New patches for Cave Story which replaces Quote with another character to play in the game were added to Efraim's site. [CSLJ entry]

Tomaz Kac (Army of Trolls, Head Over Heels) interviewed by Auld Games. Strangely he mentions a remake of StarQuake as well. Coincidence?

Game Maker developers now have two additional tools to add to their collection. The first is a source template by Ablach Blackrat which can be used to make one switch games, while the other is a Physics Game Level Editor made for the creation of physics-based games.

Petri Purho released a level pack for Crayon Physics which includes four new stages.

VSB Labs (a provider of essential technical and design services for indie developers) has announced a new payment option - royalties percentage. A good option for start-up developers creating their first project without sufficient funds to order high-quality content and also for experienced developers wanting to keep their game budget small.

wholook informs of a new gameplay video for Super Mogura Tennis posted on Krobon Station's site, which showcases the character selection screen and a feature called 'Kinetic Vision' (a nod to bullet time) [preview, Mogura 2 review]

Stencyl (Java-based) is a new game development tool which allows games to be made with very little effort spent on programming. As described by the team:

Stencyl is a universal platform for tile-based game creation with an emphasis on user-friendliness and adaptability to many different genres. In other words, it's a tool that lets you create practically any standard kind of 2D game in existence.

StencylWorks, the game builder for Stencyl, is the tool that you'll be using to create games. It will be unveiled later this year.

3D games are not supported, but all creations made using this open source freeware development tool will run on Mac and Linux as well. I'm skeptical, but a lot of promises were made and if the developers keep their word then it could possibly rival Mark Overmar's popular Game Maker.

A new improved version of ScummVM was recently released to the general public. Support for new engines and games include:

From Retro Remakes:

Lemmings DS is a port of the classic action-puzzle game Lemmings for the Nintendo DS. Version 7 has 120 levels from the original games, plus the 100 extra levels from Oh No More Lemmings.

This version also supports DLDI, so now it will hopefully work on all manner of DS flashcards and reach the wider audience that it deserves. Oh, the source is available too if you want to check it out.

Read more

Hurrican is essentially a modernised, graphically-updated, feature packed version of Turrican. As with the original, the levels are large (and beg to be explored), the enemies come thick and fast from all angles and the game is far from a pushover. Due to the sheer number of features included, the controls tend to feel a little over complicated at times (there are so many combinations to remember) but the end result is still very rewarding.

Name: Hurrican
Developer: Poke53280
Category: Platform Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 40MB

GameTunnel's June Monthly Round-Up was recently posted. Famitsu-style summary:

A new interview with Nifflas was recently conducted by JeJeuJeux (thanks to Popoyt for the correction) and posted on their site. The entire article was translated to English as well, though readers would have to scroll all the way down and click on a line of text to reveal the English version.

Knytt and Within a Deep Forest are both available from Nifflas' web site.

Read more

The artist for all of Bloodlust Software releases in the past is working on a new AGS adventure game under a new banner, Gnarled Scar Manipulations. As explained by the developer of The Knobbly Crook:

You play as O'Sirus the Snip, a simple paper farmer who realizes he is connected to something much bigger. He'll struggle to join the Royal Guffaloon, the Crookian warrior police, he'll end up in the massive stronghold of the Bogold Empire, and eventually he'll be on the front lines of a huge war. I can't hide the rock, paper, scissors theme with my screenshots, so I'll say it has a big part of the way things work in the Knobbly Crook. Magic takes many strange forms, and O'Sirus controls those three elements (Tic is his paper bird).

A short one room demo is available for download.



More images: [1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7]

Someone's working on a Starquake remake! Thanks to Eric for the link, an early footage of the work-in-progress can be seen on YouTube. [Starquake map]

The first CPS3 arcade system board debuted in 1996 with Warzard (known as Red Earth outside Japan), and more than ten years later the encryption that prevented MAME from running CPS3 ROMs were finally circumvented by Andreas Naive. Haze (David Haywood) then quickly went to work on the emulation, with all of their current progress documented on this page.



Games that were running on the CPS-3 board are as follows:

Warzard/Red Earth (1996)
Street Fighter 3, New Generation (1997)
Street Fighter 3, 2nd Impact: Giant Attack (1997)
Jojo's Venture (1998)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (1999)
Street Fighter 3, Third Strike: Fight for the Future (1999)

Owners of defunct CPS-III arcade system boards or scratched Dreamcast discs now have an additional option to relive these Capcom classics.

Fractal Fighter is a new vertical shooter by cactus which features a limited palette of only two colors. Each boss consists of different weapon parts that the player has to destroy in sequence, randomly created using a tree generation code. A commendable effort especially when considering that the author spent less than a day to create the entire game from ground up.

Name: Fractal Fighter
Developer: cactus
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

A 20MB demo for DHC's Vulkaiser is now available from the Vector site. Use the freeware 7-Zip to extract .LZH files. Quite a surprising switch from Pysche Metal to Saturday morning anime. [direct download link, DHC's past projects]

One of the developers of Prominence, an upcoming adventure game made with the SCream engine that powered Scratches, was recently interviewed by ACG.

Yakouga 4 announced. [Galshell 2 Bullet Rain, Yakouga 2, Yakouga review]

Puppy Games is working on a new game entitled Treasure Tomb. Cas describes it as a scrolling dot-munching shooter, and if it's anything like Time Bandit then I'm sold. [source: Kev's site]

Chris Och (Super Stun-N-Run) is working on a new Metroid-like project currently titled Buckshot Sagebrush.

Richard Jordan (Zub, Klass of 99) and Andy Noble recently interviewed by Auld Games.

X-0ut's upcoming horizontal 2D shooter should be out before October. [Gravitron, Xain D Sleena, Prototype]

Mordalles is possibly working on at least one new game, as hinted by his signature. [Duty and Beyond review]

Don't Get Me Down, Man is another Pug Fugly creation made as a tribute to classic games of old. Use the arrow keys to move your protagonist around and collect the glowing objects for bonus points. The game ends if you accidentally bump into an enemy.

Comes with an online high score table.

Name: Don't Get Me Down, Man
Developer: Chris Roper
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Warning: Contains nudity, strong language, and graphic scenes.

Masq is an interactive novel which resembles Facade, but minus the boring guesswork as every dialogue option and actions are laid out for you to choose from in each scene. The story is much more interesting as well, and players can expect to discover a new scenario or ending when a different path is taken.

Recommended for adventure and IF fans.

Name: Masq
Developer: Javier Maldonado
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB

Origami is working on a new RPG, but it's not a sequel to Last Scenario. Several early screenshots from Exit Fate were recently released to the public, and a demo can be expected in a few months' time. As described by the developer:

- Exit Fate is made using RPGMaker.
- All character battle sprites, portraits and special images are original.
- Nearly all enemy sprites and bosses are original.

Read more [source: pilch, thanks!]



More screenshots: [1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9] - [10] - [11] - [12] - [13]

Cluster Funked is another strategic shooter by Jph which features similar gameplay elements from Gyro-Phyter. Your first task is to take control of a red well, which will then produce green units for deployment and defensive purposes.

Tap the K key to shoot, and use the J or L key to strafe. Rapid fire can be activated by holding the fire button, but will cause the gun to heat up and locking your weapon until the cool down period passes.

Your ship can grab up to five green pawns using the I key, indicated by triangles around your craft. To respawn, simply move towards any green well on screen.

Name: Cluster Funked
Developer: Jph Wacheski
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Gyro-Phyter is an abstract shooter by Jph with strategic elements. The objective of the game is to weaken the green wells and turn them red, though the green side's defensive turrets will try their best to thwart your efforts.

Use the arrow key to move your ship around, and tap the I key to place a red turret. To retrieve a turret, simply hold the I key for a few seconds. Red turrets destroyed in combat will float back to base for the player to collect and redeploy on the battlefield.

Ammo is limited, but can be replenished by hovering above the base. Use the J or L keys to strafe, and hold the K key to shoot. If you lose a ship, another will respawn back at base. The number of lives left is indicated at the bottom left of the screen.

Name: Gyro-Phyter
Developer: Jph Wacheski
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Immortal Defense is available free at the Game Giveaway of the Day for the next 14 and a half hours, so if you wanted to finish the story but couldn't afford the game, go get it while you can!

Okay, maybe not Clean Asia II. But nearly a sequel in a sense. It's cactus' shmup-dev game number two. This time the game seems to be very retro.

Issue 2 of RGCD is here; 27,000 words, 27 reviews, 6 extra features and over 170MB of game files included on disc.

There's the featured review of Motocross Challenge GBA, complete with an exclusive interview with the development team behind the game. Aside from that, highlights of Issue 2 include previews of top work-in-progress projects Force Majeure and Brickout 95% as well as reviews of accolade-worthy PC titles such as the awesome Streets Of Rage Remake from Bomber Games, Veck SE and Alien Abduction.

RGCD is 100% spyware free and all files are virus checked before uploading.

Read more

The plot of Zub involves navigating through ten different planets to find the lost Eye of Zub. Each planet is connected to some others by a system of teleports. You start on planet 1 and must get to planet 10 and back.

There are platforms on each screen, when you stand on one you can move it by crouching and pushing left or right. Use the platforms to get up to the three teleports at the top, your destination depending on which you choose. There is always at least one alien on screen at any one time, which descends from the top and attempts to knock you off the platforms.

Name: Zub
Developer: Richard Jordan
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Efraim Siounis releases a patch that allows players to experience Cave Story using Curly Brace instead of Quote. [CSLJ entry]

A playable demo for Varia is now available for download. [Ikaruga clones article]

Donuts in Danger released.

Postman nets second place in the recent World's Greatest Shmup Player Tournament. Congratulations! [thanks to GameSetWatch]

Red White Yellow gets a new Sound Pack, with a third volume scheduled for a release on the 15th of July.

Colocoro updated to version 1.60. A new level editor is included. [Colocoro review]

Deadheat is working on a new game.

New screenshot from Knytt Stories' level editor posted.

The IGF has announced that submissions are open for the 10th Annual Independent Games Festival, for which the awards will be handed out in February 2008 at Game Developers Conference. Dates for the IGF in 2007/2008 are: