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Incredipede crawls onto mobile, 'feels wet and slimy'
Incredipede has wobbled its way to mobile, available now for $4 on the App Store and Google Play. The mobile version of Incredipede retains most of the pretty wood-cut art and graphics of the PC version, with only a few effects disabled, and it has a few improvements for touchscreens. The "what's under my fat finger window," as developer Colin Northway calls it, allows players to make detailed adjustments to Quozzle, the game's creature, even on tiny screens. "Building creatures in Incredipede is especially visceral on touchscreens," Northway says. "Pulling legs out of Quozzle with your finger feels wet and slimy. It adds a whole new dimension to the game and has made the sandbox my favorite mode." Colin Northway and his wife, Sarah Northway, famously travel the globe while developing their games, and Incredipede mobile is no different. They shipped this one from a tiny island in Panama, and they've also sent out games from Mexico, the Philippines and Costa Rica. See beautiful photos of the Northways' adventurous indie lives in their Flickr album.
Incredipede's Linux version goes free
The adorable picture above is letting you know that Incredipede on Linux is now absolutely free. Incredipede developer Colin Northway says he made the Linux version free "because Linux users are such strong supporters of indie games," and because he enjoys its open source philosophy. Incredipede is available for Linux right here, and though it will run fine out of the gate Northway includes a list of tweaks to make it extra pretty. Incredipede is also on sale on Steam for $5 through June 24. This is all part of an "Open Source Appreciation Week," and 50 percent of sales directly through Northway's Humble Store hub will benefit FlashDevelop and Box2D, two open source programs that he used to create Incredipede.
Day-one Incredipede Steam sales eclipse previous four months
When Incredipede launched on Colin Northway's site in October 2012, "there were tears. There were all the stages of loss," Sarah Northway told Joystiq at GDC. Colin previously told us that Incredipede sales direct from his site were disappointing, in part because it wasn't yet on Steam.Incredipede launched on Steam on March 18, and in its first 24 hours, it sold more units than the previous four months of independent sales combined."It's really good," Colin said. "I mean, it wasn't good for the four months, but it was good for the one day. And now it's doing well. It didn't just drop off to nothing. It's not going to make us rich, but we're actually going to get paid for the work we did. We have enough money to make another game."Incredipede secured its Steam deal through an IGF nomination, another piece of advertisement that helped boost the game's sales. The Steam version is technically "1.5," featuring a bunch of updates that streamline the game's difficulty, adding 60 new levels and two more muscle groups that players can manipulate. Incredipede is on sale on Steam right now through March 29, for $10 on PC and Mac.
PSA: Incredipede stretches its limbs today, play the free web demo
Incredipede, the customizable crawling creature game from Colin Northway, is available now for purchase, running $15. If the above launch trailer doesn't totally convince you, Incredipede also has a free in-browser demo.People who pre-ordered the game had access to a beta build, and they constructed some pretty outstanding (and out-creeping, out-stretching, out-rolling) creatures, such as the Tractor, Jumper, Upsitube, Snake, and Northway's own creation, the Spider. If you need more help crafting your own Incredipede monster, Northway has a series of tips videos on the main website."Incredipede definitely rewards continued play," Northway says. "The first hour is going to be a different experience from the fourth hour." The fourteenth hour's experience, we assume, is a blur of joints, protrusions and green skin. See for yourself on Incredipede's main site.
(Not) Getting noticed on Steam Greenlight: Incredipede's story
In the indie world of secret handshakes and underground brunch meetings, there's a specific phrase for the following complex process, as described by developer Colin Northway: "Apply to Steam, be rejected, release without it, get popular, be noticed by Valve, release on Steam."This is widely accepted as the "Offspring Fling" submission process. It takes the name of Kyle Pulver's retro platformer, which launched on Steam in May, months after not launching on Steam, despite Pulver's attempts. Northway shares this rejection jargon with us in terms of his own puzzle game, Incredipede, and Steam Greenlight:"This is the path Offspring Fling took before Greenlight and it's the path Incredipede will take after Greenlight. It's kind of sad because I thought the point of Greenlight is to specifically avoid the 'Offspring Fling' situation."
