Yo yo yo! Yesterday I dropped a free to play, ad-supported version of my funkadelic masterpiece DEEPAK FIGHTS ROBOTS. It contains the entire main game for your playing pleasure. The paid version is still available for $4.95 - it has no ads, as well as a level editor and survival mode, and a few other perks.

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. Some people griped back when I first released the game that I didn’t release a demo. I didn’t make one because I couldn’t figure out a good cutoff point - it was either going to be too short to show off the game’s depth, or too long to leave any surprises in the paid version.

But I get that people would want to play the thing before throwing down some cash for it. So here, play the thing! The whole thing! And see if it’s worth five bucks. I think you will think it is.

So remember like six months ago when I said I was working on an update to THE AWARD-WINNING Deepak Fights Robots that would allow people to make and play their own custom levels, and that things were going well and I would probably release it in a few weeks? Well…

GOTCHA, I AM HORRIBLY LATE AS ALWAYS, JOKE’S ON YOU, ETC.

But it’s finally done and uploaded and good to go. If you don’t have a copy of the game, what the heck man? Go buy it.

If you do have a copy, you should receive an e-mail shortly with a fresh download link for the game. (If you don’t get this e-mail, let me know, I can get you the link personally.) You’ll unfortunately have to re-download it, because the game is now packaged as an Adobe AIR app. Don’t worry though, you’ll only have to do this once - the game will auto-update from now on. 

And what will I be updating the game with? Why, custom levels of course! This initial release includes FIVE hot new movements, ranging from the kinda ridiculous to the absolutely ridiculous, created by a few close friends of mine and some random strangers from the Internet. There’s also a bonus movement made by yours truly, which is probably the most difficult game-related thing I’ve ever released.

While these should keep you busy for a while, I’m definitely looking to release more batches of user-made levels in the future. So download the update, mess around with the Wondertech Editor, and if you make something cool, send it to me! Just pack up your movement into a zip file and e-mail it to istomsennett@gmail.com. I will probably include it in an update, but even if I don’t, I’d still love to play whatever craziness you come up with.

To keep up on the latest DFR and other Tom Sennett related news, make sure to follow me on Twitter and like me on Facebook. Until next time, rangers, this is Tom Sennett, professional paragon, reminding you to stay cool and stay classy. And seriously, buy my game!

So did you hear? The IndieCade award for Game Design now lives in Scranton:

Deepak Fights Robots beat out every other game on Earth to claim the prize. It was also nominated for Best of Show, but lost to Fez, which Stevie Wonder could have seen coming.

To celebrate, I’m making the 50% price cut PERMANENT. That means all you eager beavers who jumped on the sale will feel a little less clever, and all you true believers who bought the game at full price get a huge boost to your game-hipster credibility. And all you chumps who haven’t bought the game yet? Well, you know what you need to do.

ALSO, I’d like to announce a new feature that I was planning to debut at IndieCade, but which probably didn’t really make sense for the venue anyway: CUSTOM LEVELS!!!

It’s not quiiiite ready for release, but the gist of it is, you’ll be able to make your own levels using Ogmo Editor (the same tool I used), and include your own background images, wall tiles, and music. This all gets bundled up in a folder as a Movement, which you can then load into the game and play.

This should all be done pretty soon, but no promises on a timeline.

You got a problem with that!?

I work at my own pace!

Bitch, I’m an award-winning game designer!

Long requested, finally here. Mr. Leon Arnott has ported RunMan: Race Around the World to Mac, so now, if you have a Mac, you can play it. Cool, right!?

Just mosey on over to the download page to grab it.

So, this is something Matt and I said we wanted to do a long time ago. Yesterday was Sonic the Hedgehog’s birthday, and seeing people make such a fuss over it, I feel compelled to offer a reminder of who the REAL king of speedy platform games is. You’ll never see Sega pulling this!

Here’s the editable Game Maker file for the final version of RunMan: Race Around the World:

http://whatareyouwait.info/runmanv12.gmk

To work with it, just drop it into the base directory of the full game, then open it with a registered copy of Game Maker (version 7 or higher). The source code is a royal mess, but you can at least put together your own levels and edit the art assets pretty easily.

We’re releasing this with a General Public License (GPL). You can do whatever you like with the editable, so long as any modified version you release publicly is also open source under GPL. All the art assets included may be redistributed for free, as long as you attribute them to myself and Matt - if you want to use them in a commercial project e-mail me at istomsennett [at] gmail.com.

If you make something cool, let us know! E-mail myself or Matt, or post on my Facebook or @ me on Twitter or send me a letter through the postal service.

What we have here is the last two years of my life.

This game contains my heart and soul, torn out, chopped up and arranged in a mosaic of color and code. I’ve worked harder on it than on anything I can remember.

It’ll cost you $9.95, and then it’s yours forever, DRM-free with automatic updates.

http://deepaksave.us

I didn’t want to announce this release before it happened. I was tired of making promises. So here it is, folks. Enjoy.

- Tom

So, this is my new website, and this is the triumphant return of Tom Sennnett, Blogger.

MISSION STATEMENT: This blog shall be a force of good and a beacon of justice in the murky underworld of indie gaming blogs.

ADDENDUM: This is not an “indie gaming blog”. Don’t call it that.

Now, let’s check in with everything I’m working on:

• Deepak Fights Robots: See here.
• Coordinate Quest: You might not know about this game, but you should. Get the lowdown here. We’ll be playing a round this Wednesday, February 2nd.
• Brutus + Miranda, or Miranda & Brutus: Currently on hold, but far from dead.
• Thesis Game: Not its actual title. This is a game I’m working on with a friend of mine for my honors thesis. This has to be finished by May if I’m to graduate, so keep an eye out!

Apparently I made a promise to release something last year. Obviously, I reneged on that pretty hard. But the future ain’t the past, cats. LET’S ROLL.