Link Dump Friday
While the rest of my erstwhile fellow writers and even my employer have fallen prey to the productivity black hole of adorableness that is Pocket Planes, I remain committed to your entertainment! Yep, no procrastination or distractions for yours truly. 100% dedicated to you guys! So that's why this week we've got another contest for some fiiiiiiiine digital indie entertainment on top of the usual batch of previews.
CONTEST: Kids! How Do They Work? Ah, childhood. Running around pretending to be ponies. Imagining your pillow fort is a spaceship. Mom tossing you around hostile, dangerous environments like a squawling beanie baby. Gooooooood times. Kyle Pulver's indie platform adventure game Offspring Fling! is a gorgeous bundle of gaming love, and we want you to get the chance to play it! To win one of four free copies, just play the free flash demo and leave a comment telling us what you liked about it! Rules: Entries must be submitted by June 29th, 11:59 p.m. EST (GMT-5). Winners will be notified by e-mail shortly thereafter. Winners are selected randomly. One entry per person only. You must be at least 13 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.
Vomit, Time Manipulation, and SPAAAAAAAAACE! It's a squishy, squelchy, star-swinging blast from the past! Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel are combining forces to release the tentatively titled Basement Collection. Due out on Steam for a measly $3.00USD, it'll include updated versions of fan-favourite McMillen titles Aether, Spewer, and Time Fcuk. Why would you pay for games you can play for free? Well, because you like supporting the developers who give you things for free, and also because these titles will include achievements and new content in addition to a sparkly new makeover. Sounds like value to me!
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY Ichi developers Stolen Couch Games are gunning for your free time in a serious way with the upcoming action adventure simulation tentatively titled The Village. Dubbed as a combo of The Sims, Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and even a sprinkling of The Legend of Zelda, the game is about life on an island full of strange characters. It looks gorgeous, and though firmer details such as platform and more specific gameplay are missing at this date, if they can deliver on the concept with that sense of style, they might just have a serious winner on hand. Stay tuned!
Mana From Metroidvania Heaven Hempuli has a knack for creating really clever games, so you should be excited about the upcoming Environmental Station Alpha, a classic retro Metroidvania game for Windows. It's about a floating space station original designed to preserve "unique environments" but was abandoned decades ago... though as you start receiving signals from the station, it becomes clear you need to investigate despite the danger. Though he might be worried that the game "isn't innovative or original", it still looks absolutely fantastic and should scratch the itch for some solid Samus-styled gaming. Development on the title is temporarily at a standstill, but the newly released trailer should serve to get you good and excited for it, and then we can all be insufferable and annoying together until it's released.
On the Precipice of Release When it looked like gaming pop culture icons Penny Arcade would never finish their stellar comedic RPG adventure episodic series after their alliance with Hothead Games fell apart, my heart broke into a billion little pieces. Then Zeboyd Games came along and suddenly the world seems bright and colourful again! The third installment of On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is releasing Monday June 25th on Steam, and as an added bonus first week purchases will even get a copy of Zeboyd's Cthulhu Saves the World. For fans of the series, this is great news, and if you like sly, dark humour, turn-based battling, and magical pee weapons you'll definitely want to check this out.
Do you know an upcoming indie project or some community gaming related news you think deserves some attention? Send me an e-mail with LINK DUMP FRIDAY in the subject line at dora AT casualgameplay DOT com with the info, and we'll judge it with the all-seeing glare of our own self-importance for inclusion in a future Link Dump Friday article!
I really liked the animation and some of the puzzles of Offspring fling, although the concept is not new at all, it is well executed (at least in the demo).
I was a bit surprised that the end of the demo came so quickly, showing that it's a good game :)
I loved the music in Offspring Fling. The demo itself was awesome enough, but the music was just great! :D
The last level in the demo was really awesome, too. Good stuff.
Environmental Station Aplha looks amazing! can't wait.
I loved Offsprings music and atmosphere!
Such an upbeat, boppy game :)
Entry: Offspring Fling looks absolutely adorable, and it's difficult to pick a single favorite aspect from the demo. So instead I'll point toward the very fact that it's a blend of cute, parent-and-her-young subject matter with what seems to be thus far fairly rigorous, deterministic puzzle solving. The latter quality is probably the most important, one which I can't help but note it shares with another flightless bird puzzle game, Toki Tori. Even more so than with Toki Tori, here we see a very restricted set of actions (move left, move right, jump, pick up child, throw child) teased out into a whole slew of different sorts of puzzles. That's a very satisfying way to build a game.
Oh goodness! I must have missed Offspring Fling the first time around, but what a cutie! The music seems to blend right with the adorable, perky graphics and the creature are just precious. Not to mention the gameplay flows relatively smoothly, not shoving you in to anything hard to quickly; just enough to get you along. Very sweet!
YES! OFFSPRING FLING GIVEAWAY! I've been wanting that one for a while!
For me, I love the demo just because it feels really fresh. Different platform games all have their own charms, but they all feel like platform games. Something in this one, and I'm not sure what that is, makes it feel more brand new than an innovation.
And, well, I might as well add that the art style is really neat. It seems almost like it was created entirely with the square drawing tool- But you know, there's my geeky reverse engineering side coming out.
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