Misfits-Attic
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Duskers ditches the paper prototype to bring survival horror to space
The last time we spoke with Misfits Attic founder Tim Keenan about this game, it was called Scavenger, and it was a paper prototype starring tower-defense mechanics and a Han Solo-esque character traveling the galaxy to pay off his debts. Now, it's called Duskers, and it's darker. The game has migrated to the screen, and it's no longer tower defense; instead, it's a roguelike with RTS and dungeon-crawling aspects in a survival-horror setting. "You pilot drones into derelict spaceships to find the means to survive and piece together how the universe became a giant graveyard," Keenan explains in his pitch video. In Hollywood terms, Keenan compares Duskers to The Road and the original Alien. The art in the pitch video is temporary, but the mechanics are nearing their final forms. Players must use power-ups and abilities to outsmart and avoid enemies waiting behind various spaceship doors. "The game's strongest moments come when you feel that there is no solution to a problem, but then by creatively thinking about what upgrades you have and the predicament you're in, you have this MacGyver-type moment where you come up with a plan," Keenan says. Keenan is looking at funding options for Duskers (Kickstarter is the "worst case" option), but the tentative plan is to get it on Steam Early Access for PC this year, with a full launch in 2015, he tells Joystiq. So far, his previous game, A Virus Named Tom, has kept the lights on, but it's not quite enough to fund a second game. Misfits Attic has a few projects in the works right now.
A Virus Named Tom dev finds therapy in Gizmo, ninja puppet show
Some things in life are so frustrating that you just have to make a low-budget puppet theater video about them. A Virus Named Tom developer Tim Keenan is annoyed to the puppet point by game development suggestions from well-meaning friends, and the assumption that "PC games" are "Facebook games."
Tim Keenan's paper prototypes invade the PAX East tabletop summit
A Virus Named Tom developer Tim Keenan stepped out of his comfort zone during PAX East – literally – to set up shop in the tabletop gaming summit, with two paper prototypes of ideas for his next big project. At the end of a long row, in the heart of tabletop territory, Keenan demonstrated the mechanics behind Scavenger, a top-down, rolling tower defense game set in space, and Chess the Gathering, which played exactly how it sounds and definitely won't have that name if it enters official development.Chess the Gathering featured an iPad showing off the game's digital prototype, including a level editor. The gameplay is a spatial representation of Magic the Gathering, on a chessboard and with a myriad of creatures and "twins." For a rundown of Chess the Gathering, check out Keenan's YouTube playlist, and sign up to get an early (digital) prototype here.Keenan convinced a pair of Magic fans to play Chess the Gathering, and as we talked, they remained riveted on the rudimentary gameboard, cards and characters. When they finished, they concluded that they loved it. "If this were a board game, I would buy it," one of them said.Scavenger tells the story of a Han Solo-esque character as he travels the galaxies looting spaceships, attempting to pay off his debt to vicious collectors. It's a top-down, tower defense game where the protagonist sits in his spacecraft and sends out drones to infiltrate the victim ships. The player defends his own ship from enemies, while directing drones throughout the other ships, in search of money. See the Scavenger playlist here.Keenan has a third game in the works, an action title that he said wouldn't work well as a paper prototype. He and his wife, Holly, plan to ask the community which project sounds best, and then launch a Kickstarter to develop that game under their studio, Misfits Attic. Currently, the Misfits are working on the Vita port of A Virus Named Tom.Check out the paper prototypes for Scavenger and Chess the Gathering in the gallery below.%Gallery-184608%
A Virus Named Tom coming to Vita, PlayStation Mobile this summer
Adorably insidious indie puzzler A Virus Named Tom will leave the confines of the home and infect various pocket devices sometime this summer, as Misfits Attic has announced both PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Mobile-enabled thingamabob ports of its previously PC-only pet project. As of yet, further information regarding pricing and other details is unavailable.To celebrate the announcement, Misfits Attic has placed the Steam version of A Virus Named Tom on sale until Friday, February 22, meaning that you can discover why our own Jess Conditt loved this game so much for a smooth Lincoln.
Snapshot: A Virus Named Tom (PC)
There are so many games out there we couldn't possibly review them all. Welcome to Snapshot, where we highlight games that might fall outside our usual coverage but are still something we think you should know about. Today: A Virus Named Tom for PC. A Virus Named Tom developer Tim Keenan of Misfits Attic makes a point to mention the uniqueness of his game's 54 local multiplayer levels to every potential reviewer, in almost every email.He has good reason to do so.A Virus Named Tom is a tile-flipping exercise in cartoonish hacking simliar to Pipe Dream, but with a Jetsons-like futuristic twist. As the single-player campaign ramps up in difficulty, it becomes a challenging, stressful and exhilarating test of dexterity and logic – but A Virus Named Tom is better as a multiplayer game, if only so you don't feel so idiotic for failing to solve yet another grid-based puzzle on the first try.After all, failing with a friend is always better than failing alone. Take those suckers down with you.
A Virus Named Tom looks pretty adorbs, downloadable now on Desura
A Virus Named Tom is one of those under-the-radar indie titles that we've been secretly following for a while now, and we finally have a valid reason to talk about it. A Virus Named Tom is an action-puzzler from Misfits Attic following a mad scientist attempting to destroy civilization with a -- wait for it -- virus named Tom. Check out the intro trailer above.A Virus Named Tom is now available for pre-order and beta download on Desura, and is set to launch in full version soon on Steam, OnLive and, of course, Desura.
