Indie Zoe: Raider of the Lost News (28 November 2013)

You know what today is? Thanksgiving. That’s right, and for the first time I’m actually doing it. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, lots of family and plenty of booze. Wish me luck. There’s a reason it was originally called Black Friday… Anyway, before the tryptophan kicks in, here’s all the indie news of the week.

Some cool local indie news up first, because local is lekker except when Leon Schuster makes another movie. Local game devs Lighthouse Game Studio has hit 100k downloads for their Windows Phone 8 game, Greed City. This game looks pretty cool as it combines Monopoly with FourSquare. Kinda makes me wish I had a Windows 8 phone… until I look at my iPhone again.

Cape Town based studios NRVS Games and PlayLogix have released a BETA version of Pocket Cricket for your browser. You really should check it out – the registration thingy isn’t bad, I promise. I liked the aesthetic of the game, although I still don’t know nearly enough about Cricket to tell you if this is a good game or not. But look at the comic-strip design!

QCF Design, the guys who finally released Desktop Dungeons (which I’ve been playing like crazy and hope to review for you all soon) have written some post-release musings. For the most part, they’ve acknowledged the difficulty of releasing at the same time as next gen consoles, as well as the demand for the game to be on phones and tablets:

People will never stop asking about the mobile version. If the Earth burns up and becomes a barren husk, whatever survivors remain will stagger across the bleached landscape, forlornly checking their iPhones and Androids. To be honest, this makes us quite excited (about our potential players, not the doom of the Earth).

In international indie news, this Kickstarter for Don’t Starve’s Chester to become a plushy was funded almost instantly. Still, I want to throw money at them. No, really, if you’re wondering what to get me for Xmas, your answer is right there.

Finally, more local awesomeness. The Animation School has done so well in Cape Town that they’re opening up a Joburg campus. Animation is a cool way to get into game design – some of their alumni were behind the awesome Snailboy. Entry is open to people of all ages as long as they have a grade 12 certificate and can present a portfolio of artwork. They are even looking at eventually bringing out a part-time program for those who are employed and want to learn. So, if you can’t code to save your life, you can still become a part of the local indie scene.

Looking for games? Well, the Steam sale is insane at the moment. Go pick up some awesome indies for cheap. These prices are ridiculously cheap and making my backlog grow far too fast. But if you’re looking for a bundle, there a nice one from Flying Bundle this week, including Hack Slash Loot and a bunch of Hacker games all for $2. So many awesome games for next to nothing, definitely gives me something to be thankful for… other than my awesome Thanksgiving stuffing and corn bread.

Last Updated: November 28, 2013