-
Search
Fellow Developers
Listings
Mar
9
TAR pt. 13a: Punching vegetables
Posted under Competitions, Free, Indie, PC, Retro
You might pretend to tolerate it but no-one really likes the number thirteen. I personally shun it wherever physically possible. Thus, today we have part 13a of this epic TAR saga featuring a humble two games. Better to do half a post rather than none at all, eh?
SonnenmördeR by Jph Wacheski 
Need more shmup action? Fear not! Accomplished indie Jph Wacheski has made a quite lovely entry with ZGameEditor. It shows off a variety of neato graphical effects (dynamically coloured 1-bit sprites, shaders and more). So much fun in just 59KB! This almost reminds me of a slightly less trippy and more Galaga-ish version of Spheres of Chaos. Horribly addictive – don’t miss it! 90%
Space Garden Punchonaut by Gyorgy Straub
What would you get if you combined Tetris, Columns, Puyo Puyo and… erm… any action platform game? That’s exactly right: you’d get this! Help your failed astronaut to punch marauding space vegetables into lines of 3 or more so that they’ll disappear. A unique way of playing a tried and tested classic formula. Kudos to the designer chappy for thinking it up. A little rough but nevertheless fun to play. 81%
Mar
7
TAR pt. 12: I am surprised
Posted under Competitions, Free, Indie, PC, Retro
Cripes! We’re onto the third page of Assemblee goodness! I wonder what occurs therein?
(yes, the Shine screenshot is from the TIGSource listing page… I couldn’t make one better 
)
Seasons of Change by Perrin
For the love of Ra… 74MB download?! This’d better be good! Unfortunately I wouldn’t say it’s entirely worth it, though the sentiment and idea behind it isn’t bad. Visit three visions to prepare for a final sequence in this sombre platformer. The mini-stories are okay but the irksome jumping and buggy event handling make it less rewarding than it should be. 52%
s h i n e by Kazerad
Holy crap! Dark, creepy, atmospheric scary stuff here. Survival horror isn’t something that anyone else has attempted during the competition and Kazerad has managed to craft something palpably unsettling. A massive list of assets, all used in interesting and fairly unique ways, coupled with enemies that’ll freak you out… can you find the ending? Several rough edges but still very impressive. 83%
Shmuparadox by Flyweight
Can’t beat a bit of old-fashioned arcade shoot ‘em up goodness. This one takes Braid’s time-reversing mechanic and allows you to be in two or even more places at once, as well as cheating death should you meet a grisly end at the hands of the evil invading space aliens. A pleasant way to while away a few minutes, and comes with a selection of game modes and boss fights. 77%
Snaptrix by William Broom
Are you thinking Wetrix? ‘Cos I am. One minor detail: there isn’t any water, and instead you’re just trying to fit as many layers of blocks together without (a) going outside the black border and (b) leaving blocks hanging with nothing underneath them. Tricky controls don’t make this easy, and the lack of freedom in rotating pieces left me feeling frustrated rather than entertained. 54%
Mar
5
Hokay, let’s get this show rolling again. My most appreciative thanks for bearing with me during the past two weeks of slacking and panicking (roughly in that order). It’s TAR time once more!
Ranger by menki
Jump into the boots of a ranger and do rangerly things like plant trees, harvest the fruit they grow and, erm, use them to kill nasty monsters. Defend the forest! ‘Cos you’re a ranger, and that’s what rangers do! Feels like a quirky combination of Rogue and Harvest Moon. Curiously enough, it seems to work. Playable but unfinished; could easily grow into something big, har har! 
75%
ro9 by Crackerblocks
Controlling one character at a time is just so 80s. Fortunately Crackerblocks is here to break the mould and give you the chance of controlling 9 (!!) adventurers simultaneously! Quite simply you job is to get as many of them “ascended” as possible, remembering that each move you make is mirrored across all nine of your heroes. A simple idea implemented really well, making brilliant use of Oryx’s first-person graphics. 84%
Roguelet by Hyperlogic 
Sadly, without a Mac, I was unable to play this one. 
Shame – it looks interesting…
Running Pandja by prof
What is this, Bleeding Obvious Name Day or something? 
Now, this may come as a shock, so best sit down before I tell you that this game involves a panda… that can run. Just think of it as really short version of Knytt. Explaining more about it would ruin the 2 minutes of gameplay. Barring some kooky dialogue (English or Gibberish? You decide) there’s not much to see here. Way too short… but does have an editor. 41%
Mar
4
Things are still broken, but the blog is back at least… 
I would’ve given more notice, but because of the silly terms of service of my ex-host, I wanted to move away as quickly as possible to avoid them removing the site rather than me doing it in my own time. Apparently, hosting any file bigger than 1MB was against their terms… *gasp!* So although the likelihood of them cancelling my account was small (since I’d been running with them smoothly enough for a couple of months), they were still within their rights to do so. I really didn’t want to take any chances.
Obviously I can’t predict the future and it’s still early days with this new host but, well, let’s keep our fingers crossed, eh?
UPDATE: Turns out the Millenipede Leaderboard had been broken since the first host move. Wow. I suck! 
Seems like it has some scores on it nowadays that are slightly unrealistic! I must get around to revamping it some day…
Feb
12
TAR pt. 10: Item GET!
Posted under Competitions, Free, Indie, PC, Retro
Snarf. I sense the pace is slowing! But still we press on towards the light at the end of the tunnel…
Other Observations by PDF
Roguelike lovers rejoice – here’s the one entry you should play if nothing else in the competition has caught your eye! This is a smoothly executed adventure that aims to simplify the experience by streamlining your inventory management; everything you pick up is automatically equipped. Head into the dungeon as one of 7 classes as you hunt for The Betrayer, a deadly and terrible evil. A nifty effort. 79%
Puzzle Slash by Matt Pearce
Ooooh! A match-three puzzler with a twist. Use your swapping skills to line up symbols while also walking your character forwards into combat range of the monsters in a second, smaller, viewscreen. The symbols you match will determine the effect, a bit like Puzzle Quest. Includes three themes of levels to progress onwards through. Great potential but feels rough around the edges. Worth keeping half an eye on. 70%
Quest! by Galaxy613
A delightfully psuedo-Gameboy romp that sees you wandering around a blocky series of landscapes in an attempt to recover an item stolen by a fearsome dragon. Has a rather fab lo-fi look to it and achieving victory is easily possible in your coffee break, though I’d have to exclaim a dubious “meh” against the slightly rough collision detection and backgrounds which make it tricky to see where the path ahead lies… 76%
Rakshasas by AttributeClash
This is surely a game to test your ambidextro… ambi… er, ability to use both hands equally. As a thief who infiltrates the mage clan’s vault, you are discovered and forced to take command of two glowy balls of doom to defend yourself. One is controlled with the cursor keys and the other with WASD. Screams to be played with a friend; you’d need to be some sort of crazy person to get far playing this alone… 68%
Feb
7
Aside from being a little under the weather this weekend, due to my internet provider being so fantastically naff I actually had to type this post up twice. Pfeh. 
But you don’t want to know about any of that – let’s get on with the lushness of today’s four Assemblees, three of which you can play straight from your browser!
Mushroomer by Jotapeh 
Seeing the phrase “Just like a real video game!” immediately made me smile, but sadly the rest of the game couldn’t quite pull off enough to keep that smile on my face. A run and jump platformer made vaguely interesting with slidey controls and ninja rope goodness. Escape the cave before you lose all your lives or a ten minute timer expires. Competently done (nice backdrop!) and points for the rope, but a tad plain. 63%
Mushroom Stew by iarwain 
Wahey, more mushrooms! You can never have enough mushrooms, folks. In this case you have to blast through a story of confusion and deception to find out why your mushroom buddies are suddenly trying to kill you. Use your crouching and time-bending skills to reach the end. Technically very good with several tricks used to enliven the graphics – sharp gameplay too, if a tad repetitive. Even has a level editor! 77%
Oh Crackers, Not Again! by The Greenest Banana
In a spicy, tangy twist to normality, here you have to protect a helpless little girl as she tries to get back home following a path which is infested with monsters. You take the part of her faithful and happily indestructible hound who can jump on enemies’ heads to stop them from being such a nuisance. A charming Flash effort but quite challenging even on the easiest difficulty. Needs more levels but still a great effort. 78%
One Pack by MrRoboman
Being a toned ace space pilot is all very well but it’s oh-so-easy to pile on the pounds in your retirement. Such is the problem Ace Fatman now faces in his quest for… okay, I have no idea what his quest is, since this game is one for the “unfinished” pile. But it’s enough to raise a guffaw at the creative use of assets. Multi-purpose flab, anyone? Throw a can or three of polish at this and it could have an entertaining future! 52%
Feb
3
EVE’s GoonSwarm alliance collapses
Posted under Commercial, MMO, Mac, PC
Just hours ago, an entire corner of EVE’s universe was plunged into confusion when GoonSwarm – a dominant force for several years and one of the game’s longest standing alliances – started disbanding. Judging by the frenzied activity on the game’s official corp and alliance 
discussion forum, it seems they have now dissolved completely and will not be returning.
GoonSwarm were founded by members of the Something Awful community and achieved notoriety for being one of the least restrictive groups to inhabit the outer reaches of space, operating under the philosophy that anyone, regardless of skill, should be able to get a taste of what life can be like in 0.0 territory. Their sudden departure from the region leaves a massive vacuum that may well trigger a widescale conflict for control of valuable resources.
No official explanation has yet been given for why the alliance has broken up in this way, but whatever the reason, it’s definitely a pivotal moment in EVE’s history.
Feb
2
The time is now!
Posted under Competitions
A really, really quick post. Just to say:
Last chance to cast your votes for Assemblee part 2! Go for it!
I said before, but just to confirm it: thought the voting may end tomorrow, the reviews of remaining entrants I haven’t covered yet will continue, so it’s still going to be busy here over the next week or two!
Feb
1
Since there are only a couple of days left until the Assemblee voting closes there’s one particular entry I really think you should play. I wouldn’t have reached it within vote-time had I not skipped ahead a little – that’s my excuse, anyway! Anyhow, it’s time to venture into the…
Realm of the Mad God by Wild Shadow Studios
In the most literal sense of the phrase, I can’t help but believe that the duo behind RotMG have created a monster. More than just one, in fact; we’re talking tens of thousands of the blighters, each one of them alive with primitive sentience and ready to kill you as soon as they set their pixelly eyes upon your feeble mortal frame. Even if you win victory against even a split fraction of their legions and claim the shiny loot they carry, more will come, until eventually they will fulfil their master’s wish: to kill and eat you. 
The Mad God’s realm is a multiplayer Flash RPG where you explore a massive map and kill things with swords and sorcery depending on which of the four basic classes you pick. So far, so yawn-worthy, you may be thinking. But soon you will find yourself succumbing to the fiendishly addictive nature of the beast. Combat is fast and fluid and grouping with other players during your travels is silky-smooth. No party invites – just wander close by and you’ll start to share XP fairly. Roguelike-style permadeath actually encourages and rewards such cooperation between players. And finally, when you’ve defeated enough of the horde, alone or with friends, Oryx the Mad God himself comes out to play for a grand finale!
Yes, it has flaws – starting out can be tough, on occasions it’s a bit tricky to find monsters that aren’t stupidly easy or frighteningly hard, and the chatbox gets cluttered quickly when it’s busy. Some may feel the gameplay just doesn’t have enough depth. But me personally? I think there’s something fundamentally, undeniably fun here – and surely, for any game, that’s all you need to worry about.
That, and being killed and eaten, of course… 93%
Thanks to Captain_404 on the TIGForum and the Wild Shadow team for some of the screenshots!
Feb
1
Resurrect your dead RPGs!
Posted under Competitions, Indie
A site I recently came across through one of Terry Cavanagh’s tweets is RPGDX, a community dedicated to indie RPGs. Do not be deceived by its apparent lack of daily updates, for there is more going on here than first meets the eye!
Upon their forums, interestingly enough, is a maybe-perhaps competition that may – perhaps! – be happening through this fine month of February. Its theme is “Finish an RPG project you’ve abandoned”.
If this is something you like the sound of, hop on over there and present yourself!