Nope, The Journey Down HD is still not available for purchase. However, we do have this glorious trailer here to make the waiting even worse. The original version of this lovely little point & click adventure received a lot of positive feedback and, well, for good reason. It's pretty nifty. In case you've never heard of the game before, here's a convenient link that will permit you to download the first iteration of the game.

Unless you're an unrepentant cynic, The Fabulous Screech is probably going to make you melt a little on the inside. It might even inspire a few tears. Before we launch into a description of the game itself, here's a little bit of a background. A few months ago, Jonas Kyratzes was comissioned by a girl named Angie to create a present for her boyfriend who is a big fan of Kyratzes's work. Because money was short, the game was designed to be a combination of Christmas, Valentine's and anniversary gift.

The Fabulous Screech is set within the world of Oddness Standing, the setting first introduced in The Book of Living Magic. And as is often the case with Kyratzes's games, there isn't all that much to outside of clicking on things and enjoying the read but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. The game opens with you being told that your partner has acquired a ticket for you, a ticket for a rather fabulous performance. Eventually, you'll find yourself visiting The Fabulous Screech's past, Heaven and a variety of weird and wonderful things. Have you ever wondered what God's carpet would be made of? Do you think he gets post cards? Things like this get answered.

The game's short, whimsical and everything you would expect from a Kyratzes production. Are you having a bad day? Go play it. It will probably get a smile out of you unless, of course, you don't like cats.

Play The Fabulous Screech here.

Indie Loop Garden is a sort of match-making site for developers to add custom sound in their indie games. The site was created by Vince Webb and has a pretty strong lineup of audio talent behind it, with such soundtracks as Fez (Rich Vreeland), Hydorah (G87), Soulcaster(Ian Stocker) and Aiko Island (Sean Beeson).

The website seeks to offer a service to developers who prefer to invest in high quality custom sound for their projects. "Our site is aimed at connecting them with these composers of different musical styles to save them the trouble of trawling through forums as well as equipping them with some useful resources along the way," says Webb. "We strongly believe that original tailored sound is integral in creating a special gameplay experience."

I spoke with Rich Vreeland (Disasterpeace) briefly about the new site. He says that he can't yet speak about any experiences with jobs from the website, given the site is only a few days old. While I recognized some of the audio developers on the list, I wondered if any more would or could join. Vreeland replied, "I don't believe we're looking for more members at this point. We're all focusing on certain styles of music so as to not over-compete with each other. If we had more members that would make things more difficult to manage."

The site appeared a little bare-bones, so I asked what he thought could help improve its current state. "Word of mouth, feedback from composers and developers, regular content, a professional layout, these are some things that could help improve the site over time."

Vreeland also clarified what Indie Loop Garden offers that other audio dev forums or portals do not. "Indie Loop Garden is a direct connection to some pretty good composers who are expecting to be contacted. Forums and portals are great too, but Vince is trying to appeal to folks who might be prone to buying 'ready made' music, or folks who might be looking for a go-to place."

Fresh out of Beta, Indie game distribution service Indievania have today launched proper, with over 200 DRM free indie games available. To celebrate the launch and to get lots of eyeballs looking at their marketplace, they've got a load of games reduced, with some great titles available for just a bit of pocket change.

Operated by Capsized developer, Alientrap, Indievania is an Indie games portal where "100% of the cost of the game goes to the developer", minus transaction fees. A far bigger share than many other services offer.

On sale are:
Defy Gravity Extended - $1
Swift*Stitch - $1.40
Cardinal Quest - $1
Dragons vs Spaceships - $1
Inside a Star Filled Sky - $1.99
Blocks that matter - $1
Metal Dead - $1
Climb to the Top of the Castle! - $1
Milkstone Studios Bundle - $1
Wizorb - $1
BEEP - $2
Chulhu Saves the World & Breath of Death VII - $1


Some great games at particularly low prices, anything there tickle your fancy? The sale is going to be running for "A few weeks", so you can take your time to ponder any purchases.

Mike Bithell, designer behind the graphically abstract puzzle platformer Thomas Was Alone has uploaded a new gallery of screenshots, showing off some of how the game has progressed since we last saw it.

I was fortunate enough to get an early hands on with this at Gamecity in Nottingham last year, and it's a promising little title. You take control of several different abstract shapes, with characteristics that you'd expect based on the their appearance. The tall thin block is tall and thin, the tiny little square is tiny and little, and so on. You switch between them, and need to use their different properties to work out how to get them all from A to B. Fun stuff.

Have a poke at the rest of the new screenshots over at Flickr. It's coming to PC/Mac and is due for a release some time in April/May. More info over at thomaswasalone.com.

Brian Soulliard, creator of the crossover beat-'em-up Indie Brawl, has released The Ultimate Celebration, a free PC platformer designed for speed-running.

The Ultimate Collection takes a laid-back approach to the genre; players cannot die, and obstacles and enemies only temporarily hinder progress. The plot is equally easygoing, as players must seek out 20 friends and invite them to a party.

"The heart of the experience is exploring the miniature world that the game takes place in," Soulliard notes. "The different locations can be explored in any order, but you will need to navigate them all to find every friend."

MiniBoss has released a free demo to coincide with the release of its charming puzzle-platformer Out There Somewhere. While I haven't played the full version, I did enjoy my experience with the demo overall.

The introductory horizontal shmup section doesn't last long enough for me, but the bread and butter gameplay is all about platforming with a portal gun. This isn't your standard, GLaDOS-fearing portal gun that requires exit and entry portals. Only one shot must impact a wall to make your character warp to the point of impact. The warping act also conserves your momentum, such that the jump you begin will complete after the warp. This becomes invaluable to avoid pits and enemies, circumvent or exploit different-colored laser fields, and retrieve your ship's parts.

MiniBoss's Pedro Medeiros (a.k.a. Santo or Saint11) won Ludum Dare #22 with the clever platformer Frostbite. Their pixelated, exploratory platforming skills show again in the demo of Out There Somewhere. The developers stated on Desura the game lasts about 2-3 hours on the first playthrough, with extra time required to get all the secrets.

Out There Somewhere is available for purchase on Desura or direct from the developer for $4.99. While only a PC version is available now, the studio states a Mac version is in the plans.

Lazy Brain Games has set up a Kickstarter campaign to fund a proposed sequel to its "retro action climbing shooter" Infernal Edge.

Inspired by climbing sequences from classics like Strider and Contra III: The Alien Wars, Infernal Edge 2's gameplay centers around a grappling hook, which must be used to traverse deadly terrain and defeat boss enemies. Creator Johnny B notes that other new additions -- including camera rotation and a plasma saber -- are inspired by Sin & Punishment and Super Mario World, among other titles.

Lazy Brain Games hopes to raise $5,000 by March 13th.

If you're one of those people who simply must have all their games on Steam and have been putting off an afternoon with Realm of the Mad God for that solitary reason, you have no more excuses. Realm of the Mad God is currently available on Steam as a free-to-play title. For those who've missed the memo, Realm of the Mad God is kind of like a co-operative bullet hell of sorts. You have one life. You get to pick a class and after that, you'll have the opportunity to rampage through the pixelated landscape in an attempt to gather as much fame and fortune as possible. Once you die, however, you're going to have to level up another one from scratch. Official site here.

Increpare's Promises is a simple-looking, single-room puzzle game that will ask you to do little except think hard and ponder the value of your word. Here, your goal is to access a room guarded by three doors. To do so, you're going to have to get three keys. Conveniently enough, the people holding the keys are all within reach. You just have to go up to them and make a request. Yes, that's all it takes. At a glance, this isn't a hard task. You won't have to fight any dragons for those keys. However, each of these guys will make you promise them certain things. For instance, one of them is going to make you swear never to tread on ground you've walked on before.

The neat thing about Promises is the fact that you can break these vows.However, if you're caught doing so, you can expect to be told off. Curious? Play the game here. (Many thanks to ortoslon for finding this one.)