Silver Dollar Games has released a teaser trailer for its next Xbox Live Indie Games release, the kung-fu brawler One Finger Death Punch.

The game distills brawler mechanics into a quick series of button presses -- no directional input is required. The developer describes it as "gaming's first rail-fighter."

While development is not yet complete, the over-the-top presentation makes it seem engrossing enough, and it looks like there are multiple difficulty levels, if jamming on the A button alone isn't enough of a challenge for you. No release date has been announced.

DawnBreak Studios' Papa Joe almost makes me want to get myself a Windows Phone. The debut production from an upcoming Swedish development studio, Papa Joe is apparently a sneak 'em up that will have you playing as the odd-looking titular character. The story behind the game is about as strange looking as the protagonist himself. It seems that Papa Joe is the resident of a sleepy desert village that has been taken over by mysterious antennas, mysterious antennas that are trying to brainwash people into thinking beauty is everything. I don't know about you but that makes me think of modern television. The game is scheduled to launch sometime this Spring.

Official website can be found here.

Indie game fans can now semi-blind pre-order Gamasutra sister site Indie Royale's Valentine's Bundle at a recommended €/£/$10 or €/£/$5 USD contribution, and a minimum of $3.99 USD.

The games offered this time include a fantastical first-person action-adventure game (Steam for PC), an IGF-nominated puzzle adventure title (Steam for PC and Mac, Desura for PC and Linux, DRM-free PC, Mac and Linux download), a 'scorching' single and multiplayer arcade-strategy game (Steam for PC and Mac), and a world premiere on PC for a pair of retro RPG-defense games (Desura for PC, DRM-free PC download).

Those who optionally pre-order now will get game access as soon as the bundle launches, lock in the lowest price, and receive as a bonus One Life Left's eclectic 'Music To Play Games By Too' compilation, available for the first time ever digitally (this bonus is also available to those who pay more than the minimum price during the bundle.)

The Valentine's Bundle will launch fully later this week at $3.99 USD and up - watch our Twitter feed or Facebook page for immediate notice at launch time.

[Indie Royale is co-created by Gamasutra sister site IndieGames.com and Australian download site Desura.]

Remember Castle Story? We shared the trailer sometime last month. And it definitely looks like development has yet to cease. Sauropod Studios, the people responsible for the upcoming title, recently divulged a time lapse video showcasing of the gameplay elements. While it doesn't reveal all too much, it's still moderately exciting to see how detailed the various mechanics will be. Hopefully, there will be news of an alpha build in the near future. Yes? No? Please say yes, Sauropod Studios.

Official website is here.

Independent Swedish game developer Fatshark just teased more footage of its top-down, tactical, action RPG Krater. While the team's 2011 independent release, Hamilton's Great Adventure, was also of the top-down variety, Krater emphasizes crafting, exploration and consequence in a single-player campaign and multiplayer missions. Players will level up and improve themselves, but they will also experience permanent injuries and death.

"One of our main goals in the development of Krater is to involve gamers at a very early stage," says Victor Magnuson, Game Designer Fatshark. "We're really looking forward to seeing the fans response to what we are showing, and are ready to act on any feedback given to us throughout the lifespan of this project. We invite everyone to visit Kratergame.com and be part of the creation of Krater."

The main story told in Krater begins in Shadows over Solside, the first of three episodes. The first episode is scheduled for a Q2-Q3 2012 release, with the second episode (DLC), Pledge of the Patriarch, scheduled Q3 2012. Those who want to be involved in testing Krater need only to send an email to Fatshark. [Edit:] Fatshark's Gunnar Johansson stated that Krater will be on PC and Mac.

After the jump is a video overview of Krater from executive producer Martin Wahlund.

Coffee Stain Studios have just told the folks over at Joystiq about their upcoming sequel to Sanctum, their impressive FPS/Tower Defence hybrid that has already sold over 300,000 on Steam alone. Second time around, they're going to be targeting Xbox Live Arcade and PSN in addition to PC.

Ted Lange, executive producer at Reverb Publishing who are partnering with Coffee Stain for this sequel, said this to Joystiq:

"Sanctum has been a huge success on Steam for Coffee Stain Studios, and bringing the next version to console players as well as the PC market is a great next step to share this unique experience. We all have logged quite a few hours with Sanctum and can definitively say that what Coffee Stain has in store for Sanctum 2 will blow the minds of Sanctum fans and new gamers alike."

It's due out sometime in 2013, so it's not out for some time yet, but it's definitely on our radar. If you're quick, the original game is on sale over at Steam for another few hours. More on Sanctum 2 as we have it.

Here's an odd one. Masked is a short-form room-escape adventure game made in Adventure Game Studio, with a focus on narrative and emotional engagement. Mr Denby says he made it "in response to my frustration that so few room-escape games try to infuse themselves with any sense of emotion within their storytelling", and I'd say it's certainly a success in that regard.

You're locked in a room with only a TV screen to communicate with. A masked face appears on the screen, and it seems as though you and it might have some history. As you search the room for tools to help you get out, the face disappears and reappears, dishing out dollops of narrative, and getting increasingly unhinged.

It's only going to take you 5 or 10 minutes to play, and has a fairly powerful ending. Grab it for free from this link.

Developer Two Tribes has revealed a wealth of new details regarding its upcoming Windows/Mac puzzle-platformer Toki Tori 2, including a feature it calls "knowledge unlocks."

The feature challenges players who have formed expectations of how puzzles are typically solved in video games. As an example, players might assume that some points in Toki Tori 2 are unreachable until a new item is earned later in the game -- a mechanic featured throughout Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series.

"But as they continue they'll start to notice no tools are being handed out," Two Tribes notes. "Instead, we teach the player more about the creature that was standing next to the seemingly impossible to reach collectible. It turns out it was possible all along, and he could have figured it out himself by experimenting a bit more with the creature."

The result? "The more curious the player becomes, the more the game will reward him for it."

It's an interesting approach that could keep the game's simple mechanics fresh throughout. Two Tribes analyzes other unique aspects of the game's design at its blog, including its open level progression and the team's decision to eliminate items and weapons from the sequel.

Reactions were pretty positive to last year's post on Adhesive Games' Hawken, a very impressive-looking multiplayer mech-shooter. While footage and information has been sparse since the above PAX 2011 footage, the team has lifted the veil on Hawken's release date: December 12, 2012. The team will also make the game free-to-play.

Adhesive co-founder Khang Le told Joystiq that Hawken is "multiplayer only and will play in a session-based format similar to League of Legends."

It will be interesting to see how much content and interest Adhesive Games can sustain once it launches its browser-based title at the end of the year. I suppose we'll hear and see more of Hawken soon, as interested players can now enlist in a closed beta.

Mojang, the Swedish developer behind hit indie online game Minecraft, is known for its tight relationship with its community. But that relationship goes beyond game releases and testing.

"They say we're the first company in history to crowdsource a defense in court," Mojang CEO Carl Manneh tells Gamasutra. "We put out all the documents online and we got so much help from the community."

The Minecraft community has helped find instances of prior art that Mojang will use to defend itself in the Scrolls trademark case. Last year, Rockville, MD-based ZeniMax Media said there were too many similarities between The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim -- developed by subsidiary Bethesda Game Studios -- and Mojang's game Scrolls, and filed suit against the Minecraft developer.

"It's amazing to see the commitment and engagement from the community in all aspects," says Manneh.

But it may not be that surprising at all. He tells Gamasutra that when it comes to releasing games, "I think we're pushing the boundaries in terms of engaging community and having real commitment."


"Everyone has a community, but it's different when you actually work directly with the community."

This presents some challenges, however. Minecraft has attracted an audience in the tens of millions, and the company moved into publishing late last year, and the team must grow to keep pace with these developments.

Growth, however, is "challenging in a way, because we have been growing extremely fast in one year, in all aspects," says Manneh.

But Manneh and the team do not want to see Mojang's unique culture or style of releases become sidelined due to an influx of developers. That is "probably the most difficult aspect of growing the company," he says.

"We're so happy and proud about the culture at Mojang, and that's what really, I think, makes our games and the communication we have great."

The players "know exactly who does what in the company," he says, and becoming faceless would be a big problem for such a community-focused studio.

"Just handling the current projects will require some growth," says Manneh. But Mojang does not intend to stop there.

The team is already having trouble "prioritizing from the opportunities that we have," he says. The massive success of Minecraft has opened many doors and many potential partners have made attractive offers -- so the team must scale up.

In fact, says Manneh, Mojang is working on "two unannounced major projects that we're planning to do" for 2012. One is internal, and one is with an external partner.

When it comes to the external project, he says "it was very organic, we just went out and had dinner and said 'let's do this.'" 


"We could hire 20 people tomorrow and put them all to work, but that's not going to work for us," says Manneh.

He doesn't understand -- to take an extreme example -- how Zynga has swelled to 3000 employees in three years.

"A lot of people ask us how we relate to the gaming industry... I don't think we think about it that much," he says. "We don't do any analysis of 'this is how the industry does it, let's do it differently.' We just do it how it feels natural to us, basically."

What's the guiding philosophy? "We want to make the best for the user and the game... And I think that empowers people too, because it inspires them to make their own decisions."

[This article originally appeared on Gamasutra, written by Christian Nutt.]

Brendon Chung, the man behind Blendo Games, has established a bit of a reputation in the indie scene over the last few years with popular games such as Gravity Bone, Air Forte, and Flotilla, the latter of which was nominated for the IGF's Visual Art award in 2011.

Most recently, Chung has been recognized for his recently-released Atom Zombie Smasher, which is up for an Excellence in Design award at this year's IGF.

This top-down strategy title tasks players with protecting what's left of humanity from an unstoppable undead outbreak, allowing them to dispatch rescue vehicles, call in air strikes, and otherwise save the doomed population from becoming zombie fodder.

As part of our continuing Road to the IGF series, Gamasutra spoke with Chung to learn more about his latest game, and discover why he got started with indie development in the first place.

How did you get your start making games?

My first game was made on my family's 386 computer. It was a text adventure written in QBasic, and was incredibly painful to play. If I remember correctly, the game basically tried its damndest to kill the player at every possible moment. I remember being disheartened by the greatness of Nibbles.bas and Gorilla.bas, as compared to the awfulness of my own work.

I kept at it, and went on to make mods and maps for Doom, Quake, and Half-life. That led to a job working in the industry, and eventually I started Blendo Games. If I continue my current trajectory, I feel I can someday comfortably compare my own work to Gorilla.bas.

Why did you find games like Gorilla.bas (pictured below) so appealing?

At that young age -- I think this was fifth grade or so -- they were inspiring to me. They were powered by and made with QBasic -- and I had QBasic on my computer! I possessed all the tools to make a fun game like that! There weren't any external programs required, no mail-order parts, no breaking open my piggy bank. QBasic was the only thing needed, and there was something very empowering about having all the tools at my fingertips. At that point, it became completely up to my own abilities and patience to learn.

How long did you work on the game?

Early prototype work took a few months of on-and-off work. The final released version of the game took about seven months of full-time work.

How did you come up with the overall concept?

I wanted to put the player in the role of a hero who has to do terrible things for the greater good. While saving humanity is the ultimate goal, your path to that goal entails a lot of collateral damage and choosing the lesser-of-two-evils. A zombie outbreak scenario was a good fit for that -- civilians are what you need to rescue, but are simultaneously the crunchy kindle for the zombie wildfire.

Why did you choose to represent the game's survivors and zombies as abstract, colored dots?

I like to begin every project with an assessment of what resources I have and what I'm interested in tackling. For Atom Zombie Smasher, I was interested in taking a deep dive into procedural generation. I ended up basing a lot of game content on procedural generation -- the city layouts, the world map, monthly events, the mercenary squads.

On the other hand, modeling people characters was something I didn't have a lot of interest in, considering how zoomed-out the camera was. The abstract presentation ended up working out well -- when a dot suddenly starts moving quickly, the brain fills in the details and thinks "that guy just started running away from that zombie!"

Blendo Games has seen some pretty notable success with games like Flotilla, Air Forte, and now Atom Zombie Smasher. What do you think it is that makes the team's games so popular?

I try to make games I feel are under-represented. Flotilla was turn-based 3D space combat, and Atom Zombie Smasher takes a light simulation approach to a zombie RTS. That's one of the things I enjoy most about independent development -- getting to make games for niche genres. Secondly, I like to flavor my work with my personal interests, my own history, and I think anything with a personal nature is something people like to see.

What would you say was the most difficult part of developing Atom Zombie Smasher?

I'm a one-man team, so for me the most difficult thing to do was evaluating whether the game was working or not. I know every detail in the game, so despite my best efforts, I inevitably end up taking the path of least resistance, or playing "the ideal way" when I playtest the game myself.

So, I'm extremely fortunate to have great friends and family playtesters who are more than happy to tell me "Brendon, this part of the game is really awful. I can't believe how bad it is." Thank goodness for that, otherwise that awful part of the game would've been released into the wild.

Have you played any of the other IGF finalists? Any games you've particularly enjoyed?

I'm loving Frozen Synapse. And I was lucky enough to see Johann Sebastian Joust at IndieCade last year -- what an amazing game. I demand that Johann Sebastian Joust adopt Frozen Synapse's awesome spectator playback feature.

What do you think of the current state of the indie scene?

It's a good time to take a dip in the indie game pool. I didn't know what to expect when I started Blendo Games, and that was rather terrifying. But digital distribution is plentiful, development tools are plentiful, and it's wonderful how much support there is from other developers and the community.

Even if you have a full-time job, making a micro-sized game in your spare time is viable. It doesn't require much (or any) financial investment, nor special equipment or workshop space -- just download some development tools and start learning.

[This article originally appeared on Gamasutra, written by Tom Curtis.]

[In this note to indie game fans, Independent Games Festival Chairman Brandon Boyer announces public voting to pick this year's IGF Audience Award from among all of the Main Competition finalist games for this year.]

It's time to have your say for the best Independent Games Festival game of 2012! We've just opened public voting for this year's Audience Award, with all members of the public and the indie game community eligible to vote.

As we've done in prior years, we're allowing voting for any game chosen as a finalist in the festival, as opposed to just those with public PC demos. This is because many of the titles have been playable at other indie game events - or have Beta and other OS versions that many indie game fans may have checked out.

To be part of this year's vote, simply visit the IGF Audience Award page and download any of the games or demos that are currently publicly available (each has been marked whether there's a version for you to purchase or otherwise download). When you've made up your mind, return to vote for your favorite.

After voting and inputting your email address, you'll need to verify your vote by clicking on a link sent to that email. Voting will be open from now until Sunday, February 19th at midnight PST -- go check it out now and start making your way through the games!

As a follow up to their 2009 XBLIG racing game, Little Racers, Milkstone Studios have just released Little Racers: Street. Unsurprisingly, this one takes place on streets, and it looks like it's quite fun.

The camera viewpoint is vaguely reminiscent of the Micro Machines games. The cars actually look like they are normal sized to me, just with the camera zoomed out really far. Perhaps it's taking place in a model city...

It's available now for 80 MS points, with a free demo. More in game footage over here. If you prefer your racing games to be 16 bit-esque, you can get the original Little Racers here.

There's lots to share about Philadelphia based Cipher Prime today! Auditorium will soon be downloadable for PC and Mac, a sequel to one of the team's IPs was teased, and gameplay of their IGF 2012 entry, Splice, was revealed. A local journalist stopped by Cipher Prme's HQ and captured the above footage of Splice.

The interviewer sheds some light on the gameplay of the new puzzler:
"Splice challenges gamers to rip apart and piece together pill-like structures into their corresponding outlines, forming bacteria-like shapes, lining up and snapping together with satisfying clicks, gorgeous color palettes and smooth animations. Players are rewarded if a completion takes less than or the exact amount of required 'splices' per puzzle, the solved configuration disappearing in the background, floating like the prokaryotic micro-organisms that inspired the game's design."

In the interview, developer Dain Saint expressed his idea behind Splice was to try and capture "this feeling of macro and micro... this feeling of not knowing whether or not you were working with something really small or something really big. And this played out naturally with our ambient style game-play."

Splice has no set release date, but it will be out for both Mac and PC. Another Mac and PC title is set to arrive soon from Cipher Prime, discussed after the jump.

After a successful launch in late November with Fractal on Steam, the team has shared that Auditorium is also heading to Steam and the team's store in the next few weeks. Auditorium (the base-game is playable here) is a musical puzzler of sorts, where you bend streams of light particles with various mechanisms to fill audio containers and make music.

The good news is if you paid to unlock the full web-based Auditorium already, you get the downloadable version free. The bad news is that there's no new content. The web version will still exist, but it is moving to the team's main website so they can cut down on server fees.

Lastly, Cipher Prime says that they will be launching a KickStarter campaign soon for a sequel... "a bigger, better, multiplayer one!" I've a pretty good guess that it's either Auditorium 2 or Fractal 2. Which would you prefer to see?

Are video games going to be the next big thing for pick-up artists? Not too long ago, fellow editor John Polson reviewed the awkwardness-inducing Fingle, a rather brilliant iOS title that's probably best described as 'Twister for the hands'. Today, we take a brief look at the upcoming Graveyard Snuggle. Billed as a 'physical party game for curious and affectionate people'. Graveyard Snuggle wants to get a whole bunch of attractive people together and to watch a skeleton on screen. The skeleton on screen will then tell you to do things like, 'place your skull on the other person's legs'. You are required to 'continue touching one another until one player overstimulates the device's mention sensors.'

Yeaaaaaaaah. Those curious about the game can check out the DevLog here.

Here's a first look at Pixelulsar's follow up to Super Pixel Man, the imaginatively titled Super Pixel Man+. It looks like more of the same, although this time the titular hero appears to be equipped with a grappling hook, he's learnt a new move in the form of ducking, and mercifully the developer has promised "better music". Although that's not much of a stretch.

Much like the first game, it seems that Super Pixel Man+ is making a few interesting uses of it's rudimentary elements. The void looks a bit scary too.

There's a work in progress demo version available now, and the dev is looking for feedback, so why not grab it and share your thoughts.

Sometime over the weekend, IndieGameMagazine caught wind of the first inklings of a new game from the developers of Terraria. Well, one of them, at least. We have no confirmation as to how many of the original development team will be onboard with the new production.

Scheduled for release on Windows, Mac and Linux, the upcoming title has been described as 'a mix of Diablo, Metroid, Castlevania, Pokemon, Borderlands, Terraria and some new stuff that no one has added before'. There appears to be plans for a 'main quest inside the sandbox world' should time constraints permit it. Everything's still a little cryptic thus far. There are a hints that we might see the new game up and running by the middle of next year but there are never any guarantees on things like this.

If you want an official website to poke around, you're going to have to wait. For now, follow Tiyuri on their twitter to get the latest hints.

Source: IndieGameMag

(More screenshots below the cut.)

Unless you're the sort that's really, really keen on the visual aspect of things, you may want to consider spending the last few hours of your Sunday with Metal Dead. An awesome little point & click adventure, Metal Dead is WalkThruwall's debut title and a decidedly silly look at what happens when unsuspecting metal heads encounter zombies. Here's a hint. There's a whole lot of snickering involved. The game is up for purchase on Desura. However, if you're unwilling to go into this blind, there's a demo available on Metal Dead's IndieDB page for your perusal.

Check out the official IndieDB page here. Just mind the gore.

The Experimental Gameplay Project has revealed a collection of 47 games built around the theme of 5 buttons. While developers had from December 1 to January 31 to submit, each team was expected to spend no more than 7 days on the task.

Developers needed to consider the special setup under which the games would be played. As depicted in the above sketch, the games will be displayed on 02L > Outside Standing Level's Unita Zero platform, an audio/visual playground with 5 pressure pads. With so much space between the pads, it's no surprise many developers made their games co-op or multiplayer. The rules also advised entries to be on the short side, so a lot of them have that "mini-game" feel.

In addition to three cash prizes, developers are competing for live exposure during the Stattmedia Game Contest event in Germany on February 17. The winners will be selected by popular vote of the attendees.

After the jump is a video of Hamusuta Man, because everyone should see a man in a hamster suit throwing vegetables at a giant squid.

Project "Cube World" is a rather attractive voxel-based exploration RPG with multiplayer support in development for PC (and Mac in the future). While the above video is not the most current, it serves as a good introduction to the type of game developer Wollay aims it to be.

Humor me while I play catch up with the developer's history: it was reported last month that Mojang hired Wollay, and then it was clarified that this never happened. In the end, Cube World continues as a one-man project without Wollay's time being split or his brain being plugged into.

Since the game isn't playable, comparisons can't yet be accurately made. However, I'll toss out a couple names to get the presumptuous party started: Minecraft and Voxatron. From what I can tell, Voxatron features a series of Smash-TV / Robotron style rooms, but Cube World's battles seem to span across the wide game world.

And whereas Minecraft is about mining, digging, and crafting, Cube World is split. The dev is not planning to add mining or digging. However, house building is supported. The dev states he may add a crafting system for weapons and armor from loot dropped by monsters, too.

I find it interesting that Cube World's developer gives inspirational nods to Zelda, Secret of Mana, Landstalker, and Monster Hunter for style, gameplay, and overall feel. He further tips his hat to Diablo, World of Warcraft for inspirational RPG elements. With all these mashed into a hopefully solid game, I'm pretty interested, if not overwhelmed!

While we wait for more developments, check out the latest gameplay clip showing off the spirit-weapon upgrade and combat systems:

There's a bit too much to stuff in one post. Let me know if you want to hear more about this game in the future. Otherwise, hop over to Cube World's blog to see all the developments.