I have borne witness to kitchen witchery. The haphazard melding of normally unrelated ingredients like carrots and chocolate powder, of minced garlic and cranberry chutney into a delicious brown goop has left me bewildered and surfeited. I think the witch had initially intended for it to be a Japanese curry.
Sometimes the strangest things just work. It’s true of cooking and, perhaps more relevantly, it’s true of video games. While large publishers may be more inclined to cling to the safety of steak and potatoes, indies tend to be more willing to venture into strange, uncommon territory. To have a gander at some decidedly more colourful fruits of independent labor, jump on over to the repository of WIP projects known as Screenshot Saturday, or view a spoonful of the tastiest right here!
Dungeons of Aledorn by Team 21
Mixing tactical combat and role playing mechanics with puzzles is the plan here. The team cites classics such as Might & Magic, King’s Bounty, and Fallout as inspiration for what appears to be some manner of first person delve into challenging fantasy exploits. Expect punishing difficulty and, if this lush piece of concept art is any indication, venues beyond dank dungeon rigmarole. The Kickstarter campaign slated for February should reveal more details.
Something, maybe, by Sanocrax
I don’t know, but I think Sanocrax might be intending to animate a game through claymation. Their Patreon is adorned with the line “…creating analog vibes in digital times” – a tag that serves to fuel my hopes of tiny, keyboard compelled golems. Here’s hoping this space cowboy sees the light of dawn some time down the line.
Concrete Jungle by Cole Jefferies
City building and collectible card decks are concepts that naturally go hand in hand. Right? Don’t look at me like that – see, someone’s creating it right now! You just swap out the fiddly micromanagement bits for construction cards, and make each structure set affect those around it like a Captain of the Watch does its cannon fodder lackeys. Grow your city, refine your deck, and play against the demands of your populace, and voila, I no longer sound like a crazy person.
Ley Line by Neorune
Our world is paralleled by another. Only one man is capable of crossing the ley lines that connect ours to Arcadia, and his chance at redemption lies on the other side. In the process of hunting the whereabouts of a familiar form, this point and click adventure will see Mark Vaelyn encountering faces far more strange and far more massive. While genre-familiar elements of play do appear in accessible forms, Neorune has favored story, character, and lore for their inaugural title.
Frogatto & Friends by Lost Pixel
This idealistic frog’s journey is a shamelessly classic-styled platformer whose release fell some years ago. Why is it appearing on Screenshot Saturday? Well, because it’s still in development (and quite attractive). Lost Pixel is continuing to update the game, adding new bosses, levels, animations, and art as they go. The above is a lovely work in progress “added-perspective” version of a seaside home, one of the revisions slated for an impending release.
