A platformer with fundamentalist graphics, but a nice twist: each time you touch a dot, all platforms with that color disappear. So hit a red and all red ones go away, but hit a purple and both red and blue ones disappear!
That's about it really, the game makes up for some nice puzzles, but it gets waaay too difficult in the end - unnecessary imo really. Still, nice concept!
Take canabalt, or any one-button jumping platform game, make it first person, display some helluva cool visuals... erm, job done :D. Not much else to say here really, it's download only, but from what I gather it uses the Unity engine, so I'd expect an online version soon!
After all the emo crap in previous entries, BRING ON THE ONE-BUTTON MADNESS! \o/
Sure, it gets minus points for using "Epic" in the game title, but everything else is good and proper! So go jump those platforms :)
"Once upon a time there was a great magical performer who entertained crowds with his tricks and illusions.
But when the one he loved died, he stopped performing and lost the will to live...
...until one night he had a dream..."
It's not like games in which the main character can take over the other character's coils and use them and their abilities (Messiah being a prime example). But these games have been far and few.
Also, this one's done exceptionally well: The visuals and audio create a very dreamy atmosphere (job done then). The puzzles aren't very hard, but still I got a feeling of accomplishment when I figured out them. And the most important thing: the game's levels are very tightly coupled with the story - it seems that everything is thought out from the early stages of the design process. The dialogues appear in the levels' empty space, so you don't get bogged down with pages and pages of text, and of course you can ignore them completely if you don't care about the story - but still, you don't lose time skipping text.
That last bit might sound very easy to do and trivial to the casual player, but it really is very tough to get it working so good.
All in all, very interesting. Now, I wonder if Messiah works on W7x64.... :)
Looks like an offspring of Star Guard (even the animation reminds me of that), but it seems it's from another developer. It's definitely taking a lighter approach to the story (nonexistent from what I saw so far), but still the game mechanics are solid, with the addition of wall jumping. Fun!
What a lovely game! 2D flip screen exploration/puzzler like others I've posted on this thread, executed lovely. Lovely audio/visuals, lovely atmosphere, simple but fun gameplay, a couple obscure puzzles but nothing too difficult, and an intriguing scenario (kind of anyway ;)). I liked it a lot!
It's got the same typeface as Loom's Logo! But that's where the similarities between the two games end. Looming is a 2D exploration game, and if you take a look at the screenshot you'll notice that the graphics are in dithered black and white mode. This makes up for some interesting visuals.
The game sets you around a map and doesn't tell you anything much apart from the controls, which are minimal (movement keys, X and C). After that you're on your own. What it boils down to is a trip to find several items and solve a couple of puzzles, including one that's based around a traditional treasure hunting (you must find the hint to go to the next one till you find the last one). There's no real challenge in it or any sense of danger, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the art and scenario.
(dunno if I recommend this or not, I just post this as a bookmark for me :))
A single screen of platforms, a main character, some collectibles... you heard this a million times by now I assume? I won't argue, it's sounds boring already! What made this game stand out from the rest for me is that the levels are quite simple (at least to begin with!) so you pick it up and play in seconds, and you're constantly in time attack mode, which means you have to keep moving, no time for thinking ahead of strategies, just charge blindly!
There are two other items, one resets the clock (the time you have is common for all levels) and the other is a switch that opens/closes doors etc.
For a 5-minute break it's simply an amazing game! (well, you start it as a 5-minute break, but then it sucks you in as you want more and more :)).
This one's another bog standard 2D platformer, but with a very innovative twist: The level has "fold" points, and if you drag a line between them (using the mouse) you actually define a "folding" plane. Release the mouse, and that area you defined disappears from the level! So you can shorten high platforms you couldn't reach, temporarily make some obstacles disappear (you can "unfold" any time you wish), etc.
Presentation, as with all Nitrome games, is very nice and pixel-y (none of that rendered or abstract stuff we're used to lately).
P.S. in the 2 screenshots below I demonstrate a "fold": screenshot #1 has me selecting the fold and screenshot #2 shows the playfield after the fold!
What a pretty game! Guide a small sprite to the exit before the quicksand covers everything! Walljumps and quick action :)
A short'n'sweet reaction game that uses the most basic mouse actions (point, click, drag) and space. The whole game's synchronized on the music track (mostly a drumbeat) and it gets quite frantic!
I still haven't managed to get to the bonus stage (but then again I played it only 2 times so far!), but I'll keep trying... :)
There was once a teenage biker girl who was madly in love with a guy. The guy obviously cheated on her, so she decided to take revenge. So she waited until the right moment (in this case, a sunny spring morning), and when she saw him in front of her, she sped up her bike, took aim and BOEM! The guy went flying into the air!
Farther and farther away! And then gravity (and friction) overcame the initial force of the crash, so he started descending down into the earth. A couple of times he hit the pavement and bounced back up (because errr he was made of rubber? I'm improvising, so gimme a break will ya? :)). But since this was a crowded street, eventually he bumped into a few people.
Guys (like him) usually decreased his horizontal speed but gave him height. A couple of girls would just slow him down. But most of the girls possess Dragonball like powers and give him a tremendous speed and height boost! And if that isn't enough, the bike girl can teleport in midair at (the player's) will and give him another beating! Oh, and finally some of the girls have ultra-super-extra-Dragonball powers that give him an even bigger boost!
Eventually, the guy drops horizontal speed and bounce back height, and either clings on some bystander or falls off the screen!
Now then, if you think there's a game into this somewhere you can click and try it out yourself :)
Another from the LD bunch I liked, imagine a 2d maze game where you have to go around rocks and have to avoid pits to get the diamond. Now imagine that there are more than 1 of those caves on screen with different designs, and rotated in 90 degree increments. When you make a move, all characters move at the same time.
Ok, I really have to admit that (like sh3) after it showed 3 caves at once, my brain began to melt! But for 48 hours, it's brilliantly executed :)
More Adult Swim goodness in this platformer with simple controls & Bionic Commando extending arm. The fun is in figuring out the levels by combining what you learned before. Sound & graphics are spot on in this one, score is worked out every 10 levels, based on time to complete them. Die as many times as you like - my kind of game.
Screen shot doesn't do it justice, must be the way the gfx work, but I can't get his arm to appear :D
Yikes, the text I was supposed to post got lost because I clicked the wrong button. Oh well...
Basically it's a physics puzzle where you control cars, giving them only start/stop commands to control them, with the objective being to knock off other cars off the screen. Liked the mechanics a lot, and the facial expressions on the cars are very well executed!
As I usually say in this thread, give it a try!
Made for the ludum dare 48 hour game compo, this is a game with solid game mechanics and very simplistic graphics (which is the opposite of what's usually happening there). Your character is a square that fires smaller squares. Your bullets can kill enemies (which is the game objective) on a level, but they can also puncture walls. What's the game's gimmick though is that whenever your (or the enemies') bullets hit something, some debris pixels appear. You can suck these to increase your bullet cache (as it decreases as you fire).
Give it a go, it's worth it I think.
Yet another LD game, this is a bog standard top-down 2d maze game, but, unlike Pleochorism, it doesn't have any gimmicks, just extremely good level design (hey, 48 hours? :)). The levels aren't thrown in together, a lot of thought has been made behind them for the puzzles to work. Plus, it has 4 different themes for puzzles set-up: rock pushing through gaps, springs that make you jump, ice slippery tiles and the fourth I haven't tried yet because I had a quick run with the game (each map quarter has its own theme).
Excellent stuff, recommended :)
So I was checking some entries from Ludum Dare 17, which is basically game creation in 48 hours (the theme is announced and then you got 2 days to finish your game, at whatever state it's in). Going thru the endless tower defense clones that people submitted, I came across this little diamond here :).
Another cool 1-button game, this has you jumping with the bike across platforms, picking up items optionally and hitting stars for checkpoints. There is a neat moment around the middle of the game, but I'm going to let you discover it yourself. Graphics are quite brilliant and for 48 hours, I don't think this can get any better!
Go on, press the (up) button!
P.S. the online version didn't have any sounds, so I recommend this for soundtrack :)
The graphics are actually quite nicely executed - trying to emulate the old vcs blocky games, and adding a B&W tv filters - all quite pleasant! The character is very responsive to your firing, so the game's quite pleasant to play!
Okay, how do I even describe this?
You are a constantly rotating dash over a grid of dots. You are always touching one dot and rotating around it, with one end pinned on that dot. While rotating you touch other dots within distance. When you touch another dot and hit the button, you attach yourself to the other dot. You can change rotation direction using another button. The goal is to reach the point that has a star. As a subgoal you have to touch every point on the grid. To spice things up, other dashes might be rotating that you shouldn't touch, as well as some obstacles.
There. Did you get all this? No? Thought so, so go try out the game, it'll make sense in 10 seconds!
Tracking main sprites? Check
Horizontal movement by mouse? Check
Click left mouse button to jump? Check
Tracking enemies doing acrobatics, coming from the ground? Check?
Increasing main sprites and enemies as you go along? Check
Fun? Check!
An interesting game involving light and shadows. You are this ball that's stuck in some mazes where you have to collect stars to escape. You have to choose wisely where to stand and move though, because standing close to the light or shadows might cause you to die horribly.
Well, it sure needed more levels, and the concept should have been more explored, but it's a nice 10-minute waster :)
Well, since I mentioned Terry on the last entry, it'd be criminally wrong not to mention his very awesome shooter :). This is a bare bones game, wave after wave of enemy coming towards you at breakneck speeds with you having only one life. The question being: how much of this can you bare in 1 session? :)
P.S. Give "Pathways" a go, at least if you like a bit of experimental gameplay. Also, check out his first commercial game, VVVVVV - there's a free demo on his website.
More whatnots coming up! All coming from a single Swede going by the nickname Cactus. After trying a few of his games, I can easily say that I'm a big fan of his stuff - personal favorites so far are:
Check out his webpage - lots of cool stuff inside!
P.S. Look out for his forthcoming game "Tuning" - I saw some vids so far and it looks absolutely brilliant! (plus it won him some indie game award - well deserved :))
Ohnoes the romz are b0rked! The board is going berserk!
Have you ever wondered what a fight between the pacman sprite and the space invaders sprites would be? Or mario vs gauntlet ghosts? Or defender vs arkanoid bricks? Well, this game does random variations of the above characters and enemies, and much more. This is in itself fun, but add to that that both player and enemies sprites change every 10 secs or so (due to corruption in teh r0mz :)) and you get a very interesting game indeed!
It's a whatnot, so grab it from here
Update: There's now an online version!
Like One button Bob, but with a ninja :)
You are a stationary target. Shoot the stuff that comes at you so it won't hit you. Simple. Fun.
http://www.playedonline.com/game/597566/-red-.html
