The Independent Games Magazine Issue Six, Spring 2015 Serious, authentic and grim? Not this Second World War VR shooter... ALSO IN ISSUE FIVE FEATURES REGIONAL EVENTS NEXT GEN BATMAN: ARKHAM Beyond Flesh We talk to Allyza We were at E3 The Google KNIGHT ARK, THE and Blood, Taylor, Mineski’s 2015 in LA, the Play Store is WITCHER 3: WILD Super Dungeon Shoutcaster worlds’s biggest not without its HUNT, AND ARK Bros, and so from the and best games flaws, says our SURVIVAL EVOLVED much more Philippines event. Next Gen gamer REVIEWED 2 MARCH 2015 ISSUE FIVE IND13.COM Contents Editorial Pages 38 - 40 Page 4 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Indie games are going full Steam ahead... Pages 42 - 46 Ark: Survival Evolved IND13 Q&A Page 6 Allyza Taylor Can you tell us about a positive Pages 48 - 52 experience you’ve had working in We caught up with allyza Taylor, independent gaming? Mineski’s Events Team Commentator/ Shoutcaster to know if there’s more to Beyond Flesh and Blood “gaming” than what she has now as a Pages 8 - 11 shoutcaster. A new apocalyptic game set, of all places, in Manchester The Kraken Sleepeth Pages 54 - 56 Super Dungeon Bros. The new game from Team Pesky, the Pages 12 - 16 studion set up by Andy Gibson. A cross platform, rock music themed, co-op dungeon brawler Google Play Pages 58 - 59 War for the Overlord Google Play is the official go-to place Pages 18 - 24 for Android games. But, is it all that it Harry Cole and Lee Smith talk to seems? Lee Moon – Community Manager at Subterranean Game. Brighter Day Pages 60 - 63 World War Toon Probably the most colourful horror Pages 26 - 32 game you will ever play. A humorous first person shooter and tank combat game set in a whimsical, E3 Expo 2015 toon inspired world. Pages 64 - 68 Richard, IND13’s globe trotting Sirius Gaming Reviews Section developer, went to the E3 2015 Pages 34 - 36 conference in LA. Batman: Arkham Knight Develop. Brighton. 2015 Pages 69 - 70 Richard went from LA to Brighton, to attend the annual Develop conference for the first, and not the last, time. IND13.COM SUMMER 2015 ISSUE SIX 3 FEATURE: Editorial Indie games are The Independent Games Magazine Issue Six, Spring 2015 going full Steam ahead... 1850 games arrived on Steam in 2014, 2500 are predicted in 2015... That is a hell of a figure, and is one that was exclaimed earlier this Serious, authentic and grim? Not this Second year by TinyBuild’s Mike Rose. World War VR shooter... ALSO IN ISSUE FIVE FEATURES REGIONAL EVENTS NEXT GEN BATMAN: ARKHAM Essentially what that means is that indie gaming is in good shape. Beyond Flesh We talk to Allyza We were at EGX The Google KNIGHT ARK, THE and Blood, Taylor, Mineski’s 2015 in LA, the Play Store is WITCHER 3: WILD Super Dungeon Shoutcaster worlds’s biggest not without it’s HUNT, AND ARK Every year more gamers are turning towards the indie developers Bros, and so from the and best games flaws, says our SURVIVAL EVOLVED much more Philippines event. Next Gen gamer REVIEWED for their gaming fix which means that, not only do developers earn a little money to help them continue making games, but that more IND13 is a magazine dedicated to independent developers are working on games buoyed on by an increasingly games. Our aim is to create interesting news, successful market. reviews and articles, all focusing on independent games. The nucleus of our team is based in the UK but also have a team stretching the globe. We Steam, the PC retail behemoth, currently has 125 million active have independent gaming news from all gaming accounts. 125 million potential buyers, and a market that is always territories including UK, US, Europe and Asia. eager to try out new and inventive titles. The team behind IND13 are all volunteers, and we If you can gain the the attention of YouTubers, Mike has said, and are giving our time because we are passionate get the marketing right, a top selling title can sell 3 million units. about indie games. The content of the magazine A game that does the bare minimum can still expect to shift 1000 will be made up of articles created by the IND13 copies. And big or small games can both benefit from sales spikes in team but also by voluntary contributors from the later life thanks to the legendary Steam sales. games industry. Of course, gaming is not all about the PC, but with the console Advertising is available in the magazine, and all proceeds will go into the development and market increasingly open to indie games now, and the mobile stability of IND13’s production. Please contact market seeing no sign of a slow down in business (quite the us to discuss the bespoke packages that we can opporsite actually), the indie gaming world has never been so offer all advertisers. good. In terms of mobile games, 500 games a day were going up on iOS in 2014, compared to 250 a day on Android. That’s a day. An If you would like to contribute, email us an incredible amount. Of course, that figure probably includes a fair example of your work. amount of clones, but it is still pretty incredible anyway. We hope you enjoy the magazine and please do Even the WII U has seen 80 indie games released in it’s eShop. The get in touch with questions and comments. top price for a title on the Wii U eShop is around $15. However, Rose has warned that after the initial exposure of launch, developers The Team: Richard Hoffmann: Editor-in-Chief could struggle to stimulate sales. Harry Cole: Publisher Lee Smith: Creative Director In this issue of IND13, the sitxh, we are featuring some of the best indie games currently out there, and in developement, including Our Channels: Beyond Flesh and Blood, Super Dungeon Bros, War for the Website: www.ind13.com Overlord, World War Toon and more. Facebook: www.facebook.com/ind13 Twitter: @official_Ind13 So, in short, carry on playing those games. Carry on making them, blogging about them, vlogging about them, because the indie Contacts: game industry is thriving, and is here to stay. For editorial enquires: [email protected] For advertising enquires: [email protected] Lee Smith, Creative Director, ind13 4 SUMMER 2015 ISSUE SIX IND13.COM IND mag ad copy.pdf 1 21/03/2014 15:10 R C M Y CM MY CY CMY K 500 MILLION PLAYS WITHIN 3 YEARS WE PUT SOME OF THIS SUCCESS DOWN TO OUR IND13.COM MARCH 2015 ISSUE FIVE 5 MINIWORLDGAMES IS A GAMES STUDIO POWERED BY FEATURE: IND13 Q&A Can you tell us about a positive experience you’ve had working in independent gaming? HARRY SOPHIE RICHARD LEE JENNIFER LEX Harry that you only see once you open All in all, being in the gaming industry There’s a great sense of community your eyes, unwire your brain from is actually fun, yet a bit stressful throughout the games industry and corporate mediocrity, and embrace at times. But doing what we’re this goes into Indie gaming too, which the weird, the wacky, and the passionate about has always been makes working with Indie games a wonderful. our goal and it overlooks the bad side positive experience all-round. of things in the industry. So I am lucky that I have managed to But a personal experience would be get out there and experience a life Richard working with individual developers outside of the AAA games, and you Working in independent gaming who take on their dream project and should too. is one of the most liberating bring it to life. experiences, as you can do anything Lex to a game - no questions asked, well Seeing someone dedicated to doing Our team is actually new in the except if you add a Goat to it... every aspect of a game themselves, games industry; and we are doing that’s really special to witness and our best to give out every best Sophie be a part of. quality way possible for our readers Seeing our first indie game blasted and visitors. all over the front page of the PSN Lee store, Nintendo eShop and Xbox One It is all about those damned games The games community is big, bigger store and thinking ‘wow, anything is because, when you work within the than what older people have ever possible’. indie gaming world, you play games imagined. We want our voices to that challenge your thinking in a be heard, opinions to be noticed, Jennifer more creative way. and our critics to be accepted. The You can never predict who you’ll experience so far as a journalist in end up sharing a beer with! The Games that slap you around the the industry was actually great. conviviality of the industry means face shouting “hey, gaming isn’t just that I’ve been able to hang out about GTA you know fool!” We were given a chance to interview with some of my personal heroes. great people like Adam Kovic, review Everybody’s excited about each It is truly a rich and varied gaming great and mediocre games, and most others’ work - we never run out of world out there, full of the sort of importantly write feature articles things to talk about! « challenges, variety and invention related to gaming. 6 SUMMER 2015 ISSUE SIX IND13.COM FEATURE: Beyond Flesh and Blood EARTH IS IN RUINS AFTER THE GLOBAL WAR..