Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:20:00 GMT
So, sometimes I say I’m going to post something, then totally neglect to. Over the next week or so I’d like to finally clear out my backlog. (But maybe I shouldn’t say that!) This may be deja vu for many of you, but hopefully at least a few folks will see something new. Either way, it’ll help me sleep at night.
Froggle is 3D platformer made by Team Hardcode, a group of DigiPen students, where you play a little frog (well, something like a frog, anyway) who uses his tongue to grapple and swing around stylized, cartoony environments on a quest to renew his Froggle License. Think Wind Waker meets Bionic Commando, but with WASD shooter-style controls. Wait, I’m making this sound more confusing than it is. Just give it a try, eh?
Download Froggle here. (Note: The depth of field effect breaks the visuals on my machine, so it might on yours too?)
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:32:00 GMT
You may have seen this reported elsewhere, but “arthouse” game creator Jason Rohrer is hard at work on his first retail release, a turn-based, two-player strategy game for the Nintendo DS “about diamond trading in Angola on the eve of the passage of the Kimberly Process.” This first struck me as a heavy subject for a handheld game, but the fact of the matter is there are countless games about counter-terrorism, war, monsters, death… I’m apparently just a bit desensitized to certain topics!
I asked Jason for more details on the game and he was kind enough to oblige. Pictured above is his paper prototype of the game. He’s still ironing out the design, but he got approved as a developer by Nintendo last week and programming should begin soon. He was reluctant to describe the gameplay itself this early, which is understandable, but he says there are no big surprises here, so all will be revealed before release. Oh, and he’s making every bit of the game himself, right down to the box art.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:03:00 GMT
Time Fkcu, a new game from Edmund McMillen, Justin Karpel, and William Good made for the Power of 3 event over at Newgrounds, is coming out September 1st. According to Edmund, "Time Cfuk is a game about stasis, it's a game about perspective and viewing both sides of the story from afar, it's a game about blocks, platforms, drinking, high school reunions and work time fun." He goes on to say, "Time KcuF is not an art game." Well, what is, anyway? Wait, don't answer that.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:52:00 GMT
GearToyGear is a new crazy-fast tunnel shooter from shmup deity Kenta Cho. The instructions are: “Avoid incoming bullets/lasers/obstacles and destroy enemies. Hold the right trigger to speed up and earn more score.” It might be prudent to add a seizure warning as well.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:30:00 GMT
Sophie “GirlFlash” Houlden has released a neat 3D, physics-bending platformer called BOXGAME. Each stage wraps around the sides of a cube, and as you jump between planes the direction of gravity changes, making for some interesting puzzle-platforming action. To be honest, the mechanics are still a little unclear to me. As I played I was often unsure as to why I landed on one platform and not another. But I may just be easily disoriented. Either way, it’s good fun!
Play BOXGAMEhere. (Requires Unity plugin.)
Forum thread is here.
Hideous and ‘Andy Wolff’ have been hard at work on an awesome flash game entitled ‘Let’s Jump!’, which is all about the thrills of throwing yourself into the sky and gunning down all manner of winged critters before landing effortlessly on the earth with the graceful elegance you would expect from anything you threw out of an airplane 10,000 metres in the air.
Sadly, we can’t play it yet because the game is still looking for a sponsor. This is distressing, as I really want to play it, so if anyone could solve that problem they would forever be a swellephant in my book. For now, enjoy the music.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:49:00 GMT
Just a quick little post—here’s a Super Meat Boy Nintendo Channel Featurette with Tommy and Edmund blabbing about the upcoming WiiWare title, which is promised to be “the most epic game ever, that ever will be.”
UPDATE: Another video I missed, featuring stills of the latest build as well as one of DannyB’s excellent tracks, after the jump!
PhoenixJ’s Tasty Static is an affectionate abstract send-up of shareware classic Skyroads. The goal is to race against time and your own life bar to the end of a course of obstacles. Arrow keys control movement and speed with space being the jump button, but it does become slightly more complicated than that, with various tiles restricting certain actions. That, and there are a number of quirks to the control scheme which need to be mastered to beat the tougher levels, such as bouncing into another jump for extra height. The game is set into a series of progessively tougher challenges, each broken up into a set of three under similar themes like RED 40 or CLASSY, with approapriate aesthetic hints to each one.
As you complete levels you unlock extras such as an FPS view, a variety of skins for your ship and even lasers to fire. Not sure what the purpose of those is yet, but when faced with any decision in life generally ‘The one with more lasers’ is the best answer you can give. There’s also a level editor built into the windows version (MAC/Linux versions are also available), and new levels can be down/uploaded from/to the site made by the community, if the substantial main campaign somehow isn’t enough with you.
The difficulty can be fairly extreme, and though the process is streamlined to minimise downtime it can still be a frustrating experience like its predecessor. Then again there really is nothing like these two games, and with a great soundtrack spread with new music for every themed stage the experience is incredibly well rounded, and a freeware joy for anyone daring enough to try to master it.
Seems Steam has answered the indie games D2D package with a package deal of its own (two, in fact): Audiosurf, Blueberry Garden, Braid, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Darwinia, Everyday Shooter, Gish, Mr. Robot, The Path, World of Goo, all in one package for $30. And a subset of five of those for $20. Ends Monday.
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!
