Gnome over at Gnomeslair has put together a massive list of indy developers and their games they have created. And being a fan of indy games, I was super excited to see this huge list of kick ass games! That’s why I’m giving Gnome some props and hoping that my faithful viewers will go on over and check out this post entitled “100 Excellent Free Games in Bloom.

And as you can imagine by the title… he’s picked a hundred games in which you and I can both be entertained with. And there are all sorts of games you can choose from! Not only are there lots of adventure games done from some people I admire lots, but there are also strategy games (which The Adventuress loves, but never talks about) and RPGs, which we all know are the bomb. Don’t adventures and RPGs go hand in hand? Yes… yes they do. There’s also some first person shooters, shoot-em-ups and puzzle games. You can’t ask for much more than that!

So, head on over to Gnomeslair and while you’re there, click on his “Digg This” button to give the guy some props! I think he did a great job with this list!

Post from: EveryJoe

Indy Developer Goodness

Check these out:

Okay, so how do you know which ones are the king and queen and pawn and so forth? Even if you don’t play chess, this is still the coolest chess set EVER.

I found these cool chess pieces over at Lively Ivy, aka Erin “The Ivy” Robinson. Erin is well known (famous really) for her adventure games, humorous comics and wacky antics. Now, I’m not sure if she herself made the chess pieces, but I do know she made some killer penguins with clay and you just can’t go wrong with killer penguins.

Post from: EveryJoe

Checkmate

If you, like me, like when developers talk about the development in their games in detail, I have some good news for you. Vince Twelve over at xii games has once again put together another developer diary. And this one is part V (or 5 to you non-Romans) in his series of developers diaries. If you’re interested, you may read more about it if you click here. Come on. Just do it.

In this particular entry, Vince goes on to talk about how difficult it is to do tons of hard work that seems to take you no where. What do I mean? Well, there’s lots of programming and putting of things together, but after all that work, there are barely any new playable parts. I guess that’s what the life of a developer is all about. Lots of minute details that are boring as hell, but that must be done all the same. It could drive a guy (or gal) crazy!

Vince also goes on to discuss the interface design for the game, which he thought was cool at first (because he’s the one who put it together) and then was told it was all wrong for the style of the game. At least he can take criticism well!

Vince also talks about strung out anorexic actresses with coke habits! I bet you never saw that one coming, did you?! I didn’t myself, but that’s why I read through these diaries, because they are amusing.

Hey xii games… you’re doing an awesome job! Keep it up!

Post from: EveryJoe

Xii Games – Developer Diary Part V

Well, there is a competition out there that you might just want to try to win. And the prizes? Well, they just can’t be beat if you’re an adventure gaming fan. The International House of Mojo is putting on a contest of their very own, my friends, and winning is pretty easy. Alls you gots to do is create some fan-related item, such as a webpage, some art work, create a costume or pretty much anything cool based on the following games: A Vampyre Story, Bone or Sam & Max. I mean, that can’t be too tough, can it? \

It sounds so easy, I bet I could win with this original piece of FanArt:

No one best be stealin’ this master piece…

I’m sure you’re asking what’s in it for you. Well, if you win the contest, you will receive the following:

• Sam & Max and Bone promotional cards, given out at GDC, as well as by Emily in the Telltale offices.
• CD box copy of Bone: The Great Cow Race, signed by six people who worked on the game, including singer song-writer, Dave Grossman.
• A Vampyre Story concept art, signed by Bill Tiller. This was printed out on a laser printer, and it is very good quality. When I asked Bill to sign it he said “Oho! This is concept art for the sequel, when Mona has to wear a hat all the time.”
• LucasArts recruiting card. Fool all your friends by making them think you’re a LucasArts recruiter!

If you have lots of different ideas send them in, as The International House of Mojo would love to see it all. Send in all your works of art into gabez @ mixnmojo dot com before Sunday July 1st.

Post from: EveryJoe

Let’s win some cool stuff!

If you are a The Longest Journey fan, like me, there is some good news coming our way. No, I don’t mean more half naked scenes of Zoe parading around in her underwear in front of her father. What I do mean is that Funcom, the lovely people who created the Longest Journey series, has announced that they shall be doing an episodic game, much like Sam and Max: Season 1, called the Dreamfall Chapters.

A few months ago, I wrote a post talking about an article that Adventure Gamers wrote alluding to the fact that several sources pointed at an episodic Dreamfall game. Now, according to this article at Adventure Gamers, your and my wishes have come true. The last chapter in the game isn’t going to be coming out in just one big game, but instead it shall be delivered to us in a bunch of smaller episodes that may or may not be release in a full retail version of the game for PCs and maybe some consoles after all the episodes have been completed.

Funcom hasn’t said much about what the game will be about, but whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be awesome. There is also some talk of Funcom creating a The Longest Journey MMO, so you can go ahead and kill all the people you’ve always hated in the game. Not that you should kill anyone… It was just a suggestion.

The game is made possible by The Norwegian Film Fund. They’re hoping that with the funding that Funcom can “establish a core technology team which will research online-only delivery methods of episodic content, as well as lay the foundation for a later pre-production phase of Dreamfall Chapters.” Not bad… Those Norwegians are awesome. I wish I could be a viking!

No release date has been set for the episodic chapters of Dreamfall Chapters, but when there is, I shall be on it!

Post from: EveryJoe

Dreamfall Dreams Come True

If you, like me, have an interest in AGS (Adventure Game Studio), but have little time to figure out which games you should play (because let’s face it, some of those games look good, but are just a dang waste of time), it is the best time of year for us. Why, you might ask? Well, because according to Adventure Gamers, the AGS Team has posted the Nominees of the 2006 AGS Awards.

You know what’s so awesome about the AGS awards? Well, come February 11th, you can see what people think are the best AGS games out there. This means little brainwork on your part or even mine. I love awards. They make my life easier. You can download the best games out there and avoid the worse without having to do any work whatsoever on your part to make sure it’s good. If people vote for it, it must be good… Right? RIGHT?!

Okay… there are some cases where it isn’t so good:

Nice ears, Georgie

What’s weird about this year’s nominees are that there are some big names out there competing with the little underground guys. With games like Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, by Hyimalaya Studios and torrent file has been compiled to make your life, oh so much easier. I love easiness.

Also, I found this tidbit in the AGS forums:

The awards ceremony proper will be on IRC from 8pm GMT on Sunday 11th February, however, so you can come along for that.

So, be sure to watch out for that IRC chat.

Post from: EveryJoe

2006 AGS Award Nominees announced

FOR THE SECOND TIME IN LESS THAN 3 MONTHS.

Bosco, I love your sweet, sweet face.

Oh, how I love episodic gaming.

So, what are you doing here?! Oh yes, I will download now.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sam and Max: Situation: Comedy has ARRIVED

Well, you CAN win a copy of Sam and Max: Situation: Comedy. Wanna know how? Oh… I know you do.

Here’s how you do it… You go to the Sam and Max comic generator, use the Christmas like Sam and Max panels, that are filled with Christmas joy and goodness, type in your words that are funny and that do not smell of week old baby diapers and submit it. If you think it’s good enough to win you a copy of the new Sam and Max game, send the URL to contest@telltalegames.com and then pray to your lucky underpants that you win. They are giving away three copies of the game, so your chances are like super good!

Here’s a copy of the stupidest thing I’ve ever done:

I made baby Jesus cry

You can find out more info about it by clicking here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sam and Max Contest

OH NO! NOT THAT TIME AGAIN!

Yes… it’s time for more SAM AND MAX NEWS.

As the second installment of the next Sam and Max episode nears, you will be hearing all the nitty gritty details, because I am short on news items. I BET YOU LOVE ME, DON’T YOU?!

I love myself, that’s for sure.

Anywhom, what, where and why… TellTale has announced that their up and coming Sam and Max game, which is entitled “Porn and When To Use It”, will be coming out December 21st on GameTap and January 5th on TellTale’s site.

Okay… it’s not really called Sam and Max: Porn and When To Use It. It’s called Sam and Max – Situation: Comedy. All I’m saying is there had better be a lot of situations and a lot of comedy. Because if there isn’t, that’s false advertising and I want my money back. Seriously.

Here’s a little bit of what this episode is all about:

Talk show host Myra Stump has gone berzerk! Sam & Max head down to the WARP TV studio to find out why she’s holding her audience hostage. But getting onto Myra’s stage isn’t going to be easy. First the Freelance Police will have to prove they’re worthy of fifteen minutes of fame.

What’s with Sam and Max always having to deal with psycho t.v. personalities (wait, don’t read this last line if you haven’t play the first Sam and Max episode… oh, I guess it’s too late)? I just don’t get it. I think they need to deal with poorly drawn monkeys or maybe they should have a skit about sailors on the moon. It would totally work.

There is also a game play video, in which Sam and Max are on a cooking show called “Cooking Without Looking”. It reminds me much of my dear friend, Ingrid over at Play-Girlz, in that I once heard a story where she heated up a can of Spaghetti O’s in the microwave… and failed to take the Spaghetti O’s out of the actual metal can. Needless to say, don’t eat anything Ingrid has cooked.

And so there you have it. Sam and Max news in all of its awfully wonderful glory.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sam and Max news

Do you ever wonder to yourself, “Gee, self… I wonder when this game is going to come out? I know I heard something about it, but I have no idea where I read it and that stupid Adventuress is never any help when it comes to dates. I wish she’d just burn in the fiery, angry pits of Hades.”

Well, I say to you… that’s just mean and cruel. WHY WOULD YOU WISH THAT ON ME?! I didn’t do anything to be burned in hades! I mean, yeah… I did push that old lady down the stairs that ONE TIME, but she totally deserved it. She TALKED to me in the BATHROOM (see this post to know what I’m talking about). I just can’t stand stuff like that! IT MAKES ME ANGRY.

Ahem. What was I talking about? Oh yes… the fact that it’d be so nice to have a compiled list of dates that the adventure games will be coming out. Well, guess what? There is a lovely website that is already DOING THAT. YES. The name of the website is called GameBoomers and they have all sorts of lovely adventure type things. This includes the awesome compiled list that I was just talking about, which you can find by clicking rigggggght here.

Want to know when the new Jane Austen game, Grey Matter, is suppose to come out? BAM, Winter 2007. How about the next installation of Sam and Max? SHALOOZA… December 2006. Perhaps you want to know when The End of the World will be here? MONKEY HAMMERS!!! Wait… this list says it’s going to happen next week. What the hell and ZOMGs?

Actually, they don’t have the date for the end of the world… Though that would be useful. Then I can plan on my world domination without having too many people fight back against me, because of course… I’ll be the only one left alive WHEN THE END OF THE WORLD COMES.

How, you may ask? I’m invincible. I bet you didn’t know that. The secret is to my invincibility, you may ask? Years of playing adventure games.

And Twinkies.

You, too, can become invincible with that recipe. Just remember, if you do become invincible, I’m going to be your ruler when the end of the world comes.

Just remember Skeletor… you may be L’Invincible, but your ass IS MINE when the end of the world comes.

Just sayin’.

Post from: EveryJoe

Up and coming games…