GDC 16: The best of the Indie Mega Booth

pon writing this very intro to my coverage of this year’s piece to the Indie Mega Booth, I’ve realized that this is my eighth time covering this spectacle. While this may not seem like much in hind sight, it’s incredibly fascinating to me that this exhibit continually manages to not only get bigger with the subsequent event it visits, but by each and every venue that it’s hosted at as well.

It never ceases to amaze me just what I’ll find at the Indie Mega Booth either, I’m always reassured with this sense self-fulfilling prophecy of relief within the industry that I’ll come away with these new fresh. And innovative experiences that’ll be sure to impress me.

Here are some of the games that gave me that sort of feeling at the IMB.

Click to read more ...

QCF: Five Nights at Freddy's

n the vein of Stephen King’s It or Chucky, Five Nights at Freddy’s takes on one of the creepiest characters from our collective childhood ­ the animatronic robots dressed as cuddly stuffed animals that perform at amusement parks and fun centers. Their dead eyes and jerky movements place them firmly in the Uncanny Valley ­ a bit too life­like for comfort. Why did these things exist?

Whoever thought they were appropriate for children? Even as a little girl I remember shrinking away whenever they “looked” at me (also, people who dress up as statues). These robots are creepy as hell, making them the perfect villains for this atmospheric nightmare game.

Click to read more ...

QCF: The Floor Is Jelly

n paper platformers seem to be the most basic of videogame genres. With very little other than ‘get to A from B by jumping’ at its core design it could be one of the most simplistic game premises ever made. Still the genre has lived strong through new and creative takes on the central ‘jumping’ mechanic. Moreover, games like VVVVVV and Fez have proven that there’s a lot of complex dimensions yet to be explored in this beloved videogame style.

Click to read more ...

QCF: Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge

ould you remember a time when games were hard? Sure, the 8-bit era or even the onset of the 16-bit generation would fit the bill, but I’m talking difficult here, like “Hey mom can you give me another dollar’s worth of quarters” hard; aren’t too many you may who care to remember those moments now is there.

Sure, titles like Super Meat Boy have written the love letter to the demanding skill and frustration of video games, but generally most of these messages romanticize all of the aspects of pleasure that deride from the teeth grinding challenge of video games, and never any of the horse shit that comes along with it. The question is how could both sides of this coin be faithfully represented for both the purist, and masochist?

Last Dimension steps in with Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge as their answer and while it may not appeal to everyone in both of those groups, it’s the best one I’ve seen yet to come close to being that answer.

Click to read more ...

PPR 82

fter all of those Steam Holiday sales and Humble Bundle deals, your computer must be filled to the brim with some PC-ass PC games; wouldn’t it be swell if you could just play all of those titles on your TV with a controller like a console? Well, Gabe Newell thinks so, and he’s out to prove it with his wave of Gabe-Cubes, err, we mean Steam Boxes.

Join us for a conversation of Jazz Jackrabbit, Ric Flair being arrested, Gone Home, The Canadian Army, Bravely Default, Pokémon Y, Killer Instinct, and more on this first show in the Twenty Del-Quattro.

Rate and subscribe to us iTunes today, follow us on our new Twitch page, YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

Oh, and mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, and be sure to stop by at our Forums and register as well!

Click to read more ...

QCF: Game Dev Tycoon

ame Dev Tycoon is a game I've wished for since playing Game Dev Story back in 2010. I couldn’t tell you how much I played that game. In fact, it was my game of the year back then. So when picking up Game Dev Tycoon and diving in to a deeper, more fleshed-out version of that same experience, you’d think that I'd be jumping for joy the entire way through. However, what I really discovered is a game so difficult to wrap my head around that it's almost a cautionary tale about the current state of game development.

GDT starts you out as an indie developer toiling away at your computer and developing games in your garage. There's no real narrative in place, so you just start making games back in the early days of gaming before the NES even launched. Being that you're a one-person game making machine, you begin to pump a text adventure here and military strategy game there. Once you gain a little money you can invest in developing your own engine and research new types of games.

Click to read more ...

QCF: Unepic

nepic, originally released back in 2011, is currently up for bid on Steam’s Project Greenlight. Many people have already played this game, but after looking it up I decided to give it a shot. I have to say that I am thoroughly impressed with what I played. While it has a few problems, being that it’s an indie game from a small team in Europe, I can honestly say that I came away feeling like this title could be released as a boxed game. I think that everyone deserves a chance to play this wonderfully cheeky gem of a game.

Click to read more ...