Towa Towa and Escape The Cage developer Aaron Oldenburg is making a "game created through documentary process" called Cachiche for PC, where the player is an outsider trying to make sense of reality by taking pictures and learning about the photo contents by talking to people. The game is slated for a Fall 2014 release and is inspired by Aaron's interactions with a brujo ("sorcerer") in the desert suburb of Cachiche, Peru; a town that was founded as a refuge for witches during the Peruvian inquisition and is where descendents of witches still live today.

[By Megan Fox]

I’m tired of Indie Bubble Buts. “This is an indie bubble! But it isn’t bad be-” “But this isn’t an indie bubble! Because you s-” and so on, back and forth.

Everyone’s making good points. Jeff Vogel is on the money as usual, Rob’s on point with an excellent counter, and this is all just lovely. People even asked me to kick the horse further, but, I have a better idea: let’s stop debating and but'ing, and start talking action.

Revenues for indie developers on desktop are falling. We know this, and the reasons are various and irrelevant, a fixed point in our recent past. To move on, there is one very specific myth we need to gut, here and now.

At the edge of the universe, the research ship Xanadu rests in orbit around an unknown planet. That is how developers Lee Williams and Allen Trivette introduce to the rest of the world Spirits of Xanadu on Steam Greenlight: an atmospheric exploration game set on the starship in an alternate 1980s. Inspired once again by classic sci-fi films and games such as System Shock, Deus Ex, Tarkovsky's Solaris, and 2001: A Space Odyssey, the team aims to create an immersive and highly interactive environment, featuring puzzles and FPS elements played within a multi-layered plot.

Developers Lee and Allen reached out to discuss their upcoming game in more detail, particularly the examples of choice and interactivity it will offer.

Big Robot's first-gentleperson stealth game Sir, You Are Being Hunted is remarkable because it represents an indie developer's attempt to explore and master the possibilities of open-world procedural generation and AI, two aspects of game design that seem sorely under-appreciated in contemporary big-budget development.

The developers behind IGF Student Finalist Palette, Rooms, Sugar Cube, 6180 the moon, and semi-secret indie organization GameAde have joined together to bring a bit of Experimental Gameplay Workshop-inspired curation to Korea.

Jonghwa Kim, Sun Park, and Jay Jaewoo Jeon together run Out of Index, which has begun taking submissions to the first showcase. The event was inspired by the wildly popular GDC session, the Experimental Gameplay Workshop, and will be inclusive in that any nationality, status, or age may submit, but only games with 'unprecedented, innovative game mechanics' will be chosen.

Submissions are due a month from now on June 22, and even though some of the details still need to be hammered out for the event, the developers sound passionate for the cause, as revealed in this online chat.

Where and when will the exhibit be? What companies and people are helping support the cause?

Over the last year, the roguelike has become the it-genre, particularly for independent developers. While debate remains over what constitutes a roguelike or whether the term should even be used, there's no argument around the fact that both developers and players have come to love these games for their endless, procedural challenges.

This year's best student game in the Independent Games Festival was Risk of Rain; Klei Entertainment sold over a million copies of Don't Starve last year. These are just two obvious success stories that owe a lot to the appeal of roguelike mechanics.

Tanya X. Short of Kitfox Games (Shattered Planet) succinctly captures this appeal: "As a designer, and as a player, I love procedurally generated, system-driven games because I'm curious."

That hook has lead more and more to explore the boundaries of roguelike game design. "I think success breeds success," says Don't Starve lead Kevin Forbes. "There have been a couple of really good games in the past few years that serve both as an introduction for players, and as inspiration for developers."

Complementing my 5 new Steam releases collection from the week of May 12, 2014, this serves as a quick highlight of titles you may want to check out through Steam's Early Access. These games don't appear on the New Releases tab, so they can definitely use the boost. To mix things up, I'm showing off the dev's videos this time. Let me know if you prefer commentary/less Let's Plays, instead.

"Developers need a new support funnel" to prevent the "race to the bottom," says James Morgan, president of the Orlando, Florida-based IndieBox, a service which days ago shipped its first mystery game to around 10 of the 60 countries it supports.

Rob Lach has created a "Bribery Scheme" to get his 2012 released POP: Methodology Experiment One through Steam Greenlight by offering it for free in exchange for votes on Valve's system. Once the game hits Steam, those with Humble copies will also be sent Steam keys.

Several developers have practically given away their game for free before, in torrents or rock-bottom priced bundles to raise awareness of their game. Rob makes it a three-step process (that does work!) and discusses here why he thinks the end may justify the means, even if he doesn't see a financial profit.