Releases

Idealism: A new game by Jason Rohrer is available from The Escapist.

Braid: Owners of an Xbox 360 dev kit can now play Braid on Partnernet.

Metanet's N+: According to VG Chartz, this 2D platformer released on the XBLA just three weeks ago has sold over 85,000 copies.

Previews

MoonPod: Nick reveals that their next game will feature pirates. (article)

World of Goo: Kyle confirms that the WiiWare version of 2D Boy's debut release will include multiplayer support.

Miscellaneous

Mighty Jill Off: Feministe reviews dessgeega's latest game.

CoolMoose: Tom is working on a sequel to RunMan's Monster Fracas.

White Butterfly: A demo for Linley's new vertical shooter is now available for download. (registered forum members only)

ModCenter staffs had recently interviewed the developers of Flipside and Foamzilla, both nominated for IGF 2008's Student Showcase award.

IGF Student Focus: FLIPSIDE
IGF Student Focus: Foamzilla

An interview with the folks at Flashbang Studios about Off-Road Velociraptor Safari, Jetpack Brontosaurus and dinosaurs in general was recently posted on Shacknews.

An Off-Road Interview with the Raptor Safari Creators
Indie Adventures: PixelJAM and Dino Run

I don't know how many of you remember Shawn Noel. He was a Game Maker developer, probably most well known for his Jetz series of games. He was known for incorporating a good deal of violence and dark humour into his games.

In late 2005, I conducted a short interview with him, which still haunts me to this day (I won't post a link because it has errors from a server change). He seemed to be on a downward spiral. His final project was Street Bike Fury, which was released early in 2006. I felt that this was his best work, underrated and a sign of big things for Shawn. He took his own life not long after this. He was still in highschool. It has been over two years.

Recently clysm of Seiklus fame posted a Shawn64 Retrospective over on the Game Maker Games website. Since clysm knew Shawn better than most, I thought it was a nice read, since it gave some insight into the kid that he was when he was actually happy developing games and brimming with ideas. It's a nice way to remember him.

GameTap had recently started a week-long special which focuses specifically on the subject of indie games. In a series of interviews, Douglass Perry talks to the developers of Aquaria, Battleships Forever, Clean Asia, Crayon Physics, The Dishwasher and Fret Nice. The chat with Sony's John Hight also reveals new information about thatgamecompany's Flower. And of course, Mr. Robot is still available as a free download on GameTap.

Features: Indie Game Interview Round-Up
The State of Indie Games
John Hight Interview
The Dishwasher Interview (GameSpot)
The Game Community According to Derek Yu

[IndieGames.com parent Think Services also helps run Dr. Dobb's Journal, the seminal programming website/magazine - founded in 1975. We're doing the Dobbs Challenge game competition, and the First Month deadline is coming up - hence this FYI.]

GameSetWatch sister site Dr Dobb's Journal has announced that the $1,000 First Month Challenge, an initial prize for the best game produced by modding the Dr. Dobbs Challenge game within a month, is to close April 14th.

The First Month Challenge is the first prize category in the inaugural Dobbs Challenge (a special game competition brought to you in association with Dr. Dobb's Journal and Microsoft) and The Dobbs Challenge organizers have noted that “work-in-progress” games are completely eligible for the First Month Challenge prize.

All entrants are free to continue to developing their project for the final deadline (for all prizes) on June 13th -- including Best Windows Game ($4,000), Best Windows Mobile Game ($2,000), Best One Button Game ($1,000), Best Game Starring Dr Dobbs And The Defy All Challenges Crew ($1,000), and Best Total Conversion ($1,000) - for making something that's completely different in genre/style from the original Dr. Dobbs Challenge, but still keeps 'collect Visual Studio icons' as the mechanic and starts from the same codebase.

To participate, interested parties can firstly download the specially created 'Dr. Dobb's Challenge' games for either Windows and Windows Mobile. Then they can win from a prize pool of $10,000 by modifying the games using a trial version of Visual Studio 2008, in association with competition sponsor Microsoft.

Full source code and art for the games are freely provided for programmers and artists to 'mod' the results and win prizes, and all you need to know to participate is available on the official website.

The Dobbs Challenge organizers have also unveiled their first “Editor’s Choice” mod (the submitted mods that have most impressed the judges so far) with Georg Rottensteiner’s expansion to Dr. Dobbs Challenge, which features a level editor, new art, sound and scrolling levels.

Georg explained his choice to include a level editor as “a needed add-on: while text based levels are nice for casual editing, in the long run an in-game editor is better; you see exactly what you're doing and what's it going to look like. And it lets me create new stages faster!”

He also included tips for people wanting to create graphics in the style of the original game (“I cheated a bit; painted new tiles in twice the resolution and simply scaled them down”) and creating sound effects:

“I've been using DrPetter's sfxr sound tool for additional sound effects. It's an awesome tool that lets you create random 8-bit style sound effects and play with the parameters. Highly recommended.”

Noitu Love 2 now has a firm release date: April 18th, 2008, which is next Friday. The forums are also reopened for business. (source: anonymous)

konjak.org

Karoshi 2 is the sequel to the similarly titled platformer released by Jesse Venbrux last month. The game consists of over fifty short levels in which you have to figure out the correct method to help the main character commit suicide. Use the cursor keys to move your character. Press the Z key to jump. R key restarts, and the escape key quits.

The developer had also included a level editor and Karoshi 1 speed run mode, where players would have to complete close to thirty stages from the original in under seven minutes.

Name: Karoshi 2
Developer: Jesse Venbrux
Category: Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB
Direct download link: Click here

The Toronto Independent Game Development Jam (TOJam) is an annual gathering of like-minded programmers and designers - there's no entry fee or dress codes to adhere to. Coders, artists and musicians are all invited to attend the event, mingle around with the crowd and perhaps even make a couple of games during the three day meet. The place is Innovation Toronto, and the date is 9th - 11th of May 2008.

The Toronto Independent Game Development Jam

An interview with Kian Bashiri (Mazapán), developer of the Flash game You Have To Burn The Rope.

Hi Kian, kindly tell us a little about yourself and your newly-gained internet fame.

Well, I'm 21. I'm half-Persian, half-Finnish/Swede, but I was born and raised here in Sweden. I'm currently studying computer game development, and I love playing indie games. Yeah... I don't really know what else is interesting.

Oh, about my newly gained-internet fame... it's crazy. I'm so in the middle of it all, I'm still not sure how big it is. Some people have called You Have To Burn The Rope (YHTBTR) their game of the year, but I'm still not sure whether it's something that will be forgotten next week.

I'm googling "You Have to Burn the Rope" all the time, checking my referrals on my web statistics and wading through the mail.

Can you explain YHTBTR in your own words?

Well, it is a joke. And I don't want to say too much about it, because dissecting a joke always makes it unfunny. Part of it is this really silly idea, and part of it is this statement about how games are too hard and complicated. It's also a subtle reference to how some games are kind of patronizing toward the player, like too easy.

But I never set out to make it this way, it kind of turned into this with time. It started out as an attempt to make a game that spoiled the whole experience for you before you played it. Funnily enough, people really don't read instructions...

A lot of people that I saw playing the game live actually went through the tunnel without reading the instructions or thinking about the name of the game and realized that you have to burn the rope first when they saw it themselves. I think this is what has happened when I read comments like "it wuz so easy.", these people went right through it and didn't realize that the joke was on them.

Eegra is offering cash prizes worth a total of AUD $2,750 (roughly USD $2,500) for first to third place finishers in their 1st Annual Game Makin' Shindig Competition. Contest runs for three months, with July 8th 2008 set as the final submission date. Entrants are advised to read the Terms and Conditions plus Guidelines for Entry before considering participation.

Eegra: 1st Annual Game Makin' Shindig (GMS)

Michaël Samyn had recently posted an interview with Jenova Chen on their development journal. In it, they discuss about Jenova's past projects, game design and thatgamecompany's future endeavors. No details about Flower were revealed though. Understandable because they are under a publishing deal, but still - BUMMER.

The words "sister studio" used by Kellee Santiago to describe Tale of Tales is intriguing. The Path on the PSN? D:

Tale of Tales - Interview with Jenova Chen

In Yume Nikki (Dream Diary), you're cast as a young girl living in a small apartment. There is very little to do in your room, but fall asleep and an entire dream world is yours to explore. The Z key can be used to interact or gain new effects. Certain locations beyond each door may yield more than one effect for the player to discover. Press 9 to wake yourself up. Use the desk in the room to save your progress, and hold the escape key for more than two seconds to exit the NASU console game.

Acquiring the bicycle, lamp and knife should be at the top of your list, as these items will double your character's speed, light up dark areas and allow basic attack moves to be executed. Nearly all locations are wrapped around, hence walking in one direction endlessly will always bring you back to the starting point.

Installation instructions are provided in the zip file. Yume Nikki does have a proper ending. (source: Sekhem, Starmen.Net)

Name: Yume Nikki
Developer: Kikiyama
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 40MB
Download link: Rapidshare, WHFF, mirror (unzip .rar files using 7-Zip)

As posted by Random Passersby (thanks!):

This isn't exactly new news, but since I just got back today and found out about it mere minutes ago, let's pretend it is and start praising the great god of indie gaming who somehow was able to restore faith in one of his most trustful servants. For you see, some random chap who goes by the name of ikiki on the interweb put together a nice 'n shiny website intended for showcasing all of his precious work here:

http://ikiki.sokushinbutsu.com/himoji/

It's a whole lot more sophisticated than his old "place where I'll dump all my games" kind of site over at Vector and additionally features several sweet artworks and even handmade gif animations, mostly starring the obligatory naked guy(s). Some of them are equally weird and disturbing, but others would make for excellent avatars I'd say.

Major point of interest though probably the fact that he's gone and finished two new games in the meantime:

-Curry Ki
Put curry in the best possible position in order to create the ultimate curry onigiri. (placement of curries must be a mirror image of their respective rice plates on the left side of the screen)

-Tobioriya
Save the lives of suicidal naked guys jumping off of the top of a building ikiki-style by using bow & arrow to hit them in midair and pin them to the wall. Yes. (The calculation of your final score is based on the number of hits, misses and accuracy percentage. Press the F2 function key to restart at any time.)

A short action game created by cactus for one of Poppenkast's quick development competitions. This shooter was made in the space of a few hours, and can easily be completed in a matter of minutes. Use the cursor keys to move, tap the Z key rapidly to shoot, and speak to the elder to reveal additional game instructions. Press the F1 or F2 function keys to change graphic modes.

Name: Vicious Cycle
Developer: cactus
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

cannonML is a shmup pattern generator made by Kei Mesuda, the developer of Nomltest FS, Invisible Vision and Arcanacra Black Label. This handy tool uses a simple text copy and paste method for the purposes of saving or sharing shooter creations.

Gymnast is a new acrobatics simulation game created by the developer of XBLA's JellyCar and Trampoline. A controller with two analog thumbsticks is required to play. Replays are supported, and a level editor is included to accomodate user creations. The game has two playable modes, eight language packs and a lively community site for the purpose of sharing replays and levels.

Name: Gymnast
Developer: Walaber
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB
Direct download link: Click here

This is a Cry for Help: Edmund McMillen (Gish, Triachnid, Twin Hobo Rocket) has redesigned one of his old sites to include nearly every single game he has a hand in creating in the last few years.

Echoes: fog reveals the secret code to unlock Crack, a hidden game in Binary Zoo's arena shooter.

auntie pixelante: dessgeega has a new site up. She reviews all sorts of indie games on it.

Four Elements VI: GameDev.Net's 4E6 competition entries are now available for download.