Hairy Tales Out Now
Hairy Tales, the debut puzzle game by Arges Systems, launched today on digital download service Desura for Windows and Mac. The game is also available for iPhone and iPad through the App Store, and for OSX via the Mac Store.. and is also on Steam Greenlight.
Incredipede
I spotted Incredipede last night on RPS: an indie puzzle by Colin Northway featuring Quozzle, an incredipede on a journey to rescue her sisters. Quozzle can grow new arms and legs as she goes, with muscle and leg positions determined at the start of the level.
A Virus Named TOM
A Virus Named TOM is an action puzzler by Misfits Attic, featuring the City of Tomorrow, filled with robot dogs and self-cleaning houses.. and a virus named TOM.
After using Dr X’s inventions to build the City of Tomorrow, MegaTech promptly fired him. However, Dr X had also invented TOM, a little virus which he now sets loose to destroy his creations! Spread the virus by rearranging circuits, but watch out for the anti-virus drones..
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge8wT6w2v0o]
There are also two multiplayer modes, for up to four people: co-op, and competitive.
The game is due for release in March, but you can pre-order now, for $5.. this is 50% off the final price, and gets you access to the beta now, along with an opportunity to get your highscore on the final game’s baked-in leaderboard.
Also.. if you pre-order before Valentines, you can grab yourself an extra copy for a loved one!
Lucid
I wanted to make a quick meantion of Yeaboing‘s Lucid.. the developer has temporarily made the game available on a pay what you want, if you want, scheme, for PC or Mac, over on their website. Otherwise, it’s available on Steam.
Lucid is a match-all puzzle game, where you clear areas of coloured blocks by drawing a line through them with your mouse. The painted blocks then disappear, with remaining blocks filling in the gaps and more dropping in from the top.
The game is really easy to pick up, and clearing large areas feels quite satisfying.. but there is a trick..
You can only clear an area if your line passes through every block in that area. I thought I was being smart and setting myself up for a huge bonus, but instead trapped a large pile of blocks here!
Despite blocking myself in a bit, I was still able to clear other blocks, fill up the meter, and pass the level.
Lucid is a nice, casual game.. easy to play, lovely to look at, and rather relaxing. The music is rather soothing too.. that’s also available to download in OGG format for the time being, on Yeaboing’s page here.
The Indie Royale: The Valentine’s Bundle
Indie Royale’s The Valentine’s Bundle is now out, with five games, and bonus DLC! As usual the bundle is available on a pay what you want scheme, with a minimum price, although you can pay more to unlock the bonus, show your support, and knock down the price for others!
The games are: action fighting game Zeno Clash, by Ace Team, Hoard, a strategy game featuring dragons, by Big Sandwich Games Inc., adventure puzzle game Lume, by StateofPlay, and world premiere PC versions of retro RPG defense games Soulcaster and Soulcaster II, by MagicalTimeBean!
The bonus DLC in this bundle is for HOARD: Dynamite Roll!, which adds nine new maps and extra units, and Flame-Broiled SANDwich which adds a desert continent and remodelled buildings, units and terrain!
For those paying more than the current minimum, there’s also One Life Left’s music compilation, “Music To Play Games By Too“.
We looked at all the games in a bit more detail.. you can read it over here.
Cut The Rope
Cut The Rope is an iOS physics puzzler developed by ZeptoLab and published by Chillingo back in 2010 for both iOS and Android, and later for the iPad.
I’m very late to the party with Cut The Rope, I know.. but I finally got to play it after I saw on RockPaperShotgun that a browser version had appeared!
The object of the game is to feed candy to a cute green monster called “Om Nom”.. said candy being attached to ropes which you must cut so the candy falls into Om Nom’s waiting mouth. After the first few levels, this means cutting the right ropes in the right order so you can get the candy into his mouth.
As well as guiding the candy to Om Nom, there are stars to collect on each level, which can mean swinging the candy away from Om Nom.. going for the stars means thinking then cutting 😉
If you drop the candy rather than getting it to Om Nom, he’ll be sad..
Later levels require more planning and timing, as you have to use bubbles and bellows to help move the candy, while avoiding spike traps, and other hazards. These include spiders.. good because they snare the candy and swing it into stars, but bad because they then start reeling in the candy too!
There’s also a Behind the Scenes section on the site for those wanting to know a bit more about HTML5 and the development of games such as this one!
Void
Void is a Source-based puzzle game made by students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology, where the player can access the past to alter the present, solve puzzles and escape! I was told about this one earlier in the week, and was rather excited by the idea 🙂
The player can look into the past using time glasses, allowing you to see objects you might want to use, or an alternate route through the room.
The past looked a lot nicer than this grimy, ruined present!
You can also rip open time and create a bubble of the past in the present.. for example, I used it to climb a staircase which has been destroyed in the present. Elsewhere, I pulled bubbles of water from the past into my path so I could swim across otherwise impassable routes.
These rips don’t last long, so you want to do your planning and looking around with the glasses, and then use rips to solve puzzles.
While the puzzles for the game progression itself were all rather easy, I was stumped by one of the collectible portraits, hung high in one of the rooms. I tried using rips to walk along a balcony to get closer, but was blocked by the railing, and when I thought I’d managed to get one of the display cases to appear, I seemed to fall through it rather than land on it. Maybe this part wasn’t finished..
I loved the design of the game, and though it looked a little rough in places, expecting much more from a mod or student work is hopeful at best. The only part that really bothered me was the tips from the Books of Knowledge.. the later ones gave me tips after I’d already discovered them, and I think they would have been better placed nearer the start of the game.
The game is rather short, though there is a mention of more to come.. maybe this team of students will get hired to make a full game 🙂
The Little Big Bunch
The latest in the line of indie bundles arrived today: the Little Big Bunch, with five indie games on the usual pay what you want scheme, with money being split between developers and Games Aid as you wish.
This one has a minimum price.. something I’m glad of after seeing a guy taunting one of the indie devs on Twitter this afternoon. He was bragging about only having paid 1 cent for the game.. less than a penny.. which would have been bad enough without the taunting!
I already owned one of the games: Mode 7‘s strategy game Frozen Synapse, so this one is going to Tim, and maybe we’ll get to play together at some point 😉
Also in the bundle are two platformers, one with destruction: Explodemon, by Curve Studios, and one with aliens: Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee. Finally there’s New Star Soccer 5, a football career sim, by New Star Games.. which isn’t really my type of game. The one I’m most interested in here is 2d platform shooter Serious Sam Double D, from Mommy’s Best Games, and supported by Croteam through their Serious Sam Indie series.
Serious Sam Double D is via Steam code, while the rest of the games are available via Get Games‘ download system. I have to say I much prefer Steam, knowing that I can download the games as many times as I want, and that updates will be applied as they appear. Get Games’ FAQ says that the number of activations per game vary between publishers.. while I don’t mind if I lose a cheap indie game after a couple of reinstalls, I’d be wary of buying anything I forsee playing over and over again.
The Humble Indie Bundle 4!
The Humble Indie Bundle 4 is now out, with another bunch of games to sit accusingly on my Steam list until I play them 😉
This time we’ve got: Jamestown, a scrolling arcade shooter by Final Form Games, music platformer Bit.Trip Runner by Gaijin Games, Super Meat Boy, the slightly-squicky puzzle by Team Meat, Shank, by Klei Entertainment, and Night Sky by NICALiS, which I already had from a previous bundle.
The bonus games this time were a sci-fi strategy called Gratuitous Space Battles, from Positech Games, and Cave Story+, a 2D platformer by NICALiS, which has been updated slightly from the original for this version.
I’m glad it’s nearly Christmas.. I need more time in the day! 😀
The Humble Introversion Bundle
It’s time for another Humble Bundle, and this time it’s Introversion‘s games up gor grabs!
The main games in the bundle are hacking puzzle-game Uplink, strategy Darwinia and Multiwinia, a set of multiplayer game modes based on Darwinia.. and strategic thermonuclear wargame DEFCON! For beating the current average price of the bundle, you can also grab Bit Blot‘s Aquaria, an underwater action-adventure, and Kloonigames‘ Crayon Physics Deluxe.. a physics-based puzzle game where you draw objects such as slides, weights and so on, to complete the objective on each level!
There are also a pair of bonus prototype tech demos: Subversion City Generator, which demonstrates the use of procedural generation by creating a complete city environment, and Voxel Tech Demo which explores destructible voxel buildings.
I already have Darwinia and Crayon Physics Deluxe, and again I find myself wishing I could gift the ‘spares’!