The Humblebee Flies Again

The de facto pay-what-you-want package deal is back! Colour us surprised, as last May’s Humble Indie Bundle seemed so much like a one-off. But here it is, a fresh assortment of indie titles: Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos, and Revenge of the Titans, each of them cross-platform and sans DRM.

Exactly like last year, buyers can choose how to best split their payment between the five games and two charities, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child’s Play; in addition, there now exists a new option for tipping off “Humble Bundle, Inc.” itself, as reward for the actual running of the promotion. So far, bundle #2 has already proved to be a massive success like its predecessor, netting over 500 000 dollars in just over a day, 1)http://twitter.com/#!/humble/status/15083747409924097 and at the time of writing, more than 100 000 bundles have been sold. An all-new development is the transformation of the “top contributors” list into an advertisement board, with clever individuals – like Minecraft developer @notch – using their contributions to advertise businesses and Twitter accounts.

image via http://diglett.blogspot.com/

So, what does [insert price tag here] net you this time around, exactly? There’s Braid (‘Nuff Said), the ambient reverse propulsion clickathon Osmos, the delightfully pixelated Worms-influenced multiplayer blastfest Cortex Command, the cutiepie point and click Flash adventure Machinarium, and finally the highly fashionable and stylized RTS/TD romp in Revenge of the Titans  – overall, quite the diverse cast, as you can see in the image above!

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UDK Hat Trick: The Ball, The Haunted and Sanctum

Ever since Epic Games announced the Unreal Development Kit in November 2009, with UE3’s market penetration, a $99 starting price and comparably modest licensing terms (0% royalty on $5,000 and 25% above $5,000), the big step for aspiring mod teams to take in moving over to the commercial side of video game development has considerably shrunk.

In fact, there are already three promising Unreal Tournament 3 mods that have not only made the jump over to the UDK but also gone commercial, and curiously, UDK is not the only factor that binds all these three projects together. Each these teams also took part in the Make Something Unreal 2010 contest arranged by Intel and Epic Games. (In fact, two out of three of the above projects are included in the UDK showcase.)

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The Journey Down Interview with Theodor Waern

In this interview with main Skygoblin Theodor Waern, who is fresh off releasing the very first chapter of his four-part adventure game series, The Journey Down, we discuss the game’s unique look and feel, Waern’s inspiration for the game and find out more about the role Adventure Game Studio played in the game’s development. We also got around talking about the importance of polish, what makes a puzzle a good puzzle, and Waern’s workflow.

In addition to this interview, we have also simultaneously published our review of the first chapter of the game here at The Slowdown. “Over the Edge” can be downloaded from Skygoblin right now.

The Slowdown: Starting off, I would like you to return to the origins of the series for a minute: In the manual provided with “Over the Edge,” you reveal how the game’s origins actually lie in brainstorming sessions with your colleague, Mathias Johansson. How big a catalyst, though, was simply finding the correct tool to work with?

Theodor Waern: There’s no point denying that when me and AGS first laid eyes on each other, we both knew it was love. I realized right from the start that this was THE tool for me. The learning curve was perfect. I had a problem, I banged my head at it, I solved it. I had another problem, I banged my head some more, and I solved that one too. It has been that way ever since I started production on the game and I doubt I will ever come to a complete stop.

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The Journey Down – Chapter 1: Over the Edge Review

Under the moniker of Skygoblin, Theodor Waern, with music provided by Simon D’souza, has written, painted and animated a standout freeware indie adventure that is perhaps most easily described as an amalgamation of three LucasArts classics from the past: Monkey Island, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango. Even if the game does recall the meta-level humour and carnivalesque of the first, the animations and the magnificent meld of 2D/3D of the second, and the stylish ambiance and setting of the third, all in all, Waern’s series – The Journey Down – is no simple exercise in nostalgia.

At this juncture, I would love to point you all to our interview with the game’s designer, Theodor Waern, published in conjunction with this review. In the interview, we discuss the game’s unique look and feel, Waern’s inspiration for the game and find out more about the game’s history and development.

The first chapter, “Over the Edge,” finally released after being four years in the making, tells the story of Bwana and Kito, brothers abandoned by their adoptive father captain Kaonandodo, whose abrupt disappearance left the brothers struggling to make a living. Apart for some slight “financial instability,” the duo has been running Kaonandodo’s Gas and Charter ever since, that is, until the Armando Power Company throws a proverbial wrench in their gears.

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MAGS April: Part III

Dear all, this is the final entry to my coverage of April’s MAGS compo. For more information on the competition and the previously discussed entries, you should take a look at the first and second part of the article. This Sunday instalment takes a look at the remaining three contestants: Hard Space, Snakes of Avalon and Space Pool Alpha.

Once more, don’t forget to cast your vote! The compo is still ongoing and lasts until the 17th of May.

Hard Space

Our first entry today, Hard Space: Conquest of the Gayliks, continues on the path already taken by Shane “ProgZmax” Steven’s previous game, Limey Lizard: Waste Wizard!, only to bring the parodic aspects even more to the fore. Stevens is also responsible for the vastly, vastly different Mind’s Eye, one of my all-time favourite AGS games.

I do absolutely have to get this out of the way: Hard Space is a parody of the original Star Trek, built entirely on the solid foundation of cock-jokery. The game, set on the ISC (or is it I.S.S.?) Penetrator, “a ship crewed almost entirely by male homosexuals,” 1)http://www.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?topic=40883.msg540428#msg540428 discusses the all-star entourage of Captain Jack Hardin, “the black sheep of the Interstellar Commonwealth.” 2)http://www.bigbluecup.com/yabb/index.php?topic=40883.msg540428#msg540428

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