Having gone through a successful Kickstarter campaign for CasinoRPG in early 2013, we know how hard it is to get noticed and scrap all the way to your goal, especially if your name isn't Tim Schafer. So, we've decided to help spread the word about our fellow indie game developers and post a weekly roundup of our favorite games we've stumbled across lately.
Red Goddess
Explore the mind of a goddess! Deep inside the subconscious... A psychological adventure game with distinctive atmosphere.
This game caught my attention with its stunning graphics. It then went on to capture my imagination with some exciting new gameplay mechanics and a premise that looks like loads of fun. Plus, who doesn't like music from YouTube sensation Ronald Jenkees! Did I mention that I love the visual style of this game? Yes? Well, its worth mentioning again, and its worth checking out within the next 3 weeks.
Epoch: Return
Explore an unknown alien world to discover its secrets. Salvage the remains of crashed ships to repair your own ship and return home.
This isn't your usual sci-fi space game, and that is a very good thing. The premise itself looks very interesting, but the execution is what really makes this stand out. Not to mention that I'd play this just for that jump mechanic alone. They've got a good start, but they'll be needing your help over the next 3+ weeks.
Kodama
Kodama, a 2D Hand Painted Puzzle Platformer, Redefining the Physics platformer! Balance sunlight & water to keep your tree alive!
I'll be the first to say it. I have no idea what the main character of this game is. But it doesn't really matter, because its what you've never seen before that's so interesting. The hand painted art style is simply fantastic, and the unique mechanics really stand out. On the surface this is just a simple 2D game, but some games just have that feeling of being special. This is one of those games. They've still got a ways to go with nearly a month to left.
Age of Ascent
Age of Ascent is a new space MMO with a realtime, single shard architecture that lets thousands of people play in the same space.
We make massively multiplayer HTML5 games ourselves, so Age of Ascent instantly stood out to me with its use of WebGL. But, it goes beyond that. The first thing you'll notice is that it uses the real universe map. This is really interesting, and I find it odd that this hasn't been tried more often. Second, it is quite clear that the vastness of this game is quite impressive, and they've got a world record attempt to back it up! Still a month left in the campaign.
JetGetters
Fly high in the sky and hijack other players' vehicles mid-air. A fighter hi-jacking game from the creators of No Time To Explain.
I'm a big fan of flying games. I'm a big fan of games with ridiculous physics. I'm a big fan of games with flat out goofy premises. This game has all of those things, which means I'm also a big fan of JetGetters (you probably saw that one coming). The last game I played that let you stand on the wing of a plane was one of my all-time favorites (Just Cause 2), so I've got high hopes for this multiplayer mayhem. Still a month to go.
Run An Empire
A smartphone game where you compete against others to capture territory in your local environment.
This is a very different type of game than many of the others that I've written about, because it mostly exists in the real world and it involves exercising (gasp!). I've been a big fan of "Zombies, Run" since that came out on iPhone a few years back, so this naturally piqued my interest. Instead of following a single-player story; however, you actually run to play a multiplayer game, occupying regions of your very own city. Pretty cool concept, but for it to work they'll need a critical mass within the next month.
World Agent BRAC
WORLD AGENT BRAC is an unique game where player can have a fun building a community and contributing to the real world poverty issue.
My interest in this game has more to do with the social goal than the game itself. There's actually not a whole lot of information about the game, though what is shown looks like it could be a fun tycoon-type game that hasn't been done before (I know, hard to believe). What sets this apart is that the goal of this game is to actually help real people in need, living in poverty all over the world. This also has a nice start, but they'll still need help in the next 3+ weeks.