Research and Development is a mod released for Half-life 2: Episode Two, made by someone named ‘mbortolino’. I really can’t find anything else on the man past that name, which is a real shame because if this isn’t the only product of his work then I really want to see the rest.
RAD is a short two-hour adventure in the HL universe, where you again battle combine and zombies as you travel from point A to point B. The key difference here is that you don’t actually use any guns, with the Gravity Manipulator only showing up after the first 45 minutes or so. Instead you have to pass a series of physical obstacles by putting your mind hard at work, and this is where the mod really shines.
Voting is on for the Adult/Educational Competition! Originally, I was planning on doing a sequel to our B-Games Competition over the summer, but rehashing an old theme just didn’t seem right. I feel like TIGSource compos should always push forward into new, and sometimes challenging, territory. The A/E Compo really fit the bill.
Of the 28 finished entries, there were 13 adult entries, 11 educational entries, and 5 brave entries that made use of both themes – glad to see such an even split between the two. There’s some hilariously gonzo stuff in there, but also some thoughtful work. In general, the entrants broke some real ground in genres that are not generally thought of as innovative (if thought of at all).
Congrats to everyone who participated, but especially the ones who finished! PLAY AND VOTE.
The Wii port of NIGORO’s La Mulana has a full site now, with information about the game and a blog (available in English or Japanese). The blog updated by the La Mulana staff, who say “Don’t think of this site as simple a general site for information to be released little-by-little. Think of it as a way to exchange ideas between the developers and fans. This official site is here with a purpose.”
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:54:00 GMT
Adam and Matt from Flashbang Studios, The Brothers Mechtley, have released a side project they’ve been working on since January: Touch KO, an iPhone boxing sim that quite reminds me of Fight Night, with its hilarious ragdoll knockouts and everything. From the video it looks to be polished and fun—if I had an iPhone, I’d be playing it right now! You can find the App Store link here.
In semi-related news, Matt has announced he’s leaving the world of indie games to pursue a career in super science, going for his PhD in Astrophysics at ASU. Next thing you know he’ll have his own island fortress and army of spider robots and all that. (That’s what scientists do, right?)
Matt: You have been a consummate gentleman, and you will be missed! Best of luck to you, sir.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:37:00 GMT
Tower of Heaven is Askiisoft’s debut game, a four—no, three color platformer with particularly devious challenges. I love the variety of death animations. Which is good, ‘cause that’s what I spent most of my time seeing.
To celebrate the release, a speedrun contest is being held on the forums. The current best time is 2:29. I took longer than that trying to beat the third screen.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:47:00 GMT
Another one from my backlog: 2D Boy recently completed an ongoing feature on the development of their hit WiiWare game, World of Goo, from the first prototype with placeholder (Family Guy!) graphics, to slightly overambitious later versions of the game. (At one point seven chapters were planned—yikes!) Very interesting stuff if you’re curious to know just what goes into making a great game. They’ve even included downloads of some of the iterations.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:40:00 GMT
The Behemoth, creators of indie hit Castle Crashers, have uploaded the first of hopefully many development videos of their next XBLA game, which they are still calling “Game #3.” The video shows that co-op, multiplayer action which I am down for. So down.
Most prominently featured is “Soul Mode” (again a tentative title), where each team must beat the souls out of the other team(s) and hold on to them as long as possible, racking up points over time. Customization is also talked about, with custom appearances and weapons promised for each player. Even this early on the gameplay and presentation look top notch. Keep watching The Behemoth’s dev blog for more tasty updates.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:59:00 GMT
Here’s a bit of GDC news that slipped through the cracks. The Area 5 guys (formerly The 1UP Show) made an excellent video special on IGF, highlighting a number of indie and student games. You can find the original post here. And if you’re not familiar with Area 5 / CO-OP, check out the rest of the site. They’re uploading excellent videos all the time. It’s good stuff, trust me!
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.
