In Development is back with 5 new indie games currently in the development stage. This month’s Roundup features pretty amazing artwork, multiplayer games, and those modern adaptations of old-school styles we like to see so much.
All the games featured in this Roundup have free demos for you to try, and all the information you need to support the development process of your favorites indie games.
Tales of Toast
Steam
Reviewed on Windows.
Genre: MMORPG
Developer: Toasty Leaf AB
This low-poly open-world MMORPG will take you through a cute tale of adventure and combat. Nice aesthetics, a big world to explore and PVP action are very nice features for a game, but the guys at Toasty Leaf really went the extra mile with their crafting system.
There are many different resources and a huge amount of blueprints for you to craft. The crafting system is level-based, so you should specialize in one of the different crafting styles available on Tales of Toast.
After you have some armor you can start exploring this artistic world filled with cute monsters and other players to help you… Or kill you.
Tales of Toast has an open PVP system where you can kill other players that are just minding their own business. There is a slight downside, if you kill a player without provocation, you’ll get killer status and the guards will kill you on sight.
Interview Highlight
Q: What motivated the concept of Tale of Toast?
A: Tale of Toast is made by two people – Austin and Fredrik. Austin lives in USA, and Fredrik lives in Sweden, so we have actually never met each other. We have played video games all our lives but, and wanted to create a more old school MMORPG that’s inspired by a lot of old-school classic games such as Ultima Online, EverQuest, Diablo1, Runescape Classic (2001) and Ragnarok. We’ve also been inspired by games such as Final Fantasy XIV and Vanilla WoW.
The game has a few small issues with pathfinding and performance optimization, while it’s not a big deal, they should really work on this, it kind of get’s in the way.
How can you help the guys at Toasty Leave develop Tale of Toast?
They’re currently working on sanding off the details so any feedback will be appreciated, tell your friends and try out this pretty cool MMORPG.
Desert Child
Game Jolt.
Reviewed on Windows.
Genre: Racing
Developer: Akupara games.
Desert Child is an RPG Racing game, where you’ll race armed with hoverbikes in dusty maps with pretty awesome effects. The guys at Akupara Games managed a very aesthetic game using pixel art.
So far you can choose the weapons for your bike, and after each race, you’ll have to fix up the damage and eat some ramen to regain your energy and jump to the next race.
Desert Child has a pretty cool local multiplayer mode where you can race a friend using a single keyboard.
Trying to shoot down and avoid incoming obstacles while keeping ahead in the race can get pretty messy. But in my opinion, the races could be more exhilarating if they made them a tad less crowded with scenery and a bit faster.
How can you help Akupara games develop Desert Child?
They already had a successful Kickstarter campaign not long ago, and while some of the tier rewards are no longer available, you can still become a supporter of Desert Child.
Raygun Gadabout
Itch.io
Reviewed on Windows.
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Quantum Duck Studio
Blast or slash your way across this colorful 2D galaxy. Raygun Gadabout is an action platformer where you’ll use your blaster, light-saber and energy shield to murder a bunch of space-rats and other kinds of astral berming… Something like interstellar pest control.
The best part about this project is their artwork and effects, while we don’t have a lot of information about where will they take the game after the Kickstarter campaign, we do know that their artwork and animations are pretty awesome. You can almost feel the burns of that light-saber and the character is really into shooting that raygun, just look at her.
When you talk about the Defense, I’m not a fan of the doge, it’s a bit short and since melee does more damage, missing it can really hurt. Now the energy shield is pretty cool, just like in the classic Super Smash Bros. when playing with any of the Star Fox chars, you can send incoming projectiles away, even back to the shooter, but be careful because you do have limited energy.
How can you help Quantum Duck Studio develop Raygun Gadabout?
Their Kickstarter campaign will be going live on the 3rd of April 2018. Help the guys at Quantum Duck Studio share their Alpha version with all your gamer friends.
Eagle Island
Itch.io
Reviewed on Windows.
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Pixelnicks
I’ve played a bunch of games, and tried out a huge variety of different weapons, still, I never thought I would be fighting monsters with an owl… Yes, Eagle Island is a Pixel Art Platformer where you fight mob by throwing your magical flying companion at them.
We really like having pets in our games, you know, the cuteness without the poop… But the guys at Pixelnicks took it one step further making your pet also your weapon. While you run and jump the owl just fly around the screen until you call it to attack, when, it zaps to your hand to be cannonballed into your target.
In the end, the fighting is quite unique. When you add the cool artwork, animations, and a very interesting Perk System to customize your character and of course your owl.
The guys at Pixelnicks decided to make the maps procedurally generated, so exploration will certainly get pretty interesting.
Interview Highlight
Q: What inspired the concept of Eagle Island? Why an Owl?
A: The game went through a lot of prototypes before being revealed. An older version included a group of disposable chicks which would follow the player around until he threw them at enemies. I decided to change disposable “bullet-like” enemies to a loyal sidekick. An owl seemed like a good choice for this.
How can you help Pixelnicks develop Eagle Island?
Eagle Island is already fully funded and on it’s way to Steam, don’t forget to wishlist it and tell the adventure gamers you know about this pretty innovative weapon.
My time at Portia
Game Jolt.
Reviewed on Windows.
Genre: RPG Simulator.
Developer: Pathea Games.
If you’re a fan of sandbox games, you might be getting a bit tired of the low bar for graphics of this genre. Sure, there are epic sandbox games like Don’t Starve that have awesome aesthetics but still use 2D Graphics… If you feel what I’m saying you should give My time at Portia a chance.
The guys at Pathea Games are making for us a very impressive 3D sandbox world. Filled with NPCs, Quests, Resources, Combat and Dungeon Crawling My time in Portia is a very promising game. Starting with the classic “Heir to the family farm” backstory the game soon develops into a full RPG sandbox experience, you’ll have to gather resources to fix and improve your farm and equipment.
After crafting a while, you can go explore the ruins of the long lost civilization that came before your time. That’s right, My time at Portia green and happy environment actually hide a post-apocalyptic setting. By exploring this ruins, you can really spice things up looking for crazy relics and lost tech.
How can you help Pathea Games develop My time at Portia?
The game has been already greenlighted thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, but most rewards are still available and you can try out their Demo to help them with bug reports and feedback.
