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Notch develops zombie shooter Shambles in FPS game jam
Minecraft creator Markus Persson (aka Notch) participated in this year's 7DFPS developer challenge, a week-long game jam centered around first-person shooters. Persson's entry is Shambles, a Unity-based shooter that drops players in the middle of a zombie apocalypse with 50 bullets and 100 health points. Players don't just hunt zombies in Shambles, though, as soldiers drop weapons and civilians drop health packs when killed, turning survival into a balancing act. As with other 7DFPS games, don't expect Shambles to offers hours of entertainment, but it's a nifty way to pass a little free time.
Atari Dev Challenge finalists announced, voting now open
Atari has announced the finalists in its ongoing dev challenge contest, in which developers from around the Internet have pitched updates to the classic Pong game for the iOS and Android App Stores, with the winners to be published and rev-shared by Atari itself. All of those finalists look pretty interesting -- they almost all have gone with a relatively classic take on the game (which is what Atari told us they were looking for), although all of them have updated the old ball-and-paddle gameplay to be a little more complicated. These finalists are all guaranteed a revenue share agreement with Atari to have their titles published, but we still need to decide who's getting the cash prizes for the best entry. And by we, I mean both you and me. You get to vote on Atari's page (over on the side, you can put a star rating up for each different finalist in the contest), and I, Mike Schramm, am serving as a judge in the competition along with Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Pocket God creator Dave Castelnuovo, developer David Whatley, and a few other folks selected by Atari. The judge's ratings and user ratings are all being thrown into one big pot, and then the winners of the various cash prizes will be announced on August 2nd. It's cool to finally see some actual games coming out of this competition after so long. I'm hoping we judges will get a chance to play all of the finalists soon, and then we'll see the final results in a little over a month.
Atari's Pong Indie Developer Challenge is a real coin opportunity
Atari's legendary Pong has captured plenty of hearts and minds over the years. Now, to celebrate its fortieth birthday, the gaming stalwart is offering up $100,000 for you to re-invent it for iOS as part of its Indie Developer Challenge. To be in with a chance of winning the cash, developers are being asked to recreate the time-honored classic in a new and original way. Then, simply submit your idea, or playable demo and keep your paddles crossed. Those creations that make it to the final will get published under the Atari brand as an official release, and you get eternal bragging rights (and the cash). The competition is open now, and you've got until March 31st to be in the game. Feel like a winner? Then bat your eyes down to that source link for the full deets.
