Friday 18 May 2012

Fairy Well (C64)


Fairy Well is a little gem of a game packed into a tiny 16KB cartridge. It is a modern example of the tight and efficient programming that was a hallmark of the 8-Bit era, where impressive game worlds were packed into tiny amounts of memory. The theme also brings back nostalgic memories of playing Stormlord on the Spectrum, with it's search-and-rescue game-play focused on freeing fairy princesses held captive by a sinister Dark Wizard in a magical underground realm.

Syder Arcade (PC/Mac)


There's a timeless quality to hardcore arcade shoot 'em ups, and I seriously doubt there'll ever be a time where taking control of a starfighter and blowing the shit out of countless enemies who spray waves of laserfire will stop being fun. Syder Arcade certainly isn't breaking this tradition of entertaining, challenging, and explosion-tastic scrolling shooters, and this brilliantly executed game has found the sweet spot of bullet-hell game design; the special place where old-school levels of difficulty dovetail with replay factor.

From the off Syder Arcade makes no bones about this good old fashioned difficulty - the default "young gun" difficulty setting's flavour text states that it's not the player's fault they grew up on modern consoles, and the gameplay that follows shows this is not a game to hold the player's hand.

Thursday 10 May 2012

You Have To Win The Game (PC)


You Have to Win the Game is an indie platformer crafted by one J. Kyle Pittman, an employee of Gearbox Software who has not only worked on many mainstream titles (e.g. Borderlands, Duke Nukem Forever) but also "maintains a semi-regular hobby development cycle." The latest fruit to be borne of said cycle is a gorgeous romp through a heavily cyan-ed and purple-d retro world.

The goal of the game is not entirely clear; just that you have to win it, of course. Controls are extremely simple - guiding your little baseball-capped hero is as easy as direction and jump keys on your keyboard, though a gamepad is recommended. He's a nimble kid; jumps and movement are extremely precise, something that shows its importance later on in the game, and leaves only you to blame for those last 37 deaths.

Offspring Fling (PC/Mac)


Oh Kyle Pulver. If I ever meet you in person, I'm going to hug you. It's going to be joyful, warm, and exceedingly awkward once you realize I won't let go. Your latest game, Offspring Fling, easily draws out my inner child despite my sturdy lock on its cage for my laborious adulthood. Am I surprised by your feat? Hardly. I've had my eye on you since 'Everyone Loves Active 2' and you never disappoint. Those smooth seductive graphics ohthethingsIwoulddo... oh right, the review. Enough of me being super creepy. Isn't it understandable though? I could spend a whole paragraph highlighting all of his games, but let's just save some time; how about you just go play them all. Like, right now. Don't worry, I'll be here when you get back...

Sunday 6 May 2012

Fairy Well Cartridge Available! (C64)


At long last, RGCD are proud to present Wide Pixel Games' universally acclaimed Fairy Well on cartridge! The winning entry of 2011's C64 16KB cartridge game development competition, Fairy Well is a unique and ambitious flick-screen collect-em-up arcade adventure of epic proportions squeezed into a tiny 16KB of ROM space.

With it's multiple game modes (via a character selection at the beginning of your quest), huge randomly generated level maps, varied enemies and items, boss-battles and timeless adventure gameplay, Fairy Well is a modern C64 classic. Guide your fairy through the labyrinthine underworld on your quest to rescue the captured princess and restore peace to the forest!

Fairy Well is both NTSC and PAL compatible, and it's joystick-only control means that it's even playable on the Commodore 64 GS console. The box artwork was created by our resident artist Flemming Dupont, and the game comes in a purple cartridge shell complete with a printed manual and exclusive sticker.

Grab your copy today from our online shop (£20 Europe/£21 Rest of World, shipping included).

Voxeliens (PC)


Voxels aren't a concept new to gaming, and neither is the vertical shooting gameplay style of the 1978 classic Space Invaders - but the newly-released Voxeliens by Volumes of Fun manages to merge the two together into something fresh, yet familiar. For those not in the know, voxels, or volumetric pixels, as a concept can be quite deep and complicated. However, their use in games tends to be for rendering objects, landscapes & terrain, or for visual appeal - making it much easier to grasp. A voxel itself can be thought of as a three dimensional pixel, representing a data point (block) in an open space. If this conjures up thoughts of Lego blocks, that's because it's a similar concept, except for that entire games are now being made of them, literal voxel sandboxes, universes, and battlefields.