Indie Game News: December 2013

Tuesday, 31 December 2013

RoboWarp 1.41 for iOS - 4D Time Traveling Puzzle Game

Sydney, Australia - Mandel Duck is proud to announce the release of RoboWarp 1.41 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. RoboWarp aims to give the player puzzles that cannot just be solved by brute force or trial and error; rather puzzles that require users to think, which are ultimately much more rewarding once solved.

The user plays as a robot "Kink," who has to time travel in order to solve puzzles to get his rubber ducky back. Each level has a past and future version; players time warp between these versions and see how the level changes in order to solve the puzzle. The player actually sees the level age in realtime as they warp back and forth through time! The game features 3 challenging fun worlds for the player to enjoy:

* Lab world: Past Version is a new clean Laboratory, future version is an old rusty abandoned lab

* Nature World: Past version is a summer scene future version is winter one

* Moon World: Past version is standard uninhabited moon, future is the moon populated with a theme park

The player can share their scores on social networks and replay the game in order to beat their best score, on top of this future game content and levels will be included. The game is also filled with quirky, nostalgic easter eggs and references to other classic games (for those hardcore gamers to appreciate).

Device Requirements:

* iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

* Requires iOS 6.0 or later

* 37.7 MB

Pricing and Availability:

RoboWarp 1.41 is only $0.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category. There is a free version of RoboWarp available.

Direct Download Link
Direct Download Link Free
:

Christian Moss Founded Mandel Duck in 2009, inspired by the fractal mathematics he studied at university. The name borrows the surname of Benoit Mandelbrot and combines it with Christians love of ducks. Christian is the founder, developer and designer for the company aided sometimes by his sister with character design and animation.

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Critter Pop released for iOS and Android

Critter Pop is a new, free (ad-supported) game for iOS and Android devices, developed by Lockjaw Games..

"Critter Pop is a physics-based game which requires both skill and logic. Deploy a variety of unique weapons and abilities to wreak havoc on the evil Critters. Unleash powerful whirlwinds, set the landscape on fire or use powerful magnets to pull structures apart. Strike the enemies with a bolt of lightning, or impale them with shards of ice - but be careful not to hurt any of our fuzzy friends. Our first edition includes 48 levels over a series of 6 different landscapes, each unlocking a new ability and a whole new world to fight in."

Critter Pop for iOS
Critter Pop for Android

Monday, 30 December 2013

A Year In Interviews

After a very sleepy start to 2013, I ended up with a small flurry of interviews at the end of the year, I'll try to do more throughout 2014!

Here's who I interviewed in 2013:

End of Week Stats - 30th December 2013

396 Followers on Twitter (up 4 from last week)
485 have us in circles on Google+ (down 1 from last week)
Total Page Views according to Blogger stats: 369K
Weekly visits according to Google Analytics: 209
Weekly unique visitors according to Google Analytics: 147
Average Time On Site according to Google Analytics: 1m49s

Well, not a huge surprise that the visits fell last week - was never expecting it to come close to last week's best of year figures - many people preoccupied with other things and tbh not all that much news to post. But December has still managed to be our best month of 2013, and hopefully 2014 will see the rise and rise of www.IndieGameNews.com - and indie games in general - and yours truly should finally have released at the very least one commercial indie game before the end of 2014. Hopefully 2, perhaps even more... we shall see!

Saturday, 28 December 2013

Released! - Ghoulish Hijinks for PC

Ghoulish Hijinks has been unleashed for PC and is available to play right now. You can take part in all the hijinks completely free of charge, no purchase needed and no in-game purchases.

You can grab the game on Desura

Friday, 27 December 2013

Midora by Epic Minds - Trailer

I had posted about this game before, but the trailer wasn't available back then. So here it is!

Check out the Midora Kickstarter Page and Official Website for more information.

The Kickstarter has 28 days to run now... they've got a long way to go to reach their target.

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Numtris - The mix of Tetris with numbers hits the App Store

Barcelona, Spain - Ivanovich Games today is proud to announce the release and immediate availability of Numtris for iOS. Numtris starts off from a similar concept as the Letris where the pieces start to fall and you have to complete each level's objective before the board fills up; to do this you have two simple rules:

Rule 1: To eliminate a number you have to join as many pieces as indicated in the number. For example:

* To eliminate number 2 you need to join 2 numbers 2

* To eliminate number 3 you need to join 3 numbers 3

Rule 2: If you join various numbers and do not comply with rule 1 they will be added up. For example:

* If you join a number 1 and a 2: A number 3 will be generated

* If you join a number 1, a 2 and another 1: A number 4 will be generated

Starting to play is very simple. Stopping is not so easy as your brain exercises more and more as you complete the almost 300 challenges proposed by the game, being a very good amusing challenge.

Characteristics:

* Unique, simple and addictive playability

* Almost 300 free levels

* Weekly tournaments with prizes

* Split screen for iPad

* Synchronisation by iCloud or Facebook

* Retina graphics for iPhone and iPad

* Integration with Game Center

* Universal and free

Language Support:

* English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Catalan

Device Requirements:

* iPhone, iPod touch or iPad

* Requires iOS 4.3 or later

* Universal Application

* 34 MB

Pricing and Availability:

Numtris 1.0 is Free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Games category.

Download from iTunes

Located in beautiful Barcelona, Spain, Ivanovich Games is a privately held company founded in 2009 by independent developer Ivan Cascales. With an focus on innovation, the company is dedicated exclusively to create and promote games for the iOS platform, with many successful titles already in their catalog.

IndieDB's Top Indie Game of the Year 2013

So, the wait is over... we now know the IndieDB Top Indie Game of the Year - and it is...

...

...

...

(drumroll)

...

(suspense)

...

(more suspense)

...

(even more suspense)

...

(an absolutely preposterous amount of suspense!)

...

Starbound.

The full Top 10:

10 - Rogue Legacy
9 - Outlast
8 - Tales of Maj'Eyal
7 - Path of Exile
6 - Into the Dark
5 - The Stanley Parable
4 - Space Engineers
3 - Kerbal Space Program
2 - Contagion
1 - Starbound

Congrats to all dev teams involved! See the full post for details on each game.

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And the 2013 Mod of the Year is.....

The guys and gals at ModDB announce their winners!

Melbourne - December 27, 2013 - As yet another year reaches its end, it is time to crown the 2013 Mod of the Year after 141,000 players choice votes. Usually the results are controversial and fiercely debated by the modding community, but it is hard to deny the universal praise the mod "Just Cause 2: Multiplayer" has received.

Modding is all about morphing already amazing games into something different, quirky, better and all of this years winners did just that. The final top 10 includes:

10. Wyrmstooth
9. Fallout: Project Brazil
8. A Clash of Kings
7. Crusader Kings 2: Thrones
6. Underhell
5. Project Reality: Battlefield 2
4. Brutal Doom
3. Rise of the Reds
2. No More Room in Hell
1. Just Cause 2: Multiplayer

Huge thanks to all modders and supporters of the awards who recognize the work these developers dedicate to their craft. Read the full results, editors choice and best upcoming winners.

About ModDB

Mod DB is the premiere online community that unites developers, players and their ideas, empowering them to shape the games we play. Mods provide new and exciting options for gamers, and Mod DB is the largest website for players and developers who want to create and play something different. For more information please visit http://www.moddb.com

Thursday, 26 December 2013

Funded! - Wild Season

Farming sim Wild Season has now been fully funded. 30 hours left to go on their Kickstarter, they state that their stretch goals will be published soon. You can find some more info and the trailer in this post.

Updated - MushRoom Bounce!

An update of MushRoom Bounce! has just been released, available from GooglePlay.

Game Description:

MushRoom Bounce! is a unique, addictive, 2D physics game where you spin, bop, and ricochet Mushrooms into various holes to clear each level. Kino Koichi is the Mushroom Bouncer, a bodybuilding mushroom whose job it is to "bounce" unruly mushrooms that are invading human territory! To keep the peace between mushroom and human kind, Koichi is on a mission to get the mushroom outbreak under control. Under ground, above ground, and back in time -- the mushroom madness is spreading in this addictive, crazy, retro, mushroom-bopping adventure!

Mushrooms abound out of bounds in this wacky mushroom-bopping adventure, set in a myriad of different locations... including some that might leave you scratching your cap. A cafe, the city streets, a desert island, a haunted house -- You never know where the little shrooms might pop up next!

Cute as they may be, this fungal frenzy is getting out of hand. Time to put these cute little guys back in their place. Like the bouncer at any exclusive club, it's time to bum-rush these mushrooms down whatever convenient hole you can find!

Join Koichi in level after level of mushroom bouncing fun -- put on your sunglasses and get bouncing today!

MushRoom Bounce! Features:* Realistic, 2D Physics Action
* Supports any screen size; (480 x 800 or higher recommended)
* Like in Basketball or Billiards, a Mushroom's "spin" affects how it bounces
* Available for Android, Windows, Mac, and Linux
* Wireless bluetooth HID Gamepad Support
* You can also play using touch controls: fling/swipe action and/or on-screen joystick & buttons
* Supports keyboard input, including joysticks that behave like a mini keyboard
* Optimized for MOGA Controllers
* Leaderboards and Personal High Scores saved to server
* 33 Unique Areas
* High Quality 28-song Soundtrack
* FREE Version Includes 41 Levels!
* Tons of Variety -- Each level has its own funny details and surprises

The Mims: Beginning

This title has recently started its fundraiser on IndieGoGo and looks like a lovely game idea. It describes itself as a "light real-time strategy game", but it seems that the casual elements are more to do with the style and humour of the game, as it all looks satisfyingly complex and detailed. An $8 pledge bags you a digital copy of the game, which is being developed for PC, Mac and Linux.

Check out the IndieGoGo Page and the trailer / screenshots below:

Back to the Future with RANDAL’S MONDAY First Gameplay Trailer

Overcoming Mondays is complicated, especially when you’re trapped in a time warp of betrayal, cursed rings, pissed off box-office clerks and suicidal friends.

Alicante, Spain.

Nexus Game Studios is proud to present the new trailer for Randal’s Monday, the point & geek classic adventure which pay tribute to a generation of gamers, readers and viewers of subculture. Discover an inimitable revision of the good old Graphic Adventures, and join a zany interactive tragicomedy from the hand of Randal Hicks, the best antihero you can come across from here to The Tannhauser Gate. But be careful; if you meet him, don’t lose the sight of your wallet.

Features:

- Prologue, 7 great chapters and an epilogue whose gameplay time will depend on how many time you spend in front of the TV in your childhood.

- More than 40 different environments carefully hand crafted.

- More than 50 characters including repulsive mothers, retired priests and talking skulls.

- Jillions of references and homages to geek culture.

- Cosmic space-time odyssey with a new perspective on the guy trapped in time.

- No zombies (which is a feature nowadays). Whoops, in fact there’s some of them… well, ZOMBIES!

- +5.000 lines of dialogue.

- Available mid 2014 for PC and every device or platform accepting bribes.

The Story

It all starts with a ring. A priceless ring which only cost what a grapefruit chewing gum does, an engagement ring, a cursed ring…

It was all bliss on Matt and Sally’s engagement party, even for Randal. The best main character you can ever wonder: kleptomaniac, sociopath and awful friend above all. All the same he’s happy (free drinks, come’on!) and as time goes by, their minds start to cloud. Maaaaaany beers after that the night finally degenerates.

The next morning Randal gets up on his bedroom, the same stale clothes put on, a magnificent headache and his friend’s wallet in his pocket. Inside the wallet, a really expensive engagement ring that Randal sells at once in order to dodge some economical issues. But he didn't expect the ring to have had such a high sentimental value, and his friend Matt express his displeasure by commiting suicide. This unexpected twist triggers the curse of the ring, and the many problems that Randal will have to face: a curse which will pursue him and tear his life apart, to the point where he’s forced to do what he likes the least: move to action.

Randal will live this fateful Monday again and again, doing whatever is needed in order to fix the horrible situation he has induced. Even if that means going to jail… or destroy mankind. Shots, kicks, blood, money, time loops and a lot of pissed off people. Randal must recover the ring and his life, before the situation worsens… or the universe collapses.

Randal’s Monday is still in development and will be released as of Q2 2014.

About the team

Juanan Pascual Albarranch and Toni Pascual Gómez are two of those weird human beings who know each other since their childhood, and yet they have good feelings for each other. Designers and Artists by studies (and arrant geeks by conviction) their lucasartians inquietudes took them from the short film and animation field to the creation of Randal’s Monday, their Masterpiece on videogames (regardless it IS their first game, of course). Four years of hard work and a lot of destiny twists later, Juanan and Toni have dig in the headquarters of Nexus Game Studios, the Spanish company which has been born in order to bring to life the longest Monday of all time (wink, wink). There they work countless hours (or so they say) and talk about purple tentacles whilst they finish Randal’s adventure, of course with the help of a passionate and experienced team of big boys keen on programming and development magic.

Website: http://www.randalsmonday.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RandalsMonday
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RandalsMonday
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/randalsmonday/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RandalsMonday
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/117880684548821407224/posts

Released! Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok

Released at 3 minutes to midnight yesterday, Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok by Crystal Shard is an adventure / RPG hybrid that looks awesome. Actually, it's looked awesome for a long time - long development cycle which looks set to have delivered a tremendous game. If you liked the Quest for Glory games I think you'll be right at home with this one.

More information, download links etc can be found on the Official Website.

(Of course, Crystal Shard already hold a special place in our hearts for the excellent A Tale of Two Kingdoms.)

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Tuesday, 24 December 2013

Contradiction - an interactive murder mystery movie!

Now this one looks like a genuinely interesting concept... is it a game or a movie? Well, the answer appears to be neither... and both, attempting to blend the genres in a much more seamless way than has been managed before.

"Contradiction is an adventure / murder mystery game that uses 100% live-action video, with minimal graphic content or overlays. It's flexible, reactive and fast-paced, but also has the characterisation, plot and atmosphere of a TV crime drama or movie. In short, I'm trying to make a well-shot, well-acted, modern, genuinely interactive movie.

It's going to be available for all formats, including Apple, Android and Windows devices and several other formats I'm currently looking into, including Smart TV boxes.

In Contradiction you can move around at will, investigate locations, collect evidence and make notes. But the heart of the game is interviewing characters, asking them questions and spotting the lies they tell. It's a system that makes you feel that you're having real conversations with real people - conversations that flow as quickly and naturally as they do in real life.

This isn't LA Noire and isn't aimed at hardcore gamers - this is a low-budget game aimed at the casual gamer, even those who don't play games but do love a good mystery adventure and the atmosphere of a crime drama. It also has a horror influence and is filled to the brim with tons of interesting, sometimes bizarre, startling and atmospheric mini-scenes that you encounter as you progress."

The Contradiction funding campaign is going okay, 28.4% of the target raised so far and still 12 days to go. Check out the Kickstarter page for more info.

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Wild Season - Inspired by Harvest Moon

Wild Season is a Farming Simulation Game, inspired by the likes of Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, Rune Factory and Thousand Arms. Although it shares many of the same concepts and mechanics, Wild Season differentiates itself in its approach to these same ideas.

The game revolves around the main character (You), suddenly coming into posession of a farm in a far away town, and the story of how you repair, build and expand it. However along the way you will experience the many distractions, including friends, enemies, love, heartbreak, marriage, winning, losing, discover some mysteries, and perhaps even discover the meaning of true evil.

Their Kickstarter has just 3 days left to run at time of posting this, and they are 88.6% funded so far. Do you want to help them reach their funding goal? Check out the Wild Season Kickstarter!

Monday, 23 December 2013

Funded! - Reset

Adventure game "Reset" has reached its funding goal on IndieGoGo. With 11 hours to go at the time of posting this, they're aiming at hitting their first stretch goal of a "Director's Cut":

"Although with the initial budget we can hire help on the art assets, with this extra budget we can outsource a bigger batch of assets, which leaves room for us to concentrate more on the puzzles. More puzzles and story extension, approximately 1,5-2 hours more content!"

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/reset--4

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More info and screens from in-development adventure game "Dead Synchronicity"

"Dead Synchronicity" tells the story of Michael, who wakes up after having been in a coma for an undetermined amount of time. He suffers from amnesia, so he can't remember "the Great Wave", a chain of catastrophes (earthquakes, tsunamis...) that left the World without power sources or communications. People who lost their homes were moved to "Refugee Camps", but the army has violently taken control of these camps, so in fact they have turned into "Concentration Camps".

Simultaneously, an illness has been massively spreading all around the world. This illness turns people into the so-called "dissolved"'s: sick people who have special cognition abilities (they know things about the future and the past) but who die in a horrible way, literally "dissolved" into blood.

People think there is a link between "the Great Wave" and the "dissolved" illness, but they have no information about it.

Michael wakes up in one of these Camps and has two primary goals: firstly, to get his identity back; secondly, to find out what's happening with the pandemic and "the Great Wave", so that he can stop the World from reaching the "dead synchronicity" point, when Time (past, present and future) will dissolve itself.

See also: the original Press Release

Now for the bit you've all been waiting for... screenshots! One of them is NEVER BEFORE SEEN! Can you tell which one?

Follow @deadsynchro to keep tabs on the game!

Sci-Fi PC Adventure Darkout Delivers Major Patch Update 1.2.3.

December 23rd, 2013, Leamington Spa, United Kingdom - Independent micro studio Allgraf announced the release of patch 1.2.3 for its epic sandbox PC sci-fi action game Darkout, that includes a number of enhanced features to the universe that radically enhance the gameplay experience. Darkout is available now, from PC digital download channel Steam for $14 .99, £9.99, €11.99: http://store.steampowered.com/app/257050. Darkout is also part of the Steam sale with 15% of the price until January 2nd, 2014.

"Our passion in creating an awesome gaming experience, has always been paramount and with patch 1.2.3 we have implemented some big changes to the Darkout world", said Adrian Banninga, CEO of Allgraf. "The latest patch implements a more detailed tutorial, along with a redesigned user interface, to assist the player in their fight for survival. We have also refined other features within the game and have fixed all outstanding bugs as we develop and expand on the Darkout world.”

As the survivor of a crashed stasis pod players on a remote, undiscovered planet, players progress through randomly generated 2D levels as they research, build, and defend themselves against alien beings that roam the darkness. Darkout unique research and crafting system encourages players to be creative and innovative with their strategies against a horde of light-sensitive creatures that become all the more abundant in darker places and when night falls.

Further explore the world through Darkout’s main story and logs left behind by others that shed light on what happened in Illuna’s past and what place your character has in its future.

Finding and interacting with items, gathering resources, building shelters, crafting weapons, exploring, assimilating and activating intuitively presented stats screens must be strategically balanced for your ongoing welfare. Beware of the Boss, a fight to the death could ensue but the rewards for killing it would be substantial. With more exciting stages in development including multiplayer and expanding narrative within the Darkout universe, complete with an unfolding saga, the first stage of Darkout is an unmissable challenge.

For information on Darkout please visit the official site: http://www.darkoutgame.com/

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End of Week Stats- 23rd December 2013

391 Followers on Twitter (up 37 from last week)
486 have us in circles on Google+ (up 3 from last week)
Total Page Views according to Blogger stats: 366K
Weekly visits according to Google Analytics: 372
Weekly unique visitors according to Google Analytics: 271
Average Time On Site according to Google Analytics: 2m38s

We're ending the year on a high! Certainly lower than we're aiming for long-term and lower than our traffic in the good times before the Panda attack, but this is easily our best week in 2013 for both visits, page views and unique visitors.

Though at the time it obviously seemed like a bad thing, clearly the (still) unexplained drop in the site's popularity in September this year was actually a very good thing, as it was the catalyst for me making long-overdue changes to both the site's layout and content. Which seems to have gone down pretty well - not only is traffic on the up, but also very pleasingly the bounce rate has dropped like a stone. For those who aren't familiar with the term, "Bounce Rate" effectively refers to people who find themselves on a site, look at it, think "what the hell am I doing here, ABORT, ABORT!!!" and click the BACK button in order to save themselves from the horror. Average page views per visit and time on site have leaped up, which leads me to believe that people must be finding www.IndieGameNews.com a much more useful resource than they were previously. Which is nice.

Here are some pretty graphs taken from my Google Analytics to prove that I'm not making all the above up:

You see? The stuff that's meant to be going up is going up, and the stuff that's meant to be going down is going down. Hopefully this will continue through next year as well... we shall see!

Thanks once more to everyone who's supported me and the site over the year(s).

Gamers - have you ever bought a game on itch.io?

Indie Devs - if you are selling your game on itch.io, how many copies have you sold?