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USC will publish its students' games on PlayStation and Xbox
The premise of college is that it's going to prepare you with what you need to survive in a real-world work environment, but whether or not it fulfills that is another matter altogether. To that end, the University of Southern California has launched its own publishing label for video games in an effort to help students experience every aspect of making a game -- all the way to getting it in the hands of people outside of academia and onto PCs, PlayStations and Xboxes. USC Games Publishing's Tracy Fullerton tells Wired that the imprint is akin to the MIT Press. "These are not books that are going to necessarily be on The New York Times best-seller list, but these are the books that are important, that need to be out there in the zeitgeist."
The Wii U finally has its own shadow puppet simulator
After more than a year of being available on Steam, Shadow Puppeteer is ready to take its adventure over to the Wii U. The award-winning independent title, developed by Sarepta studio, will be hitting Nintendo's console on January 28th for $15. Shadow Puppeteer brings with it what's described as a strange but beautiful world, which you can explore on your own or through a local co-op mode. Above all, Shadow Puppeteer's arrival on Wii U is a great sign for indie gamers, a community we know Nintendo's trying really hard to reach.
Psychedelic love arrives on PS4 in time for Valentine's Day
Let's say you were gazing longingly at your PC and Xbox One owning friends when Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime released on those platforms last year. Despite all the killer couch co-op games at your disposal on PlayStation 4, none could quite fill the niche the gorgeous and altogether psychedelic indie game about eradicating all evil in the universe would. Well, fear not Sony fans: The laser-filled outer space adventure hits PS4 on February 9th. And even if you can't find a co-op date by then, you can always play solo with an in-game space-cat (or dog) picking up the slack.
Indie puzzler 'Fez' resurfaces with a $100 special edition
We aren't getting a sequel to the adorable retro indie puzzler Fez well... ever. But that doesn't mean developer Polytron is out of things to sell fans. The Canadian company hopes the wound it opened by canceling the sequel won't deter you from dropping $100 on a special edition of the game that features a rather handsome hardcover notebook, "bound in red canvas with debossed gold foil inlay presented in a matching slipcase," download codes for PC and OSX versions of the game and a copy of its killer soundtrack from composer Disasterpeace.
The video game 'outsiders' creating VR art that makes you think
When Tale of Tales announced its departure from the gaming industry after 12 years of creating eccentric, cult-hit experiences, Twitter lit up with messages extolling the studio's impact on the industry. However, for Tale of Tales co-founders Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn, it was a hollow farewell. Their latest (and last) game, Sunset, had debuted just a month before to poor sales and lagging interest, despite a successful Kickstarter campaign and positive critical reception. Harvey and Samyn were already contemplating an exit from the world of video games and Sunset's situation pushed them to make it official. "It often didn't feel like games were worth the sacrifice," Samyn says. Now, Harvey and Samyn have returned to their pure, artistic roots -- and to Kickstarter -- with Cathedral-in-the-Clouds, a virtual reality exhibition of Christian art in the Gothic and Renaissance periods. We spoke with Samyn about following his passion and Tale of Tales' lofty goals, and came away with a clear message: If you're going to leave games behind for a project that resides firmly in the art realm, you might as well shoot for the clouds.
'FTL: Faster Than Light' soundtrack on vinyl looks out of this world
One of the direct results of folks helping Subset Games, the developers of FTL: Faster Than Light, absolutely demolish their Kickstarter goal was hiring Ben Prunty to score the game. And now thanks to iam8bit you'll soon be able to listen to it on the best sounding format possible: vinyl. The two LP set features some truly incredible artwork from designer Leif Podhajsky, trippy starburst green and black vinyl and a download code. To make sure those atmospheric sci-fi sounds are at their best, the soundtrack was mastered for wax at Telegraph Mastering Studio whose clients include Sufjan Stevens and Steve Aoki among many others. The release is up for pre-order right now, ships early next year and will run you $35 plus the cost it takes to get it to your door. Don't have a vinyl fetish obsession but still want these tunes? They're available for $5 over on Prunty's Bandcamp page.
Humble Bundle will send you indie games every month for $12
There's yet another interesting roundup of products hitting Humble Bundle's digital shelves tomorrow. The charitable gaming distributor announced on Thursday that it is rolling out a new monthly subscription bundle of online indie games. The subscription service will cost an even $12 each month (with 5 percent of that figure going towards charity) and unlocks on the first Friday of every month. These bundles will feature the company's standard curated mix of marquee and lesser-known gaming titles. To commemorate this new service, anybody that orders the bundle on Thursday October 1st, 2015 will receive a free copy of "Legend of Grimrock 2". Unfortunately, this new bundle is currently only available for Steam users on the PC.
Playdate: Running wild in 'The Deer God' and 'Castle Crashers'
Fun fact: If you do a Bing voice-search on Xbox One for The Deer God, instead of coming back with the option to download the indie sidescroller you'll see results for the 1996 Greg Kinnear flick Dear God, an Avenged Sevenfold album with a song named "Dear God" on it and absolutely zero games named The Deer God. Actually finding the absolutely gorgeous venison-focused title takes a lot more work, which is strange considering that it's one of this month's free downloads as part of Xbox's Games with Gold promotion. No matter! We did the digging for you and are going to play the game live on Twitch (along with Castle Crashers Remastered) starting at 6 pm ET / 3 pm PT.
'Goat Simulator' headbutting its way to PS4 and PS3 August 11th
Your wildest caprine fantasies are about to come true, PlayStation owners. How's that? On August 11th, Goat Simulator hits PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. From the sounds of it all the irreverence from the PC and Xbox One versions will be present (wild glitches, taking to the skies, head-butting all the things) as well as something developer Coffee Stain Studios calls GoatVR. It's dubbed "the most authentic simulated GoatVR experience" and it apparently doesn't require Project Morpheus. A post on the PlayStation Blog notes that the team "still needs to do that part where it connects to an actual headset" but it isn't actually required for the version present in the game. We've reached out to Coffee Stain for some clarification and to see if it's just another example of their absurdist humor; we'll update this post should we hear back.
Macabre indie puzzler 'Year Walk' coming to Wii U this year
While the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One get most of the attention when it comes to indie games, Nintendo's Wii U has quietly built a solid stable of them as well. The latest? Creepy puzzler Year Walk from Swedish studio Simogo. Yeah, it's appeared on a number of other platforms before, but the company promises that the version coming to the Wii U is no lazy port -- it's been entirely rebuilt with the console's unique characteristics in mind by the folks at Dakko Dakko. For instance, the GamePad is used extensively throughout be it for note taking or accessing the game's encyclopedia and map. You can use motion controls in conjunction with analog sticks to look around, and Simogo says that while that might scare some folks off, it's actually pretty chill and the required input movements are subtle.
PBS explains the magical math behind 'No Man's Sky'
No Man's Sky is impressive. It's a mind-bogglingly massive game and from what we've seen, it's pretty to boot. But enough about that -- let's talk about math. Specifically, the math that makes this game possible. The YouTube channel PBS Game/Show has collected the numerical information that makes No Man's Sky tick and presents it in a lovely, straightforward fashion for everyone to enjoy. No Man's Sky lead Sean Murray makes a few appearances in the video, of course, and we got a one-on-one, hands-on demo of the game with him during E3. Suffice it to say, 10 minutes isn't long enough to properly enjoy No Man's Sky -- but a lifetime probably won't be long enough, either. See for yourself below.
Microsoft reveals a slew of Xbox One indie games at E3
Microsoft's massive E3 press conference wasn't just about big-budget shooters -- the company also took some time to highlight the many smaller titles coming from indie developers. The highlights include Tacoma, the next game from Gone Home studio Fullbright, which is about a woman who finds herself stranded on a space station; Ashen, a stylized adventure game that seems to have the scale of Shadow of the Colossus; and Beyond Eyes, a painterly looking game about a young girl exploring the outdoors. We also got a quick look at several other titles in a promo video, which you can check out below.
Explore 'Everybody's Gone to the Rapture' on August 11th
The middle of August is looking mighty fine if you're an indie game fan. Not only do we get the incredibly snazzy-looking Volume from Mike Bithell on the 18th, Everybody's Gone to Rapture exclusively hits PlayStation 4 the week prior on August 11th according to the PS Blog. What's more, the mysterious look at what happens after the world ends from the team behind Dear Esther and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs has a new website that'll be updated with fiction, music and more on the road to the game's release.
The next game from 'Thomas Was Alone' developer due August 18th
The follow-up to indie darling Thomas Was Alone finally has a firm release date. Developer Mike Bithell's incredibly stylish stealth-puzzler that hinges on you being heard, Volume, hits PlayStation 4, PlayStation TV, PS Vita and Steam August 18th. Performance capture and voice-over extraordinaire Andy Serkis stars in the game as well, but it doesn't sound like he was ready to make an appearance for the spankin' new trailer below. Given what Bithell achieved with a handful of a handful of colored squares in his last effort, we're pretty excited to see what he can do with something a little more human this time out.
Investigate a murder mystery this weekend with 'Jenny LeClue'
A young woman with copper hair, thick-framed glasses and a bright blue trench coat sneaks around the edges of shadowy mansion. She's searching for clues -- something about a nefarious man, a ghost ship and science experiments gone awry. Behind a bookcase, shrouded in darkness, lies a secret surveillance lair lit up with live feeds from all around a small, mysterious town. Suddenly, one of the screens flips to present a tiny, trench-coated silhouette in front of a bank of surveillance equipment, and a hulking figure creeping up from behind. This is the free, playable demo for Jenny LeClue, a dark-humor adventure game inspired by choose-your-own adventure stories with roots in sci-fi, horror and mystery. It's out now for iOS, PC, Mac and Linux, and according to creator Joe Russ, it's going over extremely well with early players, some of whom assuredly backed the game's $105,800 Kickstarter.
Poke monster heads and solve puzzles in VR with 'GNOG' on PS4
GNOG is a weird game from a strange studio, which is probably why it's attracted the attention of both Sony and Double Fine, the company behind Broken Age and other big-name indie games. GNOG is a colorful, quirky game that turns giant monster heads into puzzle boxes, and it's coming to PlayStation 4 and the accompanying Morpheus virtual reality headset in 2016, Director Saleem Dabbous announced today. The game is part of Double Fine Presents, an indie support program that includes Gang Beasts, Escape Goat 2 and Last Life, and it's getting help from Sony's Pub Fund program, which helps finance games for Sony platforms.
'Gravity Ghost,' a game that heals, heads to PlayStation 4
Gravity Ghost is currently in development for PlayStation 4, but it's already a success. It launched on Steam in January, offering physics-based platforming tucked inside of soothing, spiraling gameplay and wrapped in a touching story. Ivy Games founder Erin Robinson Swink of course hoped that people would enjoy Gravity Ghost, but reception to the game still surprises her five months after its release. She's mostly touched by the emotional reaction many players describe on the game's Steam forums. Gravity Ghost helps people deal with loss in a visceral way. "It's not a forum where I usually see people sharing personal details from their lives, but there are multiple posts like this," Robinson Swink says. "One reviewer said the game changed how he felt about his reaction to losing his grandfather.... Another ended their review with this: 'My mom died last year, and in some weird way, this helped me deal with that? I can't explain it, but it... well, did.' My jaw just dropped when I read those."
'Pillar' is a personality test and much more in video game form
"When people think you're dying, they really, really listen to you instead of just -- " "Instead of just waiting for their turn to speak." This scene from Fight Club encapsulates one of the driving ideas behind Pillar, a video game starring a series of characters with disparate personalities and quirks, each given mysterious puzzles to solve. Indie developer Michael Hicks is interested in how people communicate and the unique way every human perceives the world. Pillar distills these broad observations into just a few characters running around a wintry town, searching for a secret artifact. Each character is different, but their goal is the same -- it's a lot like real life. Hicks wants his game to inspire conversations; he isn't looking to start arguments or incite rants. He'd love for people to truly connect with each other and Pillar might make that happen.
All of your feline fantasies come true in 'Catlateral Damage'
In this first-person cat simulator you are a kitty locked up in a house full of annoying human things, your goal is to knock down as many objects as possible, including books, lamps, groceries, toys and plants.
'No Pineapple Left Behind' and the politics of American education
Seth Alter was a teacher for all of six months before quitting his job and going indie to make video games full-time. No Pineapple Left Behind, his second PC title, is more or less the story of why he left his students at a Boston charter school. As a special education math teacher, his sixth graders were expected to meet the same behavioral standards and educational expectations as their mainstreamed counterparts thanks to 2001's controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which ties school funding to standardized test scores. Alter says that teacher evaluations are drawn from those scores as well. And because most charter schools are non-union, they can fire teachers for almost any reason, including low test scores from special-needs students who should have been held to modified standards in the first place. It doesn't take a genius to realize just how flawed that logic is: It's a system built to fail.
