pax-10 posts

A few months ago we reported on the launch of Supergiant Games, a new game developer founded by former members of EA's Command and Conquer team. This week the company announced its first title, a action-RPG game titled Bastion. The game is one of the 10 indie developed titles that were picked to be displayed at PAX Prime this weekend under the PAX 10 display.

Little has been revealed about the game at this point although you can tell from the screenshots that Bastion has a anime-style art influence. There's also a Flash trailer that you can check out on the Supergiant Games web site that shows some gameplay. Bastion is currently scheduled for a 2011 release.

With the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle now the biggest game oriented show in the US in terms of attendance you can imagine that there is a lot of interest by game developers to show their titles on the exhibit floor. For the past few years PAX organizers have been running the PAX 10 competition where they pick 10 current and upcoming indie games and give them exhibit space at PAX 2010.

The PAX web site has posted up the winners of this year's PAX 10 and not suprisingly most are either coming out for the PC or are PC exclusive titles. They range from arcade titles to historical strategy game to platformers. The PC titles are listed below and will be on display at PAX 2010 on September 3-5.

Super Meat Boy - Team Meat
Altitude - Nimby Games
Bastion - SuperGiant Games
Fowl Space - Pixelante
Hegemony: Philip of Macedon - Longbow Games
Plane Weaver - Team Plane Weaver
Puzzle Bots - Wadjet Eye Games
Solace - One Man Down

Those looking forward to the elegant and serene-looking Osmos don't have to wait much longer. The IGF finalist and winner of the D2D Vision Award will be available for download from Direct2Drive, Steam, and the official website come August 18th. It was also announced as a member of the PAX 10 for 2009 just recently, so if you are going to PAX, it may be a good time to try it out!

Osmos revolves around clever use of gravity and thrust to absorb enemies and make yourself larger. Every time you propel yourself, you shoot out smaller motes that then drift around and are absorbed. You have to balance attractive and repulsing forces, inertia, and all sorts of other basica physical forces in order to finish the levels. It's great stuff. Don't believe me? Try out the demo!

[Via IndieGames]

Every year at the Penny Arcade Expo, a group of 50 industry experts picks a group of ten indie games to showcase to the world. It's a great way for people to become exposed to innovative and interesting indie games that they may have never heard of. The list of this year's PAX 10, as it is called, has just been released, and funnily enough, six out of the ten games are PC native!

Some notable games in this year's PAX 10 include IGF finalists Osmos and Machinarium, as well as student game Tag: The Power of Paint, which we have featured here on Big Download before. There is also a few console games, such as CarneyVale for the 360, and even an iPhone game! Check out the full list after the jump.

The Independent Games Festival isn't the only place where indie game developers can strut their stuff nowadays. The annual Penny Arcade Expo has been running the PAX 10 competition for a little while now and today they announced they are taking applications for the 2009 edition.

Developers can submit their entries before May 9 where they will be judged by a panel of game developers and the Penny Arcade team. 10 games will be chosen and will be put on display at PAX in Seattle on September 4-6. This is for pure stand alone indie games only that are self funded. No mods or games that have a publisher are allowed. Last year the PAX 10 included some well know indie games like Audiosurf, Project Aftermath and The Maw, the latter of which has just been officially released for the PC today.

One of the new events in the 2008 edition of the Penny Arcade Expo is the search for new independently developed game titles. The consumer gaming event announced earlier this year a calll developers to send them their titles that would be judged by a group of developers for inclusion in the "PAX 10". Now those 10 games have been selected from over 80 games submitted.

Those games will be on display at the 2008 PAX event to be held from August 29-31 in Seattle. The attendees will not only get to play the games but will also vote for their favorite with the winner getting the Audience Choice Award that will be announced after PAX 2008 is completed.

• The Amazing Brain Train by Grubby Games (puzzle/strategy)
• Audio Surf by Dylan Fitterer (rhythm/action)
• Chronotron by Scarybug Games (puzzle/platformer)
• Impulse by a team of Rochester Institute of Technology students (puzzle)
• The Maw by Twisted Pixel Games (action/adventure)
• Polarity by a team of Carnegie Mellon University students (platformer/puzzle)
• Project Aftermath by Games Faction (tactical/action)
• Schizoid by Torpex Games (action/strategy)
• Strange Attractors 2 by Ominous Development (puzzle/strategy)
• Sushi Bar Samurai by Molly Rocket (exploratory puzzle)