August 29 to September 4 Indie News Roundup

Renegade Kid shuts down

renegade_kidIndie studio Renegade Kid has now officially shut down. The studio’s co-founders, Jools Watsham and Gregg Hargrove, have decided to end their partnership of creating games together after ten years.

Watsham and Hargrove will now go in different directions, managing their own studios. Watsham will be making games at Atooi while Hargrove will be at Infitizmo. Atooi will acquire the rights to all of Renegade Kid’s 2D games, like Mutant Mudds and Treasurenauts, for example. Infitizmo, on the other hand, will take ownership of the 3D series such as Dementium and Moon Chronicles.

In the announcement it’s mentioned that Watsham and Hargrove’s “friendship and respect for each other” remains “very much intact”.

Watsham had the following to say about the decision to close down the studio:

“The video game industry has changed a lot in the past 10 years that we’ve been developing games as Renegade Kid. From the very beginning, it has always been a challenge to secure partnerships with publishers to fund the development of original games, and since the advent of self-publishing – when digital distribution became more mainstream – it has shifted our business model towards becoming more dependent on revenue instead of seeking funding from publishing partners.

As such, it has been a great financial challenge and an extreme workload for the entire team to maintain a balance between cash flow, staying competitive with our games, and spending quality time with our families and friends. Couple these realities with the desire to achieve personal goals, Gregg and I came to the difficult decision to each pursue solo ventures and close Renegade Kid.

Starting fresh with small, lean teams enables us both to focus more on less moving parts and potentially achieve better success. It puts both Atooi and Infitizmo in more advantageous positions.”

Watsahm says Renegade Kid IPs will continue to exist going forward, with Treasurenauts launching next year (with news coming “very soon”). Meanwhile, Hargrove mentioned that he “would love to explore Cult County”. He also stated that he would like “to expand on both Moon and Dementium in the future and there is a new mystery project in the works for the near future”.

Chicken Wiggle

Not long after the closure of Renegade Kid, Jools Watsham announced he is currently making Chicken Wiggle for the 3DS eShop and iOS at Atooi.

Here’s an overview of the game:

“The stars of Chicken Wiggle are an improbable duo: a young chicken and his best buddy – a wiggly worm – nestled in his backpack! Together, they team up for adventure to jump, peck, and worm-grapple across a myriad of perplexing platforming levels – full of fun gadgets, tricky hazards, and sneaky foes – determined to rescue their friends from the wicked witch in her sky towers.”

A big aspect of Chicken Wiggle is the game’s level creator, where users can choose between various gameplay rules, art themes, and provide custom hints, tips, and search tags. Levels can then be shared with others through a community portal.

Chicken Wiggle will be released “soon”.

Here’s a video teaser to watch while you wait for it:

Drancia Saga

Drancia Saga was announced, and subsequently released, on the 3DS eShop during the latest Japanese Nintendo Direct.

It is an action game with simple controls developed by Skipmore and Flyhigh Works. Only three buttons are used, with those being left, right, and A for the following:

– Push different direction to turn
– Push same direction to dash
– A button to jump
– Push A again while jumping for downwards attack

The game has over 50 playable characters. There are also several collaboration characters that are unlocked by having select games installed on the same 3DS. When selecting a collaboration character, the first area stage and music will also change to fit its setting.

The collaboration titles are:

– Urban Trial: Free Style
– Gunman Clive
– Gunman Clive 2
– Geki Yaba Runner
– Petit Novel Series: Harvest December
– Witch & Hero
– Witch & Hero II
– Brunch Panic!
– Fairune
– Fairune 2
– The Legend of Dark Witch
– The Legend of Dark Witch 2

Note: extra characters are unlocked if you have both Gunman Clive, Witch & Hero and The Legend of Dark Witch games.

Finally, here’s the trailer for the game:

Piano Teacher

Piano Teacher is now out on the eShop, with pricing set at $39.99.

Nintendaan has posted some footage of the game which you can find below:

Tetraminos

Tetraminos is now out in both North America and Europe since September 8.

The game takes up 181MB of free space.

You can find a trailer and some gameplay footage below:

Touch Selections

RCMADIAX’s latest release, Touch Selections, is now out on the Wii U eShop.

It was released on September 8 in Europe and North America.

Touch Selections is another digital bundle of games, including Peg Solitaire and Avoider.

touch-selectionsGear Gauntlet

largeDrop Dead Interactive has shared a release date for Gear Gauntlet.

The game will be out on September 15 in both North America and Europe. Pricing is set at $10 / €10.

Quest of Dungeons

Quest of Dungeons now has a final release date on Wii U. It’ll be launching on September 29 for both Europe and North America. Pricing is set at $8.99 / €8.99 / £7.99.

Off-TV play, the Wii U Pro Controller, and a mixed setup with the mini-map and inventory on the GamePad are all supported.

Upfall Studios also shared this message about the 3DS version:

“I still don’t have a locked release date, but it’s close, next time I talk about it, it will be to announce when. Coordinating both versions of the game (on both regions) for a simultaneous release turned out to be a bit trickier than anticipated to the small team (1 person) but I’m nearly there, just working on some last minute issues, and I think I’ll be able to release it close to the Wii U version. When I have the final release date I’ll let you know. It will be launched simultaneously on both regions as well.”

When the 3DS version is ready, cross-buy will be supported, meaning you’ll only need to pay for one version when using the same Nintendo Network ID.

You can find the game’s trailer below:

Polara

Circle Entertainment is bringing Polara to North America and Europe in September. It’s a 3DS eShop game which previously released in Japan.

Circle Entertainment recently shared the news through Twitter. You can find the message with some screenshots below.

Futuridium EP Deluxe

Futuridium EP Deluxe has been out for Wii U since May. This month, the game will be out on New 3DS as well.

MixedBag recently announced that Futuridium EP Deluxe will be released on the 3DS eShop on September 8 in North America and September 15 in Europe.

The game will cost $7.99 / €7.99, and cross-buy will be supported.

MixedBag shared the news on Twitter with the following message:

Shooty Space

Shooty Space is due out on the European and North American Wii U eShop on September 15, according to RCMADIAX. It should take up 65 MB of space.

You can find some gameplay footage below:

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero

Shantae Half-Genie Hero E3 2016 FeatureShantae: Half-Genie Hero has wrapped up most of the needed development. WayForward says it’s now “content complete” and that it’s shifting attention to fixing bugs.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero was once targeted for September 27, but it has now been moved back “by about 6 weeks, give or take”, so should release in mid October.

WayForward wrote this message in a recent Kickstarter update:

“First things first – we are going to have to adjust our Target Release Date, moving it back from our 9/27 Target Release date by about 6 weeks, give or take. We know this will disappoint some of you, but we feel that it’s necessary to take that extra time for bug fixing and adding additional polish. We know you want the final product to be excellent and so do we! Thanks for your patience and support as we approach the finish line!”

You can also check out the full update on Shantae: Half-Genie Hero over here.

Koi

Circle Entertainment recently started work on a new Wii U port. This time it’s an indie Chinese title first released for the PlayStation 4 called “Koi”, which will eventually make its way to the eShop.

Koi is an exploration adventure game that tasks players with cleansing waters polluted by mankind by progressing through various levels.

Circle Entertainment shared the news on Twitter:

Tank it!

Indie developer BPlus has recently announced “Tank it!”, a simulation war game.

It’s described as “a realistic and bloody war simulation game designed to show how brutal and dangerous war really is”.

The game will be out on Steam this Autumn, but Bplus will be looking to have it ready on NX next year.

Here’s an overview of the game:

“In Tank it! you command a drone to remotely control a heavy tank. You receive the mission to travel to remote villages, find and destroy the target military camps and eliminate all terrorists. But as in real life, there are many civilians in the villages, as well. The terrorists and civilians alike are at the player’s mercy. It is up to the player alone to decide how to handle this mission.”

3Souls

3souls-2Red Column is currently finishing a patch for 3Souls’ first episode. This update is “coming soon” and will bring the game up to version 1.1.0.

Here are the official patch notes:

– Two new languages: Thanks to the great help from Nintendo-Town.fr and Simone Morelli, we were able to offer french and italian in the game!
– Rush Respawn: new mode in the Game Over screen. Now you can choose to continue from the last moment before you died (without restarting the full level).
– More Vault options: you can check out the ML-Rules, Memories and the “8 Seconds of Nindies” found them in the game.
– Easter egg less intrusive: “8 Seconds of Nindies” is now hidden and need a extra action to be activated.
– Wheel portal balanced: more intuitive and forgiven.
– Lightball portal balanced: accept light and darker colors.
– ML-Rules position changed: those are not in the way of the player anymore.
– Framerate ventilator fixed: this happend sometimes in the the stages with ventilator shafts and now has been fixed.
– Remove any Try&Error: any platform, path or puzzle has always a clue to be resolved.
– Minor adjustment overall: better experience with different adjustment in platforms, blocks and other elements in general, for a better gameplay experience.

Besides that, the second episode of 3Souls is still in the works.

Terraria

terrariaA “catch-up” patch for Terraria is now available. The update takes care of “clearing up the handful of issues from the launch of that version” and also “brings Wii U into line with the other consoles in terms of content”. That means the inclusion of the Stylist, new mechanic fixes and items. The full patch notes can be found here.

Writing on the Terraria forums, 505 confirmed this will actually be the last update for Terraria on Wii U:

“This update is intended to draw a line under Terraria on Wii U as it did with the other platforms – so we are afraid that no further updates for Wii U will be possible due to technical limitations. Bear in mind that you now have the same great content in two hits. There were more updates on the other platforms simply because they were released earlier. The content is the same. The logic for being unable to further update Wii U is, regrettably, the same as the ‘old gen’ machines – though the Wii U does admittedly have more resources than the 360/PS3, it is still a fraction as capable as PS4 and Xbox One, and we need all their available horsepower to take Terraria where we want to go next. This version will still be able to play online, so you can continue to enjoy it as long as you’re gaming on the Wii U platform. By the time the next update rolls out on PS4/Xbox One we’ll be very close to the launch of NX… But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

When it comes to the 3DS, CodeGlue is developing a content update for later in the year. They’ll be trying to address reported issue with stability and crashes while implementing fixes as well. These include:

– Now to able to deactivate pets
– Chain gun accuracy fixed
– Ice Queen no longer blocks everything else from spawning
– Items from Angler are fixed
– Orb projectiles sped up
– Acorns don’t just grow on grass
– Flowers in pots grow to full maturity
– Tempest staff bugs fixed

The team is currently doing what is possible on 3DS. However, the ability to hammer into stairs is still being looked into, along with “a few other treats”.

If you own a New 3DS, the new update will allow for larger worlds, which “is likely to be the same as the small world on the PC version”. Here are the final details:

“Not only will this give you a bigger canvas for your adventure, it will also help us eliminate the occasional worldgen issues that can happen when you try to squash all of the parts of a Terraria world into a smaller space. The enhanced specifications of New 3DS makes this possible! Do note that players will not then be able to invite original 3DS gamers into these larger worlds. We didn’t take the decision to offer split content between original and New 3DS lightly, but we’ve maxed out the older unit and we felt like there was still more to give to Nintendo handheld gamers. All 3DS units will be eligible for the update, but only New 3DS players will see the benefit of larger worlds.”

Axiom Verge

Nintendo has now released an official “Tips and Tricks” video for Axiom Verge. You can watch it below:

Alice in Wonderland

Below you can find a trailer for Alice in Wonderland which recently released on the Wii U eShop. Check it out:

Windscape

A new trailer for HeadUp Games’ Windscape is now out online. The game should eventually make its way to the Wii U eShop. You can watch the trailer below:

Gameplay Footage

Below you can find gameplay footage from various indie games that have been released, or will be released soon, on the Nintendo eShop.

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