greenlight
Latest
TUG gets the greenlight on Steam
TUG might not have a real name (or does it?) but it's definitely going places in the world: The title was one of 50 games that got greenlit on Steam today. Fans voted that TUG should be offered on Steam's digital distribution platform and apparently Valve agreed. Of course, TUG had some help getting there: The creators had offered supporters several types of virtual goodies if they helped TUG pass the greenlight threshold. TUG is still in early alpha with an eye to release sometime next year. Steam said that it will work with the studio to offer the title as a release on the platform.
Ikaruga on Steam offers screen rotation, two ships on one controller
Ikaruga, the dual-tone GameCube shmup from Japanese developer Treasure, is hitting Steam with a few tweaks and tune-ups, including Double Play Mode and game screen rotation. Double Play Mode allows the player to control two ships with one gamepad, which sounds absolutely bananas. Screen rotation puts the game on a horizontal axis, like a side-scrolling shooter. Ikaruga on Steam will use the Steam Cloud, achievements and leaderboards, and supports screen resolutions up to 1920x1080 and 1920x1200. Ikaruga made it through Steam Greenlight last year and it's now under final debugging. "Won't be long before you can play it," Treasure says on its Steam page. [Image: Treasure]
TUG's Steam Greenlight campaign is now active
TUG: The Untitled Game has just made its debut in the Steam Greenlight program. Fans and backers of Nerd Kingdom's upcoming MMO can now choose the game's Steam fate by voting on whether or not Valve should allow TUG to be offered through the Steam digital distribution platform. For those out of the TUG loop, Nerd Kingdom describes the game as being influenced by "classic survival sandbox games with more robust multiplayer RPG gameplay, offering simplicity of design and an emphasis on player freedom." The game is currently in alpha testing with a 2015 release window.
8 Bit's Skara MOBA greenlit on Steam
Fledgling MOBA Skara: The Blade Remains has been greenlit on Steam. 8 Bit Studios says that the title garnered over 240 votes "in only two hours" as part of Valve's ongoing indie popularity contest. The firm's press release claims that Skara represents a new gaming genre -- the MOV, or multiplayer online versus -- "where as many as 16 players enter arenas to engage in the kind of real-time combat fighting seen in various games." [Source: 8 Bit press release]
TUG project update details alpha and beta plans
Developer of the Kickstarter-funded sandbox MMO The Untitled Game, Nerd Kingdom, has announced a new update regarding the status of the game's alpha and beta, and it's a bit of good news and a bit of not-so-good news. The not-so-good news is that the developers have "decided to push back calling the game's current state a 'beta' and keep it in the alpha phase." The good news, though, is that many of the systems the devs were hoping to implement are ready to go live, and "[the devs have] had a chance to refine many things for this next major milestone." In the update e-mail, the devs tell fans that they are entering a "new phase of development" that will require the community's help to spread the word about the game and expand the game's fanbase. In addition, the devs are making a push to open more lines of public communication with the community, such as public updates on the game's tech development, more dev blogs and vlogs, and "a stronger presence with a bunch of [TUG's] YouTube content creator friends." On top of that, the devs announce they are planning to drop the price of alpha access while also working with the internet-favorite Humble Store to "allow for a much smoother purchasing process for everyone who is supporting [the game]." Last, but not least, TUG's devs are "preparing to launch a Steam Greenlight campaign on January 29th," so fans will have the opportunity to help bring TUG to everyone's favorite online game-delivery platform. "This year is certainly going to be our year," the e-mail closes, "and we could not be more excited or grateful to have you guys here to help push us." [Source: Nerd Kingdom press release]
Not on Steam Sale postmortem says Greenlight may be a good indie ad
The Not on Steam Sale launched in October and lasted one week, offering up to 50 percent off a lineup of games that weren't on Steam (at launch, at least – that day, three games were Greenlit). By the sale's close, it hosted 63 games, and just 10 of them weren't even attempting to land on Steam. Since the sale, 23 of the games attempting to hit Steam were Greenlit, and 10 of those have launched on Steam. The stats come from indie consultant Mike Kanarek in his Not on Steam Sale postmortem. Kanarek estimates the sale sold 13,500 copies and added 42,000 Greenlight votes to participating games. He calls the sale an "amplifier," not a permanent fix. "Not on Steam did not make anyone fabulously wealthy," he says. "Our top sellers (or top Greenlight vote-getters) sold fewer than 2,000 games apiece (with an average of about 200) and may have added as many as 3,000 votes on Greenlight (with an average of about 700) through Not on Steam. In general most games fell well below these averages with a few big sellers and vote-getters pulling the average way up. Most games got a modest but respectable sales and vote increase, and a handful did enormously well." Three of the five lowest-selling games in the sale weren't on Greenlight and had no intention of entering Steam, while the top 20 best-sellers were all on Greenlight. "This suggests that a presence on Greenlight in some way encourages sales, even off of Steam," Kanarek says. "It's impossible to say whether it's because Greenlight acts to increase discovery and awareness of these games, or if there are people who simply take a game more seriously if it's on Greenlight." Check out Kanarek's full postmortem (complete with graphs!) here.
Gigantic Army paying homage to 16-bit mech shooters in February
Side-scrolling mech shooter Gigantic Army will launch February 5 on PC for $5.99. Developed by three-man Japanese indie studio and Satazius creator Astro Port, the side-scroller is described as an homage to mech shooters of the 16-bit era, such as Cybernator and Mech Warrior. Gigantic Army has players taking control of a manned combat robot known as "GMR-34 SALADIN," customizing a set of explosive, projectile and plasma weapons across six stages. The game includes four difficulty modes and 12 "mid and end level" bosses. The developer is working to bring the game to Linux, and is currently vying for a spot on Steam via Greenlight. The game is published by Nyu Media, which announced its localization plans for Gigantic Army in addition to other Japanese indie games like the crowdfunded Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm in October 2013.
See hot indie game action (and cake) in the Supershow Collective marathon
The Supershow Collective marathon begins tonight at 7PM ET and runs through the weekend, with live streams of some hot Steam, Greenlight and other indie games, plus developer interviews, special guests and giveaways. The whole spiel is organized by indie developer Robot Loves Kitty and indie PC site Greenlit Gaming. The marathon starts with the Indie Showcase from Greenlit Gaming, which will feature more than 24 hours of continuous Steam gaming and developer interviews, including bits of Kingdom Rush, Contrast, Teslagrad, Race the Sun, ANNE, Risk of Rain, Mousecraft, Tower of Guns, Drunken Robot Pornography, Monster Loves You, Dungeon of the Endless, Broforce, The Novelist and Torchlight 2. Picking up where the Indie Showcase leaves off, the Indie Dev Showcase from Robot Loves Kitty begins at 7PM ET on Saturday, featuring streams and interviews of Hot Tin Roof, 6180 the Moon, Dyscourse, Continue?9876543210, Reus, Cloudbuilt, Droquen, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Life goes On and more. The Indie Dev Showcase ends with cake at 7PM on Sunday (cake not provided). Watch (and eat) it all right here.
The Repopulation Greenlighted, meets first stretch goal
It's a pretty good week to be a fan of sci-fi indie sandbox The Repopulation. First off, the game is currently holding down the top stop in Massively's rotating game header. As if that weren't enough, Above & Beyond Technologies has also announced that it's reached the first stretch goal of its new Kickstarter campaign. This means that the Rocharus will be available at launch and will become the game's "first tamed mount." The title also made quick work of its Greenlight campaign, though how and when The Repopulation will become available on Steam is still up in the air. Click through the links below for more details as well as a preview of the next stretch goal reward.
Steam approves Depression Quest, Manos, 7th Guest 3 in latest Greenlight batch
Valve has approved a selection of 50 new games via Steam Greenlight, ensuring the future Steam release of Kickstarter-funded projects like 7th Guest 3, Manos: The Hands of Fate, and a remake of the classic adventure game Shadowgate, among other featured titles. Today's Greenlight update also spotlights Zoë Quinn's Depression Quest, marking the first time a work of interactive fiction developed using the Twine framework has been approved for a Steam release. Quinn is currently documenting the conversion process for fellow Twine authors who seek Greenlight approval. A full list of today's Greenlight-approved releases is available here.
Dead video game characters walk again in 'Continue?'
After a successful Greenight campaign, indie action-adventure game Continue?9876543210 is out on Steam for PC, Mac and Linux, looking as pretty as it did under those viridescent lightbulbs. Continue? is on sale for $8 through January 10, and then it'll cost $10. In Continue?, players are a dead video game character traveling the depressing wasteland of the Random Access Memory, talking to townsfolk, battling creatures and attempting to outrun the garbage collector. Its design resembles a 3D version of Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery with an Eldritch-y layer. It's a serious trip, developer Jason Oda says. "This game is weird," he says. "You've probably figured that out by now. Everything in it however, has a deeper meaning behind it. All of the strange places you go to, people you talk to, and scenarios you go through are part of a greater idea that I hope you spend a second or two trying to figure out and interpret ... or not. You can also just play the damn thing."
Indie Royale Debut 7 bundle includes six games
Indie Royale's Debut 7 bundle is now live and features six indie games for a pay-the-minimum price, which is frozen at $2.99 for the bundle's first 24 hours. The games included in the Debut 7 bundle are the fighting game Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae, multiplayer mech fighter Metal Planet, first-person puzzler Pulse Shift, adventure game Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine, RPG Millennium 2: Take Me Higher and Fleet Buster, a space-themed strategy game. All six games are currently seeking community support on Greenlight to be granted distribution on Steam, so buyers can either access the games on Desura or receive DRM-free versions for Windows. Those that pay at least $7 will receive the Chiptune Hero EP album by DJ Cutman.
Race the Sun crashes Steam on December 9, finally
Race the Sun was Greenlit on October 2, and as a game whose main objective is to out-pace the sun, it's unsurprisingly on a fast-track to hit Steam: December 9 for PC, Mac and Linux. Race the Sun has had a bumpy, yet serendipitous, ride until now. ... Sorry, we just got distracted picturing a pilot getting on the intercom of a packed commercial flight to say, "Buckle up; we've got a bumpy yet serendipitous ride ahead of us." That would be ridiculous. Race the Sun launched independently through developer Flippfly in August, and in its first month, it sold just 771 copies for a total of $7,400. That rocky launch almost kicked Flippfly out of original development. "As I write this, we're running out of money, and will likely need to take on some other work to keep ourselves and our families fed for a while," Flippfly said at the time. But, that blog post put more eyeballs on Race the Sun's Steam Greenlight campaign. By the time Flippfly put together the Not on Steam Sale, Race the Sun was Greenlit. The Steam version of Race the Sun includes cloud saves, achievements, trading cards, leaderboards, Steam Workshop and supports controllers in Big Picture Mode. Anyone who's bought the game or buys it in the future from other outlets gets a complimentary Steam key. "Our launch on Steam is a testament to the power of community, and sticking with something you believe in," Flippfly says. "We wouldn't be here without our fans, the support of the indie community – and perhaps a good dose of stubbornness."
Worms developer to publish stealthy PC game Light
Stealthy indie game Light will be published by Worms developers Team17, the publisher recently announced. Currently in development for PC, Mac and Linux by Just a Pixel, Light is a top-down 2D game in which players guide a square icon through a maze of doors and rooms, hacking terminals and avoiding guards along the way. This is Team17's first foray into publishing for almost two decades, as it once funded games like Super Stardust and Alien Breed on Amiga, but has since focused on games in the Worms series, including Worms: Clan Wars and Worms 2: Armageddon. The prototype video of the game above shows off its simple style and basic mechanics, which players can expect to see firsthand sometime in 2014. Light is currently seeking community approval via Greenlight to achieve distribution on Steam.
Gunman Clive, Grimind approved in Steam Greenlight's latest community picks
Steam announced its latest batch of games approved by community vote at Steam Greenlight, naming Bertil Horberg's 3DSWare hit Gunman Clive and Indie Games Uprising standout Smooth Operators among 40 new games set to join Steam's online catalog in the coming months. Other community-approved future releases include Nyu Media's doujin shoot-'em-up The Tale of ALLTYNEX, Pawel Mogila's horror-themed puzzle-platformer Grimind, and Milkstone Studios' overhead-view racing game Little Racers: Street. The update also approves a long-dormant remake of the classic arcade game Toki, which dropped off the radar after developer Golgoth revealed that it was struggling to find a publisher on Xbox Live Arcade in 2009. Golgoth notes in a recent Greenlight update that further details regarding the remake will be available soon.
ANNE, Nimble Quest among 100 greenlit games by Steam
Valve accepted 100 more games onto Steam through its Greenlight service, in which community votes determine the games that are granted distribution on the platform. Among the games that will now appear on Steam are action-platformer ANNE, Nimblebit's arcade-style RPG Nimble Quest, Cornerstone: The Song of Tyrim, roguelike Our Darker Purpose and real-time strategy game Frozen Hearth. Cornerstone developer Ascension Games just achieved its funding on Kickstarter last week. You can view the entire list of greenlit games on Steam's announcement page.
Steam Greenlights Neverending Nightmares, Fran Bow, Fotonica
Steam Greenlit 37 games and software titles today, and this batch has a distinctly eerie vibe that we'll attribute to our proximity to Halloween. Games include the crowdfunded insane asylum adventure Fran Bow, the similarly psychological Neverending Nightmares, the grim platformer Blood of the Werewolf, along with CastleMinerZ, The Fifth Day, Montague's Mount, Neighbors from Hell Compilation, Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart, (un)Lucky7 and Underhell. It's a lot of hells and bad dreams. There are more creep-neutral games in the mix, including Fotonica, The Fall, Hot Tin Roof, JULIA Enhanced Edition and RimWorld. See? Nice, friendly sounding games. We can't promise these ones are all rainbows and daisies, though. This marks the second round of Greenlight games for the month, with the first one hitting on October 2.
CABAL Online greenlit on Steam
CABAL Online is coming to Steam. So says an ESTsoft press release sighted on Gamasutra. The company is fresh off "an 83-day campaign" to get its free-to-play fantasy MMO approved on Steam's Greenlight program. EST's release says that "additional information including release timeframes and region support details will be made available soon."
Steam Greenlights 31 games: Race the Sun, Mousecraft, Eldritch, Vox
The October 2 batch of games given the go-ahead on Steam Greenlight includes AdventurOS, Age of Wushu, Death Road to Canada, Eldritch, Hyper Light Drifter, McDROID, Mousecraft, Nihilumbra, Race the Sun, Vox and Zombies. (with the period as part of the name, of course). This Greenlight round includes 31 games and one piece of software, Mosaico: Tiling Window Manager. This batch is extra exciting because of the Not on Steam Sale, which also launched today and may now have to consider renaming itself. The Not on Steam Sale includes 35 games that are sold independently by their developers, many of which are also on Greenlight – including Race the Sun, Mousecraft and Vox. These three were all Greenlit in today's batch. Maybe they can change the name of the sale to "Not on Steam Sale, Now Featuring Games on Steam."
Puzzling first-person platformer Tri-ing to gather Greenlight votes
Rat King Entertainment recently launched its Steam Greenlight page for 3D puzzle-platformer Tri. The game, a first-person platformer in the same vein as Antichamber, has players exploring towers and dungeons, building platforms and solving puzzles along the way. Tri's alpha version, composed of 12 levels, is available now through the Humble Store, Desura and Indie Game Stand for $10. Buying the PC, Mac and Linux game now amounts to a pre-order, as players will receive an upgrade to the full version of Tri when it launches somewhere between Q4 2013 and Q1 2014.
