A packed round up of indie games news, previews and reviews from other sites.
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The developers of the forthcoming Convenient Chaos posted a blog update with some news on their game and also a competition for the most obscure/weirdest/funniest product or display you have come across in a convenience store, the winning submission will be used as an inspiration for an item in the game. Full details can be found here.
The developers of Dysnomia posted an interesting blog post on their Dream Build Play entry which gives an overview of the development process and a status update of the game which is now complete. Check it out here.
Purple Games let XBLA Ratings know about their Spring 2010 game Relativity which you play as an all-powerful god-type who must colonise and conquer planets for your followers. More information and a trailer can be found here.
The Lumberjack is a new game by the developer of Gamefarm Math Quiz expected to be released in around two months time. Your mission is to find the highly valuable magic oaks in the old forest – killing all the animals that stand in your way. And watch out for Bambi, he is annoyed since you killed his mom. An early work in progress video of the game can be viewed here.
[singlepic id=920 w=280 h=175 float=right]Adrift is a new work in progress game and the developers were kind enough to allow me to try a build on the 360. Adrift is an action game set on the sea and you play the character of a young Somali pirate who must complete missions against rival factions and gain more power. I spent a bit of time playing the game and it is great fun with different mission types such as stealing cargo, defending ships and attacking the enemy. You can control a small fleet of craft and can swap between them at any time and also issue orders which leads to some interesting tactics. There are also a decent selection of power ups to use against the enemy or protect your fleet. Graphics are looking good, 3D graphics look and work very well and the water in particular looks great. The game is still work in progress but if all goes well it should be released in the next 30 to 60 days, one to keep an eye out for! Check out the homepage here for more details including a useful wiki on the game and a trailer of the game which you can also view at the end of this article.
[singlepic id=928 w=280 h=175 float=right]MStar Games just announced their latest game Blazin Balls which should be rolling its way to the marketplace in a few weeks. MStar Games, creators of Space Pirates from Tomorrow and Carrum (available on XBox LIVE Indie Games) today officially annouce their next title, Blazin’ Balls – a simple, addictive 3D puzzler and racing game. At first glance this seems an odd combination, but it will appeal to fans of simple, direct “challenge” games. Players must pick their path along a space-bourne road comprised of various coloured block avoiding gaps, collecting coins and trying to beat the target time for each level. The coloured blocks effect your ball in various ways, with some slowing you down, some speeding you up, others making you bounce and a couple of other effects which will intreague and infuriate gamers in equal measure. The game soundtrack continues the MStar tradition of rich electro-ambient beats. You can read the full press release with some screenshots showing the game on the homepage here.
Reviews on other indie game sites are Yet Another Zombie Defense, Kollectiv 360, Impossible Shoota, Curling 2010 and Cannoblast. There is also a nice round up of some of the best indie games of the past couple of months at gamefwd.
Finally a new Facebook group for Indie Game fans has been created by qupe75, there are only a few members at the moment so be sure to check it out here and join as the page is regularly updated with news and videos. Update – There was actually two groups created, the second one is here, my mistake I thought they linked to the same page.
Adrift Trailer