These blog posts are tagged “indie games”
Blink Works created this profile of Alec Holowka & Infinite Ammo as a promotion for the Winnipeg New Media community. It captures a lot of what I think everyone loves about the indie game scene: art, collaboration, rags to riches* success…
I also appreciate the teaser look at Das Cube. Is this coming out soon? It's been in development for ages in “iphone years”.
Via TIGsource
* Heh.
Adam
December 06, 2009
Alec Holowka / indie games / Heroes + Villains / Marian / Paper Moon / Infinite Ammo
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I just added 3 new products to the shop.
Miniboss T-shirt by SEIBEI — $22
Unicorn Dream Attack - Love Bits — $12
Calvin & Hellen's Bogus Journey Instruction Booklet — $4
The Miniboss t-shirt was designed by David Murray for his t-shirt company, SEIBEI. David is a cool dude, and he's got a lot of talent, so expect more SEIBEI lovin's from Attract Mode in the future.
Love Bits is Unicorn Dream Attack's ode to your heart. It's really good. If you are into chip music, definitely check that one out.
And finally, Calvin & Hellen's Bogus Journey Instruction Booklet is Calvin Wong's ridiculously funny faux instruction booklet for the game he made with Hellen Jo and Derek Yu for Game Over/Continue. It's one of my favorite items in the shop, and it's only $4! Designed, printed, folded and stapled by the loving hands of Calvin himself.
Adam
November 27, 2009
apparel / Calvin and Hellen's Bogus Journey / Calvin Wong / Chiptunes / Unicorn Dream Attack / Derek Yu / Game Over/Continue? / Hellen Jo / indie games / music / products / SEIBEI / shop
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Sparky's Star Guard was one of the first games I covered when I started this blog back in January.
It's finally finished, and here are a few reasons you should go play it:
- Plays like a minimalist Mega Man with less bosses.
- Excellent visual design and animation.
- Unlimited lives and generous checkpoints ward off frustration.
- Time-tracking and point system encourage speed runs.
- It's a Flash-based download, so it will work on PC + Mac.
- It's free.
Also, check out Sparky's work-in-progress Tin Can Knight.
Via Pixel Prospector / indev
Adam
October 07, 2009
indie games / Star Guard / Sparky
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Eric and I teamed up Kyle Pulver and J Otto Seibold to make the 5th game in the artxgame series, Jottobots. The game is the center of J Otto's solo (besides the game) art show tonight at GR2. The art will remain on display until July 8th, but you only have one night to come check out the game.
Kyle worked long hours on Jottobots, and that time and attention is apparent as soon as you see the game in action. Combine the quirky character art by J Otto with clever level design, a slick 2D engine and tons of hidden secrets and you have the World's Greatest 5-minute Metroidvania. Yes, I just went there.
Come play with us!
June 13 - July 8, 2009
Reception: Saturday, June 13, 6:30 -10:00
GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276
Adam
June 13, 2009
art / artxgame / events / Giant Robot / indie games / Jottobots / J Otto Seibold / Kyle Pulver
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After 3 days of being immersed in videogames at E3, I decided to unwind with Derek and John at one of my favorite spots... Arcade Infinity. Not only has AI been stocking an impressive collection of new releases (Action Cop, BlazBlue, King of Fighters XII), but they've also cycled in some of my old favorites like Project Justice and Final Fight.
There was one game, however, above everything else I played that night, that I knew I had to share with you.
Yes, you just saw a Nazi tank fight some buff guy with a limp mohawk. The gallery at the bottom of the post shows an even better match up: the tank versus a nun wielding dual revolvers. The World War II inspired brawler is called Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf Achse. It's ridiculous, fun and actually a pretty solid fighter. If you are anywhere near LA, I recommend you stop by and drop in a few quarters.
Adam
June 12, 2009
arcade / indie games / Akatsuki Blitzkampf Ausf Achse
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I'm super grateful to the guys at Area5 for devoting a good chunk of their latest CO-OP episode to the Game Over/Continue? event. The whole episode is great (even the Squarespace commercial is worth watching), but if you want to scrub ahead to the GO/C coverage, it starts at about the 27 minute mark.
It's an entire episode focusing on indie games, starting with innovative IGF titles like Blueberry Garden and The Unfinished Swan and finishing with an extended look at the art and games of Game Over/Continue.
These guys know what they are talking about. It's not surprising that the best video coverage of the videogame scene is being created by people who understand and appreciate indies as much they do the mainstream.
I was bummed at the thought of The 1UP Show coming to an end. But since its rebirth as CO-OP, I think the show has been better than ever. Like Jason says in the episode, they are free to cover what they want instead of doing things like running around GDC trying to film trailers and other nonsense. Hmmm, freedom and time to focus on quality… It's amazing what a little bit of independence can do.
Adam
April 06, 2009
Anna Anthropy / Area5 / art / artxgame / Cactus / Calvin and Hellen's Bogus Journey / CO-OP / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Octopounce / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
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I think it’s really important to be conscious of how the output of the gaming industry might homogenize our thought processes and sometimes stunt our creativity in coming up with new play mechanics …… that’s definitely something that’s stuck with me throughout discussion in this class and influenced me as a designer.
Still, I think the rhythm genre has a lot of untapped potential.
— George Michael Brower
Good music, interesting drum patterns, minimalist design and a huge projected playfield are more than enough to convince me. Rhythm Game I was created by George Michael Brower for his final project in a game design workshop at UCLA. The game's brief post-mortem is worth a read for an inside look at what didn't make it into the game, an earlier video and some photos of how George hacked together the drum controls.
via Anamanaguchi's tweet
Adam
April 01, 2009
DIY / George Michael Brower / indie games / Rhythm Game I / student
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Wow. The Game Over/Continue? show at GRSF last Friday was crazy and fun. A big “Thank You!” to everyone who came, all of the game makers and artists, and the whole Giant Robot crew. Hugs and thanks are also in order for Brandon Boyer, Jenn Frank and Eric and JC over at Tiny Cartridge who all did a lot to help promote the show.
I drove up to San Francisco on Wednesday, and by Thursday night I was starting to stress just a little bit. Only Anna and Saelee had finished their game, and Cactus hadn’t even started yet! Luckily that night Cactus, Derek, Hellen, Calvin and I were able to make a trip over to Deth’s studio. Cactus started coding while Deth was painting and scanning his art. A part of me thinks Cactus was procrastinating just to prove that his GDC lecture, Four Hour Game Design, was more than just talk.
When everyone arrived at the show on Friday evening with their finished games, I was really impressed my mind was blown. All of the games were original, quirky and totally fun to play.
…that is, once you were able to push your way through the crowd and play them! There were way more people at the show than any of us had expected. People from every corner of the indie game scene showed up, and it was great to finally meet a bunch of “internet friends” in real life. It was particularly inspiring talking with Jim Munroe about all of the cool projects he has going on in Toronto.
Looking back through the pictures now, I’m noticing there were a bunch of people I didn't get a chance to talk to. Oh well, too many cool people, too little time. I guess we will have to wait until next year, Messhof, Tiff and Tale of Tales duo.
The games were only available to play the opening night of the show, but all the videogame-inspired art will be at the GRSF gallery until April 15th. If you are in San Francisco, you should definitely check it out. I’ll even provide a map for all you lazy lamb chops.
Keep checking the feed for another blog entry focusing on all four games from Game Over/Continue.
Update: Well, there's really no reason for me to give you a post summarizing the games when Brandon has already done it better than I could have.
Photos via my phone and Giant Robot’s Flickr
Adam
March 31, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / artxgame / Cactus / Calvin and Hellen's Bogus Journey / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / Eric Nakamura / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Octopounce / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
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Phil Fish and company are here to ease your sadness that the Attract Mode shop hasn't launched yet.
Wipe your tears with these beautiful Fez shirts! Watch Gomez cycle through his various animations in hi-tech plastisol.
Available exclusively from Polytron's newly launched PolyShop v.0.1.
Adam
March 19, 2009
indie games / Fez / Phil Fish / Polytron / t-shirts
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I can't wait to see everyone at the show!
What's this artxgame thing? Could there possibly be more collaborations in the future? Interesting…
Adam
March 16, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / artxgame / Cactus / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / events / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
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Brandon over at Offworld announced an exciting project today that I've been cooking up with Eric from Giant Robot.
The Game Over II show will open on March 27th at GRSF in San Francisco.
We've partnered up artists and indie game makers to create four new games that will be showcased at the event.
The Teams
If you are going to be in San Francisco for GDC, make sure to stop by! GRSF is only a few miles away.
Go check out the post at Offworld for all the details, and keep watching this blog and Giant Robot for more updates.
Also, a big ‘THANK YOU’ to all the artists and indies that are participating. I can't wait to play your games!
Adam
February 11, 2009
Anna Anthropy / art / Cactus / Derek Yu / Deth P Sun / Game Over/Continue? / Giant Robot / Hellen Jo / indie games / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho / Saelee Oh / San Francisco / Souther Salazar
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It’s an exploration to what actually defines a game. You can win or fail in the game, but there is no user input or interactivity of any kind. I was tempted to leave the graphics out completely, but I figured that the white progress bar is abstract enough.
— Petri Purho
Developers: Petri Purho, Heather Kelley, Jonatan Söderström
Release Date: February 2, 2009
Platform: PC
Price: Free
Download
Via Polytron Corporation
Adam
February 04, 2009
Cactus / Heather Kelley / indie games / 4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness / Jonatan Söderström / Petri Purho
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It is a kind of love letter to Zelda, my personal favorite game series, both from nostalgia and its often great design.
— Joakim Sandberg
Developer: Joakim Sandberg
Release Date: January 24, 2009
Platform: PC
Price: Free
Download
Via Tiny Cartridge > Auntie Pixelante > IndieGames.com
Adam
January 26, 2009
indie games / The Legend of Princess / Joakim Sandberg / The Legend of Zelda
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Download desktop wallpaper version (1.5 MB)
Annabelle Kennedy is an artist, animator and game designer. I started following her work after finding some of her adorable indie game fan art. Since then, Annabelle has collaborated on a few different games, such as Self Destruct, and more recently has been working on her one-woman project, Tiny Survival Horror. Her work is already impressive, and I can't wait to see what she comes up with in the future.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions, Annabelle!
Adam
January 24, 2009
Annabelle Kennedy / indie games / Tiny Survival Horror / interview / pixel art
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So go check out their site, NOW!
Fez, Super Hypercube, some awesome-looking iPhone game, lens flare... What more can I tell you to convince you to click on the link?!
Visit it. Bookmark it. Subscribe to the RSS feed. Enjoy knowing that you are a hip indie game nerd.
Adam
January 22, 2009
Canada / indie games / Fez / Phil Fish / Polytron
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We’re aiming for simple gameplay: destroy enemies and collect their powers to increase your own.
— Matthew Wegner
Developer: Flashbang Studios
Release Date: March 1, 2009
Platform: Browser, Unity
Price: Free
You can follow the development of Blush on the Blurst dev blog.
Via #tigIRC > Blurst
Adam
January 21, 2009
Flashbang Studios / indie games / Blush / Matthew Wegner / Unity
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My favorite new indie game studio, Infinite Ammo, just redesigned their website. So after you are done reading this post go check it out!
Infinite Ammo is a small, independent game studio situated in Winnipeg, MB, Canada. You might recognize their lead designer, Alec Holowka, as being part of the two–man team that created Aquaria.
Even though they were just formed last year, Infinite Ammo has already released one game and has teasers up for two more. Their first project, Paper Moon, is a side–scrolling platformer that utilizes 3D effects through the use of stereoscopic (red and blue) glasses. It was created as part of Kokoromi's GAMMA 3D event, and is available as a free download for PC and Mac.
Their second game, Heroes and Villains, is being developed for the iPhone. It looks like a strategy game that has the player controlling people with super powers to protect/destroy a city. On their website, Alec described it as, “…Lemmings meets the Lost Vikings meets Awesome.” Fun!
Outside of some concept art and music, Infinite Ammo hasn't said much about their third title, Marian. We do know that it is their largest project and the main reason that they formed a studio together. I would explain it, but there is no way I could do justice to the inspiring description Infinte Ammo wrote themselves:
Marian is a beautifully carved marionette who rips her strings from the grasp of ‘The Narrator’ and becomes her own master. Caught in the dream world between life and death, she uses her own puppet handle as a weapon and replaces her limbs with a variety of tools in her quest to discover her true identity — and maybe even true love.
Seeing the quality of Paper Moon and the screenshots of their upcoming games, it's obvious that the Infinite Ammo team has a promising future ahead of them. Everyone is saying that now is the time to go independent, but when it comes time to pay the bills it's not always that easy for everyone. Groups like Infinite Ammo give me hope that not only it is possible to survive as an independent, but also to thrive by producing a stream of content that is more creative and authentic than what the big boys have to offer.
Adam
January 18, 2009
Alec Holowka / Canada / indie games / Heroes + Villains / Marian / Paper Moon / Infinite Ammo / Katie De Sousa
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Star Guard is sort of an experiment for me. I have a tendency to get way too carried away with projects. This time I thought I'd try and set some rigid rules. So this game is my attempt at keeping things simple—mind you, feature creep set in after about three days.
This isn't the most amazing game on the face of the planet, but I'm trying to make it fun and user friendly. The goal is for it to be appealing to people of a variety of skill levels. As a player, we can complete the levels at a cautious pace, and still make it to the end of the game. But if we like, we can take on extra challenges and try for a higher score.
— Sparky
Developer: Sparky
Release Date: When it's done. [UPDATE 10/07/09: It's out! Go play it.]
Platform: Flash
Price: Free
You can follow the development of Star Guard on its TIGForums thread.
Adam
January 12, 2009
indie games /
Star Guard /
Sparky
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Paraluxx is a collection of gag comics and illustrations based on the games of indie favorite Cactus. Created by Madamluna, the book includes characters from Clean Asia!, Mondo Medicals, Psychosomnium and God Came to the Cave, as well as a cameo by the salaryman from Jesse Venbrux’s Karoshi.
The fanbook is free, and you can view it online. Nice work, Madamluna!
Via Cactus Squid
Adam
January 10, 2009
Cactus / comics / indie games
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