Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:34:00 GMT
39d was released today, bringing with it a host of nice, shiny improvements. There’s also a really good three-part interview with Tarn up on kwanzoo (part 3 goes up tomorrow). The interviewer is Matt Boyd of Three Panel Soul.
Matt: I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but it seems like a friendlier interface might help you by getting a lot more people into the game. It’s pretty daunting.
Tarn: Oh sure, it’s just something I’m going to have to slowly do myself, and I have many dev items along those lines. It’s just not something that I currently think is a good idea to do in a moddable fashion.
One thing I was a bit saddened to hear was that Tarn’s making less from donations now than he was before (EDIT: Tarn meant before, when he was a mathematician). But hell, I want the guy to live comfortably, given how much enjoyment he’s brought me and the internets over the years. If you’re a fan, consider giving a little to toast the new release. And I don’t know how well-known this is, but as a reward for donating you can get some awesome presents: either a short story that’s illustrated with a single line of ASCII art, or a crayon drawing.
And for those of you that are tired of hearing about DF, well, tough plump helmets! But seriously, I imagine this will be the last release for this particular arc. See ya!
Posted in Roguelikes, Interviews, Community | Tags TarnAdams | 4 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:37:00 GMT
There’s a new Shift game out! In Shift the primary mechanic is being able to switch from black to white, turning platforms and walls into walkable space and so forth. Conceptually, the game bears more than a passing resemblance to Portal and Negative Space/Yin Yang, but… maybe we shouldn’t even go there! It’s a fun, mind-bending game that stands on its own merit.
Whereas in the previous games you progressed linearly from room-to-room, Shift 3 lets you go back and forth. And your actions in some rooms will affect other rooms. This game also delves into the story a bit more, provided that you take the time to read the clues!
(Source: Alex Meerkat, via Razor, Placenta, Shopping Cart <3)
TIGdb: Entry for Shift 3
Posted in Platformers, Browser Games, Highly Recommended | Tags ArmorGames | 20 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:22:00 GMT
Jim McGinley, author of the amazing Mario Inna Space, informs us that the 3rd Annual Toronto Game Jam ended last month and was a resounding success. The theme this year was “cheese,” and entrants were asked to develop a game in 3 days that incorporated cheese, a goat on a pole, and the sound of the TTC subway door closing. 34 games came out of the jam, and it’s pretty impressive (and unique) stuff.
Here are the ones that Jim recommends to TIGSource readers:
a game about bouncing (First Place, depicted above) – an atmospheric abstract game where you have to “grab” bumpers and dodge missiles. Faint smells of Everyday Shooter and fl0w reminisce… and no, that sentence doesn’t mean anything, but it sounds like it does!
Debugger (Second Place) – a game where you smash bugs by hitting keys on your keyboard. Each key corresponds to an area on the screen.
Cheese is War (Third Place) – a multiplayer-on-one-keyboard game where the goal is to topple a tower of cheese onto your opponent.
flowers of error – a drag n’ drop “anti-shooter” by Jonathan Mak and Pekko Koskinen.
Super Cheese Repulser – a one or two player game where the gold is to get a piece of cheese to a mousetrap using a “repulser.”
Office Smash – smash up your office using physics!
Goats Amoré – in Jim’s contribution to the competition, you play a cheese that has to earn the respect of other cheese in order to find a goat. Um.
Some of the games require XNA Framework, and Office Smash requires Unity. But if you wish to live vicariously, there are videos of each game accompanying the downloads. Thanks, Jim!
TIGdb: TOJam Games (still being added)
Posted in Community, Developers | Tags JimMcGinley, TOJam | 21 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:58:00 GMT
Colin Northway’s Fantastic Contraption is a super-nifty Flash-based physics toy that follows in the steps of games like Armadillo Run and Crayon Physics. The goal in FC is to get a red polygon into a goal area by attaching to it various wheels and rods. It’s an elegant concept, it’s executed very well, and it’s tons o’ fun! Some of the later levels are just devious, too…
A paltry $10 lets you create your own levels and share them with other registered players.
(Thanks, reetva!)
P.S. Does anyone else see something a little, ah, Freudian about that screenshot up there?
TIGdb: Entry for Fantastic Contraption
Posted in Highly Recommended, Browser Games, Physics | Tags ColinNorthway | 11 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:56:00 GMT
Well, someone’s finally gone and put a game in a favicon. Mathieu ‘p01’ Henri’s DEFENDER of the favicon is a simple remake of Eugene Jarvis’s classic shoot ‘em up. It’s 16×16, making it even smaller than the 18×18 games at guimp. It’s also in a friggin’ favicon.
The game works in Opera and Firefox, although Firefox 3 causes the game to hiccup. It doesn’t work at all in any version of Internet Explorer.
Mathieu is also responsible for the 4k Javascript FPS 3D TOMB II.
(Source: LaughingCrow, via Lithium Leaf)
TIGdb: Entries for DEFENDER of the favicon, 3D TOMB II
Posted in Action / Arcade, Browser Games | Tags MathieuHenri | 23 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:53:00 GMT
Nepia World’s Wire Robo came out in 2002 but it’s a premise that’s as ancient as time immemorial: a giant mecha with a grappling hook head is controlled by a sleeping little girl and must save the universe. Being flung into the far reaches of space, your mech can’t move about directly – instead you have to use your head (heh) to grapple asteroids and enemies, using your angular momentum to propel you through the void (“Z” key).
The goal of each stage is to destroy the… I don’t know what you’d call them, space platforms? The platforms are immobile, but are surrounded by orbiting satellites which will fire on you if you get close. And if you grapple the platform itself, it can unleash more powerful attacks. To destroy them, use the arrow keys to change your direction – this will shoot a green blast from your hands that will zero in on your target.
Very, very awesome concept.
TIGdb: Entry for Wire Robo
(Thanks, gsilverfish! I think you’re the one that submitted this to the database.)
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Unique / Bizarre, Windows, Freeware | Tags NepiaWorld | 11 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:49:00 GMT
Okay, Destructivator, by Pug Fugly Games, is just badass. The premise is simple enough – clear each of the 20 levels of enemies to win. But the game is just so freakin’ fast-paced that is feels like you’re on something. In most games, when the developers want to show that you have “heightened senses,” they slow down the enemies and your character moves at a normal pace. In this game you just have to keep up with yourself. Fortunately, you’re armed with a gun that fires appropriately rapidly (although not when you’re in mid-air). I love the way the bullets zip across the screen.
Tough game. Fast game. Good game. Goodnight!
TIGdb: Entry for Destructivator
(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)
Posted in Highly Recommended, Platformers, Windows, Freeware | Tags PugFuglyGames | 21 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:09:00 GMT
Do my eyes deceive me, or is that Romeo on a mobile phone? Could Juliet and the Pie Devil be nearby? Could this mean the long-awaited Multimedia Fusion 2 Java runtime, which François announced at last year’s Click Convention, is finally nearing release? Daddy, why is there hair growing where there wasn’t hair before?
Whoa, hold on there, young buckaroo (Kyle Pulver)...
Yes, before there was RomeoPie Software, there was Romeo and the Pie Devil, a simple platform game that came with the original Klik n’ Play. Ostensibly the brainchild of Clickteam Overlords François and Yves, this game stole the hearts of many a Klik’er, what with its charming graphics and… Pie Devil. Seriously, we love Romeo and the Pie Devil.
Now The Daily Click (the premiere Click website) is purporting that the images and video of this game was brought to them by a “source who claims is on the inside” (cybernetic ninja spyssasin). Is it real? No one knows for sure, but you can check out another image here, and there’s also some in-game footage in the latest Klikcast (at around 6:40 minutes left).
But now that I think about it, there’s no way François and Yves would allow such a thing to be leaked, unless…
Unless they wanted it to be leaked! Good Pie Devil, they’ve been orchestrating this entire thing from the very beginning!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Community, Developers, Previews | Tags RomeopieSoftware | 16 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:43:00 GMT
thatgamecompany’s fl0wer was shown at E3 this week. The game, which is slated for a “soon” PS3 release, has you guiding flower petals over lush landscapes by controlling the wind. The game purportedly uses a similar dynamic difficulty adjustment (“DDA”) system to fl0w.
You can see more screens here (Kotaku), and there are two gameplay videos after the jump. It looks (and sounds) lovely.
TIGdb: Entry for fl0wer
(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)
Read more...
Posted in Videos, Previews | Tags thatgamecompany | 28 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:38:00 GMT
For those that really can’t get past the ASCII in Dwarf Fortress but really love graphics and want to try the new release... just thought I’d point out that Ian McConville (Three Panel Soul) has released a pretty sexy character tileset. For information on installing the tileset, or making your own, head over to the official unofficial DF Wiki.
Here’s a bigger version of the screencaps on the left. (Thanks, hroon!)
And definitely keep your eye on the development log, because it looks like there could be a new release tomorrow (and possibly more soon after). The next version will address a few bugs, including a pathfinding issue that caused jobs to be randomly cancelled.
Posted in Community, Roguelikes | Tags IanMcConville, TarnAdams | 46 comments
We're drawing robots in the forums. 
