Indie Cross Platform Platform Editing Multiplayer Game Released

A buddy from the local independant game makers initiative has released a public alpha version of Infinite 8 Bit Platformer.  Available for Windows, Mac and via source compilation for Linux, check it here

Infinite 8-Bit Platformer

I help by QA testing various builds and the test sessions have been spontaneously enjoyable.  The platforms I got going were Ubuntu Linux and Windows Vista.

The game is like Minecraft, except in 2D, and is less blocky, and more pixely, so to speak.  And no enemies, other than your own possible lack of creativity.  Once thats overcome and with people around in the same level Infinite is an Indie free-for-all of unique fun!

Proper Cross Platform Multiplayer Is Here

Being a big fan of the PS3 but having divided interests for playing games there and on the PC I get into stupid situations.  For instance, I actually bought Battlefield Bad Company 2 on PS3 then a few months later on PC just because I had mates using both platforms!  That's just silly.  When will games be truly platform independent?  Why is that even important?

I'll address those questions in another blog entry. But im excited!  The news I discovered today is quite awesome - late January Valve announced Portal 2 to have cross platform multiplayer co-op. Specifically, if you buy the ps3 version, the game keys will work on PC and Mac versions as well. Oh JOY! Additionally, players from those 3 platforms can join the same multiplayer game. This is really important step to cross-platform multiplayer gaming.

Previous developer reasons for not going down this path have been issues like PC mouse and keyboard users versus console controller users.  For first person shooter (FPS) games the mouse and keyboard traditionally offer more accuracy than a controller.  The result is for console versions of the game developers implement different aiming mechanics such as auto-aim, or aim assist that enable a better gaming experience on the console. However this would create a mis-match and unfairness if players on the PC played against players on the console.  The argument deepens, because there may be a server setting to disable auto-aiming, giving PC players the advantage of a better accuracy with the superior mouse and keyboard etc..

Portal 2 multiplayer across the platforms may work however because its co-operative.  There wont be arguments about fairness of player reaction, aiming, shooting and hit mechanics and physics when it comes down to who shot who.  Co-operative cross platform multiplayer games will probably work in general - for example sports games. There's little reason why the either PC or console inputs would have much affect on the multiplayer experience.

Other examples include, Shadowrun - a multiplayer deathmatch game that enables PC vs XBox users. I have no idea on its fairness of cross platform multiplayer matches however.  Killing Floor on Steam is also a cross platform multiplayer game available for PC and Mac reinforcing the co-operative feature.