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Category: Game News

Game Review: House Of The Lost By F5 Games

House of the Lost by F5 GamesI am a sucker for my Ouya. I backed it when it was on Kickstarter and love it every time I pick up a controller to play. There are so many great games on it and I never seem to run out of something new and interesting to try. So imagine my excitement when I learned that F5 Games, out of Tulsa, were releasing their rogue-like game House of the Lost on the Ouya.

I had played HotL a couple of times on my phone but never really could get into it because of the touch screen controls. They were a bit unwieldy for me. I could never make it through more than a couple of rooms. So when I learned about the Ouya version, I just had to try it out with a controller.

To give you an idea of what HotL is like, it is what is considered a rogue-like game. These are games that feature often brutal difficulty, randomized levels and perma-death. HotL features both perma-death and brutal difficulty and slightly randomized levels. Each level has a bunch of different predefined layouts but the game randomly picks which one you play.

I picked up HotL on Monday night and have played it every night since. Unfortunately, I don’t think I am getting much better at it. I have probably played every incarnation of level one there is, but have only been to level 2 a couple of times. I did manage to make it to level 2’s boss at one point, just to be fried with a laser beam almost immediately. So I have not experienced the full game yet but one of these days, I might just be able to.

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Beat The Summer Heat With Run Frosty Run By Winter Stories

Run Frosty run: Summer Is ComingThe Oklahoma heat is growing increasingly unbearable. With heat indexes 10+ degrees over the actual 95+ degree temperature, people are looking for all kinds of ways to keep cool. Many seek shade. Others seek the cool comfort of air conditioning. Still others seek a cool refreshing beverage. Yet there is one thing all these people are missing, a game about a snowman trying to escape the summer melt.

Oklahoma based Winter Stories Studio, a name already bringing on the cold, has finally released its infinite runner starring a group of snowpeople seeking shelter from the coming melt. Like many other infinite runners out there, the goal of the game is to keep running without hitting an obstacle or falling off a cliff. As you run, you collect snowflakes that are used to purchase a variety of unlockables.

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Winter Stories Studio Releases Run Frosty Run Trailer; Also Giveaway Promo For Other Games

Late last week, Winter Stories Studio launched the trailer for their next mobile game, Run Frosty Run. This endless runner stars a snowman sliding down the snow covered mountain side, dodging trees, cliffs and other obstacles. All in the name of collecting snowflakes. What do you do with those snowflakes? Buy awesome new hats, of course.

I got the chance to see more of this game in action this past Thursday at the OK Game Developer Meetup. It looks amazing. Each snowman has a unique look and personality and the customizable hats are a lot of fun ranging from fedoras and fezzes to quailman and traffic cones.

Leading up to the release of this game, Winter Stories is partnering with Oklahoma Game Development to give away promo codes for their other games, Pale One, Pale One HD, and Pull!, for the iOS. We have two codes for each game and will be giving one or more away each day this week. So watch our Facebook Group, Twitter, Google+ and this site for your chance to win.

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Review: Blue Beacon, A Retro Style Platformer By Adam Mowery

Blue Beacon by Adam MoweryDebuting on the PC and Xbox Live Indie Games—at only $1.00!—AdamTheOtaku has succeeded in adding his retro 2D platformer, Blue Beacon to the blossoming list of video games developed by Oklahomans.

In Blue Beacon, players take control of Sasha in a quest across three worlds, each with four stages, to collect three ‘Discs of Power.’ From the moment you begin the first stage you’re treated to an immediate homage of the beginning 1-1 stage to the original Super Mario Bros.—no doubt telling you what sort of game Blue Beacon will be. Continue further in the game and you’re treated to allusions of other early console platformers such as Kid Icarus, Kid Chameleon, Adventure Island, Bonk, and so on. Yet adding its own personality, Sasha collects diamonds instead of coins (with 100 granting an extra life) while enemies like Goombas and Koopas are replaced by ladybugs and pillbugs. Meanwhile each of the three worlds possesses an insect themed power-up headgear to aid Sasha in better traversing them, such as the beetle helmet to crash through obstacles, the butterfly helmet to glide short distances across terrain, and the grasshopper helmet to super jump up and over both.

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Glass Wing A Retro Style 3D Platformer Puzzle Game By From Soy Sauce

Glass Wing by From Soy SauceOne of the most promising game developers in Oklahoma continues to flaunt its game design chops. From Soy Sauce had really shone when it completed its IndieGogo funded game Spheroid earlier this year. Now it is back with a game jam game that shows just how great they can be.

Glass Wing was released a couple of weeks back as the result of FSS’s efforts to compete in a month long game jam put on by 64 Digits. As a result of this, FSS created a retro inspired 3D platformer with just the right mix of Ocarina of Time and Metroid Prime style platforming.

Glass Wing stars a young woman by the name Mayfly of the Glass Wing race who is kidnapped from her home so that a demon may harvest her wings for their magical properties. Barely escaping from her captor, Mayfly must traverse the dangers of this unfamiliar realm as she attempts to restore her lost wings and return home.

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Divine Knight Continues One Game A Month Challenge For March And April

Board Game Quest by Divine Knight GamingI am continuing my coverage of Divine Knight Gaming’s effort to create one game a month, for the challenge of the same name. I missed timely coverage of March’s game and felt I better get on with covering it and April’s game before we ended up with May’s game on the docket. So with that out of the way, we have a couple of interesting games to show you.

For March, Divine Knight Gaming created a game called Board Game Quest. This game is a tactical board game prototype with a fantasy setting. Inspired by the Lego Heroica series of board games, it features four warrirors on a quest to defeat a demon at the center of the dungeon. Each character has its own unique ability that will come more into play as the game moves from prototype to full fledged multiplayer game.

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