Looking for some sci-fi action this weekend? For a minimum of 99p, you can get five indie games in the Bundle In A Box - with more on offer if you pay a little extra, and goodies for all if the bundle hits certain targets. As ever, there's a charity element to this, but more novel is that for every 100 bundles sold, $10 is added to a special Indie Dev Grant that will be handed out to a suitably worthy developer in need. You can see some of the contenders at the bottom of the site.
Included in the main pack are Jeff Minter's psychedelic shooter - wait, that doesn't narrow it down much. Let's just say Jeff Minter's Space Giraffe. It's a bit like Tempest 2000, though fans have been known to pull knives if you dismiss it so simply. Also in the flashy-action-chaos category, though a different flavour, comes Death Ray Manta - a self described attempt at "finding the videogame equivalent of the perfect 2 1/2 minute pop song". The Wreckless follows, being a space combat simulator that aims to simulate combat against things in space. Or so I am led to believe.
A slightly more cerebral game follows in the form of Dark Scavenger, which as well as winning the prize for the 1,000,000th PC game ever to include the word 'dark' in its title is a mix of turn-based combat and point and click RPG that looks quite quirky. Finally, step back in time for a remake of classic* Commodore 64 side-scroller Armalyte, now polished up to use a few more colours and also your PC.
(* It says here. I never owned a C64, so I've never heard of it.)
Beat the average price - currently $5.11 - and you get four more goodies - Sol: Exodus, RoboRiot, Miner Wars Arena and some Armalyte extras. If enough copies are sold, everyone will also get unlocked goodies, including soundtracks, a copy of PlaySF magazine, and a Sol: Exodus artbook. At some point by the end of the year bundle-creators Kytarro Games will also be giving away some extra stuff for good measure, involving its Droidscape game for iOS/Android.
All games are DRM free. A couple of games are available in Steam versions, the others are regular downloads. Check out the full selection at Bundle In A Box.
