Dungeon is a game by a powerful tag-team: Mr. Podunkian (of The Underside fame) and cactus (of dozens of games per year fame). To quote Zarathustra in the forums: “a horribly hard platformer with bad graphics? This is indie people”
My favorite part of the game was the room titles, which I think were a great way of adding an interesting background story to a game without dialogue. It’s a short game, took me about 10 minutes to get to the end, while playing in a window and having a conversation with two people at once (one of them Podunkian). A good indie game snack.
“Dungeon is a tragic platformer about what can happen in a
castle, and how it affects people like you and me.” -cactus
EDIT: cactus has an update for us!
Sorry about the radio silence, we felt it was necessary to let this experiment live its own life for a while.
Klei Entertainment (Eets) takes a step in a decidedly more brutal direction with its upcoming XBLA title Shank. I had a chance to try it at PAX, and it’s really fun. The controls are fluid and you can pull off some Desperado-like moves very easily.
Super Meat Boy was shown at a Nintendo press event in London recently, where it was met with acclaim. But honestly, you can’t say anything bad about two guys who look like this.
I realize there have been a lot of previews and trailers and expo stuff lately. But they are cool, no? Don’t worry, more great playable games are coming!
I know we’ve been going crazy with the trailers lately, but what the hey. It’s been a busy week and I haven’t had much time to play. Playable games coming soon!
Let’s start it off with a little cactus. Trailer music by The Death Set.
Dean Dodrill’s Elysian Tail: Dust is an XNA fighting game with some really gorgeous animation. And furries. Currently in alpha state.
Here’s a preview of the next Blurst game, which is coming out next month. Music by Alec Holowka.
For those who were unable to attend, and those who want to relive the magic:
Thanks, Fuzz, for uploading cactus’s presentation!
Also, the GDC Vault has released 3 videos: Jason Rohrer’s IGS session, titled “Beyond Single-Player,” The Indie Game Maker Rant, and The Game Design Challenge: My First Time, which features Heather “moboid” Kelley and Erin “The Ivy” Robinson. Thanks, Simon!
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Sat, 02 May 2009 13:40:00 GMT
I’ve been having trouble recovering from GDC, and getting things in order after moving, and I regretfully missed posting about the new Paper Moon yesterday, but here’s something! A trailer for Cactus’ new game, “a game about killing everything you love.” It looks mind-blowing. Cactus is unstoppable.
There are some screenshots of this and other WIP games of his over on his blog.
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:46:00 GMT
Jonatan “Cactus” Söderström’s lecture for the 2009 Independent Games Summit, The Four-Hour Game Design, opened up his bizarre creative process, revealing some of the design guidelines and key tricks that have allowed him to make more (awesome) games per day than the rest of the industry combined manages to put out in a year.
It may have been the greatest presentation ever.
Starting from his Desktop, Cactus skipped over a few folders called things like “Weird Porn” and “Nude Pictures of Me” to one simply named “GDC.” Within, bearing the icon of a pixelated heart, was his presentation… made in Game Maker.
After registering Windows Media Player live on stage to test the audio, and eventually realizing he had to un-mute his laptop, Cactus started it up. A Brain-Damaged Toon Underworld style animation began with a character only he could have drawn declaring, “I AM INTERNET.”
I ripped some (TIGSOURCE EXCLUSIVE) screens from Cactus’ laptop while he was asleep, but there will eventually be a video of all the “slides,” or perhaps even a download of the presentation/game itself, so I won’t spoil too much of it now. Here’s a brief summary, in the extended:
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Thu, 19 Mar 2009 03:50:00 GMT
Cactus has released his first ever (?) sports game, suitably titled Ping Pong. Battle Dino, Bunk, Pasztor, Hoff, and Noir by pressing Z and sometimes the arrow keys!
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:05:00 GMT
Make My Head Grow is a two player competitive game of head-smashing and box-pushing, made within 48 hours, that recently cleaned up at the 2009 Nordic Game Jam. I find its gameplay remarkably disturbing.
While I’m here, I might as well post Petri’s “experimental art game” entry (which apparently Heather and Cactus contributed to) called 4′33″ of Uniqueness. It makes me feel a little bit sad.
Check out Kokoromi’s site for more info and also pictures as well!
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:34:00 GMT
Cactus has updated his site with a new pinked-out style and sexy banners and everything. It makes my brain feel dirty, but in a good way. Plus, he’s added his most recent works, bringing his grand total of released games to forty (40!). Crazy.
Oh, also, there are new screenshots for Brain-Damaged Toon Underworld, Mondo Nation, and some WIP goodness. Word.
I think we can all agree: one of the many nice things about having good independent gaming communities around is that you can always find friendly people to talk with, to laugh with, to drink with, and yes, to make sweet, sweet, passionate games with. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and then you have… the facts of life. The facts of life. Let’s make games together!
Jonatan “cactus” Söderström teamed up with our very own Terry Cavanagh last month to create Xoldiers, a war-themed action game where you control a squad of deadly troops. There are a couple of neat things going on here: 1. the challenges and trade-offs of controlling a group of characters moving as a cohesive unit, and 2. the built-in level editor that lets you upload levels online. Good stuff!
And here’s a collaboration to keep your eye on: Tom “CoolMoose” Sennet has paired up with Matt “YMM” Thorson for RunMan: Race Around the World, a sequel to the seminal RunMan’s Monster Fracas. The game has been in development for three years and is finally nearing release. That video gives my brain a happy-boner.
You know, the forums are always bustling with new collaborations. So what are you waiting for? Find a nerd who loves games as much as you do, and make the beast with two keyboards. Go on! <3
