I’ve been keenly awaiting Spire [official site], the roguelikelike first-person shooty platformer from Dustforce developers Hitbox Team, for three years and I’ll happily keep waiting. Heck, I was sold when they referenced Quake trickjumping as an example of a slick movement system one can master. Hitbox still haven’t sent word of when we might get to play it but I’m quite happy reading a new progress report and looking at a wee GIF demonstrating how their level generation system shakes and jiggles rooms until they take an interesting, playable shape. Good GIFfing.

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Rarely have I gotten better at something as swiftly and satisfyingly as Dustforce. A game about sweeping up. Except sweeping in elegantly swishy moves, in which you’ll replay levels to master the fluidity of your swooshes, mastering its pinpoint precise controls, until you get that top mark of an ‘S’.

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I like it when developers take a bit of a leap. So Dustforce developer Hitbox Team’s announcement that their next game won’t be a 2D platformer made me tingle. Instead it’ll be a first-person platform game called Spire. Spire is a good name. The real-world has buildings or towers. It’s only a spire if it’s in a fantasy world. And you know if you hear such a name then it means you’re going to be ascending. Spire is Esperanto for “climb the bloody thing”, after all. (more…)

Somehow bearing the numeral ’6′ after it, despite there having been at least 40,000 Humble Bundles by this point, the latest in the wildly successful series of pay-what-you-want indie grab-bags is go right now. Torchlight is the headliner, which is some funny timin’ what with the sequel being pretty darn close now, and it has sterling support from Rochard, Space Pirates And Zombies (aka SPAZ), Vessel and Shatter. Pay more than the average – which currently sits at around $5 – and you’ll get Dustforce too. (more…)

Enticingly attractive sweep ‘em up Dustforce will receive a spit, a polish and a level editor tomorrow. It’s all free of charge to existing owners, although that does mean you’ll be spat on and rubbed with a dishcloth whether you like it or not. Their rules, not mine. I used to enjoy making levels for games but at some point it stopped being fun and started feeling like a chore. Imagine my wide-eyed glee when I saw the video below, showing off the simplicity of Dustforce’s construction equipment.

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Onlive and the IGF are spooning for a fortnight. The sensual lovers are celebrating the Indie Gaming New Year by giving you access to 30 minute demos of 16 IGF finalists. The alphabetically sexy list of games is: Atom Zombie Smasher, Be Good, Botanicula, Dear Esther, Dustforce, English Country Tune, Frozen Synapse, FTL, Lume, Nitronic Rush, Once Upon a Spacetime, POP, SpaceChem, To the Moon, Toren, and WAY. (more…)