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An influx of Xbox One indies: Superhot, Goat Simulator [UPDATE: Many trailers added!]
Microsoft's indie development initiative, ID@Xbox, is bringing in a bunch of games to launch first on console on Xbox One, including Superhot, Goat Simulator, Dungeon of the Endless, No Time to Explain and Smite. Peek the full list of games ID@Xbox head Chris Charla announced during the Xbox Gamescom press conference below:
No Time To Explain dev's new game riffs on 1080p, 60 fps
Lovely Planet, the new game published by No Time To Explain creators tinyBuild Games, is now available on Steam. Unlike the 2D platformer the studio is known for, Lovely Planet is a 3D first-person shooter focused on classic run-jump-shoot gameplay a la Unreal Tournament. Only, instead of meaty bits and graphic violence, we see a whole lot of bright colors and landscapes that remind us of Katamari Damacy. A release trailer touts that the game is rendered in 1080p resolution and runs at 60 frames per second, though we imagine that's something of a joke; the game doesn't feature highly-detailed textures or complex animations, and both proclamations are accompanied by an asterisk noting that "conditions apply." Conditions like the fact it's a PC game, perhaps? You can explore developer QUICKTEQUILA's Lovely Planet on Steam for $5.09 until August 7, at which point it will rise to $6. [Image: tinyBuild Games]
Piracy inspires No Time To Explain developer to publish next game free
"I am pirating Battlefield 4 right now," an email from Tiny Build Games' Alex Nichiporchik began. That may seem a strange way to introduce a discussion about piracy - and it is - but Nichiporchik wanted to make a point: piracy, he argues, is not a black-and-white issue. In fact, it's because of piracy that Tiny Build Games will be publishing a version of SpeedRunners, a multiplayer-focused game developed by DoubleDutch Games where you play as a superhero racing other heroes to the scene of a crime, for free. Nichiporchik explained that the decision to release a version of SpeedRunners for free was due to the pirating community's reaction to their last game. "During the pre-Steam release of No Time To Explain, we simply created a version with pirate hats and put it on The Pirate Bay. Did it hurt us? Probably not. We got dozens of e-mails from people who found it via TPB and bought it afterwards, sending really positive comments about how funny the joke was. ... The press coverage spiked our sales. Don't buy into developers blaming piracy for lost sales, it's just silly." The free version of SpeedRunners that Tiny Build plans to launch won't be the full game, mind you. Nichiporchik wrote that he believes players will spend money - sometimes eagerly so - as long as they see value in a service being provided. In the case of Battlefield 4, the service is multiplayer. Nichiporchik wrote that he's pirating the game to see if it runs on his computer, and if it does, he'll "happily" buy the game off Origin. In the case of SpeedRunners, that service is online multiplayer. The free version will only support local multiplayer and offline bots. SpeedRunners is on Steam Early Access right now, so if you'd like, you can put your money down now, later, or, should you choose the free version, never. The choice is yours. Update: A sentence from an earlier draft of this story that further clarified Nichiporchik's reasons for piracy was accidentally omitted. It has been re-added to the post body.
Steam weekly deals have No Time to Explain these Space Empires
This week's Steam deals feature a few indie games, some available for up to 75% off until August 5 at 10am PT. TinyBuild's No Time to Explain, a ridiculous indie platformer with a comedic slant that made its way through the Steam Greenlight gauntlet, is half-off this week and down to $5. Malfador Machinations' 4X strategy series, Space Empires, is also in the sales spotlight: Space Empires 4: Deluxe costs $2.59, while its sequel Space Empires 5 is priced at $3.75. Rounding out the list are Still Life 2 and Still Life 3, a pair of adventure games following FBI agent Victoria McPherson's hunt for a serial killer, and Prime World: Defends, a tower defense game where players must battle back waves of monsters created from a cataclysmic event. The tower defense mechanic is bolstered by in-game collectible cards that players can gather and upgrade.
PSA: No Time to Explain begins 25% off in Steam debut
No Time to Explain recently landed on Steam after its successful Kickstarter campaign and collective nod from the community in Steam's Greenlight program. What's more, developer tinyBuild Games knocked the price of the game down by 25 percent to $7.49 in a special promotion that ends February 1.Check out the announcement trailer for the game above, and read up on our recent Joystiq Indie Pitch if you're in the dark on the game. After all, there's no time to... elaborate on it here.
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: No Time To Explain
Indie developers are the starving artists of the video-game world, often brilliant and innovative, but also misunderstood, underfunded and more prone to writing free-form poetry on their LiveJournals. We believe they deserve a wider audience with the Joystiq Indie Pitch: This week, the team at tinyBuild take the time to describe their rollercoaster of crowdfunding before it was cool and being Greenlit, with No Time To Explain. What's your game called and what's it about?It's called No Time To Explain and is about giant enemy crabs, time paradoxes and jetpack guns. We're fans of the whole wacky concept of time travel and wanted to make a game where we can get away with pretty much anything and make that funny.How did you find out about being Greenlit and how did you react?I was obsessively refreshing our Greenlight page for a couple of hours until finally the big green sign, "This game has been Greenlit," appeared. I had tears in my eyes at that point. We were losing hope to get onto Steam, and this felt like winning the lottery. You know the moment where you realize something great just happened and you don't entirely believe it? I called Tom, who apparently threw his dog out of happiness (the dog is fine).
