Freeware Game Pick: August Wind (Jeremy Spillmann)
Jeremy Spillmann is a game design graduate of the Zürich School of the Arts, and August Wind is his Bachelor project. Described as a 'free-roaming shooter', a prototype is available for download.
What struck me first was the incredible art style - it's a joy to watch in motion. I also loved the idea that Jeremy put forward as his concept - 'a shmup that lets you decide how to spend your valuable time each day to be successful'.
The story goes as follows: a badger named Andreas travels to Eelhaven VII, dreaming of a life of fame and recognition. Teaming up with Penelope, 'a seasoned but luckless eelminer', they participate in the eelmining competition in which pilots 'harvest valuable metal from the old world below the thick skylayer off the backs of majestic cloudeel'.
Crazy stuff. It's still in prototype form, so the missions and general storyline are missing as of yet - however there's still a rather large area to explore and a good number of activities to participate in. Grab it from the August Wind site.
Comments
Wow... That trailer blew me away, I'm downloading this as I type. 4 minutes to go.
Posted by: Coded One | August 28, 2009 3:12 AM
Agree with Coded One, the trailer is super, I'll download it ASAP.
Posted by: Nikica | August 28, 2009 7:59 AM
I've met Jeremy at the exhibition of his Bachelor project in Zurich. You should have seen the concept book he put together, really great. Also the other students had fantastic games on display.
Posted by: Player1 | August 28, 2009 9:19 AM
This looks SO SEXY. I can't wait to get home so I can play it.
Posted by: Quetz | August 28, 2009 1:03 PM
Ooh, I loved the music and the trailer looked beautiful. Downloading now!
Posted by: Anthony | August 28, 2009 7:12 PM
The visuals and music are absolutely perfect, but I hope that he otherwise polishes it up some more! One major bug that I think happened to me was the day ended while I was in the shop, and the upgrades I had chosen but not yet bought were on my ship the next day, free of charge.
Posted by: Quetz | August 28, 2009 9:14 PM
Yeah, it's pretty obviously still an early prototype, but already very promissing. With polish and dev time this couldturn into a real gem.
Posted by: Melly | August 30, 2009 8:44 AM
Student
Posted by: tomsawyer | September 5, 2009 2:04 AM