Why It's An Indie Games Roundup
Recently we put out an appeal on Twitter (@rockpapershot) to indie devs to get in touch if they thought their game deserved some coverage. We had a lot of responses. I've taken a look at some of them (and only some, so far - we were inundated), and given some thoughts below. Today we have underwater swimming, telekinetic green rectangles, space battleships, and, um, the ghost of Bin Laden.
Luminesca comes from Matt Glanville, and is currently in development, releasing betas to those who've pre-ordered. In fact, to get it made he's looking for funding via the Kickstarter-a-like, IndieGoGo. The game has a lot in common with Aquaria, The UnderGarden, and various others in the underwater denizens of what Glanville describes as the "Metroidvania" genre. It's developed in Unity, which means it can be played in a web browser. Well, if you pay $5 toward the fund, you can. It plays much better on a 360 controller at the moment (which frankly is the only sensible means of controlling such games on PC), and while I'd like to see its art style deviating a little more from others in the genre (stalky plants with glowing flowers on the end have pretty much been done, and it's unlikely anyone will best the gorgeousness of those in the UnderGarden for a bit), this is looking interesting.
Benn Powell sent us his Ludum Dare 20 entry, a game he seems to have forgotten to name. In involves controlling a green rectangle with telekinetic powers through a series of screens. Sold. The concept is actually rather brills, and if he gives himself more than 48 hours to develop it further this could be a fun game. In its current state it's extremely easy, and very short. Still, there's a good joke at the end.
Kenney Vleugels got in touch regarding his Flash games. And kudos to the guy - his game, Osama's Revenge, challenging you to kill Bin Laden's ghost may be tasteless, but it's prompt. (And quite fun.) Mir & Ror is a somewhat more sophisticated game, a fun puzzler in which you have to get two characters across a screen to their goals, despite each moving in the opposite direction at the same time. Definitely worth a look, if you switch off the horrible music. Vleugels is clearly a talented Flash game designer. (Oh wait, Mir & Ror - I just got that!)
GBM Productions is Marcin Tasz, who's working on three games at the moment. The one that you can play, currently in alpha, is called Space Command One, which is the sort of utilitarian name I can get behind. It's intended to eventually be an RTS/Tower Defense hybrid, with aims to be similar to Homeworld in scale - a mighty challenge, and perhaps a little over ambitious. At the moment it's a floating ship with some cannons on it. But the potential is interesting.