Rawket Lawncher

Freeware & Independent Games / Alt. Tech.

[rawketlawncher]

FireStarter: Portalnauts

Hi there laid-back bear! ‘Tis a great time for some crowd funding goodness and in our latest issue of Irregular Posting: The Series, let’s have a quick look at Portalnauts. If you love jumping on platforms and blasting your way through the levels, you will love this one. With an initial goal of €12.500 and a pretty solid demo, Portalnauts means business and wants to prove that no big budget is needed for having big fun.

Portalnauts is a 2D platforming action adventure game featuring multiple characters, each with unique abilities, using their skills to fight an evil invading force all across the multiverse. Players will travel through the game recruiting and unlocking characters to help tackle the increasingly challenging worlds and unique bosses that lie within.

So, you might ask if this game actually belongs to the “yet another 2D run&gun action platformer” category. Well, the answer to that question would be yes and no. Yes, because Portalnauts doesn’t claim to be something else. It’s not one of those “genre defining” games that fail to deliver any meaningful gameplay. And no, because it has the potential to stand out from the rest with its on-the-fly character switch feature, which could go well together with clever level design. The demo already is very playable/enjoyable so I highly suggest you to try and see it for yourself, and choose your destiny.

Portalnauts Kickstarter | Get the Demo | Portalnauts Homepage

[rawketlawncher]

FireStarter: Umbra

Another day, another kickstarter post my dear keyhole peepers. As crowdfunding has become the de facto financier of independent video games, yours truly also gets bombarded with many crowdfunding projects. However, not many projects come as good looking as Umbra. SolarFall Games studio is asking for a good $225K and they are closing in to this relatively high target with each day, which is not even remotely a shocker, considering you can cast purple bolts of magic in this game. Never underestimate the power of purple, ...and CRYENGINE.

An isometric view open world action-RPG taking place in a corrupted world falling apart. You are a former officer of army of the Human Republic, forced to flee the death penalty because of the magic powers you have unwillingly developed. Being tracked down by humans and hunted by the monsters of the Wild, you are recruited by a mysterious group of Templars. And thus an epic adventure begins in which you will wander the world to fight inhuman, mutated monsters and discover the terrible secret of the extinguishing mankind.

Just scrolling through the Kickstarter campaign page, you realize Umbra’s visuelle d' élégance -or in Rawket Lawncher speak: full-blown graphics pornography-. The real challenge of Umbra is far from over though. There is a Great Wall of China between addictive gameplay and boredom-inducing repetitive play. Umbra will fight the evil forces of boredom with open world exploration, flexible character development, crafting system and various additional features. Here's one: based on your play-style, your character will develop an “apocalyptic form”; granting you additional capabilities. There will also be multiplayer modes if stretch goals are met.

So; if you want to play this game with a friend, you can help SolarFall Games with your copper dimes. Backers will be able to obtain a DRM-free copy,too! Links are ready for some clickin’ :

Umbra Kickstarter | Umbra Homepage

[rawketlawncher]

FireStarter: Station

Long time no see, my dear trespassers. If you were wondering if something important happened to me while I was slacking off, let me assure you that my slacking off skills are quite good and it’s nice to get back to my e-mails to see what’s happening. Well, apparently Station is happening. With a £10K goal, Well-Lit Room is cooking a pixelated thriller that aims to make you feel uncomfortable(like this). Although seeing -or not seeing- the pixels has become an obsession with dumb people with smartphones, independent gaming has a healthier relationship with coloured squares and Station claims to make you forget about those technical details. It’s a “I don’t care how you do it but GTFO in one piece.” game.

Station puts the players in the role of an ordinary guy, working in a mining facility, deep under the Arctic Ocean.  A survey crew has been sent by the ARC Corporation in search of exploitable natural resources. During a routine expedition, a mysterious incident suddenly throws the facility into a chaotic deathtrap...

Now, that introduction might sound a little too cliché but that’s not the biggest hurdle that Station has to overcome, as the level of immersion is what really matters. Station is aiming for a complete experience for the player in terms of freedom. The game throws you into a chaotic environment and lets you do your own thing. You can use your brain, your gun or a combination of both. If Well-Lit Room can pull this non-linear gameplay through, Station will be able to surround the player with overlapping choices to make and risks to take.

Ok, dear trespasser; time to decide if Station is worth your internet coins, what says you? Here are the links:

Station Kickstarter Page | Download Playable Demo | Station on Twitter

[rawketlawncher]

Playinjector GPU Frenzy Bundle, with AMD R9 270 Giveaway

Playinjector is now offering an indie game bundle with three tiers starting from $1 and you might get yourself a shiny AMD Radeon R9 270 gfx card via their giveaway. I think it's best to click the link and see it for yourself. Also you may check out their "Game Starter" service which is a crowd-funding solution for independent game development. If you were wondering about the rest of this post; let me tell you, it's just copy-paste. It's a nice one though, with pictures.

Tier 1 - $1

Project shyKnight

by Dragontech

Project shyKnight is an oldschool style platformer. Eric is in love with a greedy girl. Martina will tell him to get a lot of things she loves. Help Eric get all Martina needs through a lot of challenging levels.

The Wanderers

by Lucious Games

The Wanderers is a Fun to play 3rd person hack and slash game... 4 Characters to choose from, and lots of undead to kill... After Travelling for the last few weeks, looking for work!, your character returns back to his town, only to find that something terrible has happened... The town is over-run by the dead!! Choose from one of 4 new characters, and try to find out what or who is behind this...

Dangerous Insects

by PrandGames

Dangerous Insects — this is a Tower Defense game in which you have to protect plants from voracious insects. It's more than the usual TD game! The opponent is wily and cunning, the plants tenacious and resilient. Massive battles, useful features, and a variety of levels will not let you get bored. No blood, no violence, and a picturesque cartoon setting. No age restrictions!

Tier 2 - Beat the Average Price

Evy: Magic Spheres

by HeroCraft

With the help of new friends and the magic of her special spheres, Evy has to save the land. In puzzle duels, she must match 3+ spheres in endlessly-shifting puzzle chains to unlock her powers and defeat the creatures.

Lucass RPG

by Lucious Games

LUCASS is a new style top down game in a very cartoon fashion. It was designed and built for our 7 year old son, "Lucas", but has been developed for everyone to play and enjoy... a great game for adventurers of all ages! An exciting introduction to fantasy based games for the little ones or a fun, quirky and exciting game for the experienced 'adult' gamers...

StarTAG

by casualogic

It`s a ruthless war for resources in small sector of galaxy between two factions! They both use fully automated ships without humans onboard. Each faction has unique gameplay style and special abilities. Conquer new systems as much as possible to gain the fluence points, build and research, manage you bases, destroy your enemy and win! No time - enemy not sleeps and do the same. Make your own winning strategy.

Revenge: Robar's Myth

by Polygon Art

Embark on a mystical journey full of fun and magical events. Discover the many secrets of the open game world, challenge yourself in races against time and change the game world around you with 4 powerful spells. In Story Mode, you will learn the uses of spells and discover the myth of the mightiest of all magicians – Rhobar.

Tier 3 - $4.49 or more

In Exilium

by Conflux Games

In Exilium is a hack & slash role playing game in the same vein as games like Diablo, yet focuses on minimalism, exploration and discovery as opposed to creating an expansive RPG environment. It is a simple, exploration driven experience, comprised of action based combat, character attribute customization and random item generation to accommodate many diverse play styles.

Everybody hates scrolling up so here's another link :

Playinjector GPU Frenzy Bundle

[rawketlawncher]

FireStarter: Bohemian Killing

Hi there fellow people! While yours truly is trying to get back to writing, why not consider backing a potentially solid project that potentially will reach its goal that potentially have great potential to be, great? Bohemian Killing is now on IndieGoGo and unlike my choice of words -or my dying vocabulary-, the game claims to offer much more freedom and variety to the player. A highly interactive drama for the adventure/court-story specialists which specializes -yep, my writing is fairly broken; I know, I know- in telling the story from the suspect's perspective and its narrative will probably be more captivating than mine.

Bohemian Killing is summarized as: "Nonlinear first person courtroom drama, set in the streets of elegant 19th century steampunk Paris." The game focuses on choice and dynamic-narrative. Marcin Makaj, the developer, aims for a highly interactive environment for the player and claims that even a single move might influence the story. Bohemian Killing will force you to be more proactive and more conscious of what you are doing. You are the suspect, locked in a courtroom. Will you just try to get yourself out as innocent or try to also uncover the murder(s) along the way?

A quite interesting take on the adventure genre, if you ask me; to be playing as the suspect, rather than the detective. Bohemian Killing might quench the thirst of players who find walking alone around the rooms of a house utterly unsatisfying. Audio-wise; the game will surely not disappoint, too. Now that you have come along down until here, then how about a link and a video?

Bohemian Killing IndieGoGo Page

[rawketlawncher]

FireStarter: Dragon Fin Soup

Grimm Bros is currently running a Kickstarter for Dragon Fin Soup and the campaign is going fairly well. If you are planning on backing a solid project, then this is the one. It has a qualified team behind it and a quick look at the rewards tell me that this thing will hit some stretch goals. I don't write about projects that have reached their initial goals but this one will be an exception as Dragon Fin Soup had already hit its $24K target while I kept procrastinating. I should've published this earlier, as posting successfully crowd-funded projects is too mainstream.

Dragon Fin Soup aims to bring classic JRPG and roguelike elements together. What this means is the game will be featuring both randomly generated and scripted/fixed events. Dragon Fin Soup really wants to show its procedural generation capabilities to full extent as the game will have an additional survival mode, where roguelike experts may call home. Yes, this means perma-death. However, save/load functions are enabled -ok, I know, calm down turbo-rogue warriors-.

Although a thing by itself, this survival mode will be coupled with a story mode, which seems to be the real deal of Dragon Fin Soup. In story mode, you will be adventuring in an alternate fantasy world, inhabited by characters with some little "quirks" and all the bells and whistles of classic&modern RPGs are at your service: pets, crafting, mini games... etc. The game does promise something quite outstanding in terms of both story and game material, of which you can have a look at Dragon Fin Soup Kickstarter page and if you think Grimm Bros can deliver, then consider sending them some shiny coins through the internet; in a serious manner.

[rawketlawncher]

The Free Bundle 12, New Games&New Looks!

The Free Bundle hits the number 12 -At the time of writing this, I couldn't remember something special to associate the number 12 with; so basically yeah, it's a number and it's 12 but a nice number to reach I guess.- with 5 free independent video games for you playful people. The Free Bundle site has also gone some cosmetic changes and Introduces another bundle to its visitors -Go there and find it yourself! This post will be about the good ol' free bundle.-. Let's see what the new 5 are.

Don't Move

by Steve Ritchie

Don't Move is a game about ninjas, failure, ludonarrative dissonance, and player investment manipulation. The game starts simply: move left or right. But as you try -- and as you fail -- to move, you unlock more of the game's mechanisms. With each new element comes new challenges and more rewards!

《 井 》The Well

by Pengbitao

A wonderful experience. This lovely game is a Chinese water-ink style game. The developer did all the work, including the code, the drawing, the models and the art. His friend, HuYing played the music with Guqin, a 5000 years old Chinese instrument.

The Crooked Man

by Uri

David Hoover decides to move into a new apartment during a rough time in his life. After some odd occurrences, he decides to ask about the room's former owner, but learns little. So he sets off in search of him, strangely compelled to know more about this man.

Ghoulish Hijinks

by Carl M. Reddington

The arcade style this platform game has is quite common, but what's not common is that all elements that should be there are actually there. Good graphics, great gameplay, nice and colorful backgrounds, enemies that actually present a challenge. If you love NES/SNES platformers, you will enjoy Ghoulish Hijinks for what it is: a fast paced nice little gem that takes us back to the days of glory.

The Tapping Dead

by Crazycricket

Crazy (apocalyptic) events take place in San Antonio, Texas. Causes remain unknown, however, the city has been overrun by zombies! Help Darren, Alice, Andre, Mark and Bill escape the city in glorious 16bit retro look and feel!

Aaand, our copy-paste session ends here. As you already noticed, The Tapping Dead is a mobile-only game and let me remind you; please be careful about the software you install on your mobile devices as many applications perform privacy-denying actions. I can't say anything about The Tapping Dead though, as I haven't tested it yet. You know of free independent games that deserve more downloads? Send a quick tip to: [email protected]

[rawketlawncher]

Wet Paint: CoinRPG

Kuroato Media decided it was time for an MMORPG about cryptocurrency, where players could enjoy battling creatures and other players while competing for Bitcoin prizes. It is now no secret that Bitcoin has become an important part of the online trade and it even made gfx card prices rise due to their high performance in coin mining. Looks like the internet has been facilitating the next -but this time, virtual- gold rush phenomenon.

Contrary to what one might expect, CoinRPG does not heavily rely on Bitcoin; at least this is the case for the current beta state of the game. It's more of a casual MMO game set in a cartoony world. Judging from the planned features, CoinRPG may turn out to be quite competitive and enjoyable; compared to many other online games of this type.

However, free-to-play model has quickly gained a negative reputation; and as a result, CoinRPG has to explain itself properly&correctly to the MMO crowd so that the players understand the main purpose of CoinRPG, which seems to have nothing to do with coin mining. It's hard to speculate on the future of this game, though. Will it be just another "cash-shop MMORPG" with Bitcoin support or a fun&challenging multiplayer game for every age group? The playable beta shows positive signs, if you ask me.    

What you need to know first is that the coins you collect in the game are NOT actual Bitcoins, although they have the Bitcoin logo on them. I have to say, this might cause some initial confusion for the players. To earn actual Bitcoins, you have to take part in contests. Due to the game being in the early stages of development, there are no contests running at this moment but the game is currently playable and uses Unity 3D engine so everyone can check out CoinRPG world regardless of their operating system. You can also play it on your browser and guest log-in is enabled, which will save you from having to register just to try it out, neat!

CoinRPG Homepage | CoinRPG IndieDB | Kuroato Media Homepage

[rawketlawncher]

Indie 500: BOMB

Mayday, mayday! The French have dropped the BOMB! Who said indie gaming was about 2D generic platformers? BOMB offers high-octane plane-tary(not sure if this counts as a legit wordplay, but I did it without regret) action with single player missions, skirmish mode, and multiplayer deathmatch, capture the flag, and race modes. A hybrid between a flight-sim and an arcade shooter, BOMB will surely deliver a big box of fun for both the old&nu school propeller-heads, wrapped up with beautiful visuals.

The game will be released in an episodic-fashion; each release adding more material and ultimately modding tools. The current release(Mk.I) - Mk.I to Mk.III is Windows PC-only but will be ported to GNU/linux and Macintosh computers with Mk.IV- has the following features:

First act of the adventure (6 missions)

Skirmish single player game mode

Death Match and Team Death Match multiplayer game modes

4 playable planes

2 environments

You can get a DRM-free copy of BOMB Mk.I from Desura for $12.99. If you want to learn more about the game, please visit BOMB InideDB page and to follow the game's development, you can check out the development blog of La Moustache Studio.

[rawketlawncher]

Indie Persona: Anthony "Mr. Yes" Domenico

Indie Persona is back with Anthony "Mr. Yes" Domenico. A name overshadowed, among with many others in this digital realm... I somehow ran into one of his games and wanted to learn more about this unknown persona. Like many independent personas, Anthony is doing his thing quietly and I have to add, properly. If you are in the mood for trying something quite different; then head over to the humble homepage of Mr. Yes, play his games, listen to his chiptunes and just ignore the rest of this text. Or, read more about what he has to say.

Square Tetromino(ST): Hi, Anthony Domenico... If there were a Wikipedia article about you, how would it start?

Anthony Domenico(AD): That assumes I've done something noteworthy; depending on what that is, the first line of the article could be very different. If I'm being optimistic, it would mention indie games or music, but there are many other ways someone can become noteworthy. See, for example, list of serial killers by number of victims or list of inventors killed by their own inventions.

ST : Game making and music making, do you favor one over the other?

AD : Music, because it's much easier. Game making is more rewarding, but the process is painful. You can get into trouble. With music, whatever happens is probably ok.

ST : Have you contacted any website/blog about your games/music before? How do you feel about self-promotion? You don't have to give names.

AD : No, I haven't. It wouldn't feel good to me, but I'm weird. There's nothing wrong with self-promotion.

8:Capsule(left), 8:Sound(right)

ST : Would you agree that people tend to overlook freeware games? Do you think the term freeware has negative connotations, especially in terms of quality?

AD : I don't have enough perspective to say. Maybe. But I do think freeware is seen as being of lesser quality,  because it typically is of lesser quality. There's nothing right or wrong about that, it's just the nature of making things for free.

ST : Are you optimistic about alternative video game consoles like OUYA?

AD : It's not really on my mind, so I can't say I'm optimistic. (I don't know much about OUYA, but I've heard nothing particularly good.)

ST : Do you think trying to meet the expectations of customers causes stagnation in commercial game development or do you think it encourages progression?

AD : That depends on what you consider to be progress. Certainly something is always progressing. Design improves over time. On the other hand, it might tend to make things kind of narrow/less diverse. I think everything that can exist, should exist, even if it won't sell, is unpractical, strange, or just stupid.

Coobie and the Robots(right), Face Dancer(left)

ST : If your biography were in the form of a video game, what would be the genre?

AD : A video game can't really be a biography. The game wouldn't reflect actual events unless the player by chance happened to do everything I did. It could be a visual novel without choices, though. Some people consider those to be games.

ST : Independent game development has become popular but this also means dealing with a large audience for the developers. Do you think becoming a public figure is potentially harmful for an indie developer?

AD : Yes, potentially. It depends on the person. I wouldn't be able to handle it very well, but some people can. Luckily I won't have to worry much about it.

ST : Do you think aliens in the game Space Invaders are indeed hostile or it's actually a CIA false flag operation?

AD : Everything is hostile. I think everything should be killed and destroyed. You can't go wrong, really.

ST : Nokia 3310 vs Death Star, place your bet!

AD : 3310 is an even number. Even numbers are incredibly easy to break apart. 3313 would have a much greater chance here.

This is the end, sorry. From Rawket Lawncher with best wishes to Anthony...

Anthony "Mr. Yes" Domenico Homepage | @pressedyes on Twitter

[rawketlawncher]

Semplice 6: The Italian Job

Ok, maybe I shouldn't have started with the most cliché title but I couldn't help myself. Openbox window manager is the hot stuff right now for those who want lightness; and combined with powerful customization capabilities, it's the go-to solution for experienced users. Semplice, an Italian breed of the GNU/Linux OS combines the power of Debian and Openbox in a relatively small package -fits on a CD- and shows its potential to become one of the top contenders among the distros that come with this wonderful window manager.

Speaking of Debian based lightweight GNU/Linux distributions, you will remember that I have also written about Crunchbang!(#!) which is even more geared towards lightness and being stable. What makes Semplice different from #! is that Semplice uses the "sid"(unstable) packages which offer the latest versions of the software. If you prefer the newest one to the most stable in software, it looks like Semplice will be your thing.

As with many compact distros, Semplice comes with a base software pack which will be enough for browsing the internet, editing text, and your various multimedia needs. Other goodies like Mail and IM clients are not forgotten, they are there. System configuration and customization menus are easy to reach and use. It's Openbox; you right click, you get it, that simple. A joy to use it is. Hmm; as Semplice 6 is still a quite new release, there are not many "proper" videos about it so Iadies and gentlemen, let's have a look at Semplice 5, presented by "sneekylinux":

SEMPLICE HOMEPAGE

PostScript Trivia: Oh, btw; the Italian word "semplice"(corresponds literally to the English word "simple") is pronounced like "sempli che".

[rawketlawncher]

The Free Bundle 11! Go Bundle Yourself!

Hmm, Ocean 11 joke, or was it Ocean's eleven? Well, I am really trying to make an 11 related humor here and failing miserably so I will move on to what is important. Da Cabrera Brothaz presentz: The Free Bundle 11! This latest pack has also an Android game, ready to be payed by tableters(Is this a thing? Well, now it is.). The other four are promising free titles of various genres. Old-school -which is the best school- people rejoice! As we do have some arcade influence right here in the 11th Free Bundle. Ya homeboy Square Tetromino will now hook y'all up with some info. Let the copy-paste begin!

HE-MAN & The Masters of the Universe

By bWWd

You know, from time to time comes a game that changes everything. HE-MAN is a love letter to Saturday morning cartoons you've got to download and play. Amazing Graphics, beautiful sound effects; what else can be said of this game?

Magic Rampage

By Asantee Games

Magic Rampage is a platform game that combines gameplay essentially action with some elements of the classic Action-RPGs like "A Link to the Past", with the proposed rescue a little experience of playing a game platform in its 16-bit console, this time with a more contemporary reading of the genre.

Of Guards And Thieves

By Subvert Games

Choose your side in this multiplayer stealth game between the high powered Guards and the fast and elusive Thieves using your wits to outsmart the enemies or just make your way to the goal using bullets.

Boson X

By Mu & Heyo

Build up speed inside a massive particle accelerator and generate high-energy collisions to discover strange new particles. Use precise timing and fast reflexes to navigate a subatomic world where floors and ceilings don't exist. Will you be fast enough to find the elusive Boson X?

Dead Colony

By Aleksey

This is a sci-fi, 2D, keyboard-controlled shooter in style of Robotron, but with modern features like voiceovers and scripted sequences. The gameplay is frantic and bloody, and each weapon is good for a specific situation.

Allright, that's all from The Free Bundle 11. Don't forget/hesitate to bug Cabrera Brothers ([email protected]) for your awesome findings and enjoy these beautiful independent games. See you, Space Cowboy!

[rawketlawncher]

RawView: 8:Capsule

Alternate Title: Perception and Thinking Inside(?) the Box

I don’t usually come across games that surprise me more than they actually should. When I was about to play 8:Capsule, I was expecting some arcade action with puzzles and when I did finish the game, I really had action(a very little bit of it) and puzzles so no surprises there. What I found surprising, however, was that 8:Capsule managed to help my brain figure out what to do via visual/audial clues without giving clear objectives; you know, in a in-yo-face fashion. This is more about in-game objectives as other information such as controls are written in the Readme file, accompanied with an interesting introduction. This way, 8:Capsule gives you the fundamentals(curiosity/motivation to play and what buttons to press) and leaves the rest to your perception. What has science done?

8:Capsule can be summarised as a little puzzle game dressed in pixels. This littleness is about its resolution, number of bytes it consists of and play time. Among those things, the only one that quite upset me was its shortness, to be honest. 8:Capsule offers some nice brain exercise and when you think you are ready for what’s next, all excited, it ends; in the most obscure way possible. Although I deal with independent games, most of which are quite experimental, I have to say I can’t quite stand obscurity done just for the sake of obscurity. However, I will make an exception for 8:Capsule and dare to claim that the ending indeed suits the overall experience.

Ignoring the 320x240 resolution, the graphics are pretty well made. They are not annoyingly glowy or have meaningless post-processing effects on them. 8:Capsule is constructed in Construct -Sometimes I run out of puns, please bear with me.- and you can easily switch to fullscreen by pressing F4 but sadly, say goodbye to the aspect ratio(for non-4:3 monitors) and embrace the interpolation -blur, that is-. 8:Capsule’s audio department will please your ears with retro inspired, but quite modern-electronic sounding tunes.

As I have said, my brain liked 8:Capsule. It made me realize what was missing from the contemporary independent gaming: making the player feel smart/a sense of accomplishment. Certainly there is a good amount of independent games which require player skill and provide lots of enjoyment. However, the number of independent games which dance on the line between being interactive and noninteractive is growing and I have to say, there are not many good examples of this kind of games. Especially the most popular games of this type are unfortunately -and I’m trying to be optimistic- glorified “walking simulators”. 8: Capsule is none of that. It can be defined as a prototype to show you that thinking inside the box is sometimes smarter and more satisfying, rather than “deep” and “meaningful” gameplay that ultimately feels artificial.

My faith in independent gaming is restored every time I play games like 8:Capsule. There are many people out there making/willing to make originally conceptualized and cleverly designed games and that’s what makes independent gaming attractive. I hope these games are not overshadowed by shallow and pseudo-intellectual work. 8:Capsule is not the only Anthony Domenico game and wait, there’s more! Erm, I mean he also makes music and here is the link to Anthony Domenico homepage.

[rawketlawncher]

Visual Novel Sahhaf: RE:Alistair++

Another weird day, another weird idea from your resident airhead Square Tetromino my dear trespassers... On a -nearly- daily basis I browse through free games and I often run into visual novels(VNs). Although I have little to no knowledge on the visual novel(VN) literature , I do like reading through them. As a side effect of this habit of mine, Rawket Lawncher shall feature various VN examples from this day forward, ranging from works that have single/multiple paths to the ones that have dating sim elements. To make things more interesting, our debut not-so-in-depth article will be about an otome game from sakevisual, RE: Alistair++(RA)! As you VN enthusiasts already know, an otome game features a female protagonist and your goal is -usually- to win the heart of a man. Well, this is Rawket Lawncher and I made this blog to kick ass and chew bubble gum. However, this time it looks like I will drink lemon tea and work my way through a virtual date. Let’s see if it’s any interesting for a young man to play an otome game. Ikimashou!

Nope, 404 romance not found -a good dramatic entrance scene though-.

Visually, RA is well crafted. Vivid tones of purple/blue in menus evoke a warm first impression. Very polished for a freeware title I have to say and moreover, not too blingy or hostile to your eyes. Menu items are clear and contain usual features expected from any VN of this type. The extras that are offered are a CG gallery, profiles of each character and a short bonus act. One thing to be included in here might have been a music player. Speaking of music, the audio used in the game is pretty okay, if not stellar. Character drawings are more than fine with nice colouring. However, if you decide to split some hairs, you will come across some issues here and there. The protagonist seems to be drawn with less care compared to her potential love interests but I guess the target audience could care less about how she looks as the focus is not specifically on her.

Merui visits Rawket Lawncher.

RA ignited my interest as some parts of the story take place in a fictional online multiplayer game, Rivenwell Online. The game starts with a boss-fight scene where a character named Alistair snatches a rare item after kill stealing from the duo RuiOfTheSword and FionaWings. After this incident, our short tempered girl Merui(RuiOfTheSword) decides to find who Alistair is and embarks on an IRL quest. During this little adventure, Merui will have to take care of school work and earn money for some shopping. When she finds a chance, she will also log-in to Rivenwell Online to slash some monsters and maybe find some love while searching for that Alistair in the offline world.

No, Merui is MAI waifu! ( T_T)

The gameplay is your usual multiple path VN with stat-raising dating sim mechanics. Merui has Intelligence, Social Reputation and Network Reputation stats to raise in order to catch the boys’ attention. The number of your potential love interests are three which can be seen as quite limited and there are no extra characters to talk to. So, we have three boys and three stats. You just have to figure out which boy is interested in which stat the most. Although the amount of content might be lacking for the experienced, the simple operation of RA makes it one of the best for any VN/dating sim beginner. Oh, and this does not mean the game has no additional tricks to make the game more interesting. There are bonus endings for each of the boys with an extra scene after the credits but you have to do some clever shopping and it requires careful gameplay. You also won’t get anywhere by boosting only one stat. As the defining feature of most VNs, dialogue choices also matter for the outcome. It’s a pity these dialogue choices are exclusive to Merui’s daily life. It would be interesting if they were also present while she was playing Rivenwell Online.

This is the start of the Bonus??? scene in the Extras menu. Wait... Merui, three boys, her room... EEEEHH?

What we can conclude from the overall experience of RA is that it's sufficiently simple for everyone with additional touches to fuel your curiosity and make the gameplay less repetitive. RA may probably be a slightly better game than what I write it as, considering I am not its target audience. For people like me, RA is about reaching an objective by figuring out how to do things the right way and meanwhile reading a story. RA is not an eroge so don’t expect to find any amount of nudity, cleavage or “pantsu”(NOOOOO!!11!1!). Yes, it’s completely clean. From this certain perspective, RA might be a huge disappointment, but if you have a daughter older than 12 and is interested in video games, this might as well be her entry ticket to Romance oriented VNs or a good recommendation for ladies who want to step into the dating sim genre without any collateral damage.

sakevisual Homepage | RE: Alistair++ Homepage

[rawketlawncher]

Doujin Powah! GENETOS

Welcome to Doujin Powah! where we will go on a virtual expedition to far eastern lands and bring back souvenirs of digital entertainment. Independent publishing has always been a phenomenon on the other side of the continent and has produced some of the best examples of especially shoot’em up and fighting genres. Oh, and also the place is a visual novel factory. Let’s keep the tradition and start with a brilliant vertical shooter, GENETOS. Pop-up our unofficial theme song in a new tab, grab a fine cup filled with your favourite blend of tea, and please disable your camera flashes; seriously, it makes the rabbits go blind.

Rollin' low with huge glowing red laser blades.

Let me state the bitter truth beforehand, GENETOS is not a too good to be true perfect oh my God experience, but it’s very -imagine this word “very” written in huge bold impact font- close to that. The most satisfying thing about the game is that you play through generations of shoot’em ups. You start from the very basics and advance towards a more complicated gameplay featuring bombs, secondary fire and movement speed control. You will first have a taste of nostalgia and then feel the rush of modern shooters.

This evolution theme is not just a cosmetic feature but really adds up to the overall gameplay experience which keeps you busy by forcing you to adjust to different conditions. Let’s take the movement mechanic: the first generation ship only lets you move horizontally; then you will be able to use the lower half of the gameplay area with the second generation ship and upon advancing to a newer generation, you will finally be able to use the whole gameplay area -and later in the game even more horizontal space will be available with newer generation ships-. While gaining more space to move during gameplay, you will also gain the ability to move slower by holding down another button.

In real life, don't shoot traffic signs and always wear your seat belt.

Speaking of buttons, let me try to explain the evolution of gameplay in this way: you will first use left-right directional keys and a primary fire button, making it three in total. Then you will additionally utilize the up-down buttons. Later in the game bomb, secondary fire lock/slower movement buttons will be added to your button arsenal. This prevents the game from being repetitive and adds a nice sense of progression throughout the game. I also have to mention that your ship evolves independently from the stages which means you can have a 3rd generation ship in stage 2 or if you want to go extra-hardcore, you can try to keep your first/second generation ship throughout the game. What’s even more interesting about the gameplay is that GENETOS learns from how you play and upgrades your weapons and bombs accordingly. The game challenges your style, if you want to use specific weapons. I usually found myself trying to unlock different weapons or bombs by checking the tips on how to unlock them -there is a separate menu for unlocked weapon/bomb types with some additional info- and applying the required style to my gameplay.

GENETOS has a pro-active upgrades system in original mode which makes unlocking items interesting and challenging.

The menu system of GENETOS is practical and you can easily adjust various parameters to your liking. There’s even an option to invert colours. Some word choices might look weird here and there but it's not too confusing. Various difficulty settings provide an enjoyable experience for everyone and the high score list also includes fastest stage completion times. Moreover, you can fully customize the gameplay in “Freeplay” mode. You want to start from a specific stage with a specific ship type or just want to do a boss rush? Freeplay is for you. Overall, GENETOS has a very friendly menu environment for non-Japanese speakers and doesn’t require a trial&error adventure to figure things out. The audio department has no major problems and is quite fine considering GENETOS is a one-man project.

My journey has always been a pleasant one with GENETOS. When I first played, I thought the last level was too long compared to the others but I came to realize that it would be natural for a first generation stage to be much shorter because that was how it used to be, compared to the last stage which represents today’s bullet hell shooters with extra long multiple phase boss fights. Putting all these things aside, GENETOS is definitely a game with substance and gets a big shiny “passed” sticker from our Rawket Imports Office. GENETOS has the Doujin Powah!

[rawketlawncher]

RawView: Cluster Buster, A Game From Ludum Dare 28

Alternate Title: The Saturday Night Arcade Fever Award Winner

Welcome to another edition of “there was a game jam and no blog is complete without a post on one of the entries.” Ludum Dare 28 has ended with 2064 total games. As usual I skimmed through the pages quite swiftly and tried to find some entries that were relevant to my interests(a visual depiction of interest). As happy as I was, with hopes to post a compilation of games that looked interesting to me, I again ended up with a single game, Cluster Buster(CB). CB is one of the 48 Hour Compo Entries with an old-school arcade look. The game has that “OG arcade game” feeling but the difficulty needs to be toned down to let the players enjoy it. Yes, I made up an award for that and it’s called: Saturday Night Arcade Fever Award, as CB’s brutal gameplay might give you a fever. Are you a bad enough dude to tackle this challenge?

CB is explained as: “...a version of an old game called Daleks or Robots. In this version the goal is to take out all enemies with the limited weapons - up to 9 laser blasts and ONE bomb.” which goes quite well with the theme: “You only get one.”. Considering the possible relations of a theme like this with game design, it’s actually natural that many entries had this type of interpretation; such as one upgrade, one life, one chance...etc. CB’s application of this specific theme may not be the brightest one, but it’s a 48 hours compo entry which means you need to complete a game in a quite limited time period and have to go solo. Thus, the theme application is not mind blowing but on the other hand very fitting to the general idea of the game.

Boom! Unfortunately I couldn't get past this level... yet. *suspense*

Speaking of these ideas and concepts, what I have figured out is that the game pushes you to think about your every move. You have very limited ammo and one bomb per level so you can’t get trigger-happy. You also have to get used to the movement mechanics. The only seemingly-reasonable tip I can give you is to think of left & right keys as a wheel’s turning(right=clockwise/ left=anticlockwise) rather than directional keys. After you get used to that, you will be able to advance to the next level -yay!-. I have to say things get quite impossible after the second level. My experience with the third level felt like I was heavily outnumbered and couldn’t manage to line up the enemies so that I could eliminate them efficiently. It’s quite neat that you can use the extra ammo power-ups as bombs though.

In its current state, CB is more like a proof(or maybe disproof?) of a concept. Fortunately, this punishing difficulty can be lowered by simple changes like lowering the number of enemies in starter levels or introducing another win condition like reaching a specific place on a level. The visuals are pretty outstanding(read this in Mortal Kombat voice) for the intended purpose and are one of the reasons why the game got a Saturday Night Arcade Fever Award but the audio needs some help. Considering CB's making you feel helpless at times, the emotion-emitting guitar solo used in the game is surprisingly well suited but chiptune music seems like a better weapon of choice for this mission.

CB is a game with great potential and deserves to be mentioned. However, its gameplay might put many people off. If you have the required bugging skills, you may try your luck on twitter and ask if Niklas “Arne” Jansson would do a post-jam work on the game. If you scrolled down this post for some links, here is the CB competition entry page and here is the homepage of Niklas “Arne” Jansson, with truckloads of his beautiful artwork.

[rawketlawncher]

SteamOS: Arbeit Macht Nicht Frei

SteamOS finally comes to open a new page in technological advancement. A new era of digital prisons with "unique" digital handcuffs and various other forms of user abuse. Actively trying to limit/control/monitor user behavior just because the current legal systems let them exercise unethical practices should not be overlooked. Freedom is the true essence of being a human and history also confirms that human beings whose freedoms are taken away are treated like nobody but farm animals. Welcome to the age of technology, if you work hard on digital cotton fields, the master might consider giving you a digital hat.

You might be wondering why I like hyperbole that much. I have to resort to it as to explain how important it is to protect your freedom. Digital freedoms are no exceptions and they are not optional. They will always say how "convenient" it is to use freedom-denying software but we should always be skeptical about it as current legal systems may not be always on your side when it comes to using software. The Law should protect the citizen.

Please do pay attention to marketing tricks. Here is a piece of text, quoted from the SteamOS page, under the subtitle Family Sharing:

In the past, sharing Steam games with your family members was hard. Now you can share the games you love with the people you love. Family Sharing allows you to take turns playing one another’s games while earning your own Steam achievements and saving your individual game progress to the Steam cloud.

It says: "In the past, sharing Steam games with your family members was hard.". This is indeed true because it is the Steam client itself that enforces DRM(Digital Restrictions Management, a.k.a. Digital Handcuffs), preventing its users to copy&share software. If you look at the rest of the text, you will realize that they are talking about "taking turns" to play which means you can't use the software that you supposedly "shared" with someone if that other person also happens to be using it. You have to wait until s/he quits using the software. This is an official statement. They are proudly admitting that they have been limiting user interaction with the software via a client application and say this unethical practice of theirs will continue to be exercised on the users.

You might claim the Steam client has nothing to do with SteamOS and it will just be an operating system optimized for gaming, but I have to disagree. Their services will all be integrated into the operating system. This might be far worse than Ubuntu's(also supposedly a free operating system) spying on its users. These kinds of situations require you to manually identify&remove all these malicious features yourself. Performing this "purification" also requires a certain level of knowledge. Rather than going through hassle that you shouldn't have been in the first place, it's smarter to choose freedom-respecting software over freedom-denying ones. You must have already noticed there is no mention of GNU but only Linux on the SteamOS page so please allow Mr. Richard M. Stallman to interject for a moment. Speaking of Mr. Stallman, here is the audio recording of his talk at the useR! 2010 conference. Freedom is nice! To learn more about your freedoms, please visit the links below. Have an independent day!

The GNU Operating System | Free Software Foundation