King Arthur’s Gold lets you build and destroy castles. There are a variety of game modes: Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, and Take the Halls (which involves capturing points). Players can choose from three classes: builder, archer, and knight. Builders can mine resources and build structures while protecting objectives and creating tunnels under enemy defences. Builders can place blocks, doors, traps, ladders, and various workshops. Workshops allow other players to buy siege engines, heal themselves, and build tunnels.

Archers are armed with a bow and arrow and provide long range damage. Aiming shots requires timing and precision as the flight of your arrows will vary widely depending on how long you hold your shot. Knights specialise in melee combat – they start with a sword and a shield, but they can also use bombs. The shield can be used for protection as well as a parachute when held over the head. Sword attacks require timing to deal maximum damage, and if you properly time your clicks, you can create combo attacks.

Rounds in King Arthur’s Gold usually start with allocated building time. During this time, players cannot advance too far toward the enemy base; instead, they must focus on creating defences for the oncoming attack. At the start of the game, defences can be very well organised. However, things get more chaotic as you go further into the game. Blocks are destructible, so neatly organised defences quickly lose their structure – especially when they are hit with a boulder. Classes can be changed at any point by returning to the home base so that bases can be repaired by builders.

The pixel art in King Arthur’s Gold gives the game a retro feel, as does the music. The lighting effects add to the mood, so that when you’re underground, you do feel hidden, lost, and slightly alone.

King Arthur’s Gold creates a good combination of combat and creative building. The need for correct aim and proper timing makes the combat difficult for beginners – but overall the game is forgiving for new players, as there’s always something fun to do. If you’d like to find out more about King Arthur’s Gold, click here to visit the website.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this rating mean?

A PC review copy of this game was provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

There are a range of classes, each with their own abilities. These are activated by pressing 4 keys, which along with the fast paced combat, makes Risk of Rain similar in ways to a MOBA game. You can win fights through a mix of clever positioning and quick reactions. As you learn your class’s strengths and weaknesses, the game becomes easier and combat feels smoother. As your character levels up, you’ll be able to cope with more difficult enemies. This is good, because the longer you play, the more difficult the game becomes.

Risk of Rain is different from a lot of games with randomly-generated worlds. The pace is much faster and the increasing difficulty means that you’re encouraged to go through the game as quickly as possible. There are times when I wanted to step away from the combat to explore the levels more – but the randomly-appearing enemies make it difficult to explore. Hopefully as the game develops there will be potential for more varied gameplay, and the pace will relent slightly.

Much of the atmosphere in Risk of Rain is created by its soundtrack, which is both eerie and forceful. My fellow Indie Mine reviewer Jennifer Roger has written an excellent article about Risk of Rain’s soundtrack, which you can find here.

Multiplayer co-op has recently been introduced to Risk of Rain. I haven’t had a chance to try it out – because I can’t find a server. As yet there isn’t a fully developed server browser, and the game requires you to connect directly to an IP address to play multiplayer. This will work fine if you know people who have the game, but you won’t be able to jump straight into a game with strangers. Hopefully in the future the game will also feature a full server browser.

Risk of Rain has a lot of potential. At times it feels too combat-heavy, but the randomly generated elements of the game mean that each playthrough offers something different. Risk of Rain is only going to become more varied and interesting, and I hope that the developers allow players to really explore all it has to offer. If you like the look of Risk of Rain, you can purchase a copy here.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The indie game community and the Linux community have lots in common. They both live happily outside of the mainstream, they’re both forward-thinking, and they are both created and maintained by small communities of developers. So if you like indie games, there’s a good chance that you might also like Linux. If you’re considering making the switch, here are ten indie games you can play on Linux right now.

1. Minecraft

Minecraft is not only the best indie game for Linux, it’s one the best indie games ever made. It’s almost certainly the most successful. Minecraft’s success makes it easy to forget the game’s humble beginnings, since it began as a solo developer project.

Minecraft has its own culture, and it’s probably the most watched game in history. The variety of custom maps and building projects makes it just as fun to be a spectator as a player. If you haven’t yet played this game, you’re denying yourself the most important game of the last ten years.

Click here to find out more about Minecraft.

2. Faster than Light

In Faster than Light you journey across space on an important mission. You move from sector to sector and each area of space contains a new problem which you will need to deal with. This often means fighting other spacecraft.

The fun lies in upgrading your ship and seeing how it fares against the range of enemies you encounter. Will the shields hold out? Will you run out of oxygen? Will your new laser destroy the opposing ship’s hull? You’ll escape from certain disaster time and time again, and each time you’ll have created a new story. Read a full review of Faster than Light here.

Click here to find out more about Faster than Light.

3. Dwarf Fortress

Dwarf Fortress is the kind of game I’d have expected to play on Linux before I knew about Linux gaming. It’s complex, forbidding, and geeky. But once you get past the ASCII graphics you’ll see why so many people are willing to sit through tutorials to learn how to play.

In Dwarf Fortress your goal is to survive. This normally means creating a fortress for your dwarves and helping them to find food and drink. They’ll be attacked by a range of mythical beasts so you’ll also need military protection. The game is very difficult, and embodies the phrase “losing is fun.” Each time your fortress falls you have the opportunity to create a new one, and the fun begins all over.

Click here to find out more about Dwarf Fortress.

4. Kerbal Space Program

What’s more fun than flying a rocket? Crashing a rocket! At least, it is for the first few attempts. Kerbal Space Program lets you build and fly space craft around a fictional solar system. It accurately simulates the physics of spaceflight, which makes it difficult but rewarding. Eventually you’ll have to complete missions to earn money for ship building. For now there’s a sandbox mode, which lets you create as many crazy ships as you like. That mode is ideal because you may well be crashing quite a few of them. You can read a full Kerbal Space Program review here.

Click here to find out more about Kerbal Space Program.

5. Dungeons of Dredmor

Character creation is often the most enjoyable part of RPG games. When you make a character, you are free to theorise about what will or won’t work, before being tied down by the realities of the game.

Dungeons of Dredmor realises how fun character creation can be, and lets you experiment with your choices. The game sees you attempt to reach the end of a randomly generated dungeon. The combat can be repetitive but the options for character progression keep the game interesting.

Click here to find out more about Dungeons of Dredmor.

6. Super Hexagon

Games don’t get much more simple than Super Hexagon. You control a small triangle and your goal is to move left or right to avoid incoming lines and shapes. The addictive appeal of Super Hexagon lies in its difficulty. To get it right you’ll need to react quickly and achieve a state of ‘flow’ . The simple controls, throbbing visuals, and heavy audio mean that it’s easy to fall into a trance and forget everything apart from beating your high score.

Click here to find out more about Super Hexagon.

7. Warsow

Warsow is one of many Quake style FPS games released for Linux. The game-play is fast paced, and focuses on smooth and fluid movement.

Of the FPS games for Linux, there isn’t any one particular stand-out. Warsow just happens to be my favourite. It works well and the graphics are relatively unique for the genre. You’d get a very similar experience from any of the indie FPS games on Linux such as Nexuiz, Open Arena or Red Eclipse.

Click here to find out more about Warsow.

8. Dungeon Defenders

Dungeon Defenders puts you in control of an adventurer who can run around, attack enemies, cast spells and summon towers.  Your goal is to prevent enemies from destroying your crystal. You can play on your own, or cooperatively online. Dungeon Defenders doesn’t bring too much new material to the genre of tower defence – this is simple, wave after wave fun.

Click here to find out more about Dungeon Defenders.

9. Battle for Wesnoth

Battle of Wesnoth may be the best strategy game you’ve never played. Despite being relatively unknown, the game has an established  and dedicated community. Gameplay wise, there isn’t anything especially revolutionary, but Wesnoth is polished and fun. There are a variety of add-ons to download, including a variety of single player campaigns. If you’re a fan of strategy games, give Wesnoth a try.

Click here to find out more about Battle of Wesnoth.

10. Anodyne

Anodyne is a top-down action/puzzle game. If you’ve played The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on Game Boy this game should feel familiar. The graphics and gameplay are a very clear nod in the direction of Nintendo’s classic dungeon explorer.

Anodyne is far from a clone, however. It’s much simpler, with hardly any items to acquire and only one weapon – a broom. The majority of game will have you searching for keys to progress through various areas. This can feel repetitive but the main appeal of Anodyne is it’s strange atmosphere, and interesting locations. The core of the game won’t take you long to get through, but there are a number of hidden extras to keep you exploring.

Click here to find out more about Anodyne.

Why you should switch to Linux

With all these indie games on Linux, and more to come, Linux has never been more tempting for gamers. It’s easier than you think to make the switch – you can even keep your Windows installation.

If you’re already a Linux user, do you think there are any games missing from the top ten? Leave a comment below and let us know which games people should be playing on Linux.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Failure arrives in many forms when you play Kerbal Space Program, surprising you when you least expect it. You can run out of fuel, land too fast, or simply build a rocket that is inherently doomed to rip itself apart. Watching rockets crash into things at high speeds is fun, but it’s heartbreaking to have your flight end in disaster after committing time to the rest of the journey.

Luckily the ship building system is easy to use so you should be able to put together something which is vaguely flyable. Parts clip neatly together, and there are a range of fuel tanks, thrusters, and cockpits from which to choose. The two main types of vehicle are space planes and rockets, but you can also build wheeled vehicles, space stations, and satellites. You build rockets in stages, so that you can jettison fuel containers as they are emptied. Carrying dead weight into orbit is likely to doom your mission, so you’ll need to design your stages carefully.

Kerbal Space Program is still in development, but already there are a variety of scenarios and training missions. The training is useful to give you an understanding of the less self-explanatory parts of the game, such as adjusting orbits. The scenarios put you into difficult situations and let you try and get out of them, and this is good practice for when you get to your own missions.

Eventually the game will contain a mode where you need to create your own space program. The costs of building rockets will presumably be offset by making money from missions, and this should make the game feel more directed. Crashing ships might be fun, but it does grow dull, and the real substance of the game is found in building efficient spacecraft and attempting to reach other planets.

Kerbal Space Program isn’t just for people who are interested in spacecraft. It’s a simulation, but it’s rarely restrictive and dull. You have the freedom to create your own designs, and when they fall apart you can laugh and try again. The game brings a sense of humor to the world of scientific simulation. Kerbal Space Program can be bought right now, and it’s recently been made available on Steam and Linux (I played the gabber on Ubuntu). There’s even a free demo. It’s still in development, but it’s already very playable, and I’d recommend that you give it a try.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this rating mean?

A review copy of this game was provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Microsoft aimed to bring indie games to their console by creating the Xbox Live Indie Game (XBLIG) service. With XBLIG, developers could approve each other’s games, making it fast, cheap, and easy for indie developers to release their games.

Why Microsoft Created XNA

Microsoft also wanted to make it easier for developers to make games for their systems. To do this, they created XNA, a set of tools intended to streamline game development and to make it easier for indie studios to create games. Many of the most popular games on the system have been created using XNA. Despite its popularity, Microsoft recently announced that they would no longer be working on the toolset. I asked them what the situation was, and what discontinuing XNA would mean for indie developers. Here’s what a spokesperson had to say:

“XNA Game Studio remains a supported toolset for developing games for Xbox 360, Windows and Windows Phone. Many developers have found financial success creating Xbox LIVE Indie Games using XNA. However, there are no plans for future versions of the XNA product. Game developers have a wide set of options on Microsoft platforms, ranging from XNA and managed code to DirectX and native code. Microsoft provides developers the options they need to be successful.”

To find out what developers thought about the decision to stop work on the platform. I spoke to David Johnston, of Smudged Cat games, makers of Timeslip, Gateways, and The Adventures of Shuggy. Here’s what he has to say about developing games for Xbox using XNA:

David Johnston – Smudged Cat Games

“It’s been exciting to develop games for the Xbox. I started with Shuggy which was actually an XBLA game in the end. I tend to play games on consoles more than on PC so it felt like the right place to be releasing games for me. It’s great to think of people chilling out on their sofas and playing a game that I made.”

”XNA has been fantastic. I’ve developed games on and off for most of my life and struggled with various different programming languages and APIs but using C# with XNA has been by far the easiest to get to grips with. It removes so many of the mundane tasks related to game. It’s great that it’s inspired so many people to actually bring those game ideas they’ve had in their head into reality.”

”There’s bound to be a decline in the number of indie games that are released now as people looking at XNA will be reading “XNA is dead” everywhere. However, it’s not quite as straightforward as that. The MonoGame project has been around for a while now offering a cross-platform solution to XNA. It seems that MonoGame is now going to take over, it’s being actively worked on and will soon be a complete solution for making XNA games even on future versions of Windows. ”

”I’m curious to see what Microsoft announce about support for indie games on the next Xbox. Given how things have gone with the current Xbox it’s debatable if there will be any support at all. I really hope there will be something but I’ll certainly be approaching it with caution this time round given the way the current channel was promoted and lack of profits from it. I’ve certainly had better figures from Steam and am currently more interested in the Ouya and Steam box at the moment.”

I also spoke to Shahed Chowdhuri of OnekSoft games, creator of 2D Math Panic as well as Angry Zombie Ninja Cats. Shahed has also developed tools to help indie developers make games with XNA. Here’s what he has to say about XNA and indie games on Xbox:

Shahed Chowdhuri - OnekSoft Games

“Developing games for Xbox is a childhood dream come true. Completing a game project and putting it out on the world’s (arguably) best game console is a great experience.”

”When I first learned about game development, I worked with C++ and DirectX, and tried out some basic samples on Windows. But XNA changed everything. I was suddenly able to write a video game for Windows and Xbox 360 at the same time, using C#. My day job requires me to work primarily with C#, so this was definitely a plus for me.”

”XNA has made it easy for me (and countless others) to create Indie games that would not have been possible without it.”

”Technologies come and go, and XNA is no different. Although Microsoft won’t release updated versions of the XNA framework, that won’t stop us from using Visual Studio 2010, C# and XNA to create games that run on Windows Vista, Windows7, and even Windows8 (non-RT version). For the rest of the year, we can also continue to publish to Xbox Live Indie Games on the Xbox 360.”

”As a whole, XBLIG developers will have to migrate to other areas. Some of them may gravitate towards development strategies that allow them to use the same language they are used to. And some of them will learn other languages (e.g. Java and Objective-C) so that they can develop native games and apps for Android and iOS, respectively.”

”Another portion of XBLIG developers may go the multi-platform route (e.g. Unity) to create high-quality games on both iOS and Android, with proven tools and technologies.”

”I think that the future of Indie Games on Microsoft’s next platform will ride on their ability to show off what the Indie world has to offer. This is a tricky situation, because they have made it clear that they want to separate out the $1 XBLIG games from the $60 AAA titles, with distinct marketplaces. Heck, there’s even a middle ground with Xbox Live Arcade, where some Indie games (e.g. Fez and Super Meat Boy ) have found success.”

”Apple and Google have shown the world that you can place professional games and homebrew indies in the same marketplace, and let the customers decide what they want to buy. Microsoft has started to move towards this trend with their Windows Store for Windows8, so there may be a chance that Indie developers will get better exposure on the next Xbox console.”

”Many developers will definitely switch to other platforms (as they have been), but they can also be wooed back to Microsoft’s corner if their needs can be appeased.”

The Future of Indie Games on Xbox

Developers are clearly uncertain about their future with XNA, and with Microsoft systems in general. When Microsoft created XBLIG and XNA, they hoped to attract indie game developers to their system. Looking at the statistics, it seems like they were succesful – there are 2,837 games in the XBLIG marketplace. The best selling title, Castle Miner Z, has sold over a million copies.

But for every game that succeeded on XBLIG, there are a handful that didn’t. Many developers have not seen the profitability they had hoped for, and in financial terms other platforms are far more attractive. Take developers Zeboyd Games, whose RPGs Cthulhu Saves The World  and Breath Of Death VII sold more in a week on Steam than they did in a year on XBLIG.

Microsoft hasn’t abandoned indie game developers completely. There are still a range of tools which developers can use. But by discontinuing XNA, Microsoft will surely push some indie developers away from Microsoft systems altogether. It is strange that after so much time fostering a positive and productive indie community, Microsoft seems to have turned its back on the developers it once supported. If XNA is to have a successor, it will have a big act to follow.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.