GearHead 1.310

Roguelike mecha role playing game GearHead is getting a new release while development of GearHead 2 advances alongside it. Several improvements have been made. As an example the game now features thinner, nicer looking walls and there have also been some improvements to the UI. This is a rather unique game that seems to have much thought put into it. A tip is to read the instructions a bit down on this page before starting.

GearHeads title screen. Note the nice pixel spaceships in the background.

Unvanquished - 0.51

After several years it seems Unvanquished is still alive and well, and proves this with an enormous new release! In case you missed it, Unvanquished is a tactical shooter with base-building elements where a team of humans fight against a team of aliens. Each team has completely different gameplay styles, creating some very interesting dynamics and variation. It looks really good and plays even better, and this new release has a massive changelog: a new launcher, many gameplay improvements, loads of work on game assets including some new player models, code clean up and performance improvements, lots of work on maps, new and improved sound effects, better bots, etc, etc. It also seems a beta release is near, so this is probably a perfect time to try this excellent and unique shooter!

A new damage indicator is another big improvement in Unvanquished.

Super Tux Party 0.2

That was fast! It wasn't long since I posted about the very promising party game Super Tux Party, and now another release is out! It's a big release too: A new character is available in the form of inofficial Godot-mascot Godette, all characters have received animations and there are three new mini-games (i must appreciate that one of them is called Kernel Compiling!). There are also improvements to boards as those can now have multiple paths and there are several other improvements all around. I'm really happy to see this make good progress, as it's a rare genre that I really enjoy.

The start of a new game in Super Tux Party.

EmptyEpsilon

EmptyEpsilon is a multiplayer starship bridge simulator. Each player takes command of a certain station, such as Helm, Science or Engineering, each having a unique screen with information, controls and functions. There is also a main screen that displays what happens outside the ship. The challenge is coordinating all this, as the players must work together operating the ship to complete various missions. If you have ever watched Star Trek and (like me) dreamt of being captain of your own starship, this is as close as you can get. A very cool simulator with a unique concept and really smart co-op gameplay. An extra cool feature is that one player can act as a game master, controlling the game for the other players, a feature that can be used for cool RPG-like setups. It's also possible to script your own missions. If you have a few interested friends and enough computers this is a must try!

 

The relay officers station from EmptyEpsilon. Only that player sees this screen.

And here is an example of what the main screen displays. All players see this.

Mindustry

Mindustry is a very unique tower defense game where it's not enough to construct turrets to defeat the hordes of incoming enemies – you must also construct supply lines with conveyor belts to provide them with ammo. For those of us who love building and optimizing this game should provide plenty of fun! The game can be downloaded or it can be played directly in the browser. There is an editor so you can create your own maps and there is even cross-platform multiplayer over LAN or WAN, so get your friends together and start constructing!

Look at these amazingly intricate designs!

Planet Blupi

I read a headline saying Planet Blupi had been open-sourced, and it didn't sound familiar at all. But then I saw the screenshots of small yellow creatures exploring and building stuff and realized: I have played this! A really long time ago, but if I remember right it was quite fun... Turns out Planet Blupi is completely free now, including media assets. The game is described as both adventure and strategy. Using the Blupi-creatures you will build things, grow flowers, make food, devise traps or in other ways try to overcome the games 30-ish levels. This version seems to have many bug-fixes and code modernisations compared to the original, so if this unusual mix sounds interesting I believe it could be fun to try.

Cute animations of idle Blupies.

Beyond Dying Skies

Beyond Dying Skies is a 3D FPS-RPG with a futuristic setting, survival elements, crafting, a leveling system and classic skill-based FPS movement, inluding things like jet packs and grappling hooks. It's designed as a single-player experience, which is commendable as many games of this type seem to be multiplayer-focused. This unique genre-blend certainly has some interesting ideas and I was thrilled to read through the description thinking "This sounds really cool!". Development also seems really active. Have a look at some videos here and get the game here.

A glimpse into space from Beyond Dying Skies.

Isleward

Isleward is a moddable multiplayer roguelike. It combines elements from roguelikes such as permadeath and randomly generated worlds, with elements from mmo-games like social and tactical interaction, all playable online. It looks like a lot of work has gone into it and it has a very interesting minimalist art style. Read more about it here!

A small animation showing off the unique artwork of Isleward.

Intricacy - 0.7.0.1

I am not certain how many releases ago I mentioned the cool lock-picking game Intricacy. But this unique puzzler is now on version 0.7.0.1 and among the news is various UI improvements along with some smaller fixes.

A screen from Intricacy looking complicated.

Terasology - 1.4.0

The terribly advanced organic and evolving voxel-world of Terasology has reached alpha 7, also known as version 1.4.0. The changelog is as always impressive, and both the core game and many modules have received changes and improvements. Download it now and see this virtual world come alive even more than before!

A beautiful scene from Terasology.

Liberation Circuit

Liberation Circuit is described as a "rogue A.I. simulator" and is an RTS/programming game where you are tasked with escaping a hostile computer system. It's possible to play the game as an RTS and take control of units or use code to program them to act on their own. A very interesting concept I must say! It looks great too, with colorful abstract worlds.

Various units attacking in Liberation Circuit.

Arcmage

Todays update brings something a bit different: Arcmage - a collectible card game. Yep, you read that right. It's a non-digital game with cards that you can print out and play with. I still think it fits on this blog though, not only is it Free and open source, it's also playable online in a digital variant. I do enjoy deckbuilding, and I must say it looks like a lot of work has gone into artwork for this project, so if you fancy an alternative to Magic the Gathering and the likes this might be for you!

An example card from Arcmage.

Thrive - 0.3.3

Some breaking news here! Super-cool evolution game Thrive has got a big new release. It looks fun, highly polished and I appreciate that it tries to adhere to know scientific theory, possibly making this into a great learning tool as well as a great game. New in this release is a complete overhaul of the interface (it does look very nice and sharp), the simulation now accounts for creatures mass, a much more realistic approach to reproduction, a new system for health and much more. Again, to understand how much thought has gone into many of these things you need to read up on this yourself. Have a look at the changelog or the new feature video!

Various organisms swimming around in Thrive. You ought to see this in motion.

Chaotic Rage - 1.15

Crazy zombie shooter Chaotic Rage got a new release! This action game with co-op support and local multiplayer has long been on my wishlist for an update as I really liked the concept and game idea. A huge number of new things have happened since the last release. There are lots of graphics updates and new models, new maps, new rendering features such as texture splatting and lightmaps, weapon display in first person mode (you can switch between different viewing modes ingame), weapons can now have attachments and there are many bug fixes and performance improvements.
Updated builds are not yet up, but should be there soon!

This is an old screenshot, imagine this but a lot cooler! :)

Red Eclipse - 1.5.8

The great, fast-paced parcour-FPS Red Eclipse got a new release! 1.5.8 is not a big version number change, but nevertheless contains a lot of new things. Among them can be mentioned new maps, map models and vanity items (that you can dress up your character with!), grenades now transitions from green to red based on the fuse timer so you can know when to throw them, team balancing has been improved, there are improvements for HUD and text rendering, and more. There are also several improvements for mappers, such as the ability to make bots perform certain actions, like dancing. And if you happen to have a pair of 3D glasses connected to your computer, this game can use them and this release have a few fixes for stereoscopic view modes.

An epic firefight in Red Eclipse!

Wyrmsun - 2.5.2

Regular readers will no doubt know about Wyrmsun. This excellent RTS / Grand strategy mash-up recently received huge campaign maps filled with missions and adventures in it's 2.5 release. Now two minor releases with additional fixes and improvements have been released, also including a new campaign called "The First Dwarves". Enjoy!

Lots of flavor-text and world-building are part of Wyrmsun. Here a literary work has been created.

Lugaru HD - 1.1

Lugaru HD is a third-person action game starring an anthropomorphic bunny fighting to save his friends from slavery. It has a focus on martial arts fighting and was previously a commercial title that now has both Free source and art. Thus the entire game is available to download, and several improvements have been done upon the original. It is now possible to add new campaigns and mods and three new adventures are included with the release. Lots of under-the-hood changes have also been made to improve the code-base, and work goes on for more improvements in the future. This is a cool and rather unique game, well worth a try.

Impressive and dynamic fighting animations make up the core concept in Lugaru.

HyperRogue

HyperRogue certainly fits in the "unique" category. This roguelike has a very special premise: it is set in a non-euclidian world; specifically it takes place on a hyperbolic plane. But if that sounds like techno-babble to you, just think of it as a game set in a world where the normal notions 2 or 3 dimensions work a bit differently and everything is very trippy. HyperRogue is not only a mathematical experiment, it's also a full roguelike consisting of 44 worlds with various gameplay mechanics and an adaptive difficulty and scoring system.
It also looks very cool!

It takes a while to get your head around HyperRogue, but it is surprisingly simple to play.

Terasology - 1.3.0

Another big numbered release for Terasology! 1.3.0, also known as Alpha 6, is dubbed "The lots of stuff release". It appears development took some extra time, so it's more filled with stuff than usual. Among lots of closed milestone issues and engine improvements are also a bunch of interesting-sounding modules. How about Alchemy, Cooking or Smithing? :) Those interested can check out the full extent of the release here.

Another breathtaking scene from Terasology, found on the official forum.

Liero / OpenLieroX

Liero has a special place in my heart. Somehow we had found this game when I was in the early years of school and played it during breaks. While it can best be described as a realtime version of Worms, the chaos that ensued when we turned loading times on weapons to zero is what I associate with it today. :)

Digging tunnels, swinging around with ninja ropes and harnessing the power of all sorts of crazy weapons: simply put, Liero is great fun multiplayer with potential for both tactical matches and screen-filling mayhem. And if you feel the game could use even more options (like the ability to play as other characters than worms), OpenLieroX is an extra-everything version that should keep any multiplayer session going for a long long time. It even has online multiplayer, but personally I'd say this should be played should to shoulder. ;)

Lots of crazy going on in OpenLieroX.