Majesco Entertainment — publisher of Zumba Fitness and the downloadable heist-hit Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine — has announced the birth of Midnight City, their new label dedicated to indie gaming.
Two veterans of the game industry will be in charge of the division. Former editor-in-chief of IGN, Casey Lynch, will head up the new label alongside Doug Kennedy, the ex-president and CEO of Reverb Publishing. According to today’s press release, the team’s goal is to provide “customized publishing services, including public relations, marketing, and community content” for indie games that are in need of such things.
The following nine titles, designed by nine different developers, have already signed on with Midnight City. Each game will be making appearances at this weekend’s PAX Prime convention in Seattle:
“VIDEOBALL (Action Button Entertainment) – VIDEOBALL is an electronic sport game that features the best of basketball, soccer, football, old-fashioned shooters, first-person shooters, and real-time strategy games – and it’s all on one screen, for easy spectating, and it controls with just one analog stick and one button. Choose from dozens of unique fields for one-on-one, two-on-two, or three-on-three local or online multiplayer competition, or check out the singleplayer or co-op challenge mode, full of practice arenas meant to turn you into a world champion. If we were sleazes and we were pitching this to Silicon Valley venture capitalists, we’d say “it’s Call of Duty meets Madden meets Wii Sports meets Angry Birds meets NBA Jam meets Bangai-oh,” and they’d ask us, “What’s Bangai-oh?”
The Bridge (Ty Taylor)– A 2D logic puzzle game that will compel you to reevaluate your preconceptions of physics and perspective, The Bridge is Isaac Newton meets M. C. Escher. Manipulate gravity to redefine the ceiling as the floor while venturing through impossible architecture set in beautifully hand-drawn art in the style of a black-and-white lithograph. This excellent game design, in unison with fantastic visuals and an immersive environment, has garnered The Bridge more than a dozen wins and many more nominations from international independent game competitions, while The Bridge continues to earn more praise and attention from fans and the games media alike.
Blood of the Werewolf (Scientifically Proven)– You are Selena, a woman hell-bent on avenging her husband’s murder and rescuing her kidnapped son. The catch – Selena is a werewolf and shifts between her human and wolf form when in view of the full moon. Journey through a world filled with the most iconic monsters in pop lore, including the Creature, Hyde, Dracula, the Mummy, and Frankenstein in manic platforming across 15 white-knuckle levels that will test the reflexes of even the most stalwart MetroidVaniaMan.
Krautscape (Mario von Rickenbach)– With boutique elevated racing action and impossible bird-like flying cars, Krautscape subverts competitive multiplayer racing by allowing the leading player to actively determine the course and direction of the track – which generates as you play – while the chasing players can take aerial shortcuts by flying off the track to overcome obstacles. But the track is needed to score and to gain speed – the vehicles don’t have any thrusters to accelerate while flying. Three unique multiplayer game modes support nonlinear gameplay and intelligent movement over forcing you to drive perfectly.
Slender: the Arrival (Blue Isle Studios) – In 2012, Mark “AgentParsec” Hadley captivated gamers around the world with Slender: The Eight Pages, a short, experimental game that breathed new life into the horror genre. Slender: The Arrival is the official continuation of the series from the original game creator and the writers behind the Marble Hornets series and the development team at Blue Isle Studios. The Arrival features a brand new storyline, improved visuals, awesome Oculus support, and most importantly, survival horror at its best.
Organic Panic (Last Limb)– In a world of gushing liquids and destructible physics, can you survive the ultimate food fight? Organic Panic is a co-op action bash’em-up platformer served with a healthy side of puzzles. Help a small band of Fruit and Veggie hero’s armed with magical powers save the world from the Meats and Cheeses with a revolutionary physics engine that lets you break everything, with completely destructible levels and advanced liquids, allowing you to go crazy flooding entire levels with water, lava or acid.
High Strangeness (Barnyard Intelligence Games)– Inspired by your favorite RPG and action-adventure games of yesteryear, High Strangeness is a hybrid of 8 and 16 bit – it’s a 12 bit adventure! The game’s core ability allows players to switch between 8 and 16 bit worlds and use the generational differences to solve puzzles and explore the universe. Throughout the game your pixel art perspective of the world will be interrupted by visions of watercolor illustrations that shed light on your mysterious surroundings. A hearty chiptune soundtrack by Dino Lionetti and Rich Vreeland backs up the aesthetic of the world and sets the mood for some truly strange happenings.
Super Rad Raygun: The Lost Levels (Tru Fun Entertainment) – It is the year 198X. Big hair is hot, and the war with the Soviets is colder than a refreshing glass of New Coke. RAD RAYGUN must travel the world fighting communist robots, and save the 1980’s by shooting his way through the decade in a totally fresh, expanded version of the original XBLIG game. SUPER RAD RAYGUN: THE LOST LEVELS pits Rad against a whole new wave of deadly enemies and locations – from the Communist strongholds of the Far East to strategically insignificant islands off the South American coast. But chill out, because Rad has gnarly new weapons, upgrades, and a revamped gameplay engine to help him out. Ultra sharp 144p resolution graphics and 4 unique shades of monochrome off-green bring Super Rad Raygun to life, as only 80’s mobile technology can.
Grapple (Tuesday Society Games) – Nothing can stop you in GRAPPLE. Go where you please in this 3D platformer that takes traditional design to the next level. As a ball of goo, extend your arm to swing anywhere. Remember how great swinging through Spider-Man 2 felt on the Xbox 1 (note: not Xbox One)? Grapple feels EVEN BETTER! Combine swinging with your ability to travel on any surface or at any angle, and no obstacle can stand in your way. Challenging levels test your skill to move through progressively more complex puzzles. Find out just how far you can Grapple.”
Check out the video below for a peek at all of the upcoming Midnight City games.
