After new releases and updates which included featured games, I learned that a project about to celebrate its fifth anniversary may instead be abandoned... However, I included a cartoon so it's all good, right?
Happy birthday to my Moogie who turned 62 this week! (That would be my mom.)
Happy Halloween to everyone else because my next post won't be until November. I suggest celebrating with a collection of short films. Various indies release tales of terror around this time of year. The collection I had bookmarked turned out to have some objectionable sterotypes so try starting with this cartoon instead. =)
This edited version of BYOND and Within comes to you from an unpaid volunteer using a game/development portal and software engine called BYOND. Rather than play suggestions, the column focuses on recent developer activity.
Within BYOND
After months of previews on the Silk Games blog, version 1.52 of their retro MORPG NEStalgia has been released. It provides skill trees, revamped moon blessings, an NPC who resets skill points, a will system for soldiers, a credit system for merchants, animations, hotkeys and more. Try it out and be sure to make the team aware of any bugs.
The official podcast will no longer be available on YouTube. It can instead be found on various distribution services such as iTunes.
Aaiko's massive update to acorn-exploding Feval action has been released as well. It offers unlockable items, an in-game shop to customize avatars, a new lobby system, new medals and more. Go help test the beta! =)
Rise Of The Pirates is now in open testing with a server and trailer up as I type. I've been seeing snippets of the team's MORPG for a while, but there never seemed to be enough at once to mention... You know, other than the large post of screenshots which had to be pointed out to me through the pager and Facebook. ;)
Danlee13 has released a two-button arcade game called Slidevade. Players earn points by avoiding obstacles as they steer their elongated avatar downwards. The standings are steering me in the same direction since my last session.
After hosting a competition with his implementation of the knight's tour, Lugia319 released a player versus player version called Law of the Board. (This is not to be confused with Acebloke's chess variant collection.) Players take turns trying to land on each other and destroy their movement opportunities. More projects have been announced.
Lige and Branks updated their chase and evade game Jail Em! with bug fixes. A server is up as a type this, but reaction to the round-based competition has been unsatisfactory enough to make Lige change the format of Invasion to an action RPG. Character creation for the latter has been redesigned with the possibility of a demo after the combat is finished.
Vocal_nebula has been working of a game called simply BYOND Football. As pictured, he has participated in the US sport himself. Videos have been posted. The core AI can now block, run, dodge and tackle.
F0lak has described the next version of his team's MORPG Hazordhu II. Redesigning much to use BYOND's new pixel movement, animals shall have a herd mentality, crafting shall involve a new type of object, projectiles shall move faster and various types of content shall be offered. Thankful for the support over the past 5 years, players have been told to expect something special for the anniversary.
Or not? Supposedly, F0lak has a habit of saying he's done and then coming back.
After its fangame conversion, Stevenw9's medieval martial arts MORPG Chi Online has been merged into a more science fiction-oriented project currently called My RPG. The constant features are their open sandboxes and focus on world generation. A video of various solar systems has been provided.
Amongst sidescrolling platformer mockups and the loss of his Zombies! source, Kumorii has been sharing his team's progress on the horror survival Feed. While implementing barricades and status effects, they've taken on a new programmer named Raimo. Fans are being asked to contribute zombie and weapon ideas. A beta test was hosted on Wednesday.
Spend half an hour with the DMcast crew (minus Akto) as they discuss the latest version of BYOND, Forum_account's libraries and more. Then check the rest of their blog for video demonstrations and their new Video Forge project... I don't know whether we're supposed to dislike the YouTube videos to continue their standard of contrary ratings. ;)
The Journalism guild has Higoten questioning menu bars and reading habits while Magnum2k and EnigmaticGallivanter search for six judges for their new Journalism Choice Awards. Those chosen shall play games, assign points to various categories and explain their reasoning.
...Look, when you're a niche community and lack a pirate kart, the approval of six random people is something to grasp on to, OK? ;)
Beyond BYOND
Indie sales! Farbs is selling Captain Jameson for $9 until it ceases to be profitable. Meanwhile, Afterfall: InSanity can be preordered for only $1.
Slightly Mad Studio's World of Mass Development now offers another source of crowdfunding for game developers willing to brave the beta. Last week, Slightly Mad's Ian Bell was interviewed by Rock, Paper Shotgun.
Here on Gamasutra, Eric Swartz has posted his Observations on User Interface Design. Those I have reviewed for feature status know that I'm rather anal about this sort of thing. ;)
Also on Gamasutra, Bent Spoon Games' Alexei Andreev offers A guide for an indie developer for how to find, hire, and work with a freelance artist.
Extra Credits discussed the importance of considering setting and design before releasing products like Call of Juarez: The Cartel.
Congratulations to Naka Teleeli for gaining 15000 subscribers to his LP channel! He celebrated by creating a Minecraft server where he and others could build the map from Neutopia II. Over 200 people showed up and the project finished quickly. His LP of the first Neutopia was just completed.
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