Yes, dreams do come true. Or maybe it’s creative begging? Whatever the case may be, the Kickstarter campaign for the game Double Fine Adventure has now passed the $1 million pledge mark with 32 days remaining.

Come buy some cupcakes, homemade brownies and, oh my, some indie games! That’s right, it’s a video game bake sale being thrown by AGS (Adventure Game Studios) in an effort to raise money for the Child’s Play charity, an organization that seeks to improve the lives of children in hospitals around the world by giving them more »

Throughout this week there have been hints and rumors that Valve is going to unleash Portal 2 to the hungry masses earlier than its April 19, 2011 release date. Some speculated that it would be today. Early this morning, a countdown appeared on the Aperture Science Website that further hinted at this. But when it went down to zero, the result was not quite what was expected.

GamaSutra reports that indie game developers are not happy with their new classification. Indie games no longer appear in the “Games” of the Xbox Live Marketplace. Rather, they appear in the “Specialty” section along with avatar items and the Microsoft Game Room.

Tim Schafer of Brutal Legend and Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle fame is being honored with The 2010 Honorary Trailblazer Award for Lifetime Achievement from Indiecade.

The award will be given out at Indiecade this October 8-10 2010 in Culver City, CA. by Ron Gilbert, which recently rejoined Schafer’s game company Double Fine.

Stephanie Barish of IndieCade said about Schafer (to industry gamers) “Tim and his games embody the risk-taking, boundary pushing spirit at the heart of the independent gaming community, and he is a true role model to legions of up-and-coming game makers.”

A little off to the side of the West Hall, near the Moby Dick-sized Sony booth, housed the Indiecade booth. Indiecade is short for the International Festival of Independent Games, a three-day festival that – you guessed it – showcases independent games. At E3, Festival Director Sam Roberts showed Gamertell a handful of games that were submitted to Indiecade…

Indie India-based game developer Zatun Games has released its first game titled The Legend of Vraz, created using Microsoft’s XNA development software.

You play as Vraz, a prince who wants to marry the princess. To do so, you must complete five tasks to prove your worth while also trying to avoid the minions of your rival. Naturally, there is an evil character who serves as an adviser to the princess’s father and has plans of his own to marry the princess. It’s a very simple and straightforward story but but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Online development community 2Bee Games has reinvented itself as IndiePub Games.

The new name places more emphasis on its mission as a destination for independent game developers, as well as those who aspire to be (2Bee Games has actually only been around for a year-and-a-half, so the old name wasn’t all that old).

They’ve had a pretty full plate for that year-and-a-half, landing three publishing deals, holding two developer competitions and then the relaunch. A key component of that relaunch is the 3rd Independent Game Developer Competition. The big prize is a cool $100,000 and, perhaps even more important than that, the winning developer will get his or her own publishing deal with Zoo Games. The contest runs through July 3, 2010.

In this climate of uncertainty and bad news all over the industry, it’s nice to hear a cindarella story. Venturebeat has a great article up on one such story – a behind the scenes look at making The World of Goo, a cheapie indie game (made by two guys) that sold beautifully, even claiming the Number 1 spot (for PC games) on Amazon (sure, that was short lived, but quite a feat nonetheless).

So, hey, do you like indie games? Are you a fan – or do you want to be a fan – of all the tiny or under-the-radar or radical new games coming out? Then let me point you towards a new resource – Indie Game Mag, which covers all aspects of the underground game development scene, with plenty of reviews. Issue 2 has just released, and if you’re interested, you can subscribe, buy a physical copy, or download a digital copy of the issue. Decisions, decisions.

Ready for a mission statement – I’ll let the magazine’s site speak for itself: