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Though it borrows a superficial structure from Super Smash Bros., upcoming indie multiplayer game BitBrawlers sets itself apart by giving players the ability to customize their combat.

According to developer Tiny Build Games, BitBrawlers offers players the chance to customize abilities, weapons and even the environment they're fighting in. That trailer above demonstrates a few of these user-generated elements, though the process through which players build new elements for the game remains a mystery. That said, Tiny Build claims it built the above trailer in "an hour on the GDC showfloor," which suggests that the tools are easy to use once you've got a grasp on things.

Tiny Build has yet to offer a solid release date for BitBrawlers, but plans to release the game to Steam at some point in 2014. [Image: Tiny Build Games]

Following the flatulence-laden release of South Park: The Stick of Truth, developer Obsidian Entertainment has announced a new explosive game. Armored Warfare is the company's first foray into the wild world of free-to-play games and features modern tank battles.

Armored Warfare is being published and distributed by Russia-based My.com, publisher and developer of free-to-play mobile games.

The team-based PC title will feature player-vs-player and player-vs-environment gameplay and is expected to launch a closed beta sometime in 2014.

The game is taking sign-ups for its closed beta.

The publisher discusses what level of interest in VR is needed before it's worth developing for.

Players based in the ANZ region will finally be able to enjoy a smoother Diablo 3 experience.

Andy Schatz is doing it again.

Monaco seemed to linger in development limbo forever because it received attention from the IGF early in its production process. In reality, it took 3.5 years to come out. Schatz's new project, codenamed Armada, is a vague concept at this point: He has a clear vision for the design, but the theme, style and development team - not to mention the name - are all still up in the air. He announced it anyway.

"I don't care this time because, *crag* it," Schatz tells me at GDC.

He's not going to release a game until "it's worth buying," but this time around he plans to throw Armada up on Steam Early Access and get player feedback. Monaco launched on XBLA, so Early Access was out of the question.

Schatz isn't shooting completely in the dark with Armada - he knows what type of game it's going to be, and he has an idea for the theme. He wants to build an RTS with MOBA elements, something accessible yet still complex. In the way Monaco twisted the stealth genre, he wants Armada to feel familiar to RTS players, but with layers that smooth out the learning curve. He throws around the name StarCraft, and elements such as "champions" and "decks."

Octodad: Dadliest Catch sold more than 90,000 copies on PC, Mac and Linux, and that is enough to keep developer Young Horses afloat through the end of the year with a lineup of full-time staff, CEO Philip Tibitoski told Joystiq at GDC. Before launch, the Young Horses team split their time between day jobs and development work, but now it's all Octodad, all the time.

"If it hadn't sold well, I'd be out looking for a job right now," Tibitoski said. "I don't have to worry any more."

The next step is a PS4 launch, scheduled for April. Fans on social media are eager to control a suited cephalopod with the DualShock 4, Tibitoski said, noting that some have vowed to buy it twice. And chances are, they will buy it - Young Horses has no plans to make Octodad a PS Plus free game. Tibitoski said a significant number of players expect Octodad to be free on PS Plus simply because it's an indie game on a Sony console, but that's not something the team wants. A launch sale, maybe.

We test out Valve's redesigned Steam Controller prototype, which features a better build, new button configurations, and more.

Ubisoft is offering access to a closed beta for people who pre-purchase the upcoming game.

Today at GDC 2014, Microsoft offered a first look at the future of PC gaming with DirectX 12.

Diving for treasure in the Caribbean feels much more realistic with an Oculus Rift headset.

Craig is a vagabond journalist, a nomad who cannot be contained, and he wanders the land like Caine from Kung Fu, writing posts about videogames wherever he pleases. He’s the Snufkin of RPS, is what I’m saying, which is why we don’t always get to enjoy his company, and why we’re sometimes slow to post space sim news when he’s not around. News like the Elite: Dangerous alpha now has space station docking, there’s a video of it below, and my it looks beautiful.

… [visit site to read more]

Certain developers stick in your head. The first time I played Radiangames‘ Super Crossfire I thought this is good, looked out for other stuff like the brilliant Inferno+, and eventually found out these neat packages were the labours of one man – Luke Schneider. But disaster struck! Radiangames tried to hit it big with Bombcats, a mobile F2P game, but found only the black dog of rejection and financial ruin! It looked like the end for Luke! Was there nothing to be done? Wait, is that a bird? A plane? No!

POWERPUFF SAVE THE DAY. … [visit site to read more]

The last time I mentioned hex-based tactic ‘em up Drums Of War, beta signups had opened. We now return to the heavily interactive and changeable battlefields as the game is released on the Slitherine store. Previous comment thread discussion focused on such noble instruments as the Alphorns of Animosity and Sousaphones of Siege, but twig_reads, an RPS commenter and transcriber of trees, refused to join in the the musical merriment and instead chipped in with, “This looks a bit like Battle For Wesnoth“. twig_reads is correct. The main difference, in my experience, is that open source Wesnoth doesn’t have the same focus on destructible map elements. There are so many campaigns and modules for BoW that it’s impossible to generalise, but Drums of War places a stronger emphasis on skirmishes, often won by timely use of unique abilities.

… [visit site to read more]

Older readers (and writers) may recall that, in the dim and distant days before Rock, Paper, Shotgun, our hallowed co-founder and now acclaimed comics writer Kieron Gillen proposed a profound change to games journalism: leave the pretence of objectivity behind, the dry scores and the focus on facts and technicality, and embrace subjectivity, anecdote and emotion. His angry, passionate, devised-down-the-pub New Games Journalism manifesto attracted both reverence and hatred, and, one might say, lasting change – both good and ill.

That was ten years ago. He’s tried not to mention the war since. But next week, in a different pub, he relives it all – with an audience, with the journalists he’d supped with at the time, and with The Guardian. You can be there, if you can be in London next Wednesday. … [visit site to read more]

For the second time, the original Oddworld game has been rejigged for modern machines, which might be an honest-to-goodness record. Sure, there have been re-imaginings of multiple series, but I can’t remember a game being officially remade more than once. Can anyone confirm or disconfirm that for me? Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is so new and modern that the phrase “1080p” is in the press release, and the trailer below uses all those pixels to take the old (and still rather pretty platform) game and make it pixelerier.

… [visit site to read more]

Dominique Pamplemousse in “It’s All Over Once The Fat Lady Sings!” is a stop motion animated musical detective adventure game about gender. “Another one,” you wail, and yet it’s nominated for thousands of IGF awards, including Narrative, Audio, Nuovo and the Grand Prize. Today’s IGF Factor sits down with the game’s writing, programming, musicing creator, Deirdra Kiai, to pick over the creation of the game. … [visit site to read more]

ArenaNet has announced that April's patch for Guild Wars 2 will focus exclusively on adding, improving and refining the MMO's features.

Having proven itself on iOS, Gun Media's tactical strategy hit Breach & Clear is now coming to the PC, Mac and Linux platforms via Steam.

If that title is totally new to you, you can think of Breach & Clear as a turn-based shooter focused almost entirely on close quarters combat. Players lead a team of hardened spec ops agents who travel the world snuffing out threats and dealing with dangerous situations. The new computer versions of the game feature a revamped interface, new weapons, new missions and the addition of the German KSK as a playable faction.

Breach & Clear is slated for release on March 21, at which point it will feature a $15 price tag. To celebrate the launch, however, developer Gun Media plans to reduce the game's price to $10 "for a limited time." [Image: Gun Media]

Goblins, aliens, Nazis, zombies, monsters ... all of these are scary video game enemies, for sure, but none hold a candle to Mother Nature. Well okay, Mother Nature and spooky ghost-deer-people. Such is life in indie PC game Echo of the Wilds, where players explore randomly-generated wilderness brimming with harsh elements and aforementioned spirits.

You'll need to craft tools and survival gear to survive the harsh elements, while also gathering food and seeking shelter. There's a bit more of a narrative focus here than in games like Don't Starve, as your character's ultimate goal is to escape from the wilds and the apparitions that haunt him. Those who want less story and more gameplay have the option of playing in Endless mode, which removes the game's narrative and instead challenges players to survive increasingly difficult odds.

Echo of the Wilds is available now via developer Caiysware's website, and is also up for voting on Steam Greenlight. [Image: Caiysware]

The acclaimed book series made one heck of a video game, but how is The Witcher comic book?

Tonight is the night – the annual excitement of the Independent Game Festival Awards, followed by the achingly long endurance test of the Game Developers Choice Awards. Maybe it will be different this year? Maybe I won’t lose my mind just over halfway through and start writing insults? Who’s to know? To make it more exciting, rather than clutter your Twitter feed, this year there’s to be an attempt – technology depending – to live blog it all. That will begin below at 6.30pm Colonialist Time. (1.30am Her Majesty’s Time.)

… [visit site to read more]

Clockwork Empires plans to launch its buy in-alpha program this spring, developer Gaslamp Games mentioned today at GDC 2014. This next game from the team behind Dungeons of Dredmor is an ambitious simulation game. Think Tropico meets Don't Starve, but steampunk.

Beyond its setting of colonists surviving in frontier lands against fish people and Lovecraftian dread, the game will support up to four players online, along with a turn-based successive multiplayer. Clockwork is planned for PC, Mac and Linux. The developer didn't have any announcement today about the buy in-alpha price.

Armello spent eight months as a paper prototype, and the team at Australian studio League of Geeks did its best to throw the appeal of a board game onto the screen - including the dice. Armello is a turn-based, strategy RPG complete with skill cards and four playable clans: rabbit, rat, bear and wolf. It's in development for PC and mobile.

Armello has a rich fantasy backstory and matching 3D art: The king, a lion, has a disease called "rot" and he's going mad, locked inside of his castle and protected by minions, high walls and his own skills. The game supports solo and multiplayer modes, online and local (with multiple devices), and it has a day-night cycle that transforms the battlefield from deep greens to dark purples throughout players' turns.

See an example of Armello's hex-based system in another gif below.

(This is about Tuesday, but you know, time travel, internet access, etc.) Today is Clandestine Day. Today Nathan and I are meeting with SECRET DEVELOPER to look at SECRET GAME. I’m also going to SECRET MEETING at lunchtime. And playing SECRET LEGO MMO THAT’S NOT ACTUALLY A SECRET this morning. I’m like the world’s greatest spy.

… [visit site to read more]

While museums and organizations lock the industry's most important works behind glass to preserve their memory, development and publishing partners Upper One Games and E-Line Media is using video games to help preserve the legends of a people.

In the upcoming "atmospheric puzzle platformer" Never Alone, players live out the legends and stories passed down for generations in the Alaskan Native community. Though the companies want their game to help educate the world about native culture while being entertained, Never Alone is also being positioned to help reignite passion and preserve the legends within the native communities throughout Alaska.

If you ever wanted to act like an Australian politician, Shark Attack Deathmatch is the game for you. It’s an online shooter begging for votes on Greenlight where, for some reason, divers are so furious with each other that they’re unwilling to surface to fight. They remain beneath the waves, firing harpoons at each other in shark-infested waters. The last time I had a problem with someone I just wrote them an email, so I’m not sure I’m angry enough of a person to empathise with this, but I can also see where typing in all caps into Gmail doesn’t work as an online shooter. Let’s peek into the murky depths, like the bit in Jaws when Hooper finds Ben Gardner’s boat. … [visit site to read more]

RPS used to be a bunch of foot-to-ball fearties, but times change, and Adam and Graham are on a mission to make sure there’s no one left at the site who doesn’t understand the offside trap. Adam wrote the WIT. Graham made us into regens. They compared notes.

Now the pair have gathered again to discuss their thoughts after a further six months of intensive training. How does the match engine hold up? Has the new tactics system ever felt limiting? How has the mid-season update changed play? All this and more awaits below.

… [visit site to read more]

I take great delight in watching developers flick through game genres, poking their elbows into the next seat of the comfort zone and seeing if there’s room. The guys behind the Misery Mod for Stalker: Call Of Pripyat are doing just that, taking all they’ve learned from turning CoP into a grimier hell and squeezing it inside a completely different shape. The Seed will be a post-apocalyptic interactive novel, and I bet you weren’t expecting that. It’s just popped up on Kickstarter. … [visit site to read more]

The expansion also comes with bonus Cartel Coins for all subscribers.