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Decay Developer Explains Shift to Browser-Based Format

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Mike Wall in News, PC, PC News, xblig, XBLIG News | Leave a comment

shadows, neon, bathtub

We were a bit befuddled when Shining Gate Software announced rather innocuously that development on Decay Asylum shifted gears and the game was now being developed primarly as a browser-based game. We asked series co-creator Fredrik Westlund about the change of scenery, and he explained that it was simply a matter of getting the game in front of as many (terrified) eyes as possible. “We decided to focus on PC because we need to reach out to more players. XBLIG is not available in too many countries. And it’s difficult to reach out to players when they have to download the game on Xbox Live to be able to play at all,” he said.

Westlund said that the game will not have ads, but he wasn’t sure exactly what the pricing model would be yet. Don’t lose hope on playing a new Decay adventure on your fancy smancy TV. “If it’s successful as a web game, we will launch Asylum on XBLIG as well,” said Westlund. But, it might be a little while; Westlund was mum on a release date, but he confirmed that we won’t be seeing the new adventure this year.

Decay Asylum Morphs into an Online Browser Game, XBLIG Release Still Possible

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Mike Wall in News, PC, PC News, xblig, XBLIG News | Leave a comment

Things were never what they seemed in the world of Decay, and it appears as if the same can be said about the development of the series’ latest entry, Decay – Asylum. Shining Gate Software recently posted on Twitter that the latest game will be an online browser-based game, but that there was still the possibility for release on XBLIG in the future. The game was previously announced to be coming to XBLIG and later ported to PC, WP7, and Android. We’ve contact the developer for more details on the change and when we can expect to continue decaying.

Source: Shining Gate Software’s Twitter

Decay sequel skulking onto Xbox, PC, WP7, and Android

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Mike Wall in News, PC, PC News, xblig, XBLIG News | 1 Comment

You thought you escaped the bleak, oppressive world of Decay, didn’t you? You were finished with creepy dolls, diabolical puzzles and strange ghosts, right? No? Well, good, because Shining Gate Software is working on a sequel, tentatively titled Decay – Asylym, which will be a new adventure set in the same universe as the 4-part creep-fest. Details are about as murky as Decay’s dark corridors, but developer Fredrik Westlund said the game could wind up being “completely different compared to the previous installments.”

One obvious departure is that new title will most likely not be episodic, but Westlund said we can expect it to be first-person adventure with improved shadows and lighting. It will arrive on XBLIG first, and then it will be ported to PC, WP7, and Android. We’ll have more details as they’re available, but for now, we’re going to invest in some more candles.

Source: Decay Facebook

Decay – Part 4 wins the Tentacle Award for XBLIG Game of the Month – April 2011

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Mike Wall in Features, xblig | 1 Comment

game of the month!

Move over peanut butter and jelly, there’s a new team-up in town, and while we may not leave your stomach in a sated bliss (try as we may), we are going to give you something better. The folks here at Team Armless Octopus are excited to partner with the SideQuesting gang to award one XBLIG every month with the coveted Armless Octopus Bloody Tentacle Award for Aberrant Achievement in Indie Gaming (or the Tentacle Award, for brevity’s sake). We’re bloody excited, and you should be too.

April’s Tentacle Award goes to Decay – Part 4, the final chapter in one of the platform’s most impressive series. Admittedly awarding Part 4 is a bit of a cop out since it’s basically an excuse to recommend the entire series, but that’s the advantage to being the one making the rules. Visit SideQuesting to read the full article to find out just why Decay – Part 4 walked away with the hardware, and stay tuned each month as we tell you what games you need to get your tentacles on.

Read the full article at SideQuesting.com

Decay – Part 4 review: Going out with a bang

Posted on April 30, 2011 by Mike Wall in Reviews, xblig, XBLIG Reviews | Leave a comment

umm...creepy?

Picking up right where Part 3 left off, Decay Part 4 faces the rather unenviable task of concluding an episodic mystery that narratively peaked at the conclusion of its predecessor. The curtain has been pulled back, and for the first time in the series, it’s apparent who you are, where you are and what you are supposed to be doing, a mystery that was a major draw for the previous entries. Now it’s merely a matter of tracking down and enacting revenge on that pernicious serial killer, and then the birds will start chirping and the sun will peer out from behind the clouds, right? Alright, slow down, Agent Booth, it’s never that easy is it?

Filling in the details of any mystery tends to make it less creepy, something that definitely works against Decay – Part 4. It just can’t quite match the consternation of previous entries where it felt as if something was lurking around the corner waiting to rip off my face, which is ironic since this is the first game in the series where you can actually die. In fact, Shining Gate Software made a few changes to the point-and-click formula, an impressive feat considering it’s the final act and they probably could have gotten away with plugging a few puzzles into a house, adding a ‘4’ to the title screen and calling it a day. So, while it might not be the scariest entry in the series, it is in many ways the most impressive and definitely the most robust adventure.

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Interview: Shining Gate Software sheds light on Decay’s conclusion and history

Posted on March 25, 2011 by Mike Wall in Interviews, xblig | 2 Comments

first images of decay 4 - comfortable sofa

Shining Gate Software reanimated the creepy point-and-click adventure genre with its disturbing series, Decay. With the final chapter nearing release, I spoke with its creators, Fredrik Westlund and Johannes Rae about what’s new in the fourth chapter and what’s next for the studio.

So where in the world did the whole idea for Decay come from?

Fredrik: This may sound like, weird, but I actually woke up in the middle of one night and couldn’t stop hearing the words “Fallen Angel” repeating in my head. I remember that I was on vacation with my girlfriend on a Swedish island called Gotland when it happened. The only thing I knew at that point was that we had to create something inspired by the 90’s point & click horror games 11th Hour and Phantasmagoria and that it should be titled Fallen Angel. The name was later changed to Decay.

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Top 20 Xbox Live Indie Games of 2010 – Part 1

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Mike Wall in News | 7 Comments

With twenty-ten firmly in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to perform our requisite best of the year list. With so many great indie games released in 2010, we’ll forgive you if you might have missed a few gems here and there. There were a ton of fantastic games to choose from, so assembling the list was a bit more difficult than initially anticipated.  So, the good news is that everything that made the cut is awesome, but needless to say, there are a lot of great games that were log-jammed for those last few spots. The list is presented by genre, and is not a countdown in any fashion. Each game is accompanied by reflections from the author who originally reviewed the game discussing why it deserves to be on the list.

Check out Part 2 of our Top 20 Xbox Live Indie Games of 2010!

RPGs and Adventure

Breath of Death VII


breath-of-death-vii-image-8

Breath of Death VII, along with Shoot 1UP, were the first games that convinced me that it was worthwhile writing about those indie games. It managed to tickle my nostalgia receptors for those classic RPGs I grew up playing in a way that no modern RPG really could. Its pixel-perfect 16-bit art style is absolutely gorgeous, and it’s jammed with hilarious nods to classic gaming franchises and self-referential humor. I really find a lot of modern Japanese RPGs to be overly cheesy, long-winded and pretentious, but Breath of Death VII manages to remind me of what used to be so much fun about the genre. It even manages to improve upon the formula by reducing a lot of the maintenance. The combat is snappy, the characters are quirky and it’s just about the best value out there for a buck.
Full Review by Mike Wall

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Xbox Indie Review: Decay – Part 3

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Mike Wall in Reviews, xblig | 5 Comments

the doll is back

The first two chapters of Decay introduced a twisted world illuminated by stark, neon lights, and featured a slowly unraveling, brooding story centered around an amnesiac suicide victim, ghosts, a serial killer and that unforgettable decrepit doll. It should come as no shock to anyone that Part 3 is a lot like the previous two, which means it has more of everything that made the first two parts so enjoyable, along with a bit of what made them occasionally gratingly frustrating.

For those unfamiliar with the series, Decay is essentially a point-and-click adventure game from the mid-90s that was somehow buried in a time capsule, exhumed, and is being released in episodic format. Being the third entry in a series, this would make a horrendously awful entry-point, so definitely investigate the the first part (which was recently reduced to a modest $1).

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