November indie gaming roundup

  |   John Kemp   |    Roundup

Apologies for the delayed article, I’ve had a crazy last few weeks. Let’s remedy that by getting straight in to the indie gaming news items that have caught my eye in November. As usual, feel free to tell me about your own favourite news from the month in the comment section.

Bomb Squad Academy on Greenlight + demo

Bomb Squad Academy by Systemic Games has hit Steam Greenlight and the developers have also uploaded a 15 level demo of the game to itch.io. This game puts you in the shoes of an EOD technician, otherwise known as the most eligible person to wear the famous “if you see me running, try to keep up” shirt. The interesting feature of this game is that it requires you to actually examine the circuit controlling the bomb and cut wires, flip switches, and so on to correct disarm it without accidentally detonating it. Oh, and this is all against a time limit. Personally, I love the concept behind the more technical games such as Shenzhen I/O, so this is right up my alley. I’ll be releasing a gameplay video of the demo in the very near future, so keep an eye out for that on my channel.

Soviet Humour kickstarter

The Soviet Humour kickstarter was launched at the start of the month and has less than a week left at the time of writing. This game has been described as Mad Libs meets Cards Against Humanity and is great fun with a group of friends (ideally with a twisted sense of humour). The game has online multiplayer, though it’s still in Alpha currently so it’s not the most polished experience. You can be sure this will all be smoothed out by launch though. If you back the kickstarter then you get the first expansion, Vulgar Little Sods, for free, which is a nice bonus. Unfortunately the kickstarter doesn’t seem to be heading towards the target amount so the developers are looking for alternative funding, giving one person the opportunity to secure 25% of revenue in return for a £2000 investment. You can check out myself, Jupiter Hadley, and some other friendly folks trying out the game in Jupiter’s video.

Update: Since I wrote this post the Kickstarter has been cancelled, citing differences between the two team members working on the game. The multiplayer demo will remain available, but it looks like further development has halted at this time.

Brut@l added to Steam

Brut@l, the dungeon crawler with artistic influence from old-school text-based games of the same type now has a Steam store page ahead of its launch earlier next year. I briefly mentioned Brut@l in my EGX 2016 indie game highlights article. I am still eagerly awaiting this game and will be getting my hands on the PC release as soon as I’m able. The graphic I’ve included above gives you an idea of the art style of the game, but you really do have to see it in action to appreciate it fully. Luckily, Stormcloud Games have a short gameplay reel video on their YouTube channel for exactly that purpose. Definitely one to check out if it sounds like your kind of game.

Quick news

Creative corner

Some interesting resources, guides, creations, and merchandise from around the indie gaming community.

John Kemp
I am a software developer by day and dip into a range of related activities in my spare time, including working on my own software projects, writing, proof-reading, and, of course, gaming of both the digital and boardgame varieties. I am slowly starting to sink my teeth into game development.