ApathyWorks

Cute Things Dying Violently was developed by ApathyWorks. It was released on August 24, 2011 for 80 Microsoft Points.  A copy was provided by the developer for review purposes.

Despite its bloodthirsty title, Cute Things Dying Violently doesn’t require the death of walking smiley faces–Well, not exactly.  Instead, it requires the sacrifice of some of these nameless optimists so that the others may live and have baby smiley faces of their own.  Of course, you’re always welcome to dismiss the goal of the game and kill all of them but then you must welcome us dubbing you a genocidal maniac.

The goal of the game is to fling (let’s call them the walkers) the walkers into a black door that for all we know sends them into an inferno of fire and spinning spikes.  You use the left thumbstick to control the cursor which you place on the walkers and the right thumbstick to flick them in any direction you please.  The more you pull back on the right thumbstick, the more powerful the fling. But any number of killer obstacles will try and prevent this from being a smooth transition.

Read More

Tell us a little bit about yourself/company/team?
ApathyWorks is me, Alex “AlejandroDaJ” Jordan, a 27 year old who lives in Washington, DC and works for the U.S. Department of Labor. I started programming and doing level design in elementary school, graduated to modding, and eventually hit the ground running with indie game design with XNA in early 2009. Cute Things Dying Violently will be my second title for Xbox Live Indie Games.

While I certainly enjoy helping out workers and the unemployed at the Labor Department, my real passion lies with game design and writing, and some day I hope to do it for a living. Although it’s currently just a hobby of mine, the “apathy” in my studio title is a complete misnomer that hides my desire to create worlds and experiences and to share them with others.
Read More