community posts

Bash apart notable indie figures in Indie Brawl

by James Murff Aug 26th 2009 @ 6:30PM

If you've ever wanted to see Liero kill the guy from Bonesaw, or Naija from Aquaria tear into the both of them, here's your chance. The TIGSource community has been hard at work on a fighting game reminiscent of the Super Smash Brothers games, only with indie characters, and have released their first milestone out into the world today. Indie Brawl contains three fully functional character, several semi-functional characters, and four stages to duke it out on! We'll keep you updated as more releases are put out there.

The goal of Indie Brawl is to kill or ring out your enemies on a 2D stage. There's some excellent music and spritework on display here, and the controls are good as well. The only problems with controlling seem to be in the stiffness and rigidity, as well as a little imbalance in the power of characters. There is also support for gamepads, if that is your thing.

Filed under: Indie, Fighting

Monolith enters second F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Q&A session

by Steven Wong Sep 22nd 2008 @ 5:30PM

The developers of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin go into detail about putting together the game and answer community questions. This episode mostly focuses on graphics.

Download the HD F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin "Ask a Dev" Q&A Round 2 (267 MB)
Download the HD F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin "Ask a Dev" Q&A Round 1 (136 MB)

Gallery: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

Filed under: Downloads, Action, FPS, Video, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

Big Ideas: Heroism and the MMO

by Akela Talamasca Sep 3rd 2008 @ 11:00AM

Arguably, video games are all about making you, the player, feel like a hero. You're meant to overcome incredible odds, employ every ounce of skill at your command to win through, defeat the villain, and triumph in the end. The denouement should be satisfying, and provide a cathartic sense of closure. You should feel as though you've been on an amazing journey, and no matter how difficult it was, or perhaps because of the difficulty, it was all worth it in the end.

However, massively multiplayer online games are a rather different beast. To wit: can you still feel like a hero when the journey never ends, you're only one of thousands, and there is no closure?

Continue reading Big Ideas: Heroism and the MMO

Filed under: Culture, Features, MMO, Opinion, Meta BD

Average gamer spends $30,500 on games

by Samuel Axon Jun 30th 2008 @ 7:30PM

1UP reports that a new study performed by GameStrata (a site that primarily tracks gamers' performance statistics) has concluded that the average gamer spends $30,500 on his or her hobby between ages 18 and 49. The article specifies that gamers spend $765 per year, but those two numbers don't seem to jive together when it comes to mathematics. The mysteries of statistics, eh?

That seems awfully high at first glance. Do gamers really buy, say, 15 new games every year? Factor in computer hardware, 500 dollar game consoles, microtransactions, and subscription fees, and it starts to almost make sense. All that said, we have a feeling that the definition of "gamer" here is limited to the folks who use GameStrata -- uber-hardcore types. Still; expensive hobby, much?

The study also noted that 40% of gamers spend 6-10 hours per week playing games online with friends. Again, that's probably mostly representative of the hardcore crowd. Note also that GameStrata has a stake in making online gaming look like the best new fad. In the wake of the company's findings, COO Barry Dorf claimed that "videogames are becoming so much more than a momentary diversion; gaming is becoming yet another means of community building."

Filed under: Biz, Culture

CD Projekt announces The Witcher Adventure Editor contest

by Samuel Axon May 27th 2008 @ 1:00PM

Just over a month ago, development studio CD Projekt released an adventure editor for its mature-themed RPG The Witcher. Now, in order to foster an active modding community, the company is holding a contest for upstart adventure creators. This is a good move for CD Projekt; modding communities are one of the PC gaming industry's greatest assets. It worked for Neverwinter Nights!

The contest will be split into five stages. At each stage, CD Projekt will provide some assets and basic guidelines. For example, stage one directs each contestant to use provided character and town assets to create a short quest based around some critical player choice, to be defined by the contestant. This reflects the narrative formula used in the official game content.

Stage one is already underway so if this interests you, download the tools, visit the official wiki to learn them, and get to building!

Filed under: Contests, Mods, RPG