Double Fine Productions, Inc. is an American first-party video game developer of Xbox Game Studios based in San Francisco, California. Founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer shortly after his departure from LucasArts, Double Fine's first two games – Psychonauts and Brütal Legend – underperformed publishers' expectations despite critical praise. The future of the company was assured when Schafer turned to several in-house prototypes built during a two-week period known as "Amnesia Fortnight" to expand as smaller titles, all of which were licensed through publishers and met with commercial success. Schafer has since repeated these Amnesia Fortnights, using fan-voting mechanics, to help select and build smaller titles. Double Fine is also credited with driving interest in crowdfunding in video games, having been able to raise more than US$3 million for the development of Broken Age, at the time one of the largest projects funded by Kickstarter, and more than US$3 million for the development of Psychonauts 2.
20XX is an indie action platform video game developed by American indie studio Batterystaple Games. The early access version was released for Microsoft Windows on Steam on October 12, 2016. A sequel, 30XX, is available on Steam Early Access.
Torchlight II is an action role-playing dungeon crawler video game developed by Runic Games, released for Microsoft Windows on September 20, 2012. It is the sequel to Torchlight, and features peer-to-peer multiplayer support and extended modding capabilities. The game was released for OS X on February 2, 2015, and for Linux on March 4, 2015. Ports for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One were released September 3, 2019 and were developed by Panic Button.
Dead State is a turn-based survival horror role-playing video game developed by DoubleBear Productions and Iron Tower Studio set in a zombie apocalypse scenario. Players are tasked with leading a group of survivors living in a shelter in the fictional town of Splendid, Texas. Dead State was released in December 2014 after having been in Early Access since spring of that year. DoubleBear Productions continued to work on the title and in May 2015 released an "enhanced edition" which changed the name to Dead State: Reanimated.
Dungeon Defenders is a hybrid multiplayer video game developed by Trendy Entertainment that combines the genres of tower defense and action role-playing game. It is based on a showcase of Unreal Engine 3 named Dungeon Defense. The game takes place in a fantasy setting where players control the young apprentices of wizards and warriors and defend against hordes of monsters. A sequel titled Dungeon Defenders II was released in 2015.
The Indie Megabooth is a section at game expositions dedicated to the display and promotion of indie games. It launched at PAX East 2012 and appeared at other PAX events before expanding to other shows including the Eurogamer Expo, Electronic Entertainment Expo, Game Developers Conference, and Gamescom. It was founded by Kelly Wallick, who became the booth's full-time organizer in 2013.
Crypt of the NecroDancer is a roguelike rhythm video game developed and published by Canadian independent game studio Brace Yourself Games. The game takes fundamental elements of a roguelike dungeon exploration game and adds a beat-matching rhythm game set to an original soundtrack written by Danny Baranowsky. The player's actions are most effective when moving the character set to the beat of the current song and are impaired when they miss a beat, so it is necessary to learn the rhythmic patterns that the various creatures follow. The mixed-genre game includes the ability to import custom music, and the option to use a dance pad instead of traditional controllers or the keyboard. The game was released for Linux, OS X, and Windows in April 2015, being co-published by Klei Entertainment, for the PlayStation 4 and Vita in February 2016, for the Xbox One in February 2017, and for Nintendo Switch in February 2018. Crypt of the NecroDancer Pocket Edition, developed for iOS, was released in June 2016.
Aztez is a side-scrolling brawler, turn-based strategy video game by Team Colorblind. The player fights through areas within the Aztec empire prior to the Spanish invasion. Aztez was released on August 1, 2017 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Undertale is a 2015 2D role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox. The player controls a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical barrier. The player meets various monsters during the journey back to the surface, although some monsters might engage the player in a fight. The combat system involves the player navigating through mini-bullet hell attacks by the opponent. They can opt to pacify or subdue monsters in order to spare them instead of killing them. These choices affect the game, with the dialogue, characters, and story changing based on outcomes.
Always Sometimes Monsters is a role-playing video game created by Canadian indie developers Justin Amirkhani and Jake Reardon, developed by Vagabond Dog and published by Devolver Digital. The game was released on 21 May 2014 for Microsoft Windows. A later update using the MonoGame framework brought the game to OS X and Linux on 8 January 2015 and to iOS and Android on 28 May 2015.
Bendy and the Ink Machine is an episodic first-person survival horror video game developed and published by Kindly Beast under the name of the game's in-universe animation studio Joey Drew Studios Inc. It was initially released to Game Jolt on February 10, 2017, as the first of five chapters, with a full worldwide release on October 27, 2018. The game was also released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on November 20, 2018, being published by Rooster Teeth Games, and for IOS and Android on December 21, 2018.
Risk of Rain 2 is a roguelike third-person shooter developed by Hopoo Games and published by Gearbox Publishing. A sequel to 2013's Risk of Rain, it was released in early access for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019 before fully releasing in August 2020 with a release for Stadia coming a month later.
Just Shapes & Beats is an action rhythm video game developed and published by Canadian indie team Berzerk Studio. It was released on May 31, 2018, for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch, February 24, 2019, for macOS and Linux, May 10, 2019, for PlayStation 4 in the US, and May 30, 2019 for PlayStation 4 in Europe, Russia and Australia. It was also released on June 30, 2020, for Stadia, and on May 31, 2022, for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. In this game, players move a colorful shape to the beat of background music and dodge pink shapes.
Aegis Defenders is a 2D platforming and tower defense game developed by Guts Department. The game originated as a project for USC’s Intermediate Games class and had a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014. It was later picked up by publisher Humble Bundle in 2017 with Japanese publishing support from Kakehashi Games. Aegis Defenders was released on February 8, 2018, on macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
Juicy Realm is a roguelike video game developed by independent Chinese studio SpaceCan Games and published by X.D. Network]. It's about explorers going into an empire inhabited by sentient fruit and fighting them to save humanity. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X on May 3, 2018, and will be ported to the PlayStation 4. Versions for iOS and Android will also be released at the end of 2018. A Nintendo Switch version was released on November 7, 2019.
Mega Cat Studios is an American video game development and publishing company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded in 2015 by James Deighan, Nick Mann and Zack Manko.
Bite the Bullet is a role-playing roguelite shooter developed by Mega Cat Studios. It was released for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch on August 13, 2020, Xbox One on August 14, 2020, and PlayStation 4 on February 24, 2021. The game is a run, gun, and eat, and features arcade-inspired run and gun action combined with various eating mechanics. Bite the Bullet received mixed reviews from critics.
Cake Bash is a party game developed by High Tea Frog and published by Coatsink. The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia on October 15, 2020, later releasing on November 19 for the Nintendo Switch. In the game, players control cakes competing against each other in order to be chosen by a customer.
Phogs! is a puzzle-platform video game developed by Bit Loom Games and published by Coatsink. The game was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia on December 3, 2020, and for Amazon Luna on November 18, 2021. In Phogs!, players control a two-headed dog called Red and Blue. Phogs! received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Garden Story is an action role-playing game developed by Picogram and published by Rose City Games. The game was released for macOS, Windows, and Nintendo Switch on August 11, 2021, and for Xbox One on July 12, 2022. Limited Run Games announced that physical copies would be distributed in Q3 2022.
