GarageGames update

We recently visited with GarageGames, the independent game studio founded by former Dynamix president Jeff Tunnell, and we took a first look at four of the studios' upcoming games. According to Tunnell, GarageGames is an independent game developer and publisher comprised of experienced professional game developers who want to "treat other developers the way we ourselves would want to be treated." The company also offers licensing for the Torque game engine, which powered Tribes 2. GarageGames is currently working on Realm Wars, a team-based fantasy action game powered by the Torque engine, and though Realm Wars is currently in the early stages of development, it's being worked on by a team of independent developers from around the world and should hopefully be available for play testing some time next year. In the meantime, GarageGames plans to release three games this month: Marble Blast, Chain Reaction, and Orbz.

Marble Blast is a colorful puzzle game reminiscent of the arcade classic Marble Madness and Sega's Super Monkey Ball series for the Nintendo GameCube. In the game, players control a rolling marble and attempt to get from the beginning of each level to the end of it, collecting items and using jumps and power-up items to get through increasingly challenging courses. Marble Blast has a colorful, pastel look to it, and it's controlled quickly and easily using the W, A, S, and D keyboard keys, much like a first-person shooter.

Chain Reaction is a 3D puzzle game developed by some of the original creators of the Incredible Machine series, and like that series, the game will challenge players to complete Rube Goldberg-style puzzle levels by placing different items and simple machines together. In order to keep the gameplay simple, the object of every level will be the same: Players must knock a monster onto a specific glowing pad. To do so, they'll need to assemble contraptions consisting of treadmills, goldfish bowls, pistols, and plenty of other items. The game will have about 50 levels, though it will also ship with a level editor that will be expanded in the future with new puzzle items.

Orbz is a multiplayer-only action game in which players control a glowing orb and attempt to knock their orb across courses, through the air, and away from hazards to collect as many glowing stars as possible. Though each player controls a single glowing orb that hovers in midair until it's sent after a star, the actual gameplay resembles that of both golf and billiards, since players must carefully aim for their next star and, since orbs travel in an arc, they must also compensate for distance. Since Orbz is a competitive, multiplayer-only game, the object of the game is to collect more stars than your opponents, and to assist you in this, you can pick up power-up items that freeze your opponents on the spot while you continue to grab stars.

GarageGames is attempting to make its games as accessible as possible, not only to play, but also to install and run, so each game will have fairly modest system requirements. And since the games will be available only via Internet download from the Garagegames Web site, the company is making sure to keep the downloads relatively small (less than 20MB in size). Marble Blast, Chain Reaction, and Orbz are all scheduled for release later this month. For more information on these and other games from GarageGames, visit the official Web site.