Review: TRI: Friendship and Madness

Posted on October 26, 2014 by geelw

Platform: PC

Developer: Rat King Games

# of Players 1

ESRB Rating: N/A

Score: A (95%)

It’s very hard to believe two people (Jana Reinhardt and Friedrich Hanisch) programmed the stellar TRI: Friendship and Madness, but that’s what it says on the official site and in the game credits. This family-friendly first person puzzle game plays like a hybrid child of Portal and a very well made Minecraft mod where you soon find the only limitations to solving the increasingly challenging levels are your imagination and sense of exploration. The game starts off small as a simple, somewhat straightforward Point A to Point B “find the keys to clear the level” experience, but once you get to drawing triangular platforms that can send you almost anywhere on a map, the game opens up into pure brain expanding territory.

Despite the often high level of challenge in reaching some really out of the way items, once you get the hang of things, the game is always a joy to play, particularly when you’re making your own route around the expansive and often gravity defying maps that have you moving around at seemingly impossible angles… Continue reading →

On Rusty Trails: Black Pants Game Studio is At it Again With the Indie Winner-ness!

Posted on October 22, 2014 by geelw

Well, those five creative guys from Germany (no, not Kraftwerk!) are in the game kitchen cooking up what looks like another awesome game. Yes, Black Pants Game Studio (Tiny & Big in Grandpa’s Leftovers) is hard at work making their new game, On Rusty Trails (Guy Elvis in His Search for a Comfy Place to Stay), which has nothing to do with Jack Kerouac (maybe) and everything to do with fine and dandy platforming and comic art come to life in game for. And stuff.

Oh, and you play as a guy named Elvis. Not the Elvis, mind you, as a lot of people share that name. Or perhaps it IS Elvis in a triangular metal machine suit? I didn’t bother to ask, so Black Pants isn’t telling. That would be absurd, mind you, but hey – I didn’t ask, remember? Anyway, as you can more than clearly see here, the art style is once again amazing and although this one’s a “2D” style platformer, the team’s quirky style seeps in here and makes this one more than worth a look.

Oh, wait – you want screenshots? Okay, here you go. Get ready to study them up close and personal-like, as they’re fairly MASSIVE once clicked on:

Currently in early alpha stage and set for a release sometime in 2015, here’s what to expect in the final version (plus more on the way, I’m betting):

Features
Slip into the Shifty Suit™! Wear these arcane but fine threads to change your appearance whenever there‘s a need to fit in. Avoid confrontation and do not leave your comfort zone!

Still Stepping on the Floor? Get your feet on the walls! Why, even on the ceiling! And then: Go walk there!

A Tale Told in Finest Comic Art. Stimulate your eyes and brains with a story about the loss of a low-rent flat, complicated misunderstandings and a looming war.

Saucy Soundtrack Guarantee! Another great selection of handpicked indie bands to discover!

A true Black Pants Studio experience!

How about some more screenshots? You did look kinda starved there…:

Well, that’s it for now for this gallery, but I’m expecting more from Black Pants soon. Or later. Or whenever they provide updates. This one looks like it’ll be a ton of fun once it’s all done. Hey, that rhymes! Okay, let me stop here before something else falls out of my head. Good games make me giddy.

Rainbow Skies Trailer: That PS3 and Vita? Not Dead Yet, Folks…

Posted on October 22, 2014 by geelw

Okay,I’ll admit to being a bit late to the Rainbow Moon party, but ever since I picked it up for my Vita earlier this year, it’s been one of those games I’ve been playing quite a lot of when I get the chance. SideQuest Studios made quite a fun and challenging strategy RPG that, despite some flaws was and is worth picking up (whether or not it goes on sale). Anyway, the developer is going to be releasing a indirect sequel called Rainbow Skies set in a different world with three different protagonists to play as (so far). I like that there are some nice visual improvements over the last game (which was already great-looking, by the way), although it would have been nice to see the grid-based combat in action here. Well, I guess that’s what future new trailers are for, right? Anyway, Rainbow Skies is coming to the PlayStation 3 and Vita (so far) at some point (soon?). Keep and eye peeled on this one, especially if you’re a big RPG fan who wants a game with plenty of teeth that wants to test you at every turn…

Monday Bundle Madness Continues: Get Your Deals Here!

Posted on October 20, 2014 by geelw

More bundles of joy galore this week, ladies and germs! The IndieGala Every Monday Bundle this week is a wild one, with eight assorted games about horse breeding in a fantasy setting, an AWESOME Tempest clone (nostalgia alert!), a fun minimalist puzzle game based on Alice in Wonderland’s first glorious chapter, a great little physics-based robot game and more. Yeah, you NEED this. It’s only two bucks for 24 hours (well, $1.99, you nit-picking penny-pincher!) and you’ll never forgive yourself if you let yourself miss this deal. More deals below the jump (look out belooooooow!)… Continue reading →

SAVAGE: The Sword of Goshen Update: Another Indie Retro Action/Platformer Shaping Up as a Nice Surprise…

Posted on October 18, 2014 by geelw

Matt Fitzgerald of Planet Tobor is making what’s shaping up to be a fun retro action platformer you 8 and 16-bit fanatics may want to keep an eyeball peeled for. SAVAGE: The Sword of Goshen is looking pretty cool, and although it’s still deep in development, you can download and try out the alpha and maybe let him know what you think or just hold out for a later build that’s less buggy. But even in the state it’s in in that video above, you can tell it’s a labor of love that’s coming along quite nicely. Anyway, it’s already been funded through Kickstarter, so for me, all that’s left to do is wait for the game to drop onto a download service so I can pay for all this hard work going on…

Graal Seeker Update: Extended Campaign + Some Music Lessons For You Potential Backers…

Posted on October 18, 2014 by geelw

Meanwhile, back in crowd-funding land…

With only 16 days left in its Indiegogo campaign, Lugludum Game Studios’ work in progress tactical/RPG Graal Seeker is jockeying for a Steam Greenlight spot, so help them out with a vote and a pledge if you haven’t yet. This latest devlog is a total educational hoot, as it shows how the music and some of the sound effects were done (go, Guillaume!). You may want to fund the game just so he doesn’t come after you with some of those weapons he has! Then again, that might make for a heck of a stretch goal – get the sound guy to chase you around a room so he can record screams for the Graal Seeker sequel!

Finally, PR guy Thibaut Trampont wants you to bug the dev team on Reddit tomorrow:

Ask Us Anything (AMA) on Sunday 19th October:
We will be on Reddit to answer all questions the 19th October at 3pm UTC with the guys from Battle Brothers, That Which Sleeps and Dungeon Kingdom. This can be a great opportunity to satisfy your curiosity about how indie developers like us make RPGs. The link will be shared on twitter the day of the AMA.

Follow Thibaut Trampont on Twitter here: @ttrampont – and go get this game funded! It looks like it will be quite a bit of fun and certainly a unique experience for SRPG fans who want something more than anime-based fantasy games in their libraries.

Dungeon of the Endless: Deceptive Depth and Plenty of Death Lie in Wait in This Upcoming Hybrid…

Posted on October 15, 2014 by geelw

Combine the random thrills of a rogue-like RPG experience and a tower defense game and what do you get? Well, a hell of a mess if it’s done wrong, but Amplitude Studios’ Dungeon of the Endless looks to me as if the developer not only nailed this cross-breed about as good as it can get, they’ve pretty much kicked off a new sub-genre for some folks.

Between the beautiful visuals (those sprite graphics with modern lighting look spectacular)and the supremely challenging gameplay in solo or up to four player co-operative modes, this one looks like it’ll be a favorite of those who like thus mega-mix and the very populated little universe Amplitude has created with its other Endless games (Endless Space and Endless Legend). This one’s on PC October 27, but is also Xbox One bound at some point. That short movie-like trailer above should give you a very good idea of what to expect, so keep an eye peeled or just shell out for a pre-order if this one perks you up a bit.

Wait, There’s a Legend of Grimrock II? I Still Haven’t Completed the FIRST One!

Posted on October 15, 2014 by geelw

Gyaaaah. My backlog is a pain in the behind, people. Staring, glaring and leering at me from two hard drives and some USB sticks, knowing full well by the time I finally get to it I’ll be older and grayer and slower and more games will have crept in to fill what little void there is left in that hole they spawn from. Or something like that. Anyway… Hey, Almost Human Games? It’s probably a very good thing whomever is doing your PR hasn’t bugged me about playing this game at all because I’d probably faint dead away knowing there was an amazing looking sequel out NOW and I’m still only about three hours into the first game. Yeah, I suck. Okay, not really – the helper monkey I ordered ran off with a squirrel and I still haven’t recovered all the work it was “organizing” for me, grrrrr!

Actually, I had so many games to play and other things to do that by the time I finally go around to buying and installing the game last year, it didn’t get played as much as I wanted to. Ah, the need for more time to do this is a powerful one. Maybe if I got off the internet and ignored trivial stuff, I’d have more time for these excellent indie dungeon crawlers. Heck, as it is, I’m about a dozen games behind in reviews (which is about to change shortly). Anyway, the game is now live on Steam gog.com and The Humble Store with a limited time 10% discount. Interested? Well, you can check to see if it will run on your own computer using this compatibility test installer and if it does? Well, you probably need a nice adventure/puzzle/dungeon crawler to eat away at your more free time than I have currently. GET IT.

Monday Bundle News: A Bit Late, But Still Doable…

Posted on October 13, 2014 by geelw

Oops. I was offline for a bit this evening being annoyed at something or someone or the internet in general or whatever and I realized I’d not seen any bundle news today. That’s because some of it was later than usual and the other stuff was a page of email away and I just got to reading about it. It’s supposed to be a holiday, but I got more email today than I did last Monday! Oh well. I’ll keep it short because I need to go get some rest. IndieGala Every Monday Sale is is here (BUY!), the Humble Flash Sale (and other cool Humble stuff is here, Bundle Stars is here Indie Royale is here and I like that site, keep forgetting to update my gog.com news because I haven’t been to either site in a while because I have too much stuff to do.

Gah! There are now MOVIES on gog.com? Wow. I need to maybe fins some time to check a few out, as they’re all game-related for now, but other stuff is coming. I think they need to snap up or come to some sort of an arrangement with the folks at Sinister Cinema and talk to some movie studios about getting the rights to see all those awesome “B” to “Z” grade flicks that old site has for sale.

Hokay, back to my whatever I was doing or not doing. See you all tomorrow!

Monday Means Mo’ Bundles, No Problems!

Posted on October 6, 2014 by geelw

Well, actually you’ll have SOME problems as far as finding the time to play the games in these bundles, but hey – don’t shoot the messenger, folks. He needs to be alive to play the games in his backlog! Anyway, here’s what’s what from the usual three suspects and more:

IndieGala Every Monday Bundle: Six games, $1.89, 24 hours before the price increases, so get this one FAST. I like Sanctuary in this set of games the best, but your mileage may vary: