There's a very heated discussion going on at the official site for The Underside, as Arthur Lee points out his disappointment with the community - apparently frustrated with the accusations of his creation being a Cave Story rip-off for the umpteenth time (not necessarily from comments by Derek Yu).

And yes, 'Mr. Podunkian' originally did not want the video to be uploaded to avoid controversy - I'm to blame for editing the trailer which was posted a couple of days ago.

Pixeljam Games' Dino Run is now available for beta testing! To apply as a beta tester, simply send a mail to pixeljamgames[at]gmail.com.

(or donate like twenty bucks for a guaranteed beta testing position.)

An interview with the creator of the Noitu Love series and Chalk.

Let's begin with an introduction of yourself.

My name's Joakim Sandberg and I make games, and I love it. My notable games are Noitu Love and Chalk, and my current project is Noitu Love 2! Yet it's not that much like Noitu 1, I'd say, more of a continuation on that universe.

Has any publishers approached you about publishing your games on handhelds? There was a lot of demand for Chalk to appear on the DS when it was first released.

Yes, there was. Several of them. But I am very weary about it; I want to know I'm not selling off something I loved to create. I am still in talks about a property, but they only see production possibly starting in a sort of far future, which is a little annoying. Nothing is signed yet though. Another big publisher contacted me too but they sort of... stopped getting back to me. Hopefully this current one comes through. I just wish it was sooner that I'd know for sure.

Halloween House is a game made by Magnus Nilsson for a Halloween game competition. Use the shift key to access your inventory, and press the control key to interact with objects. The game can be saved by accessing the computer in Michael's room.

Name: Halloween House
Developer: Magnus Nilsson
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here

In Drift, the player's energy orb is limited to grid-like movements, and the cursor keys must be tapped rapidly to achieve constant velocity. Press the enter key to shoot when your orb is close to the enemy for better accuracy. A tad difficult, especially at later levels.

Name: Drift
Developer: Panurge Odradek
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Pixel Warlords is an experimental platform shooter by Jan Willem Nijman, made using the Game Maker engine. Press the X key to shoot, and use the Z key to jump. Tap the C key to throw grenades. Press the x and up arrow key to execute a stealth kill.

This demo includes one area, and the first warlord to be assasinated.

Name: Pixel Warlords
Developer: Jan Willem Nijman
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

An interview with Raigan and Mare of Metanet Software, the development team responsible for unleashing N+ for the Xbox Live Arcade service. (mugshot by Edmund McMillen)

Hi guys, let's begin with a short introduction of yourselves.

R: Hi, I'm Raigan.

M: and I'm Mare. We're both amazing people.

R: Also, I will take over typing since Mare hates my weird ergo-keyboard.

We're in Toronto, it's snowing finally. Our hobbies include: playing video games. And reading video game blogs and manuals.

Since N is making an appearance on a couple of consoles and handheld platforms, can you give us a summary of what's coming on where?

One version of N+ will be out for Xbox360 Live Arcade, we worked very closely with the developer Nick (in Vancouver) and did all the levels, it is definitely exactly how we would have wanted it to be: pretty much N, on Xbox.

An interview with haowan, creator of TIGSource's B-Game winning entry - Cottage of Doom.

Let's begin with a little introduction of yourself.

Haha, ok. I'm Alex, I'm 29 and I've been into developing games since I was given a Vic 20 along time ago. Uh, what else? I'm from the UK, I nearly failed my degree because I was programming an asteroids game, and I recently had my wife cut off my dreadlocks (that she put in).

How does it feel to win TIGSource's inaugural competition? Considering that they were many old hats like cactus and Petri Purho who had participated as well.

Ah, if only I had won the inaugural competition - alas, I don't think I'm sexy enough. Winning the competition (B-Game) was awesome, though as I said at the time, it was the run up to the deadline and seeing what other people were doing that was the most fun. cactus didn't enter. :D

Rückblende (Flashback) is an interactive animation movie originally intended as a diploma project in visual communication. The story of the film is about a man confronted with his childhood memories while walking around a summerhouse in the woods, where he used to spend the holidays with his parents. The more he dwells in his memories, a secret seems to be unravelling.

The surrounding and the inside of the house were built as a model, while the appearing characters from the memories were drawn with a pencil and animated with white lines on top of the photographed model background.

Name: Rückblende
Developer: Nils Deneken
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 600MB
Direct download link: Click here

A quick ten-minute interview with the developer of Everyday Shooter, and a couple of other cool games.

How has the reception for PSN's Everyday Shooter (ES) been, and what's next for Queasy Games? More collaborative efforts with Santa Monica Studios? And will there be any releases from you next year?

Well, there's a substantial amount of press and most of the comments seem positive, so I guess it's been ok? As for what's next for Queasy Games, well, I have a rule where I keep my next project under wraps until it's almost done. If I don't, then I never end up finishing it. It's a rule my friend and I made up when we were kids writing code. We'd always talk about what cool new feature was going to be in our game/app but then we'd never do it. Finally, we decided only to tell each other if we can show each other. It's a great motivator. Release next year? Dunno!

In a recent interview, you mentioned that you were planning on making more freeware games. Can we expect a new one in the near future?

Let's just say I DO want to make a freeware game, but there's just so little time. :( But if I do, it probably won't be a big affair like Gate 88.

A couple of screenshots from Metanet Software's N+ for the Xbox 360 Live Arcade can be found at The Way of the Ninja.

The third episode in the Fedora Spade series has been released. If you played the first two, you'll probably like this one. If you haven't, it's an adventure game with a detective motif: you have to search for and gather clues to solve a case.

Orchard-L also began requesting donations with this game. He lives in Indonesia, where most people make only a few dollars a day. So donations to him would go a long way.

Name: Fedora Spade: Death Wears a Fedora
Developer: RPGCreations
Category: Detective/Adventure
Type: Freeware, but donations requested
Size: 3MB
Direct download link: Click here

messhof, of Punishment fame, will soon be releasing a new game called FLYWRENCH. He just posted a gameplay video at Eo.

"The game itself is nearly done-- I'm just working on the soundtrack. I'm going to be out of town for thanksgiving, so expect a release tuesday or wednesday next week."

An interview with Charlie Ngo (Kairos), the developer of Varia and Kairuga.

Let's begin with a short introduction about yourself, for readers who are unfamiliar with your works.

I'm a 16 year old teen who likes to play shmups and also make them. I only make releases like once a year due to school and whatnot. My two releases include the shmups Kairuga and Varia, both have the glowy vector sort of feel to them.

How did you start off with game development, and since when? A bit of history would be great, considering that GM users are getting younger and younger every day and they need all the help and pointers they could get.

I started doing real work back in the end of 2005. I used to play all the quality games made in GM and wonder how someone could make that in this program; I started experimenting and learning by example for the most part, and then finally made a real game and released Kairuga during the summer of 2006. The one thing I would recommend to kids who want to develop games is that it is no easy task to create a good game that appeals well. They should remember that the hardest part of development is finishing the game itself.

How does it feel to win the latest Shmup-Dev Competition? It's quite an achievement, considering that past winners and runner-ups have joined the same compo as well.

It feels great, really. I didn't expect that I'd win, considering I originally joined the competition not for the sake of winning, but just for fun. Some encouragement from a few respected people and a bit of thought and it just ended up like that.

I swear, this game just gets awesomer and awesomer every day.

- download hi-res trailer, right click to save
- soundtrack preview
- The Underside preview

NIGORO member Naramura has announced the first details of the group's next game on their development blog. According to him, the fifth game will have an academic setting and perhaps be easiest to play with a touchpad. The title has been decided, but it won't be announced until later because the title alone would give away a lot of the game.

Eden's Aegis is a new vertical shooter from x.x, featuring two playable characters and the usual array of boss fights commonly seen in all of his other releases.

Hold the Z key to shoot, tap the X key to launch a bomb and use the C key to activate your special weapon. This trial release is limited to one level only.

Name: Eden's Aegis
Developer: x.x
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here

A quick ten-minute interview with the creator of Wizball.

Any info you'd like to share about yourself as an introduction?

Ooh, I think I've whored my thoughts enough all over the internet that anyone with a passing familiarity with remakes or indie games will have heard of "that Graham arsehole", so there's really nothing to say.

How has the response to your Wizball remake been so far? Any favorite comments or feedbacks?

It's been really good, yes. Me and Smila have been very pleased with the response, although there were a few bugs and issues which needed sorting out shortly after release. The Mac version should be out soon, too. The nicest response was seeing my old arch nemesis Weibo De Wit saying he thought it was great, which was really big of him.

Frogs and Mice: Erik Hermansen has revealed details about the DROD spin-off created exclusively for GarageGames' new InstantAction web site, to be launched early next year.

Dwarf Fortress: Dwarf Fortress updated. [change list]

Mission to Mars: Mateusz Skutnik (Submachine, Covert Front series) releases a new platformer entitled Mission to Mars.

Kongregate: The popular web games portal has announced five development studios funded from $20,000 to $100,000 to create original, large-scale Flash games exclusive to the site. [source: GameSetWatch]

A quick ten-minute interview with Paul Eres, creator of Immortal Defense.

Are you still working on Immortal Defense? Were you happy with the results of RPGC's first commercial game?

I'm still working on ID, yes, on the level editor and a few other improvements, which are taking longer than I planned for. And I'm happy with the results yes, but I'd have been happy with any results. One thing I predicted was that I wanted to sell 100 copies in a year. It's already been more than 100 in 6 months, so it was more than I expected.

You submitted Immortal Defense (ID) into IGF. How do you rate your chances?

I'd guess 20% chance of being in the finals, 0.1% chance of winning. ^_^ But predicting the future is hard, so that's just based on my feelings about how my game compares to the others and how the judging process works and so on.

A quick ten-minute interview with cactus, done just today. Depending on the response, it could turn into a regular thing involving other developers as well.

How many entries are you planning to submit for the YoYoGames Winter Competition? (the one in which the winner gets $1,000 cash)

One I suppose. I don't think I have time for more than that. I'm also aiming for something rather ambitious, so I don't see any point in going for multiple entries.

Could you give us a little hint about what your competition entry would be like?

I'm trying to do something I haven't tried before, so I'm going for an exploration platfomer with a longer storyline than my previous games have featured. Might throw in some smaller RPG elements while I'm at it, a bit like Cave Story perhaps.

Noitu Love 2: Joakim Sandberg interviewed by Gamasutra. [konjak.org]

Independent Games Festival: Simon Carless interviewed by Michael Samyn.

Democracy 2: A web site for Cliff Harris' sequel to his popular political simulator is online. A demo will be posted soon.

Metanet Software: metablog updated.

Twilight Heroes is a turn-based role playing game. By day you're an underpaid and unappreciated worker at a pain-in-the-neck job, but as the sun goes down you don a mask and a cape and patrol the streets in an attempt to clean up the crime-riddled and corrupt city you live in.

Along the way your hero or heroine will develop super powers, such as amazing strength, mastery of the elements, or the ability to manipulate things with your mind. As you grow in power you acquire more skills and items, and face an increasingly challenging series of goals, quests, and super-villains. You can choose from powerful talismans to channel your abilities through, and build a secret base to use as your hideout and refuge when you're not fighting crime. Just don't stay up too late, or you might have to face consequences the next day at work.

Twilight Heroes is free to play and has no advertising.

Name: Twilight Heroes
Developer: Quirkz Media
Category: RPG
Type: Browser

Speculum Mortis is a horror-styled point-and-click adventure. Gameplay consists of wandering around a Victorian age residence which was abandoned years ago, or so it seems at first glance.

Left click to examine objects or your surroundings, and right click to interact.

Name: Speculum Mortis
Developer: Happo Entertainment
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

Yahtzee has just released his new game; a stealth platformer titled Trilby: The Art of Theft. It's the first game he's released since he started his weekly game review video-editorial Zero Punctuation.

The game stars Trilby, but is set in 1991, two years before Five Days a Stranger takes place. Each mission has you infiltrate highly guarded buildings to loot and gather information, then sneak out again. The emphasis is on stealth: while you can tazer the guards, if you do it too often Trilby will abandon the mission.

I've only just started the game, so perhaps it's too early to say whether it's any good: but my first impressions are positive. Very positive. Go check it out. You can discuss the game at the Unofficial AoT Forums (set up by the game's beta testers).

Name: Trilby: The Art of Theft
Developer: Yahtzee
Category: "Mission-Based Stealth Platformer"
Type: Freeware
Size: 2.42 MB
Direct download link: On the Escapist, here

Lost in the Static is a free exploration-oriented platform game for Windows XP and Vista on reasonably modern PCs. It uses some surprising aspects of the human perceptual system to create a visible world out of animating static.

May cause headaches and nausea. The game has a proper ending.

Name: Lost in the Static
Developer: Sean Barrett
Category: Platform
Size: 5MB
Type: Freeware
Direct download link: Click here

In Excit, your goal is to guide the cursor to the exit without leaving the screen. The arrow keys can be used to control movement. When an arrow key is pressed, the cursor will keep moving until it hits an obstacle.

Each of the thirty levels has a password. You can leave the game and continue playing later by entering the password received the last time you've played.

Name: Excit
Developer: Krystian Majweski
Category: Puzzle
Type: Browser

Exception is a 3D scrolling shooter which mainly features enemies made out of grey blocks, and though that may sound unimpressive it does allow the developer to place nearly two thousand objects on screen at any time.

Use the cursor keys to move, and press either the A or S key to rotate. Hold the Z key to shoot, and press the X key to activate your missile lock. You can use the C key to push blocks away, but only if the second gauge at the bottom left of the screen has at least one charge.

Name: Exception
Developer: i-saint (primitive)
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB
Direct download link: Click here

Winter Competition: YoYo Games is sponsoring $1,000 as the grand prize for their latest contest. Theme is 'Winter', and the final submission date is December 23rd 2007. Two runner-ups are entitled to $500 and $250 respectively. [contest rules, current submissions]

- The game should not change the screen resolution and should run in a window.
- A member is allowed to submit at most two games in each competition.
- You can submit a game you created in the past but only if it is not already published on YoYo Games.

Indie Game Developer Showcase: ECD Systems is selling a collection of entries from their recent competition on DVD for $7.95.

Fedora Spade 3: The latest chapter in the Fedora Spade series should be out soon. [Episodes 1 and 2]

Indie Games Group: I + is a group on Opera with discussions centered around indie games.

Exile: Ovine by Design's Exile remake is out.

Platine Dispositif: Murasame drop a hint about his upcoming Comiket release. [Engage to Jabberwock mirror, map, article]

Hot Soup Processor: HSP (a Japanese equivalent of the popular Game Maker) is available in English. [source: Null1024]

Axiom Overdrive: A couple of screenshots from Reflexive's Axiom Overdrive can be found at it's official website.

Articles

MarkUp Issue 9: MarkUp issue 9 (the official GM magazine) is now available for download.

Acidbomb: David Galindo shares his experience of selling a commercial Game Maker production.

Interviews

InstantAction: GameSpot interviews Josh Williams of GarageGames. [source: Indie Informer]

Puzzle Quest: Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield interviews the COO of D3, Yoji Takenaka.

Rückblende (Flashback)

"This interactive animation movie was my diploma project in visual communication. The story of the film is about a man confronted with his childhood memories while walking around a summerhouse in the woods, where he used to spend the holidays with his parents. The more he dwells in his memories, a secret seems to be unravelling.

The surrounding and the inside of the house were built as a model, while the appearing characters from the memories were drawn with a pencil and animated with white lines on top of the photographed model – background." - Nils Deneken

- IGF student entry page

XED is a decent vertical shooter by BomB that will please veteran shmup fans, but drive beginners mad even at it's default difficulty setting. The game sports great pixel graphics and consistent frame rate, though only two continues are allowed for each game.

Hold the left shift key for spread shot, and use the Z key for concentrated firepower. Your special weapon can be charged by destroying enemy ships, then activated by pressing the X key. A stage select feature allows players to attempt levels previously completed. The config file can be used to change key configuration settings.

Name: XED
Developer: BomB
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

Another Bound Neo is a freeware FPS which could be very difficult to pick up for non-Japanese speaking players. Use the W, A, S and D keys to control your suited protagonist. Hold the left mouse button to shoot, and press the space key to jump. Tap the F1 function key to display the location map.

Recharge stations also double as save points, easily spotted by it's green glow.

Name: Another Bound
Developer: Crystal Light Stage
Category: FPS
Type: Freeware
Size: 30MB
Direct download link: Click here

Buster is a new platformer by the creator of Akuji the Demon and Guardian of Paradise. Press the X key to slash, and tap the Z key to jump or double jump. Hold the C key to absorb collectibles.

To dash, simply tap the left or right cursor key twice in rapid successions. It is possible to scale walls vertically by doing a running jump, then quickly tap the Z key when your character is against the wall. You can also grab hold of certain walls by pressing the X key after executing this move.

The trial version features one level only.

Name: Buster
Category: Platform
Type: Demo
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

Blast Force is a unique one switch shooter in which players can only move the ship either left or right using only a single key. The laser beam can be charged by holding down a button for about two to three seconds. The game features five stages, unique boss battles, bonus level and unlimited continues.

Name: Blast Force
Developer: igayori
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

Waxy's Rocket Party is a new action game by the author of Ark 22, in which players have to guide a rocket carefully to the finish line found in each of the seventy levels offered. Use the left and right cursor keys to direct the ship, and hold both buttons to stabilize your ride. Press the F4 key to play in full screen mode.

Name: Waxy's Rocket Party
Developer: Srehpog
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here

Cave Story: Pixel had posted a collection of screenshots and images from a beta version of Cave Story (dated 2003) on his BBS. [direct download link]

Braid: Gameplay videos from Braid will be posted fairly soon.

Battle City X: Kostey D. is working on a new remake.

Mr. Mothball 2 is a simple one screen shooter from the author of Submachine and the Covert Front series.

A rather awkward game, considering that the boss battle is only initiated when you lose all your health to normal enemies.

Name: Mr. Mothball 2
Developer: Mateusz Skutnik
Category: Shooter
Type: Browser