What do you get when you cross a bear with a cocker spaniel and an espresso maker?... well, you get an angry mob on your doorstep with pitchforks and torches for creating such an abomination, you monster. But if you cross creative indie developers with upcoming projects and new updates, you get Link Dump Friday! Which is much nicer and probably won't mess up your house as much as the Bearspresso Spaniel would. Uh... we hear. Theoretically. ... please don't check our shed.

Staff of +20 Level Crafting If the score is any indication, you fine folks loved the dungeon-crawling RPG Legend of Grimrock. Enough so that you might just shake yourself to pieces with excitement over the upcoming release of the long awaited level editor to craft your own adventures. Well, the wait is almost over, but if you have a Steam copy of the game, the developers are asking for your help beta testing it. Once the beta period is over, the level editor will be made available to everyone no matter where you bought it, so if you can't pitch in with feedback, now's the time to get started scripting your tale!

Nothing Bad Ever Happens in the Forest! Your free indie horror keeps getting more horrifying as Parsec Productions continues to work on and update Slender. Now in version 0.9.7, the game has had a host of changes made to how it plays, including bug fixes and getting a new subtitle, "The Eight Pages". Personally, I think that's a rather inaccurate description since "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO" is both more indicative of content, and canon to boot! If you haven't experienced Slender and made your own hilarious reaction video, there's no time like the present to cure yourself of ever sleeping again, ever.

You Told Them to Shut Up and Take Your Money So, uh. It turns out you guys really like video games. Well, alright, everyone probably already knew that, but who could have suspected so many of you were willing to reach into your own pockets to help fund the development of them? Kickstarter is calling 2012 The Year of the Game, and not without cause, since so far you have donated a whopping $50,330,275.00USD to gaming projects on the service. This year alone. That's incredible, since last year saw only $3,615,841.00USD in gaming contributions. More and more developers are turning towards crowdfunding as a source of getting their projects off the ground, and while this does involve a certain amount of risk on your part since there's no refunds for failed (or abandoned) projects, it does mean we're seeing more and more creative games creep out into the open when they might not ordinarily have seen the light of day. That's awesome! So, uh... when are you guys going to crowdfund me that limited edition Derpy Hooves figurine?

Choo-Choo! All Aboard the Fan Rage Train! Ordinarily the news that your favourite game would be getting more content would be cause for celebration, but for fans of the hit indie sandbox RPG Terraria it's a bit of a mixed blessing right now. Back in February, the developers announced there would be no more updates, which was disappointing... though probably not quite as disappointing as the discovery that the big announcement the team had been teasing recently wasn't the renewal fans had hoped, but rather was revealed this Tuesday to be that Terraria is hitting XBOX and PS3 early next year. While there's the typical hurt feelings you might expect from people who have lost exclusivity over something they love, all the anger isn't necessarily completely unfounded since the announcement also said the console versions would have new content... but has yet to announce whether PC players would get any of it. We don't yet know the whole story, but keep your fingers crossed and at least try to show some support to the creators of your favourite game until we know for sure.

Tick-Tock, Bhaalspawn So... um... I just wanted to remind you guys that time is running out to pre-order Baldur's Gate Remastered for PC! Not only will you save two dollars off the launch price of $19.99USD if you do, but you'll get that warm, fuzzy feeling that comes with supporting projects like this. The game releases on September 18th, which is practically right now, and Mac and iPad users will soon be able to join the fray as well. Remember, however, that if you're purchasing the game for iPad, the game will be $9.99USD, but you'll need to purchase the two new characters separately as in-app purchases.

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!