December 12 to 18 Indie News Roundup

Back to Bed

Back to Bed was originally scheduled to release in the European Wii U eShop this past Thursday however, that didn’t happen, and the game’s developer has now officially set the date for the next Thursday, December 22. The game should release soon after that in North America. A Japanese release is also on track for early 2017. To download the game, 630 MB of free space are needed.

You can take a look at some gameplay footage below.

Geki Yaba Runner Deluxe

QubicGames has now confirmed that Geki Yaba Runner Deluxe will be releasing on the 3DS eShop in North America at the same time as Europe, on December 22, with a price point of $4.99 / €4.99.

You can find an overview and some screenshots of the game below.

Transform your bearded hero into raging force of destruction or a super speedy gnome to overcome Gekiyaba’s toughest obstacles to face the ultimate challenge.
Can you overcome every hurdle to save the princess in peril?

One of the hardest ‘runners’ out there.
Put your skills to the test in over 130 levels.
Overcome challenging obstacles hidden deep in the castles.
Prove yourself a hero by saving the princess.

Only with Geki Yaba Runner, you can really test how good your skills are. Only with Geki Yaba Runner, you will find the true meaning of challenge. Only with Geki Yaba Runner, you will experience a truly wonderful adventure.
Are you ready to dash into the gnomish world of Geki Yaba?

Geki Yaba Runner available on Nintendo from 22th December 2016
Price: $4.99 €4.99

Johnny Dynamite

Johnny Dynamite is finally coming to the European 3DS eShop on December 22 after being out in North America for over a year. However, the PAL version will come with an update.

Players will have access to a new game intro and ending sequence along with six additional levels, due to the update. Developer Twofivesix also implemented some “minor” bug fixes as well.

The update will be labeled as version 1.1, which isn’t out yet in North America, but probably will see release in the region at a later time.

Hit Ninja

Petite Games’ Hit Ninja will be available in the North American 3DS eShop on December 22, according to the studio’s message on Twitter. It’s also coming to PAL territories in early 2017.

Surprise game announcement time! Hit Ninja will launch on Dec 22th on the new 3DS! More info coming soon! #gamedev #indiedev pic.twitter.com/JIAARmRzlI

— Petite Games (@PetiteGames) 10 December 2016

Mini Golf Resort

Teyon has announced that Mini Golf Resort is planned to reach the 3DS on December 22 in North America, with a $4.99 price point. The European release will follow soon after, in early 2017.

Here’s an overview of the game:

Welcome to the most amazing mini golf resort ever on Nintendo 3DS! Grab your golf clubs and get ready to play through 56 incredible courses in 4 unique worlds. Enjoy a combination of real golf club rules and wacky mini golf fun as you shoot your ball through pipes, up extreme ramps and around crazy obstacles towards the hole!
With over 1001 fun and challenging courses available, packed with a character customization, a large selection of items and bonuses and 10 trophies to unlock, it’s the ultimate mini golf experience!

Features:

– Over 1001 holes on 56 courses
– 4 distinct worlds: Pirate’s Bay, Spooky World, Pyramids of Egypt and Legends of Greece
– A large selection of clubs, clothes and bonuses in the golf shop
– 10 player trophies and 8 special power-up bonuses
– Full character customization

Radiantflux: Hyperfractal

TACS Games’ Radiantflux: Hyperfractal will be released on the European Wii U eShop on December 22, at a 2.99€ price point. It should also release in North America around the same time. You’ll need 123 MB for the download.

You can watch a trailer and some gameplay footage from the game below.

Zombie Brigade: No Brain No Gain

Zombie Brigade: No Brain No Gain, which is being published by Cypronia, will be out on the European Wii U eShop on December 22, with pricing is set at 4.99€.

In North America, the game will release on January 5.

You can find a trailer for it below.

Lifespeed

Wee Man Studios’ Johh Owens has now confirmed that development of the studio’s New 3DS racer “Lifespeed” is complete, and is currently in Nintendo lot check.

If everything goes well, New 3DS owners can expect an early 2017 launch on the eShop, around January if possible.

Sneaky Ninja

Starfall Studios recently shared in a Kickstarter update that Sneaky Ninja is still targeted for Wii U and fans don’t need to worry. The indie developer still wants to make it happen after the long wait for Kickstarter backers and being a fan of Nintendo himself.

That being said, Switch is still on the table as a possibility down the road. Starfall Studios will first need to launch the game, which could happen in February, and then bring it to the Wii U shortly after that.

Starfall Studios wrote on Kickstarter:

Hey everyone! It’s been a while since our last Kickstarter update, and while I plan to do a bigger one soon, I wanted to put out a quick update on the Wii U version of Sneaky Ninja. It seems the popular thing to do this week is to confirm whether or not games are still releasing on Wii U, and I’m happy to say that yes, the Sneaky Ninja on Wii U IS still happening!

I understand the decisions that other developers have made on this topic, and honestly, it’s probably the wise business decision to move onto the Switch instead. And we know a lot of gamers simply won’t care because it’s too late. But I’ve kept our backers waiting for too long to do that now, so even if it sells zero units to anyone else, it’s still worth doing in my eyes. Plus, I’m a Nintendo fan too, so I couldn’t cancel it even if I wanted to! A Switch version is definitely possible in the future as well, but there’s plenty of time to think about that later.

As for the release date… as I discussed in the comments of the last update, a holiday 2016 release was on shaky grounds back then due to so many other big games launching. I’m now targeting early February for PC which seems to be a good window for Sneaky Ninja, and I’m confident this will finally happen. I can’t be as certain for the Wii U version’s date though, which will be as soon as possible afterwards but it’s hard to say how soon. I’d love to release it before the Switch, but I can’t promise that’ll happen. But the Wii U version itself WILL happen!

3Souls

Red Column has recently shared some news about what’s in store for the second and third episodes of its 3Souls series.

The original plan was to offer these two episodes as DLC, but after thinking about it heavily, Red Column has instead decided to provide both for free. If you buy the main game (which is the first episode), you will then receive episodes 2 and 3 in a free update when they’re ready to launch.

The two episodes are currently targeting a release in the first half of 2017. However, the team has been “working really hard” on the new content, which is taking longer than anticipated.

You can take a first look at the second episode of 3Souls, titled Nophes, in the animation below.

Here’s what Red Column had to say about it:

“And to finish the day of news, here you have the first image of the coming episode: Nophes and the luminous streets of Sleepless City! As you can see now, every Ánima has a different soul… each of them sees the world through a different lens… so while you have seen and heard Nelesa’s sadness… the green soul of our next character it’s quite the opposite!”

Meanwhile, Red Column is celebrating the news with a sale. Until January 8, the game will be on sale for $1.95 / €1.80 / £1.60.

Ice Station Z

Wobbly Tooth has now finished working on Ice Station Z’s first patch, which will bring the game up to version 1.1, and should release on January 11 if everything goes according to plan.

The new update addresses a number of issues and makes improvements to the game.

You can find the full patch notes from the team’s Miiverse post below.

Ice Station Z Update.

Version 1.1 will be released worldwide on Wednesday 11th January 2017. (I tried hard to get it out before Christmas but because of the Holidays there just wasn’t enough time.)

Important:

1. v1.1 is not compatible with v1.0 in mutliplayer.
2. To play online you will have to update the game after the 11th.
3. I recommend Hosting games using a NEW save, so that games with “missing doors” and “items you can’t pick up” get reset. If you use an old save that was already broken then these problems will still happen.

Here is the change log:

01. Fixed exploit that allowed the player to become invincible.
02. Fixed system hang when rendering too many objects.
03. Fixed problem where triggers would be lost when Host Migration occurs.
04. Fixed issue where interactions could occur while sleeping causing unexpected problems.
05. Fixed problem where changing to a snowboard while sleeping could result in the player being stuck in collision geometry.
06. Fixed collision hole at end of corridor in underground base.
07. Fixed bug when using snowboard when already using vehicles.
08. Fixed bug with prone animation.
09. Increased prone movement speed slightly.
10. Added extra checks to make sure invincible players are no longer invincible or if they somehow become invincible the game will rectify it.
11. Increased number of zombies in multiplayer games.
12. Reduce effectiveness of Bear Traps versus other players.
13. Added a height check for Bear Traps so that they don’t trigger when they are above or below the player.
14. Added sweep test to stop player falling through map.
15. Fixed collision bug on some beds.
16. Stopped displaying full sessions on the matchmaking screen.
17. Fixed problem returning to Home Menu during loading.

Thanks for your patience everyone!

PictoParty

PictoParty has now received a holiday update that integrates some new features.

The game will now let you play as a Mii character, share/download custom dictionaries on Miiverse, and also share sketches on Miiverse. Bug fixes and feature tweaks were implemented as well.

You can find a trailer for the update below.

Runner 3

Choice Provisions has revealed that in Runner3 all playable characters will have their own original target micro-game.

The studio talked about the challenges in implementing the feature in a recent blog post:

“The biggest challenge here is to keep the micro-game as simple as it was in Runner2 for each character’s variation while at the same time making them all distinct from one another.

In game design, one often has to work within constraints, but when the constraints are so simplistic, as in this cannon micro-game, and you have to make so many variations, the constraints can feel overly restrictive.

It’s also easy to overdesign while thinking you’re keeping things simple. In fact, one of the designs on the whiteboard above is definitely too complex. Which one do you think it is?

The constraints we ended up settling upon were that the micro-game takes one button press, there’s no on-screen HUD telling you what to do, and there’s only one thing moving in each variation. Once we settled on these constraints and made them explicit, the designs fell into place.

So, when you get your fingerhands on Runner3 next year, and you’re trying for an elusive Perfect+, you’ll get to choose which micro-game you want by playing as a specific character.”

A concept image showing what Choice Provisions is toying around was also posted, and you can take a look at it below.

Seasons of Heaven

A few more details and artwork from Seasons of Heaven has been shared by Any Arts Produtcions.

The team is hoping to achieve the visuals shown in the video we recently shared on Switch.

Players will be able to switch between controlling Yann (the boy) and Ani (the French bulldog) at any time, and each character will possess specific skills.

Nature is also an important element of the game, and players will be able to explore Heaven (the name of the game area) using a scalable means of transportation.

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs was successfully funded on Kickstarter last year, and the team promised a 3DS version.

A new video has now been shared showing off the progress made thus far.

You can take a look at the video below, but note that it’s a work in progress, and just a look at the first part of mission 1. The final game will have new music and other improvements.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap

Polygon has posted a new video containing 17 minutes of footage from Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap. You can watch it below.