Today marks the release of Antichamber, a game that Alexander Bruce created and developed almost entirely by himself over the past few years. Alex stuck to his guns, never wavered in his vision, and always sought to make the game better. It’s pretty tough not to be inspired by his work, and perseverance. The end result is a really special game of the highest quality.

Anitchamber is a cerebral game, full of puzzles that will likely bend your solving-skills in a way you never anticipated. But it is also a game, playful in the exploration of the puzzles and the world they reside in. Take a gander at the launch trailer below, which will provide a quick example of what we mean.

Even though Indie Fund played only a tiny role in helping Alex achieve his goals, we’re super proud all the same.

Huge congratulations to Mr. Bruce on launching Antichamber on Steam. You can grab the game here, at 25% off for the first week.

[Update: ANTiCHAMBER recouped its Indie Fund investment less than an hour after launch.  Alex needed very little money from us, so that by itself doesn't say much, but the game did have an amazingly excellent launch day, both financially and critically. Congratulations again, Alex!]

Hi everyone!  Monaco is the first game we funded via Indie Fund.  It’s been a long time in development and has come a loooooong way since its first incarnation as a 12-week-IGF-winning-game-prototype.  As of today, Andy is taking pre-orders for Monaco here.

Best of luck, Andy!

More details, straight from the horse’s mouth:

• The game will cost $15 at launch, but is available for a pre-order discount of 10%. So pre-orders cost $13.50
• Pre-order 4-packs are available for $45
• The pre-order is for the PC/Mac version only, not XBLA. If you are looking forward to the XBLA version, save your money!
• The PC and XBLA versions will launch at the same time
• The Mac version will likely not be available at the same time as the PC version, but will probably come shortly thereafter, however Mac beta testers have been running the game successfully in bootcamp, etc
• The pre-order is being sold through the Humble Store, and comes with Steam keys
• The Pre-order does NOT include beta access
• Pre-orders also contain some awesome goodies:
• A DRM-free version of the 15-week prototype that won the 2010 IGF. I’ve renamed this version MONTE CARLO
• Two tracks from the Official Soundtrack, from the score composed by Grammy-nominated (Journey) composer, Austin Wintory
• Sheet music for the main theme. Austin is asking that musicians perform the piece and remix it in any way they please for a chance to be included on a special Monaco remix album

Mushroom 11 was born earlier this year as part of Global Game Jam 2012. That early prototype was developed by Itay Keren (with Itay’s wife, Julia, contributing artwork) at the GGJ event held at NYU, where it was recognized with the Best Game Design award from among 30 games that came out of that event.

That, along with the great reviews it received from jurors, encouraged Itay to see how much further he could take this concept, and he began developing it into a more fleshed out game.

Itay is not new to game development.  His most recent game, Rope Rescue, was published by Chillingo and made it into the top 10 chart on the US app store.  Mushroom 11, however, represents a more personal and experimental approach to Itay, as he questions much of what he knows about the art and process of game design.

The design space being explored by Mushroom 11 is not something we’ve seen before.  It’s engaging and tactile and we’re excited to support Itay and see where his design exploration leads!

For those curious to see how this game has changed since the GGJ prototype, here is an early gameplay video with preliminary art:

Indie Fund-ed dev thechineseroom has released a stunning new trailer for Dear Esther, showing just how far Dan Pinchbeck & Robert Briscoe have pushed their vision. Do yourself a favor & watch it in HD via the Dear Esther website here

Further, thechineseroom have announced that Dear Esther will launch via Steam on February 14th.

Lastly, Dear Esther is the most nominated game in the IGF 2012, having garnered noms for: Excellence In Visual Art, Excellence In Audio, The Nuovo Award & The Seamus McNally Grand Prize. This is a huge feat for thechineseroom, and we’re extremely happy for them.