Canadian artist, known simply as Michaela, aka “M.M.”, has quite the collection of video game inspired papercraft figures on her deviantART portfolio. The majority of these figures come from the Legend of Zelda series, and there are also quite a few Pokemon papercrafts sprinkled throughout her gallery. Follow her blog, where she occasionally posts work-in-progress pictures of her current projects.

Papercraft is similar to origami in that it only uses paper for the base designs, but unlike origami, papercraft often comes with prints and designs that require more than one piece of paper and glue. Traditional origami only uses one sheet of paper.

There is a ton of papercraft tutorials out there for video game character designs. One of the reasons game characters make great papercraft models is because of the polygons used in the design of the character. Check out these fan-built blogs to see some more cool designs, and maybe even pick up the hobby on your own. Simply pick a design, print out the pattern, and get to folding!

World of Warcraft Papercrafts

Nintendo Papercrafts

Visit Michaela’s deviantART gallery to see more Legend of Zelda papercraft, as well as a number of characters from other game series.

‘Pid’ Reviewed!

I wrote up a review for Might & Delight’s Pid, an artsy-looking platformer. I loved the game’s design and art style…but I kept running into these difficulty spikes that just totally contrasted with the calm and whimsical feel of the game’s art. Like there would be 20 minutes of just casually jumping around and dodging enemies, and then suddenly a giant balloon-boy would emerge with a pop-gun and I’d spend an hour just trying to get past him.

Ironically, the day I released my review (which discounted the game a higher score due to the difficulty spikes) Might & Delight released a patch which re-worked all of the levels for a more balanced difficulty. Oh well. I couldn’t change my review, because they should have had this smoothed out at launch, so it is their fault not mine. But still, I felt a little bad about it all. I gave Pid a 67 out of 100…a bit above average, but could be better.

IGM Arcade – Tesla Defense

I really liked Tesla Defense. Usually I’m not crazy about Tower Defense games…I think I only played Plants vs. Zombies for an hour before I got tired of it. But Tesla Defense has me hooked. At the start of each wave of incoming enemies, you plant tesla coils, and anti-air zapper-things, and statically-charged landmines, in anticipation of the evil Nazis coming to steal your (you play as a super hero version of N. Tesla) powerful technology.

The twist here, is that you control Tesla at the one side of the screen, and can use his electrical-beam to zap enemies before they get to you. Making little Nazis *pop* with electricity is surprisingly satisfying.

Read my IGM Arcade article, and then follow the link in there, to play the game.

In Other News:

First-Person Horror ‘Dementium 2′ Coming to PC/Mac Early 2013
Possess The Pope In ‘Pontification’ – New Story Trailer
2D Horror Platformer ‘Grimind’ Gets Mid-December Release Date
‘The Binding of Issac: Rebirth’ Details Announced

Running a bit late this week, blame exams! Anyway, I’m here, and I bring to you some of the best shirts I’ve seen over the past week!

“Licensed to Shoot” by Ian Leino, available on ianleino.com

“Spagetti Hylian” by Luie Santiago, available on Red Bubble

“Barf’s Space Balls” by Harebrained, available on Red Bubble

“All the Bacon and Eggs” by Mike Handy, available on Red Bubble.

“Triforce Holiday” by Drew Wise, available on Red Bubble.

Peter Molyneux, a name synonymous with “visionary”, has established a Kickstarter campaign for his latest game, Godus.

Godus is being branded as a reinvention of Populous, which is considered the first “god game”. Populous was released back in 1989, by Bullfrog Productions, the game development company of which Molyneux is a founding member. Bullfrog Productions went on to develop Syndicate, Theme Hospital, and Dungeon Keeper. Electronic Arts (EA) purchased Bullfrog Productions in 1995, and in 1997, after the release of Dungeon Keeper, Molyneux left Bullfrog Productions to found Lionhead Studios, which developed the Black & White franchise and eventually took over the Fable franchise after Big Blue Box developed the first title.

So with the development experiences of Populous, Syndicate, Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper, Black & White, and Fable, Peter Molyneux knows a thing or two about game development. So when he says he’s about to reinvent something, people take note.

Well, they used to.

Molyneux is considered by many to be a “boy who cried wolf”, often claiming his projects will revolutionize this or that, and then generally be a disappointment upon the project’s release. Molyneux infamously over-hyped the release of Fable, and later issued an apology to fans. “I just get very excited about developing games and it is hard to restrain myself,” Molyneux explained in an interview with the BBC.¹

Satirists have even gone so far as to create a parody-presence of Molyneux on Twitter: Peter Molydeux. Some of Peter Molydeux’s tweets include: “Had an idea for a FPS where your head is a mirror. Your only weapon is to bounce sunlight in the right directions. You also control the sun,” and, “I want to make a Batman game where you play as Alfred, trying to protect Bruce Wayne from hurting himself by knocking down his confidence.”

With nearly fifty-three thousand followers, clearly the satirists behind the account are not alone in finding Molyneux’s tendency to embellish a bit silly.

Regardless of the liability of his excitement, there is no doubt of Molyneux’s dedication to the advancement of the games industry. Dungeon Keeper was one of the earliest games to feature seamless integration of first-person and third-person gameplay elements, a mechanic that is still prominent today. For that, Dungeon Keeper received high praise upon its release. When Molyneux formed Lionhead Studios, he paid $6 million out-of-pocket to see Black & White through development.² While Molyneux worked for Bullfrog Productions he was also a functioning Vice-President for EA, and later, during his tenure with Lionhead Studios, Molyneux was promoted to Creative Director at Microsoft Game Studios, once Microsoft acquired Lionhead Studios in 2006.

So, even if you are a bit hesitant to trust Molyneux’s claims anymore, at least take comfort in the fact that he’s not in it for the money. His over-hyping enthusiasm comes from passion,  not greed.

Molyneux wants people to understand that —that he’s not another pitchman trying to boost sales by talking-up a game. He needs people to understand that truth now more than ever, because now he’s asking the general public to support the development of his next game, Godus.

Earlier this year, after the release of Fable: The Journey, Molyneux stepped away from Lionhead Studios and Microsoft and joined ranks with 22 Cans, an independent development studio founded last May.

22 Cans released their first game, Curiosity, a little over a month ago. The game is a massively multiplayer social experiment that has players chipping away at a large cube, in a collective effort to find out what is inside. Curiosity saw a surge in users on day one of launch, so much that 22 Cans’ servers became stressed, and many players experienced lag while using the game.

After seeing such a turnout for Curiosity, 22 Cans decided that they may already have a strong enough following to pursue a much more ambitious project: Godus.

Nearly a quarter of a century after Populous was released, Molyneux and team have decided to re-invent the genre that Molyneux essentially invented.

22 Cans is calling Godus, “half a living sandbox world, and half a strategy game”. It seems as if Godus is the accumulated experiences of Molyneux’s development career, packaged into one game. “Godus draws on the cunning battle-psychology of Dungeon Keeper,” 22 Cans explains on the Kickstarter page, “the living, changing world of Black & White and the instinctive, satisfying gameplay of Populous.”

Godus has players playing as a god, striving to spread their influence across the world. Players must gain favor to win over the mortals, and in return, devout followers empower you to do more than simply make it rain on famished crops.

“Funding [Godus] via Kickstarter allows us to stay a small independent team with unlimited freedom in our creativity. It’ll just be you, us and our unbridled dedication (no publishers).”

As of this writing, Godus is right in the middle of it’s Kickstarter campaign, and is less than halfway to meeting its goal. Have the years of Molyneux’s over-hype and exaggeration finally worn potential gamers down? Or will this passionate developer find that people still believe in him, valuing his creativity and influence in the industry.

We have fifteen days left to find out.

Visit the Kickstarter campaign page for Godus where you can learn more about the game, the rewards for supporting the game, and a bit more about 22 Cans.

 Sources:

¹ BBC – “Fable creator explains online apology”
² Gamespot – “The Final Hours of Black and White”

Christmas is just around the corner, so it’d be a good idea to bookmark some of these shirts for people! Santa Claus is coming and he likes t-shirts because they’re cheap and light-weight most importantly.

Here are this week’s shirts of the week!

“The Choking” by Vitaliy Klimenko. Buy it on Red Bubble.

“Koopa Crest” by Kari Fry. Buy it on Shark Bubble.

“Repzilla” by TEEvsTEE. Buy it on Red Bubble.

“The Journey of Courage” by Luie Santiago. Buy it on Red Bubble.

“10th of Hearts” by WinterArtwork. Buy it on Red Bubble.

IGM Arcade – Bomb Runner

Normally I don’t like puzzle-based games too much. But Bomb Runner was just the right mix of putt-putt golf and pinball to get me to write about it.

Each level requires players to get a ball from a starting point to the end while avoiding all sorts of obstacles. There are even bosses to break apart the level, which were pretty interesting to play against.

Read my article on Bomb Runner on The Indie Game Magazine, and then play Bomb Runner on Core Studio’s official website.

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General News Bits I Wrote For The Indie Game Magazine:

Cyberpunk Adventure ‘Primordia’ Gets A Release Date And Demo – I’m not too crazy about point-and-click games, but this one caught my attention, not only for its art direction, but also the plot: you play as a robot on a post-human Earth, attempting to figure out what happened to humans.
The Dynamite Bundle – Eight Games For The Price Of One - Bundle Stars launched their first bundle, where you pay a little less than $7 to get eight solid-looking games. The spy one looks the coolest.
Following Bethesda Lawsuit, ‘Guns and Robot’s Closed Beta Signups Begin – The developer was in some hot water earlier this year with Skyrim/Fallout developer, Bethesda, but things have settled down, and their newest title, Guns and Robots, looks to be pretty fun.
‘Ravaged’ Gets New Free Content And New Low Price – If you read my review, you’ll remember how much fun I had with Ravaged, but how underpopulated the online servers were. Hopefully this initiative by 2 Dawn will galvanize more people to pick up the game.
Dino Shooter ‘Primal Carnage’ Gets New Game Mode: “Get To The Chopper!” – I really hope I get to review this game soon, it looks to be the first dinosaur-based game in awhile to actually be good.
Ambitious Monster-Brawler ‘Kaiju Combat’ Seeks Funding - Think Mortal Kombat meets Godzilla. The development team even has some experience working on Godzilla games. Kaiju Combat looks to be a hit.

Also, I set up a website for a class project: Back of House. It’s a mock-up of an actual food-based publication. I actually wrote an article for it: Last Meal – Anthony Bourdain, “A Fast, Selfish, Experience.” I caught an interview between Piers Morgan and Bourdain on CNN a few nights ago, where Bourdain mentioned how he’d eat at the restaurant of Jiro Ono (Jiro Dreams of Sushi) and decided it’d be a cool feature article to read about famous food-related people’s choice for their last meal.

One more week until we (‘mericans!) can guiltlessly stuff our faces on Thanksgiving. And no, for my international readers, that’s not something we do every day…as peopleofwalmert.com may lead you to believe.

Here are this week’s shirts of the week!

“Overkill” by Bamboota – Buy it on Red Bubble

“Brick Grimes” by Brinkerhoff – Buy it on Nowhere Bad

“Plumber’s Creed” by Nathan Davis – Buy it on Red Bubble

“Imperial Metal” by Rob Go – Buy it on Red Bubble

“Halfling and Wizard” by Cool Johnny – Buy it on Threadless

Here’s what I’ve been up to, over the last week, on the interwebs!

‘Cargo Commander’ Reviewed – I played through and reviewed Serious Brew’s outer space platformer ‘Cargo Commander‘ and quite liked it. I gave it a 91/100 in my IGM review. The game was great fun, and pretty innovative too. You play as a Mario-esque character who has to collect space junk from cargo containers abandoned in the depths of space. A lack of oxygen, aliens, and black holes make things difficult, but players are armed with the tools necessary to get the job done. After all, you can’t go back to Earth until you’ve met your quota!

Some quotes from my review:

“The rush that comes with leaping through containers as they are ripped apart, jumping through areas of zero-gravity with probably more than a few aliens at your heels, is an incredible feeling that you just don’t find in platformers very often. It is what makes Cargo Commander so much fun.”

“Overall the game has a very lonely feel to it…but I really like it because it isn’t something you see much in games. The home-station plays one very lonely, but catchy, song, and players using headsets will benefit because the music can act as a beacon when you are scrambling around in zero-gravity looking for a way to get back to the home-station.”

Read the rest of my review on IGM and visit the official Cargo Commander website.

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Reviewing ‘Pid’ – My next game to review is Might & Delight’s artsy platformer, Pid. You may recognize the name from an interview I had with the developers earlier this year. Read the interview and than watch the trailer below. It is a long trailer, but boy is it well done.

Pid is out now on the PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Visit the official website for more details.

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My latest IGM Arcade article went up the other day. This week I chose to highlight the platformer ‘Demon’s Revenge‘. I guess platformers are the surprise topic of the week.

Basically, Demon’s Revenge is a simple game that has players playing as a demon attempting to escape from a mad alchemist’s laboratory. To progress through the levels players have to find and activate three portals, while navigating the labyrinth-like layout of the laboratory basement, and avoiding dangers of all sorts. Demon’s Revenge is rather simple and straight forward, but it’s perfect for a quick break and I really dig the art style.

Read my IGM Arcade article on Demon’s Revenge and then play the game on Newgrounds.

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In other news -

Build-A-Bundle 4 Launches – Pick the games you want, pay a discounted price, a portion goes to charity, everyone wins.
Spiderweb Software Half-Off Sale – Grab some in-depth RPGs to tide you over Thanksgiving break.
Kyle Pulver Launches New Title ‘Jottobots’ – I interviewed Kyle earlier this year about his game ‘Offspring Fling‘, and now he has released his latest title.
Horror Adventure ‘Anna’ Releases for Macs - This one is pretty self-explanatory.
Puzzler ‘Pushcat’ Releases – It’s a game where you push colorful jewels, as a cat. Need I say more?
‘Sir, You Are Being Hunted’ Gets Kickstarted – The robots-hunt-humans game makes its funding goal on Kickstarter.
‘Guns of Icarus’ Developers Support Sandy Victims – Locals to New York, Muse Games is doing what they can to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

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I was recently picked up by The Indie Game Magazine and have been writing for them, and was eventually promoted as an editor. It’s been a busy month of learning a new system for writing, but I finally have a handle on things, enough so that I can start writing for Epic Brew once more.

Now because my writing for The Indie Game Magazine (IGM) features indie games, I can’t write about indie games here. Well I could, but then I’d be writing 2x as much on the same topic. So instead…I’ll revert back to the mainstream titles, for game coverage. I will continue to feature artists, musicians, and other bits of geekery, of course, but for your indie game fix, I urge you to read my articles on IGM. And of course, all the other articles by my co-workers. =]

December marks Epic Brew’s second birthday, and I want to thank everyone who has been a fan since the beginning. It really means a lot. Thank You.

-Tom “H3rcules”

Follow me on Twitter.

Visit my personal website – therottenegghead.com

Back in July, we gave you a first-look at Frogmind’s upcoming game, Badland.

Today, another teaser appeared on the Badland website in the form of an image with a brief description:

“Time to show you what it is like after dawn in Badland. And, what’s that thingy in the water? We have so much to tell you about Badland but rather than writing about all the stuff, we are working hard to show you first gameplay video footage from Badland in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned!”

Badland’s artist, Juhana Myllys, made the image entirely from in-game assets.

Over the last few months, Frogmind released a number of preview art pieces for Badland, on their blog. They also talked about the inspirations behind the art style of the game, which includes mid-19th century American landscape paintings.

Follow the developers on Twitter: @badlandgame and “like” them on Facebook, for the latest development news and more.

The official Badland website