Queens is a small 2D platformer created by noonat in under three days for a mini Ludum Dare contest, made possible with the help of Adam Atomic's flixel framework and tutorial resources.

The game isn't particularly long or difficult, and you won't be spending more than fifteen minutes or so to complete the entire adventure. (source: auntie pixelante)

Succor is an experimental project created by Sean Barrett, the developer of Lost in the Static, with the original prototype designed in under three days but then expanded to include a total of twenty-seven levels in the public release version.

The game is rather simplistic in nature, where only the most basic of polygons or lines are used to represent walls, objects, and ships. You can hold the left or right arrow key to turn the ship, press up to move forward, or use the space key to shoot. Players should be able to breeze through the first few stages with ease, but the difficulty will pick up immediately once you're presented with a new gameplay element that changes the way you approach and overcome challenges radically.

This is one of those special cases where a developer cannot be squarely blamed for making a game extremely easy or too difficult. Jonathan Blow's name is also mentioned in the credits as a tester, for extreme Braid fans.

An updated demo for Arthur Lee's The Underside is now available for download. New areas and items previewed in the last gameplay video posted are all accessible in this release, with more than double the number of locations to explore and a couple of surprises to be found as well. (source)

Rake in Grass is currently running a Larva Mortus giveaway promotion, where the first fifty followers of their Twitter account will get a copy of the full game for free. There were at least twenty-two copies left to grab at the time of writing.

As proven by Wolfire and Pocketwatch Games' free game promotions, indie game developers stand to gain a lot in return (everything from growing support to sales increases) just by giving away their games.

If you have a Twitter account for development updates and encountered difficulties in getting the word out, then start giving some games away today.

[UPDATE: Rake in Grass' giveaway promotion has been extended for an extra week, so there's plenty of time for everybody to follow their Twitter account and get a free code for Larva Mortus.]

Across the Lake is an upcoming freeware platformer currently being developed by Alexitrón, developer of Shocker and The Power. Playthrough for the first two level is shown in the video above, and the full game should contain at least eight stages if not more.

Made with Game Maker.

Monos is a puzzle game with Tetris-style controls and irregular coloured shapes for the players to place inside a well. The level count increases by one for every ten shapes cleared from the screen, and there are a total of fifty levels to play regardless of the difficulty setting chosen.

Your objective is basically to match two or more blocks of the same colour to remove them. The Z and X keys can be used to rotate the current piece in play. Press up to place a block at the bottom of the well immediately, or hold the down arrow key to move it downwards at a slower pace.

In the percent gameplay mode, players are given random shapes to fill a well with. The more shapes you can fit in, the higher your percentage count will be at the end of the game. (direct download link)

Trigger is a tough horizontal shooter created by Stephen Lavelle, developer of intriguing experimental projects such as Opera Omnia and Rara Racer. The ship that you pilot is armed with only one weapon, but when used effectively it can destroy just about any mothership you might encounter on this dangerous mission.

Multiple enemy targets can be targeted at the same time by holding down the A key. When the button is released, all enemies targeted will be shot at automatically. To inflict more damage, simply chain together a couple of targets before blasting them all in one go. All enemy ships must be destroyed, or you would have to play the same stage all over again. The only occasions where this doesn't apply is during boss fights, in which there are four of them in total.

Note that the game is extremely difficult and challenging, and players who are easily frustrated should avoid playing increpare's latest effort. There are twenty-four stages to blast through in both Windows and Mac OS X versions.

Trigger download page
save file (unlocks all levels)

A couple of weeks ago, the guys at Dejobaan Games started taking pre-orders for upcoming basejumper AaaaAetc - A Reckless Disregard for Gravity. Not only will those who pre-order the game bag themselves a $10 discount off the final $25 price, but every supporter will also receive a 'Pre-Release' copy of the game (which is essentially a beta version which includes 30 of the eventual 80 levels) and 'exclusive content'.

While it's in no way feasible to write a review off of this unfinished code, it'd still be nice to know whether it's worth forking out $15 for, right? Welcome to my pre-review for Aaaaa! which, in a nutshell, goes as follows: Buy this game.

Bit Fortress is a vertical shooter created by Davioware in under eight hours, featuring epileptic-inducing graphics and a catchy background tune. There is only one level to play in this build, but it comes complete with a boss battle at the end and will loop from the beginning once you've managed to beat the game.

Developed using the Construct game creation engine, so you might need to update your operating system with the latest version of DirectX to get it working. You can quit the game at any time by pressing the left Alt and F4 function key. (source, forum thread)

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Crystal Dynamics, Trion and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Gregory Weir has done it again. How to Raise a Dragon follows the rise and potential fall of a mythical beast from hatching to distilling fear in the hearts of pitiful humans. As you'd expect from a Gregory Weir game, there are multiple endings depending on the direction you decide to take.

Your first steps into the world determine your dragon's colouring. The second part (adolescence) is all about deciding what kind of special power you want to spew from your dragon's mouth. Will you be a fiery tryant raining down destruction or be a kind soul? There are a few different options to choose from.

Finally, at full grown state, it's time to interact with humans. Again, how you decide to handle yourself makes all the difference. Once this is all done, there's a final twist which marks out the ending once and for all.

I'm not sure if this is where Greg got his inspiration from, but once the game has been played through once, the menu system all goes a bit Spore-like. It's possible to choose which stage to start from, and what kind of colour/power to have (as long as you have previously unlocked them).

Anyway, it's all brilliantly done. So... go play! It's at Armor Games.

The first set of speakers for the coming Assembly Summer 2009 (Finland's largest computer festival, held in Helsinki) have been revealed, and you can find a list of sessions posted on Assembly 2009's official site. Erik Svedäng will be talking about the development of Blueberry Garden, cactus is expected to reveal the secrets of speed prototyping, Eskil Steenberg will be discussing about his upcoming MMO Love, and Petri Purho is planning to throw a surprise for whoever is fortunate enough to attend the sessions.

A game development competition will also be held during the four-day event (starting on the 6th of August 2009), although there's no question that some of the names mentioned above have already made plans to participate and dominate their peers with their awesome game-making skills.

Zeno Clash fans rejoice! After receiving the first free additional content for the ACE Team's beat-em-up last month, you shall now be blessed with even more - and again it's free!

This weekend three additional challenge levels called 'The Pit' will be added to the game. ACE Team's Andres Bordeu sets the scene:

"Gravity is the enemy and taking a wrong step can be fatal. Destructible floors and traps await the skilled who want to reach the bottom of the pit alive."

I'll admit the challenge mode wasn't exactly my kinda thing (as I've pointed out previously), but the video makes it looks pretty fun... hey, is that... C-3PO?! Now I'm officially confused.

Anywho, to celebrate the release of this new material, Zeno Clash will have 50% off the purchase price all weekend for anyone who is yet to delve into the world of Zenozoik. I'd recommend you give it a try if you haven't already.

CutCopyPasteGnome is a puzzle game created by Luke Brown, where the player's objective is to assist a gnome in reaching the exit without any direct control over his movements. This will require manipulating objects with a couple of editor functions, accessible by right-clicking on the game screen and selecting the tool you would like to use.

Objects marked by red boxes cannot be removed nor copied, hence you will need to manipulate your surroundings to overcome these obstacles and challenges. There are roughly ten levels to play in total.

A preview trailer for Daedalic Entertainment's upcoming 2D adventure game, The Whispered World. The game is scheduled for a release later this year (Germany first, then in English for the rest of the world at a later date). A Nintendo DS version is also in development. (FAQ)

Tale of Tales, developers of the recent controversial horror game The Path, have announced details about their next game, codenamed 'Fatale'.

Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn of Tale of Tales explain:

""Fatale" is based on the legend of Salomé, who, 2000 years ago, demanded the head of John the Baptist as a reward for dancing for her stepfather, King Herod. Oscar Wilde's 1891 interpretation of Salomé as a young woman in love with the prophet is the main inspiration for the project.

In "Fatale" you will be able to explore the scene of this momentous historical event, experiencing the story through the emotions and thoughts of the characters involved."

The guys say the game will be similar to their 2008 indie title 'The Graveyard' and will revolve around the ideas of paintings depicting a frozen moment in time and "fatal
woman who lures men to their downfall".

The game is due for release on 5 October 2009, which is apparently the 78th anniversary of the first public performance of Salomé in English (due to the play's portrayal of certain biblical figures, it was banned from the British stage for almost 50 years). For all the art fans out there, the above image is “Salomé” by Lucien Lévy Dhurmer, 1896.

It was announced yesterday that after nearly three years in service, Greg Costikyan has decided to close down Manifesto Games, one of the few digital distribution sites out there that heavily featured and actively promoted a considerable number of indie games on their catalogue.

Play This Thing will continue to be updated regularly, but losing Manifesto Games is still a big shame, especially for indie game developers who had problems acquiring publishing deals from other distribution channels.

[UPDATE: Costikyan has made detailed comments on why he's closing Manifesto, via the still-updating Play This Thing blog.]

Bennu is a puzzle game currently in peer review for release through Xbox Live Community Games. It's all about a bird whose head falls off and is turned into a ball and chain (!), which the player then swings through a variety of levels. Oh, and there's a hippo in there too.

Sounds more than crazy, but judging from the above trailer alone (there are barely any details on the official site) this could very well be an interesting release. It appears the basic idea is that touching blocks starts a folding pattern at that point, and it is your job to destroy all the blocks in the correct order. Or something like that. Maybe.

What looks really fun is the co-op mode. Bennu looks like the kind of title that would benefit immensely from multiplayer and clearly Once a Bird have recognised this. Throw in the fact that the game placed in the top 20 in the 2008 DreamBuildPlay contest and hey, we could have a dark horse on our hands.

Look out for updates on Once a Bird's site.

Shocker: The Electrifying Super Hero is a puzzle game created by Alexitrón for Game Jolt's Shocking contest, where you are in control of a hero entrusted with the job of saving the planet from a major technology-related disaster. Each area has several blue nodes and a yellow exit point, with your objective being to reach the escape portal without accidentally sliding out of the screen.

Players can only travel in four different directions, and once an arrow key is pressed our protagonist will continue moving in that direction until he hits a solid object. There is an additional flip ability which you can use to change positions, although this is only possible when you're standing on either a blue or pink-coloured block.

The length of the game is rather short, with only ten stages to play in story mode. Players could attempt to solve all levels a second time with fewer moves, but nothing extra is awarded other than a different congratulatory message for your achievements.

Polynomial is a 3D arcade shooter that features mathematically generated fractal scenery, with simplistic ship controls and a configurable difficulty setting that allows players to engage enemies in intense dogfights or explore the vast reaches of space at their own leisurely pace. The included editor can be used to generate new fractal sceneries and arenas, although the save option is only accessible for customers who purchased the game.

Gameplay basically consists of flying around, shoot at enemies marked by red boxes, and collect green items. You can repair your ship by floating near any of the coloured particles in space.

The demo offers ten arenas to play in, and there is no time restrictions that hamper your gameplay experience in any way. An online multiplayer option is in the works.

Available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. (source)

[Update: Igor Hardy over at Hardy Dev has been talking to creators Ben and Dan about the game. It's a really good interview in which they reveal some interesting things, including the fact that there will not be a threequel to the series.]

Zombie Cow Studios have released the sequel to their 2008 adventure game Ben There, Dan That!

Time Gentlemen, Please is a comedy adventure game with a story which goes as follows:

"What’s worse than finding out that your future evil selves have set about a series of events that wipes out all human life on the planet? Going back in time to fix things with half a mind on preventing coathangers from ever being invented, and accidentally setting up an alternate-universe Hitler with an unstoppable army of dinosaur clones instead, that’s what! Whoopsie!"

As you can probably guess, the game is aimed at a more adult audience with lots of naughty dialogue. Fortunately if you've never got round to giving Ben There, Dan That! a go, the story is summed up at the beginning of the new game so it's not necessary to have played the prequel (although I'd highly recommend that you do - it's good, free fun!).

The game costs $5 (£2.99) and there's a demo available so you can check if you like it first. I'll most likely write a review up for it once I've completed it, so if you'd rather wait to see what our response is, check back soon.

Aaaaand another Gamejolt 'Shocking' Content entry. Pace Maker is your standard blast-em-up with a few interesting twists.

Controlling the Kathomee virus, the aim is to enter each pace maker and shock it into submission while small 'circuit breakers' whiz around trying to stop you in your tracks. As your progress there are powerups that can help out.

Your normal shooter affair. What makes Pace Maker interesting is the two different types of virus up for selection. The Syncronous version has power spinning around it and your evil virus weapon can only be fired when this rotating power is facing the same direction. The Asyncronous virus on the other hand works differently. Power is built up all around your virus over time and when you fire off your bullets, this power is diminished - but only in that direction. So while this virus can fire in all directions at any time, you could also end up with no firepower for a moment.

The game can be 'quick played' so no download to hard drive is needed. Find it at Gamejolt.

Another entry for the Gamejolt 'Shocking' Contest, vel.shock(α) (or 'vel dot shock alpha') is all about using the enemy's fire against them. Turrets pop up all over the screen and it's your job to send out shockwaves by clicking the mouse button to bounce their missiles straight back at them.

It all starts off relatively easy but gradually gets pretty intense as more and more turrets are added. Over time your ship levels up, granting more health and allowing the shockwave to be sent out more often.

Although the game gets quite repetitive quickly, it's really nicely made, from the graphical style to the general feel of the controls and the leveling up system. Definitely worth a play over at Gamejolt.

There's no way that you can pass a game by that has the title 'Being Struck By Lightning is Probably the Best Way That You Could Die On Account of All of It's Awesomeness' and not try it out (although being a grammar fiend, the incorrect apostrophe made me let out a sort of 'gah' noise).

The game was created for Gamejolt's 'Shocking' Game contest. Gameplay-wise, the game extends about as far at its name in terms of sheer agonising design. Initially simple, the combination of tight jumping and evil level design make this the most keyboard-bashing experience I've had in a while. It's worth holding out and playing on when you feel like you can't take anymore, just to see how utterly harsh it really gets.

I really like the graphical style and the crazy music seems out of place and yet just right at the same time. Not sure how that works though. Just try it out yourself and see if you can understand my drivel.

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Bungie, Relic Entertainment and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Use Boxmen is a 2D puzzle platformer with cleverly-designed levels, where players are required to collect a cube in each level to progress. The trick is that certain areas can't be completed without the aid of your friends, who will mimic your moves when called upon to help. Experimentation is half of the fun, while executing your master plan to perfection can be extremely satisfying, although the link to the video walkthrough might be too tempting for players to resist when faced with a challenge that seems insurmountable at first. (BubbleBox mirror)

[We've mentioned it a couple of times before, but here's the final set of freely playable winners for the Visual Studio-sponsored Silverlight game competition, Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce, co-managed by IndieGames.com parent Think Services, with original game co-designed by Adam 'Atomic' Saltsman - some neat titles here, particularly Block Rogue.]

Organizers have announced the winners for Dr. Dobbs Challenge Deuce, a game modding competition from Gamasutra sister website Dr. Dobb's and Microsoft's Visual Studio, with $5,000 in prizes awarded to winners in categories including Best One Button Game, Best Total Conversion and Best Game.

The challenge asked entrants to use Microsoft Visual Studio to code a mod of the Silverlight-based Dr. Dobbs Challenge game, co-created by game developer Adam Saltsman of Semi Secret Software (Wurdle for iPhone, Fathom, Gravity Hook), and itself an in-browser playable platform game with custom level creation software.

However, for these more complete mods, winner of the Best One Button Game category was Shinguru the Ninja by Mattias Thell. Chosen by the judges as a "well accomplished one button entry" the title is a platform game that requires the use of only the space bar, through which a combination of tapping and holding players can attack, jump and wall jump. Thell received a $1,000 prize for his efforts.

Shinguru the Ninja

Cargo Bridge is (would you believe) all about bridge-building. Construct a bridge which your small workers can carry boxes, safes and elephants across.

It's all physics-based of course, physics being the 'in thing' at the moment. There's also a limit to how many parts you can use to build your structure. The construction phase itself reminded me a lot of a certain gooey alternative - in a good way. Strangely there is no music, but the generic man-scream when your little guys fall fits satisfyingly. Maybe music will be added in a future build (oh snap!).

Play it at Limex Games.

UK publisher Mastertronic, who you may know as the owners of the Sold Out software range, have launched a new publishing label called 'Great Indie Games'.

Designed specifically to bring indie titles to a games store near you, Mastertronic's Andy Payne explained that they want to try to give the best indie games a wider retail audience. He explained:

“We have always wanted to work more closely with developers and we believe we can add real value to indie games by getting them in front of a mainstream retail audience and shouting from the rooftops about the fruits of their considerable labour.

“With the many and varied PC games offerings out there, casual or otherwise, there is a place for great games that have been produced on a lower budget than normal by small development teams. Every other creative art has indies, indeed the games industry grew out of indie pioneers, so it is about time we helped them get back to where they belong."

He added that Mastertronic are "on the look out for more indie developed games" and that any developers who are looking to get their games sold at retail should get in touch with them. For any developers interested, please note that the service is aimed at the UK, Ireland, Australia and the Nordic region with no word on any North American releases yet.

World of Goo has been confirmed as the first game to kickstart their campaign and will be released early July for £14.99.

You've played the game, now watch the commercials!

They hardly ever update their site, but you can always find out what the guys at Pixeljam HQ are up to by visiting their Twitter page.

G-e-n-e-r-i-c is another experimental project with a novel gameplay element, created by the developer of Flickerstrings and Jump on Mushrooms: The Game. The objective here is to collect gems, coins and money bags so that you'd have enough points to proceed to the next level. Enemies can be stomped on to gain extra jump height, keys can be collected to unlock doors, and you can bash special blocks with your head for a special surprise.

I always find it a little depressing when I discover an incredible indie game completely by chance that has received no marketing whatsoever. It always makes me wonder: why did the developer spend so much time and effort creating something brilliant and then not even have a decent crack at spreading it around a little?

I've considered writing up a list of points which I believe to be 'Good Methods for Marketing Your Indie Game', but Dev.Mag's Rodain "Nandrew" Joubert has beaten me to it, while making his ideas all 'Zero Budget' jobs too.

His article 'The Zero Budget Indie Marketing Guide' may be a very useful read for any aspiring indie developers who aren't really sure how to get their game 'out there'. It includes advice from the likes of Fez developer Phil Fish, Rock Paper Shotgun's Kieron Gillen and many others. It may even prove interesting for those of you who believe you've got the ins and outs of game-marketing sorted.

Read the article at Dev.Mag.

I completely missed this a few months ago when it won the '4k Flash Game Audience Choice Award', but better late than never, right? Pillars (original 4kPillars, as the game was written in less than 4k for the competition) reminded me a lot of dodging all over the place in Starwing.

Gameplay is smooth and feels great, although I found it incredibly difficult. Starting on Mercury, the ship makes it way through each of the planets in turn. I only managed to reach Earth before crashing one too many times.

There's also a 2 player mode in which players battle it out on one keyboard to survive the longest. Fantastic fun if you can find a buddy to sit down with. Pillars is available to play over on the MOP site.

The video above shows Diorama, a new iPhone/iPod Touch release from developer Drömsynt. Available to buy for $0.99 from the App Store, I was already interested after watching this.

Then I discovered that the game can be played with 'stereoscopic rendering' turned on - i.e. stick a pair of 3D glasses on and out it pops. Wow is right. Strangely the version available to download does not have sound, but this will be added later on.

Raider: Episode 1 is an "old-school" style platformer which aims to be fun yet challenging. The first episode of a series of five, the story follows a character who looks a little like some badass version of Sonic (there's even checkpoints which resemble the Star Posts from Sonic!) on his quest to explore a mysterious ship.

There's some great platforming to be found here and it does indeed feel sufficiently retro. Towards the end it starts to become a little too dependent on precision timing of jumps, but some would argue that that's how games used to be.

Have a crack and see what you think. (Thanks to IndieGames reader jack_in_the_dark for the suggestion!)

Cube Kingdom is an application that can be used to create 3D models out of blocks with the same size and dimension. Squares can be placed, erased or coloured over with just a click or two, and there are sixteen different colours that you can choose from to apply to your building blocks.

Hold the middle mouse button to move your construction around the window. The scroll wheel can be used to zoom in or out, and models can be saved or retrieved by selecting the first menu bar option. You can also edit Cube Kingdom's text configuration file to change background colour and other settings.

A handy tool that might be useful for designing structures quickly before building them in Minecraft.

STRINGLINK is basically a challenging single-player Snake game with a couple of nifty additions. You earn points by changing directions when the speeding craft is over a coloured tile. The counter shown at the bottom right of the screen indicates how many times you can change directions before the ship explodes. To reset this counter back to seven, simply make a turn on a tile that is of a different colour than the ship.

You can also break through existing lines to free up roaming space, but this is only possible when the ship's color doesn't match the line. Markers that indicate the point where a turn is made will also destroy your ship on contact. (direct download link, download mirror, LZH unzip instructions)

EVAC is a 2D platformer created by cactus in under three hours, consisting of only a handful of rooms to explore. Press the enter key at the title screen to start playing, or use the escape key to quit the game at any time.

Jaromir Plachy of Amanita Design (think Machinarium) has created this short but sweet little platformer. Named 'Plachy Trpaslik' (Czech for 'Shy Dwarf'), it's the story of a small dwarf's journey into the unknown.

Along the way is some simple platforming and strange sights that you'll want to experience. The whole game is nicely animated apart from the dwarf himself, which is strangely just a black blob with a hat on.

Find the little fella over at Amanita Design.

We spotted news about Derek 's upcoming iPhone/iPod Touch game via his tweeting during the week and today it was released through the App Store.

From the official site:

"DIABOLIKA is the fiendish turn-based puzzle game of chain reactions! Use an assortment of exploding monsters to fight back the horde of invading red demons. Employ different strategies to survive for as long as you can! Go for a highscore!"

Going for a mere $2 and featuring music and sound from Jonathan Perry, this is most likely a must-have for those skilled in the arts of iPoddery. Plus, his homemade commercials are quite silly too, which I fully approve of.

Check it out in the App Store now. Also, the second commercial is just after the break.

When it finally clicks in Somnia exactly what you're meant to be doing, it's a moment of sheer wow-ness.

Teased in last week's Cryptic Sea trailer, Somnia is a 3D first-person perspective outing revolving around light and shadows. Each of the puzzles must be completed by flipping between the shadow and the 3D-world. Platforms which seem unreachable are quite easily accessed through 2D shadow platforms.

It's pretty tricky to describe the experience, so I'd recommend to just go and try it. For anyone who can't work out exactly what they're meant to be doing, try standing on a platform and clicking.

This application currently runs on a dev kit for the Tegra, although one can imagine that games which merge camera usage with 3D application in unique and creative ways can't be too far off in the future.

The buildings, civilians and zombies only exist on the screen of the mobile phone, and the camera view changes accordingly as you point at different locations on the special map.

ARhrrrr! (Augmented Environments Lab)

There's only 4 days left to wait until we can all spend the night discussing whether Flashbang Studio's latest project Crane Wars is any good, but let's face it - judging by their past work, we can expect some fine entertainment.

Announcing that the game will hit Blurst.com on Monday June 15th, the above trailer has also been released. Looks like SMASHING fun! (I'm so sorry)

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Treyarch, SCEA and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Kongregate, one of the biggest Flash gaming sites that sees 7 million gamers every month, have announced a new community-based system under the name 'Kongregate Collabs' which will allow games artists and musicians to find fellow developers and link up with them much more easily.

Announced last week, Kongregate co-founder Jim Greer hopes the extension to the indie gaming site will help gamers with talents in the art and music departments to contribute more in game creation. He explained:

"Kongregate Collabs will be a great place for indie developers to meet and collaborate with artists and musicians in an environment specifically designed for self-expression and the creation of great games to be shared with millions of Kongregate players.”

To get the ball rolling, they've teamed up with Scion to give away tons of cash prizes. Sounds like a pretty neat way for developers who, say, might not be so great when it comes to sound and music to find another dedicated partner to work with.

Check out the Kongregate Collabs page for more information.

Towards the end of July, Xbox Live Community Games will be getting a name change, becoming 'Xbox Live Indie Games'.

Not the most exciting or interesting news, but news which is sure to receive split opinions from indie developers, with those releasing games through the platform most likely to be pleased that their games can now attempt to ride the recent spurt of indie successes, while others won't be so happy that titles such as Remote Masseuse now have the 'indie' tag.

I'd love to know how developers from both sides feel. Is it even that big a deal? Surely a simple name change won't mean much at all?

Originally called "vvvvvvvvvv", then called "vvvvvvvv" and now "VVVVVVVV", Terry's latest offering is a hark back to gaming of old that got me excited enough to want to post about it.

Terry was nice enough to give me a quick play of the prototype and I would say this is probably his best game to date. It's brilliant retro-platforming fun which will feature "loads and loads of unlockables" once released.

There are more screenshots over on Terry's blog. You've got to love how every room is named.

Little Wheel is a point-and-click adventure game which tells the story of a community of robots who had their power shut down due to a minor mishap. By chance a guard robot was brought back to life after getting struck by lightning, and it is up to the player to assist our mechanical friend as it tries to restore power back to the city.

Cutscenes are well-animated, puzzles are easy enough to solve without referring to a walkthrough, and all hot spots are marked clearly with either a gray or white circle. The only real fault to be found here is the length of the game, but even that is possibly down to how entertaining it is to play from start to end.

Talking to Eurogamer, ACE Team have confirmed that they are looking to release a XBLA version of Zeno Clash with "a little bit of extra content".

Released recently for the PC, Zeno Clash is apparently perfect for porting to the Xbox due to the fact that Valve's Source engine is optimised for the system, according to ACE Team's Carlos Bordeu. He told Eurogamer:

"We've been having conversations about a possible XBLA version of the game and we're currently talking with a publisher, but we still haven't closed that yet. But it's something we'd really like to do."

Still haven't tried the PC version? Read our review for an idea of what it's all about.

[Having had a chance to judge and attend this event in Tokyo last October, it was great to see Japanese and Western indies and game innovators present together at such a big event as TGS. Hopefully some of you indies can submit again for this year's Sense Of Wonder Night.]

The organizers of the 2009 Tokyo Game Show have announced a second Sense Of Wonder Night, showcasing innovative independent games, to take place September 25th during TGS 2009 -- and are calling for game submissions.

The inaugural Sense Of Wonder Night, created by industry association CEDEC, TGS organizers Nikkei BP and the Kiyoshi Shin-headed IGDA Japan chapter, took place last October during Tokyo Game Show 2008.

IndieGames sister site GameSetWatch has a comprehensive write-up of the initial event, which was inspired by the GDC's Experimental Gameplay Workshop in format, and had each set of creators showing and explaining their games for 10 minutes, with Japanese-English and English-Japanese translation.

Some of the highlights from last year's Sense Of Wonder Night included Daniel Benmergui's Moon Stories, Q-Games' PixelJunk Eden and USC's The Misadventures Of P.B. Winterbottom, and a full set of presentation videos for the games are available on YouTube.

The jury for this year's Sense Of Wonder Night includes Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy creator Keita Takahashi, Enterbrain's 'Maker' series director Kenji Sugiuchi, and Gamasutra publisher/IGF Chairman Simon Carless, as well as a new addition, noted 'dojin' game creator, ABA Games' Kenta Cho.

The creators of the selected games will get free Tokyo Game Show 2009 Business Day entry passes (the major Japanese video game show's business-only days are September 24th-25th, with public days on Sept. 26th-27th.)

Makers of the winning games also receive invitations to the TGS Forum set of business lectures, and an opportunity to present their game in front of an international audience at the second Sense Of Wonder Night.

Tokyo Game Show organizers have now opened submissions for this year's SOWN, and the deadline is Sunday, August 16th, 2009. Information on the event and how you can submit your game is available on the English-language Sense Of Wonder Night webpage.

Takishawa is Dead is a difficult 3D platformer created by Andrew Brophy, where players are sent on a quest to find the aforementioned individual who is hiding in a world filled with dangerous pitfalls and traps.

The game is a rather short one, and players aren't really expected to use more than five or six different save points throughout their adventure. This updated version has tighter camera controls and an additional save point. (blog entry)

[Update: Blueberry Garden is now available to download through Steam! Yay!]

Original story: Those of you following the IGF award-winning Blueberry Garden will no doubt already know this, but for everyone else, Erik Svedang's strange world has been delayed.

While Steam is now proclaiming that it will be released in the afternoon tomorrow (June 10th), Erik has this to say on his blog:

"Seems like there are some problems with the Steam release stuff, will probably take a little while to sort it out. I hope you have some patience with this, it’s the first time I do it right? I’m terribly sorry and I will do all I can to get the game out as soon as possible!"

Does this mean the new date on Steam may still be wrong? Only time will tell I guess, but worst case scenario, you'd assume the game isn't going to be delayed anymore than a few days.

While you're waiting, why not check out our exclusive review and see if it's worth waiting for.

While the majority of the gaming world were watching the big AAA announcements at this year's E3 (did you see that Milo? I call poppycock on that one), there was also a notable Indie Games Showcase in the form of IndieCade, which was invited to the show by the ESA.

Showing off a bunch of neat indie games to the world (here's a Flickr gallery taken by IndieCade volunteers), they've now released a full list of games showcased at last week's Los Angeles Convention Center event, which you can see after the jump:

Multiplayer servers are now up and running for Minecraft. To join a multiplayer game, simply register for a free account (if you haven't already done so), log in with your user name and password, then click on any of the currently open servers to start building. You can use the T key to bring up the chat interface, or press the escape key to regain control of your mouse cursor at any time. Easy as pie.

Browser Game Pick: Minecraft (IndieGames)

A forum member had recently revealed that Machinarium is already listed on the GamersGate site with a retail price of $19.95. Seems that the digital copy of the game will use up about 150 MB of your hard disk space after installation.

The release date is undecided yet, but Jakub is hoping to have development wrapped up sometime in September 2009.

The Pretender: Part One is a puzzle platformer created by duo Tristan Clark and Tim Knauf (Nathan's Second Chance), with charming animation and artwork supplied by Vin Rowe. You are in control of a magician named Laurence, who has to embark on a rescue mission after causing his entire audience to disappear in a performance gone awry.

Most of the puzzles are centered around stepping on magical tiles that change your form to one of the two elements, stone or air. When shaped out of air, winds can blow you in directions which are unreachable in your normal state. Turning into a stone golem bestows you with the strength to push boulders or smash rocks that are in your path.

A full screen option can be enabled by clicking on the window button just above the game's rating score. (Launching Pad Games)

Morbid is a point-and-click adventure game created by Maciej Palka and Mateusz Skutnik (of Submachine fame), where the story begins just after a plague had wiped out millions of people in Europe sometime around the 14th century. The objective of the game isn't explained to players at the start, but with a bit of exploration it is soon revealed to you through the many hints and clues that you will find during your journey.

This particular release isn't really up to par when compared to some of Mateusz's recent stuff, considering that a couple of areas (such as the roof and cemetery) can be difficult to locate due to poor hot spot placements and visible exit point indicators. The length of the adventure is also noticeably longer than his past efforts, although you'd probably be spending most of your time clicking around wildly while searching for objects to add to your inventory. (video walkthrough)

Curse of the Red Ninja is a browser-based adventure game created by the developer of Get Lost and Which Way, where players are tasked with assassinating their mentor in order to fulfill their destiny of becoming a true ninja. This will require completing a variety of fetch quests, arcade challenges, and even solve the occasional puzzle or two with only your bare hands and a piece of gold in your possession.

The Mirror Lied is an RPGMaker-created oddity. 'A faceless girl in a faceless world' engulfed in a story about... well, I'm not really sure what it's about to be perfectly honest.

It's not a horror game, but it sure is freaky. The majority of the surroundings are interactive and there's lots to see and read. Nothing is particularly taxing and you'll be able to work your way through the tale in a good 20 minutes, but it's worth playing just so you can reach the end and make a 'weh?' noise when you realise you have no idea what just happened.

Download from the Freebird Games site.

Completely random, but only brilliantly so. Video created by Beau Blyth. (source)

Scrap Collector: The Game

Shown above, the Killigant boss fight from stage two of Storm Assault.

The Mother Brain boss fight from Rock Boshers. Ortoslon has a whole collection of gameplay videos from other freeware indie games if you're interested in watching more of such clips.

Also: Cereus Peashy Final Boss Fight (Edmund's Dev Blog)

A prologue chapter for Tale of Tales' horror game The Path is now available for download from the official site and several other download mirrors. In The Path - Prologue you control the Girl in White, who originally acted as a guide whenever any of the six sisters from the full game got lost in the forest.

Both Windows and Mac users can try out the free 50 MB demo, although much of the content found in The Path has been stripped out for this version (including the exploration part inside Grandmother's House).

The Path - Prologue will be playable on Steam starting tomorrow.

“The Path - Prologue”, a new chapter. Free. (Tale of Tales)

Winning the Independent Games Festival Seumas McNally Grand Prize is always going to be a great boost for any indie developer (both mentally and financially), but it's a tough act to follow. This year's winner Erik Svedang had to follow in the wake of the likes of Crayon Physics Deluxe, Aquaria and Gish - clearly quite a daunting task.

Erik's Blueberry Garden is a playground of exploration and oddities. It's beautifully calming yet fast-paced. It's like every platformer you've ever experienced yet nothing like anything you've ever played. Most importantly, Blueberry Garden is definitely worthy of the prize bestowed upon it.

Resolution Magazine have a hands-on preview of Amanita Design's upcoming point-and-click release Machinarium, winner of the Excellence in Visual Art Award at this year's IGF.

For those eagerly awaiting its arrival, Chris Evans delves into the game and comes out with some interesting insight.

Not to be outdone by all the big name announcements at E3, Edmund and Alex have released this video showcasing some of their upcoming games.

In order, the games are No Quarter: Hitler's Must Die!, A New Zero and Somnia. The most noticeable thing about Hitler's Must Die! is the addition of that very cool rocket launcher, will be surely cause many a self-blowing-up. A New Zero will soon feature guns, allowing players to shoot down everything that moves. Finally, Somnia is apparently a new game Alex is working on with their new artist Aimee, and it looks very strange indeed. Not that you'd expect any less.

Vector Boom is a defense game set in space that involves hordes of enemy spaceships and tons of explosions. Players set a radius for each explosion using the mouse, then watch as their space station obliterates the incoming armada.

Made up of 10 levels, initially holding off the bad guys is fairly easy going but it rapidly gets more hectic. At the end of each level money earned can be spent on upgrading your space station with better blasters and more armour. There's also a survival mode which is basically a 'survive as long as you can' gameplay mode.

While it does get quite frantic, the game never really feels difficult. The music also seems a little out of place - this may be one of those rare situations where dance music might actually be the answer. However, as an overall experience, its a fun little game and one which you should definitely give a go.

Play Vector Boom over at Armor Games.

Eric over on sister site GameSetWatch spotted this rather odd looking game amongst IndieCade at E3. It's a prototype called Pluff and it pretty much looks like a computer game version of Furby.

Yes, it looks as scary as it sounds. Interacting with the 'controller' will cause the furry fella on-screen to move around and change emotion - for example, petting makes him smile while banging against a desk makes him cry. According to creator Diana Hughes, if you treat Pluff well, he'll be able to learn tricks and play games with you.

Intrigued? Read more about it on GameSetWatch.

Paradox Interactive have released the above video today of the upcoming Mount & Blade expansion 'Warband'. Followers of the game will know that the main feature of this expansion is the addition of multiplayer.

According to the press release the game will support "up to 32 players" but will be able to handle up to 64 where Mods are concerned. There's also a number of other great sounding additions, including a complete overhaul of the graphics, improved AI which will have a greater sense of morale and big improvements to the combat system.

There's no word yet on the release date yet, but sometime this summer wouldn't be a bad guess. The original is available from a variety of distributors, but if you're planning on purchasing it, best to get it from the official site - it's a lot cheaper.

Another gameplay clip taken from Wadjet Eye Games' upcoming release, The Blackwell Convergence. The third chapter in the Blackwell series should be out sometime before the end of this month.

Related:
Blackwell Convergence Trailer Released

New trailer from E3 for Nicalis' Night Game coming to WiiWare. Very nice indeed.

Remember a couple of months ago when Zoo Games announced an indie game competition called 2Bee Games and shortly afterwards the honey hit the fan regarding the rules?

Well despite the big hoo-hah, lots of developers entered and 10 finalists have now been chosen. Looking at the list, I think it's fair to say that it's not a bad bunch - a range of average to excellent gaming experiences. Amongst the final 10 there's the wonderful Auditorium and brilliant puzzler (Don't) Save the Princess.

So the way it works (or so I believe) is this: Every week users are given the chance to download each game and vote once on which they would like to get into the next round. Then at the end of each week, the lowest scoring game is eliminated until the victor remains. Simples!

So... who's going to win? I reckon it's too early to say as there's no telling what kind of gamers will vote, but... I'm going to have to go with Auditorium.

MarMOTS is a real-time multiplayer ASCII whiteboard playable using any Flash-enabled internet browser, in which participants can pretty much write or draw whatever they want inside the same room. Pictures are saved to the gallery occasionally, allowing anyone to browse through any awesome art contributions made in the past.

Note that pressing the Tab or Enter key will cause problems, so use the delete and space key to access the menu and confirm a selection instead. Chat room support is currently in the works. (source)

TypeFighter is a typing game where scripted action sequences are played out according to how well you do when prompted to type a set of words. The sprite work and animation are competently done, but only two stages are included to play with no indication of whether the project will be worked on any further than the current release.

Erik Svedang's Blueberry Garden now has a release date attached. This year's Seumas McNally Grand Prize winner will be playable on Steam starting June 8th, 2009. Windows only, but no announcements yet on the price or the availability of a demo. (which is unlikely)

Blueberry Garden on Steam

Run for Your Life is essentially an art gallery realized in 3D with small FPS bits, showcasing paintings created by artist Kelly Hutchison. The artwork in this game can be creepy and outright disturbing at times, with most of them featuring eyeballs, clowns and animals drawn or depicted to provoke some sort of response from their audience.

Players might encounter the occasional bug or two, load times are ridiculously long, and it is possible to walk out of the map, although your progress can be saved at any time and there is only one level included for the players to explore. (source)

De Toren is a delightful puzzle platformer from the developer of Lightmare and Consumer Culture, where the player's objective is to reach the top of a tower safely with at least the minimum amount of points required to clear a level. Floor sections which you have stepped on will light up, but backtracking will deduct a small percentage from the combo indicator that you are building up on. Keeping the combo count high is important, because time is of the essense and there are only so many floor sections to walk on in every stage.

The game features eighteen stages to play in total.

Retro Avatars is a nifty little application that generates a blocky avatar image to use, based on the input of a nine-letter name consisting of spaces, alphabets and numbers. This Allegro program saves generated images as bitmap files, which can then be resized, recoloured, or edited using any external graphics editing program.

ClickPLAY! is a short puzzle game that is similar to Nekogames' Hoshi Saga series, where players would have to find a play button hidden somewhere in every level to progress. This usually requires completing a certain task, solving a puzzle, or finishing an arcade sequence so that the play button is revealed for you to click on.

The game itself is competently made, but some levels can be a little harsh on players who do not have quick enough reflexes to achieve a given objective. (source)