GDC 15: Picking out the best of the Indie Mega Booth

aking their presence at an event that’s considered to be the bastion of creative indie game design, Indie Mega Booth carves out a slice of floor space at the Moscone to show off some of the latest games to hit their exhibit.

Here are some of my choices for the cream of the crop that’s offered at this year’s GDC exhibit. 

The renaissance of local couch-driven multiplayer isn’t stopping anytime soon, in fact, House House’s Push Me Pull You is proof that the style is only beginning to expand.

Equal parts nightmare fuel and adorable, the presentation of Push Me Pull You is stretches the imagination with a vivid art style that wonderfully illustrates the wild mish-mash of sumo wrestling and football driven gameplay that it offers.

Using only the analog sticks on the Dualshock 4, your team of human-centipede-like athlete must quickly move to their opponent’s ball, and force it out of the on screen circle while simultaneously defending their ball from the very same action. The results are hilarious within each and every round, complete with the stretchy and squishy sound effects that accommodate the mutant yoga sport.

The weird, yet charming party sports title is primed for release across all home computer markets later this year.

 

Another example of Couch-Multiplayer’s climb to the top, Golden Ruby Games come out swinging with Extreme Exorcism, a frenetically spooky twist on the Towerfall design of multiplayer competition.

While similar in concept, what separates Extreme Exorcism from the title it takes inspiration from is its ghost mechanic.  Every time you succumb to defeat, a ghost will rise, mimicking every frame of action you had previously made up until the moment you died, & then it repeats again.

To make matters more interesting, ghosts will accumulate and linger on into each subsequent round afterwards if not killed, meaning that something as humble as two player game can become a chaotic whirlwind of violence within a matter of minutes.

There are a variety of spins on the dynamic, such as a deathmatch where the individual ghosts of fallen players will assault with friendly-fire kept off towards the characters from which they supernaturally derived from, adding as additional rally support against other characters, and more.

While Extreme Exorcism is still early in development, the ghoulishly frenetic multiplayer title is expected to drop later this year onto Steam and other digital platforms.

At one point in all of our lives, we’ve mashed our two fingers together over the view of somebody’s head that we didn’t like in the distance and imagine that we would be able to do so through some sort of supernatural force or power we didn’t have—we’re human, it’s ok.

Crooked Tree Studios offers players to indulge in a simulation that’s sort of like that; telepathy—that’s where the literal title of their first-person shooter, Throw Trucks With Your Mind comes in.

Seems gimmicky, I know,  but Crooked Tree Studios pulls it all off through narrowed-down dynamics that’re influenced by your brain-waves through the use of a EEG headset that registers them.

There are two classes of telepathy powers that are fueled by the state of either focus, or calm by the player, with powers varying anywhere between defensive force-fields to mental-induced shock-wave that affect all of the objects around you—players are able to play around whatever state of mentality best affords them a fighting chance.

As the title may suggest, telepathically fueled, frenetically charged, death-match action found here is about as tongue-in-cheek as you might imagine it would be. The rogues’ gallery of combatants range anywhere between yellow dragons to damsels with bird nest hairstyles, psychically assaulting one another within colorfully obscure settings like Monster Truck arenas, museums, and junk yards, all filled to the brim with heavy objects that’re ripe for the mental maiming.

This unique shooter is currently still a work-in-progress, but you can catch it on Steam Greenlight now if you’re interested in knowing more about this unique multiplayer title.

While physics-based platformers are as common to the indie game scene as first-person shooters are to the big-budget game productions, the genre has yet to be impeded by any sort of creative wall or sense of tedium to this point, and Candescent Games’ Tinertia may just be one of the best forms of evidence to support that sentiment.

Bold claim yes, but it’s not often that you come across a hardcore platformer title where there’s absolutely no jump ability, and yet manages to deliver a diabolical sense of challenge and level design that could make Super Meat Boy blush.

Taking on the role of a clumsy robot names Weldon, players will navigate through various scaffoldings and perilous runways with nothing more than a rocket cannon that players will not have to multitask as both their only means of defense and their gravity defying method of mobility.

Aiming your rocket blasts along any number of trajectories, and the respective surfaces that’re targeted will determine all the physics and elements that’re often overlooked when it comes to jumping, like height, velocity, and hang-time; and the ensuing possibilities presented with each obstacle encountered is where the joy of Tinertia is at its finest.

If this build is any real indication of what’s to come, then it’s safe to say that this his quirky side-scrolling hop’n bop quest is primed to bring back the intense trials of experimentation and the familiar rush it gave, the kind that fueled  the sense of action that these sort of ventures were iconic for. Look out for it on Steam Early Access because Tinertia is a game that’s worthy of being on your radar in 2015.

Game hybrids are only beginning to get stranger and stranger, and while some sound better on paper than they actually play (Rock of The Dead anyone?) there are some that are all that you can imagine them to be and then some.

Like take for instance, a game that’s part Tetris, and part Populous—too silly to be true right? Fate Tectonics would beg to differ; the potential this project has from how well it actually spins those mechanics into a cohesive package alone is pretty remarkable, it’s just a bonus that the game is pretty damn fun too.

As the screen fades in, players will slowly build around a temple that’s associated with a fate, one of many deities who represent specific elements and ideals, and the objective is to slowly build the world, piece by piece. The catch doesn’t just involve delegation over which tile of terrain is the most compatible landmasses, but more to the fact that your building also revolves around well it placates the respective Gods on sight.

Successful expansion is the key to properly tribute to these super-powered overseers, because when you aren’t able to fit the right piece into spot that’s suitable with the surrounding real estate, it crumbles away, and places risk towards invoking the destructive rage of the Fates on scene.

As the world grows, so too do the temple, with additional fates joining the campaign, and with every fate, comes a new power or ability that will aid towards the construction of the world. While the simple joy of gradually developing the landscape of the world offers a humble joy in its own right, the introduction of abilities and powers add a layer of strategy that adds a new air of appeal that goes beyond the remedial structure to the building mechanics.

Fate Tectonics is not only up for a vote on Steam Greenlight now, but Golden Gear is also currently offering the Alpha of Fate Tectonics on their website now, and I recommend giving it a look.