Here’s the first official trailer for Tyler Glaiel and Jon Schubbe’s Closure, which is coming to the PC and Mac (and possibly other platforms) in 2011. The game is up for 3 IGF awards this year: Excellence in Audio, Technical Excellence, and Nuovo.
I realize I haven’t posted anything about cactus’s Tuning, a psychedelic platform game. Tuning has been nominated for the Nuovo Award at this year’s IGF and has won an award at Indiecade for “Sublime Experience”.
Finally, here’s an old trailer for an abandoned game by Joakim “konjak” Sandberg, the esteemed creator of Chalk and Noitu Love 2. Mina of the Pirates is a Metroidvania that was much-anticipated in the Klik community back in the day (we’re talkin’ circa 2003), and was apparently quite close to becoming a finished game before it got canned. Well, never say never, because here it is! Thanks, Joakim, for releasing this bit of indie gaming history into the wild.
Now if only Ben Berntsen would release Chaos Gate, all the old Klikkers would be satisfied…
Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin
Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:11:00 GMT
Konjak has released a new action game, perhaps his last for the foreseeable future, called Legend of Princess. Any similarities between it and that big game franchise from that big game company are purely coincidental, of course.
True to Joakim’s style, LoP features fast action, lovely hand-pixelated graphics, clever boss fights, and over-the-top effects. On top of that, there’s a pretty nifty gameplay mechanic where you choose Li—er, the main character’s items (a jump item and ranged weapon) before starting the game. This affects the difficulty as well as how you overcome the game’s various obstacles. Pretty sweet.
I put this in the Demakes category, even though it isn’t exactly a demake. If you’re anywhere near as big a geek as I (unlikely!), you’ll love this game. I wouldn’t mind seeing a complete set of temples…
Did you guys love the music from Noitu Love 2 as much as I did? If so, be sure to check out Joakim’s website for the original soundtrack! It includes all the songs that were in the game, plus 8 bonus tracks that didn’t make the cut.
In case you were wondering, Joakim composed the songs himself, because, like all good Swedes, he drank magic Swedish elf water when he was growing up. It makes you incredibly talented at developing video games. (Although one in ten Swedes who drink magic Swedish elf water turn into Finnish Trolls... which are able to develop video games but ironically will explode if they try to play them. A sad fate for a Swede.)
Oh yes, it’s finally here! Noitu Love 2 is the very long awaited sequel to the original side-scrolling mighty-morphing action game from Konjak. Hit up the site for both an extended demo version and to purchase the full version online. The forums do seem to list some problems with getting order emails through, which seems mainly to do with PayPal (although it worked for me), so if you can avoid using that then maybe a better plan as there are a number of payment options, but if not I’m sure it’ll probably work out fine anyway.
$20 may seem a little high (edit: according to the comments, this is apparently only the case if you’re a student… bugger…), but I swear on my reputation as the most ‘occasional’ contributor to TIGSource that if you at least give the demo a try you will not be disappointed. And if you have already, then you’re probably too busy clicking the above link to read this. I understand. Do what you must. As well as the main 7-level IGF finalist game, the full version also offers a wealth of unlockable content, including one extra that’s so awesome I swear I’m running my second-playthrough pantless.
In case you missed it: there’s a 1.5-level demo available for Noitu Love 2, with the promise of a full game coming soon. This platformer features some of the most outrageous action sequences I’ve ever seen/played (including giant, screen-filling bosses), coupled with clever game mechanics and just insanely good pixel art. Get now (and buy later).
I thought to get people’s juices flowing I’d let the people decide what to make a secret, hidden boss. What you have to do is think of something completely awesome and then give that idea to me and I pay you absolutely nothing, but you get a credit at the end of the game (if you really want to).
Sounds like a pretty fair deal! But in all seriousness, it’s for the fun... what more reason do you need? Hit up Joakim’s site for more info. We’re also discussing it on the forums.
Kianis wrote to let me know about this year’s Swedish Game Awards, a PC game competition for Swedish students. The winner of this year’s competition is a rather uninteresting block puzzle game, but definitely check out some of the other games! Kianis pointed out Streambolt Desero , which has music by none other than Joakim Sandberg, and great graphics by Gustav Kilman, who I’m a big fan of. I remember seeing this game a few years ago, I think, and I’m sad to see that it’s still not a full game (although it’s fun while it lasts!).
And definitely take a look at this trailer for Fret Nice, a sidescrolling platformer that’s played with a Guitar Hero controller! (Fret Nice won “Best Concept” in the competition.)
We have seen plenty of excellent platformers released in the past few months, and among many this particular gem did best to remind us how great the Rockman series were before it was turned into a collectible card battle.
Controls are stripped down to basics, featuring the standard punch and jump plus two more attack variations assigned to both the left control and shift key. Much like Capcom’s mascot, Noitu Love can utilize certain devices to change form and access special powers. The first few levels may seem repetitive but the game does get better after the second stage.
Most of the highlights occur during boss battles, where each leader has to be defeated using different strategies. The final boss encounter is simply amazing, even when compared to other platformers freeware or otherwise. A word of advice, you’ll miss out on quite a bit if the easy difficulty setting is chosen.
