Get Aussie game Particulars for US$1

New Aussie physics game Particulars is launching as part of a Groupees bundle with eight other awesome indie games.

If you headed down to PAX Australia, you may have noted that we have a thriving indie development community. One of the games with which we had hands-on time was a little arcade puzzler called Particulars, developed by Sydney studio See Through. In it, you enter subatomic space and become a quark, and have to evade the dark particles that are pushing and pulling at you, trying to destroy you.

The first thing you will notice about the game — now available in alpha as part of the Groupees Bm9 bundle, as well as separately through the Particulars website — is that it is lovely. The art is clean and smooth, presented in monochrome for a minimalist approach. You're about as small as anything can get, and in that space, all that exists are other particles.

Interestingly, the game is actually based in real-world physics. Not just in its engine — we've all seen a real-world-style physics engine before, and they're great — but in its concept. Co-creator Paul Sztajer has a physics background, majoring in physics at university. Particulars is heavily based on High Energy Physics, his favourite third-year subject.

As he explains in the YouTube video below, "To start with, we're dealing with the electromagnetic force of the universe. It's a really important force at this scale, and is also the most familiar of the forces — opposites attract, likes repel. It lets us introduce the particles without the craziness of any of the other forces."

With around 75 levels, each involving completing different tasks, the game aims to show you — through the introduction of various forces — why quarks can't exist on their own.

As part of the Groupees bundle, you can pick it up for just US$1, along with four other indie games:

• The Whispered World by Daedelic Entertainment, a hand-animated point-and-click RPG

• Mini Motor Racing Evo by the Binary Mill, a high-octane Micro Machines-style racer

• Splatter by Gnarf, a noir-themed old-school-style top-down shooter

• Depths of Peril by Soldak Entertainment, a fantasy-themed real-time strategy game.

For a few extra bucks, you get a whole heap of other goodies, too. A minimum of US$5 will also get you:

• Eador: Masters of the Broken World + Genesis and its soundtrack by Snowbird Games, a fantasy-themed turn-based strategy

• Ittle Dew and its soundtrack by Ludosity, an homage to and parody of A Link to the Past

• Angelica Weaver: Catch Me When You Can and its soundtrack by Big Fish Games, a time-travelling point-and-click crime thriller

• Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages and its soundtrack and novel by Triple B Titles, a hybrid action RPG space shooter.

It's pretty awesome value. The sale has 13 days left to go, so head on over to the Groupees website to snap it up.