Indie News Roundup Arpil 10 2016 Feature

Apr. 4 to 10 Indie News Roundup

Dodge Club Party

Dodge Club Party, James Montagna’s latest creation after Dot Arcade, now has a confirmed release date of April 14 on the Wii U eShop. Pricing for the game is set at $1.99.

Here’s the announcement on Twitter:

Olympia Rising

PlayEveryWare is releasing Olympia Rising on the European Wii U eShop in a few days, on April 14, for €4.99. The game should be hitting North America soon too, even though a release date hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Here’s the Wii U eShop trailer for the game:

Paranautical Activity

paranautical-activity-1Digerati has annouced that Paranautical Activity is launching on the European and North American Wii U eShops this coming Thursday, on April 14, for $9.99.

Here’s an overview of the game and the Wii U eShop trailer for it:

GAME DETAILS
Paranautical Activity combines the classic FPS action of games like Doom and Quake, with the randomness and difficulty of modern roguelikes like Binding of Isaac and Spelunky.

FEATURES

Unique FPS/Roguelike combination
Procedurally generated levels
Impossibly fast gameplay
Hidden levels
Over 100 items
40+ enemies
Ridiculous bosses
Dubstep soundtrack

Star Sky 2

Due to an European eShop listing, it is now confirmed that JMJ Interactive’s Star Sky 2 is coming to the Wii U on April 14 for €4.00. This is a follow-up game to the indie developer’s previous title which came to Wii U last year.

Check out the trailer below, to take a look at some of the elements present in this sequel.

Dan McFox: Head Hunter

Lightwood Games has shared its previously-announced 3DS eShop title Dan McFox: Head Hunter will be coming to the console on April 21 in Europe. A North American release date is still to be announced though.

Meanwhile, you can take a look at the new trailer for the game below:

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

10f3b294fd6144a955279259d295def1_originalWayForward recently published a new Kickstarter update, stating that Shantae: Half-Genie Hero should be finished with development in about two months. After that, a month of testing will be necessary, followed by three weeks of translations and rating attributions. If all goes well, WayForward is planning to submit the game in July, and it should release soon after that, during the summer.

Here’s WayForward’s progress update:

Good day loyal backers! It’s been a while since our last update. The reason is WORK! It’s been a madhouse over here as we move ahead at a feverish pace towards our Pre-Alpha goal. We’ve enlisted help from several of our go-to partners from all over the globe to help get the job done. Half-Genie Hero is in production 24 hours a day – literally ‘round the clock! It’s awesome and exhausting at the same time.

You might be asking, “is this normal?” Yes! This is often what the end of a major development effort looks like, and we’re no strangers to it. The major risks have been conquered, the fun is firmly in place, and all that remains is to bring each piece of the game to its final version, which takes nothing less than a TON of muscle.

Where that puts us today: We should be content complete in about 2 months, with another month of testing after that. Also expect 3 weeks in there for translations and ratings too, which can only happen once we’re done making content. These things can overlap, but it doesn’t always work out that way which is why we can’t give a firm release date (yet). Our best guess is that we’ll be submitting to 1st parties (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and Valve) in July. We know that it’s been difficult to wait for so long, but ask that you endure with us to the end!

You can also take a look at the full post here for some other details regarding gameplay, like the introduciton of Mythological Transformations.

ReVeN

67c1e1b200aad4d733ae9c6ee21fa9fb_originalVaria Games has been working on ReVeN since the game was originally funded on Kickstarter back in 2014, but the game still isn’t anywhere close to release.

Developer Austin Morgan recently provided an update on the project’s Kickstarter page, where he explains that ReVeN won’t be ready until sometime in 2017, in part because of time spent making the side-game XBridge, which was thought to be releasing by Q1 2015.

Here’s the full Kickstarter update for a better insight on the matter:

There isn’t much I can say that may reduce the flak we’ll receive at this point, or hateful comments. However I (Austin Morgan) feel it’s necessary to fess up to at least one thing here, and also explain where I’m coming from so you’ll all understand where we are and where we are headed.

The ReVeN Project is pending an undefined release date within 2017. I take full responsibility for starting the side project XBridge and dragging John into it which cost us a lot of time and energy, though it was certainly worth it to us for the skills gained (I can’t emphasize this part enough) and the economic potential of it’s full version release on steam. There are those who absolutely love XBridge and we have a certain fan base that emerged just from that game alone.

These are not people who saw a trailer and were willing to front money, but rather actually played a game by us and said, “Holy Cow this is actually surprisingly good! I see limitless potential here when it goes full version.”(you can read the steam reviews if you would like to see for yourself)

That is something a trailer cannot convey, the fact that we actually DO know what we’re doing.

I only say this because I do know where we are and where we are headed and I don’t want to leave out any details about why we are currently making the decisions we are and why we postponed ReVeN in the first place. You may still likely hate us for it, but at least you will understand why.

The truth is that $33k is an incredibly small amount of money to fund a project with, in fact it’s nearly impossible to fully fund a project with that amount of money. Ultimately after the split, fees and taxes, I personally wound up with around a humble 9K. just enough to allow me to live for 6 months or so, buy a 2.5k car and also a computer which has the power to actually make games without having to wait a minute for the game to load EVERY SINGLE TIME I CHANGE ONE THING AND TEST like on my old laptop… the one that made the kickstarter trailer… yeah that sucked…. horribly.

Despite the lack of funds John and I continued to work towards being able to fund ourselves through game development. We knew we would have to get side jobs regardless of what happened, and we did. That car I bought I use to deliver pizzas on the weekends (just enough) so I can live and continue making games. XBridge is currently the shortest answer to turning a profit and making our lives more livable so we can focus ENTIRELY on ReVeN, the project we are the most passionate about.

On a side note: Fleshing out the universe of ReVeN through XBridge the prequel has given us many insights into the game we want to make the most: ReVeN. And I have a feeling it’s also the game you guys want the most too, after all you did fund us for it. Putting up money means a lot more than just verbally supporting someone. You essentially gave your time and energy so we could do the same for you, us on a much larger scale obviously, but you get it. We’re eternally grateful for your believing in us enough to give!

Despite how it may seem, we HAVE NOT abandoned you, YOUR money was put to good USE, ReVeN WILL BE made and released as soon as it can be. We will also release updates AS SOON as we can. I’m working tirelessly on wrapping up the full version of XBridge SPECIFICALLY so I can work solely on ReVeN and dedicate my full time, resources and (more importantly) acquired skills into making it the experience we foresee in our minds and what was written, drawn and conceptualized.

If you have any more questions, I will be available to answer them here in the comments. I (Austin Morgan) apologize for not meeting your expectations. I sincerely hope your trust in us has not been completely lost or that we can at least rebuild that trust when all is said and done and the full release of ReVeN is on Steam. John and I appreciate your patience, support, and even the hateful comments which at least show you were once very passionate about our idea too.

God Bless you all, Austin Morgan

Bloo Kid

Last year, winterworks brought Bloo Kid 2 to 3DS, even though the first game was never made available on the platform. That’s about to change though, since winterworks announced on Twitter that the studio will be releasing the first Bloo Kid game on the 3DS eShop. There’s no release date announced yet, but it will feature updated visuals.

Here’s the tweet:

Sushi Princess

Indie developer Lake Lodge Games has been working on Sushi Princess since last September, and has now confirmed that it will be released on Wii U.

Sushi Princess is a 2D platformer, where the ultimate goal will be to help the main character save the princess from the evil emperor.

Here’s the latest developer preview for the game:

FreezeME

Freeze-2015-11-26-10-42-22-290A new patch for FreezeME has recently been release in North America, making a few changes/additions to the 3D platformer while also implementing quite a few bug fixes. The update is already implemented in the European version.

Rainy Night Creations shared the complete patch notes on the FreezeME Facebook page, which I quoted below for you:

The patch for the Wii U American version has been finally approved and should be available tomorrow or the day after smile emoticon

This is what it contains:

FEATURES
-Green statue added to the HUB, now you can change your Green Pigcoins there
-The stats now display the time in minutes and seconds
-Now R has more oxygen while underwater
-Signs indicating the location of the cubes have text
-Now if you are crawling and press the Jump button R will roll up and stand up quickly

BUGS FIXED
-In some rare cases R was wallsliding against nothing
-Some issues with controls when playing on external HDDs
-You could easily get into the salamander sanctuary without exploding the wall
-When entering a specific moment the camera could get stuck in the teleporter
-When landing in some specific platforms R turned into a Giant
-The first person view has now the same behavior as the main camera
-Logolo could punch you out of Sunshine Valley
-Pontus in some cases would not fight back
-Application would hang if you die by falling at the same time a timer is running out
-Some issues with the scenery where R would get stuck
-Cursor would not show up in Mini Coop if you did not plug a Nunchuk first
-Leaving the game resting on the level load screen would cause a lockup
-You could not turn R rage mode on using the Nunchuk + WiiMote
-If timed correctly, while sliding you could walk under water
-Now you can hit trees in Rage Mode
-In some rare cases R would slowdown in midair
-Dying inside the labyrinth on L2 while the camera was set to Manual caused the cam to misbehave
-You could talk to someone while in Close Cam
-The Ornithologist on L3 could give you the Green Pigcoin without completing the task
-Transparent cubes in L1 are now ignored by the camera
-Collecting a guinea pig, dying and retrying the same level would not allow you to complete the sidequest
-The number of total salamanders needed to activate some extras was off
-The number of Cubes needed to enter L2 and L3 was off
-An issue with the colliders of the windows on the tower on L1
-Somersault angle has been reduced so it does not accidentally trigger so easily
-Some issues with the camera shaking

(All these are already implemented in the EU release).

Tiny Galaxy

tiny-galaxy-1Tiny Galaxy will be receiving a major update in the future, and those who purchased the game will be able to grab the new version at no extra cost.

Arcane Pixel is remaking Tiny Galaxy entirely, featuring improved visuals, lowered difficulty, fixed hit boxes on all sprites, and a redesigned level select menu. A new start menu will also be included, along with more and better animations, audio fixes, and general bug fixes.

Challenge levels are also being added to the game as new content which can be unlocked in each world. The main courses are estimated to be about a third less difficult, but “challenge levels will be more brutal than the current build of Tiny Galaxy”, according to Arcade Pixel. Moreover, a redone opening sequence and more story scenes are in the works. Arcade Pixel has also teased “a few other features or changes being made”, but the developer is keeping quiet on those for now as they’ve yet to be fully implemented.

SteamWorld Heist

Image & Form has released yet another episode in its “The Engine Room” video series. In this latest episode, a good amount ot time is spent talking about working with Nintendo on SteamWorld Heist’s Nintendo Direct appearance. Give it a look below:

Rynn’s Adventure: Trouble in the Enchanted Forest

Arcane Four Studios has recently shared a new trailer for Rynn’s Adventure: Trouble in the Enchanted Forest. You can find it below:

Aqua Moto Racing Utopia

Zordix has prepared a new video showcasing the Greenlight version of Aqua Moto Racing Utopia. Check it out below:

https://youtu.be/odgCTnILxiQ

Lovely Planet

Lovely Planet recently arrived on the Wii U eShop, so some gameplay footage is now available thanks to Nintendo Impact Gaming!. Give it a look:

Super Robo Mouse

Super Robo Mouse, the latest Wii U title by RCMADIAX, is now out. Take a look at some gameplay footage below, courtesy of NintenDaan.

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