Last night we decided to take a break from game development on The Flawless: Art’s Tale and The Last Pilot and go out for a few drinks in Manchester. So I donned my Flawless t-shirt and trotted off to The Lazy Lizard in The Printworks with Tony for a night of gaming, indie games, and cocktails at Manchester Gamers Unite.

Upon arrival I met the storm trooper security which we cleared without a problem, then we headed into the bar. It was rammed with gamers and developers, screens and computers lined the walls and an amazing looking VR track pad was being demoed next to a massive overhead screen. The turn out was really impressive, the organisers did an amazing job of getting people through the doors. Games from AAAs like Assassins Creed Odyssey, to futuristic VR trackpad games, to local Manchester indie games were on display and there to be played. My phone died about an hour into the night so I didn’t get pictures of all the games but here are a few indie games that looked really cool.

On and Off Again (OAOA)
The demo of OAOA by Ginger Biscuit Games was the multiplayer mode. I played against 3 other players trying to jump, warp, and shoot each other into glowy pixel powder. The graphics were simple but cool, with a retro, neon, cyberpunk, tron like aesthetic. It was a lot of fun with players getting quite competitive. There is also a single player mode for the game but it wasn’t on show. For more about OAOA check out Steam, Twitter, Facebook, or Youtube.

Boom Boom Barbarian
This was a cool rhythm hack ‘n’ slash game by Silo Black Games where enemies run at you from the right and you press the correctly coloured buttons to hack them into oblivion. The game was fun to play and held quite a crowd with its quick paced action and colourful cartoon medieval looks. The game is set for release on PC and Xbox One. You can find out more about Boom Boom Barbarian on Facebook, and Twitter.

HyperBrawl Tournament
This game held the attention of a lot of the gamers in the room. It was a 2 on 2 competitive arena game where the players would fight each other while trying to get a ball into the opponent’s goal. Unfortunately our camera had died at this point so we’ve used one of the official pictures from the developer, Milk Tea Studio’s, website. The game looked really competitive and exciting to play. Its set for release on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. For more information check out their Steam, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.

Robot Champions
Robot Champions reminded me of Robot Wars. An arena based game where you control your robot against other robots and traps. Flippers, crushers, circular-saws, and a whole host of other destructive weaponised gizmos were on show as robot went up against robot to determine the champion. The game is in development by Prospect Games and you can find more information on Twitter, or Facebook.

Bee VR
Bee VR were at the event with a really cool, futuristic looking VR trackpad. Loads of people were demoing it on a HTC Vive and coming off saying how amazing the experience was. For more information about Bee VR and their VR trackpad check out the Bee VR website, Twitter, or Facebook.

Vox Racers
Vox Racers is a fast paced futuristic voxel based racing game reminiscent of the Star Wars Racer games and the Wipout series. In the demo on display players raced head to head through canyons testing their reaction speeds and bottle. For more information check out the Voxel Racer website, Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube.

The whole night was a brilliant display of Manchester’s thriving gaming community. Once The Flawless: Art’s Tale, The Last Pilot or any of our other games are ready to show we’re excited to give people a go at events like this. For more information about the organisers, Manchester Gamers Unite, check out their Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.
Well we’re off to work on more weapons and cats for our metroidvania action-RPG The Flawless: Art’s Tale. Until then you can keep up to date with all things Flawless and Bare Knuckle on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Ste Wilson is a director, game developer, and programmer at Bare Knuckle Development Ltd. When not coding away on BKD games he can be found playing video games on console and PC. He also makes music under the music maker name of ‘Electric Fan Death’ and loves playing guitar, writing tunes, and producing music.