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Gratuitous Space Battles 2 coming soon to PC, Mac, Linux
Positech Games has announced a sequel to its interstellar strategy hit Gratuitous Space Battles, that, the developer claims, will make the titular melees between massive spaceship armadas even more ludicrous. "[Gratuitous Space Battles 2] uses an entirely re-written custom engine, vastly better visual effects, a much-improved GUI, and will feature steam achievements, mod support and some very sexy undisclosed new features," reads Positech's official announcement. "The game is especially targeting gamers with multiple monitor setups who enjoy ridiculously over the top space battles, but the engine should comfortably scale down to much older PC's too. The aim is to replicate all of the OTT silliness of sci-fi movie user-interfaces." Though Positech has yet to nail down a solid release date, Gratuitous Space Battles 2 should reach the PC, Mac and Linux platforms in late 2014 or early 2015. More information can be found on the game's newly-launched website. [Image: Positech Games]
Rise and Shiny: Vega Conflict
You might be familiar with Kixeye for many different reasons, but this week I am discussing one of the games from its line-up: VEGA Conflict, which is typical in many ways but can definitely be surprising when it needs to be. Many of my favorite MMOs are made up of mechanics we've seen before, but those mechanics are delivered so smartly that the end result is a game that is worth more than it should be. As far as browser-based MMORTS titles go -- and there are scores and scores of them -- VEGA Conflict is a fun and unique blend of strategy, city-building, and Gratuitous Space Battles. It implements none of its designs flawlessly, but the game is almost perfectly balanced between casual play and powergaming. I did receive a wad of coins from the developer shortly after I spent 10 dollars on some myself, and those coins bought me resources and sped up development and building. It's not directly a sell of power and is typical for the genre, but some might find it distasteful. The community didn't seem to mind the model much.
Engage in Gratuitous Space Battles for free this weekend on Steam
Gratuitous Space Battles is pretty much precisely what it says – massive, interstellar dogfighting for basically no reason, aside from the fact that it's fun. Give it a go for free this weekend on Steam for PC and Mac, now through Sunday, February 24 at 1 p.m. PT.If you discover that space-based wars are your thing, Gratuitous Space Battles is 75 percent off through February 25. That's $3.75 for just the game or $4.75 for the Complete Pack, which includes a heap of DLC.Gratuitous Space Battles developer Chris Harris describes his game as a "hands-off battle simulator for giant space fleets," and he says the gameplay embraces a chaotic lack of control found in real-life military operations. Whether on the ground or among the stars, we imagine it is indeed difficult to strategize with people shooting at you.%Gallery-178806%
The Joystiq Indie Pitch: Gratuitous Space Battles
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, English developer Chris Harris talks about the good ol' days of being indie and the continued success of Gratuitous Space Battles. What's your game called and what's it about?Gratuitous Space Battles is a strategy/management game that plays in an unusual way. It's a "hands-off" battle simulator for giant space fleets, which puts the player in position of the designer of individual ships and entire fleets, and in control of the orders those ships will use during battle, but the actual battles themselves are out of your hands. You can watch your fleet fight, but cannot change anything mid-battle (although we have recently added direct control as an option).The game is all about ship and fleet design, rather than arcade action, and plays more like a puzzle game or tower defense game than a conventional RTS.Do you see yourself as part of a larger indie movement?Kind of, although I am not a typical part of it. The indie scene seems to be younger, cooler and much more American than me. I find it weird that indie games are suddenly hip and cool, and acceptable to buy, and make millions of dollars, because this is a very recent thing, and there is no guarantee it will last.When I started making indie games, there was no Steam, relatively few online stores and the majority of people were still buying CD-ROMs and downloading from sites like download.com. The scene has changed dramatically since then and I'm always slightly wary of the fact that it could change again. Some indie games now make tens of millions of dollars and that is definitely going to change things in the long term. How, I don't know.%Gallery-178806%
Humble Indie Bundle 6 ends, earns over $2 million
316,258 individuals signed on for the latest Humble Indie Bundle, which is arguably the best Humble Indie Bundle yet. Humble Indie Bundle 6, which halted sales earlier this evening, managed to earn a total of $2,048,330.42 during the collection's sale.Humble Indie Bundle 6 initially launched with the starting lineup of Rochard, Shatter, S.P.A.Z., Torchlight, Vessel and Dustforce. A week later, the bundle expanded to include Bit.Trip Runner, Wizorb, Jamestown and Gratuitous Space Battles for purchases equal or greater to the average sale price of the set. See? Best bundle yet!
Humble Indie Bundle 6 adds Bit.Trip Runner, Wizorb, more goodness
Humble Indie Bundle 6 just added four new games to its already stellar lineup, available to those who pay more than the average (currently less than $6): Bit.Trip Runner, Wizorb, Jamestown and Gratuitous Space Battles. All four games are DRM-free, of course, and come packaged with soundtracks. They're redeemable via Steam or the Ubuntu Software Center.These four join Rochard, Shatter, S.P.A.Z., Torchlight, Vessel and Dustforce, the last of which is unlockable by paying more than the average as well. With the new games, Humble Indie Bundle 6 is now worth $135, and as always, buyers can allocate how much of their purchase benefits charity, the developers or Humble Bundle itself. The sixth bundle will be available for seven more days, right here.
Humble Indie Bundle 4 adds free soundtracks for every game
Er, not every game ever -- that'd be impossible, you guys. We're talking soundtracks for every game in the fourth Humble Indie Bundle: Gratuitous Space Battles, Cave Story+, Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank and Nightsky HD. The soundtracks are free to anyone who pays above the current average for the Bundle and, as usual, to anyone who's already purchased the bundle. You can snag them in mp3 format or, in the case of Super Meat Boy and Nightsky HD, also in FLAC.
Daily Mac App: Gratuitous Space Battles
Do you like space battles? Do you like explosions? Do you like strategy games? Gratuitous Space Battles is worth a look, then. While it isn't perfect, I've spent hours playing this game because it is so much fun to zoom in to a battle and see tiny fighter ships flying around gigantic space cruisers. But first let me describe how Gratuitous Space Battles works. You play the role of a fleet commander, and must create a fleet from somewhat limited resources. In fact, you actually "build" your ships based on a set of weapons and subsystems, and you place theses on a variety of ship chassis that range from tiny fighters to huge cruisers. You position your fleet, give a few orders (generally non-specific orders but you can set parameters to tweak the automatons piloting your ships) and set the battle in motion. During battle, which can be sped up or paused, you are a passive observer -- but that's the point. The idea is that you'll watch your wind-up toys duke it out and scoot around the screen, as you zoom and pan to watch the mayhem. As you win battles you're allowed to "buy" more powerful or efficient systems for your ships, and even unlock other races, which provide a variety of ship configurations to build upon. Gratuitous Space Battles is an interesting mix of strategy and resource management. As you move around and zoom in/out you're treated to some great visuals and sounds. For example, zooming in you'll see each fighter (tiny compared to cruisers) flying around, shooting and you'll hear the sounds of each weapon and explosions aplenty. It's great fun to watch this unfold. Still, your fleet is on autopilot. You cannot change orders during battle. This is an unfortunate flaw, but it forces you to think more carefully about the orders you give before battle. I'd like to see a more thorough set of orders as well, however, as you cannot target specific enemy ships, as a strike team would do. In fact, early on you may become frustrated as your ships do some dumb things. But I found that if you experiment with the orders and create teams within your fleet, you stand a much better chance of simulating an AI. If you stick to merely placing your ships with default commands you will not be pleased with your dimwitted captains fleeing battle once their damage gets too low! Despite these shortcomings Gratuitous Space Battles is fun, and even more fun to watch. I recommend pausing before jumping from fleet placement to battle, as that's when the app tends to crash. But once you see what's going on during battle you'll see why this game is processor intensive. Each weapon has a damage counter, each ship has a plan, and all of these details can be seen when you zoom in. Or zoom way out to see the bigger picture. You cannot zoom out to see the entire battle at once, however. Gratuitous Space Battles is $16.99, but there's a free version as well. I recommend you check it out and see if you like the game play, but give the learning curve a chance. I play the game on a big HDTV and it's glorious.
Sins of a Solar Empire for $4; Mass Effect and Dragon Age bundles part of Impulse sale
Impulse's Memorial Day sale this weekend has Sins of a Solar Empire at the heavenly price of $4. Go buy it now -- full stop. Whatever nit-picky issues the 4X strategy title may have can be thrown out an airlock at that price point. It may lack a single-player campaign to teach the ropes of glorious galactic armada warfare, but setting up a medium-sized map using normal AI is a good place to start. Which reminds us: Gratuitous Space Battles is also on sale. Impulse also has a more mainstream space opera experience on sale with the first two chapters in the Mass Effect saga bundled for $42. Want something not involving spaceships? There's a Dragon Age: Origins bundle, which includes the original game and Awakening, for $48 -- that'll definitely keep you busy all weekend. Check out the rest of the Impulse weekend sales after the break. %Gallery-15134%
Gratuitous Space Battles gets new expansion, trailer
A second expansion pack for Positech Games' Gratuitous Space Battles is on its way from one-man dev powerhouse Cliff Harris. "The Order" adds 11 ships along with a new species that shares the $5.99 expansion's name. The expansion also adds four new weapon types and two new scenarios (one on a normal map and another in the game's survival mode). Haven't seen the epic battles of GSB? Check out a new trailer featuring the expansion after the break. [Via BigDownload]
Impulse halving price on Trine, Gratuitous Space Battles this weekend
Between all of January's blockbuster releases, we're guessing you're already up to your neck in gaming opportunities this weekend. However, if you're looking to add a bit more slag to the top of the pile, digital retailer Impulse has cut the price of a few PC games for this weekend only. Until tomorrow, you can pick up fantasy-platformer Trine for $9.99, or the self-explanatory Gratuitous Space Battles for $11.49. There's a few other discounts currently running as well -- go check out Impulse for more delicious bargains.
Gratuitous beta access with Gratuitous Space Battles pre-order
Those looking to try out -- nay, test -- Gratuitous Space Battles before the final game leaves space dock should note that developer Positech Games will be allowing pre-order customers into an online beta. Though we'd prefer to hold on to our $20 and wait for a demo, we're sure some have already been won over by the game's stellar video.Spoiler alert: It contains gratuitous space battles.[Via Big Download]
Watch one frame of Gratuitous Space Battles being rendered
Indie games developer Positech Games caught our attention again with more footage of its upcoming tower defense title Gratuitous Space Battles. In the latest video, Positech shows off the process of rendering a single frame in one of the game's marquee deep space standoffs. If you're a fan of tower defense titles -- or some kind of time-lapse photo enthusiast -- check out the clip after the break.[Thanks, Cliff]
Gratuitous Space Battles is just that
Indie games developer Positech Games has been quietly working on a tower defense game set in space, and has uploaded the first footage. Gratuitous Space Battles doesn't have any kind of tentative release date, and this video is more a brief demonstration of the game's goals, but we think it's kinda cool. And if that doesn't do it for you, squint hard and pretend you're watching Battlestar Galactica. Head past the break for the footage.[Via Offworld]
