KENTA CHO IS DOING SOME WONDERFL THINGS
Japan based indie dev Kenta Cho is about as household a name as it’s going to get for fans of bullet-hell shooters. He’s the man behind nearly every abstract/vector shooter you’ve seen ported from one device to the next: rRootage, Noiz2sa, and most notably TUMIKI Fighters, which recently came to the Wii in modified form as Majesco’s Blast Works.
Now I see he’s discovered a new platform, Japan’s Wonderfl, a new service that lets you code ActionScript in one pane and have it update in playable live on the right, with the ability for other users to fork and build off your code.
You can catch his Flash experiments via his Wonderfl home page here, or skip directly to the meatier games like Ascii Art Ship and CircleCycle. None are quite as feature complete to the level of his other games, but that’s quite the point: feel free to pick up his slack where you can.
And if you’ve got any Wonderfl thngs to show us yourself, let us know via the comments below.
ABA Games Posted Codes [Wonderfl, via The2Bears, via IndieGames]
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WARTHOG FROM HELL: OXM TEST-DRIVES HALO’S TRANSPORT
In a fun left-field feature done by former workmate and friend of Offworld Alistair Wallis, Official Xbox Mag takes a trip to Peter Jackson-related special effects house WETA for a Top Gear-type tour test-driving the Warthog, Halo‘s signature four-wheeler vehicle: a remnant of the since-canceled live action film Jackson was set to produce:
While the rounded acrylic windshield might look incredible in-game — and on film, too — the fact that the left-hand crease lines up exactly with the driver’s line of sight could be considered a bit of an issue. Suddenly, I’m a little worried again, and this is before he even starts explaining the three different steering modes: front-wheel steering, four-wheel independent steering, and a frankly rather frightening prospect he refers to as “crab mode.”
“It lets you drive sideways,” he explains cheerily.
We Drove The Warthog! [OXM ONLINE]
See more posts about: Meta, Offworld Originals, Xbox 360
UUDDLRLRBA-ROCK: 8-BIT GUITAR HERO COMES TO THE NES
Right, we’re only a few hours in and it’s going to be hard to top this for best new development of the week: following remakes on the Commodore 64 and text adventures, Kent ‘SnowBro’ Hansen and Andreas Pedersen have created D+Pad Hero — rhythm action for the NES — and it’s entirely excellent.
The game uses a bizarre mix of DDR arrows with Rock Band-like strums (and, smartly, its responsive audience): only the A and B buttons are used to hit notes, but overlaid arrows are this game’s version of colored fret-buttons. The result is a game that feels like learning to walk all over again (and is strongly recommended for a joypad only), but genuinely comes together as you stick with it.
Included are Hansen’s chiptune remixes of G’n’R’s Sweet Child of Mine, A-Ha’s The Swing of Things, Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, and Michael Jackson’s The Way You Make Me Feel (and oh man are Jackson’s yips and ooh-hoos cute in blip-form).
Grab an emulator, grab the rom, and let us know how you perform via the comments (my Sweet Child record currently stands at a paltry 16350, with 411 hits and 199 misses).
Previously:
Champion of Guitars: text adventure Guitar Hero gets real – Offworld
Guitar Hero 1.0 begging for real-life remake – Offworld
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SUPER MEAT BOY GETS MUSICAL, AND NINTENDO GETS FORWARD
Edmund McMillen continues to drip-feed information on his forthcoming de-luxe WiiWare/PC remake of Newgrounds Flash platformer Meat Boy, this time with the first listen to the game’s soundtrack, a gristly rock number courtesy dbSoundWorks‘ Danny Baranowsky (whose site offers a number of other wicked samples, and a snazzy stadium rock header).
McMillen and co-dev Tommy Refenes also talked with fan-site WiiWare World about the release, where (surprising at least me) McMillen notes that the WiiWare remake is actually the result of Nintendo approaching him for content for its downloadable service, which shows how aggressively the company is reaching out to the indie community, after tirelessly promoting games like World of Goo both home and abroad in the runup to WiiWare’s debut.
Epic Super Meat Boy title track!
Previously:
Savory new details of Edmund McMillen's Meat Boy – Offworld
Edmund McMillen's Meat Boy getting revamped for Wii, PC – Offworld
Edmund McMillen gives us No Quarter – Offworld
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SATURN-INE: ANOTHER MOTHER/EARTHBOUND TREAT WE CAN’T HAVE
As if Nintendo’s staunch refusal to address the plaintive wails of Western Earthbound fans weren’t torture enough, toy company Banpresto has now announced a limited run of plush Mr. Saturn toys, which, at an apparent ‘life’-sized four-apples high (take that, Smurfs) and with a fully poseable single hair, might be just about the mother (yuk yuk) of all the Earthbound goods released so far. Wonderfully, the plush even comes packed in a box marked Escargot Express — Earthbound‘s in-game delivery service.
Mr. Saturn plush details [Net-You, via GameWatch (google translate)]
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BEAT CONNECTION: GAIJIN SEND US ON A SECOND VIDEO BIT.TRIP
Games blog Joystiq got their hands on a new trailer for Gaijin Games’ upcoming WiiWare game Bit.Trip: Beat, and this one does a fantastic job of allaying any fears that the Beat would be a walk through the 4-bit park.
It also gives an even stronger sensation of how tightly integrated the music will be with the gameplay: the first used its dot-reflections as flourishes over the underlying melody, but this better conjures a feeling of making the music with skilled play.
Also, Gaijin, if you’re listening (and if you are, can you drop me a note via the upper right link?), this is a long shot, but I promise to gift the game to each and every one of my Wii-owning friends if you can manage to shoehorn in DS connectivity that lets me use Taito’s add-on paddle controller.
Bit.Trip: Beat
Previously:
Beat: My god, it's full of bits – Offworld
Gaijin Games taking the Wii on a Bit.Trip – Offworld
See more posts about: Bit.Trip, Gaijin, Offworld Originals
HOW GRIDPLANE HELPED THE XBOX 360 DROP ITS BLADES
You may have already seen these data visualization concepts Portland design team Gridplane did for Google which made the rounds earlier this week via the tech/design blog set, but hiding one project over (as I never thought to click away to) was a project making waves on the games blogs today.
The company, it turns out, was involved in doing concept work for Microsoft’s New Xbox Experience, and the image set is a fascinating look at the evolution of their thought process, still showing a visual reliance on the original Xbox 360’s blades before blowing them out completely into a far more nebulous and spacious area, actually quite similar to the one we ended up with (particularly its new friends list).
The list of participants was just as surprising — Gridplane creative director JD Hooge and motion designer Nando Costa were both key players in the early days of the Flash art/design scene (when Flash MX was an exciting blip on the distant horizon). The former was involved in the excellent Flash Math Creativity book, while the latter was part of a burgeoning tech/design scene that popped up briefly in Chicago, one that would also spawn Iminlikewithyou founder Charles Forman, who’s managed to transform his original hepcat faux-dating site into a hotspot for casual multiplayer games.
XBOX Experience [Gridplane]
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ANNABELLE KENNEDY JOINS FEZ CREATORS POLYTRON
In other good indie staff-up news, Fez creators Polytron send word that Annabelle Kennedy will join the short-list of Fez devs as the game’s animator (alongside designer Phil Fish, programmer Renaud Bédard and musician Jason ‘6955‘ DeGroot).
Kennedy might not yet be the most familiar name, but indie followers will surely have seen her work, if not from the ridiculously adorable “cover art” for Rescue: The Beagles, then likely the various Fez (above) and Cave Story fan illustrations she’s done over the past few years.
Attractmo.de recently ran an excellent feature on Kennedy, where she also talked more at length about Tiny Survival Horror, her “candy coated survival horror” that she’s producing entirely on her own, and from the feature’s included screenshots and character art looks like it’s coming together quite well (though presumably Fez may preclude progress on that) — she’s definitely one to keep a close eye on from here on out.
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH [Polytron]
Previously:
Polytron affirm essential awesomeness – Offworld
Only on Offworld: Polytron/Kokoromi's Anaglyphic super HYPERCUBE …
Gimme Indie Game: Rescue: The Beagles – Offworld
See more posts about: Offworld Originals, Polytron
THE FEVER PITCH: FIRST IMAGES OF SPACE INVADERS EXTREME 2
As predicted, Famitsu has uploaded its full preview of Taito’s March surprise, the second DS installment of Space Invaders Extreme, and its still half-puzzling Bingo Fever mode, in which you match panel colors in any direction by shooting down invaders of the corresponding hue.
The preview also details a number of the other new features, some more easily understood than others: I get the panel view and how it corresponds to power-ups (similar to the first game), but I’m still slightly ashamed to admit to feeling a bit dense about the workings of its multiplayer mode shown at bottom, which appears to involve sending super-sized UFOs to stymie your opponent’s game, but isn’t explained in much more depth.
I’m cautiously optimistic: while the new arcade-cab monster Necker Cube backgrounds have certainly properly woo-ed me, I’m not entirely convinced the game is actually necessary given the richness of the first, and bingo does not an instant seller make. But there’s still time for Taito to pull a few more cards from up its sleeve, and its entirely possible that letting it dazzle me in motion will make all the difference in the world.
Space Invaders Extreme 2, another classic reborn [Famitsu, spotty Google translation]
Previously:
Space Invaders Extreme 2 gets.. invader bingo? – Offworld
Space Invaders getting even more Extreme? – Offworld
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CONTRAPPOSTO: JOHN MALLAMAS’S INTRICATE TOY CUSTOMS
More shoulda, coulda toys that aren’t yet: John ‘Jin Saotome’ Mallamas made a name for himself earlier last year with a spread in Wired on his various comic book custom toys, but his custom twin Contra figures are particularly notable because get a load of that fantastic (and magnet-swappable, apparently) spread shot.
Mallamas’s Flickr stream is a treasure trove of other spot on customs: Gordon Freeman and his gravity gun (or, alternately, blood-spattered crowbar), God of War‘s Kratos, and a free-hanging Bionic Commando.
Jin Saotome’s Dangerous Toys [John Mallamas]
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