Indie Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Third Eye Crime combines a stealth game with a psychic twist

by Mike Schramm (Apr 3rd, 2013)

I saw quite a few really terrific indie games at GDC last week, but Third Eye Crime was one of my favorites on iOS. It's being put together by a studio called Moonshot Games, made up of game industry veterans working on mobile games together after having some bad experiences with console ...

Smash Vote for iOS makes it out just in time

by Mike Schramm (Nov 7th, 2012)

Back at 360iDev in Denver earlier this year, I met a guy named Tate Jennings, an indie developer behind a company called Mighty Bits. Jennings was working on a game called Smash Vote, which he described to me as a political fighting game. It was literally a game featuring versions of famous ...

Pitch Perfect is the perfect marketing primer for the indie developer

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 25th, 2012)

If you're a developer with an app and a dream, you would do well to pick up Pitch Perfect by TUAW's Erica Sadun and Steve Sande. Their book lifts the veil on how app reviewers, bloggers specifically, operate. Most of the advice I give to people looking to pitch an app is in this book. Added to the ...

Semi-finalists revealed in Atari's Pong Indie Developer Challenge

by Mike Schramm (May 1st, 2012)

Atari's Developer Challenge has been taking submissions for possible Pong-inspired iOS games since late February (Disclaimer: I'm serving as a judge on the final panel for the contest, though I haven't done anything yet and am not being paid for my time), and the company has finally selected 20 ...

Atari announces Pong contest for indie iOS devs

by Mike Schramm (Feb 28th, 2012)

(Disclaimer: As you'll read below, I'm serving as a judge in this competition, though I'm not getting paid or compensated for any time I'm contributing to it.) Atari has been betting big on iOS lately. It recently released a Greatest Hits app with its own controller, as well as remakes like ...

SoundHound's most ID'd songs in 2011

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jan 9th, 2012)

SoundHound is a music search and discovery tool for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. The app has 50 million worldwide users and boasts of over four million music searches per day. The company recently released its Top Ten Identified songs and at the top of the charts was Pumped Up Kicks by ...

Trine 2 will be available for Mac on Dec. 7

by Mike Schramm (Dec 6th, 2011)

Puzzle-based action/platformer Trine 2 is coming out this week, and developer Frozenbyte has announced that the Mac version will drop alongside the Windows version on Steam. If you want to get a copy outside of the Steam system, you'll have to wait until sometime next year, but even with the ...

Humble Indie Bundle 3 announced, includes Cogs, VVVVVV, And Yet It Moves

by Mike Schramm (Jul 26th, 2011)

The Humble Indie Bundle is back at it again, offering five new indie gaming titles for one low choose-your-own price. This time around, they've got Crayon Physics Deluxe, 3D puzzler Cogs, the excellent retro platformer VVVVVV, Hammerfight, and the award-winning puzzler/platformer And Yet It ...

Apple approves Canabalt clone

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 5th, 2011)

Late last year, the developer who created popular indie game Canabalt released the game's source code under an MIT open source license. This license lets other developers use the underlying game engine to power their own games for either private or commercial distribution. While the underlying ...

Music video shot with only an iPad 2

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 17th, 2011)

Take a musician, a film company and four iPad 2s to a rocking dance party, and you have all the ingredients for an impressive indie music video. Filmed by Remedy Films, this 5-minute music video for the song "Need" by Eddy shows what is possible with the iPad 2 and some talent. According to ...

TUAW's Daily App: Strange Rain

by Mike Schramm (Jan 20th, 2011)

We've been doing a week of experimental indie games in this space, and here comes Strange Rain today, from the creator of previous iOS indie title Ruben & Lullaby. Like the other games featured, Strange Rain is really more of an experimental art piece than an actual game. Rain falls on your ...

TUAW's Daily App: Today I Die Again

by Mike Schramm (Jan 19th, 2011)

I seem to have started off the week with some quality experimental gaming on the iPhone, so let's continue that trend with this great title called Today I Die Again from indie developer Daniel Benmergui. I met Daniel at IndieCade 2009 in Culver City, CA, and this is one of a few "games" he's ...

Popular indie game Canabalt goes open source

by Kelly Hodgkins (Dec 31st, 2010)

The developers behind Canabalt confirmed that the game's source code will be made available as part of an open source project. The game will be licensed under the MIT Open Source license, which will let other developers use the engine source code in its entirety for both personal and commercial ...

Lots more iOS games on sale for just a buck

by Mike Schramm (Dec 21st, 2010)

We're heading into the final day before the App Store freeze on Thursday, and so there are lots more price drops popping up on Apple's digital outlet for iOS apps. Here's a few of the sales we've heard about so far. Bulkypix is holding a 99 cent sale on its titles. Freeverse has dropped a few ...

Indie games on sale for iPhone (and a good cause)

by Kelly Hodgkins (Dec 21st, 2010)

The popular Humble Indie Bundle for the Mac has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity and has become an inspiration for other indie developers looking to follow their lead. In that spirit, six independent iPhone game developers have banded together and are offering their games at a ...