A gaming Kickstarter raising six figures in less than a day is barely even newsworthy these days. But even if the new Homestuck Kickstarter isn’t breaking any funding records, it’s still unusual enough to comment on because it shows just how much Kickstarter has changed fundraising for games and how that’s making games that never would have existed before possible.
Homestuck is a webcomic created by Andrew Hussie that began largely as a parody of traditional adventure games, with Hussie drawing panels based on user suggestions and seeing where the story took the author and the audience together. From there it’s evolved into a more directed but even more experimental comic that often switches from traditional comics pages, to animated gifs, to flash animations and even occasional small-scale games, all as part of the larger overall story.
I've been addicted to Starcraft 2 since the Wings of Liberty beta went live back in spring of 2010, so the thought of getting to relive the excitement of new units and game mechanics makes me crazy with anticipation. Unfortunately, only a lucky few will get tp debut the Heart of the Swarm beta to the world.
According to this blog post from Blizzard, pro gamers, members of the press, contest winners or shoutcasters should start checking their inbox. For everyone else, we will have to wait patiently (or not) for Blizzard to determine they need more data and release more beta keys.
This week’s roundup of free games are all about evolving. Thanks to a recent Ludum Dare 48 Hour game jam on the theme of evolution, this week has seen a cavalcade of great free games about the survival of the fittest.
After the success of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, it’s no surprise that it would make an appearance on Sony’s newest PlayStation handheld. The LittleBigPlanet series has always strived to be on the cutting edge of innovation, leading the way with support for all of Sony’s initiatives, such as cross-controller and PlayStation Move support. While LittleBigPlanet PSP did little to stand out in the series, LittleBigPlanet PS Vita is looking to be the definitive version of the game and a day-one purchase for PlayStation Vita owners.
The creators of LittleBigPlanet PS Vita aren’t content with it being just a portable version of the title; they seem to have designed the game to be unique and special. It has to have its own identity and exude the need to purchase it over playing the PlayStation 3 version. That doesn’t mean that it’s missing out on all of the charm that made the original two games so unique, but it doesn’t rely on their creativity to further itself. It focuses on creating something unique using the exclusive features of the Vita to differentiate it from other LBP content.
While this might come off as feeling like a bit of a gimmick, it doesn’t in this instance. Both the use of the front touch screen and the rear touchpad integrate seamlessly into the gameplay. I found myself swiping panels around and pushing blocks into the background with ease. It didn’t feel as if was a new mechanic, but one that had been a part of the gameplay all along.
The execution of the rear touchpad controls were perhaps the most surprising. There were spots throughout the levels that I was able to play that required me to use the rear touchpad to create platforms for my sackboy to climb. It was a really unique idea that was intelligently implemented and didn’t require much additional effort, as my hands were already resting comfortably on the rear touchpad.
One of the coolest features of LittleBigPlanet for the PlayStation Vita is the addition of save states in user-created levels. This is a first for the LittleBigPlanet series and opens up the user-created portion of the game to a whole new slew of games that can be made within the editor. In previous LBP games we had checkpoints, but you couldn’t stop a level and come back to it later with saved progress. With the new save system, you could theoretically create an Angry Birds-esque game within LittleBigPlanet with different levels and worlds, allowing them to stop, start, and reload levels at any point. As trite as it sounds, this feature really is a game-changer for user-generated content.
In this preview build of LittleBigPlanet for Vita there were a few games already made that utilized these save states. The one that I spent the most time with was Tapling, a platformer that used touch to navigate a series of caverns while trying to free three glowing balls from their cages. Your character can stick to neon green sludge that is covering the walls, but bounces off of neon blue sludge. It makes for a fun little game that wouldn’t be out of place among the most popular apps on the iOS App Store.
With the small samples that we’ve seen so far and the huge creativity of the creators already making top-down shooters and racing games in LittleBigPlanet 2, there should be no concerns that players won’t take advantage of this cool new feature. It will be interesting to see how players can take advantage of this beyond simple level progression, perhaps pushing the bounds of creativeity on the Vita all the way to creating a full 20-hour RPG or something even more surprising.
LittleBigPlanet PS Vita is just as gorgeous as ever, and with the inclusion of Vita specific controls and custom-game save states, it might just be the best version of LittleBigPlanet yet. We can’t wait to get more hands-on time with the new levels, but more importantly, what the community can put together when LittleBigPlanet PS Vita releases on September 25th, 2012.
Every big Steam sale and Humble Indie Bundle extravaganza has seen its fair share of indie game bundles which offers a truckload of small, but fun, games for a low price. But as these "fire sales" fade so does the great indie-developer exposure. IndieBundle.org hopes to change that.
They offer new bundles of three indie games of a similar genre (ie platformer, puzzle, point-and-click, etc.) every few days for a flat price. When purchasing, you may choose one of two platforms (if those games are available on that platform); Steam bundles will cost $10 and Desura bundles will cost $5. Each game is clearly marked with which OS they work on, and a lot of the games support all three (Windows, Mac, Linux). Unfortunately, Steam games are not yet available, but will be soon once they "prove the value of IndieBundle and the validity of the distribution platform!"
I’ve written at length about the features and advances in Guild Wars 2 from my time in their last beta weekend. But now the game has properly launched and, as you might expect, Guild Wars 2 is experiencing the traditional spate of MMO launch week difficulties. That means problems grouping up with friends, a non-functional in-game store and a lot of banned users. The good news is one of these isn’t actually a problem at all.
With all the eager players jumping in at launch, Guild Wars 2 quickly found itself with overstuffed servers during peak hours. Rather than resorting to queue systems that keep you out of the game, however, Guild Wars 2 quickly and elegantly throws you into a temporary overflow server when areas get too crowded so you can keep playing without interruption.
If you’re the rare World of Warcraft player who wants to be spending MORE hours a day playing WoW then friend, you’re in luck. Blizzard has just announced that its premium mobile services are now available for free, which means that if you have an iOS or Android smartphone you can interact with Azeroth from almost anywhere.
The newly-free features will allow you to chat with your guild and even make trades on the in-game auction house from within Blizzard’s mobile armory app. The mobile app also let’s you look at and interact with your character’s in-game profile, though that won’t have any effect on the game itself.
