GameTunnel's July Monthly Round-Up was recently posted. Greg Costikyan (of Manifesto Games) and Derek Yu (of Bit-Blot and TIGSource) are guest reviewers.Immortal Defense RPGCreations 9, 10, 8 [27/30] GA, GM, ECUrban Legend ELENS 6, 8, 9 [23/30] SAProf. Fizzwizzle 2 Grubby Games 7, 7, 8 [22/30] SAKudos: Rock Legend Positech 5, 8, 8 [21/30] SAPathstorm CaveBug Games 4, 7, 7 [18/30]Membrane Massacre * HopeDagger 3, 6, 8 [17/30]Alice Greenfingers Arcade Lab 4, 2, 8 [14/30]Meanwhile * Peter Brinson 4, 5, 5 [14/30]Turret Wars Sector 3 Games 2, 5, 4 [11/30]Lunar...
Selasa, 31 Juli 2007
Sword of Jade, Two Year Anniversary Edition
Exactly two years after its first release, Sword of Jade has been updated to work in Windows XP.Sword of Jade, by Fyrewulff and Charbile, is an NES/SNES style RPG. It's pretty difficult, especially at the start, but if you don't give up, you'll be rewarded with one of the best freeware RPGs.Hints: save often, talk to everyone, and after you get Mi'la on your party go back to the town, search behind houses, and use the money you find on training (especially...
Senin, 30 Juli 2007
Return to Sector 9
Return to Sector 9 is the long awaited sequel to Ambush in Sector 9. Featuring nine game modes, fifteen ships to pilot, plenty of weaponry, and plenty of aliens to use it on.Each of the fifteen ships has its own special weapon. Once you have unlocked the ships and their weapons, learn which game modes they're best suited to.Submit your scores to the online high score charts to see how you compare with the rest of the wor...
Minggu, 29 Juli 2007
Pekka Kana 2
Pekka Kana 2 is a charmingly old-school platformer where you must help Pekka the rooster save his friends after they were abducted by an evil crow. The author cites other platform classics such as Super Mario and Jazz Jackrabbit as his inspiration for the game.As you journey across each of the 24 levels looking for the exit, a healthy array of bonuses, secrets and pickups are scattered across the landscape for you to make use of.Name: Pekka Kana...
Sabtu, 28 Juli 2007
News
Nigoro's Rose and Camellia has been translated to English.Petri Purho's A Tribute to Rolling Boulder can be acquired from the Gamedev entries download page, along with a number of games from other participants. [source: the2bears]The results for SourceForge.net's 2007 Community Choice Awards are out. [original story]This week's GGE indie game feature showcases Cave Story, Polychromatic Funk Monkey and R.Platformers/ApplicationsWe won't be seeing...
Recap
A recap of the games mentioned this month, July 2007: Action/ArcadeToo Many NinjasSynaestheteStrict MachineRose and CamelliaIMAAndroidBound BearSound EnergyMarippyBarbarianAdventure/IFFighting FantasyInfinity StringEarl MansinPlatformerPekka Kana 2HurricanNinjahValdis StorySecret Agent DoritoRick DangerousMuonBoss ArenaRakkerMetroid CubedRPGBattleMachyEschalon: Book 1Crypts of DespairPuzzle/AppMollerhojLinxEnigmaApplicationOLE Coordinate..Four Color ProblemCoaster RiderDSDicewars DSCave Story PSPLemmings DSShmupsReturn to Sector 9Burn the TrashMountain...
Ninjah
Ninjah is a fast paced action-puzzler by Chris Raz, developer of Pogo Fred. The general idea is to get from A to B as quickly as possible with the help of an elastic ninja rope and your ability to move into slow motion. You may only come into contact with blocks the same colour as your belt. To help combat this strange allergic reaction to the evil blocks, you can change the colour of your belt by hitting the corresponding checkered blocks.Use the...
Debate: Arthouse Games vs. Ebert
Can games be art? It all started back in October of 2005, when Ebert reviewed the film Doom and gave it one star. A few days later, a gamer wrote to Ebert and insisted that he had missed the point---Doom wasn't supposed to be a good, watchable film; it was supposed to be a tribute to a seminal video game. The Kurosawa film Rashomon was mentioned as comparable in terms of---shall we say---seminality to the game Doom. In response, Ebert planted...
Cage Match 3 - Warning Forever vs. Fraxy
Warning Forever. Fraxy. Both abstract shooters. Both centered around boss battles. Both very good games. But only one can win.Voting is now closed, thanks for participating!Vote count: Warning Forever 27 - 29 FraxyWinner: Fr...
Jumat, 27 Juli 2007
Kamis, 26 Juli 2007
News
ArticlesBoth Clean Asia and Fractal Fighter were recently mentioned in Download.com's The Daily Download section.(Everyone who donated recently will get a complimentary copy of Akuchizoku, full version. I've already paid cactus using part of the money received, so he will send it to you guys when the game is completed)The latest edition of 1UP's Weekly Freeplay features Orisinal, Nitrome, Rose and Camellia, Nanaca Crash, Uchu Force and Weird Worlds:...
Valdis Story Updated
Endless Fluff's Valdis Story was recently updated to version 3.0. This Castlevania-like platformer is now Vista-compatible, and comes with two new techniques (dodging and parryin...
Shmups News
An official demo (160MB) for Mountain of Faith is now available from Team Shanghai Alice's web site. [direct download link]The 120MB trial version for Trouble Witches gets a new update. The game should work on all PCs now. [direct download link]A 60MB demo for Nanoha Taiken 2nd Chu is available from Musume. Controls: [direct download link][source: Danmaku Ga...
Rabu, 25 Juli 2007
Ugliest game ever... Playable?
Just looking at the gameplay video should make you want to give your computer a bath. Anyway, here's the gameplay instructions:Z: Fire beam against enemiesX: Fire beam against bulletsZ + X: Fire strong beam against enemies (depletes time)C: Change shipF1: Toggle motion blurF2: Launch highscore tableF3: Toggle random mode Don't fire for too long, you'll overheat and explode! Don't let the time run out or you die. Killing enemies adds more time to...
Gamers Eloquently Posit Games as Art in Ludicrous Thought Experiment
I've always found film critic Roger Ebert to be a tremendously engaging writer when he's in his element (film, primarily). This is why I get particularly annoyed that he turns into a reactionary curmudgeon whenever anyone suggests that games are also a form of art, even when (by his own admission) he's wholly unfamiliar with the subject.I expected gamers would react to his latest uninformed salvo, but what I didn't expect is the responses (the printed...
Selasa, 24 Juli 2007
Knytt Stories Expansion Pack - Free
Well, technically. According to Jesus, I mean Nifflas: "I don't want to get into the mess of charging for them (expansion pack for Knytt Stories). Having worked so much on the expansion levels though, I really want to do something special with them. I'm starting to think something more towards a request at the download page that an amount of $10 or something is donated to some charity organization (Amnesty, Save the Children, etc.), in order to download...
Linx
Linx is a simple yet challenging puzzle game created using Game Maker. Your objective is to link all of the similarly coloured nodes together. However, as you progress, the number of link pieces you are allowed to use is lessened, and nodes start to get in each other's way forcing you to think carefully how to connect them.Click a node with the mouse to select a link colour, then drag across the play area to drop link pieces.Once you've completed...
Senin, 23 Juli 2007
News
Retro Remakes is back. Also don't forget to grab Graham's latest podcast episode.From Shih Tzu: Pixel has revealed on his BBS (untranslated) that for his next project, he wants to make an RPG. No real details yet, other than that it will take a long time to finish. A sampling of comments: "I'd always steered away from working on an RPG, but now that I think I've finally got the requisite know-how, I've decided to give it a shot. But already it's more of a challenge than anything I've done before..." "There are all kinds of RPGs. I'd like to avoid...
Enigma
Enigma is a brain-stretching puzzle game similar to Oxyd and Rock 'n Roll. The aim is to use your marble (controlled through the mouse) to open all matching pairs of the Oxyd stones scattered across each landscape, solving various puzzles and avoiding traps as you go.Occasionally you will also encounter "meditation" levels where you must control two or more marbles at once, your task being to manoeuvre each one into small ...
Minggu, 22 Juli 2007
Independent Gaming on Yahoo
There's a four page article on independently-developed games which was on the front page of Yahoo.com on Sunday. A couple of games were mentioned in this piece, such as: PS3: Flow, Everyday Shooter, LittleBigPlanetXBox: N+, Space Giraffe, EetsOthers: Dwarf Fortress, Desktop Tower Defense, Cloud, De Blob, Outpost KalokiRead it here [source: GameSetWat...
GGE Game Development Contest
GarageGames, GreatGamesExperiment and www.mygmgame.com are sponsoring the first Game Development Competition, which will run for a duration of two months starting from July 18th until September 18th 2007. The Grand Prize Winner will receive the entire Torque Suite, while winners from each category will receive a Torque Game Engine license from Garagegames. A list of all prizes are listed here.Contest rules are stated in this forum thread. All games should have some sort of comedic element to qualify.The theme is a rather iffy one, as I remember...
Muon
Muon is a short platformer by Kvalsternacka with simple rules and controls. Complete ten levels in the quickest time possible to earn a decent score, but avoid falling off the screen as this will incur a time penalty.Boosters can be collected and used in two different ways but with the same method. Press down to either smash a block underneath the moving object or jump higher in the air. Multiple jumps can be performed for as long as you have a booster...
Boss Arena
Boss Arena is an action game based of boss fights, unlike the heavy reliance on platforming skills as demonstrated by Lazrael's earlier release entitled Poyo.Use the D or V key to attack. Hold the C of F key to jump. Push the F4 function key to switch between windowed and full screen mode.There is only one boss battle to contend with at the moment, though the author has promised several more in the coming weeks.Name: Boss ArenaDeveloper: LazraelCategory:...
Jonathan Mak Interviewed
A rather short interview with the creator of Everyday Shooter, Jonathan Mak during the recent E3 convention. [thanks to cactus]I know Jon himself drops by quite often, so we'll just keep posting about Everyday Shooter until he informs us of a PC/Mac/Linux version! And it's also quite funny how they got the name wrong."And what was your name?""Jonathan Mak. It still is my name."Not nearly as humorous as the Jenova Chen/Derek Yu story thou...
Freeware Indie Games for Linux
For dcat - here's a couple of freeware games we've wrote about with Linux versions: 90 Browser gamesdescriptions Battle for Wesnothdescription screenshot (new window) DROD: Architect's Editiondescription screenshot (new window) FreeCol (Colonization clone)description screenshot (new window) F-1 Spirit Remakedescription screenshot (new window) Frets on Firedescription screenshot (new window) Gate 88description screenshot (new...
Magical Cannon Girl
Magical Cannon Girl is a vertical shooter developed by KIT Station which features decent 3D graphics and two playable levels in this trial version. Your character has a very basic shot which can be upgraded by collecting red gems, though bosses do take a while to beat especially when your weapons are only capable of inflicting minimal damage.A life gauge indicates her current health, and the number of hits an enemy can take before going down is...
News
2D Boy has a rather interesting post about the results of their Human Brain Cloud experiment, a massively multiplayer word association game.Postman (of Shoot the Core) and Hunter launches a new webcomic entitled Quarter Munchers. [original post]Joakim has updated his site with pictures from several of his abandoned projec...
Sabtu, 21 Juli 2007
Knytt Stories Gameplay Video
Thanks to Nifflas for the first four minutes worth of gameplay footage from his upcoming platformer - Knytt Stories. - Nifflas' web site- Paul Eres' preview article- higher-quality video, streaming WMV format (right-click to save)- higher-quality video, ZIP for...
Kenta Cho, Nigoro Interviews
the2bears informs about a new Kenta Cho interview (by Siliconera) which reveals his thoughts on the upcoming Tumiki Fighters Wii port by Majesco entitled Blast Works, while mrkwang interviews Samieru - a member of the Nigoro development team responsible for the release of Rose and Camellia, Death Village and La-Mulana.Quite unfortunate that both interviews are rather short and contains very little information that we are actually interested in finding...
Jumat, 20 Juli 2007
Application
Application is a new web toy from Jun Fujiki, originator of the idea behind the upcoming PS3 and PSN puzzler named Echochrome. This particular creation is an attempt by the author to recreate a paradoxical environment best illustrated by M. C. Escher's lithograph print entitled Relativity.The standard blocks, stairs and portals seen in Fujiki's works appear here as well. Robots can be placed on any side of the blocks and even on top of the wall or...
Dicewars DS
Dicewars DS is a multiplayer version of a popular Flash based strategy game for Nintendo DS. Both single and multiplayer game modes with up to eight players are supported.Your task is to conquer the whole game field by rolling dice. Each turn you may attack any opponent's territory from one of your adjacent territories as long as your territory has more than one die on it. A battle is won when you roll more than the defender during an attack. [thanks...
Kamis, 19 Juli 2007
Trouble Witches
The trial version of Trouble Witches features two playable levels and cartoon graphics not unlike some of the stuff seen in Konami's Parodius series. Pets act as options, while temporary upgrades in the shape of spell cards can be bought from the shop. These appear periodically, tied to a hot air balloon in the shape of a pumpkin head.The shopkeeper can be touched in strange places, though the results from such actions are unknown. Coins are be collected...
Cage Match 2 - Dwarf Fortress vs TKOL
Voting is now closed, thanks for participating!Vote count: Dwarf Fortress 73 - 21 The Kingdom of LoathingWinner: Dwarf Fortress"Kingdom of Loathing is hands-down the greatest web-browser game ever created. Dwarf Fortress can not compete with that. Can anyone even tell me why I would play DF over NetHack?" - Sebastian"Dwarf Fortress is a clear winner. It's the best game I've played in a long time. A huge amount of detail, rapid development. The perfect...
Rabu, 18 Juli 2007
Banshiryuu
Banshiryuu is an upcoming Comiket release from Syunsatu Sare Do, featuring three levels packed with enemies, bullets and the obligatory boss battles. Four difficulty settings are presented to the player before the character selection menu is shown, with the easiest option located on the top left of the screen. The girl with a kimono has a primary weapon which practically obliterates most bosses at quick speed, and is perhaps the best choice for beginners...
Zillion Beatz
Zillion Beatz is a new vertical shooter by RezetiA, featuring one short level but with five different difficulty settings. The needless configuration and armory shop from Pladzma has been ditched, allowing folks who don't speak Japanese to sample some of the gameplay on offer with little hassle.Either ship is outfitted with two primary weapons, switchable using the C key. Hold the Z key to shoot, and press the X key to launch a bomb. The type of...
Selasa, 17 Juli 2007
Another Preview of Knytt Stories
I'm not sure how much I can reveal, but -- there's an umbrella which slows your descent, and there's (my favorite feature in any platformer) a double-jump! Those two things alone make it play very different from Knytt. There are a few other new abilities as well, but the double-jump and the umbrella were the defining ones to me.There's also an extremely scary area, we're talking Silent Hill scary. That may have been my favorite scenario, even though...
Everyday Shooter Gameplay Footage
Actual gameplay video! A two minute preview of four levels from Everyday Shooter. [source: Kota...
Senin, 16 Juli 2007
OLE Coordinate System
Update: You can save your layout with F3, and load your layout with F2. It saves to the ole.dat file, and it seems you can only have 1 at a time.There's a pretty complex world as the default, so back it up before you make new levels. Other random key pressing created a capture.rec file, I don't know what it's for, or what key did that.The Object Locative Environment Coordinate System is an engine that determines and calculates a robot's interaction...
Fighting Fantasy Project
The Fighting Fantasy Project hosts a collection of original adventures based on the popular gamebook system. Originally devised by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, Fighting Fantasy was a series of gamebooks that played out like choose-you-own-adventure stories. Each gamebook would consist of around 400 short numbered passages of text and the reader would be given options as to how they wanted the story to develop.The gamebooks featured on the site...
Minggu, 15 Juli 2007
News
Tank Universal released.Kairos recently pointed out a tool which can be used to convert GM releases (developed with version 6.0 and 6.1) into a file that is compatible with Windows Vista. No more Vista incompatibility issues for GM games! [RR forum thread, download conversion tool]The Crypts of Despair updated with several new changes.The XBLA version of Switchball previewed. [PC version download page]Earl Mansin: The Breakout updated to version...
