Too Many Games 2012; Developers — Part One
In our last episode, our hero finally arrives at Too Many Games, and his world is changed forever. At least his perception of what conventions can be. Look, it was big for me, okay? Let’s move on.
On to the first block of developers I spoke with:
Vinnie Crisafulli:
This man not only creates a game all by himself, but he creates it for the NES. Oh, and then he get’s it made into an honest-to-God NES cartridge, so you can take it home and play it in your NES. Yeah, you heard that right. He only brought limited copies of his game, DragonFeet, to the con, but shoot him an email at dragonfeetvg@gmail.com. Maybe you can get on his list, and convince him to sell you an NES original from 2012.
THIS JUST IN: Vinnie’s just printed another run of games. Now is the time to order up. Do it!
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Nonpareil Studios:
Cameron and Sheridan joined forces online, and their studio is predominantly a remote collaboration. While secretive on their site (which is absolutely gorgeous, by the way), at TMG they revealed their current projects: Hole 19, a challenging golf game, and an as yet untitled digital card game. Cameron told me that once they get an idea, they lock in and burn through it pretty quickly, so expect their games to be out soon.
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Shippensburg University Video Game Development Club:
I spoke with Matt and Nicholas Hydock on Sunday, and finally managed to get my hands on their Pony rebuild of the original Final Fantasy for the NES. It was still very much in the development phase, but it promised the complete 8-bit experience of spells, items, armor, and that completely whiffed attack if your enemy has already been defeated. (Personally, I could do without that last one, but I get the need for authenticity.) All of this is wrapped up in delightful pony packaging. So if you love the classics and love you some ponies, check out their Facebook group, go to Nick’s Github, and get in on the beta testing.
I also totally failed to beat the juice guzzling high score set by Kurt from Mighty Rabbit Studios (see below). HOWEVER, there are rumors of the game being modded to include an online leaderboard, so it’s not too late to see just how many liters of juice you can sneak before the librarian catches you. Its simplicity belies just how addicting it is. Maybe we can hope for an Android port at some point.
What’s most impressive about the Video Game Development Club is their dedication to open source gaming. Their games are released with the full source code so that anyone can build on their work. Really like an element of the battle system? Grab the code and use it in your own game. See something in their game that you think could be better? Get in there and fix it.
Such work enriches the entire gaming community. Go to their Facebook group, follow their work, read their blog, and check out their code. Also, look for their work in the Liberated Pixel Cup. I’m personally very excited to see what they come up with.
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Mighty Rabbit Studios:
If you never watched cartoons, movies, music videos, or commercials from the ‘80s, then you’ll miss the full richness of Saturday Morning RPG. The game is replete with subtle and overt references to the culture in which we were immersed as children. It’s awesome.
However, even for those of you out there who were deprived of the ‘80s, this is a solid RPG. They added everything that’s awesome from RPGs (except materia, but what can you do?), and cut everything that sucks. Your health and mana recharge after each battle, you have three ways to charge attacks, and you can set up to 5 battle skills from a variety of possible attacks. You can even tap to defend against attacks, as in Super Mario RPG.
The first chapter is out for free on the iOS, with word of an Android and PC port later this year. Stay tuned, and get it as soon as you can.
Additionally, Mighty Rabbit Studios has just released a puzzler. Cylinder is now available on Xbox Live Indie Games. Download the demo today, and buy it if you like it.
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That’s the first batch. More to come in the next article!
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