Wide gaming taste? This indie charity pack has it all pretty much covered!

Come the end of the year one’s thoughts often turn to Christmas, but also Charity… don’t we all want to end the year on a moral as well as sugar powered high?

As you may know we are all over the Humble Bundle as an end of year charitable effort and so it’s only fair to also bring to your attention this equally excellent effort…

Delivering you not only the amazing Frozen Synapse but also Explodemon, NS Soccer 5, Munch’s Odyssey and Serious Sam Double D, all of which are certainly worth your time… oh and you choose the price! $1 a game? That’s fine! But remember it’s for charity! Be generous!

So for double the piety, grab em both; the Humble Bundle on the link above and the Little Big Bunch via their website at; http://www.getgamesgo.com/little-big-bunch!

- Richard “Rax” Burley
@Raxous

Real Time Strategy games like Starcraft and Command & Conquer have always maintained a strong but niche fan-base when compared to other genres. They require intelligence, creative thinking and careful planning in order to maximize success on the battlefield, something which I and many other gamers may have trouble grasping at first.

Frozen Synapse is a new top down RTS shooter with the tagline “The Ultimate Tactical Game”. Developed by indie developer Mode 7 Games, Frozen Synapse breaks the mold and shatters the perceptions we have had of turned based strategy games in the simplest of ways, including some intriguing new features which, surprisingly, weren’t included in many RTS games to have come before it. It’s refreshing and it sets an example of how RTS games can and should be done. There’s no micro management of entire towns, no resources to collect or tanks to build, no large maps, in fact it can hardly be classed as an RTS at all, it’s carved out a new niche for itself.

Initially the game can be a little confusing, and it certainly takes a little getting used to. You may want to watch the clear and concise tutorials a few times, which can be accessed in game or online at any point. There’s a lot to take in; you’ll have a small squad in your command and you’ll need to control everything including the direction soldiers are looking, the amount of time they wait at each waypoint, and instructing where to duck behind cover. Everything a person would do to survive a firefight is controlled by you and, once you pick up the basics, you begin to see just how much potential Frozen Synapse has.

The gameplay succeeds where others have failed because you’re not engaged in long, drawn out military battles, with hundreds of soldiers, vehicles, buildings and other components for you to micro manage. All of that has been stripped away, leaving you in a scenario which everyone can come to terms with very quickly, maximising the fun factor and reducing the time needed to actually think. It is still entirely turn based of course, but you can work with your instincts instead. Simply put, it’s all about placement, timing and prediction.

The key to survival is to be aware of what is happening at all times

You use the mouse to set way points with a left click, and multiple options for what you want that unit to do once they reach that waypoint open up with a right click. All units can be told whether to ‘engage on sight’, starting an entertaining firefight whenever an enemy comes into range, or you can set units to ‘continue on sight’, which basically makes them ignore enemy units focusing instead on getting to cover and repositioning themselves. You can have as many waypoints as you like, all joined together forming a route your units will take, and here lies one of the game’s major pitfalls. You will need to make lots of mental notes on where every member of your squad is moving to and what they are doing, because in a single turn, your entire game plan could be flipped upside down.

Suddenly a unit that was once in cover is now exposed, but they’re going to continue on with your previous orders unless you tell them otherwise. One of the key factors to success is simply to know what your units are doing at all times and adjust accordingly to the situation. Snipers have long range weapons, rockets can destroy cover, grenades ricochet of walls, shotguns are short range, while machine gunners mid range. Knowing exactly who your squad members are, what they can do, and what they are currently doing is absolutely vital.

The fleshed out campaign mode has 55 maps to work your way through, with all of them being quite challenging (even the first level can prove to be rather difficult) but there’s something acutely gratifying about the way in which the game presents you with a problem, making you envision all the possible outcomes, create a plan of attack and then execute it with precision, leaving only glowing red corpses behind. You’ll have to save hostages, hack computers, blow stuff up, and there will be plenty of surprises along the way. It’s oddly immersive considering how simple the games design is, probably due to the sheer amount of concentration needed.

The rather featureless maps aren’t a complete let down, they’re certainly good looking and the A.I opponents are constantly adapting throughout becoming more and more unpredictable. In fact I think it’s the first game I’ve played in a long time where the human opponents you’ll face in multiplayer are actually stupider than the A.I. However, after a while the game’s campaign loses its appeal as you progress, becoming repetitive and frankly a little bland.

The story is your typical near-future cyber-espionage action-thriller

The story revolves around mega-companies warring in virtual space with dueling AIs so as to effect the outcome of the real world in… err… the stock market or something. Dialogue is delivered with blue text box’s, sticking to the futuristic-yet-retro tone. It’s not particularly gripping and it’s not at all different from the experience you have in multiplayer but I wouldn’t hold that against it. Avoiding prolonged sessions is an excellent idea if you want to maintain it’s appeal. This is where Frozen Synapse’s multiplayer really shine through and becomes its biggest attraction.

As the game starts each new level will be randomly generated along with the weapons that your squad will have available. Typically you’ll start with 4 or 5 “Tactics” as your glowing blue soldiers are known, who will be armed with anything from machine guns, sniper rifles, grenades, shotguns or rockets. Your challenge is to use the resources you’ve been given to the best of their potential. You can take your time and plan out each move carefully but you’ll never know if your decisions will pay off. Pressing the space bar will give you a best guess of what might happen and that’s the beauty of the game really, the unknown. Once both parties have submitted their plan and clicked the ‘Prime’ buttom, each turn plays out simultaneously revealing the outcome. If your powers of prediction are functioning properly, your soliders will come out on top. The system looks a lot more complicated than it actually is, especially on face value, there are lots of different factors to take into account, but it’s actually really simple, effective and satisfying when a plan comes together.

Rounds can be over with seconds of them starting, in fact the first multiplayer session I ever played was on “Dark Extermination” mode, which is essentially a deathmatch, the twist being your opponents remain invisible until you’ve spotted them, if you lose sight of them only their last known position will appear on the map. As one of my match’s began my opponent randomly launch a rocket across to the other side of the map without any idea where I was and by chance he hit the building I had chosen to hide all of my troops in; it was bad luck that let me down and it was highly amusing.

You’re constantly engaged in a battle of second guesses and psychology, you need to think about what you would do if you were in your opponent’s shoes. Other game modes include ‘Charge’, at the start you will bet on how far you units can make it from point A to point B without being destroyed, and your opponent will do the same. You simply have to make sure you get to that distance without dying to win. ‘Hostage’ is just as it sounds: upon the start of a match the enemy will have hostages held captive in their base, in order to win you can to wipe out the enemy team who will be trying to defend their captives with all their might. There are 5 multiplayer modes and each one can be played in ‘Dark mode’ giving a total of 10. The gameplay doesn’t really shift dramatically during each mode, all you have to do really is kill everyone that is not on your team, it’s the way in which each round plays out that keeps you coming back, you never know what is going to happen.

Frozen Synapse is also a very social game, one which I feel encourages sportsmanship and more sophistication than an Xbox Live party. When you join a multiplayer session you’ll be able to chat with your opponent via a text chat window or even open an IRC chat with all the players that happen to be online in that server at that moment if you like. It doesn’t even matter if you quit a game halfway through all of the turns are saved onto a server database, so if you’re playing a game but need to go and mow the lawn or make a cup of tea the game will continue without you. Your opponent will make his turn and you’ll get an email informing you of this, then you can return to the same match at any time to finish it. It often means you become engaged in battles with a dozen players at the same time, you’ll get a little pop up window appear in the lower left hand corner when an opponent challenges you and there’ll always be different games to play and things to do. On the flip side if your more of a casual gamer, one match could last a whole week if you like.

When the two opposing forces meet there will be explosions galore

Frozen Synapse boasts friends lists, the ability to rate and comment on games, rankings systems, Facebook + Twitter integration, instant match making (of course), and you can even export a video of your match straight to Youtube (in fact, heres a little video of some gameplay footage featuring myself vs fellow Newbreview writer, Kieran Roycroft) and the games specs mean it will probably run on any PC or Mac in the last decade. Mode 7 Games have pretty much ensured the game covers all areas and bases. It doesn’t exactly add anymore depth, but it turns the game into a tasty cake with lots of layers to work through.

Now we come to one of the games staple features, its brilliant sound design. It’s completely original and evocative, composed entirely by electronic musician electronic_testpilot. It conjures up memories of Tron, inspiring thoughts of Sci-Fi and futuristic espionage, coming together in a first-class fusion of light and sound which encourages you to be more tactical (as silly as that might sound). With that being said, the music and sound effects aren’t without fault;you don’t get the full cinematic effect from it, which leaves the game lacking a little more atmosphere than is desired. Sometimes you’ll just hear the same tracks far too often.

Frozen Synapse is a perfect alternative to the regular RTS we are all familiar with, the game has broad appeal, and if you’re looking to try something new, or simply want to challenge your powers of deduction and strategy, then Frozen Synapse will deliver that. Did I mention that by purchasing the game you also get a free download code of the game to share with a friend too? One thing is certain, you’ll certainly never be short of rivals.

Review Round-Up

Graphics 3/5 – Clinical, retro (yet futuristic), Frozen Synapse certainly has a unique look which never fails to impress during battle. It’s just a shame there is not more depth. It’s a refreshing look but it can’t hold your attention all night long.

Sound 4/5 - Frozen Synapse has an originally composed soundtrack which does a lot to suck you into it’s Tron-like atmosphere. The explosions and gunshots are enjoyably satisfying but it’s not exactly cinematic.

Gameplay 3/5 - There is a steep learning curve to conquer, but once you do the game becomes simple, intuitive and a surprising amount of fun. However, it just doesn’t differ greatly from single to multiplayer or even in the 10 different multiplayer scenarios. The planning and bluffing of your opponents, and all the catastrophes in between,  makes it enjoyable.

Longevity 2/5 - The social integration and youtube uploader go a long way, as does the difficult 55 mission campaign, and you’re always going to have challenges from other players out there. But the gameplay isn’t as addictive as it could be, all that keeps you coming back are the mind games.

Overall  3/5

Frozen Synapse appeals to a much wider audience that traditional turn based strategy games, it’s superbly accessible and sociable but it will take a while for you to really get used to it’s unusual and unique gameplay. Yet, as original as it is, it’s just a shame there isn’t more depth to the campaign or enough diversity to keep you returning for more turn based tactical action.

-Adam Radcliffe

“This is big news for us: being on Steam means that Frozen Synapse has a much better shot at reaching a significant audience,” said Mode 7’s Joint Managing Director Paul Taylor.  “We’d like to thank Valve and also all of the members of our community who have championed the game.”

Valve have offered a free Steam key for Frozen Synapse to anyone purchasing it direct from www.frozensynapse.com, where it is currently available for pre-order. This will enable everyone to receive the benefits of the Steam version with no extra cost, as all existing Mode 7 customers will all also receive a key.

According to their press release, Mode 7 are currently working on the single player campaign side of the game, which will see players take on a variety of missions, from escorting VIP’s to defending against all-out rocket launcher attacks.  They have released some initial details and a new screenshot on their IndieDB page.

The developers are urging fans to support them in their bid to become IndieDB Indie of the Year – details available on the IndieDB page above.

Frozen Synapse will be released on PC and Mac in Q1 2011. It is currently available for pre-order, with all customers receiving instant access to the beta and a free full copy of the game for a friend.

Mode 7 co-founder Paul Taylor wrote an article for us giving his advice for aspiring game designers on how to get in to the games industry, which you can read here. We also have an indepth interview with Mode 7 Games discussing their plans for Frozen Synapse, which can be read here.

Way back in the post-millennial haze of 2003, I was at college and Ian (co-owner of Mode 7 Games) had just graduated.

We had a development meeting in Ian’s flat: I remember it especially well as it was a bizarre collection of Ian’s friends who had been formed into a loose-knit indie game dev team. I’m the only survivor of those days!

The game was Determinance, our deeply divisive flying sword-fighting opus.  We wanted to ask the question, “What happens if we make a slightly crazy game on our own terms?”

“What happens if we make a slightly crazy game on our own terms?” Determinance. That's what.

At that time, we could do this pretty much free of constraints: it’s a situation that you get only once or twice in your life if you’re very lucky. I’ve always been a believer in taking a leap at those points. It’s not something I could ever have done without the support of my loved ones – luckily everyone around me recognised that we were trying to do something new and supported us.

Even though our inexperience really showed through in the end product – it was too ambitious, too cranky and too raw – it was probably one of the most worthwhile things I’ve ever done. Knowing that a team of basically two guys could make a game with quite a huge scope has fuelled our endeavours ever since: it imbues you with a massive dollop of hubris.

Indeed, hubris is pretty useful in the games industry. Within a couple of years, I was speaking about the game at GDC, having drinks with the current editors of magazines I’d read as a kid and shaking the CEO of Blizzard’s hand. One of the best things about our industry is that people don’t really care who you are – if you’re doing something vaguely interesting they generally will treat you with respect.

Determinance itself was a difficult proposition – some people still love the game and play it to this day – but it didn’t really go as far as we wanted.  Fortunately, it was weird enough that it attracted the attention of various parties, leading to some great contract work which has sustained the company to this day. We learned a lot of lessons about value, money, hard work and perseverance: all important things to understand.  It was definitely a second education.

We decided to embark on a second game, having made just enough money to keep going and fund it ourselves. This time it would be different: we would focus on creating a great core mechanic but also on opening this up to the player. My mantra was that we should think about the player at all times and be inclusive, rather than just follow our own path.

Frozen Synapse was born out of Ian’s love of simultaneous-turn-based games like Laser Squad: Nemesis and Chaos League, and my desire to do something with a modern, cool aesthetic. We thought that the two would go well together, and the reaction we’ve had so far shows that we’ve been right!  Creating a hardcore tactical game was something that we really wanted to do, and something other people really wanted us to do, so it seemed like a good plan…

Mode 7 Games are a small indie developer based in Oxfordshire, and are currently working on their latest game, Frozen Synapse. I caught up with the guys to find out what it’s like to develop games in the UK, and how their current game is shaping up.

LavalampBamboo: Your first game was Determinance, a third person sword-fighting game.  What inspired you to create this and what did you learn from making it?
IAN: I love games and I wanted to make one.  I’d always liked the idea of a freeform fighting game and then I fell in love with Tribes 2 so I added flying to the mix.  I can’t even begin to list the things I learnt making it… that’s like asking me what I learnt at University.  It’s not just the standard stuff – the specifics of coding and managing – but it’s also growing as a person. Determinance was a second undergraduate degree for me.
PAUL: I had never been involved with making a game before, or even with any kind of software development project, so I learned exactly what needs to happen to create something! As I have production role, it’s good that I now have a basic handle on what the hell is happening.
More importantly, I learned some absolutely vital lessons about game marketing – specifically that you need to actually do some!

LavalampBamboo:  As an indie developer working in the UK, how would describe your experience within the games industry?
PAUL: We’re very much on the fringes of the games industry proper in this country: if I go to Develop it’s not like I know 80% of the people there. I like the fact that as an indie, it doesn’t really matter where you’re based – everything is determined simply by the strengths of your game and your marketing.

I have to say, I think we’ve had better experiences with the gaming UK press than we have with other members of the UK industry itself.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing and brilliantly nice people out there who have been very helpful to us, but there are also a lot of boring self-interested types too: that’s the nature of any media or entertainment industry.

IAN: Yeah, I spend very little time thinking about “our place in the industry”. Being an indie is about making your game and hoping lots of people like it. Industry events seem to be more about working in a large company than they do about games. I don’t work in a large company, so it all goes above my head. Or below my feet. One of those.
LavalampBamboo:  Some readers might not be aware of Frozen Synapse, so let’s imagine I’m not either. Tell me about the game.
PAUL: Frozen Synapse is a sci-fi strategy game, which is comprised of short matches that can be played very quickly. You can move your units anywhere, coordinate attacks and use cover: it focuses on raw tactics rather than unit management.

You know that bit in the movie where a SWAT team storm a building and there’s a guy outside in a truck looking at a tactical display and giving them orders? We want you to feel like that guy. Except you’re not in a truck. There are no trucks. Trucks are not in the remit.
It’s the indie game which will see us make our first real mark on gaming. It’s aesthetically very strong: we’ve been having great comments about our graphics from an early stage, and people seem to be excited about it, which is very gratifying.

IAN: Frozen Synapse is about having the most fascinating mental battle between two people you can imagine. It’s about being different every single time you play. It’s about taking as long or as little a time as you feel like playing a game for.
LavalampBamboo: You describe FS as “the ultimate strategy game”, with games being both “bite-size” and “hardcore”. How did this unique take on the genre evolve?

IAN: It started by me and a mate playing a lot of Laser Squad Nemesis on holiday in France. I loved the core concept of “Simultaneous Turn Based”, but hated how long games would take; how an early mistake could ruin the entire game; and how the games always started in the same way.  Then I played a lot of the STB mode of Chaos League, which was fast and interesting but wasn’t, in the end, all that deep. Those two games kind of created an idea for a game in me, which grew over years, and finally became Frozen Synapse.

PAUL: Again, we wanted there to be modes where you can play super-quickly. There’s a genius mode that Ian came up with called Secure, where you basically bid on defending an area of territory. Matches are over quickly but can still have really interesting twists, and as soon as you’ve played one, you want to play another.

LavalampBamboo: FS uses an interesting art style throughout. Can you talk about how this came about, and what or who influenced it?

PAUL: I did the art direction for this game, but we used some very talented freelance artists to get the look we have now. Originally, the game was going to be from a “side-top” perspective (Canner Fodder-style!), but as things developed we knew it had to be top-down. Top-down looks rubbish with anything other than very abstract graphics, so we set about trying to find an “interface-style” look which would be acceptable.

I was influenced by the film and TV graphics work of Mark Coleran, who used to do almost all of the computer interfaces you see in the background of movies. Aside from that, things like Tron and Ghost in the Shell. Actually, the Mission Impossible movies got mentioned a lot – there’s bits in all of them where you see an interface with guys moving through a building, so that was something that came up.

At the moment, I’m looking around at other games to see what they’re doing with things like lighting and explosion effects – there’s some really creative stuff out there. It’s old hat now, but I still love the way Geometry Wars looks, so don’t be surprised if you see some coloured wireframe type stuff creeping in later down the road.

LavalampBamboo: FS is a PC title, but did you ever consider any other platforms for the game, either consoles or handhelds?

PAUL: We actually started out with Frozen Synapse as a Nintendo DS title, but we realised that it definitely needed to be developed on PC first, just from a creative standpoint. It would have been an XBLA Indie Game too, but that’s now completely unviable because of the pricing structure. Once the game is ready to demo to publishers I will definitely be looking for options on all the other platforms: it would still work VERY well as a handheld game.

LavalampBamboo:  Of what I’ve heard so far, the music in the game is very fitting, and sounds great. Could you describe the creative process behind the music, as well as how you make it suit the game?

PAUL:  Thank you! I started out by playing the game and working on a palette of sounds I thought would be appropriate: we wanted a very polished sound, but I also wanted to try and avoid film soundtrack-style cliches.

My concept was “high-tech meets low-tech”, so I have things like very complex layered synthesizer patches rubbing up against really nasty, dirty samples I recorded with a Gameboy using LSDJ and a GBA running Nanoloop. I also wanted to get a bit of glitchy stuff in there, so there’s lots of lo-fi samples of me slamming doors, hitting pots and pans: all the “found sound” stereotypes! I love the idea of the musicality of data and computers – I’ve always found that very romantic – so, I always go for quite emotive melodies combined with very obviously digital sounds.

It’s really, really, really important to me that I can prove you don’t need a million dollars and a huge library of custom-recorded string articulations to create an amazing soundtrack. For those guys doing that, that’s brilliant, but I want to show that, while you need compositional and sound engineering abilities, it’s really all about the effort you’re able to put in.
In terms of making it work with the game, I’m ready to do anything that needs to happen – we’re still working on it.
LavalampBamboo:  What kind of promotion will you be doing for the game? Any upcoming events?

PAUL: We already do a weekly podcast called Visiting the Village, which is a discussion of the week’s weirder gaming news, and also looks at indie games quite a lot. That’s ongoing and is helping to bring people to our site – http://www.visitingthevillage.com . Anyone interested in us should check that out. There’s also bi-weekly blogs on our ModDB page http://www.moddb.com/games/frozen-synapse/.

We’ll be kicking off our marketing proper with a big event at Gamecity in Nottingham at the end of this month: we’ve set up an event to challenge the general public to beat us at the game, and we’ve got some immense prizes to give away. There should hopefully be videos, podcasts and blogs from that, so people who aren’t going will get a flavour of it. It’s on Friday 30th, 10am-5pm in the Market Square, if you’re in the area.

After that, we’ll be working towards our first proper trailer and I’ll be hitting up every single news site I can possibly find with that.

That should start to build a community around the game, and from there we’ll continue putting out updates as we work towards release. I’ll be instituting a big PR campaign to get previews as widely as we can, then possibly a beta (we’re still undecided about that) and onwards through the organisational nightmare that is the review phase.

Finally, we do plan to advertise the game online when it’s ready to release – we’re taking advice about that from other indies and planning out our strategy right now.  I want to get a lot of video content up there for this game – we’d really love to have a feature which allows you to export game clips to YouTube (I’m only making this public so that I can pressure Ian into actually coding it)!

As I mentioned before, we didn’t put the marketing effort in ourselves for Determinance for a variety of reasons. This game will be different: I want it to be one of the best-promoted indie games of all time

LavalampBamboo:  When will Synapse be released, and how will we be able to get our hands on it?

PAUL: I’m not going to make a commitment on this yet: we hope early-ish next year. You will definitely be able to buy it from us direct via http://www.frozensynapse.com . We’re also going to be talking to all the major online distributors if we can bend their ears! As far as retail goes, it’s something we’re looking at: if it’s viable I would love to get the game to worldwide retail, but for a small indie studio that’s all about finding reliable partners.
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You can find out more about Frozen Synapse at www.mode7games.com, or alternatively visit http://www.moddb.com/games/frozen-synapse

You can also tune into “Visiting The Village”, Paul and Ian’s weekly show which looks at some of the quirkier game news stories, and also how the game development is coming along. Check it out at www.visitingthevillage.com .