As 2013 draws to an end and we look ahead to what the new year and next gen consoles will bring, there's plenty that's happened over the past year that's worth a bit of a revisit. Here, then, is a recap of some of the stand out Indie-Ana Co-Op features over the past several months, and my own personal list of favorite indie games I've played in 2013.
While the entire 2k catalog of games is enjoying a big sales weekend on Steam, they're not the only games to be getting a little love. Retrovirus and Sol Survivor are both free until 1 pm PDT Sunday, and if you like what you see, they're also on sale for 60% off! So you can get two great co-op games for around $11 total.
Things were shaky for Retrovirus developer Cadenza Interactive for awhile. The Kickstarter campaign they launched for their cooperative six-degrees-of-freedom shooter failed due to a variety of reasons. Yet the small development team managed to press on and released the game on Steam last month. We talk with Matt Enright, one of the lead developers on the game, about how they managed it all, what challenges they faced, and what's next for them.
I have a special place in my heart for nerdy things related to old PC culture. Perhaps it reminds me of an innocent youth in front of my 386DX messing with config.sys and autoexec.bat files trying to determine if I should include or not include himem.sys. Still with me? If you are, then I've got a game that plays to those memories quite well. The game is call Retrovirus, from indie developer Cadenza, and it not only features plenty of geeky throwbacks and a full co-op campaign in 6DOF.
A new year means a new year of gaming to which to look forward. While there are a few AAA co-op titles set to release over the next few months that we're excited about, there are also quite a few independent co-op games that are slated to come out within the first 6 months of the year. So, without further ado, we present to you our most anticipated indie co-op titles of 2013, in no particular order.
The alpha has come and gone, and Retrovirus is now kicking into beta mode. Dylan Barker, game designer/community manager for developer Cadenza Interactive, told us this past summer that plans were in place for the game to still see release, no matter what, and it appears the next phase has arrived. The best part? Unlike the alpha, which was limited to just some of the single-player missions, the beta comes with... wait for it... co-op modes! The beta is not free; though it is essentially a pre-order of the game as the full thing will unlock once it's released early next year, we're told.
Not every Kickstarter campaign sees it way to fruition. Such was the case, sadly, for Cadenza Interactive and their six-degrees-of-freedom cooperative shooter, Retrovirus. For some of these campaigns, that's the end of things - the game/movie/album/book will never be and the people involved move on to the next thing. For Cadenza, it was simply time to move on to the next plan. As Dylan Barker told us when we spoke to him last month just prior to the campaign's conclusion, Cadenza had some other plans in place to help see them through should the worst occur. Turns out, those plans were to find a major distributor.
We're a bit late with this feature, but that doesn't make it any less pertinent. Last week we spoke with Dylan Barker, designer and semi-community manager for Cadenza Interactive, about what's going on with their latest game and their Kickstarter campaign (which is now closed). Dylan offers some interesting insight into their design process this time around and what Kickstarter means to them, and what happens if it fails (which it sadly did). So give it a listen!
There are a lot of Kickstarter campaigns out there for a variety of projects ranging from boardgames to videogames to underwater rovers. One such project that we noticed, and of which we brought word last month when it started up, was for Cadenza Interactive's next game: Retrovirus. Offering a six-degrees of freedom style of gameplay (think Descent) along with a fully cooperative campaign, Retrovirus is a bit of an ambitious title for the relatively new studio, but it's a project they are very passionate about and are eager to share with the videogaming community. In fact, they now have a playable alpha version available for download so you can get an idea of what the game's about. Check out some gameplay footage after the break.
Cadenza Interactive will be joining the likes of Crate Entertainment, Double Fine, and countless others as they seek some additional funding for their upcoming "six-axis" co-op shooter, Retrovirus. In a press release sent to us, Dylan Barker, one of Cadenza's designers, let us know that they're officially hopping on the Kickstarter bandwagon, and they've got at least one reward tier that's geared towards the co-op loving gamer.
The days are getting longer, warmer, and just a bit more busy. Yes, summer is finally arriving and we've got some fun things planned for you all with our Indie-Ana Co-Op feature. Before we get there, though, we thought we'd do a quick retrospective of some of our winter and spring highlights.
This week in Indie-Ana Co-Op, we continue with our Dev Stories series with an entry from Cadenza Interactive, the indie dev studio behind Sol Survivor and the upcoming Retrovirus. They share their story of what they learned about cooperative gameplay, how it helped inform areas outside of co-op in their latest game, and the opportunities indie developers have to help shape cooperative gaming.
