Backbone (2021) | Eggnut

My reverse dating sim for One Game A Month #35, BREAK HER HEART, is now LIVE!!!! Come enjoy

I was thinking recently about how "alt" subcultures are so aestheticized now but they used to be much more about your societal views than the clothes you wore or even the bands you listened to, and my brain connected some dots. Idk if this is anything

Indie Game Spotlight: Garden Story

Gather your fishing rod and farming tools for this week’s Indie Game Spotlight! Garden Story is a pixel-art community-sim with Action RPG mechanics! You play as Concord, the youngest inhabitant of the Grove, a small island overrun with sentient creatures. Travel through four towns to fix, fight, and forage for the friends you make along the way!

We spoke to Picogram, the solo-developer for Garden Story who did all the art, code, game design, and writing. Phew. Read on!

What’s the story behind the title of the game?

The whole game is about cultivation, like improving life for the people of the Grove in a lot of different ways. I wanted the theme of steady growth to take front and center for the player. And the word “story” is in there because the game has a…story? (And I’m a really big MapleStory fan.)

How did the team come up with the animation style?

I’ve been a pixel-artist and animator ever since I had my hands on a computer. My animation style is literally whatever is fastest and easiest to iterate on. Most people say my style is most reminiscent of Mother games, but I really go for what feels good in the moment, like giving Concord a li’l bit of squishiness.

Garden Story has many elements fulfilling requests, exploration, solving puzzles and more. What are some of your favorite features?

My favorite feature has definitely gotta be the Memory system. I basically blended the concepts of Perks, Achievements, and Experience into one system. Any time Concord does something for the first time, they get a Memory that can be equipped. Each one has a specific perk and a little snapshot of what you did!  I’m really hoping to get it scrapbook-themed, so you kind of have a diary of all your accomplishments!

Is there a stamina bar or some type of restriction on how long your character can exert energy?

Yes! Concord has a stamina bar for actions like running and attacking. It depletes and regains points more like a Dark Souls game and less like the stamina system in Stardew Valley. The players’ stats ultimately determine Concord’s maximum stamina and regeneration.

Who are some of the characters we can expect to meet?

There’s a whole island of characters, each belonging to one of the four regions of the Grove. People seem to really like Rana, the scout-frog from Spring Hamlet! The Summer Bar has a lot of sea-themed characters, like the carpenter-fish Woody and the Clam triplets. Some NPCs are a bit harder to find, hidden in some secret spots!

What character do you most identify with?

Definitely, the bubbly Rot Oozes you have to fight all the time. Who wouldn’t like to just be a slime? Simply sublime.

Who’s ready to explore the Grove? The team is currently running towards making the game available on PC/Mac but you can stay up to date on more here on Steam.

Go check out my sister’s bachelor project “Postmouse” for free on Steam! Her team did an outstanding job creating this little game! “Join Postmouse on their very first journey to deliver mail in a treacherous world unfit for a tiny mouse. Explore the ruins, meet charming characters and solve puzzles on your way through an abandoned mansion in this free, student-made adventure - all in one small mouse-sized package! “

hello would you consider making a tutorial for diy pins :)

Yes yes i can, i have some stuff goin on today but i think ill have time later in the afternoon (at least in my time itll be afternoon) so later today ill try and put it out

Shin Godzilla (2016)

happy friday the 13th here are some spooky text-based games for halloween:

contrition - As a priest, it’s your job to listen to your parishioners’ darkest secrets and absolve their guilt. But when a sinister stranger comes to the confessional one Halloween night, you realize it’s your soul on the line.

familiar - You are a familiar. Your mistress has some requests for you. Help her complete her ritual, or pay the price of failure.

jagged bone - A branching choose-your-own-adventure horror game about transformation and perspective. 

the forest of candles (and the man with a lighter) - follows Maggie, a young woman with a fear of forest fires sparked by an old town folk tale. She's spent years trying to escape her hometown and the fear it inspires in her, only to be called back for the funeral of an old friend.

mary's hare - Mary's Hare is short interactive horror story about a woman and a rabbit, based on the story of Mary Toft.

only this - "And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming / And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor..."

what girls do in the dark - a slumber party text adventure.

god is in the radio - you are death, one of 22 members of the major arcana, a cult dedicated to some far-off god. the night is halloween, and you watch in scorn as the unknowing dance among devils and dress to indulge in sin. the high priestess receives a message from the all-mighty himself: the arcana must gather in an abandoned house and find his song on an old radio receiver.

anchorhead - Travel to the haunted coastal town of Anchorhead, Massachusetts and uncover the roots of a horrific conspiracy inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Search through musty archives and tomes of esoteric lore; dodge hostile townsfolk; combat a generation-spanning evil that threatens your family and the entire world. (illustrated version on itch.io)

my father's long, long legs - An interactive horror story about family, unease, and loss.

beneath floes - Qikiqtaaluk, 1962. The sun falls below the horizon and won't return for months. You wander the broken shoreline, wary of your mother's stories about the qalupalik. Fish woman, stealer of wayward children: she dwells beneath the ice.

the silence under your bed - An interactive horror collection about the strange, the spooky, and the macabre. 

bogeyman - You can go home when you learn to be good.

and is your shame helpful? is it inspiring goodness and change? or is it keeping you frozen in time unable to move on and be everything you have expanded to be?