anything further is in danger of spoiling things. So play, think. and we’ll discuss in the comments/extended!
(Minor Edit: It apparently takes a little while to load, incase it looks like it’s either frozen or isn’t loading.)
