Balding Is Back!

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: January 7th, 2009

After many restless nights, Balding’s Quest, the greatest community project since God invented community projects (okay, slight hyperbole), is back!

Balding’s Quest: The Quest of Guy Balding (also known as “BQ”) was started way back in The Dark Times, at the very beginning of the forums. I created a thread about Manic Miner which turned into a discussion of single screen platform games in general. Then Niklas “Arne/Prom” Jansson (of Cortex Command and Gravity Hook fame) posted a link to a gameplay concept of his for an original retro platform game. I opted to make this game, and BQ was born. It quickly became the largest and fasting moving thread on the young forums. People came out of nowhere to contribute and within five days the first Milestone was reached.

However, Milestone 2 didn’t come so easily. A little bit after Aquaria was finished, for many (mostly personal) reasons, I went on an extended hiatus. Most people assumed the project (and possibly I) had died. But it had not! I recently got back to work on Milestone 2 and, long story short, it’s done. The engine is now entirely open for community development, many, many additions have been made, tools and scripting are in place, and much more. With your help, we can bring BQ back to life!

Check it out and spread the word!

> Go here for the latest build and answers to all your questions.
> To get involved and see what’s in store for this project, go here.

This has been my White Whale for over a year now, so, please, show some love on the forums. (Especially if you were around when this project was first active!) Everything is in place to make a truly wonderful game here. But BQ needs YOU!

Additional screenshots here.

Twinsen Canceled, New Game Born

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: January 4th, 2009

Twinsen, a super-stylish fan game I posted about ages ago+, has been canceled. But it’s not all bad news! The reason it was canceled is because its creators have grown and decided to lift the best elements from it and make a new, original game. (Best of luck to ya, guys!)

TakaM was kind enough to upload a final demo of the unfinished Twinsen, which you can find here.

I’m guessing information on the new game will be posted to TakaM’s blog, but I may be wrong.

+Gosh, my old posts are embarrassing… Not that I’m any better now.

The Manipulator

By: Derek Yu

On: December 31st, 2008

The Manipulator is a new platformer from Virtanen (Seven Minutes, Virtual Silence). You are a Manipulator, a person with the ability to control other people’s minds. The game takes place over several sectors which are broken up into short levels – to reach the exit in each level you’ll have to use your psychokinetic powers to control the various soldiers trying to stop you.

Thematically, the games bears a resemblance to David Cronenberg’s classic horror movie Scanners. In both movie and game there is a certain sense of paranoia over the intrusion of a foreign agent into one’s mind, and the loss of control over one’s own body. The Manipulator does a more than adequate job conveying this feeling of violation through its off-kilter visuals and music (which are quite lovely), and its morally-ambiguous narrative, but the gameplay is more mundane. The mind-reading mechanic, for example, is a really compelling concept that unfortunately feels pretty limited in practice.

TIGdb: Entry for The Manipulator

Achievement Unlocked

By: Derek Yu

On: December 22nd, 2008

Achievement Unlocked offsets the boredom of playing a video game by rewarding us for our hard work every step of the way! (Source: daboo, via Sensible Erection [NSFW])

Owlboy Preview

By: Derek Yu

On: December 22nd, 2008

A gameplay preview of Owlboy, from D-Pad Studio, which is coming to XBox Community Games in 2009.

Mightier

By: Derek Yu

On: December 18th, 2008

Now this is just a darn cool idea.

But I would be so tempted to try to beat the game by only drawing boobs and dongs. :(

…

Achievement unlocked.

Cortex Command for Mac OSX

By: Derek Yu

On: December 10th, 2008

Speaking of Mac, Cortex Command has finally hit the clean, mean Apple machines! Like its PC brother, this version comes with a demo. The $18 license should work for both Mac and PC of the game.

Image courtesy of CherryT from the Data Realms Fan Forums, via the Epic CC Moments thread. The giant mech in the screen is a mod made by one of the users. This is your brain on Cortex Command…?

Also: Shark Laser.

Make Games Not War

By: Derek Yu

On: December 8th, 2008

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

Preview: Cletus Clay

By: Derek Yu

On: December 4th, 2008

Another one of the 2009 IGF games I’m excited about is Anthony Flack‘s Cletus Clay. This hillbilly run n’ gun got its start over five years ago, not long after the release of and subsequent fiasco over Anthony’s popular shoot ‘em up Platypus, and not much was said about it in the interim. So it’s great to find out now that the game is in IGF, is coming to the PC and Xbox, and even has its own development blog (as any good indie game should).

Currently on the blog, Anthony is recounting a really interesting personal history of clay games, including the popular adventure title The Neverhood. Honestly, I’m surprised there haven’t been more such games. I guess stop-motion is kind of dead in the modern world… or is it?

In any case, Anthony… after Cletus Clay, I demand that you remake Bert the Barbarian. Please! For the glory of Crom.

TIGdb: Entry for Squashy Software

Qwak PC

By: Derek Yu

On: December 3rd, 2008

We covered Jamie Woodhouse’s Qwak almost two (!!) years ago, when it was a homebrew GBA game – even that was a port of the originals, which came out for the BBC Micro and then the Amiga. Now it’s returned for the PC, and it is (in this author’s opinion), better than ever! The basic game mechanics have not changed, although the levels now do not scroll. What has changed are the graphics, which have been overhauled for the PC. They’re incredibly bright, colorful, and big, and combined with the compact level design, are almost overwhelming to the eyeballs.

The main premise of the game remains the same: find the keys and proceed to the exit. The original games were always fairly fast-paced, but this version feels even more so (no doubt in part because of the compressed size of the levels). It’s really frenetic and arcadey, and packed with all manner of collectibles and power-ups, including what I believe are the biggest fruit-to-player-character ratios I’ve ever seen in a game.

Qwak plays slightly like a steroid-injected kitten inside a small box filled with over-sized catnip toys, and if you can believe it, that’s actually a compliment. Even better with two kittens (co-op), to rekindle fond memories of playing games like Bubble Bobble with my friends.

So yeah, somebody approach this man and help him get the game on XBLA! It would be a perfect fit.

TIGdb: Entry for Qwak