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IndieGames.com is presented by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, which runs the Independent Games Festival & Summit every year at Game Developers Conference. The company (producer of the Game Developers Conference series, Gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine) established the Independent Games Festival in 1998 to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers.

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Video: Terry Cavanagh, Porpentine offer highlights from Free Indie Games

May 20, 2013 5:44 PM | Staff

Developers Terry Cavanagh (Super Hexagon) and Porpentine (Howling Dogs) call for other developers to highlight interesting games, as they have been on their Free Indie Games blog, in this talk from GDC 2013.

Former Grubby Games, Big Fish dev Ryan Clark on his DDR-like roguelike

May 20, 2013 2:30 PM | John Polson

Upcoming rhythm and roguelike hybrid Crypt of the NecroDancer developer Ryan Clark recently spoke with me to fill in the gaps left from the early alpha trailer above. His latest project is certainly different from his earlier work at Grubby, such as FizzBall and IncrediBots. He still likes creating title words with capital letters in the middle of them, though.

Now running Brace Yourself Games, Ryan speaks here about the groove meter that dictates how players can crawl, how enemies and your own music collection work, and how he aims to incorporate Dance Dance Revolution to make this Windows and Mac dungeon crawler aerobic.

Freeware Pick: The World Is in Your Hand, an emotional one-button adventure

May 20, 2013 11:30 AM | Paul Hack

worldhand1.pngThough its reach may frequently exceed its grasp, The World Is in Your Hand is such an ambitious and interesting game (especially considering that it was originally crafted in less than 48 hours) that it bears repeated plays. Don't get the impression that developer Jack LeHamster's execution is entirely flawed; on the contrary, the silhouetted graphics are beautiful, and the gameplay is satisfying more often than not. The lack of precise controls can get frustrating, and the puzzles can be on the obscure side, but what can we expect from a one-button exploration-puzzle adventure?

Browser Pick: death and dismemberment come swiftly in samurai game Bladeless

May 20, 2013 8:33 AM | Paul Hack

bladeless.pngBladeless, a Ludum Dare 26 jam entry by kidevil, really captures the swiftness and brutality of what samurai duels must have been like (or at least as they are in chanbara flicks). This is a game of tactics, observation, and reaction. By paying attention to the position of your opponent's sword as he draws it, you can predict his attack and block it, then counter with your own blade. That's the rhythm of the gameplay: approach an enemy, wait for his thrust or slash, block it, return a devastating counter, repeat until one of you is dead.

Iubes are intelligent cubes. Why do we hate them all, in this RTS + god game?

May 19, 2013 9:27 PM | John Polson

Developer Codrer tweeted us about their tunnel battlefield, RTS and god game Iubes coming to Windows, which is described as mix of Populous and Age of Empires. The intelligent cubes (iubes, get it?) gather food, seek materials, fight and defend all by themselves. You just tell them where and what to build. You can speed up or slow down time to make the game progress. However, you must be careful of when the Iubes die. I think this is why "we hate them all," as the game says.

Indies now have more choices for demoing at the Tokyo Game Show

May 19, 2013 4:22 PM | John Polson

tokyo game show.jpgTokyo Game Show officials have announced several ways for independent developers to showcase at the September 19th-22nd event, including its annual Sense of Wonder Night (SOWN) experimental session and a new Indie Game Showcase.

The Experimental Gameplay Workshop-inspired SOWN is now accepting free entries for its 2013 session. Antichamber, Incredipede, Q.U.B.E., Eufloria, and several other critically acclaimed, innovative titles have made an appearance in previous years. Instructions for SOWN entry are available on the main website, and the submission form is available here.

The Indie Game Showcase offers two different spaces, the bigger of which is for its business days. Pricing ranges from roughly $200 for one day to $1,000 for four days, and space is limited to 50 games a day. Applications are available here.

Free Mobile Pick: Mulled, simple but challenging puzzle game

May 19, 2013 12:52 PM | Ahmed Abdel Samea



Mulled is a simple puzzle game made by HakoGames (the people behind Reunion game). The goal in Mulled is to make all white balls go in the golden holes. It sounds simple but it is super challenging. The game provide more than 200 levels and more than 90 badges and adorable music and different backgrounds.

Browser Pick: A Trigger Darkly, azurenimbus' one-button sound puzzle

May 19, 2013 8:53 AM | Paul Hack

triggerdark.pngIndie developer azurenimbus (André Camacho) has proven himself to be a master of minimalism with games such as Microscopia, Linescape, Oneway, and escuro. So when the theme of minimalism was chosen for Ludum Dare 26, I was sure that he was going to come up with something special. What approach did he take to make a game even more minimalist than his usual work? In A Trigger Darkly, his Ludum Dare jam entry, he did away with graphics entirely.

Release: Reus, playing God rarely looks this cute

May 18, 2013 2:06 PM | John Polson

Abbey Games' gorgeous 2D god game Reus is now available, allowing us mere mortals to create vibrant colonies from dying planets. Thanks to helpful tutorials, I easily learned first how to control a water giant to bring forth the ocean, the origin of life. From there, other giants could build forests, deserts, and mountains and nourish over 100 plants, animals and minerals... or bring it all down. Reus is about maintaining balance, after all.

Preview: under heavy fire in twin-stick shooter Assault Android Cactus

May 18, 2013 10:35 AM | Nick Reineke

I recently had the pleasure of spending some time with a preview of the upcoming co-op focused, twin-stick shooter: Assault Android Cactus by developer Witch Beam - a three man team from Brisbane, Australia. Although you may have seen a few games with a similar premise (in a broad sense it feels like a modernized version of Smash TV with a number of twists), the execution and general polish of presentation in Assault Android Cactus set it apart from many others for me. Players will need to shoot through wave after wave of enemy robots which get progressively more chaotic while keeping kill chains up. Players must also adapt to frequently changing and dynamic environments, or even other quirks like the lights going out. If that wasn't enough, every few levels leads up to a huge boss battle which may contain some bullet-hell style dodging madness.

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