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TwO Brothers' Climb to the Top of the Castle on consoles
Tim, 23, and Orion Araya, 20, are the two brothers behind TwO Bros. Games, recent winners of the 2BeeGames Indie Game Competition for their submission Climb to the Top of the Castle. Like Auditorium and Storm before it, the siblings' game has earned a digital distribution publishing deal through Zoo Games. Joystiq recently exchanged emails with the Arayas about their game and what to expect from the upcoming console version: This might seem like a silly question, considering the game's title, but, what exactly is the goal in Climb to the Top of the Castle? The goal in the game is obviously to climb to the top of the castle and die a lot! The game is simplistic by design, so what's its defining attribute? As far as what makes the game stand out, besides the visuals, there just aren't many classic 2D-style games out there, it's kind of like with Shadow Complex: the game innovates with old ideas. Name some inspirations for the game's design. There where a lot of inspirations for Climb to the Top of the Castle. I guess the main reason was the desire to make an old-school-style platformer with a persistent goal to reach. A few games that influenced the idea were Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Braid, and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. As far as people we admire in the industry, you have to start with Shigeru Miramoto, also Peter Molyneux, Hideo Kojima, among others. And in indie games, Jonathan Blow is inspiring. As a whole, we think the indie game industry is pretty exciting right now.
2BeeGames begins voting for its 2nd Indie Game Competition
The second Indie Game Competition from 2BeeGames has finally entered the public voting stage. Ten finalists (listed after the break) are eligible for a $10,000 prize and a publishing contract with Zoo Games. Last year, the first and second place winners (Auditorium and Storm, respectively) received deals to port their games onto XBLA, PSN, Wii and iPhone.All ten finalist games will be playable at the NY Gaming Meetup tonight or online at the 2BeeGames website. It's not often that the general public can control which games get published, so you may want to take advantage of this rare opportunity.
What's in a Name: Pelfast and 2BeeGames
We don't want the big guys to have all the fun, so this week we're finding out the origins of a couple of indie names. First is Comet Crash developer Pelfast, and then we've got a bonus submission from indie gaming hub 2BeeGames. "Back in college (early 2000), I needed a company name that represented graphics/animation -- where I thought I would end up. Pixel was a little overused, so I went with the lesser known abbreviation, pel, and ended up with Pelfast after a little brainstorming. A quick internet search turned up only one hit for pelfast: some kind of WWII military ammunition, so I felt it would work." –John Bates, Pelfast founder "2BeeGames has several meanings. Originally the 'two bees' referred to myself and my partner who came up with the idea for an indie game destination/community. As the concept of the site evolved into a place where we would hold competitions and publish the best games on the site, the name took on another meaning, as in a place where indie games go 'to be' published onto consoles. Now as our community grows, we're running with the bee theme and our community is called 'the hive'." –Tony Tran, site manager Like this feature? Be sure to check out the What's In A Name archives.
Indie game 'Storm' strikes XBLA, PSN, WiiWare, iPhone
Terence Lee, creator of Storm, joins the growing list of independent game developers lucky enough to find a publisher. His game, created specifically for an independent games competition at 2BeeGames.com, will find refuge on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, WiiWare and iPhone next year via a new publishing deal announced by Zoo Games. We talked with Lee about the indie games scene, and what we can expect from the console version. What is Storm? How did the concept come about? Storm is a game where you use weather elements, like wind, rain, and lightning, to solve physics puzzles. I had been playing around with some physics sandbox games, like Garry's Mod, and I found that these games were all based on experimenting with mechanical interactions. I wondered if an organic style could also be fun. And what's more organic than a storm? Plus storms bring lightning and every game needs explosions. %Gallery-74679%
Indie music-puzzle game Auditorium coming to consoles
Auditorium has been singularly responsible for reducing the work capacity of this blogger. Why? It's addictive -- why not give it a try? The music-puzzle game is simple to learn, but hard to master. An ethereal stream flows across the screen and players must position various orbs to redirect the flow. As you activate various pads, the background music becomes far more complex and lively. (Let's just say it's much more effective to play than to explain.)The developer, Cipher Prime, recently won an indie game competition at 2BeeGames, and will now find the game published across multiple console systems. While specifics haven't been announced yet, we're hopeful to see the game appear on as many platforms as possible.
