In Sam Farmers new game, Last Life, the player is thrown into a noir-style deceive story where the main character, Mr. Parker, is trying to solve his own murder. Wait… What? Solve his own murder? Well, lucky for him, he was gunned down right before the annual Dead Man’s Party, a day where all the recently deceased are brought back to life (with the use of 3D printing) to enjoy one final night of fun at the customary gala. After the party ends, Parker has no intention to return to his eternal slumber. Instead, he decides to go after his murderer. He has just four hours to break out of the 3D printing facility, investigate and solve the case of his murder, and possibly uncover some of the worlds darker secrets. It’s a race against time that he shouldn’t have.

The world around Parker is just as important as the protagonist himself. Set 11 years after the destruction of Earth, Parker finds himself living in the seemingly perfect streets of MarsTopia. This apparent martian utopia is run like clockwork by the squeaky-clean United Corps. Like in all good dystopic fiction, Parker is set on a path that will allow him to uncover the dark inner-workings of the United Corps.

As Mr. Parker, the player will work their way through the mean streets of Mars. Parker’s primary quest is personal, he is trying to find his murderer. But, his investigation will lead him into the darkest recesses of MarsTopia; from AI corruption to corporate espionage, and possibly to the conspiracy that led to the destruction of Earth, Mr. Parker’s final hours on the big red planet are sure to be memorable.

The game will play as a point and click adventure game, taking inspiration from modern games such as The Walking Dead and Broken Age. The game will consist of three episodes, this kickstarter campaign will only fund the first episode.

As a big fan of noir-style movies and TellTale’s games, I am am literally pounding on my keyboard as I type this out of excitement. The story takes on a science-ficitony noir style that seems to hold on to some tropes of the noir genre, while breaking new barriers the hybrid genre of sci-fi noir. The music alone gives a sense of foreboding and suspense, I cannot wait to see how the tension builds within the seemingly masterful story.

Currently, the game is already funded. Any excess funds should go into the production of the next two episodes. With a story as engrossing as this one, I am sure we will all want to see the end of Mr. Parker’s story.

Last Life will be released on PC, Mac, and Linux with a release date TBA.

For even more information on the game, check out the website!

The post Kick it to the Goal: ‘Last Life’ appeared first on SpawnFirst.

From the minds of David Lloyd and Barney Cumming comes Crawl; a competitive rogue-like from developer Powerhoof where your friends become your worst enemies.

A four player local co-op, Crawl is a game constructed of beautiful pixel art that hopes to bring a frantic and fresh take on the dungeon crawler, while still being easily accessible. While each game may only last around 30 minutes, randomly generated dungeons insure a fresh experience every time it’s played. Each round, one player will be selected as the hero while the other three are apparitions who can take control of traps and monsters.

Both heroes and monsters gain experience; while the hero goes the traditional route, (health, damage, and loot) monsters will evolve.

As monsters pound away at the hero, they gain vitae that can be used to evolve the creatures down multiple paths. Slugs, spiders, one eyed flyers, gnomes, and dark knights are just a few of the types available to steal the flesh of your hero friend.  But remember, as you and your fellow monsters chip away at his armor, make sure to land the killing blow to become the hero that earns the glory.

There are still a lot of questions to be answered, such as: can experience carries between games, how much loot will be available to heroes, and, most importantly, could the Unity based Crawl make its way to consoles?

With 14 years of programming experience between the two men of Powerhoof, Crawl is in great hands. Make sure to put it on your radar for a 2014.

If you are interested in the two man team behind the game, check out more about the independent Melbourne studio at their blog, facebook page, and even twitter. Even better, check out some of their experiments.

One last great piece of news, the game has been greenlit by the community!

The post Head Full of Steam: ‘Crawl’ appeared first on SpawnFirst.

Guild of Dungeoneering is a light-hearted, hand drawn venture into the dungeon builder genre placing you in the shoes of a guild owner looking to become the envy of the competition. To become the best, though, you will need warriors to do the grunt work; so it is time to coax unknowing villagers to risk life and limb to become legends, while you reap the rewards of their spoils. And thatâ€s the premise, but Dungeoneering differs from others in the genre; you may be the dungeon master, but are not the enemy.

While others in the genre put the gamer in charge of stopping an invader with carefully placed obstacles, Dungeoneering has you strategically place enemies to level up warriors to bring the treasure home.

The way you place obstacles and items is by an interesting mechanic; decks of cards: Hope (items), Dread (enemies), and Seek (dungeon tiles). Each turn you are allowed you use three cards, from a randomly selected five, and can potentially earn points to use stronger cards. The most optimal outcome is getting your warrior in and out with all the treasure they can carry, but if he succumbs to evil, (and he will, with individualized personality AIs) donâ€t fret, you still get a portion of the spoils to grow your guild.

And thatâ€s the overarching goal of Guild of Dungeoneering that one man team Gambrinous hopes to achieve. As the game develops, your guild will not only grow for progress, but to aid your warriors.

The game may just be in the alpha stage, but looks to have a good foundation. If you have ever been interested in dungeon building or just looking for a new twist on the genre, take a look at the 15 minute gameplay here, give Gambrinous a visit at his blog and don’t forget to vote for it on Steam Greenlight.

The post Head Full of Steam: ‘Guild of Dungeoneering’ appeared first on SpawnFirst.

Original Story:

Take this with a pinch of salt, but a user on NeoGAF has found what may appear to be a brand new title in the Civilization franchise. Supposedly, user “miladesn” claims that when he/she searched in “firaxis” (relating to Firaxis Games, one of the developers behind the series) or “civ”, the ad you see below is what appeared.

Subsequently, if you search for it on Google, you will struggle to find anything related to it. Either this is fan-made, or it could well have been a slip up internally by Firaxis or even a retailer! Remember when Amazon France accidentally posted an advert for Black Ops II back in February 2012? Oh yes, it happens my friends, and this could be the very first leak of many.

Naturally, a discussion has broken out on the page and users have taken to the potential leak with arms wide open. One user has posted a link to a French website “jeuxvideo.fr” (Jeux, according to Google Translate, means ‘games’) where a lengthy article has been posted. Grab the salt everyone. The article is apparently detailing an interview with two Firaxis Games developers; David McDonough, who is the lead designer, and Will Miller, who is one of the game programmers. If this is true, it definitely highlights some important aspects to the game. Here is a quick list of a what is partially mentioned:

• The game is out in Autumn 2014
• You start on a planet outside of Earth
• There are three types of unique planets called “biomes”
• Lush, Airy and Fungal are the three unique types
• To complete the game, you can make your way to Earth by putting a satellite in orbit, or by bringing refuges from Earth to your own planet

Interesting indeed. In the interview, Miller went on to say that “The DNA of Civilization V is preserved in Beyond Earth. You always improve cities, you always improve tiles and fields, but we extended this formula. You have to plan things carefully, be strategic and be on guard. The mechanical expansion is substantially different to that of Civilization V.”

The user posted a picture of the cover art, reportedly showing a pilot, holding his helmet, looking out through a window over Earth. What seems to be a satellite/ship is shown orbiting the planet. This would coincide with the aforementioned info, but don’t forget that salt you pinched.

A couple of tasty screenshots were posted too. These unique shots provide us a perfect chance to analyse. As we can see from the first picture, hexagonal tiles are painted across areas which have yet to be discovered. The terrain itself is composed mostly of craters, hills and shrubbery, indicating the planet that the payer is on, is mostly of a natural build; that is, there hasn’t been much in the way of intelligent interference like structures or buildings. The environment looks to be of the “Fungal” biome, one of the new unique planet types mentioned above.

The units themselves look to be facing on another in a battle; the top picture shows a form of vehicle, most likely a tank or transportation, and a group of soldiers. They seem to be joined by a second group, who are proceeding to attack a large creature protruding from underneath the surface. It appears to have a large, snap-like jaw, probably to devour units in one go. Nasty.

Civilization: Beyond Earth wouldn’t herald the first time it has dipped its toes into a futuristic backdrop: Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, released for PC, Mac and Linux back in 1999, saw you try to build an empire on planets within the Alpha Centauri star system. Unfortunately, publishing behemoth EA held and still do hold the rights to this title and, despite them publishing it to extremely positive reviews and becoming a fan favourite, there has never quite been talk of a sequel. The cover of Civilization: Beyond Earth does indeed confirm this, as the publisher is apparently 2K Games. Sid Meier still works for 2K Games and together they have created and published many of the most popular Civilization titles, including the most recent Civilization V.

So, are we looking at a potential E3 reveal this year? Perhaps PAX East can shed some light on the subject? Or are we just being taken for a ride on the fake train? The validity of this leak is for another debate, but one thing is for certain: this looks extremely edible as far as rumours go and, if turned out to be officially mentioned, it could send Civilization as a whole into the stratosphere and beyond!

What do you want to see in a brand new Civilization game? Is space going to be one small step too far? Or is this the beginning for something fresh and intuitive? Leave your thoughts below and stay right here on SpawnFirst for updates!

Make sure to click here to discover where the original story came from.

The post Civilization: Beyond Earth Confirmed appeared first on SpawnFirst.

Previously only playable on PC and Mac, the game’s warm reception since its release way back in 2007 appears to have increased among Linux users, and so it’s finally been ported. A demo of the game is available here, and for purchase here.

But if you’re rushed and want to make your mind up on the sport, check out a quick gameplay video:

The post Depths of Peril comes to Linux appeared first on SpawnFirst.

It was an IndieCade 2011 finalist, and has received praise from numerous designers from AAA titles.

It certainly looks like independent designer Scott Brodie has a hit on his hands, being already over 55% funded with 22 days to go.

The version on Kickstarter is a heavily updated one from its IndieCade counterpart three years ago.

Included now is a city crafting feature, new generational traits for your heroes, an overworld map, and best of all, a new art style.

When Hero Generations releases, it will come out on PC, Mac, and Linux with Ouya as a stretch goal.

You can go see what all the hype is about on the game’s Kickstarter page.

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