Several months ago an unfamiliar indie game company of one man has released it’s first retro subliminal space shooter MINDGUNNER.
But the news were never published on the GNU/Linux gaming websites, so I am writing about it here…

The Children of NYX is a one man Indie game company Steve started to try and help feed his family after being fired and couldn’t find another job.
All the games Steve makes are adware, spyware, and DRM free and off course have a native GNU/Linux client.

MINDGUNNER is retro arcade insanity at its finest. Crafted of dreams, memories, and electrons from the by gone days of dimly lit arcades.
With 20 levels of wave after wave of baddies flooding the screen the simplicity of the controls and gameplay will frustrate while the shifting backgrounds and colors can mess with more than just your eyes.

There are also a subliminal versions of this game which try to make the player happy by sending subliminal text messages to the players mind, you can also request a customized version of the messages (like stop smoking, lose weight, get a life… 😉 ).

Features:

  • GLSL Hardware Accelerated Graphics
  • Retro design and stylings
  • 20 levels
  • key layouts for left or right handed control & Joystick Support
  • Windows and Linux support
  • NO DRM
  • Enough baddies to make you beg for mercy
  • Now when you buy the game you’ll get both Windows and Linux versions in one download

Screenshots

Video

MINDGUNNER Creator Notes:
The subliminal messaging used in the subliminal versions of the game is a basic visual type. It has been done in such a way that you should not notice it during game play as this is the desired effect.
This game started out with a very singular ambition behind it and has blossomed into what it is today. Originally I wanted to build a game to help my (step)daughters (9 and 10 years old) communicate with us(the parents) and each other better. Now your possibly asking how a shooting game could help my kids communicate better. Well after feeling completely helpless when it came to helping my daughters deal with their anger issues (stemming from my wifes first marriage) I remembered a PC game I had played many years before that used subliminal messages to help the player feel better. My experience with the game had always stuck in my mind as amazing. A friend and I had played the game for about 2 hour one day. In the middle of playing the game we both had started to laugh. After we had stopped playing it took the laughter around 15 minutes to subside, and even longer for the smiles to fade. The game had helped us to feel truly happy. So after remembering this experience I thought, “well why not make a game using the same principles of subliminal messaging to help my daughters”, and so I began to work.
Shortly there after in July of ’08 I lost my job as a network admin for a wireless internet service, and not even a month later discovered my wife was pregnant with our first child together. Needless to say the “Oh Crap!!!” factor had kicked in, and chaos ensued. I worked on the game intermittently during the following months. An hour here, two hours there. It officially was sent to the back burner. I worked where and when I could doing odd jobs. After sending out over 1500 resumes, and only receiving a handful of responses (all rejections) I was on the verge of a breakdown. My son would be here in only a months time and I had no job prospects. So with nothing else to lose I started work on the game again, but this time with the intension to try and sell it. That was in April of ’09. Now 4 months later I have a 3 month old baby boy, and a finished game.
I truly hope people enjoy what I have created here. It has been a labor of love to help my daughters, and now also to bring a little piece of retro-arcade to life.
Steve G.

The Children of NYX “are” also working on a new game called Municipal :

Vid quality stinks but it’s the best I could get from my linux rig. This is the work in progress of a game I’ve been working on called Municipal Level III. Completed version will have 30 levels with the ability to play any of the levels in any order. This game is my tongue in cheek stab at corporate game companies. The final version will have zombies, mutant cockroaches, midgets on stilts that shoot missles from their butts.

(yes, you read that right missles from their butts)

And many more irreverent baddies.
This vid gives a pretty basic look around of the play area, as well as some of the hover car physics and capabilities.

Thanks Grzegorz Budny aka mateo for those wonderful news

Links
The Children of NYX
MINDGUNNER
Municipal
Youtube Channel