Early Alpha of TigBox, the Indie Games Distribution Software, Released

Today The Independant Gaming Source released an early build of their indie games distribution software, called TigBox.

According to a post on TIGS, TigBox is an application  similar to something like Steam, which will allow users to download and manage any indie game from a database of over 500 games.

TigBox has two tabs: My Games, and Get Games. In the Get Games tab you can search for indie games according to rating, genre, and so on, download them, and then play them through the My Games tab.

TigBox already includes some of my favourite indie games, such as Knytt Stories, Within a Deep Forest, and N, which has since gone mainstream with the the release of N+ on Nintendo DS.

The version of TibBox that has been released is a very early proof of concept though, so it lacks quite a few features. For example, it doesn’t actually work yet, which is an improtant feature for most programs.

But for fans of indie games the release of TigBox 0.01 alpha comes as very good news; it’s always hard to find good, new indie games, due to their lack of advertising and inherently low-profile nature. Once TigBox gets into full-fledged development it’s going to become much easier to find great indie titles, giving indie gaming fans more of what they want and indie developers greater exposure for their sometimes under-appreciated work.

So if you’re fan of indie games, keep your eye on TigBox! If you want to download the early alpha version and test it out, click here.

Award-winning Crayon Physics Set to be Released Tomorrow

Petri Purho’s indie project Crayon Physics Deluxe is slated for release tomorrow, January 7th, according to Petri’s blog.

The title, which won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at last year’s Independant Games Festival, has garnered quite a bit of attention recently, and with due reason. Its unique puzzle gameplay and stylized graphics make it both original and entertaining, tapping into the simple urges to create and manipulate objects while still managing to keep coherent goals and structure.

Petri is apparently a very honest guy, because Crayon Physics is about, well, crayons. Oh, and there’s, um, physics too. In the best combination since peanut butter and jelly, Crayon Physics combines two seemingly disparate concepts to make an addictive game in which you draw objects in crayon and then manipulate them with basic two-dimensional physics to beat each level.

It’s hard to describe just how clever the game is, so it’s probably best if you just watch the video embedded below.

Crayon Physics can be pre-ordered at the Crayon Physics site for $19.95.

Derek Yu’s Spelunky Nears Completion

Just before the new year Derek Yu, the indie game developer behind Aquaria and the hilarious and satirical I’m OK, in which you run around killing game developers as requested in Jack Thompson’s “Modest Video Game Proposal”, released the latest version of his new title Spelunky.

Spelunky, which was released on the TIGForums for independant gaming, features procedurally generated levels that are different each time you play. In each level you adventure through a cave collecting treasure and killing creatures as you try to rack up a high score.

According to Yu the game is meant to play like an action-adventure version of old-school roguelike games, mimicking the unpredictability, tension, and difficulty of roguelikes in a real-time format.

And Spelunky is difficult. Like in the roguelike games it is inspired by, you will be killed mercilessly over and over for the slightest mistake, sending you back to the beginning to start your suicidal adventure all over. But call me masochistic, because I find myself addicted to this cute little game already.

I’ve written before about indie games, mainly because I’m a big fan of them; independant developers can fuse different genres, experiment with gameplay, style and art, and make the unique and quirky games that they really want to play. Spelunky is a perfect example of that independant style, bringing an experience that big game developers would often be afraid to risk trying.

Spelunky isn’t quite up to version 1.0 yet, but it still plays fantastically. You can check it out right here.