Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 18 Jul 2006 02:07:00 GMT
“An experimental shoot-em-up. An experimental shooter with minimal art assets. Use your different weapons to destroy the waves of ships. The longer you last, the harder it gets. 20 stages in total, each 1 minute long. If you die you lose your score and retreat one stage. Enemy ship configurations are partially random.”
From the creator of Fleafall comes this lil’ mini-shooter. Although at first glance it seems quite simple, you’ll soon realize that you can’t just hold down the fire button(s). Enemies can set up shields to block your shots and sometimes won’t put down their guard unless you ease up on the firepower. I still don’t think I’ve quite figured out what’s going on exactly.
Negatives: the controls feel a bit floaty to me, and it can get quite annoying trying to get past those damn shields after a while.
Posted in Freeware, Shoot-em-ups, Windows | 1 comment
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 14 Jul 2006 03:26:00 GMT
The Texas Independent Games Conference is coming up. Keynote speakers are Greg “Costik” Costikyan (reminds me to go check up on Manifesto Games) and Warren “The Spectre” Spector.
I’ll be honest, by way of topics for the conference, nothing aside from “how to secure funding for my ideas” sounds particularly appealing to me. Check it out:
“Where is the industry heading?”
“What’s the future of casual games?”
Is there really any use in analyzing these useless market trends? I don’t know, it seems like better time could be spent being creative. “Oh shit, all signs are pointing to space shooters not being popular next year… I’d better switch gears and do a Chip’s Challenge clone.” Shite.
Here’s a good one:
“Where are the best opportunities?”
My answer: the best opportunities are where no one else is looking, and that’s probably far, far away from these types of gatherings.
Sorry. I really do appreciate the effort to get indie developer’s together and talking, but between examining the future of the industry and pointing fingers at the mainstream industry we’re not leaving much time for actually making some cool games.
Posted in Community | 7 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 14 Jul 2006 03:14:00 GMT
Bug-crushing, polishing, what’s next, and a really cool video of some of the special effects from the “ghost-hacking” portion of Mr. Robot. All this and more in the latest development diary from our friends at Moonpod!
Posted in Platformers, Previews | Tags Moonpod | 1 comment
Posted by Albert Lai
Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:29:00 GMT
Now, we’ve seen a few gems these past few days. To quote Derek:
Cortex Command is what I would call a … “gem.”;
Some of you might ask yourself, “What is left? How can I complete my line of
two begging to be destroyed in a fashion that Popcap games has cloned more times
than Hitler?"
Well,
ask no more! Lyle in
Cube Sector is a nifty game that should follow up nicely for fans of Metroid
and Cave Story. Lyle, you see, is an average boy of dark skin with neon green
hair, and has lost his kitten. To retrieve it, he has to go through all sort
of hijinks, throwing blocks, kicking blocks, jumping by throwing blocks while
in mid-air, and so on. All in the name of finding his cat again.
What a nice
boy.
Posted in Windows, Freeware, Platformers, Highly Recommended | 16 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:13:00 GMT
Cortex Command is what I would call a “hidden gem.” Or at least a potential one, since it’s not finished yet. BUT, the creators have recently committed themselves to working fulltime on it, so things are lookin’ up!
Think Liero meets Soldat meets some other stuff. There’s a basic demo of the game available (see the devlog) that lets you play two players splitscreen. Movement is fairly rough, but it’s impressive (and quite fun) to see the characters walk, crawl, and blow up using ragdoll-style physics. Support the development of this game!
Graphics are by the inimitable Niklas Jansson (aka Prometheus), of whom I am a huge fan.
Posted in Windows, Freeware, Platformers, Multiplayer, Previews, Highly Recommended | Tags DataRealms | 9 comments
Posted by Tim
Sun, 09 Jul 2006 21:33:00 GMT
Old news to some, but since it’s not on TIGSource yet (and we can never get enough of KC, can’t we) let’s talk a bit about Val & Rick. (direct download)
As translated by the2bears, Mr. Cho says: “Val & Rick was a sample game for people who want to create their own shmup, and I released it on the forum for shmup developers.” Makes you wonder what other goodies he has posted on this mysterious forum.
Back to the game. Val & Rick is probably the precursor to Gunroar, featuring similar controls but in a different environment. Only 2D sprites and backgrounds are used in what seems like a tribute to Xevious and Star Soldier.
It could be a prototype although the game is pretty much complete and bug free. No information page was ever made for it either. Press the Z key to shoot and hold down the X key to fix the direction of your aim.
A power-up icon in the shape of a tiny ship named Rick will appear if you collect enough blue orbs from defeated enemies, which is indicated at the bottom left of the screen. This will cause your ship to go into hyperdrive, that is until all energy is spent or your spacecraft takes damage from enemy bullets. Each successful hyperdrive attempt increases the counter by another hundred.
The X key can also be used to drop bombs on grounded objects. Tap the P key to pause. The closer your ship is to the top of the screen, the faster it scrolls.
For another excellent Star Soldier tribute, visit Studio SiestA’s Soldier Force page. This one is going to cost you, but it doesn’t disappoint. (just ask dess!)
(Image from the2bears)
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Freeware, Windows | no comments
Posted by Tim
Sat, 08 Jul 2006 14:22:00 GMT
Honestly, if you’re visiting TIGSource expecting quality games featuring the best in 3D graphics or a new Kenta Cho release week in week out then you’re in for a bit of a disappointment. (solely because Mr. ABA released fifty-one shmups last year)
We can only guarantee you the best in indie games, and hopefully that’s good enough to keep you coming back. So let’s begin our discussion about The Shivah, a new AGS adventure game from Dave Gilbert. The story is about a rabbi who had received a large sum of money from a former member of his congregation, and being extremely suspicious the man decides to investigate the origins of his good fortune.
A few things are done differently in this murder mystery, for example there are no puzzles requiring the use of your inventory and practically no items to collect. Progression is usually achieved by extracting clues from conversations with other characters.
Won the June 2006 MAGS contest, so that must count for something. Congratulations, Dave. (make more soon!)
Posted in Adventure, Freeware, Windows | 2 comments
Posted by Tim
Fri, 07 Jul 2006 12:41:00 GMT
We all yearn for a sequel to seiklus. Fortunately the Virtanen siblings made one close enough to the real thing for a Finnish game competition. Painajainen tells the story of a boy trapped in his own dream, although the game itself contains platforming elements from both autofish’s famous effort and velella.
Finding and getting butterflies to follow your character grants you special powers, with subtle hints on each ability provided on the same screen. Press enter to access the map and a progress chart. A few bugs exist but can easily be solved by pressing the E key for a quick return to the starting point, while the save game area is located just next to it.
I was quite surprised to learn that it didn’t win first place in the contest. Must be rigged. Anyway, enjoy.
Posted in Windows, Freeware, Platformers | 7 comments
Posted by Tim
Fri, 07 Jul 2006 04:19:00 GMT
Jaywalker: Take Back the Streets is the sequel to dessgeega’s original release, featuring updated graphics and a new soundtrack to accompany your bloodthirsty quest for revenge.
Gameplay rewards the suicidal. Jump in front of a car to make it swerve, hopefully causing it to crash into another object for major points. Chain car crashes to score a multiplier bonus. Hummers and vehicles with spoilers will not attempt to avoid a collision with the protagonist.
Post your high scores under comments. Winner gets a loving hug from the developer. (maybe, if you bathe regularly)
Posted in Windows, Freeware, Action / Arcade | 5 comments
Posted by Mr. Hollow
Thu, 06 Jul 2006 21:52:00 GMT
I’m a bit of an old-school CRPG hag (which is plain to see from the sour look on my face when the subject of real-time combat comes up.)
That’s why the announcement of Basilisk Games’ upcoming first release, Eschelon: Book One has me all hot and bothered. This promises to be a real, honest to god, turn-based, single player CRPG. (And indie at that.) Not that I don’t love Spiderweb Software games, but it’s about time for some new kids on this block.
The original release was scheduled for sometime this summer, but has been pushed back indefinitely:
“It is also impossible to accurately determine when we will be finished with it, so we have decided not to toss out another release date until we know we can adhere to it.”
Here’s hoping that extra development time pays off in the form of a juicy new time sink.
Source: rpgcodex.com
Posted in Windows, Macintosh, RPG, Previews
