Category Archives: indie

Project Awakened has not, in fact, stirred from its slumber. The independent games crowdfunding campaign closed today with $338,498 in pledges from 6,287 backers. Despite the generosity of its supporters, with an average pledge of over $50, that’s just 67% of its $500,000 goal, meaning developer Phosphor Games will receive nothing at all. It’s a sad result for a promising concept with so much history, but Phosphor has said it will just keep plugging away whenever it has time.

Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera developer inXile Entertainment has explained its decision to go ahead with a second Kickstarter while its first crowdfunded project is still in development, painting a compelling picture of rolling development which eliminates the industry’s reliance on cyclical lay-offs.

More »

As promised, I-Friqiya has released a second Fuel Overdose video offering more advanced tips for those struggling with the new PlayStation Network racer.

More »

Unusual shoot-’em-up and rhythm action hybrid Retro/Grade arrives on PC on March 20. Joystiq reports the Steam version will support PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 guitar controllers. Admire a new trailer for the reverse shooter through the break; it’s also available on the PlayStation Network.

More »

Humble Bundle with Android 5 is live and includes six games and soundtracks such as: Beat Hazard Ultra, Dynamite Jack (no soundtrack available), Solar 2, and NightSky HD. If you pay more than the average, you’ll also get Super Hexagon and Dungeon Defenders. All are playable on PC, Android, Mac, and Linux, and the charities this time out are Child’s Play and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. A video is below.

More »

Project Awakened developer Phosphor Game Studios has been turning heads recently thanks to its Unreal Engine 4 tech demo that shows off a new level of character customisation. Unfortunately it still needs just under $200,000 to turn that dream into reality with less than 30 hours of crowd-funding to go.

More »

Composer Austin Wintory has uploaded the entire, Grammy-nominated Journey score to YouTube, accompanied by a gorgeous series of artworks, and annotated the whole shebang with a serious of insights into its creation and meaning. This is a pretty special thing. Hit the break to check it out.

More »

The crowdfunding effort for indie fighter Skullgirls is still going great guns, with Lab Zero Games able to add a bonus stage to the mix – but drawing back from a promise to deliver a Team Fortress 2 hat.

More »

J.U.L.I.A. developer CBE Interactive has launched an IndieGoGo campaign to fund an improved version of the science fiction adventure, with new graphics, extra content, more puzzles and easy mode. This is of particular note because the original J.U.L.I.A. was published by Lace Mamba, and the public falling out between developer and publisher triggered a scandal over the company’s treatment of independent developers. CBE wants just $5,000 to polish up a game which did not live up to its potential; IndieGames.

Former Call of Duty creative strategist Robert Bowling has a new project on the go – a crowd-funded 2D puzzle platformer called The Adventures of Dash.

More »

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic creator Lauren Faust has signed on to help fan developer Mane6 resurrect its tribute fighting game. Hasbro shut the not-for-profit title down last month, but as detailed on Mane6′s blog, Faust is going to help develop all new characters so as not to waste the significant work the team put into what seemed to be shaping up as a pretty solid fighter.

Thanks, Shoryuken.

Robot Entertainment ius four years old, and wants to give you a present. Visit the developer’s online store to benefit from 75% off unusual tower defence RPG Orcs Must Die, its sequel, Hero Academy and piles of DLC for all three titles. The offer is good for this weekend only, so get in before Monday rolls over the US. All games and DLC will activate through Steam, and Hero Academy is the only one available for Mac as well as PC. Robot Entertainment is an independent studio founded by former members of Age of Empires developer Ensemble Studios; it was the original team behind Age of Empires Online before handing over to Gas Powered Games.

Thanks, Destructoid.

Journey and Flower art director Matt Nava, has formed his own studio called Giant Squid. The former thatgamecompany staffer’s site doesn’t list any projects currently in development, but the mission statement on the site states that “artistic games that deliver beautiful, meaningful, and timeless experiences” are the plan. Thanks: NeoGAF, Game Informer.

Gaijin Games is working on a Wii U patch for Runner 2, and the main fix coming will squash a bug which freezes the console when powered down or exiting to the main menu.

More »

Clockwork Empires has progressed significantly since we last checked in with Gaslamp Games’ steampunk colonisation sim, adding a number of new features and attendent hilarious bugs.

More »

Klei’s excellent stealth-’em-up Mark of the Ninja is currently on sale on Steam. The gorgeous and jam-packed little gem is now just $5, a steep discount on the usual $15, right through till Monday. Klei is currently working on Don’t Starve, a survival adventure, and also produced Eets and Shank.

In his latest developer diary, Mythic co-founder Mark Jacobs goes into detail on how he hopes to foster “Realm pride” and “interdependency” among Camelot Unchained players. Jacobs bemoaned the rising prevalence of solo-focused play in modern MMORPGs, and while promising that everyone will be able to play alone should the wich, discussed various methods for ensuring players want to and benefit from collaboration. Camelot Unchained will be Kickstarted in March, and Jacobs hopes its backers will be among its first active community members.

Thanks, Massively.

Phoenix Online has ported its original adventure series, Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller, to the iPad. The supernatural point-and-click series has produced two episodes so far on lead platforms Mac and PC, and the first, The Hangman, is now available through the App Store at a special launch price of $4, down from the regular $5. Trailer and screens available below.

More »

SideQuest has announced through a job advert on its official website that its popular tactical RPG, Rainbow Moon, will be getting a sequel titled Rainbow Skies. Don’t expect it before 2014, though, according to the information provided. It will release on consoles and handhelds and is currently in the early stages of development. Rainbow Moon, currently available through PSN, is in the works for Vita and is set for release sometime this year. Shots of the game are below. Thanks, Shack.

More »

GDC organizers have released results from its State of the Industry survey, which independently polled 2,500 North American developers which attended the conference in 2012 or had plans to attend in 2013. Turns out, 4.6% have developed titles for Wii U; 6.4% are currently developing a title for Wii U; 13.2% are currently developing for Xbox 360; 14% plan on releasing a new title on Xbox 360; 13% are releasing a game for PS3; and 12.4% plan to launch a new development title on the platform.

More figures are below.

More »