Even with my main PC being the epitome of mid-level 2003 tech — hardly strong enough to power through most current indie games — the one game I’ve done my best to struggle through in the past few years is GSC’s post-apocalyptic wanderer Stalker, and it’s always responded in kind with some of my most compelling in-game anecdotes (particularly that corker where I was desperately low on health and managed to lure a group of alert soldiers to my version of a giant red X, where I silently rolled a live grenade directly behind the lot).
While GSC isn’t quite to the point of giving the game away for free (though it is offered at a bargain price on Steam), they have seen fit to give away an early 2004 build of the game.
As I make my own way through the download, RockPaperShotgun (my leading source for All Things Stalker), are reporting that the build is considerably larger and more free-ranging than the eventual release, truer to promises the developer was touting in press rounds at the time, and includes vehicles — which would be eventually stripped as it reigned in its scope — to better navigate the terrain, and significantly more difficult.
Grab the direct download here (or, alternately, the torrent here) and let us know how it feels to you.
‘xrCore’ build 1935, Oct 18 2004. [GSC, via ShackNews]
As PopCap recently made the rounds to promote Peggle: Dual Shot, the DS version of its inexplicably excellent pachinko/pinball game due in the U.S. this week (along with the bonus levels designed by Lumines/Every Extend Extra dev Q Entertainment), it saved its best secrets for a recent interview with Forbes.
There, they promised many more handheld versions of popular franchises this year, including long-time word game favorite Bookworm (which hasn’t been seen off PCs since the Game Boy Advance) and Bejeweled Twist, and vowed to continue support for its bread and butter PC audience.
On the last note, PopCap teased a project called, erm, Plants vs. Zombies, which VP Greg Canessa called a mashup of “the real-time strategy genre, tower defense games and collectible card games–but in a casual context.”
That should be enough to pique anybody’s interest, but that’s apparently not quite the full story. QuarterToThree forum user (and Peggle Nights level designer) Hiro_Antagonist has braved the vicious dual-headed beast of ‘PR and Marketing’ and offered to clarify some details on the game based on his experience as beta testing admin. Says Hiro:
I’ve been playing internal builds of Plants vs Zombies for about a year and a half now, and was the administrator of its beta testing. And if you ask me, Canessa did the game a real disservice saying anything about CCG’s in relation to it. I literally winced when I read him saying that because I knew people would get the wrong idea.
The extent of CCG influence on this game is that the plants/towers you buy are denoted by little card-like UI widgets at the top of the screen. And there’s a splash of ‘deckbuilding’ as you get to choose 5-8 or so of your plants arsenal to use on any given level.
Nobody is trying to sell booster packs for extra cash, or anything of the sort. In fact, Plants vs. Zombies is one of the best values (in terms of amount of fresh gameplay and replayability) that PopCap has ever offered. IIRC, it takes about 8 hours to beat the core game, with lots more stuff to do after that. And damn, it really is fun.
I don’t want to reveal too much about gameplay because I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say, but any enterprising souls can go dig up a screenshot from an old PC gamer. And what that screenshot will show is a grid-based game board with the player’s house on the left with zombies coming from the right. Plants can be planted in the squares on the grid, and there are a number of things those plants can do: shoot zombies, act as walls, generate sun (to build more plants), light up the darkness, repel zombies, etc. IIRC there are 48 (or so) plant types to use.
No luck yet digging out the January 2008 PC Gamer screenshot, though it was indeed noted at the time by friend of Offworld RockPaperShotgun, and Hiro was also popping up on various other forums with tiny tidbits of information, including the fact that the game is being designed by the creator of early PopCap casual hit Insaniquarium (not mentioned by name, but presumably former Flying Bear George Fan).
For now, all we have left is this last unfortunate bit of information, and a healthy hunger to hear more:
BTW, an interesting point of trivia: This game has been known publicly as “Untitled Zombie Game” ever since the afforementioned PC Gamer screenshot. But internally it has gone through a number of names, including Bloom & Doom, Zom-botony, and my favorite, Lawn of the Dead. We have a list of literally hundreds of other suggestions, some of them great. But many of them having trademark/registration issues.
(Also, please note, the image above is from an entirely unrelated ZombiePhiles poll, but was too perfect not to repurpose.)
PopCap home [thanks for the heads up, Alex!]
As mentioned earlier this month, Steve Demeter — head of Trism developer Demiforce — announced plans last November for a new initiative called Onyx Online. The service was meant to be a new multiplayer platform for iPhone developers, hoping to bring as much Xbox Live-type functionality as possible to the App Store, and is still something that the iPhone unfortunately lacks.
But, Demeter says, the service has hit a brick wall in Apple approval:
Apple recently told us they couldn’t guarantee Onyx-enabled games would be approvable in the AppStore. They pointed us to certain areas of the terms agreement contract, but declined to elaborate further as to whether or not Onyx would comply with those guidelines. Ultimately, this presented a business risk that neither I nor my potential investors wanted to challenge. Although much of my own time, energy, and money has been poured into getting Onyx off the ground, eventually I backed away from our would-be investors, and threw in the towel.
Demeter says he’s heard of “at least six” other companies working on similar initiatives, including the previously mentioned Aurora Feint, so hope still springs eternal for anyone up to turning the iPhone into the more social platform it so richly deserves to be.
Onyx RIP [Steve’s Blog @ Demiforce]
Previously:
Aurora Feint makers unveil social platform for iPhone indie devs …
Created for RPGDX’s just-ended 48 hour RPG Jam which saw indie devs creating a “lo-fi” themed role-player over this past weekend, Sophie ‘GirlFlash‘ Houlden’s The Linear RPG is precisely what it says on the tin, and all the better for it.
With no interaction other than moving forward or back between checkpoints, Linear lays bare and celebrates what most console RPGs spend all their time trying to conceal with side quests and false alternatives: the underlying point A to point Z gauntlet that you’re forced to run.
All the story’s told in the background as you grind the line, and similarly scrolls from trope to trope, straight from its first “boy hero rises from bed, oblivious to his calling” opener.
Houlden’s a regular in time-limited competitions: see also her 48 hour Ludum Dare entry ULTIMATE VENGANCE POWER 4: The Lemon of Justice!, which is full of surprises.
The Linear RPG [deviantart, via TIGSource]
If you’re still a hanger-on to your retro consoles, the SNES in particular, chances are it looks a bit like the one on the right by now — VintageComputing did a wonderful little article consulting a chemist on the exact reason why.
As I neglected to mention yesterday, but now you can see via this Mother Boing writeup, a DIY project has kickstarted a solution with the Retr0brite project, a set of instructions to concoct your own hydrogen peroxide formula to restore your plastic to its original purple-grey hue, with what appears to be great success.
Retr0Bright » home [Merlin of AmiBay]
Previously:
Open source computer polish: Retr0Brite – Boing Boing
Illustrator and papercraft creator Jack ‘Horrorwood‘ Hankins has just debuted the second in his ‘snake-eyes’ series of DIY paper models — paper shells with a 6-sided cube of faces to fit any mood. Of relevance here: his 1 Up model (pdf), a ‘Mega Arcade 6-in-1″ featuring sprite-ripped beat-em-up “Violence Fight.”
If you dig his style, also roll back to his earlier Paper Demon diorama, based on some vaguely Chris-Ware-does-horror retro illustrations which aren’t part of a game, but very well should be.
Snake Eyes Series 2 [Horrorwood]
Previously:
Getting crafty with Foldskool and Cubecraft – Offworld
Life-size papercraft Link hat (and hair) – Offworld
Getting crafty: Hattori's Kid Icarus diorama papercraft – Offworld
Get physical with new Super Meat Boy cinematic trailer, papercraft …
ACME's Mushroom Kingdom Novelty Toys: the paper Paper Mario …
A finer sneaker-based tribute to both Bomberman and Behemoth’s Castle Crashers will probably be impossible to find, now that deviantart user “pepperedcat” has done her thing.
bomber man-castle crashers by ~pepperedcat [deviantart, thanks .tiff!]
Previously:
Sceene-age Kicks: NES inspired footwear – Offworld
You will know it by the piles of dead: building Behemoth's …
Castle Crashers gets Kinged – Offworld
The Behemoth talk Castle Crashers balance, ladies – Offworld
Fresh back from a recent holiday, One More Go columnist Margaret shares this vacation snap of a real-world woeful version of Mario 64‘s deformable face.
The formation was spied during a tour of the aptly named ‘Remarkable Rocks‘ on Australia’s Kangaroo Island, which, she adds, “couldn’t sound more like a lost Super Mario 64 level if it tried.”
It’sa me, Mario. [Flickr]
Spotted while perusing the developer’s corner forum of the recently opened Spore API, the University of Spore is a fan run site to help teach the art of Spore creature/building/ship creation. If the truly heroic looking mascot creatures above are any indication, this could end up being a very valuable resource.
University of Spore [via Spore API]
Previously:
EA details Spore's 2009 PC, Wii, DS expansions – Offworld
Data-mashers at the ready: Maxis opens the Spore API – Offworld
EA tosses new parts into Spore patch – Offworld
Sporesculptor opens for 3D printed Spore creatures – Offworld
Pixel art Spore creations – Offworld
