No Money, No Problem: Nested

Title: Nested
Developer: Orteil
Platforms: Browser
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Nested isn't a game. It's hard to even call it a text adventure. At first glance, Nested seems to pale in comparison to developer Orteil's other notable creation, Cookie Clicker. But with each click, diving into another sub folder, digging ever deeper, you realize that the game's simple description - "A Simulation of Everything" - couldn't be more accurate. Nested is exploration distilled to its purest, most minimalist form in a simple text format. An infinite amount of things to discover, from the grandness of multiverses and space to the abstract plane of thoughts and memories.

Nested is randomly generated, so one could browse through its endless worlds forever. It's quite literally an endlessly fascinsting experience. Descend through ever-more-detailed folders, from space, to planet, to continent. Forgotten lands, ecosystems bustling with life, civilizations from the primitive to the futuristic and the outright bizarre. Dig further still, into the memories of a village chieftain or the thoughts of individual nanomachines. Venture deeper, into the chemical make-up of individuals and landscapes and objects and you'll find even more subatomic universes to explore, an endless nesting doll of life.

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The Watchlist: Splasher

Title: Splasher

Developer: SplashTeam

Platforms: PC

Releasing late 2015/early 2016

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Splasher is a 2D Platformer in which you are tasked with unleashing the power of paints to rescue your brothers. These little fellows, called the splashers, are prisoners in a giant paint manufacture : INKORP.  While water is your primary weapon to defeat weak enemies and activate mechanisms, paint is where your true powers come from. Thank to the differing colors and their properties, you will stick to walls and roofs, bounce high in the air, trick your opponents and do many more to reach Inkorp’s top levels !

You've probably seen Splasher's central mechanic in other games before, perhaps the DigiPen game Tag: Power of Paint or more recently Portal 2. This colorful platformer takes that spray mechanic and mixes it with the fast-paced precision gameplay of Super Meat Boy. Equipped with his nozzle-pack, the titular Splasher uses an array of various colored paints to traverse gaps and evade the myriad hazards within the INKORP facility. Paint proves to be a versatile tool, allowing you to defy gravity and scramble along any surface or bounce to great heights and off walls. This isn't a game of careful planning and puzzles; in fact, aiming and movement are all done with the left stick (trust me, use a controller). Splasher is all about speed and movement, spraying on the go, mid-air or running across the ceiling.

Your paint arsenal is more than just a means of traversal; when faced with enemies, either while running or when locked in quick arena battles, each spray type reveals alternate offensive uses: your default water damaging foes, sticky red trapping enemies temporarily, and bouncy yellow knocking them back. Combining these abilities along with environment hazards like lasers and saw blades allows you to deal with the demo's foes and furthermore, hints at the kind of unique challenges that Splasher could deliver with more paint types, enemies, and hazards. 

Splasher is still early in development, with a release planned for late this year or early 2016. But even at this early stage, the game impresses with its colorful style, fluid animations, and challenging gameplay. You can download the three-level demo from the game's site and follow Splasher's progress on Twitter and Facebook.

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PC Review #113: Besiege

Title: Besiege

Developer: Spiderling Games

Platforms: PC

Price: $6.99

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Destruction is fun. Anyone who played Red Faction: Guerrilla surely remembers the joy of driving trucks through buildings or collapsing towers with a few swings of your sledgehammer. Besiege takes the vehicle construction you love from games like Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and injects it with a dose of physics, blood, and medieval destruction, as you build powerful siege engines to level castles and lay waste to armies.

From the moment you start Besiege, the polish put in the game is evident. The two-man team behind Spiderling Games have been working on Besiege since late 2013 and it shows in every aspect of the game, from the slick menu designs to the building UI that makes constructing vehicles effortless. It's the little details that stand out: wood beams snap in half when broken, blood stains your blades and the ground, your structure collapses and falls apart realistically when aflame, buildings crumble under the might of your cannon fire or swinging maces.

The current version of Besiege offers fifteen levels, with more to come in future updates. While your objectives are not that complex (ranging from destroying a specific building, destroying a certain amount of enemies, to transporting resources), building something that can steer effectively, withstand damage, and attack without breaking apart from recoil or movement can be tough. Half the fun in this game is experimenting and learning from your failures and tweaking your designs. Blocks at your disposal include everything from armor plating, pistons, Kerbal Space Program-style detachers, wings, and propellers to an arsenal of maces, cannons, and devastating saw blades. This toolset allows you to create all kinds of unstoppable killing machines. A mace-armed behemoth. A rolling windmill of death. A spring-loaded scorpion tail ending in a flamethrower. The variety of silly and creative builds you can create in Besiege is vast.

Besiege is currently only at the 0.01 alpha stage, but honestly, the game doesn't feel like an alpha. It's an easy-to-play, polished experience, both in terms of visuals and gameplay and in performance. It's fun and enjoyable, and you can spend hours messing around and building new and more ludicrous ways to complete your objectives. Besiege was Greenlit recently, and the devs plan to have the game on Steam Early Access "very soon". You can purchase the game through Humble, and learn more about Besiege and its development on the developer's site.

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An update on IGE and some interesting indies to start off 2015

So it's been a while, huh? Don't worry, this blog hasn't been forgotten. Late December till now has just been a busy trying time, first with finishing up school and my senior project, then the weeks of Christmas and New Years, than job hunting, and a death in the family. Suffice to say, I didn't really have the time to play as much as I wanted or sit down and work on article drafts.

But that's not to say I haven't been keeping up with indie releases. Things have settled down now, so I plan to start posting articles again by this weekend. I've been hooked on the IOS Match-3 RPG Hero Emblems and I picked up Zachtronics' latest release Infinifactory, so expect impressions of those, as well as some thoughts of the Rain World alpha.

Anyway, here are some recent releases and Kickstarters that are worth checking out:

Besiege

Hero Emblems

Children of Morta

STRAFE

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Google Start Lollipop Releases Update For Samsung Galaxy S5

When Google released the Android distribution figures for December earlier this week, Lollipop version is still not on the list, because users update Lollipop still does not meet the amount of 0.1%. Now Google released an update for the Samsung Galaxy S5 Lollipop. Unfortunately, this update for a while just for release into the territory of Poland.

Quoted from 9to5google, Android 5.0 Lollipop for the Galaxy S5 will present all the typical features of Google, including several enhancements TouchWiz. Many applications Samsung itself has been designed to be more fresh UI. This update brings the build number G900FXXU1BNL2 and build-off of Android LRX21P.

It's important to note that the model of the Galaxy S5 hardware in Poland just like other European variants, because they all carry the model number SM-G900F. This means that the launch of the Android 5.0 OS update will also be launched throughout Europe. Interestingly, LG recently also released an update to the Android OS Lollipop LG G3 earlier this month, but also only in the territory of Poland.

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Quick Fix: Screenshot Saturday 11/29

A Quiver of Crows
Developer: Sheado.net
A Twin-stick Shooter Set in a Grim World Cursed by Demons and Ghouls
Learn more here

Urban Galaxy
Developer: Urban Galaxy team
Sci-fi MMO in an urban theme
Choose your path and conquer this Megapolis of opportunities! Develop your skills and your career as alliances and hatred dynamics constantly change.
Learn more and play here

Star Command Galaxies
Developer: Warballoon
The next chapter in the Star Command saga
Real time lighting, crew desires and planets
A more open, dynamic and exciting Galaxy to explore.
Learn more here

Robots Ate My City
Developer: Andrew Morrish
Destroy robots with your camera and use their parts to upgrade, from the developer of Super Puzzle Platformer
Learn more here

Skytorn
Developer: Skytorn team
Centuries after a mysterious cataclysm tore the world apart, humans have taken to the skies - ferrying their kin in airships, searching the remains for artifacts and survivors. Explorer Nevoa ventures out across uncharted islands, left floating in the sky. Alone and armed only with a shovel, she is determined to carve her own path. Skytorn is a procedurally generated action adventure game, set in the ruins of a fallen world.
Learn more here

Life Was Hard Back Then
Developer: Tristan Dahl
A roguelike strategy game where the player manages a small village through many generations. The villagers must struggle to protect themselves and their children against wild animals, cruel bandits and an unforgiving climate. As time passes, the children grow up and are able to fend for themselves and eventually, their children. Below is the first iteration of the female villages at various ages.
Learn more here

Gearend
Developer: SolarLune Games
A 2D Metroidvania about a little robot that explores the ruins of a long forgotten facility in search of the other members of his small robot family.
Learn more here

Hypt

Developer: EmpI Studios
Hypt is a game that uses reflection as its primary game mechanic. You use it to defend yourself and reflect projectiles back on attackers.

Learn more and download the demo here

Jobchanger Brigade

Developer: Pidroh
A fusion of boss battle oriented 2D platforming with classical RPG jobs
Action RPG + Dynamic Jobchange + Hard Boss Fights + Crafting + Online Multiplayer

Learn more and play here

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IOS Review #91: Sunburn!

Title: Sunburn!
Developer: Secret Crush
Platforms: IOS Universal
Price: $2.99
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This is it. Your spaceship, in pieces after a catastrophic asteroid impact. Your crew, drifting helplessly through the void, doomed to die a slow death as their oxygen depletes. And you, their captain, with a jetpack and final promise to keep: no one dies alone. That's Sunburn in a nutshell.
Now despite the morbid tone, Sunburn is actually a whimsical lighthearted platformer about diving into the sun. If I had to compare it to the other games, Sunburn would be akin to a precision platformer meets Lemmings, with a dash of the movie Gravity. Each level consists of planets and other hazards around a red sun(s), and it's your mission to reach your fellow crew members so you can die together. Rescued members trail behind you, linked by an elastic tether; it's not long till you have a lengthy tail of astronauts in your wake as you weave between fiery asteroids and escape black holes. Levels grow quite complex and sprawling, with obstacles such as glass orbs that break after a few impacts, rotating lava planets with patches of safe ground, and rocky planets that drift when you land on them. Using your jet pack, you must navigate through zero g, while also keeping track of your limited oxygen meter; each jump costs oxygen, forcing you to consider the most effective path between planets. Thankfully, the controls are simple and responsive, allowing you to rotate and boost effortlessly around hazards. The colorful pixel art and humorous dialogue from your stranded crew members round out this fun challenging experience.

Sunburn is a fun physics platformer, turning what could have been a dark morbid premise into a bright cheery game, complete with great level design and solid controls. You can purchase Sunburn for $2.99.

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