Indie Brawl - First Public Release

Posted by Derek Yu Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:02:00 GMT

So I’m happy to announce that Indie Brawl, one of our two community projects (the other being BMcC’s Balding’s Quest), is seeing a public release today. IB puts many of the virtual heroes of indie games together in a multiplayer fighting extravaganza. This build has three “complete” fighters to choose from (Naija, The Golden Knight from Bonesaw, and Liero) and several WIP ones (The Dwarf, Trilby, Nikujin, Xoda Rap, and Iji).

One of the things that makes me really proud to be a part of the TIGSource community is that our collaborations and projects see fruition. It’s not an easy task to complete a project over the ‘tubes with so many disparate people – it requires a lot of dedication from the community and management on the part of the project leaders. That we have people who are passionate enough to take a “hey, that’s a cool idea!” and turn it into something real is nigh incredible.

Big props to Soulliard, the tireless team leader and programmer, without whom Indie Brawl would not exist. And also to godsavant, Oracle, and Clemens, who put a ton of work into the pixel art. And Josh “TwiTerror” Whelchel for the music. And everyone else who contributed! Hope you enjoy the build! Remember, the project is always looking for more help!

Posted in Freeware, Fighters, Windows, Community, Developers, Videos, Community Projects | Tags Soulliard | 64 comments

Minecraft Survival Mode Preview

Posted by Derek Yu Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:56:00 GMT

Here’s a preview of Minecraft’s Survival Mode, which paid customers will get to try out in a week’s time (September 1st). A lot has been added since we first posted about the game, like swimming cave pigs. That’s right, swimming cave pigs. And they have a taste for flesh, but only if it comes in a Hot Pocket.

Anyway, read more about the upcoming release here.

Posted in Sim, Multiplayer, Videos, Previews | Tags Notch | 29 comments

Bombie Zombie

Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:16:00 GMT

Bombie Zombie is a lofi action game from forum member Codemonkey, “made in a couple weeks just to see what a zombie game with only landmines would be like.” It also seems to be some sort of a commentary on swine flu? I had trouble following the storyline.

Run around with the arrow keys, jump with Z, place mines with X. Avoid getting swarmed by zombies and other hazards. It’s quite fun!

Download Bombie Zombie here, in the forum release thread.

Posted in Freeware, Action / Arcade, Windows | Tags Codemonkey | 15 comments

Fig 8.

Posted by Derek Yu Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:25:00 GMT

Fig. 8 is a new browser game from Intuition Games (Dinowaurs, Effing Hail) where you control a bicycle through a city displayed as a technical diagram. I really enjoyed it – it gave me a great reminder of how relaxing it is to ride a bike through a suburban neighborhood (something I haven’t done in a long time). Somehow this wouldn’t have worked without the graphics, audio (great music), and the way the bicycle’s wheels leave tracks.

I’m not sure if it was the right idea to add highscores and combos to this game, however – it’s a lot more fun to do loops and draw pictures on the ground than to maintain a straight line or “grind” edges. Similarly, I think the checkpoints put too much emphasis on finishing rather than simply enjoying the biking.

In the end, I guess I’m uncertain whether it should have been a race at all. I got more enjoyment out of the game once I dropped that pretense. Otherwise, it’s a really wonderful experience.

TIGdb: Entry for Fig. 8

Posted in Casual, Browser Games, Videos | Tags IntuitionGames | 28 comments

Trine

Posted by Derek Yu Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:41:00 GMT

Trine’s been out for awhile, but you’ll forgive me for being late to the party since I only just now took the demo for a spin. Developed by the Finnish studio Frozenbytes (Shadowgrounds), the first thing you’ll notice about this game is that the production values are very high. The graphics are fantastic, and I enjoyed the spot-on high fantasy voice narration that accompanies you during the game.

The gameplay video above should give you a good idea of what Trine is about – it’s a physics-based puzzle-platformer where you control three heroes with different abilities. In the single-player mode you can switch between the characters at any time. There’s also an offline co-op mode available from the options that lets you play with two or three people.

The game seems really polished all around, although I’ll probably pass on the full version, since neither the narrative nor the level design in the demo really hooked me. Everything, from the character’s personalities to the overall pacing and challenge, felt languid (maybe “casual” is the right word). Still, I think Trine does as advertised – if the video looks good, give the demo a spin.

The full version, which is usually $30, is available for $23 right now on Steam. It’s also coming soon to PSN.

TIGdb: Entry for Trine

Posted in Platformers, Physics, Windows, PS3, Videos | Tags Frozenbytes | 33 comments

Dead Panic

Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:07:00 GMT

Sean Maher has quit his day job at the age of 35 to make indie games. Dead Panic is his first release—a strategy game where you must position your troops to defend against oncoming hordes of zombies. You can find screens of the game and more information in his post on the forums. It’s never too late to go indie, I say!

App Store link is here.

Posted in Strategy, iPhone | Tags SeanMaher | 32 comments