Indie Focus At EGX Part Two: Heat Signature, Redirection & TinyKeep

We’re back with four more indie games which we played on the EGX show floor. Well, technically. We actually played two of these – the last two – at BeefJack’s Indie Show and Tell event, which was held just around the corner from the show itself. Anyway, let’s get on with it…

Heat Signature | PC | 2015

If you like games that use simple mechanics to build complex systems and interactions then Heat Signature is one for you. Set aboard your very own spaceship, the game sees you attempting to dock with other, procedurally generated ships, essentially partaking in a bit of space piracy.

Sounds like a pretty simple goal right? Well the problem comes in avoiding being detected. Heat Signature is a stealth game, you see, and if you’re noticed before you board a ship then a missile barrage will be heading your way immediately. While you can outrun these missiles if you can react quickly enough, you’ll probably lose track of your target ship in the process.

What potential ships are detecting as you approach is the heat your thrusters give off, so firing them in smaller bursts is safer. Fortunately the game allows for some pretty fine grained control via a quite intuitive system. Clicking near your ship will fire a small, slower thruster burst in that direction, while clicking further away creates progressively larger speed boosts. You can also zoom in or out from your current location by using the mouse wheel, letting you get as much or as little thrust as needed quite easily.

Fortunately, enemy ships have their heat detection radius clearly shown, so the trick to boarding is to try and match speed with your target before slowly nudging your way towards the airlock. It’s a tricky mechanic at first, but once you get to grips with it it’s really satisfying.

Docking changes your perspective from the exterior of your ship to the interior of your target, although both views are presented from a 2D, top down view point. Once on board, your goal, in the current build at least, is either to steal information from the ship’s computer core or to kill a specific inhabitant of the ship. Of course, there are ship board guards in your way, so you’ll need to be careful in your approach. You can either dodge or kill them, but be forewarned, if you’re caught you’ll be promptly thrown out of the airlock.

This doesn’t mean an instant death though. Instead you can try and chase your body down with your ship before your life does finally expire. This is actually much tougher than docking with a ship, as you tend to be going at top speed and the target is much, much smaller than an airlock. However, after a little practice you’ll be plucking yourself out of space with plenty of time left before the life force leaves your body.

It’s pretty obvious that Heat Signature still has a way to go before release, but the core of the game is already there and plays fantastically well. Sure, more complex missions structures and the like are needed if you want a really rich experience, but what’s there now is a lot of fun. This is absolutely worth keeping an eye on if you love space or stealth.

Kris

The Marvellous Miss Take | PC | 2015

The Left Field collection at EGX is usually full of fairly unusual games, those far more offbeat than what you find in the Rezzed area. Often titles in this area feel more like an experiment than a full game, a trend that left The Marvellous Miss Take feeling slightly out of place. This was a fully fleshed out game with bits of story and some wonderful art in place; it was really more suited for the Rezzed area of the show.

Putting its location aside, The Marvellous Miss Take is a point-and-click heist title that focuses on stealth mechanics. That may sound a lot like Calvino Noir, a game I talked about earlier in the week, but the differences are pretty stark. While Calvino Noir is a 2D game that plays with light and shadow, Miss Take uses bright colours and a 3D isometric view.

The thefts are also a lot more obvious here, focusing (in what I played at least) on art theft rather than bringing down a government. A simple click on a painting will nab it from the wall, although there are obviously guards who’d rather you didn’t get away with such brazen theft.

Guards have your typical vision cone, but are also drawn by sound. You can use this to your advantage though, as whistling will draw them towards your current location, allowing you to sneak around their back and grab whatever takes your fancy. You can also draw them out by running across their vision cone, a move that will cause them to investigate what you’re up to.

The only real issue I have with the game is that the guards seemed particularly easy to get past. The difficulty will likely ramp up as the game continues, but the opening levels didn’t really present much of a challenge. Hopefully the introduction of cameras, a feature on show in the video above, and more guards, alongside new ways to distract them, will build the game out into something you can really sink your teeth into.

Kris

Redirection | PC | Available Now

Sometimes simplicity is the best option to take when developing a game, and while Redirection has a simple objective at its core, it seems as though it could become quite complex. Thankfully, you’ve got a rewinding time mechanic available to make that less of a worry.

Essentially, you’ll have to place down blocks in an isometric level to redirect AI-controlled blocks to their homes. They’re constantly moving, and you’ll change their direction by blocking their way. Red and blue blocks are present, with red blocks turning right and blue blocks turning left when redirected. You’ll need to lead them to the right coloured spaces in order to complete each level – X marks the spot.

Visually, it’s a pleasant looking game, with a strong yet simple style which really suits the gameplay. It can be quite fun, but it’s never too challenging due to the ability to rewind time; at least that alleviates any frustration. The full release has a level editor and modding tools, which could lead to some more complexity in a deceptively simplistic title. It’s also a title that I feel could work quite well on a tablet device, so hopefully we’ll see it there in the future.

Blair

TinyKeep | PC | Available Now

Roguelike games have become increasingly popular recently, and TinyKeep is an interesting title which sees you attempting to escape the dungeon rather than explore it. It’s top-down, as many games of this style are, but features 3D visuals and some rather enjoyable gameplay, where deaths are permanent and each level is procedural.

The enemies in the levels that I played never got too complex or overly powerful – though they naturally will as you progress through further levels of the dungeon – but since you start off without a weapon, the only way to kill enemies is by luring them into traps such as spike pits. This proved futile, however, when I found that enemies were smart enough to jump over these pits.

I finally grabbed a sword and made my way to the level’s exit, avoiding a larger spinning-blade trap, when I was confronted with a knight. This foe proved tough, but thankfully I was able to lead him back to that trap and have it deal some damage to him so I could take him down. This is just one of the many stories that TinyKeep could produce, and I could really see later levels becoming quite exciting, with you knowing that if you fall then that’s it, you’ll have to start again. But at least this time it will be different.

Blair