Aah Little Atlantis (ALA) is out now on Xbox Live Indie Games. It's an Xbox 360 indie game with a retro feel developed by the tiny independent games company Aah Games. The game costs just 80 MS points and appeals to puzzle / strategy fans with empathy for the little people, as it involves rescuing Atlanteans amidst the destruction of their mythical homeland.The sea claims low lying land and rocks rain down from above yet still you must try to rescue them all. Of course, those residents with more wealth and importance clearly deserve to be rescued first. If only everyone wasn't so predictably stupid it might just be that bit easier... (Ab)use their fear of water, boats and rafts to shepherd them safely before the island sinks, leaving just the peaks of mountains where they can take refuge. So what if no-one has thought about what these stranded survivors do next!
ALA was originally created in one weekend for the Ludum Dare 17 competition. Out of 204 entries, it was rated 2nd in the "theme" category, "3rd" in the innovation category, and finished 23rd overall! The Xbox 360 version is a vast improvement from that competition entry, with better graphics, audio, more levels, and an extensive tutorial.
About the programmer and artist
Robert Swan is a lead games programmer with over 12 years commercial experience. He has led development on a variety of consoles, including PS1, PS2, Xbox, GBA, DS, PSP and Wii while working at SCEE, Climax and Kuju. ALA is his first effort as an independent developer. He also interviews other indies to try to learn the secret of success, and helps Universities with improving their student's employment prospects. He was interviewed by Edge Magazine twice in relation to his Net Yaroze programming; a PlayStation 1 precursor to the XBLIG system and is currently getting used to the laughable three hour development cycles at the UK TigJams. Fortunately for the world, these efforts are not for sale.
About the musician
Nathan Meunier is an award-winning journalist and freelance writer who covers videogames and geek culture. He contributes to Nintendo Power, GameSpot, GamesRadar, IGN.com, GamePro, PlayStation: The Official Magazine, MSN’s Game On, PC Gamer, Ars Technica, What They Play, and Gamezebo. His work has also appeared in a number of other gaming publications, including The Escapist, Cheat Code Central, and Green Pixels. Prior to writing about videogames, he spent over five years working as a reporter for a weekly newspaper. He’s currently working on a book about the music of geek and gamer culture.
* Aah Little Atlantis Trial or Complete download - http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550539/