The Takedown Tribunal: PAX East Stealth Games Panel

I'm probably in here somewhere, unless I was eating lunch.

I seriously cannot wait for PAX East. Besides being the first convention where I will be an exhibitor, I am also on my first panel! The panel's name is "The Takedown Tribunal: Three Indies Talk About Their Upcoming Stealth Games." Join myself, Andy Schatz of Pocketwatch Games, and Nels Anderson of Klei Entertainment as we discuss Children of Liberty, Monaco, Mark of the Ninja, and what makes stealth games great! Here's the panel description:

The Takedown Tribunal: Three Indies Talk About Their Upcoming Stealth Games

Cat Theatre
Friday 9:00pm - 10:00pm

Do you love lurking in shadows, stabbing guards in the back and/or stealing the stuff they're supposed to be protecting? We do! Stealth games have a vocal and passionate following, but among developers, they're notoriously difficult games to create. Even experienced AAA studios with hundreds of developers and multi-million dollar budgets will avoid stealth games in favor of more clear-cut genres. However, at least three small independent developers have thrown caution (and their sanity!) to the wind and set out to not only make stealth games, but rather non-traditional stealth games. So now we want to discuss the genre we love with an audience passionate, or simply curious, about these new takes on stealth. Andy Schatz's IGF award-winning Monaco demonstrates through 4-player coop just how well a heist can go with a good plan and how much can go wrong with a bad one. Klei Entertainment's Mark of the Ninja takes stealth action into 2D with style, flair and blood (and ninjas). Boston locals Lantana Games' upcoming 2.5D platformer Children of Liberty takes an historical approach to stealth, detailing the story of four young spies in the events leading up to the American Revolution. Matthew Weise, MIT's GAMBIT Game Lab's Game Design Director and the creator/host of a podcast documenting the history of Looking Glass Studios (creators of Thief, one of the most important games in the stealth genre), will moderate.

Panelists include: Nels Anderson [Game Designer, Klei Entertainment], Andy Schatz [CEO, Pocketwatch Games], Dan Silvers [Resident Game Designer, Lantana Games], Matthew Weise [Game Design Director, Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab]

Remember, the panel will be on Friday, April 6th at 9pm in the Cat Theatre. Hope to see you there!

Also be sure to stop by Indie Alley to play the latest build of Children of Liberty. With any luck (and a lot of crunching over the next month) all four characters will be playable!

Children of Liberty in the IndieDB 2011 Indie of the Year Awards

Hi everybody! Quick update today to let you all know that my game, Children of Liberty, is currently in IndieDB's 2011 Indie of the Year Awards competition. You'd be doing me and my team a huge favor by just going to this link and clicking on Vote For This Game. We've been busting our asses on it all year and, interestingly, every time we post an update to IndieDB, it gets into the Top 50 games for a couple days, so it's definitely popular.

Need proof? Here are some stats. Bitches love stats.

Total Alpha Plays Since Alpha Launch on September 5: 904

Total Site Views Since Alpha Launch: 1,107

Total Views on IndieDB To Date: 4,235

Total Views on Youtube Channel: 4,408

Not bad for a game that's only been in free alpha for a couple months, eh? Over nine hundred plays! By casting your vote for Children of Liberty, you would be helping us:

• Increase our total playcount, bug reports, and hopefully sales.
• Garner further recognition among the ModDB/IndieDB/Desura Community
• Get our name out to media outlets like Kotaku, Joystiq, Rock Paper Shotgun, and whoever else is actually going to be paying attention to the contest.
• Offer incentive for inclusion in indie bundles such as Indie Royale and The Humble Indie Bundle (if a Linux release ever happens).
• Become a recognizable name for attendees at conventions such as PAX East 2012.
• Make us look really good for when we are ready to approach publishers.

If you haven't tried the game out yet, you can play it for free right now. I completely understand if you'd rather play it first before deciding whether or not to click the Vote button. But remember that if you DO vote, I will love you long time.