What's this? What's this! There's projects over there! What's this? A chimp with facial hair! What's this? Zombies storming lawns and ponies wake up JiG there's awesome in the air!... what's this?!

Suddenly, a Wild KRILLBITE Appears! They may be hard at work on their upcoming title Among the Sleep, but indie developers Krillbite Studio recently announced that they've got a small free side project in the works for release on PC and Mac later this year. Details are scarce and enigmatic, but The Plan will be "an experimental self-discovery videogame exploring issues of death and meaning", which sounds pretty intriguing, especially coupled with those gorgeous bits of artwork. Among the Sleep is definitely still headed our way, but Krillbite points out small projects like this can help keep them feel fresh and explore new ideas, and frankly, we're for whatever keeps the awesome indie releases coming. More details as they develop!

Adorable, Trainable Death Machines It may not be an original concept, but the open-for-Kickstarter RPG Deozoa: Legends of Eden looks like it might be enough fun that you won't mind. Planned for an initial iOS and Android release with PC and Mac to come later, the game promises eight hours of story-rich classic RPG gameplay, 10 recruitable companions, and 100 monsters to catch and train as they grow to adulthood. Sounds familiar, right? Still, it looks like a tremendous amount of fun, and the vibrant, eye-catching style is a real treat to behold. Plus, you can train a mustachoid monkey called a Mustachio. I don't know what else you could want. $15.00USD gets you a copy of the game when it releases (planned for November 2013) and you can hit up the Kickstarter page to learn more.

Round 2... FIGHT! Can PopCap make lightning strike twice? Looks like they're betting on it with the announcement that Plants vs. Zombies 2 will hit in Spring of 2013. The original, a stunningly addictive defense game, was an instant hit way back in 2009, and is still widely regarded as one of the best casual games to this day. The news of a sequel is great, and though details are currently bare, should really get fans excited. The bad news is that one day after this announcement was made, Plants vs. Zombies creator George Fan was laid off from PopCap Games along with a substantial amount of other employees. What this means for the series, and the motivations behind it, are unclear, so keep your ear to the ground for more details as they germinate.

Ready... Set... BASEMENT! Edmund McMillen fans, mark your calendars, because The Basement Collection is hitting Steam August 31st! For the princely sum of $4.00 USD, you'll get a total of nine retooled and updated versions of games like Spewer, Aether, Meat Boy, and more. Not to mention two secret games and tons of development extras for each title! If you like Edmund's work, this is a great opportunity to show your support for it, as well as to play Spewer again because, well, Spewer is great and everyone should play it. Provided you can tear yourself away from The Binding of Isaac of course.

Nico and George, Together Again Revolution Software's huge point-and-click adventure series Broken Sword has one of the most impressive pedigrees and dedicated followings around for good reason, and if you've been wanting another installment, now's your chance to get it off the ground. Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse has just hit Kickstarter, and it's already looking fantastic, centering around a stolen painting that winds up just being the tip of a huge, supernatural mystery conspiracy. The minimum donation to receive a copy of the game (PC or Mac) is $15.00 USD, and you can check out a video of some of the work done so far over at the official page. More deadly conspiracies with my favourite journalist and lawyer? Count me in!

Adventure? Who Needs It! Let's say you like RPGs... but let's also say, for the sake of argument, that sometimes being the hero is a little frustrating. All that expectation and pressure... what if you could leave that up to someone else and live your own life? No, not like handing someone else your copy of Dragon Age, more like Sakura River Interactive's upcoming Don't Save the World, where you can choose to save the day... or decide to settle down and live alongside the townsfolk instead by opening a shop instead, which changes the game into a management-simulation. Indie darling Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale took a similar route, but with the promise of expanding your enterprise, crafting your items, more in-depth characters and more, Don't Save the World might prove to be the best of both worlds if they can back up their words. Currently in funding stages at Indiegogo, where $10.00USD will get you a digital copy of the game, this might just be a project you want to pay attention to.

Welcome to Self-Insertion How many bronies does it take to make a visual novel adventure? Just the really talented ones! Filly Gamez has been working hard on Welcome to Ponyville, a game where you live out a day to day life in the world of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and are nearing release of Act 1. The game promises a lot of freedom, not only in allowing you to create your character, but in how you choose to interact with the world around you, and will feature a lot of stories and endings... some light-hearted, some serious, and some... well, surely no "grimdark" ever pops up in Ponyville, right? While some of the audio quality in the teaser trailer is a little poor, there's clearly been a ton of work put into this, and looks like it's shaping up to be a huge adventure indeed. And speaking of ponies...

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!