etcetera

The Making and Unmaking of a Game-Maker Maker

  • Reading time:2 mins read

The decade between 1995 and 2005 was a dark time for the bedroom developer. With the introduction of the Web and the death of dial-up boards, the Shareware scene had crashed. With the introduction of 3D cards and the growing popularity of the home PC, development became complex and expensive. There was never a harder time for an amateur game designer to get started and build an audience.

That silent decade need not have happened. In 1991, a company called Recreational Software Designs released its own game design suite for MS-DOS. RSD’s Game-Maker supported VGA graphics, four-way scrolling, Sound Blaster music and effects, full-screen animations, large maps, and fully animated characters and monsters. Its editing tools were powerful and intuitive, allowing quick turnaround of sprites and background tiles and easy assembly into full games.

RSD ceased development just before the Web caught on, and right on the verge of a radical reinvention. The company never built an online presence, and Game-Maker failed to make much of an impression on the Web – leaving a big void for Mark Overmars to fill.

We caught up with lead programmer G. Andrew Stone, to talk about Game-Maker and the place that it holds in indie game history.

( Read the original post at Gamasutra )

Builder: The Game

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Level 2 of Builder -- a leap of faith!

Builder.

Build footholds. Destroy obstacles. Be observant.

Read the setup instructions. Play. Donate, if you wish.

Paul Greasley takes you Under the Garden

  • Reading time:1 mins read

The same game jam that brought us Whale of Noise and Pigeon Racing (and indeed Deltoid Onions) has inspired Edmund and My First Skydiving Academy creator Paul “Farmergnome” Greasley to contrive a side-scrolling survival-based take on Animal Crossing. At least, that was his stated goal. The end result is a highly original cross between Lost in Blue and Metroid. Sort of, not really.

You take the role of a middle-aged farmer whose house has collapsed. You collect your tools and you set out into the wilderness to gather much-needed supplies while your stamina drops from the cold. You chop and gather wood to burn and restore your stamina. You kill rabbits for meat. You chip at rocks to find, er, cookies and bullets. Never mind; you gather bits and pieces to help you rebuild your house, and to expand your range thereby to find more stuff, thereby to get hardier and further expand your range.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Deltoid Onions Will Puzzle You

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Deltoid Onions, AKA Onion Warriors, is one of those single-player cooperative puzzle games where you play as a character then switch roles then switch again to accomplish tasks. In this case the enigmatic Fabienne has unleashed on us a Kwirk-flavored push-and-pull action-puzzler. In place of a tomato, we’ve three onions with slightly different mustaches.

To move forward you push rocks, stand on switches, plug holes, and lower barriers. The goal is to get all three onions to the goal, signposted with an energetic camel. Overall I’m pretty impressed with the level design. The game is a little glitchy and bare-bones, but it’s got oodles of personality and it’s legitimately clever.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Tiptoe the Tiles in Meong

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Kyle “Neonlare” Riley has reforged the baffling Action 52 opus Meong into a NES-styled action-puzzler reminiscent of Adventures of Lolo. The story involves a blue-robed thief who goes tomb raiding in China. Avoid traps and occasional mind games to get to the next screen.

The game uses just the arrow keys and a single button, which is used to reset the level when you get stuck. Unlike its older cousins, Meong comes from the modern indie school — so don’t worry too much about dying. You fail, you just try again from the start of the screen. Sometimes the music restarts; usually not.

As it stands, Meong has a great tone and some pretty good level design. It’s worth an eyeball!

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Nitrome makes you Worm Food

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Not to be mistaken for Unnatural Selection, Fault Line creator Nitrome has unleashed its own subversive worm-based browser game. This one, though, takes more of an arcade route and seems to follow the example of Taito’s Syvalion. Mechanically, it seems to; thematically, it’s… you know those old 8-bit games based on horror movies that got flak because you played as Leatherface or Freddy Krueger? Imagine a game like that, based on Tremors.

In Worm Food you play as a ravenous sand worm. Left and right turn; up speeds up; down speeds down. You can burrow through dirt and swim through water. Doing either speeds you up. You can also use your momentum to burst through and leap into the air. The goal is to gobble up as many villagers as possible within the alloted time, and maybe smash as much as you can along the way. As you progress the game introduces new twists, including spike traps, bottomless pits, and impassible stone walls.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Theta Games paints the world Orange

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Orange, from Ceramic Shooter: Electronic Poem and Composition Piece developer Theta Games, is kind of like Ed Logg’s Asteroids, if instead of clearing away hunks of space rock you were being set upon by the Blob. That said, it controls more like Robotron — or indeed Echoes. The game also supports mouse aiming, which is probably the way to go.

The storyline sets you, essentially, in the Vietnam War. The amorphous mass that threatens to smother the player’s ship is supposed to be analogous to the jungle, and the player’s shots analogous to agent orange. The game is set to a tranquil soundtrack, though at times becomes tense as the screen chokes up with obstacles.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Pigeon Racing sends Tipp topsy-turvy

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Courtesy of the mysterious Tipp and the same game jam that brought us Whale of Noise, we have this bonkers party game.

Pigeon Racing might best be described as multiplayer NiGHTS by way of Cactus. It’s an aerial racer supporting up to four players. Player one uses the arrow keys; player two claims WASD; player three, IJKL; and player four is on the keypad with 5123. For any of the players, left and right spin the entire screen; up flies; and down, well, defecates. The game supports computer rivals, and allows the player to set laps before playing. Hit the rings to propel yourself forward and get a score bonus.

The most remarkable element here is the presentation. The game looks and sounds like an assembly demo from the mid-1990s. Even if you’re prepared, it takes a few minutes to adjust to the screen’s motion. Once you have found your gyroscope the controls are responsive and fluid. It’s just a bit of a mental overload.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Fishbane Puzzles Absolutely

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Probability 0 designer Alexander “Droqen” Martin has developed a new puzzle platformer for Newgrounds. Fishbane is a little like Miles Drummond’s Jigsaw, except weirder, tougher, and stricter.

You play as… I guess a diver guy, throwing harpoons at walls and collecting incidental goldfish. At the end of every level is a golden harpoon; snag it to move on. The main mechanic involves the harpoon; lodged in a wall, you can use it to clamber up and over surfaces. If you run and jump on the harpoon in mid-air, you can ride it like a broom. The levels will introduce gizmos and complications, but these are the basics.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Primrose DSi now available

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Jason Rohrer, of all unlikely yet worthy candidates, has been making a few recent motions to the mainstream, with a DSiWare anthology of his early art-narrative games and a hugely successful pay-what-you-want sale for Sleep is Death.

A couple of months ago the Latin America-based Sabarasa Inc. announced, alongside the aforementioned anthology, a DSiWare port of Rohrer’s iPhone puzzle game, Primrose. That port has now materialized.

The game is a bit like a single-player Go or Othello, in that it involves surrounding tiles with tiles of an alternative color. The developer describes Primrose as a relaxing, free-form experience.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Shoot First Rocks Your Noggin

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Shoot First is, officially, a “co-op Action Roguelike” by the creator of Action Fist, Beau. If Desktop Dungeons is a cross between Nethack and Minesweeper, Shoot First is a cross between Nethack and the overhead-view stages of Super Contra.

The presentation is dusted with artifacts of retro glam grime. The simple three-button controls (shoot, strafe/use/pick up, and map) are snappy and responsive. Collisions and sound effects are crunchy and squelchy. On a superficial level it’s all very cozy and warm to sink into. Scattered in treasure chests are equipment and various weapons, each with its own uses. As you shoot enemies and collect stuff, your character levels up. As you level up, your weapons upgrade in various ways. Also along the way you can find or rescue followers, who trail after you and mimic your actions rather like Gradius Options.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Illuminator a Flash of Brilliance

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Logan Ames‘ Illuminator is a side-scrolling survival horror game, which for no particular reason reminds me of Sega’s Ghost House.

You start off in an empty, darkened house, armed with nothing but a flashlight. Flick on the light, and the path before you explodes with brightness. After a few seconds, the light fades and you need to recharge the batteries. Eventually you will start to encounter ghouls. Avoid them until your light is charged, then melt them with a bright flash. As you disintegrate the ghouls, the stitches in a tear in the fabric of reality begin to unravel. Defeat enough ghouls and you can pass through a starry void to the next house.

Along the way you will find night lights, Christmas tree lights, and so on. Plug them in, flick on televisions, and keep an eye on open windows to give yourself forewarning of ghoul attacks. There’s a helpful sound effect and flashing icon to let you know when you’re near a wall outlet.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Cavanagh and Lavelle’s Snowdrift

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Terry Cavanagh of Don’t Look Back and VVVVVV and Stephen Lavelle of Whale of Noise have collaborated on a morbid little exploration of the link between psychological space and display limitations.

Snowdrift is filled with simple, flat-shaded rendering. You walk with WASD or arrow keys, and aim with the mouse. There’s a haze over everything — either from the snow and fog or, later, from the darkness — and unless you spend your time memorizing scant landmarks you’re never quite sure what’s over the next hill. Given that it’s cold out there, and the world seems more or less endless, that could be a problem. Sure, you can explore as far as you like. But how do you find your way back?

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Stephen Lavelle’s Whale of Noise

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Another quirky game jam, another quirky load of games. Steven “Increpare” Lavelle has contributed the first entry to Melly’s “A Game By Its Cover” competition, an effort to design games to match fake box art found around the Internet. The result is a contemplative, somewhat lonely artsy game about a whale apparently made of sound.

As you swim around the blocky submerged caverns, your particle-based whale slips deftly around corners. The odd point of light will give you a new song, allowing your whale to pass barriers. Eventually sequences will demand several different notes in a row, creating a sort of mournful tune.

The game is a bit glitchy, in a good way. There’s a certain nervous dissonance constantly burbling under the surface. The soundtrack consists of a soothing yet ominous oceanic hum.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )

Hopping and Bopping with NeonPlat 2

  • Reading time:1 mins read

Jayenkai of SoCoder has applied the Geometry Wars/Echoes retro deconstructionist mash-up mentality to the Bubble Bobble/Mario Bros. style hop-’n-bop single-screen platformer. Enter NeonPlat 2.

Color the white floors to make them tumble. Grab balls and toss them at enemies, then grab the power-ups that float away. It’s all familiar grammar, mixing a bit of City Connection and Snow Bros. Yet the game has such character and verve and immediacy; it takes those mechanics and digests them to make a frothy, fun party game with a sort of a Nintendo DS flavor.

( Continue reading at DIYGamer )