The Playcrafting Play Anywhere Game Jam has resulted in three Stadia indie games getting additional funding for production: Battle Billiards, Bushido Bots, and Fragments.
Last Month, gaming organization Playcrafting hosted The Play Anywhere Game Jam, an event where indie developers did their best to create local multiplayer experiences for Google's game streaming platform. Each of the developers got a bit of funding for their work on the prototypes, and now three of these games are getting additional funding to get fleshed out even further for eventual release on Google Stadia.
What Are the Three New Stadia Indie Games?
Each of these new Stadia indie games bring something pretty cool to the table — here's a quick look at some of the cool new stuff revealed via a press release that will hopefully be playable on Stadia sooner rather than later!
Cue Balls - Battle Billiards
Cue Balls - Battle Billiards puts an interesting spin on pool. You'll be competing against a friend and trying to sink all of your balls before your opponent sinks theirs while avoiding putting the 8-ball in a pocket too early.
What makes this game interesting is how it mixes up traditional billiards — you're both taking your shots at the same time, and yes, you can definitely bounce off of your opponent's ball. You can learn more about this game on its official website.
Bushido Bots
Bushido Bots hearkens back to our childhoods with the ability to control cool mecha that wouldn't be out of place in a Gundam anime. Aside from enjoying intense battles in space, you'll also be able to use a hacking system to take control of your opponents! You can find out more about this game on its website.
Fragments
Finally, Fragments looks like a pretty cool platform that's all about co-op play. You and a friend each take control of a creature while trying to navigate puzzles and fight bad guys. As you play through the game, you'll collect crystals that can unlock new abilities. There's no website for the game just yet, but you can see some Fragments gameplay in motion in a trailer.
Stadia Search Bar Makes Finding Games Easier
These three new Stadia indie games aren't the only cool thing on the way; in fact, a new feature has made its debut on the platform today! A Stadia search bar is finally here, making it easier than ever to find the games you want to play.
The Stadia search bar is... well, it's a search bar. You type in the game you want to find and it helps you find it, and I'm honestly baffled why this wasn't available sooner. In any case, it's rolling out to Stadia customers right now and it's just one of the many new features on the way — as this new Stadia blog post shows, a number of upgrades are coming to the library including an activity feed and a reworked UI.
You can find out more about these games via their respective websites. If you really enjoy seeing cool indie games like this, then you're not going to want to miss Play NYC 2021 when it returns as a physical event this summer!
What's your favorite pick from these three new Stadia indie games? Do you think Stadia should focus on funding more indies for its platform? Let us know in the comments below!
