When it comes to gaming, there are a multitude of different genres out there ranging from your standard FPS fare to obscure mash-ups of sub-genres. Many games tend to the specific needs many players seek out. My interests in particular lean towards the niche genre of gaming known as survival simulation. With that, I introduce to you Renewal, an upcoming zombie survival RPG game.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have my luxurious mane available for the hairstyles. A bowl cut will do.

Renewal is a 2D top-down RPG with heavy emphasis on player survival in a randomly-generated world. You create your own character and you must ensure the survival of yourself, as well as attempting to rebuild in a world devastated by zombies. Yes, zombies. I can already hear some of you readers groaning.

Yeah zombies are a bit overdone, but I among others welcome more contributions to the classic monster. Renewal has plenty of them roaming around for you to encounter and vanquish, all while you scavenge around looking for supplies and weapons. Go out into the world beyond the safety of your town walls in order to find better items for yourself and for the citizens. Use your wits and your newfound items to craft more weapons as you get stronger and bolder.

The game has been in development for about a year, and from what I’ve seen while playing the public beta, it looks to be promising. There really isn’t much to look at in terms of art, but the gameplay is the main focus here and so far everything seems interesting. That is, while the game was playable. I continuously ran into some game-stopping bugs, but seeing as this is still in beta this is to be expected.

Thrust headfirst into the undead nightmare.

More features and gameplay are planned for the future, but so far I like what I see. The beta and its planned goals hold some good promise, and it caters to the survival aspect nicely with its randomly-generated world and loot.

If you like RPGs, survival games, or zombies, I would keep an eye on this one. If you wish to contribute to its development, there is an Indiegogo campaign created by its sole developer, available here. The beta is also available for download there so give it a go if you wish. Give a helping monetary hand or even some encouraging words if you like what you hear.

It is always nice seeing new entries into a specific niche corner of gaming, I for one welcome it.

Watch the Renewal trailer.
Visit the game’s Indiegogo page.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Poltergeist started out as an entry in a Square Enix-run competition called Latin American Game Development Contest 2012. It went on to win first place, and once Glitchy Pixel–comprised of artist Diana Esperanza Pacheco and programmer Italo Felipe Capasso Ballesteros–reattained the rights, the team has sought to polish and develop their game further with your help.

So what is Poltergeist? It’s a puzzle game that places the player in the role of a ghost that is none too happy with all the people moving into his beloved mansion. Your mission is to use all of your supernatural, ghostly powers to scare everyone out of the vicinity through various eras of the mansion’s history. The puzzle elements come in as you must successfully scare all of the fleshy residents out before you have used all your powers. To make this a little harder, there are also people that will be tougher to frighten and will actively try to fight you, such as priests and Ghosthunters (a nice little nod there). This all seems to work towards making the game a cleverly strategic puzzler that will have the player taking their time to consider all of their moves.

If successfully funded, the developers promise updated artwork and music, new powers and mechanics, over sixty levels (a respectable increase from the initial twenty in the original prototype), PC, Mac, and Linux support, and, of course, various backer rewards. Glitchy Pixel is asking for $25,000 to fund their game. There’s less than a month left, so get backing over at their Indiegogo page. Poltergeist: Pixelated Horror is also up for voting on Steam Greenlight. To find out more about the developer and see their previous games, check out Glitchy Pixel’s website.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Canadian developer Deirdra Kiai has created something that quite frankly no one’s likely ever seen: a stop motion musical adventure game. Kiai has created a demo for the upcoming Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once the Fat Lady Sings!” Quite the name to match such a niche title, but that’s the essence of the indie spirit. The game is also targeted at multiple platforms including iPad, Mac, and Windows PC’s.

A detective mystery frames the plot of Pamplemousse, but in a unique twist it is told like a stage musical complete with singing dialog that the user can control. Characters are animated through stop motion using art assets made from real objects created by Kiai herself. When you add in the brass music, I honestly can’t remember seeing this amount of variety in creative work included in a game by just one person.

Some of the puppets used in the stop motion animation

As promising as the game looks, Pamplemousse is in need of financial assistance. As with previous title Life Flashes By, the developer is seeking crowdfunding to help complete the game. In this case, Kiai has turned to Indiegogo to campaign for those much-needed funds. The campaign page includes a video showing off the game, but also a link to the free, playable demo that’s now available. Rewards for helping fund the game include everything from the basic copy of the game and early access to more creative souvenirs like a piece of scenery or puppet from the game. The perks really mirror the creativity of the developer herself, and it’s pretty neat that she’d be willing to part with the physical pieces that helped make the game. There are only a few days left in the campaign, so give the demo a try and decide for yourself  whether the fat lady has sung on Pamplemousse.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The demo is available on Google Play and includes a small handful of levels for players to try out. The demo was released in order to garner some excitement for the game, and unit9.apps has launched an IndieGoGo campaign to turn that early interest into funds to help finish the game. Check out the trailer below, give the demo a whirl, and remember to stop by the campaign page if you like what you see.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Sundae Factory, a new 3-man indie development studio out of Montpellier, France,  has announced details on their first title. Ecotone is a single-player platformer coming to PC and Mac. Promising a “unique, dreamlike, and mysterious atmosphere” and a skill system for your character, the player’s avatar must cross a world filled with exotic creatures and monsters.

One interesting aspect to Ecotone is that each level features a different type of gameplay whether it be speed-based, puzzle solving, gravity-based challenges, and more. Each level also thematically centers on a sentence that will often bear a key to getting to the finish. This sounds perfect for riddle fans out there.

Riddles in each stage give clues to success

Sundae Factory can’t finish Ecotone on their own and have turned to an Indiegogo campaign to help raise the $12,000 needed to get the game finished and published. Everything from free copies of the game to beta access to figurines are some of the perks being offered. Initial funding will go towards legal fees, software property rights, sound design, and marketing costs. Should the campaign exceed the goal, there are plans to bring Ecotone to mobile platforms.

Stay tuned to The Indie Mine for future updates on Ecotone, and you can get your info straight from Sundae Factory by checking them out on Twitter and Facebook.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The Hit Squad introduces a Spinal Tap-esque washed up old rock band, vividly brought to life in luxuriant 8-bit-style animation. While Blundell’s pitch name-checks classics of the decade including Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop as influences, the film’s fundraising page at IndieGoGo.com references Family Guy, and based on the available clips The Hit Squad’s tone is closer to Seth MacFarlane’s  modern acerbic animation than the heyday of Dan Akroyd and Bill Murray. It might hark back to days of yore, but perhaps it can’t entirely shake itself free of its own time.

Whatever its final content will be, there is certainly plenty for the ‘80s connoisseur here. Anyone who has played the likes of Maniac Mansion should feel at home with the clunky blocks used to depict The Hit Squad, and the soundtrack manages to reference the excessively stirring movie scores of yesteryear while simultaneously feeling as though it would be right at home in the background of one of Mega Man’s stages.

In exchange for donation to their project, Blundell’s team offers rewards ranging from DVDs of the finished product (which, depending on your level of donation, could be the most expensive DVDs you’ve ever bought!) to a sort of blocky immortality by means of putting a pixelised likeness of you in a background cameo.

It’s too early to tell how the finished product will turn out; as with all movies, much of it will depend on the quality of the script. It does, however, nail the 1980s gaming aesthetic effortlessly. If The Hit Squad has whetted your retro appetite, you can learn more at its IndieGoGo page.

© 2012, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.