Bastion Review - The Kid Reached The End, Gives His Opinion

It's been a long time comin'... but the kid never gave up... always trucking along...always eating away at the obstacles... The Bastion calls to him like the fireflies that are attracted by the light... but he ain't about to get burnt by it... oh no Sir! The Bastion beckons...

What The Hell Is Gratuitous Tank Battles? - Cliffski Answers Your Questions

Cliff Harris, one man developer of Gratuitous Space Battles has released a video blog which answer your burning question on his upcoming game. There's some footage of the editor in the game as well. I've included an older alpha footage of the game Cliffski recorded earlier this month. Watch the videos below...

Introversions Subversion Put On Hold

The heist tactical game, Subversion, from Introversion has been put on hold indefinitely. Which means it has been canceled... for now. It doesn't mean that Introversion won't go back to it later but for now, it's no longer in their plans. Which is a shame since it's one of those old school tactical games that is becoming exceedingly rare. Too bad. Read the news on the official forums. They,re working on a new title that has been submitted for the IGF awards. No news abot this new mysteriously game.

Source: VG247

Frozen Synapse Game Diary Leo vs frags Turn 2

Turn 2 of my Frozen Synapse game. Will I dominate Leo? Or will I slowly wear him down? So far, I'm loving this game. Perfect game to take your time with(it is turn based and you can take your time playing out the turns). Read on to find out what transpired on turn 2...

Minecraft Documentary Makers Need Your Help

PCGamer highlighted that 2 Player Production, have created a 21 minute proof of concept short documentary on Mojang Studios and Markus ‘Notch’ Persson. It featured the Minecraft team in early 2010 as they were moving into new offices. They’ve started a kick starter page for the project and they require $150,000. Go here and help them out. It’s some cool stuff. If you’d like to view the 21 minute proof of concept, click on the read more link to view it below…

Braid Coming To Impulse, Release 31st March UPDATED Price Revision

UPDATE : Braid's price has been reduced to only USD$14.95. Originally set at $19.95, Blow decided to shrug of the high price and have it sold a lot cheaper.

Jonathan Blow's time manipulating 2D platformer, Braid, will be releasing on Stardock's Impulse on 31st March. According to bigdownload, you can pre order Braid now for USD$14.95. It's great to see the Impulse catalogue getting more higher profile games. Impulse is also releasing Demigod(Gas Powered Games) in April. Stardock may be the small guys, but they are a company that has very good philosophy's.

Source : http://news.bigdownload.com/2009/02/17/impulse-taking-pre-orders-for-pc-braid-release-set-for-march-31/

Kosong Sen - Night of The Cephalopods!

This weeks featured game is developed by Miguel Sternberg I know, I know it's a little old, but I think it's worth checking out. This is another short write up.

This one's called "Night of The Cephalopod" and is a top down game. It isn't so much of an action game rather more like an adventure horror game. The game(like last weeks game) is quite short and as the protagonist, your goal is just to survive that night, till the sun rises. It can only be described as a narrative experience.




You play a floppy looking character with only a trusty ol' shotgun for company. You are lost, alone in a forest covered with thick fog. There are creatures called Cephalopod that slowly move towards you.

They seem docile and harmless. They move closer towards you, sensing danger, you fire a round from your shotgun. The creatures eyes turns red with rage. It moves towards you faster and more threateningly.




A few more rounds from you shotgun and the creature turns into blue goo. Clearly these creatures are out to harm you and are hostile. You reload your shotgun as fast as you can fumbling in between.

Dawn is all but just a distant dream. The darkness of the night surrounds you with only the brightness of the moon to show you the way. You clutch you shotgun tighter as the creatures start to slowly surround you.




You make your way around the creatures and out of harms way. The forest looks foreboding with its twisty and confusing giant maze. You move north only to reach a section of the forest that you recognise. Have you been through this section before? Confused, you felt a jolt of electricity surging through your body.




You fall back and realise that in your confusion, one of the creatures touched you. You don't feel so well and need to keep moving. Reeling from the shock, you trudge on trying to survive the night. Will you make it to the morning? Or will you succumb to the tentacles of these creatures?

Download Link

Kosong Sen - The Manipulator

The Manipulator is a new game developed by Tuuka and Eerka Virtanen famed for their creation 'Seven Minutes'. The Manipulator follows the theme of that game and is a puzzle platformer with very minimal 8bit like aesthetics.




The levels are bright and monochrome coloured but in no way is it ugly. It is interesting and the first sector start out with this sepia like shade. Enemies and your character is represented with an 8bit like blot.

Sound design is basic with little bleep and buzzes. The music is a single loop of just the main theme which is haunting and surreal. Credit must be given to Tuuka Virtanen for doing such a good job with the music. It fits so well to the theme of the game.




What looks like a standard 2D platformer is actually a smart new twist that requires you to manipulate the enemies in a level. Your goal in each level is to get to the exit. Levels are populated by enemies that range from regular gun man, bouncing enemies to flying copters later on.

To get through a level, you will be required to take control of the enemies to get to hard to reach places, get you code numbers to unlock doors, get keys etc. Reading an enemies mind is quite funny as there are some pretty humorous descriptions about them. You only have a projectile that takes control of other enemies. You don't have any weapons to kill them.




However as you take over the bodies of your enemy, you can use their weapons against them. This can be used to get past difficult sections of the level.

After you complete each sector, you view a briefing by a mysterious figure that underlines the urgency of the situation to your enemies. It is apparent that this figure is your enemy and exactly what is his motivation and yours is unclear(until the very end).




The levels are not too difficult and are about the right difficulty. You could finish through the entire game in one sitting which is good since you can't save your progress in this game and the end is something you have to see.

Speaking of the ending, The Manipulator has multiple endings. To be precise, two different endings. What's interesting is that you won't be exactly sure which choice you make in the end, is the right or good choice(until you have made it).




The Manipulator is a great concept for a full blown game. It's simple but has a lot of depth and potential(for an improved version).



Link : http://koti.mbnet.fi/erkkavir/themanipulator.php

Crayon Physics Deluxe Now On Sale For The PC

Indie game developer Petri Purho has made Crayon Physics Deluxe now for the PC. The game is now on sale at his website. The game is known to combine puzzle elements with physics based gameplay. You the player have to draw objects that would guide a ball to the star(the objective).

The game is selling for USD$19.95. Get it at his site or view video demos of the game here: http://www.crayonphysics.com/

Please support indie game developers.