Indie Friday: Tail Drift, Assault Android Cactus, Spacehack, Project Trillek and Citizen Burger Disorder | A Look at Australia's Local Gaming Scene
Post by Eorl @ 03:12pm 22/08/14 | Comments
AusGamers' Daniel "Eorl" Roy takes a glance at five of the hottest upcoming local indie devs and sees just what they have in store...
Welcome all to the very first Indie Friday feature! As the name suggests, each Friday we'll be taking a look at a handful of independent game developers from around Australia and giving you, the reader, a chance to know a bit more about the local scene and just what to keep your eyes on. Do keep in mind that some of these titles aren't quite ready, but we believe that even without the polish these games have some great potential at showing off Australia's very prominent local talent.
So, without further delay here is our very first issue of Indie Friday!
Tail Drift | Attract Mode Games | Website: http://www.taildrift.com/ | Platform: PC, Mac
Tail Drift is a fast action racing game where you zoom through fantastic environments. Compete while flying around floating islands, ancient temples and desert canyons, with a fleet of unique planes to take through a variety of game modes.
I had the chance to take a look at Tail Drift during a Friday Gaming Session at Brisbane's Right Pedal Studios, and I came out of the demo exhausted but eager to continue flying virtually. With the combination of Kinect and Oculus Rift, the game's simple nature of stretching your arms out and pretending to fly quickly translated well to the actual game. Sure it was a bit gimmicky, but the young self inside me was amused throughout the demo that the gimick nature never got in the way.
A demo for Tail Drift is available through their website for both Windows and Mac OS X. The demo is playable without Oculus Rift or Kinect, but having either does help by making it far more fun. Who wouldn't want to hold their arms out and fly like a plane?
Assault Android Cactus | Witch Beam | Website: http://www.assaultandroidcactus.com | Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U
Assault Android Cactus is a frantic shoot 'em up that focuses on high pressure and stylish action with a colorful roster of synthetic heroines portrayed in a bright Arcade/Dreamcast style aesthetic. By using a battery timer in place of lives and utilizing dynamic stage elements we've built Cactus around high speed gameplay and skillful chaining of enemies.
When I jumped into the Steam Early Access build of Assault Android Cactus I wasn't quite sure what to expect after only viewing a small snippet of gameplay and a handful of screenshots. Coming out after a good few hours I only have three words to describe this game: pure chaotic fun. The thrill of chaining attacks to gain better gun performance, substantial powerups that can change the tide of battle and the perfect balance of keeping action constant all make Assault Android Cactus a great top-down shooter worth a look at. This is one you'll want to keep your eyes on.
A demo for Assault Android Cactus is currently available for free through Steam, however if you are keen to jump in now you can find Early Access also available on the Steam page. The game will also be launching on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Wii U.
Project Trillek | Trillek Studio | Website: http://trillek.org/ | Platform: PC
Project Trillek is a game where nothing else matters except you, no stupid “Oh hey I’m NPC #1050, nice to meet you, here is my life story!". None at all, instead it’s just you, your ship, your CPU, and a bunch of robots on the journey of a lifetime.
While Trillek's inspiration comes from Markus “Notch" Persson's, the studio's effprt is not a buildup from the now-indefinitely delayed 0x10c, but instead a reimagining of that Sci-fi sandbox. Armed with your trusty ship, its TR3200-based control system (soon to expand with the DCPU-16) and a weapon or six, you too can set out to explore the Universe in a way few have ever dared to attempt. Only you can forge your destiny in Trillek's brave new world.
For more on Trillek head over to their active Reddit sub, but also check out the GitHub deposit for all open source builds.
Spacehack | Toonbit | Website: http://toonbit.com/ | Platform: iOS, Android
Spacehack puts you in the body of a hacker that's had their mind swapped into a purple octopus (with six legs), sent into orbit to hack computer systems around the globe from the comfort of your own satellite.
Over the course of the game you get increasingly difficult jobs, and to complete these jobs first you must successfully connect to a network and maintain a safe connection. If your connection becomes unsafe you run the risk of being traced, however stay safe and you'll crack the system. Files are downloaded over the course of the hack, and you have to decrypt encrypted files and perform other tasks to gain rewards, failing to finish a hack results in you not only failing the job, but also gaining heat.
If you gain 100 heat, it's all over, but being the crafty octopus you are you can either bribe your way out of the heat, or deploy viruses that can remove heat, but that in itself can be a risky endeavor. To find out more about Spacehack you can check out their YouTube page complete with progress updates, or head over to their Twitter and chat to the devs themselves.
Citizen Burger Disorder | Nick “Kritz" Blackburn | Website: http://kritz.net/games.php | Platform: Web
Flipping burgers has probably never been as hard as in Citizen Burger Disorder, where you are charged with not only creating the burgers, but also serving them up to your customers in a timely matter. Oh, and this isn't your typical burger-building simulator, instead Citizen Burger Disorder opts for a more appropriate physics system that will have your burger patties flying in the air and customers asking for a six stack beef patty meal.
Citizen Burger Disorder is available in alpha form through the official website. You'll need to install Unity Web Player and sign-up for an account to give it a try, but once you've done that you are clear for burger creation.
Stay tuned for next week's Indie Friday, and if you like what you see let us know in the comments! Also if you happen to be an local indie dev yourself and want to be featured, just drop an email and we'll get you sorted.
So, without further delay here is our very first issue of Indie Friday!
Tail Drift is a fast action racing game where you zoom through fantastic environments. Compete while flying around floating islands, ancient temples and desert canyons, with a fleet of unique planes to take through a variety of game modes.
I had the chance to take a look at Tail Drift during a Friday Gaming Session at Brisbane's Right Pedal Studios, and I came out of the demo exhausted but eager to continue flying virtually. With the combination of Kinect and Oculus Rift, the game's simple nature of stretching your arms out and pretending to fly quickly translated well to the actual game. Sure it was a bit gimmicky, but the young self inside me was amused throughout the demo that the gimick nature never got in the way.
A demo for Tail Drift is available through their website for both Windows and Mac OS X. The demo is playable without Oculus Rift or Kinect, but having either does help by making it far more fun. Who wouldn't want to hold their arms out and fly like a plane?
Assault Android Cactus is a frantic shoot 'em up that focuses on high pressure and stylish action with a colorful roster of synthetic heroines portrayed in a bright Arcade/Dreamcast style aesthetic. By using a battery timer in place of lives and utilizing dynamic stage elements we've built Cactus around high speed gameplay and skillful chaining of enemies.
When I jumped into the Steam Early Access build of Assault Android Cactus I wasn't quite sure what to expect after only viewing a small snippet of gameplay and a handful of screenshots. Coming out after a good few hours I only have three words to describe this game: pure chaotic fun. The thrill of chaining attacks to gain better gun performance, substantial powerups that can change the tide of battle and the perfect balance of keeping action constant all make Assault Android Cactus a great top-down shooter worth a look at. This is one you'll want to keep your eyes on.
A demo for Assault Android Cactus is currently available for free through Steam, however if you are keen to jump in now you can find Early Access also available on the Steam page. The game will also be launching on PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Wii U.
Project Trillek is a game where nothing else matters except you, no stupid “Oh hey I’m NPC #1050, nice to meet you, here is my life story!". None at all, instead it’s just you, your ship, your CPU, and a bunch of robots on the journey of a lifetime.
While Trillek's inspiration comes from Markus “Notch" Persson's, the studio's effprt is not a buildup from the now-indefinitely delayed 0x10c, but instead a reimagining of that Sci-fi sandbox. Armed with your trusty ship, its TR3200-based control system (soon to expand with the DCPU-16) and a weapon or six, you too can set out to explore the Universe in a way few have ever dared to attempt. Only you can forge your destiny in Trillek's brave new world.
For more on Trillek head over to their active Reddit sub, but also check out the GitHub deposit for all open source builds.
Spacehack puts you in the body of a hacker that's had their mind swapped into a purple octopus (with six legs), sent into orbit to hack computer systems around the globe from the comfort of your own satellite.
Over the course of the game you get increasingly difficult jobs, and to complete these jobs first you must successfully connect to a network and maintain a safe connection. If your connection becomes unsafe you run the risk of being traced, however stay safe and you'll crack the system. Files are downloaded over the course of the hack, and you have to decrypt encrypted files and perform other tasks to gain rewards, failing to finish a hack results in you not only failing the job, but also gaining heat.
If you gain 100 heat, it's all over, but being the crafty octopus you are you can either bribe your way out of the heat, or deploy viruses that can remove heat, but that in itself can be a risky endeavor. To find out more about Spacehack you can check out their YouTube page complete with progress updates, or head over to their Twitter and chat to the devs themselves.
Flipping burgers has probably never been as hard as in Citizen Burger Disorder, where you are charged with not only creating the burgers, but also serving them up to your customers in a timely matter. Oh, and this isn't your typical burger-building simulator, instead Citizen Burger Disorder opts for a more appropriate physics system that will have your burger patties flying in the air and customers asking for a six stack beef patty meal.
Citizen Burger Disorder is available in alpha form through the official website. You'll need to install Unity Web Player and sign-up for an account to give it a try, but once you've done that you are clear for burger creation.
Stay tuned for next week's Indie Friday, and if you like what you see let us know in the comments! Also if you happen to be an local indie dev yourself and want to be featured, just drop an email and we'll get you sorted.
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