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Casual indie RPG Iron Dukes announced, looking for publisher
Newly-formed indie studio OneTonGhost has recently unveiled a great-looking casual RPG project Iron Dukes. Described as a "light-weight, single player RPG with arcade elements", the game takes place in an early 1900s steampunk setting complete with evil mad scientist. OneTonGhost is hoping to capture a wide audience with action-based combat and shorter playtimes woven into a meaty RPG shell. The story is heavy with humor and features a few of our favorite things: cussing, name calling, and obscene gestures!OneTonGhost is looking for a publisher and hopes to release the game on one or more consoles in the future. A short, barely-interactive Flash presentation lets you play around with the strange inventory shopping system (Tube of Muscle Grease, anyone?), followed by a brief slideshow of the game's main features. %Gallery-2499%
Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania ... roguelikes?!
Santiago Zapata has done something horribly, horribly geeky. As if The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Castlevania weren't retro enough, Zapata has re-created each game as an ASCII roguelike. Now, instead of hopping across pools of lava to collect an energy tank, you press "D" to jump, then tap the arrow keys to scoot across slightly darker characters that symbolize higher ground. Despite the obvious limitations the roguelike style presents, Zapata has managed to accurately emulate the feel of each game. You know, even though Link is a purple @ symbol.All three games include a full arsenal of music and sound effects, and CastlevaniaRL packs its own graphical tileset. Very little documentation is provided at the moment (the games are still works-in-progress), so start pressing buttons and you'll get the gist of things. Fortunately they aren't nearly as complex as most roguelikes, so you don't need to remember that "Q" stands for "quaff" which means "drink".
Indie MMOG conference to be offered online
Can an independent studio build and maintain a successful MMOG? That's the question the first annual Indie MMO Game Development Conference wants to explore. Scheduled for April 14-15 in Minnesota (home of the world's most delicious butter), everyone from indie development studios to programmers working from their mom's basement are invited to attend. Keynote speakers, game pitch-a-thons, design, business and legal discussions, and other standard conference-fare are all part of the experience.Founder Jonathon Stevens wanted to try something a little different with this conference. Instead of forcing visitors to choose a few of the many events to attend, the entire IMGD conference will be broadcast online via video feed. Indie studios can save the travel cash for game development costs, such as buying Jolt cola by the case.[Via Internode Games Network]
Prominence, a 3D sci-fi adventure game announced
Indie studio Digital Media Workshop has just announced an ambitious 3D sci-fi adventure titled Prominence. The game will be story-driven with multiple endings, voice acting, and a completely original soundtrack. Puzzles will be both environmental and graphical-based to put the game's pre-rendered panoramic 3D visuals to work.Sounds like an intriguing combination of Myst and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. No screenshots or videos are available at the moment, just some concept renders and a lot of marketing hype. Without working proof that these ideas are coming to fruition, we can't help but raise an eyebrow of suspicion. It's easy to set lofty goals early in the game, especially when you're a small indie developer, but making those a reality could prove a difficult undertaking.
Rod Humble spills his thoughts on 'The Marriage'
Rod Humble's art-meets-game title The Marriage is only a few weeks old, but the critical response from both gaming and non-gaming communities has been enormous. Arthouse Games caught up with Rod to dissect his thoughts on the reception of his "game". The interview touched on future projects and also brought up the question we all wanted to hear: What does Rod's wife think of The Marriage?Including an explanation of the game's meaning has been one of the most criticized aspects of The Marriage. Art doesn't come with an instruction manual, games do, and Rod specifically labeled The Marriage as the former. He stands by his decision, however, and is proud to have seen the game affect such a wide audience. Relationship websites even featured his work, fueling the fire that The Marriage is more than just a game.While you're in the matrimonial mood, check out Kloonigames' April Fools parody of The Marriage aptly titled The Divorce.[Via Arthouse Games]
Penumbra: Overture makes its creepy debut
Announced almost a year ago, the first installment in the Penumbra: Overture episodic trilogy has finally been unleashed. The horror adventure title relies on a proprietary physics engine that allows you to pick up and manipulate almost any object. Combat plays a small role in Overture, but you'll spend most of your time tip-toeing around corners and squealing every time you hear a noise. It's a genuinely creepy game.While Penumbra manages to take a fresh approach to the 3D survival genre, the price and the game's length don't quite agree with each other. The first episode will take you less than three hours to complete, and with a price tag of $19.99, it feels a little steep. The game has remarkably high production value for an independent studio, making the cost a little more bearable. Just think of the warm fuzzy feeling you'll get when you support the little guy.
XYZZY interactive fiction awards dispensed
The annual XYZZY awards have been announced, flaunting the gobs of creativity still flowing from the interactive fiction community. Overall best game went to Eric Eve's The Elysium Enigma, a science fiction story that casts you as an Imperial officer charged with contacting a technophobic settlement on a remote planet. Best setting and NPCs went to Floatpoint (which also won the 2006 Interactive Fiction Competition), Emily Short's deep and mysterious story about a human settlement on a far planet in desperate trouble. Notice a sci-fi theme with remote planets this year? A dozen other categories were also voted on, so check the winners list for the complete collection.
Edge of Light Media opening Blu-ray doors for independent films
The leapfrog games played around the HD DVD / Blu-ray table are unsurprisingly continuing, as just weeks after hearing about independent filmmakers getting a crack at the former, a newly formed outfit is looking to open the doors to the latter. Edge of Light Media, a firm formed from John Daly and Erick Hansen, will be headquartered in LA and have a manufacturing facility just a bit north in Spokane, Washington. The duo hopes that this will "open the door" for indie filmmakers looking to get their creations broadcasted to consumers in the HD format without breaking their respective banks, and they also hope to "broaden consumer adoption" of the Blu-ray format. No word just yet on when these guys will get things cranked up, but if you've got an excellent B-title just waiting to make the jump to Blu-ray, here's your sign.[Via HDForIndies]
Sam & Max Episode 5: Reality 2.0 released on GameTap
First they faced off against a deranged eye fitness guru, then a talk show host followed by the toy mafia and Abe Lincoln. Now Sam and Max have to overcome a foe of a different kind: the internet! The fifth installment of the episodic Sam & Max adventures is available today on GameTap. Reality 2.0 is filled with the signature Sam & Max humor wrapped in an adventure-lite game. This time around the jokes poke fun at everything geek-related. Expect some video game parodies as well, such as when Sam yells "Its-a me, Sam!" before leaping into the air to collect a coin.You can grab Reality 2.0 from GameTap starting today, or download it from Telltale Games on April 12th for $8.95.
Free casual games portal launches
A new website looks to grab a piece of the casual gaming pie by offering free games for everyone. European-based Goa.com launched today and promises free multiplayer games with no monthly subscription. Revenue will come from users purchasing in-game items to customize their characters, a popular model in Korea and Japan that has yet to take off elsewhere.The website is atrociously slow right now and only offers two games -- Pangya and Gun Bound World Champion. Not the most tempting of selections, but free games are never a bad thing.[Via MCV]
Mainstream gaming community embraces the indie scene
Video game news and discussion forum Evil Avatar recently announced an initiative aimed at bringing the independent gaming world closer to the mainstream player. Each month, one indie game will be chosen and presented to the community. Members will play and discuss the game on the site, giving feedback that developers will use to improve future releases. Oh, and they'll buy the games, too. Buying also helps.The Indie Game Challenge is a small and careful step by Evil Avatar, but one that can enrich both mainstream and indie communities. Game submissions are open to readers and indie developers alike. Let's hope Evil Avatar presents the cream of the indie crop and not the embarrassing shovelware.
ASCII-based Dwarf Fortress is the future of video games?
In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Warren Specter touched on the technology vs. content debate in video games, saying "Stop building movie sets and make a world we can interact with instead".Someone should tell him indie developer Bay 12 Games has already done that. Dwarf Fortress is a single-player ASCII-based title that's a a cross between a roguelike and a real time strategy game. It's definitely no movie set, but the level of interactivity in the game's persistent world is monumental.To give you an idea how massive Dwarf Fortress is, generating the initial world can take fifteen minutes or more. Think about that. An ASCII game on today's processors working for fifteen minutes. Every landmark above and below ground is named, thousands of creatures living persistent lives populate the environment, there's a bustling economy, weather effects, seasons, and a complete world history. All of which you can interact with.Do developers spend too much time finding new ways for technology to play with itself rather than focusing on the end experience? It's a tired old debate, but Dwarf Fortress is proof the concept of gaming can evolve independent of the technology used to present it.[Via GameSetWatch]
Top 20 freeware shmups
If you read the recent guide to doujin shmups and are itching for more freeware shooting goodness, Independent Gaming has got your fix. The blog has just released a list of the top 20 freeware shmups for 2006-2007 (yes, they can peer into the future). Everything from Clean Asia to Guxt is here, including one of our favorite Flash shooters, Gamma Bros. If those aren't enough satisfy your need to shoot stuff, check out the results of the AutoFire 2007 Shooter Competition for even more free games.
Carpentry sim turns Wii gaming into work
The Great Canadian Video Game Competition has inspired developer Big Blue Bubble to turn playing video games into hard work. The developer is creating a carpentry sim for the Wii, Hobby Shop, that uses both controllers to let players build bird houses, catapults, soap box racers, and more. The team wants the game to be "family friendly" so parents will want to play it with their children. Guess that means no driving nails through your hand or sawing off limbs.Hobby Shop has passed the first two stages of the competition -- innovation and project development -- and scored the dev team over $200,000 for their work. The winner of the final stage of the competition (to be announced in September) will receive another grant to help in the commercialization of their product. In other words, Hobby Shop could be on store shelves sometime next year. It just might be quirky enough to work.
Dreamcast homebrew game coming to the DS
Alten8 has just announced it will publish Harmless Lion's homebrew Dreamcast game Cool Herders on the Nintendo DS. That's right, it's called Cool Herders. And yes, the sheep is wearing neo-retro sunglasses. The game was originally packed on the DC Tonic demo CD passed out at E3 2001. Later, a full commercial version of the game was released for the Dreamcast.Cool Herders is an action/party game where players must use power-ups to herd sheep and compete against their friends. It may sound simple, but the game has been remarkably well-received in its various iterations. The Nintendo DS version of the game will contain a handful of extras and support wireless multiplayer.Alten8 reportedly has ten mystery projects in production for the DS. More obscure, awkwardly-named indie Dreamcast titles? Perhaps. We'll hold our excitement until after playing Cool Herders.[Via Digg]
Roguelike magazine launches, focuses on game aesthetics
Real gamers know that if you see an uppercase letter D, turn tail and run. Dragons are fierce. Forget polygons, forget sprites, Roguelike games do it with text on a black screen. And they're some of the most complex and enjoyable games ever to grace a computer. Unfortunately most modern gamers turn their noses at the dated visuals and refuse to give Roguelikes a second look.Well, Mario Donick is not gonna take it anymore. He recently launched Roguelike. The magazine, a publication dedicated to increasing awareness of the art and aesthetics behind the Roguelike genre. Each issue will dive into the inner workings of these games and discuss things like typography, interface, coding, and more. The first issue is online and ready for consumption, while number two is on its way April 2nd. It's a little slice of old school heaven for many gamers, and required reading for whippersnappers who can't tell their NetHack from an Angband.[Via TIGSource]
New Arsecast indie news podcast released
Arsecast, the most aptly-named retro and indie podcast ever, has just released its February episode. Yes, we're aware it's late March, but what do calendars know, anyway? Featured this month is the usual dose of indie news from around the web plus reviews of La Mulana, Clean Asia, and several other shooters, all of which receive a cutting dose of honest opinions with a few dirty words thrown in for good measure.No podcast has ever been created that's more arse-like than Arsecast. The fact that it's the most entertaining and informative indie gaming podcast around is just a nice bonus.
Kongregate announces achievements and microtransactions for online Flash games
Flash gaming community Kongregate recently announced a few Xbox Live-ish upgrades to be rolled out over the next few months. Starting today, time-limited achievements will be available for select games. The current challenge for The Fancy Pants Adventure requires you to collect five trophies within the game and rewards you with a collectible Rumiko card. Gather cards to participate in the site-wide multiplayer game Kongregate will unveil in a few weeks.And coming this summer: microtransactions! Developers are working with Kongregate to weave this into their titles to allow in-game purchases. One use for this system will be unlocking extended versions of games for just a few pennies per level. Most of the microtransaction earnings are paid to the game's programmer, adding incentive for developers to hop on the unlockable-content bandwagon.Kongregate is setting itself up to be the most developer-friendly Flash community on the web. It's an easy hook for developers, but will the casual gamer get pulled in by microtransactions and collecting achievements?
The Escapist examines PopCap's 'new' casual gaming initiative
The latest issue of gaming culture magazine The Escapist is out. Featured this week is a look at PopCap's success in the casual gaming business. Their latest hit, Bookworm Adventures Deluxe, broke the bank with an 30 month development period and a budget of over $700,000. It was a massive venture into unexplored casual gaming territory that has paid of quite well.When most people think about casual games the word "clone" springs to mind. If you've played Bejeweled, you've also played Zoo Keeper, Jewel Quest, Magic Lanterns, and Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest. Very little sets these games apart, yet the business continues to explode as companies release clones on a regular basis. Bookworm Adventures was a radically new idea, but according to PopCap they're just following their philosophy of "trying different things rather than milking a formula to death".A number innovative puzzle ideas have trickled from PopCap's studios over the last few years, but they're not as clone-free as they would like to appear. With this timid step into the realm of genre hybrids, will casual game developers earn some much-needed respect? Or is it just another game idea to "borrow"?
The Marriage unties the 'games as art' argument
Rod Humble, former Sony Online Entertainment employee currently working for EA, has just released an experimental artgame called The Marriage. There's no sound, no music, and the graphics could have been drawn in MS Paint in less than two minutes. But all of that doesn't matter. What really counts is you, the player, and how you interpret the relationships within the game.It may sound pretentious (Rod is the first one to admit it), but it works extremely well. The best way to understand the game is to download it (Windows only) and start playing. You'll be confused at first, possibly even bored, and some may experience extreme fits of rage. But keep experimenting and try to pry into the game's mechanics. After you get a feel for it, go back to Rod's website and read his explanation. Everything will become clear and you'll understand why The Marriage grabbed your attention in the first place.Like any good movie or book, half the fun is discussing it with your friends afterwards. After we played it, The Marriage spawned a number of interesting conversations about interactivity, games, art, and even one or two discussions about corn on the cob.
