Wraithkal: The Indie Gaming Corner
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Exception Is Almost Certainly the Flashiest 2.5D Platformer You’ll Play… Later This Year

It's been almost three years since my initial coverage of Exception, at which point development was in pre-alpha stage and the game... well, let's just say it looked a lot less. Just less. I don't know how else to describe it. Or do I? Ah yes, the super flashy colorful effects are nowhere to be found! And that's just the beginning. Everything just looks more complete, more finished, more refined, more... well, crazy. Best of all, the game is finally being prepped for launch, world flipping action and all!
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(Almost) Unlimited Power: Unity Adds Xbox One X Support Ahead of Launch

Smoother gameplay, bigger worlds, life-like detail, faster load times... and so on. This is pretty much how Microsoft would describe their upcoming Xbox One overhaul/remake/revision/something, Xbox One X. Oh, and Unity just added support for it, which means - among other things - 4K HDR rendering, as well as "increased power". As for exactly how little/much, who knows? Who indeed.
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It’s Almost Time For PAX West, Which Means… Indie MEGABOOTH and PAX 10!

With September creeping ever so nearer, tickets to Seattle are flying off the digital shelves. Or something along those lines. What I'm trying to say is that it's almost time for this year's PAX West, and based on the Indie MEGABOOTH and Pax 10 lineups, attendees are going to have a grand time. Yes, I know that there are other things to experience at PAX West. But as you may have guessed, this isn't really about them (sorry, other events/exhibitors).
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Not Enough Steam Reviews! February ’17 Edition

Ah, February of the lovely year 2017 (depending on who you ask, of course). Winter was starting to show signs of retreat, developers returning from hibernation... and other fun nonsensical things. It was also exactly six months - and a week or so - ago, at the time of writing. What that last bit means is that it's time for me to check another month's titles on Steam, picking personal favorites from the lot. Oh, and as always, Early Access and Virtual Reality stuff won't be on the list.
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Steam Direct: 2 Months and 1000+ Games Later… (Wait, What?!)

It's been less than two months since Steam Direct launched (remember?), and if nothing else, developers are certainly embracing Greenlight's replacement. I mean, the first week of August alone saw no less than 215 additions to Valve's digital storefront, and in total, more than 1,000 games have been added. So... crazy? Ridiculous? Insane? All of the above, without a doubt? I'm going with the latter, quite frankly.
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Get Into a Colorful Speedrun Groove With Super Lovely Planet

Super Lovely Planet is a 3D platformer, one completely void of boss fights, guns to shoot, and collectibles. No wait, that's not quite right. It does actually have collectibles. Just not any of that other stuff, and yet, it looks like a game overflowing with fun times. Provided you enjoy going fast, being restricted to moving and jumping, and of course, don't mind platformers in the third dimension. Because for some reason, a lot of people really do. Big time. Their loss, though.
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Door Kickers Set to Gun Down 2D Terrorists In Door Kickers: Action Squad Spin-Off

I love when developers post weird announcements. An example: the latest from Door Kickers developer Killhouse Games, Door Kickers: Action Squad is going to be a pixellated affair and in 2D no less, complete with suicidal terrorist bombers. Quite a change from the main game, which was a lovely, deeply tactical title with, well, fewer pixels and a lot of shooting. I think there was some exploding too. Doors were definitely kicked, though.
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Go Small or Go Home: Make a Game Sized 13kb (or Less!) for Js13kGames

These days, video games tend to take up absolutely ridiculous amounts of precious hard drive space. Take 2016's DOOM, for example: darn thing clocks in at well over fifty gigabytes! Completely bonkers and not really the reason for Js13kGames to be a thing, but the two are still related. Kinda. That said, what sets the two even further aside is that, well, Js13kGames is about making games in HTML, JavaScript, CSS and such. Small games. Incredibly small games. Bite-sized games, some might say? Eh? Eh? Anyway...
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Graceful Explosion Machine Might Make a SHMUP Fan Out of You Yet

Graceful Explosion Machine. Is it simply the name of a game, or perhaps something more? Spoiler: it's that AND the name of the ship you'll be piloting in said game. Oh, and according to the developer, it packs a "ludicrously overpowered quad-weapon array". Which, if you ask me, means it's already a pretty darn great shoot 'em up experience. And then there's the colors... the music... so groovy. So relaxing. So very... EXPLOSIONS!
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Scale It Down Once More: #LOWREZJAM 2017 Has Begun

64 by 64. That’s the core of #LOWREZJAM 2017, much like last year’s iteration. 64 by 64, as in, the resolution of whatever game you may end up making as part of this particular game jam. Yes, I am referring to the completely bonkers concept of making a game that’s only 64 pixels wide and 64 pixels tall. Not 1920 by 1080, or whatever that 4K nonsense everyone’s spouting these days is. Just plain ol’, super low-res 64×64. Why? Well, why not?
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