Rats Rats Rats
Future dystopia has never before been so full of rats.
In Rats Rats Rats, the second runner-up in the Audience Choice category at this year’s AllStars, you’re a rat. Don’t feel bad, though, everyone else is also a rat.
REMORA
Disclaimer: The game detailed in this article tackles topics of homophobia, child sexual abuse, overt violence, sex work, and suicide.
Swanchime Thien doesn’t try to hide behind clinical language or cold, disapproving distance. By their own admission, her games are all attempts to humanize the sociopath.
Toss Up Tower
One of the Super Indie City Konsole’s most beloved platformers is Toss Up Tower, lovingly restored by Harrison Kratz. Besides the code, the only portions of the package that Kratz was able to recover from SICK fan forums included concept art of a wizard, blurry scans of planning documents, some marketing materials, and the phrase “Bring crystal ball to top of castle tower.”
SICK Racing
The SICK-MC, only known to the most dedicated SICK fans, is an unreleased portable add-on for the original SICK. Due to the konsole’s failure, it was scrapped.
Justin Herrick, a devoted historian and game developer, has unearthed all known information on the MC and has even restored and expanded one of its planned launch titles, SICK RACING.
Rataton: Slimeval
Buzz has always surrounded Rataton: Slimeval, a never-released SICK game that, if rumors are to be believed, inspired Metal Slug (Nazca, SNK, 1996). SICK historians and fans alike have been trying to get in contact with the game’s developer, Will Steinhardt, for years. This April, they finally did.
Phasebound: A hero’s Journey
Open on GDC 2023, where four recent graduates met and realized they were in the same boat: looking for a job in an industry where layoffs are perhaps too common. Realizing they could set off together, they formed Struggled Seas Studios, added a few more team members, and the rest was history.
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Patch Notes: Drift Shell
On April 11, the closed online alpha test for Preston (or Slaps)’s upcoming online multiplayer action game Drift Shell launched. The game, where players take control of a mech and fight in a low-poly world, is created by a one-person team and inspired by PS1 games like Armored Core (FromSoftware Inc., 1997).
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SolarFlare
In my experience, all indie gamers love pixel art and hate corporations and the way they’ve changed the world. SolarFlare, an upcoming co-op, roguelike hero builder includes both evil corporate executives and a beautiful pixel art grid, making it an ideal experience for indie gamers.
Getting Coffee with the dev of an upcoming shoot ’em up
Newgrounds has always been a place friendly to fresh ideas, scrappy underdogs, and gratuitous blood splatter. From animations to flash games, aspiring and veteran artists and developers alike used the site as a testing ground for new ideas and a repository for their best poop jokes.
From that primordial soup springs Contract Rush DX, a wide-release expansion of a free web game called Contract Rush.
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If you give a llama a haircut
Indie City Games’ January weekend jam was titled “Alpacalypse!,” and no game exemplifies that theme quite as much as “A Llittle Off the Top,” a short comedy game produced by programmer Dwight Davis, writers Mike Gillis and Dave Kornfeld, animator and musician David McQuary, and sound designer Griffin Guge.
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