In this week’s Indie Flash: the Polaris/Maker Studios’ GAME_JAM is brought down by one man, Dwarven Forge’s new “Caverns” Kickstarter raises over $1.6 million, FTL gets a free advanced edition, and more. Indie Flash is a small look into this week in indie games.
GAME_JAM is Brought Down By One Man – [Source]
Jared Rosen’s gonzo-styled account of the Polaris/Maker Studio’s GAME_JAM was posted on IndieStatik early last week. The game jam was originally well intentioned and sought to showcase the spirit and collaborative nature of indie development, while also serving as a document of what a game jam actually looks like.
Unfortunately, this original goal was twisted and spiraled out of proportion as old media reality TV tropes were introduced and sponsorships slowly took over the event. A now infamous “Pepsi consultant” riled up the developers with misogyny-filled questions and an oppressively overzealous attitude. At once, the $400,000 GAME_JAM came to crashing halt and savagely unsalvagable end. Read the full article here.
“To see the funeral procession of high creatives and story writers and production directors as they left the studio lot, heads down, on their way to a punishment tribunal we would only learn about in cracked voices and quaking half-jokes. The fake grass, crushed cigarette butts and empty beer cans. The trays upon trays of uneaten catering. And the understanding that it was a total wash, completely unsalvageable from a production standpoint, while the developers sat in tears, horror and shock on brand-integrated lawn chairs mere yards from a freelance crew already looking for their next gigs.”
Dwarven Forge’s “Caverns” Kickstarter Raises $1.6 Million – [Source]
Dwarven Forge is at it again with a new modular tabletop tile set called “Caverns.” The Kickstarter campaign has raised an incredible $1.6 million, making Caverns the 5th most funded tabletop endeavor on Kickstarter.
The campaign comes one year after the original Dwarven Forge modular tile Kickstarter and both campaigns have run right around Tabletop Day for maximum exposure. The basic set tiles look great, but the really amazing tiles have only unlocked as the campaign met it’s stretch goals. The video below shows off what the tile set has to offer:
FTL Receives Free Advanced Edition and Comes to iPad – [Source]
Everyone’s favorite space roguelike has a major Advanced Edition update and it’s completely free if you already own FTL. The update includes a new alien race, a new ship, new ship configurations, new weapons and drones, new encounters, new ship systems, and some totally rad new soundtrack tunes.
The game is available for $9.99 on PC, Mac, Linux, and now on iPad. I’ve been playing FTL Advanced Edition pretty much every chance I get and I’ve been loving every second of it. If nothing else, you owe it to yourself to check out the sweet new tunes. If anyone can figure out how to beat the new end-boss, let me know!
The extra soundtrack to FTL advanced edition is amazing, it’s available for pay what you want here – http://t.co/S6ip5bNZei
— TotalBiscuit (@Totalbiscuit) April 4, 2014
Other Indie News
Shelter 2 teaser trailer released – Source
XYZZY 2013 winners announced and Twine Creator Chris Klimas comments on the dominance of Twine as the most popular platform represented – Source
Final Monaco campaign update “Fin” released – Source
Treachery in Beatdown City launches second attempt at Kickstarter – Source
Sound development tool Imitone passes Kickstarter goals – Source
GDC 2014’s Indie Soapbox has now been uploaded for free viewing. The panel features great speeches by Leigh Alexander, Shawn Alexander Allen, Ryan Clark, Zach Gage, Kert Gartner, Nika Harper, Robin Hunicke, Ethan Levy, Zoe Quinn, and Lea Schonfelder (Nika Harper’s speech on effective redundancy is my personal favorite) – Source
As always, if you have a positive or negative reaction to anything in this Indie Flash, let me know in the comments below! Any feedback that helps me make this side project better is greatly appreciated. Let me know here, or hit me up on Twitter @ZacaJay.
