#platformer

According to Moise Breton he has been working professionally as a freelance artist within the games industry for close to 11 years now. Moise, or "Mo" as he's known as, has been keeping busy as a concept artist and 3D modeler but late last year he decided to go about creating his own development company and came up with the name Gamesbymo. Gamesbymo is now a one man studio located in Quebec nestled in the city of Montreal, here Moise has set up a studio where he's begun working on his first self-described opus. A.N.N.E. is a melding of popular platforming mechanics and shoot 'em ups but a quick look at the game's first trailers and you'll quickly see influences from games like Metroid, Castlevania and Gradius.

Imagine that you're a more than capable soldier who's been away from his family at war. For weeks you've wanted to return home and now you've got your chance - all you want to do is make it home and enjoy a bowl of warm gruel with your family. Unfortunately your plans are quickly dashed because this is one of those days where nearly everything seems to unravel. Your path is blocked by a small mining town whose members have managed to open a hellmouth deep within the caverns beneath their village. Doesn't that just always happen when you least expect it? There's no way out but through the madness so it's time to put up or shut up as you venture into the tunnels to fight the emerging monsters.

Dust rolls through the wide alley-ways off a paved square in Old Town Ontario. A setting sun glances off the agave fields casting a yellow tinge across the buildings as a group of standard fare geeks carrying spandex leggings, leather boots and Lucha máscaras passes by. This is the team of Drinkbox Studios and they're hot off the release of their second game series for the PSN. The romantic scene above never actually happened, but to play Drinkbox's latest game entitled Guacamelee you'd believe most of the group was deeply steeped in Mexican culture and the Lucha Libre lore for the better part of their lives.

When choosing who you'll support on Kickstarter it's important to remember that many of these project organizers are working on a crowdfunding platform for the first time. Sometimes they make promises they can't keep and other times they will be unaware of the challenges facing them months after funding has wrapped. This week we should be able to rest easy though. Shovel Knight is a platformer that's taking the hard road by developing for the Nintendo WiiU and 3DS - one has to commend a development team willing to shoot for the stars. Greenbrier Games and their Zpocalyse board game were already successful on Kickstarter and now they're returning to give their fans new content.

Robert Bowling (COD4: Modern Warfare, COD: MW2, COD: MW3) left his long-standing position as Creative Strategist & Community Manager at Infinity Ward to found Robotoki - a game development studio based in Los Angeles, California. Publicly Robotoki has been working on the post-apocalyptic survival shooter Human Element but little else has been known about the other projects of this fledgling game company, that is until now. Bowling took to twitter this week and promoted a new Kickstarter campaign for a second game project entitled "The Adventures of Dash". This is the second title to bear the Robotoki name, but it's a project unlike anything Robert has worked on before.

You know you've had dreams of jumping over Warp Tubes or saving the Princess from Bowser so why not give in a little and discover a platformer that asks the all important question: Was the Princess ever in the right castle? This week we'll discover a new season to a highly successful zombie board game, visit a Steampunk/Cthulhu playing card mashup that would make H.P. Lovecraft blush, and finally we'll hop on board with a platformer that will give Mario a run for his money.

The music rhythm games of your childhood are bland plastic monstrosities, they ask you to punch plastic keys on a plastic guitar so a plastic representation of an aged rockstar can dance in time to decades old music. Its no wonder this crowd has contracted and now relies on a steady stream of simple DLC packs to keep them afloat. Can our pattern games be fun, engaging, and uplifting while still requiring a bit of skill? Gaijin Games has, for the last 4 years, replied with a firm and confident "Yes".

A simplified plot, constant item management, and a world-map level structure – This isn’t the “Paper Mario” you’re used to. “Paper Mario” has typically been known for a having an engrossing plot with new worlds, characters, and never being short on humor. “Sticker Star” drops all of this, asides from the humor, but does it work?

Black Forest Games should first and foremost be commended for tackling an oft passed-over game mechanic in the platformer. Secondly they should be applauded for knocking it out of the park and creating a video game that has at times maddened me with its complex acrobatic feats. Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is more than just a frustrating package of platforming puzzles though, it has amazing music, top-notch graphics, and a number of play dynamics that set it apart. In a day and age where classic game types are seeing a renaissance many indie developers are taking the “less is more” approach or wrapping simple game mechanics in updated graphics or pretty packages.

Take one part Everyday Shooter add a smidgen of Lumines, a generous helping of LocoRoco, stir thoroughly and invite your favorite techno composers over for a impromptu mix session. Sound Shapes is the latest musical game from Jonathan Mak & Queasy Games the same minds behind the psychedelic twin-stick shooter for the PS3/PSP, Everyday Shooter. At its heart Sound Shapes is a platformer that takes you on a predefined musical journey through the minds of some of the most popular musicians in modern electronica. If you’re a fan of Deadmau5, Jim Guthrie, PixelJunk games,  or Beck you’ll find yourself right at home guiding your little circle shaped avatar around the precarious levels of Sound Shapes.