TIGSource

Everyday Shooter - Now on Steam

Derek Yu — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:40:00 +0000

Joyous day! Everyday Shooter has finally made its way to the PC, via Steam. I’ll be honest, I had only gotten a taste of this game before, on the IGF show floor in 2007. It was fun then, but I gotta say, it really deserves to be played in one’s own room, with headphones on. Challenging and beautiful – one of few games where graphics, sound, and gameplay are completely harmonious with one another.

Try it! It’s definitely worth the $8.99 you’ll be paying for it (discounted from $9.99 for this week).

Droid Assault

Derek Yu — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:14:00 +0000

Droid Assault is a new action game from Puppygames. Just as Titan Attacks was a “Puppified” version of Space Invaders, and Ultratron a Puppified Robotron, Droid Assault is Paradroid given the Puppy treatment.

In Paradroid, players controlled an “Influence Device,” an otherwise weak droid with a very special ability – it could control and command droids after beating them in a logic-based circuit game. Droid Assault eschews this mini-game and lets you “transfer” to a droid so long as you have enough transfer points (obtained per 1000 score points). Also, once a droid has been transferred, it joins your team and can be controlled at any time (or when your current droid is blown up).

Longtime Paradroid fans may find this a bit off-putting, since the circuit mini-game was a big part of Paradroid (and allowed skilled players to take over even the mighty level 999 droid with a lowly Influence Device). However, Droid Assault is clearly built for speed and action, and as such it’s a highly enjoyable game with frantic action. The graphics and music are also ace, as we should come to expect from Caspian Prince and his team.

If I had any complaint, its that it’s occasionally difficult to discern blocks, pits, walls, and floors. Other than that, I’d highly recommend this very affordable ($10) little game. (And give Freedroid a try if you’d like to play the original!)

Dino Run

Derek Yu — Tue, 06 May 2008 02:41:00 +0000

Pixeljam, the creators of Gamma Bros. and the Ratmaze games, have released Dino Run, the latest in their series of low-resolution Flash titles! The basic premise is that you are a little dinosaur escaping extinction! Run, run (and jump), as fast as you can to the end of each level before the “Wall of Doom” engulfs you.

This game’s a real charmer. Each of the 7 levels is meticulously rendered in beautiful lo-fi, with lots of little details that you will probably be too busy running past to notice. Along the way you’ll get to snack on birds, lizards, and fish, grab rides with pterodactyls, and discover lots of alternate passageways and secret nooks. Other dinosaurs that are fleeing the destruction will hinder you, help you, or just plain die at the hands of crashing meteors and other dangers – the entire atmosphere is kind of dreadful, in a really cute way.

There are quite a few extra features, like dino DNA upgrades, unlockable speedrun levels, various difficulty settings, and even a multiplayer online mode that lets you race against other dinos. A small donation will get you a Dino Run Bonus Package which lets you customize your dino’s look, among other things. Do eet – this game is really cool!

(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)

Missile Matador 1 and 2

Derek Yu — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:43:00 +0000

In Missile Matador you have to trick homing missiles into hitting each other… without hitting you. If you fall off the bottom of the screen, you also lose! It’s a fun concept, and it’s unnerving to see all those missiles trained at you in the brief breathing period before each level starts!

Missile Matador II extends the concept by adding timed missiles and a way to make your own levels (by editing text files). The rules of the game have also changed slightly – in order to win, you must reach a goal somewhere on the screen.

As an aside, “Missile Matador” is an awesome name. It sounds like something the VGNG would have come up with.

(Source: Auntie Pixelante)

TIGdb: Update

Derek Yu — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:06:00 +0000

Jeff and I spent another day and a half hacking away at the The Indie Game Database. A lot of smallish changes, but they are significant:

Tags. Users can now add tags to games (e.g. abstract, music, dinosaurs, stealth, co-op). It’s mostly a novelty right now, but once filters are in place it will be a great way to search the database.

Note: tagging is still slightly buggy.

Site Layout. The site has been widened, which makes screenshots look much better, and also gives us more room to play with. A number of small cosmetic tweaks have been made to the layout as well.

Basic Browsing. Jeff has added support for browsing. Right now you can either flip through the pages of the master list of games, or flip through the same list sorted by rank.

The major additions to the site will come in another few weeks or so, when we add user reviews (yep!) and also filters, which, when added to what we’ve done this weekend, will let you browse games in a fairly advanced way.

In the meantime, I entreat you to rate games, add tags, and have fun perusing the site! Comments and suggestions are still very welcome.

TIGCompo: Procedural Generation!

Derek Yu — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:42:00 +0000

Procedural content generation has been applied to video games forever to create random content and to reduce the space requirements for games. Roguelikes are a genre that generally depend on procedural generation for level creation. And recently, Will Wright’s Spore has put this idea in the spotlight, since the game is mostly procedurally-generated.

But all in all, I think this is a concept that is still relatively unexplored, and it could be applied creatively to every part of a game to do some really neat stuff! The focus of this competition is to develop a 4-week game that uses PCG to create compelling, new content every time the player starts a game.

LET US BEGIN!

Brain-Damaged Toon Underworld Teaser #2

Derek Yu — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:54:00 +0000

BDTUW is looking good! Made by Lo-Fi Minds for our VGNG Competition, the actual compo entry was a sweet promise of something more… much more! This vid drops its trousers a little lower, revealing brand new areas, characters, and mechanics. Yum!

On the Lo-Fi Minds blog, cactus explains that the aspect ratio has been changed to accommodate HD.

(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)

The Sewer Goblet: The Wu-Tang Clan and the Wu-Tang Baby

Derek Yu — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:45:00 +0000

Yeah, torture motherfucka what?

From the mad minds behind Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden comes an all-new adventure – The Sewer Goblet: The Wu-Tang Clan and the Wu-Tang Baby! As the story goes, The Wizard stole the Wu-Tang Baby and fled into the sewers. You must send one of the Wu-Tang Clan into the dungeon and bring the baby back! Along the way you’ll tangle with Teknodwarfs, Baby Seals, and other unsavory characters.

The Sewer Goblet gets a lot of credit as the first rap-themed roguelike game, but doesn’t do too much to innovate the genre in general. Equip weapons, learn spells, manage your hunger (in TSG, every action costs hunger points), eat Wu-Tang snacks with randomized effects, etc. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing – it’s a solid dungeon crawl that’s easy to get into and somehow it never quite gets tiring bringing “da ruckus” as the Wu Tang Clan. Each member has his own special abilities that will aid you on your quest.

Now, all someone has to do is make a gory Bone Thugs-n-Harmony RPG set in an alternate reality Cleveland and I’ll be set!

(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)

Meet In v.0

Derek Yu — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Meet In is a brand new Eyezmaze puzzle game! The goal is to reunite the family. Activate a family member by clicking on their screen and move them with the arrow keys.

As On explains, the game is “suitable for beginners.”

(Source: Alec Meer, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

Fantastic Blood Boy!

Derek Yu — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:38:00 +0000

A late entry for our VGNG Compo, Fantastic Blood Boy is a frantic action game from none other than the lovely Gustav Kilman! In the game you play the titular Blood Boy, who is as fantastic as he sounds. Your goal is to keep the clot crystals away from the Sock Puppets who are hopping around trying to get after it. To do this, simply touch the crystal and it will fly away – but when the crystal is flying, it won’t generate the various crazy weapons you need to destroy the Sock Puppets (and create up to two more crystals!).

It’s a simple, yet novel, system, that’s complemented by manic gameplay and a poppin’ visual style. Plus, Gustav has finally finished a game, which means that I can finally die and rest in peace. Thank you, Gustav! This is great!