Popup Dungeon - Papercraft Roguelike Awesomeness - on Kickstarter

I'm not really a patient person. When I buy something, I'm not against spending an extra few bucks to get it in the store instead of waiting for a week to get it in the mail (unless, you know, it only costs a few bucks anyway). This is always the problem with Kickstarter projects - with very few exceptions, you'll be waiting months or even over a year before you get your hands on what you supported.

It's with that strong impatience for awesomeness that I have to say: Popup Dungeon looks AMAZING! Now that I'm making some money at a decent job, I was finally able to back my first video game project. Someone else in my friends list had backed it, so I clicked the link from my email and began drooling almost immediately... The art is glorious and the features seemingly never ending! I was already ready to back it when I saw that it's being developed by the folks who did Ring Runner as well, which made me even more psyched.


Now, this isn't just another dungeon crawler RPG, no siree! You get to choose from some awesome playable characters [Note: this also includes special characters like Isaac from The Binding of Isaac and Juan Aguacate from Guacamelee!], import others from other players or even create your own and watch it come to life, folding together in front of your eyes! The game also offers the ability to "play as the wizard", taking control as the dungeon master, create and edit items and all other sorts of nifty things.

Kitty can has cheezburgers... From the corpses of his fallen enemies!

And again, there's the art! It's so gloriously fun and amazing! It reminds me of Herocraft from back in the day, playing the game on an actual board and using tiles for the "pieces", except that these are 3D (ish!) and fantastically animated!

The game is releasing for Windows, Linux and Mac AND IS ALREADY GREENLIT ON STEAM! If stretch goals are reached, Wii U and mobile (Android and iOS) will be made available as well.

Available for: Win/Linux/Mac, Wii U and mobile possible with stretch goals
Lowest Pledge for Game: $15 ($20 for Ring Runner as well!)
Estimated Release: Q2 2015 for "Backer Only Beta" (available to all at above $15 pledge), full game Q2 2016

TOEFL Test - iBT Practice Free App

Note: I was unable to try this app out myself, so the below comes only from developer info, the app's page and other online sources.

A few years ago, I ran a word-of-the-day game called Million Dollar Words: Daily Edition. It was a lot of fun to put together, and despite the fact that 80% of the words I use on my blog (and more like 90% in real life) are either "awesome", "sweet" or "amazing", I really do enjoy learning new words! Since vocabulary apps are small, they're pretty much the only things my 3 year old phone can handle, and I'd download them to try to find even more delicious words of awesomeness.

What I never considered, though, was searching for TOEFL apps! TOEFL - the Test of English as a Foreign Language - interestingly includes a whole slew of words that lots of us who speak English as a primary language don't even know!

For those who aren't big fans of learning new vocabulary, and for those of you who want to read about the app and not my own life experiences, TOEFL Test - iBT Practice is an awesome app! Instead of simply using virtual flash cards or reading a list of words and their definitions, you also get games to play in addition to the quizzes, flash cards, charts and so on, perfect for people who learn all sorts of ways!

The free version includes all of the features of the full "pro" version but with fewer words (150 instead of 3000!!!), so you can easily see what the full app has to offer for free! If you decide to go for the pro version (hint: you should!), it's only 99 cents anyway, far less than the cost of a boring book.

Available For: Android and iOS (Free version; Pro version $0.99)

Developed By: MediaAgility

Clobbr for Android/iOS - "Precious, Adorable Mild Violence"

Doesn't this just SCREAM "Precious, adorable mild violence"???

I was informed about an intriguing little title called Clobbr that the developer very cleverly calls "precious, adorable mild violence." I'll admit, that little tagline alone had me intrigued!

Note: Since I have no device that can play the game, I couldn't test this out myself. I have only the developer's information, images and videos to go by.

That kitty is gonna get it!

Like any good puzzle game, the concept is incredibly simple: slide each row right or left to line up the symbols, then clobber the ball into the ground, watching it follow the path you've created. Your goal is to get the rock to hit the kitty, saving the mice, and you've got a limited amount of time to line it all up. At first, it looks like it's just arrows, but then there are trampolines, ice blocks, portals, bowling balls, mouse traps... Craziness galore! To quote the developer: "The game includes 100 levels across 5 worlds, each introducing a new type of block - trampolines, catapults, ice cubes, portals and bowling balls, with new worlds and blocks planned in the near future."

Available For: iOS ($1.99), Android ($1.99)

Developed By: Czarcade

Wordspionage - Scrabble for Sneaky, Tricky Spies!

Note: I don't have any of the platforms this game is available for, so this information and excitement is taken purely from the game's app pages and the developer.




Wordspionage is Scrabble with special operations, special words and craziness aplenty. Boom, post done in one sentence! Have a great rest of your day everyone! :D

Seriously though, and don't get me wrong, I do like Scrabble... But there's only so much of coming up with random two letter words and trying to figure out what to do with a Q when there are no Us anywhere to be found. Since I've only recently gotten back into writing, my vocabulary has all but fallen apart, so looking at seven random letters typically leads me to coming up with words like "cow" or "hat" or other 3-letter words that children learn before second grade. Wordspionage, on the other hand, adds some much needed strategy for those who aren't masters of the dictionary.

FEEL THE WRATH OF MY Q!!!

Best of all, the game is free for iOS and Android, so get on it! And make sure you give Sterling and Madeline - the code names of the husband and wife development team - a challenge once you do!

Available For: iOS (FREE!), Android (FREE!)
Developed By: Napland Games
Game Homepage: www.Wordspionage.com

Default Dan on Kickstarter - The Anti-Platformer!

When I say "platformer", what do you think of? A game where you run to the right, stomping on enemies heads, collecting coins (or whatever item you might have to collect), avoiding spikes and carefully jumping across holes? Default Dan does stick to one of those things - running to the right (or left sometimes) - and you do dodge things, but it's not enemies or holes... It's coins! That's right, in Default Dan, coins are fatal.


What makes a platformer unique enough to talk about on Kickstarter? A crazy sense of humor mixed with platforming execution! While it's funny enough that it mocks other platformers with style, it also looks like a solid, challenging platforming game. The Kickstarter page even has a couple 9+ minute videos where you can watch people playing it! That's pretty unheard of for a Kickstarter game, you're usually lucky to get a couple minutes in one video trailer.

Aside from that, there are some really fun perks! It's only $5 for the game on a platform of your choice, $15 adds the mp3 soundtrack, a short comic pdf and other digital goodies, $25 adds a tshirt and beta access... Then it gets AWESOME! $50 adds Bobble Head Mode, where you send in six photos of your face and they make a special version just for you (Which looks HILARIOUS!), and the rest is fantastic as well.

There's a video, too, and it's amazing!!!

Estimated Completion Date: May 2014
Goal Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android (maybe OUYA too!)
Lowest Price Point for Game: $5 ($25 for beta)

Voyage to Farland Review AND GIVEAWAY

I'm going to be entirely upfront - roguelikes are one of the types of games that, while I like them, I'm not very good at them. I've heard such good things about some of them, text-based ones particularly, but the controls are so crazy and equipment is a hassle and I die on the first or second floor every time. While Voyage to Farland has a lot in common with those, it's far better, has more going on, but manages to do it all while keeping the required buttons to a minimum, using intuitive menus and making equipment a breeze. Oh, and it's a graphical roguelike, so you don't control an @ symbol fighting letters, shooting *s, etc.

Doom & Destiny Review AND GIVEAWAY - Farce +4

Let me start off by simply saying that Doom & Destiny absolutely surprised me. All that I knew going into it was that it was an RPG and it was all about mocking other RPGs. What I didn't know was just how awesome it would be! The game rarely lets a moment go by without being funny, and despite the fact that it could have simply been another RPG Maker game that used boring game play along with the humor, the game itself is really fun and incorporates a lot of unique, genius ideas that work amazingly well. I actually found myself running around and power-leveling quite often and actually enjoying it!

Fright Fight on Kickstarter - Frightening Characters + Super Smash Bros + RPG!

Happy Halloween! Today feels like a perfect day to point out Fright Fight for OUYA, iOS and Android. Oh, and there are 31 days left, which is 13 backwards! MWAHAHA! Seriously though, Fright Fight looks intriguing for its increasingly-awesome animations, online multiplayer and intriguing controls: on iOS and Android, everything is handled via gesture system, not simple buttons!

Astro Golf on Kickstarter - Adventure, Golf Style!

I've played a few games in the past that revolve entirely around basically shooting yourself in a direction to get to your goal, collecting points and the like as you go. I would say it's one of my favorite genres, really, as it's a unique way to get around and explore. Imagine if you combined Angry Birds with exploration; instead of flinging yourself at a building and pigs to destroy them you flung yourself in a direction toward a goal. All of that being said, Astro Golf looks like a fun addition to the genre!