Whoever said there are no new ideas clearly never crossed paths with an indie game developer. They're a crazy, rowdy, creative bunch, and they're delivering a whole bunch of amazing projects from towering robot centerfolds, to twenty second explosion defusing, and even time-travelling adorable (yet bloodthirsty) monsters. In addition, we've also got another giveaway for one of our favourite indie titles to help you stave off productivity a while longer, and even more great ones in the coming weeks. Why, it's almost as if we like you or something!
MacGuffin's Giveaway Brawsome's stellar off-kilter comedic sokoban-style puzzle adventure MacGuffin's Curse about a would-be thief stuck with a cursed transformation is definitely unique and definitely awesome. So we want you to get a chance to play it, too! We're giving away five digital copies of this great indie title for PC and Mac, and all you have to do for a chance to win one is to leave a comment on this entry telling us what you would use your werewolf powers for if you had Lucas's cursed Lupine Twine Amulet. Winners will be chosen at random and receive an e-mail alerting them when they are selected. Contest rules: Entries must be submitted by May 24th, 11:59 p.m. EST (GMT-5). Winners will be announced shortly thereafter. One entry per person only. You must be at least 13 years of age or older to enter. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited.
I Love it Already Smudged Cat Games's platformer The Adventures of Shuggy is finally making the trip from XBLA to your PC on June 13th, and we couldn't be happier. Shuggy is the hero, an adorable vampire who discovers his newly inherited mansion is packed full of all manner of evil spirits he needs to defeat. With bosses, comic-book style cutscenes, over 100 levels, and optional co-op stages, it looks like a fantastic treat for fans of old school platformers. The Adventures of Shuggy will set you back a modest $8.00 USD if you buy it during its release sale on Steam, and $10.00 USD thereafter. Hit up the official site to learn more and check out the official trailer! Spike McFang is old news... Shuggy is now the adorable cartoon vampire of my heart.
More Like AWESOME Canal... Wait, is That Weird? Eerie Canal, will you be my Special Somepony? The developers have just released the first teaser trailer and information for their upcoming twisted RPG/real-time-strategy game Dreadline, and it's crazy, creepy, and even weirdly cute. I might be a little smitten. You control a group of blood-thirsty monsters who can travel through time to historic calamities and run amok with your freakishly adorable horde slaughtering those already doomed to die. If it sounds morbid, well... that's because it is, and it won't be everyone's cup of tea, but the oddly delightful art style and off-the-wall concept is sure to win a few admirers. Dreadline is scheduled to hit in the first half of 2013. Hit up the developer's site for more previews and a link to the mayhem-strewn teaser trailer.
20 Second Hero What can you accomplish in twenty seconds? Sos Sosowski's upcoming indie point-and-click puzzler is going to push your limits if you don't want to explode. McPixel, available this June for Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS and more, features over 100 levels where the titular hero has just twenty scant seconds to figure out how to keep things from blowing up using just the tools available. It'll also have free DLC, a level creator, and more! The official website has all the information you need, including a free browser demo of six bizarre levels to try to conquer. It's strange and more than a little twisted, but if you can think out of the box and under pressure, it might just be for you.
Jetpack, Meet Wish Fulfillment Officially winning for "best jetpack game title ever", Dejobaan Games's newest venture, Drunken Robot Pornography, is set to hit later this year for PC and Mac. The concept? You have a jet-pack, and you're trying to strike down multi-story robots called "Titans" while a crowd cheers you on. You can even build your own "robot pin-ups" to unleash on other players, from the finish right down to the fuel and the actuators that make the joints move. If that sounds good to you (of course it does), then head on over to the official site to browse the information, screenshots, and get ready for some chaotic but undeniably fascinating robot/laser/jetpack action.
Who Says Gardening Ain't Hardcore? Combining a multiplayer shooter with otherworldly farming and defense, the currently ALPHA version Farm Fortress by Pontus Lundvall and David Hagström might be weird, awesome, or just awesomely weird. Plant and harvest to earn cash and build defenses around your humble plot of dirt to keep out mutants or even other players... who you can help or sabotage. It's free to play, with the option to buy extra lives over the three you start with, although you will respawn automatically after 12 hours, and is something you should definitely check out if you're looking for a slightly more action-packed version of Farmville.
The Case of the Post-Apocalyptic Kickstarter Love Tex Murphy? Well don't count everyone's favourite hard-boiled post-apocalyptic P.I. out just yet. Big Finish Games knows he's still got a few cases to solve, and they've just launched a Kickstarter for the first Tex Murphy title in fourteen years, currently named Project Fedora. They're looking to get a whopping $450,000.00 USD to fund their project, and for just $15.00 USD you can help them along and get a downloadable copy of the adventure game when it's complete, estimated late this December. This is big news for fans of the last game, Overseer, which notoriously ended with a big fact cliffhanger, since Project Fedora promises to pick up right where that left off. For more information, head on over to the Kickstarter page and do some sleuthing of your own.
Between Two FernsIMEAN Gamers So what's your thought on the increasingly popular free-to-play gaming model? Once the domain of Facebook apps and iOS titles, it's begun creeping more and more into mainstream gaming as a whole. Gamesbrief's Nicholas Lovell and Positech Games's Cliff Harris have been talking about free-to-play and how they feel it helps or harms the industry, and the results may surprise you. A Debate on Free-to-Play is an interesting read as both Nicholas and Cliff have vastly differing opinions on the concept and are both considering a lot of different factors. As Nicholas points out, gaming is STILL a business, and "if it is hard or impossible to make a living from making games, fewer talented people will make fewer great games." Cliff argues "that the game is no longer a shared experience or level playing field. I can now be shot by someone with a gun I didn't buy, or outrun by a car with engines I haven't bought". As microtransactions start popping up everywhere, it's great to see two people with two different positions talk about this, and something you as the player and part of that equation should be thinking about too.
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 only vaguely recall the review for the "MacGuffin's Curse" game, so I'm just going to assume I'm the type of werewolf that still has all of its mental faculties and I'm not going to run out and try to maul someone the moment I transform.
In which case, I would use my powers to become a super-heroine. I can't think of any super-people who also have werewolf powers off the top of my head, so there's that factor. Not to mention that with my super strength, I could lift rubble off of trapped people or just stop crime in general.
Although I would probably be quite menacing with my looks, so I think I'd probably end up being one of those brooding heroines that's also quick to leave when the job's done. In any case, I think it would be a lot of fun. :)
MacGuffin's Curse is excellent and you should all want it.
I'm excited about the release of McPixel. The original release was short but brimming with humor, and the 100 levels promised in the full version could possibly border on way too much content for a single human being to consume. The fact that this has gone from a ludum dare entry to a full release on the iOS circuit is excellent, and I hope that it sells well enough to reimburse the developer!
The free-to-play debate, for some reason, makes me envision a game like Upgrade Complete where everything, including the title screen and the audio, comes in the form of in-app purchases. You literally can't do anything until you've started purchasing.
With lycanthropy, I would probably want to make as little of a disturbance as possible. Only telling close friends, helping out when I can, wearing a big coat while doing so, accidentally becoming a hero, stuff like that.
Becoming a werewolf with the Lupine Twine Amulet sounds like the only way I could legally fulfill my dream of running around naked, peeing wherever I felt like it, and eating whatever lands on the ground, all without getting arrested. And if someone did chase after me, all that animalistic balance and agility would probably let me just parkour the heck out of there like Mirror's Edge, only fuzzier.
If I was a warwelf, I would try to recreate the story of the old lady who swallowed a fly, and see how much livestock I could inhale before getting caught.
I got both endings for the McPixel demo. It's not always intuitive how interactions change depending on what you're holding, but I love how his default interaction with people is the groin-kick. I also like how just because you've found the source of the explosive doesn't automatically mean you've neutralized it.
Contest entry:
The best use of a Lupine amulet would probably involve finding some anthropomorphic pigs, preferably three or more and preferably each with a different level of home-building knowledge and/or laziness.
Start with the one who likes seeing the stars at night through the non-existent roof of its thatched hut. Step one: inhale. Step two: exhale. Step three: watch that piggy scamper off to its friend's place next door.
You're going to need to repeat this a couple more times. I hope your huffing and puffing skills are up to snuff because the house next door is made of wood. If you're lucky it'll just be some woven twigs, but if you're unlucky it'll be full-on carpentry. Can you blow your way through a board of plywood? Can you blow two-by-fours apart at the nails? If so, go ahead and do your thing. If not, you'll need to come up with some more devious tactics. But don't feel bad: the next house was going to be made of solid brick (and drywall and insulation), and while you are certainly good at blowing things down, you're not that good. (Are you?).
Here's where things diverge from history a bit. You will not make the mistakes of your forebearers. Don't climb up to the roof. Don't try to come down the chimney. A chimney is connected to a fireplace and you will surely be burned. (Pigs find wolf as tasty as you do bacon.)
Simply take off the amulet, knock on the door, and explain that you're a travelling salesperson with a too-good-to-be-true limited time offer. You've been authorized to wolf-proof their home for absolutely no money down. They simply need to sign up for a small recurring monthly fee (to cover monitoring and other expenses) and you'll be able to promise them a life void of such lupine fears.
You do have a couple options at this point. You could slip the amulet back on once you've gotten your foot in the door and you could devour those tasty piggies right there on the spot. I bet your mouth is salivating already. (I know mine is.) But I recommend the longer con: Go ahead and tinker around a bit. Make their house a bit safer from those treacherous, treacherous wolf creatures. Seriously! Do the job you promised to do! Maybe they'll recommend you to their friends. Maybe you'll end up with monthly payments coming in from the whole neighborhood. Take that money and walk yourself over to the supermarket. You can buy all the bacon you want now. Guilt-free! You've earned it!
Contest Entry:
Well, I love the idea before mine by Nobody of having a wolf-proofing home business! I think I should be his partner, by being the "bad cop". While he's explaining his services to the brick house, I'd use my power and be the wolf, thereby helping him land the job. Those little pigs might need some scaring, since they're all smug in their brick house.
Of course, I've never understood where all the hair goes when you go back to your human form....are there bits and clumps of hair all over the place? Or just one big pile of it like a sheep shearing? I think I'd need to hook up with Locks of Love, have a standing appointment for them to come by every week, and maybe daily during the full moon. If it is too much hair for them, I could make PETA-approved wolf fur coats, labeled "No wolves were harmed in the making of this coat". I'd probably have to sign some PETA contract, promising not to harm any animal, and that might be really hard to do while a wolf. No one's afraid of the vegan wolf! Life would definitely be more complicated with these powers!
In the demo I saw that the hero often uses his werewolf powers to push and pull heavy objects, so my answer is: form my own business- Moonlight Furniture Movers.
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