Jonathan Blow (Braid) is seeking participants for the Experimental Gameplay Sessions 2008, an event held during the GDC in which attendees are encouraged to showcase their games, prototypes and ideas to an audience with a keen interest in innovation. Submissions should be sent to workshop2008 [a] number-none.com, before January 15th 2008 for consideration.

- The Experimental Gameplay web site

An interview with Arthur 'Mr. Podunkian' Lee, developer of The Underside.

Hi Arthur, let's begin with an introduction of yourself.

Okay, I'm a college student. I use pretty much entirely Multimedia Fusion and GraphicsGale for most my games, but recently I've gotten into some sound design with old toys and homemade electronics. And I made Punishment 1, 2, and Flywrench. But before that I made Wally, Bool, and Booloid.

I'm just kidding, let me get serious here.

Hi, I'm Arthur "Mr. Podunkian" Lee, I'm a college student and I guess I've been making video games for 13 years now, and that's more than half of my entire life, which makes me either an expert in making video games or a big fat nerd.

Are you trying to interview me so you can ask me to show you a picture of a project I'm working on because if you are lemme tell you, you're going to find yourself in a world of disappointment!

You caught me red-handed. Actually, I'm just trying to make sure that The Underside isn't abandoned.

What games have you made so far? I mean, just name the games that you want people to Google for. I know about your past projects, but unfortunately some people think you've only done The Underside. Oh wait, can I use the words 'Cave Story rip-off' excessively in this interview? Or just sparingly?

Yes, preface every question with it!

Haha... can I end each question with the same words as well?

The Winter Solstice is an arena shooter by Mr. Chubigans, developer of The Sandbox of God and Acidbomb series. The game features six playable levels plus several unlockable modes which can only be acquired by collecting medals through achievements. Use the W, A, S and D keys to move your lantern around, and hold the left mouse button to shoot.

Name: The Winter Solstice
Developer: Mr. Chubigans
Category: Action, Arcade
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB
Direct download link: Click here

Nanosmiles is a new arena shooter from Yaruhara, in which players have to collect inactive options scattered around each area and use them to inflict damage on the enemies. Hold the Z key to activate your targeting system. Your weapons will automatically fire at targeted enemies if the same button is held down. Use the X key to make your ship travel quicker.

This trial version for the upcoming Comiket 73 release has only four playable levels.

Name: Nanosmiles
Developer: Yaruhara
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here

An interview with Dave Gilbert of Wadjet Eye Games, creator of the Blackwell series and The Shivah.

Hi Dave, let's begin with an introduction of yourself, and what you do.

Sure thing. My name is Dave, and I'm an indie game developer from New York City. I started writing freeware games back in 2001 and in June of 2006 I decided to give the commercial thing a whirl. A year and a half later, I'm still making them.

What are you currently working on at the moment?

At the moment I'm working on the 3rd game in the Blackwell series, entitled "The Blackwell Convergence". It's a return to the present day, meaning you'll see Rosangela again instead of Lauren.

Passage: Jason Rohrer explains his latest creation in detail. [download Passage]

DHC: DHC is working on a new horizontal shooter.

Competitions

2007 HSP Contest: Results for the 2007 HSP (Hot Soup Processor) Contest are out, with Another Bound bagging first place. [descriptions and screenshots for all entries]

Ludum Dare: Ludum Dare 10 (48 hour game competition) will begin this 14th of December.

Adventure, Roguelikes

Dwarf Fortress: Dwarf Fortress updated. [change list]

Incursion: A Mac port for the freeware roguelike game Incursion is now available.

Heartland series: Unbound - A Wound Vignette will be released next week. [Heartland Deluxe]

ScummVM: ScummVM updated with support for AGOS games.

Remakes, Ports

Wizball: Wizball now available for the Mac.

Army of Trolls: Tomaz Kac (Push Push Penguin, Head Over Heels) will release a new game soon.

Game Maker

The Windy Witch: Pug Fugly (Return to Sector 9) is currently working on four different projects, with one of them being an entry for the YoYo Games Winter competition.

RPGCreations: Orchard-L might develop a new horror game after Fedora Spade 4 is released.

Miscellaneous

Braid: In a rare forum posting over at TGC, Jonathan Blow had mentioned that he has every intention on working on a new game after Braid. Both PS3 and PC versions were not ruled out.

GameTunnel's 2007 GotY: GameTunnel's 2007 Game of the Year Awards calendar posted. Russell is currently polling for the Player's Choice Nominees.

Audiosurf: IGF finalist Audiosurf will be released in February 2008.

Space Dynagon: A trial version for Murasame's new game, Space Dynagon is now available.

An interview with Messhof (Mark Essen), creator of the Punishment series and Flywrench.

Hi Messhof. Let's begin with an introduction of yourself, your tools of trade, and the creations you've released unto an unsuspecting world..

Alright. I'm a college student. I use pretty much entirely Game Maker and MSPaint for most of my games, but recently I've gotten into some sound design with old toys and homemade electronics. And I made Punishment 1, 2, and Flywrench. But before that I made Wally, Bool, and Booloid.

Old toys? How do you record them?

Like old toy guitars from goodwill. I just rewire them so they output to quarter inch cables then run them through pedals or software filters I design. You can get some pretty crazy stuff just by running through their demo songs in different ways. This is something I've been doing with friends though, I don't want to take all the credit for that.

Ok, I've got to ask. How did you get the idea to make games as sadistic as the Punishment series?

A one hour video of the IGS panel has been posted at GameSetWatch. Participants include Derek Yu (Aquaria/Bit-Blot/TIGSource), Greg Costikyan (Manifesto Games), Mark Morris (Introversion), and Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab). I found the conversation pretty interesting, especially the analogy at the beginning that Greg started and Derek moved into hilarity.

Aquaria has been released. I'll review the game after I finish it and edit this entry later with more information, this is just early notice for those who were waiting for it.

Name: Aquaria
Developer: Bit Blot
Category: Underwater Metroidvania?
Type: Shareware
Size: 63 MB
Direct download page: Click Here
Direct download link: Mirror 1, Mirror 2
Buy the game: Click here

Lux is a chain reaction game. When you click on a pattern of light, it expands, and any other pattern of light in that range also expands, continuing in a chain reaction. You receive more points for longer chains. There are also lights which expand on their own and give you negative points unless you click them quickly, and there are special lights which give you extra points. There's also an online high score table. The game doesn't have very much depth, but it's pretty relaxing.

Name: Lux
Developer: ryguydavis / Creative Ink
Category: Chain Reaction Game
Type: Freeware
Size: 4.3 MB
Direct download page: Click Here

Aveyond 2 has been released. Because it's an RPG I didn't have time to complete the whole thing before posting this, but I enjoyed the first one and its freeware prequel and from what I've played so far it seems solid, so if you like this genre of game it's probably worth trying out.

One thing I do think has improved over the earlier games by the same author is mouse control, you can now move around and talk to people using either the mouse or the keyboard.

This seems to be a big week for shareware indie game releases -- Democracy 2, Aveyond 2, and Aquaria.

Name: Aveyond 2
Developer: Amanda Fitch / Amaranth Games
Category: Japanese-style RPG
Type: Shareware
Size: 35 MB
Direct download: Click Here

Democracy 2 has been released. It's really only recommended to people interested in politics (like me), but for those who are it's pretty fun seeing how the author of the game arranged politics into this neural net of interacting cells each feeding into other cells. It's a very deep game.

The author of the game is from the UK so some of the terms might not be familiar to people in the US (for instance, Pensions instead of Social Security). As in most of the author's other games I tend to think a few of the ways the system interacted is a bit unrealistic -- for instance, in this game, having no tax on cars almost always leads to an asthma epidemic, which makes all parents vote for someone else. But those don't detract too much from the play experience.

One feature which I would have preferred the game have (and which was in similar games such as Balance of the Planet by Chris Crawford) would be a worldview editor -- where the assumptions of the strengths and directions between each of the nodes in the network would be made adjustable, so that the player could build in his own assumptions into the game (for instance, anarcho-capitalists have different assumptions about how the different political issues relate to each other than socialists or environmentalists and so on).

Name: Democracy 2
Developer: Cliffski / Positech Games
Category: Political Strategy
Type: Shareware
Size: 30.5 MB
Direct download: Click Here

FLYWRENCH has been released. It is this game, for those who remember the video but not the name.

The arrows are the only controls, and depending on which you press, your color changes: up flaps you up and turns you red, left and right move left and right and turn you white, and down rolls (protecting you from the walls) and turns you green.

The main goal is to get between two points in a series of stages, with increasingly complex obstacles in your way: the trick is that you can move through an obstacle if you are the same color as it. The level design is probably the best part of the game, I had a lot of fun with it. I also liked the movement system, where you have to flap to keep you aloft; it's a rare movement system that I can only remember being used previously in the Atari 2600 game Fathom.

Name: FLYWRENCH
Developer: Messhof
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 12MB
Direct download: Click Here
Mirror download: Click Here