Xecute and Ludum Dare 32

Twice a year a certain global competition is held: Ludum Dare. The aim: for indie developers to create a game in 48 hours, based upon a theme voted by the community and released on the Ludum Dare site as soon as the countdown begins.

First held in 2002, it been revised and refined over the years, from annual to bi-annual. Over the last few years it has gained increasing popularity, particularly with the participation of Notch (creator of Minecraft). The original 'Ludum Dare 0' had only 18 participants, but the most recent 'Ludum Dare 32' had a total of 2821 participants.

Our game was 298th.
 
We (Arkelite) decided to compete this year, the theme: An Unconventional Weapon.
Our driving idea was that the player itself is the weapon, and the player affects the environment, while the antagonist is more of the traditional game character.



The mission is simple: stop a duck from reaching the kill-switch which will destroy the machine (you). In order to stop the determined duck you need to use various traps, puzzle solving skills and chaotic robots to win.

Link: http://www.indiedb.com/games/xecute
http://ludumdare.com/compo/2015/04/15/welcome-to-ludum-dare-32/

Merdor

Over the past few months I've been working on a game called Merdor. It's a project I started five years ago, back in 2009 when I first started programming. Things have been pretty hectic with Architecture over the last 6 months, and I haven't had much time to work on side projects. So I made time. I have a number of things I'm working on; which I'll reveal later.

Merdor is built in a game engine called Game Maker.
Over the past few months I've rebuilt the game [the previous mechanics were horrible due to a lack of programming knowledge].
Personally of the various game projects I've been working on this has the greatest appeal to me.
As it is currently a playable build, I've decided to release it as an Alpha to see what everyone thinks, and gain some feedback as to what I can prove/what works well. I'll release updates to build on the existing game and add more features/levels.

http://www.indiedb.com/games/merdor

Slender: The Arrival Trailer

http://www.slenderarrival.com/

Minecraft 1.4 (Halloween Update)

Minecraft's new update introduces an all new enemy, the Wither, a combination of Skeleton and Blaze.

Slimes now spawn in swamps as well as huts containing witches who attack with splash potions. Zombies are now able to infect villagers, though infected villagers can be cured. Enemy mobs can now pick up armour and weapons and use them. Bats spawn in dark caves. Anvils can be built to repair damaged weapons and tools.

Conqueror! Game

"Conqueror is a turn-based, multiplayer strategy game that takes place on a map of medieval Europe. Easy to learn, but far deeper than Risk. Play on the web against as many as 15 human or AI opponents, for timed games as short as 30 minutes or as long as 4 hours. An ingenious system of simultaneous turns means that you don't have to wait for other players to make their moves!" - From the Conqueror! site.

What's great about this strategy game is it's entirely free, doesn't need an account to play. Basically you can play instantly, and it offers both single-player and multiplayer. Players are also able to join midway through games (if the game is not full) and choose to play as one of the AI players.

When entering a game, choose your position carefully. This is medieval Europe, so starting your own Roman Empire may be tricky. Spain's a solid choice for players starting off as it's better protected, and only a few players can attack at a time. Russia is a great choice as the player's empire will be able to spread to Scandinavia, downwards to Slavia and the middle east, and across central Europe. Usually the winning position for an experienced player is Poland area, provided the player is good enough to face multiple enemies at once. I'd also recommend reading the guide to work out how resources, population and spending work.

Slender: The Eight Pages

Slender is an indie horror/suspense game created by Parsec Productions in 2012.

There's rustling, footsteps, the sound of someone jumping over a wire fence. The flashlight is turned on, and you are faced with a dark forest and paths winding off to the left and right.

After wandering a short while, you come across one of eight pages pinned to various landmarks. Hastily scrawled onto a sheet of paper is a message. But what does it mean? You pick up the page, and you realise you are not alone.

http://www.parsecproductions.net/slender/