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Extremely Queer Indie Game ‘EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER’ Tops Charts

Posted on July 26, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

Experimental visual novel, mecha brawler and Fascist slaying indie title EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER is currently climbing the top ten grossing titles on Itch.io. Developed by fellow queer game developer Heather Flowers, EXTREME MEAT PUNKS FOREVER, is unapologetically, radical, leftist and queer as hell. Fusing a vibrant pastel presentation, a quartet of protagonists and mech battles where you fight your literal clone (and kill Fascist scum while you’re at it, EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER takes a look at a lot of different subject matter through a queer lens. 

I asked Heather for a brief overview of what EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER is and what the success of the game meant to her. Below is her statement as provided:

“EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER is a serialized visual novel/mech brawler about gay disasters beating up neonazis in giant robots made of meat. It’s about growing up queer in a small town, about being at odds with your own body, about feeling broken and trying to build a community with other broken people. The game takes from a lot of my own personal experiences growing up in Oklahoma (though it tends to give a more fantastical spin on events). Reception so far has been extremely positive, but the true question is what will happen as more episodes come out. I hope people like it and stay interested! Either way, we’ll see in a couple weeks.” 

Feeling at odds with your own body, having to build your own community (and family) by getting to know other broken queer people are experiences that also ring very true with myself. Sadly, my transition did not include a giant mecha or clone battle – but if it did, perhaps it would out as awesome as EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER looks to be.  Plus you get to kill a bunch of fascists – because fuck them! 

Extreme Meatpunks Forever is currently within the top 10 best-selling titles on Itch.io right now. For $9.00 USD you too can check out this episodic leftist queer genre mashup (Windows, Mac, Linux) and support an awesome queer creator. The price on itch guarantees access to the whole first season, of which the pilot, Episode 1 and 2 are out now. 

Further episodes in EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER will be released on the following dates: 

JULY 19 – PILOTS, PT. 1 + PT. 2 (out now!!) Cass makes a choice. Lianna goes to work. Brad dabs. Sam fucks up.
AUGUST 2 – INFINITE DESERT HELLZONE 

AUGUST 16 – CROSSED CLAWS 

AUGUST 30 – LAST LEGS 

SEPTEMBER 13 – HOPE 

[Source]

 

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Emotional Support Catgirl Prototype Playable At GDC 2018

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Rae Michelle Richards

San Francisco, California —  Broken Joysticks Media, a Canadian technology and interactive entertainment focused blog platform announces the release of Emotional Support Catgirl (prototype version) on the Itch.io platform. Developed during the 52 hour Train Jam game development event leading up to GDC, Emotional Support Catgirl tells the narrative of a trans woman living in the Midwestern United States who finds comfort and support through the BBS systems of the 1990s.

Emotional Support Catgirl invites players to experience the journey of Nichole as she connects with an entire cast of other queer transwomen through a private bulletin board system between the years of 1999 and 2000. Emotional Support Catgirl’s adaptation of the Unity Engine provides players with a functional command-line and era specific commands used on bulletin board systems of the era. This is a game forged from the personal experience of its developers.

Train Jam is a gathering of game developers from a number of disciplines to develop experimental and interesting titles on the cross-America journey from Chicago, IL to SF,CA during the week leading up to the Games Developer Conference.  This year’s theme was given as “Odyssey” which resulted in 84 unique entries being submitted. More information on Train Jam can be found on their website – http://www. trainjam.com/ All 84 unique games submitted to the Jam can be viewed here – https://itch.io/jam/train-jam-2018/entries.

Key Features of Emotional Support Catgirl:

  • Replica of a 1990s / early 2000s Bulletin Board System.
  • Several different threads, replies and time-states available to players to experience the narrative.
  • Command-line driven gameplay.
  • Lots of green and black for the true throwback experience.
  • Queer as hell narrative.

A downloadable prototype of Emotional Support Catgirl can be downloaded for free at https://itch.io/jam/train-jam-2018/rate/235983. Emotional Support Catgirl will be playable on the GDC Showfloor along with all other 84 entries at booth N4918 during the Games Developers Conference.

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Weirder Stuff Game Jam Returns This Weekend To Spook Up Some Fun

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Clickteam USA is sponsoring their second annual Weirder Stuff game jam over on Itch.io this weekend. This three-day event is open to all regardless of development experience or overall talent and will center around a theme to be disclosed when the Game Jam begins on Friday, October 20th. 

If you’re unfamiliar with what a game jam is – it is where developers of all skill levels are invited to create an original game within a specific theme, possibly using a specific engine or other requirements within a short time limit. Game Jam games are often broken, missing features, minimalist and downright weird.  There’s a certain beauty to interactive work created out of passion but within the constraints of 72 – 96 hours. 

Clickteam Fusion 2.5 – the company’s current flagship engine – allows non-programmers, hobbyists and professionals alike to create interactive experiences with no code. In the place of code CTF2.5’s visual “Event Editor” provides developers with a grid style guide to the actions in their game. One of the selling points of Fusion 2.5 is that almost anyone can have a prototype up and running within an hour, and in my own personal experience I’ve found this to be true. 

Once the development period closes on Sunday CT will be choosing 8 entrants who follow the official submission rules. Up for grabs is one Grand Prize consisting of CT Fusion 2.5 Developer Edition + Android Exporter and a bunch of physical goodies. Second place prize includes CT Fusion 2.5 Standard + Android as well as physical goodies and finally, 6 runners up will be selected to receive a copy of CT Fusion 2.5 Standard. 

More details about the Weirder Stuff 2 game jam can be found on the official itch.io page. Entries can be developed using the free version of Clickteam Fusion available on their official site, so there’s no upfront cost to enter a game – except for your own time & creativity that is. If you want to follow the entries but not participate in development directly, make sure to watch the hashtag #IWantToCreate on Twitter! 

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I Made A Game About 2000s Instant Messengers Thanks To LoveJam

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Rae Michelle Richards

Developing video games isn’t something that I can confess to have a large amount of knowledge about but alas I’ve spent the past year or so learning the basics of Unity 3D and C#. This past weekend I took part in Love Jam, a 72 hour game jam that Simeoens, Mientje and Kenny Guillaume set up to not only celebrate the theme of love but also a friend’s upcoming marriage.

Here is how the organizers described their event:

“A friend of ours is getting married and asked us if we could make a game for the occasion. 
Loving gamedev and game jams we said yes without hesitation and agreed to use the first weekend of February to do so.  

 We didn’t think of it at the time, but we suddenly realized that this is very close to Valentine’s day and wondered if there would be any interest in a jam that had ‘wedding’ as a central theme. 

 In the end we decided that the concept of a wedding might put off people who don’t believe in the tradition and so decided to extend the theme to love in general, of any kind.” 

This game jam was the first game dev related collaboration with a time limit that I’ve taken part in and it helped me learn a lot about how to keep cool under pressure during a crunch. I decided to focus on the love of friendship for my entry for Love Jam – which I called Luv.IM. Taking place in a 2000s era Instant Messenger program inspired by the AOL Instant Messenger of yore, it is not only a story of two different people meeting online but also what it is like to discuss the problems that life can throw at you with someone you might not all that well.  I made the submission deadline with only 2 hours and change to spare and an audio glitch caused me to scrap the planned sound effects for this jam, also only after publishing did I notice that some of the texts gets slightly cut off of the screen. *sigh*, I suppose that is the nature of game jams.

LoveJam saw 10 different entries from over 30 developers. I highly recommend anyone reading this post check out the entries (not just mine) because there’s a little bit of everything on offer from visual novels, to platformers to interactive greetings card – all made in the name of love.

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