Happy Valentines Day, and welcome to the Screenshot Survey, where we take an early look at developing games through the magic of social media. Today is all about relationships, and is there any relationship bigger than the one between an indie game and its team? Toiling away for years to bring us the worlds of fantasy that we love to visit, that's romance if I ever heard it. In any case, let us begin!
https://twitter.com/AldaGames/status/698876385562140672 First off, here is a look at Killing Room, and its magnificent first person scythe. I can't recall very many scythes in FPS games before now, and it is certainly a niche worth filling. The game is a first person roguelike in which you are a contestant on a futuristic horror themed game show that draws its inspiration from twentieth century pop culture. The trailer that the developers made for their successful run on Steam Greenlight really sells me on the concept.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgtJrVTIxDQ The only real problem with the game as it stands is its similarity to Killing Floor, both in logo design and general ascetic. I initially thought the tweet was for Killing Floor when I came across it, and that sort of brand confusion can really kill something like this no matter how interesting some of Killing Room's ideas are. Hopefully that will sort itself out before the game's final release.
https://twitter.com/PolyraptorGames/status/698696854846967808 Next, I continue TechRaptor's long tradition on reporting on anything remotely Raptor related by bringing you Rumpus by Polyraptor Games. The game is a local multiplayer Smash Bros-like that coincidentally also features a futuristic game show premise. This show trades in scythes for projectile weapons, with robots and suited devils being blasted through windows to their painful deaths in the streets below. There are a lot of these games both being released and in development, but there's always hope for another standout in the genre, and here's hoping that Rumpus is just that.
https://twitter.com/2ndSatGamer/status/698684486872080384 Another tradition we have on Screenshot Survey is to sometimes cover interesting looking shots from games that are in their very first stages of development. In this case, we have an unnamed prototype from Space Camp Games, who also released Zero G Fighter over on itch.io. For a game that is currently released under a Pay What You Want model, it certainly looks great, as does this prototype. I'm a sucker for that slim style of mecha in action games, so I really like what I see and hope to see more in the future.
https://twitter.com/Badspot/status/698701785091829761 The mission of humankind to create a successor to Sonic the Hedgehog continues with Perennial, a long in development 2D platformer with fun looking momentum mechanics. I'm being a bit reductive of course, because the game has a lot more to offer, from its Downwell-style shifting color palettes to the many mechanics on display on the developer's Twitter feed. I especially enjoy this look at how the sliding can be combined with brick breaking, which is done with the main character's head. Because of course it is.
https://twitter.com/FatPixelGames/status/698679714945355776 Finally this week, we have Trashomancer from Fat Pixel Games. A quick hint for developers who want to be showcased in this feature, having the top tweet of your Twitter feed be "Our game is getting more ridiculous by the day and that's great" is a pretty good shortcut to achieving your goal. Trashomancer is a game about creating cute minions out of banana peels and trash cans, equipping them with swords and/or laser guns, and sending them into the world to fight creatures such as Beedrill's cousin. Great concept, neat graphics, and they also created this GIF. Everything I've seen of the game looks like a blast, and I can't wait to see more!
That's it for this week's Screenshot Survey! Which of these games would you be interested in seeing more of? Which Pokemon's cousins would you like to see in future indie video games? Let us know in the comments below, and come back next week for another collection of indie highlights!