Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:31:00 GMT
POWDER’s been around for quite a while, but I noticed it just hit version 1.0 this year, so I took it for a spin (it’s currently at version 1.04)! The developer, Jeff Lait, created it so he could have a roguelike to play on his Gameboy Advance, and primitive versions of the game were only available for that platform. Now, however, you can also play the game on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, DS, and even PSP!
POWDER is a graphical roguelike, and it’s much smaller in scope than most games in the genre (which typically try to throw the proverbial or literal kitchen sink in there). The game also includes a mouse-driven interface and a tutorial that walks you through the basics, so I’d recommend it readily to beginners… and to veterans of the genre, too! If you’re looking for some lighter fare (or something to play on the go). It’s quite fun.
But be warned… there’s no diagonal movement!
(Source: Slashie, via Rogue Temple)
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Macintosh, Highly Recommended, Roguelikes, Linux, Windows, Freeware | Tags JeffLait | 22 comments
Posted by Guest Reviewer
Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:10:00 GMT
[Guest review by gnawingonfoot. Thanks!]
Jim DuBois, the guy behind Arcane Journeys, has released two upgraded Windows ports of his Palm games. While he’s just now getting around to releasing Windows versions, I’ve been a huge fan of his Palm stuff for several years now, and I’d love to see him get some more exposure. His are among the few games for Palm that don’t play like casual shlock. They’re very original and interesting, though I think some better pixel art wouldn’t hurt them.
Angelus the Necromancer feels and plays like a slimmed down roguelike, but I’ve never actually seen it discussed within the roguelike community, so I don’t know whether or not that term actually fits. The game certainly shares the difficulty of most major roguelike games, but this is a lot shorter.
Adventure Solitaire sounds bland, but it is easily the best game I’ve ever played on my Palm. It’s a mish-mash of strategy and puzzle in the sense that it has the depth and diversity of a typical strategy game and the presentation and gameplay of a puzzle game. I bought the Windows version as soon as it was released because it is just that amazing!
Demos are available for both games, but unfortunately they feel really limited, especially the Adventure Solitaire one. I’m tempted to write the guy and tell him that he needs to open the games up a bit more if he wants people to like them enough to buy them. But that aside, both are worth checking out, especially Adventure Solitaire.
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Roguelikes, Puzzle, Windows | Tags ArcaneJourneys | 4 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:39:00 GMT
At a town-hall meeting at Apple HQ in Cupertino, Steve Jobs and company announced the release of a free iPhone SDK for developers, as well as a $99 iPhone Developer’s Program that allows devs to publish their apps (both free and commercial) to iTunes. On top of that, venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is investing $100 million dollars (Dr. Evil voice) to fund development of apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. How that money gets divied up is anyone’s guess, but Apple made sure to point out that it’s 10 times more than what Google has in its coffers for Android devs.
This is all part of an announcement for iPhone 2.0, which is coming to customers in June, and has some nifty new “enterprise features.” But really, the important thing is that now indie game developers with Mac OSX can go apeshit on the iPhone! For details the new SDK, head over here (Gizmodo).
(Thanks, Phil!)
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Macintosh, Community, Developers | 19 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:08:00 GMT
Man, I am a huge fan of Wendell Hicken’s classic tank game, Scorched Earth (which you can download here). I’m waiting for a true remake/sequel of this game that isn’t in 3d (nothing against 3d, mind, you, it’s just not the same). Something akin to what Pac-Man Championship Edition did for Pac-Man.
In the meantime, Atomic Cannon will satisfy. It’s definitely missing some of the spirit that made the original game so great, but injects some of its own. I miss my Funky Bombs, MIRVs, and Mag Shields, but the ability to build sandbags, drop automated sentries, and use any of the other new weapons definitely makes up for it. The added customization, various game modes (including network play), and much-improved controls (mouse and/or keyboard) are welcome sights, as well.
The graphics are kind of a hit-or-miss for me. It’s a mish-mash of realistic textures that are obviously lacking the kind of thought put into, say, Cortex Command’s terrain design. On the other hand, I really like the smoke trails, visual distortion, and other special effects that they used – stuff that wasn’t possible when Scorch came out.
As you can see, I’m of two minds about this game… mostly because I have this idea about what the perfect Scorch sequel would be (I’m sure that’s familiar to a lot of you), and this isn’t it. But the bottom line is that this version is pretty darn fun… fun enough that I might just treat myself to the full game ($20)!
(Source: PCGamer.com)
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Remakes, Macintosh, Windows, Strategy, Action / Arcade | 13 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:13:00 GMT
Megazeux (MZX), the popular game creation system based on the Tim Sweeney’s legendary ZZT, has been ported to the Nintendo DS by MZX developer and homebrew hacker Kevin Vance.
By default, the top screen shows a zoomed-in portion of the screen, and the bottom screen shows the entire thing. The stylus can be used to perform mouse clicks and pan around the top screen. Use the right trigger to toggle a software keyboard.
This port is still very rough, and just for testing. Be sure to make backups, as earlier versions have caused filesystem corruption on my CF card.
I had a good time playing with Megazeux as a kid! The simplicity of the engine is great, and it only takes a few hours to make something fun. Some of the classic MZX games (like Bernard the Bard, pictured above) are extremely clever. Good to see it on the DS!
Download MZX for the PC here (Sourceforge), and try the games at DigitalMZX (MZX is required to play).
(Source: Mr. Apol from the selectbutton.net forums!)
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Homebrew, Developers | 7 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:32:00 GMT
There are some known bugs as a result of the PSP’s wider screen, but otherwise… oh boy! For the back story and some yelling back and forth, read this post.
(Source: Timmy)
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Platformers, Homebrew, Community, Freeware | Tags Pixel | 13 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 26 Jun 2007 02:05:00 GMT
Some of you may remember the hullabaloo surrounding the legality and morality surrounding Variant Interactive’s Cave Story PSP port (as well as the fatality of originality). It was never verified whether Variant got Pixel’s permission, or if they did, whether he would see any money, but something definitely stank up in there, and it was Variant that was whistling and looking in the other direction. Case in point:
“We want to be as faithful as possible. We are upgrading the graphics and the sound to more ‘modern’ levels, mostly for marketing concerns and platform requirements.” -Christopher Boyer, CEO of Variant Interactive
“Faithful,” “upgrading the graphics and sound,” and “marketing concerns…” which one of these does not belong with the others? So yeah, I find it really hard to believe that Pixel would go for anything like that, and even if he did, I still say fuck ‘em for doing it. “Upgrade the graphics and music?” Eat a shit sandwich, asshole.
Which is why it makes me really happy to announce that there’s a fan-made, homebrew PSP version in the works! Yay fans!
“Finally got Pixel’s approval and the source code. It looks doable, but at ~50000 lines of code it’s a little daunting.
This is the preview version that I sent to Pixel, so it’s mostly guesswork and buggy and certainly feels different from the original. Playable up to the first boss fight. Dual-language English and Japanese :) Tested on 3.10, should work unmodified with most custom firmware.”
Word. You can download a buggy, early version of the port from the link above. And while you’re at it, check out this DS port as well (different author).
(Source: selectbutton.net)
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Platformers, Remakes, Homebrew, Previews, Doujin | Tags Pixel | 69 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 03 Jan 2007 13:29:00 GMT
Qwak is a pretty cool little homebrew platformer for the GBA, developed by Jamie Woodhouse. The first thing I noticed when I played the demo (requires a GBA emulator) is that the game is pretty fast-paced. The second thing I noticed is that you’re a duck who wears armor and throws its own eggs to kill furries. The third thing I noticed is that I was having a pretty good time.
Bottom line: 15 GBP for a fun platformer for your GBA (comes in an actual cartridge).
EDIT: Yes, this is a remake of the Amiga game from 1993.
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Platformers, Remakes, Homebrew | 7 comments
Posted by BMcC
Wed, 13 Sep 2006 18:43:00 GMT
Greetings! My name is Brandon McCartin, latest and greatest most recent editor here at Ye Olde TIGSource.
Not to bump down the more exciting news, but I’ve got to break the ice with something. So, um… bump?
At its big media event yesterday, Apple revealed, in addition to increasingly microscopic iterations of its various products, some exciting news for prospective owners of the fifth-generation iPod and indie game developers alike. Videogames! On your iPod!
The games may be downloaded through iTunes 7 for a reasonable (in this case, $5) fee, just like MP3s in the days of yore. The “intuitive Click Wheel” is used as a controller.
The games featured in Apple’s announcement include gaming classics Tetris and Pac-Man, casual hits Bejeweled and Zuma, and real world favorites Texas Hold ‘Em and Mahjong.
Now if Apple would only make an open SDK available…
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Community | 8 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 17 Aug 2006 10:40:00 GMT
Modojo has a nice article out called “The State of DS Homebrew” which covers all the basic aspects of the DS homebrew scene, like vocabulary, emulators, games, and apps. It definitely is not detailed enough to get you up and running homebrew games on your DS, but it serves as kind of a nice entrypoint for further research.
The image on the left is from an independent DS game called “No Place To Hide!”
(Source: Joystiq)
In other news, I’ve got a huge amount of space left to write here, because I chose a ridiculously tall image to attach to this post. But I can’t think of anything to say… except “NHP 4 lyfe.”
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Homebrew | 1 comment
