A new F2P Platform Shooter!
Wield a blade with a mind of its own!
What’s the
Omnistructure?!
Table of Contents Games Bleak Faith: Forsaken………………………..……….... Mist Survival……………………………………………... This Thing of Ours………………………………………. Warlander………………………………………………... Shing!.......................................................................... Project Zero Deaths…………………………………….. Journey of Life…………………………………………... Chronicles of Galdurvale………………………………..
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Interviews This Thing of Ours - Jeff Smith………………………… 14 Shing! - Grzegorz Kurek………………………………... 22
Magazine Cover #13 Features Project Zero Deaths, Bleak Faith: Forsaken and a full image from Warlander
A new F2P Platform Shooter!
Wield a blade with a mind of its own!
What’s the
Omnistructure?!
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Writing Credits
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Editor
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Jeff Porter Writers Jeff Porter Harry Gill
Want To See Your Game In Here? Want your game to be in our next issue? Please reach out to as at Jeffporter@indiegamermag.com We can set up an interview or include your game and progress. We can’t get to every game every month but we love hearing from developers about their projects!
Cover This month’s cover is from Warlander
All images used within are from Independent developers and belong to their creators.
A brutal open-world survival-horror Action-RPG.
What’s it all about? leak Faith: Forsaken is a third-person open-world survival horror action RPG, that’s a whole bunch of genres... set in a universe you've never experienced before. Play as one of the Forsaken, the last frontier of humanity against the growing horrors of the Omnistructure. As you find yourself stranded in a faraway outpost, you must adapt in order to survive. The world won't wait for you though, you must venture into the unknown - your faith will decide your fate. Mišo Vukčević and the developers of Bleak Faith: Forsaken always planned to release on PS4 and Xbox One the moment they have the resources to. Luckily, due to a successful Kickstarter campaign, this will more than likely be a feature they will explore. Bleak Faith: Forsaken, while obviously a computer game, has the aesthetic and feel for an experience that would be fantastic to explore through your console and television.
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RPG
Survival
Horror
MAIN FEATURES Explore the open-world of the mysterious Omnistructure. The world of Bleak Faith: Forsaken is a labyrinth and aims to make the player feel the excitement we all felt the first time we picked up a controller. While most of the Omnistructure is a vast dangerous area, there are small outposts spread throughout where you can rest and stay, however, nowhere is ever truly safe! Combat in Bleak Faith: Forsaken is smooth and follows a tempo of intense battles where nothing will be given to you and every victory feels earned. Approach combat anyway you choose, whether face to face in brutal melee combat or from a safer distance with ranged weapons. Your combat will display your playstyle, take combat head-on or
avoid it. This will be further detailed through Bleak Faith: Forsaken’s class system, which will support the classic archetypes while maintaining a fluidity to your abilities. The ecosystem of the world will be home to factions and groups of AI, who will compete against each other, grow, expand, change and adapt to the changing world. They will try to outplay and outgrow you to stay on top of the food chain. This dynamic AI system makes each playthrough truly unique.
Craft, scavenge, hunt, and find ways to excel. Pick a class, upgrade stats, augment your character, create equipment and stay healthy. Resist the Puppet Plague, and the many afflictions present in the world which can change the outcome of your journey entirely.
Mist Survival
f you’re a fan of the survival genre, Mist Survival has what you’re looking for! It’s in-depth, looks beautiful and actually presents a challenge not a ton of other titles in the genre do. Mist Survival may sound harmless, and just like any other survival game, however, it will present you with new and challenging features, no in-game map and a brutal world! The world now belongs to the infected, you must recruit and work together with AI survivors to rebuild and reclaim the land.
FEATURES: ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
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Single player PvE Sandbox Dynamic fog weather and Day-Night cycle Time Mechanics (passing time, sleeping, time is accelerated when doing something that takes time) Crafting Base Building Generator and electrical appliance mechanics Camp control NPC Management Ai (Bandit, Infected, Animals, Allies, Survivor) Animal Husbandry Character Survival Status Mechanics (Sickness, wound) Wound Status Mechanics Equipment and clothing system Camp and house defense World explore (forest, village, military camp, small town, hidden area) Stealth and takedown mechanics Driving Small trap mechanics
Survival
Mist Survival
You can get Mist Survival for a very modest $10.99 on Steam and is definitely worth it! From a one-man development team, he does an incredible job of creating a game that is challenging and in-depth. Upon entry to this world, you will be given some basic supplies, food, water and if you search a nearby car an ax for gathering wood. Everything is now up to you. Do you stay where you are and build your own cabin, do you search and scavenge the world for your supplies or take shelter in an existing building. Gather sticks, stones, and leaves off the ground to create different weapons, armor, and workbenches in Mist Survivals in-depth crafting system. You can even find suitcases you can carry back to your base to use as storage! Be careful where
Strategy
Horror
and how long you craft though, as each item takes minutes, or even hours to craft and time will be fast-forwarded as you do so, so it’s best to craft at night in your safe base. Also, as I found out the hard way, you can be attacked while crafting, I was standing next to my tent crafting some arrows when I was suddenly flanked… It freaked me out a bit… I didn’t even realize the mist had come to the area. The map is huge and along your travels, you can recruit other survivals to your camp, allowing them to craft items for you and not use up your day time. To travel the map you can find cars, both completely working and broken down, if you find one that runs you just need to find some gasoline and you’re off, you can also find tires and other parts to fix cars
FPS you discover. Mist Survival offers a great crafting system, amazing graphics and challenging gameplay all in one. The only downside from me personally is it’s only single-player. While I enjoy playing these sandbox survival games, it’s always more fun with friends, but there might be the addition of multiplayer in the future. For now, though it’s still a great experience. Before I play the games I received for the show I try not to read too much on them, like guides or reviews so I can experience them first hand, and this was a thrilling time. Having no idea about the intermittent mist covers was terrifying and wandering through the world was a blast.
This Thing Of Ours
THIS THING OF OURS “This Thing Of Ours is an upcoming 3rd person open world mafia game. You play as Vincent, a low level associate who's trying to make a name for himself. You'll steal cars and take them to chop shops, build relationships, set-up illegal rackets, and much more.� -Skull Cracker Entertainment
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THIS THING OF OURS INTERVIEW Q.) What were your inspirations behind "This Thing of Ours?" A.) Our inspirations for This Thing Of Ours or as we abbreviate it TTOO, drew from our passion for the mafia. Growing up we've always had this fascination about the mafia, and anything relating to it, such as books, movies, tv shows, and games. So, when we were first started brainstorming ideas on what we wanted to make, we decided to go with something that we knew would inspire us, and motivate us.
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with Q.) What's been the biggest hurdle in development and how did you overcome it? A.) For us, I honestly believe that our biggest hurdle so far has just been how ambitious this game is for just a small 2 man team. When you look at other games that have been developed of a similar style to TTOO, they've had millions of dollars in funding, and 1,000 people teams. Unfortunately, we don't have that but we make due by making sacrifices in our lives, and committing 100% to develop this game.
JEFF SMITH Q.) What can you tell us about our protagonist, Vincent? A.) When Vinny was 5 years old, his father went missing. It's believed that his father was killed, and his body was buried somewhere. Which you will discover more about that through the course of the game. So, while growing up without a father Vinny, always knew he wanted the best for his mother. So, instead of getting in-and-out of trouble, he turned to the books and studied and maintained a good education for himself. He got a full
scholarship for college, and everything was going really good for him. Vinny is a smart kid but he's not street smart and throughout the course of the game Vinny is mentored by his Uncle who is a captain in the Fionacci Crime Family. Q.) How will the mission/progression system work and how can players utilize it? A.) The way that you approach missions in the game is completely up to the player. If they want to run in guns blazing and get into massive shootouts or if they're more of the sneak their way around, and silently take out their enemies then they can do that too.
Upon completing missions you'll gain cash, and/or respect depending on your actions with that particular mission. Respect will open up more missions, dialog choices in conversations, it'll also aect how NPC's react when they see Vinny as well. Q.) What does it mean to you to be an independent developer? A.) I think for us at SCE, being an independent game developer allows us to have the freedom to create the games that not only we would want to play but our consumers would as well. It's something we enjoy, we got into game development to create the games that we want to create, and that consumers would want to play, and we feel like being independent allows us to do that.
Warlander
Wield A Sentient Sword Infused With The Soul Of A Druid By Jeff Porter
arlander is a new action-adventure game where you wield a sword with a mind of its own! A story of the feud between the Old Gods and the new Techno Order, you take the role of a man with druidic abilities and a sentient lightsaber type weapon infused with the soul of an ancient druid. The sword has a dry sarcasm about it and will help guide you along your journey with soft insults and pointing out the obvious. It features a unique
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combat system that allows the use of free-aiming swordplay to chop off your enemy's limbs. The combat in Warlander is fluid, precise and won’t be given to you, every victory will feel earned. Use your sword to attack weak points on your enemies with light and quick strikes, heavy and powerful cuts or throw your sword through multiple enemies at a distance. Along with your powerful sword, you
Action-Adventure
Warlander FEATURES UNIQUE COMBAT SYSTEM featuring skill-based fights with precise targeting and tactical approach. SATISFYING SWORDPLAY giving you the feeling of cutting through real flesh, with unique real-time mesh slicing mechanics. are also gifted with druidic abilities, like shooting stakes through your enemies and pinning them to walls, sending out a gripping vine from your arm or forming a sturdy shield to defend yourself. Upgrade your skills and abilities through Warlander’s in-depth skill tree, using points and trophies you’ve earned to build up your playstyle. The world is colorful and tells a story in its beautiful scenery and is interactive. Throw your enemies off cliffs, chop down structures that topple over on your enemies and more!
VERSATILE COMBAT POWERS based on ancient druidic magic and long-forgotten secrets from the darkest parts of the Forest. SKILL TREE PROGRESSION is tied with the game world. Hunt your enemies, cut them into offerings and sacrifice them to upgrade your skills and powers. GRIM AND INTENSE WORLD with an epic story based on revenge, betrayal and a faint glimmer of hope. INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENT is a battlefield itself and a weapon. Be observant, think on your feet and use the surroundings to crush your enemies and progress through the levels.
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SLICE DICE! and
Grzegorz Kurek Game Director at Mass Creation Game Director with art and animation background and 10 years of game development experience. An avid gamer since Commodore 64 and Amiga days. Started his career in college, working as a cartoonist for “PSXextreme”, one of Poland's biggest gaming magazines. A member of Mass Creation studio since its conception, he co-created most of its' game design and art. Responsible for action-arcade games like “Run Like Hell!”, “Draw Slasher” and “CorridorZ”, has experience in developing for mobile, consoles and PC. Currently working hard with the Mass Creation team on “Shing!”, making it the next big thing in the beat-em-up genre.
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“Experience the most exciting and immersive beat-em-up combat system ever – become a kickass ninja and slice some demons in style!” -Shing! Steam Page
Fighting
4 player local and online co-op
Right analog stick controls your weapon giving you instant access to extensive moveset
Master the multilayered combat, overcome clever enemies and face epic bosses
Mix and match combos, switch characters on the fly and turn enemy abilities against them
INTERVIEW Q.) What were your inspirations behind Shing!? A.) Grzegorz Kurek [Game director, Mass Creation] We are fans of old school arcade beat’em ups so obviously inspiration comes from games like Final Fight, Alien vs Predator or Streets of Rage to name just a few. These games are a bit too simple and repetitive for nowadays standards, so we drew a lot of inspiration from the hero action games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta. Shing! is a mix of these two genres. We took the best things out of both worlds so the main idea is still to go right and slay tons of goons but now you have a huge arsenal of combos and different skills to do it and a very diverse set of opponents to overcome. Also in Shing! attacks are executed with the right analog stick. The characters mimic your stick moves with their weapons so mixing and matching combos feels very natural and gives a lot of satisfaction. Q.) What's been the biggest hurdle in development and how did you overcome it? A.) As we know the transition
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with
GRZEGORZ KUREK
from 2D sprites to 3D models did not go too well for side-scrolling beat’em up games. The biggest challenge was to keep the feel of a 2D gameplay in a 3D environment. Stuff like walking in-depth without changing character scale or being able to hit an opponent when you feel that you should even when you are quite far from him. All these small things that were obvious on a flat plane are very tricky to obtain on a fully 3D arena. So we got rid of the camera perspective, made the arena huge in dept and did all kinds of deformations in the environment to achieve that 3D feel to the surroundings. Next, we made sure that the characters feel like they are actually there by applying few animation tricks and made huge hitboxes and snapping to the enemy system to ensure that you do not miss the target you feel you should actually hit. After a lot of iterations, tricks and camera magic we hit the spot with that “it looks 3D but plays like 2D” feeling. Q.) What does it mean to you to be an independent developer? A.) Lots of freedom and tons of
uncertainty. We as a team have the freedom to create whatever we feel like at the moment. On the other hand, there is no huge marketing machine and an army of market researchers behind you so every game release is like a leap of faith. It can be stressful at times. But for me personally indie is a word that describes more a type of a game than a developer. We work with publishers and distributors nowadays so the independence lays in the freedom of creation, not in the size of the team or the budget. We often go upstream against the metrics and monetization trends with our games. That what it means to be indie to me. Q.) What can you tell us about the storyline and the special boss fights? A.) Not much without spoilers! The story focuses more on the characters and their relationships so we have a lot of banters and jokes. It is a fighting action game so players do not care too much about a complicated plot. For those who do we have special rooms scattered throughout the levels that you can walk into if you want to know more about the world and the characters. We
profess a “show don’t tell” rule so a lot of stories are told through the environments. As for the boss fights, we will have them at the end of every stage. Every boss fight is like a small raid so some of your efforts will go into figuring out a way to defeat it. Our goal is to introduce players to all kinds of different enemy types that force you to modify your tactics and give opportunities to try out new stuff. It is our way to keep you engaged and entertained at all times. Q.) The player can switch characters on the fly, can you tell us a bit more about the characters and that feature? A.) The character switching feature has few purposes in the game. We do not have normal lives so we treat characters like four full health bars at your disposal regardless of whether you play solo or with friends. That is also a way to keep that co-op layer of the game when you play alone and give you a few tactical means in terms of health and buffs management – you can hide a character that wields a power-up at the moment and keeps it for later when it is more needed. On the
other hand, it is a story related thing. Because all four characters accompany the players at all times we can have a bit more complex story without being worried about who will you play with. Those generic dialog boxes in beat’em ups that fit every character in the game are a thing of the past and they should stay there. The characters alone differ a bit in terms of playstyle but not too much. We do not want a player in a 4 player party to end up with a character that he or she does not like. That is the main reason to stick with only small differences in speed, range, and special attacks.
Project Zero Deaths
Blow people up, For free! By jeff porter
roject Zero Deaths is a free to play, physics-based, online platform shooter with dynamic maps and tons of game modes. It’s graphics are cartoony and fun and add the zany battles that you participate in. Choose between several different one of a kind heroes and upgrade their skills to lead into war! Like Rookie or the classic Doggo! Each has their own special talents and you can level up and upgrade them to fit your own playstyle.
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Choose between 5 different game modes! The always classic Team Deathmatch, or level up to unlock the others, Harvest, where you need to collect coins Sonic style… Bombing run, which is… well, that’s pretty self-explanatory. Capture the flag, another staple of the online shooter community and Payload, where you must protect your payload all the way back to base while fending off opposing players. Battle through 30 maps, each unique to a game mode and blow up bridges, or bounce grenades off walls to obliterate your enemy! Every mode is fun and the
matchmaking is pretty quick too, making it easy to jump in and play a round or two whenever. The leveling system is pretty cool as well, where you not only level up your characters but weapons as well. Gain experience to upgrade and customize your weapon, from plasma pistols to spears, to the sweet, sweet sniper rifle, they have it all! Although Project Zero Deaths does offer items and currency for sale, it doesn’t really affect your playing for free at all. You are matched up with other players your level and most of the purchases are cosmetic. The only thing that I will say about Project Zero Deaths is unlocking the specific weapons or characters you want can be a bit time consuming, as you get these items through chests, which are unlocked with keys that you win after every match.
PvP These chests are completely random so getting what you want can be frustrating. They do oer the ability to transfer your points from a gun you’re not using or another character but a lot of these transactions come at a 3:1 ratio, so you lose out on a lot of points. Still though, having the ability to even do this is worth noting. Project Zero Deaths is constantly being updated, with new content such as characters, weapons, maps, and game modes. This game will always have something new waiting for you!�
Platformer
Journey of Life
Leave Civilization On Your Own By Jeff Porter
his is a survival fans dream. A lot of games in the survival genre feel they need to add zombies or something to add fuel to your survival. This isn’t always the case however, sometimes the toughest thing to survive is life. Journey of Life won’t spoon feed you how to stay alive either, it’s up to you to figure it out and make sure you’re fed, watered and sheltered. While it doesn’t have zombies, there is of course wildlife, ranging from sweet
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little bunnies to meaty boars and wolves that hunt at night. The bunnies don’t pose much of a threat, but I wouldn’t be out at night without a weapon and some fire. Journey of Life is a survival sandbox game where the player finds himself on a group of islands where each island has a different biome with different flora and fauna. The player is an engineer, who lost his fortune overnight and now decides to live in nature. That’s pretty extreme, I’d just crash on a friends couch or something. In order to build a village, the player needs to create a variety of stations that
will process materials found on the islands into components used in crafting tools and weapons needed for survival. Journey of Life features an enormous crafting system that can be a bit overwhelming at times, but is easy enough to navigate and has different categories to select from that keeps things nice and organized. It’s easy to spend hours going through all the recipes and figuring out what you need to gather and store. It’s this system that breathes the life into the game and lets you decide how you’re going to survive, will you craft arrows by the lot and hunt for your meat, or will you construct a farming system to grow food and reproduce seeds? The choice is yours. There is no map, and there is a lot to pick up and starting inventory is only 4 spaces, so instead of running around
Survival
Strategy
Journey of Life
gathering everything you see, you will first need to go into the crafting menu and figure out what you need to craft a primitive backpack. The item stacking can be a bit frustrating as well. You’re already limited in space and most items only stack to 4 or 5, and a lot only allow 2 to a stack! Once you’ve mastered the crafting and have built a base with your essentials, it’s time to start stockpiling and building a dock. Yes, a dock! You can build a boat and must use it to travel between the islands, you will need to be prepared with enough food and water for your trip, however, otherwise you may end up dying out in the sea. Once you get the hang of it, it is a deep and complex game that is still only in early access. The features and gameplay are great, with many more great features, like the farming system, a power system with
windmills, advance building for your base, a living aquatic world, and single/multiplayer options. Journey of Life is sure to be added to your list and you will be lost for hours. There are dozens of planned features ranging from an experience and skill system to a tribe and social structure.
Chronicles of Galdurvale
Wander around in a fantasy world, full of adventurous action By Harry Gill
he story of Chronicles of Galdurvale takes place in a fantasy world where a girl named Amelia moves from one island to another, where she has to fight battles to move from level to level, fighting with her sword. She can conquer the whole island of Galdurvale that has so many adventures to be explored. Every level demands a different role to be played.
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There are temples in the island where mysterious things are to be collected so you can unlock the locked doors. There will be everything from fire to ice to hold you back from the next level. However, with your magical sword, all levels are possible and you can conquer the world of Galdurvale. Amelia’s dragon helps her in moving from difficult mountains or sea to move forward to another level on another island. There you will
Action-Adventure
Features of Chronicles of Galdurvale · Each island has a different adventure · Every adventure of the Galdurvale is full of mystery and fun · Treasures, animals, and rideable dragons find some treasure boxes containing different items that will make your adventure easier. There are dangerous monsters in the form of huge spiders or snakes, use your strength to defeat your foes. Every passing level makes the adventure more interesting and there will be new mysteries to be solved. So, let me take you to an adventure full of action. Get ready to conquer the adventures of Galdurvale.
RPG
Back Cover