[Just wanted to post about this one on my personal blog, since I’m proud of the effort and the work that went into it. Since I started Indie Royale as part of my company’s video game properties last October, we’ve really tried not to use charity as a crutch to sell bundles – something that Humble Bundle has been good at avoiding, mind you.
In any case, myself and Bethany Coambs – alongside Scott Reismanis at our tech partner Desura – decided to do things differently for our charity outreach, and so our All-Charity Pack has 100% of the revenue going to some extremely worthy charities.
Almost $25,000 has been raised so far, with a few hours still left to pitch in, and _massive_ thanks must been given to the indie devs and musicians who got involved for such worthy causes, as well as the generous gamers who donated. Official announce, which I co-wrote, is below…]
Indie Royale is proud to present a very special game bundle – the All Charity lightning pack – featuring four awesome indie games and three outstanding chiptune albums/EPs, with 100% of the proceeds going to four extremely worthy charities.
The bundle’s generous developers have each hand-picked a charity for their game, including UNICEF’s Haiti aid, vital human rights work from Amnesty International, free speech and privacy advocacy from the EFF, and the global poverty programs of ActionAid.
Headlining the bundle is Hemisphere Games’ dreamlike physics puzzle game Osmos, available for Windows and Mac on Steam, Windows and Linux on Desura, and DRM-free on Windows, Mac and Linux. The game puts the player in the role of a single-celled organism, tasked with growing larger by absorbing all the other organisms around it. A.V. Club called it, “Moving in every sense of the word” and Indiegames.com says, “Osmos mixes puzzle, action and strategy remarkably and all the while does it with great finesse and style.” Blessed with an elegant minimalist electronic soundtrack, you’ll progress from serenely ambient levels to varied and challenging worlds in this peaceful and engaging puzzler.
Next up is Erik Svedang’s interactive fairytale Blueberry Garden, available for Windows on Steam, Desura, and DRM-free. An Independent Games Festival Grand Prize-winning experimental game about curiosity and exploration, you take on the role of a creature investigating a mysterious world. Try various fruits and use their effects to navigate the landscape more easily, and explore this playground of oddities in a living world with a marvelously offbeat soundtrack and multiple endings.
Making its bundle debut is Wadjet Eye Games’ rabbinical 2D adventure game The Shivah, available for Windows on Desura and DRM-Free. In the first title from the creator of The Blackwell Legacy you play as Russell Stone, a Jewish Rabbi at a poor synagogue in New York City. After a former member of his congregation dies and leaves him a significant amount of money, Rabbi Stone is led on an adventure through New York City that will test his faith and uncover unsettling truths. PC Gamer says, “It’s in games like this that gaming really starts to measure up to conventional literature for emotional and intellectual integrity.”
Finally featured is Copenhagen Game Collective’s offbeat local multiplayer party game B.U.T.T.O.N., available for Windows on Steam, Desura and DRM-free. After taking a few steps away from your controller, race back to your controller through physical space, and do whatever it takes to win (or to avoid losing). While the game will display various rules for each round, there is no way to keep track of whether the players obey the rules or not – and unfair tactics are majorly encouraged here in this crazed improvisational party game.
Those who pay $7 USD or their country’s currency equivalent during the All-Charity Pack get three incredible music albums/EPs from leading composers. These include Jake Kaufman’s ‘FX4‘, a virtuoso NES-style jam from the Shantae and Retro City Rampage composer, as well as Fez soundtrack creator Disasterpeace’s acclaimed 2008 concept album ‘Level‘, and a brand new EP from Super Time Force composer 6955, ‘IN1ep’.
You can decide exactly how much money goes to each of the four charities when you donate to this bundle, and your entire donation amount (after third-party credit card/Paypal fees) will be received by the worthy causes picked by these charitable indies. Please give generously!
More information on the limited-time All-Charity Pack, including real-time statistics, its current minimum donation price, and the total amount raised so far for charity, is available at its official website or via its Facebook and Twitter pages.