a game a day

Record Tripping

2010-05-26T10:28:00.000-04:00

cute alice in wonderland scratch music game.
who would have thought it.

Chop Chop Runner!

2010-03-18T12:39:00.003-04:00

My friend Guillaume made Chop Chop Runner. Its great fun! Its a single button game, which is just perfect for the iphone user on the go (which is all of you).

Guillaume was both the programmer and the designer on this project.

Here is the Web Version where you can test the gameplay, its fun with the mouse, but even better with a touchscreen.

plasma pong

2006-05-10T16:51:00.000-04:00

unlike some game lists we dont usually post links to pong games. unless they are really extra special in some innovative way. plasma poing is not only very special, it looks absolutely fantastic plus its fiendish and compelling.

you play pong either against the computer or with a friend, but you play inside a box of fluid with the turbulance within the liquid rendere as a plasma. your puck can make turbulance and you can use it in play. needs a meaty pc though you mist have a nice graphics card.

fly guy

2006-04-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

i first found fly guy a few years back, and promptly lost the link. its best to ignore this and intstead give this "dream simulator" the reverence it deserves.

its not a game its a toy and a wonderfully artful one at that. by which i mean its not full of art so much as a work of art.

everyone i know who has played it had an emotional reaction. its a mood enhancer if you are happy it makes you happier. if you are sad it makes you melancholy. still sad but in a nice way. so relax and enjoy, listen to the sounds because they are part of the experience and simplify your interactive experience. i promise you will come back to fly guy.

suitable for all ages children and grandparents. and its capable of running on any machine that can do shockwave files, its not open source, but it will work on most platforms.

Dwice

2006-03-30T22:17:00.000-05:00

Alexey Pajitnov was for those who dont know the inventor of tetris, and whilst you may not know his name I'm pretty sure you know his game. He has a new game out with a playable demo available for download.

if you like falling block stylee puzzle games, this will appeal, however it seems a mite easy to me. tetris was better but this is still playable, and free.

Tux Racer

2006-03-12T12:45:00.000-05:00

the excellent tux racer has been with us for a few years now. I dont know why i didnt put it on the list earlier.

you play as a penguin who is collecting fish by belly sliding down the side of a mountain.

each challenge has a time limit and a minimum number of fish to collect for each run. tux racer has a finely tweaked difficulty level, with each race taking 2 or three tries to advance to the next.

you can do jumps, and slow down and accelerate, each of these actions has an effect on the handling, if you slowdown you can turn much more sharply, but there is an obvious time penalty.

its a professional game with polish. it looks great and it plays great its non violent and suitable for all the family.

tux is the mascot of linux and the game is hosted on source forge so you can get the code and take a look inside, which also means its available for multiple platforms.
yay!

samorost 2

2006-03-10T21:11:00.000-05:00

Matt pointed out that the excellent Samorost by amanita design has a sequel. yay!

the original Samorost was a work of art. i dont want to spoil it too much but i'm currently playing it and expect this one will be too.

this time your dog has been kidnapped by aliens, and your off to rescue it. the samorost games take the form of a sequence of beautifully drawn single screen puzzles which build into a simlpe story.

play it online today.

kromka and chelba

2006-01-15T19:36:00.000-05:00

kromka and chelba is a simple one screen at a timed rescue platformer. you play as one of the characters and have to navigate your way across the room to rescue your partner. each level has a switch which opens the cage in which your friend has been imprisoned, and there are jigsaw pieces to collect to build up a picture of cute characters as you go.

the abstract nature of the cartoon characters, that everything is simple and that it has a slightly slower pace may mean it suits younger players.

soldat

2006-01-14T12:57:00.000-05:00

a large and vigorous community of players exists for this game mostly because its a multiplayer game. soldat brings the frantic shootem up gamplay of quake three arena to a 2d world.

because its a 2d game its no longer a 1st person shooter, but a 3rd person shooter. the reduction in dimention requires moving the point of view.

"quaint" i here you say. yes, but dont dismiss it, because it is really really good.

on spawning you get to choose from an array of primary and secondary weapons. rifles, miniguns, grenade launchers etc. this selection keeps the game interesting and adds more depth but can make learning the game challenging.

gameplay generally consists of running around a "side on" view jumping from platform to platform, using rocket boots to hover for short periods of time. the standard wasd kes move your around and like the old skool crack dot com's abuse game, the mouse aims your weapon.

as with all other first person shooters each player can give themselves a name and customise his or her appearance to stand out or blend in. start a server on your work LAN and play it at lunchtime.

eek!

2005-12-14T21:03:00.000-05:00

apologies for the delay in posting, its been a week since my last post, so i guess i need help. work pressures are taking more and more of my energy.

a couple of readers have already started too contribute, but if any more want to contribute to this blog, then drop me a line.

agameaday@ gmail.com

dots and boxes

2005-12-05T19:34:00.000-05:00

ossie manners has implemented a cool version of the dots and boxes game we all played at school on rainy break-times.

only this time the AI plays against you and like many small games of this kind the AI is difficult to play against.

its a nice game, because it is possible to improve your score by improving your strategy over successive games. also there are tactical hints in the help file if you need it.

its freeware, and only for windows.

soulride virtual ski resorts

2005-12-02T20:34:00.000-05:00

in montreal there is little need for a virtual ski resourt, we have loads of snow every winter many would say too much). if however you are challenged for crystalline precipitation in your locale, then you may find these a worthy diversion.

a virtual breckenridge, jay peak* and stratton are all available to download from the soulride web site.

they are a little pedestrian compared to SSX and the like, but it is claimed the mountains are a faithful represntation of their real world counterparts.

*for linux!

crush!

2005-11-30T22:04:00.000-05:00

from the people that brought you the runman games, we now receive crush! take the part of a large monster slowly maurauding around downtown metropolis. you can pick up large buildings and drop them on the teeney tiny people who mill about your feet.

marvel as the moster runs in either direction, it moves each arm independantly, and is able to pick up two buildings at the same time. cower in fear as its laser beam eyes destroy the feeble helecopters of the military who come to intercept.

its immense fun, but the music seems out of place. in typical movie style the immense size and power of the monster means it moves in slow motion. unfortunately its seems its only available for pc. mac people you must buy a pc today.

canvas 3d walker

2005-11-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

canvasscape is really of interest to those of you who are running firefox or safari. if you upgrade to firefox 1.5 now, then you can run this. its a 3d walk about maze implemented entirely javascript and rendering to the canvas tag.

more of a tech demo than a game, but i think there is more of this sort of thing to come. expect to see more games implemented in this manner.

apparently it also works on safari 1.3, but ive not tested it. here is another 3d maze thingy from mozilla that works in the same way.

ferry halim bugs

2005-11-28T23:15:00.000-05:00

ferry halim has done it again. another superbly styled web game that fits right in with the others on his orisinal site.

you guide a little smiling girl who iskeeping away the bugs without killing them. press to make her jump, then guide her in where to land. dont land on the bugs, just near them to make them fly away. you get points for scaring different colours and colour combinations.

play this one today.

the colours II

2005-11-25T22:49:00.000-05:00

these six minigames are severely lacking in the polish department, but make up for it in the originality department.

yellow was a particular favourite of mine, you draw walls to stop the enemy, then guide a large circle through the maze you draw. finally after having placed your sentries hoards of enemies are released to make it through. different and challenging, but sadly needs more work.

purple was very interesting, a little man walks over the landscape, and you draw gestures with the mouse to tell him what to do, jump, duck, climb etc.

the whole thing including four other less intersting games, are presented on a 800x200 pixel window with plinkey midi music. try it out if only to see some games that are different to the usual faire.

clouds kingdom 3

2005-11-23T12:58:00.000-05:00

clouds kingdom 3 from crobasoft is a 2d sprite cute action platformer. the central character is a ninja who's attacks are athletic and fluid. the enemies are plenty and a challenge to vanquish. the action is only slightly marred by the fact that your athleticism means you can double ninja jump you way past them.

the music and atmosphere are original and professional and they suit the scenario. with changes in mood and background art for different locations.

what is best about it is the difficulty level seems pitched right, its neither too easy nor too hard as so many freeware platformers are. overall this is an excellent and professional freeware platformer.

rigid racing

2005-11-18T09:58:00.000-05:00

rigid racing is very cool. its a physics simulation of a hot hatch on a race track. the developer DrPetter has added some AI assistance to the steering to give the whole thing a drift arcade-y style feel. its fun to play and the graphics are spiffy.

the rending is high quality and the feel of the driving is professional all it lacks is some opponents and a music track.

the developer looks like he is in need of a little encouragement to finish it off. so DrPetter, finish it off your game looks great already, just add more cars to race against! please?

narbacular drop

2005-11-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

narbacular drop is a student project from digipen, so its not as polished as some of the demos we've featured here and the control system could use a little work, but, and its a big but, the game as some interesting ideas.

an imprisoned princess, escape dungeon, help of spirit, blah blah blah. ok, the interesting-ness starts when you realise that you can escape by creating portals through the walls, these operate in pairs and allow you to move around. its a bit difucult to explain, but the screenshots should help.

you can make a portal in the wall, floor or ceiling (as long as its earth, not metal) and when you pass through you teleport to another portal. for those who remember its like having a pair of the portals in quake3 to carry around in your pocket. you can use these portals to navigate your way through the underground dungeon.

battleground god

2005-11-16T12:38:00.000-05:00

dont read too much into the responces to your answers. the limited space for paragraphs allows for only only simple discourse.

but this game of question answering about the existance of god, morality, evidence, and logic is otherwise compelling.

follow the questioning path and test your beliefs or rationalisation against the cold hard logic of the philosophers net.

the system asks multiple cross referenced questions and attempts to find logical contradictions in your answers, but remember there is more to every philosophical issue than can be summised in a simple couple of paragraphs.

360

2005-11-14T13:32:00.000-05:00

360 an unsual combat game for two players. you each have two pieces which orbit each other. you can swap the pivot, change direction, collect weapons, and shoot.

the wierd controls and different movement system make this a cool fun competition for two players. part of the fun is inderstanding the way the different control methods can be used to annihialate your opponent. its uniqueness has the effect of levelling the playing field. you may be surprised by who wins!

jumper redux

2005-11-11T21:07:00.000-05:00

pure unadulterated platforming. simple, no nonsense jumping action in 2d. jumper redux is an interesting creation because of its pure concentration on jumping, jumping powerups and tiny ickle platforms. every leap is an aiming challenge and its actually quite difficult.

what makes the game more than an average platformer is the skill exercised in jumping, you may influence the jump but dont have absolute control. its not true aiming, but tweaking whilst in the air.

i liked it, its free, challenging and fun to play.

clack

2005-11-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

clack is a remake of klax. well not quite a remake because the puzzle mode has been made slightly more difficult by the addition of goals that have to be reached with a limited number of tiles.

basically pieces tumble forward toward your paddle, you catch them and then flip them onward into neat arrangements. the challenge comes from the rate and variation of tiles falling toward you, and the fact that stacking more than one involved reversing their order when you flip them off.

klax was one of a number of tetris inspired falling block games from the early 90's and clack is a compentent remake. the naive graphics are cute and functional, the gameplay is challenging and made me want repeat plays.

if you enjoyed klax or tetris, then you should definately try this one.

paper ball

2005-11-07T20:07:00.000-05:00

indie games seem to come in three flavours breakout/arkanoid flavour, colour matching puzzle flavour, and everything else flavour. so its nice when someone makes a breakout/arkanoid style that is a bit different. paper ball is a bit different.

we like games that use alternative rendering styles, as seen by this and this.

it reminds me a bit of notepad invaders (contains swearing), but with more polish and not at all offensive. i liked it but i didnt buy it. :-)

sky

2005-11-04T13:03:00.000-05:00

sky is simple, but its not a game. it is a simulation, perhaps of a dream or a wish.

whilst there are lots of different interactive artists on the web producing cute flash applets, most can only hold attention for a short period. however, once it learned how to operate this one correctly it seemed to call me back.

click and drag left button to steer and change speed +ve/-ve click and drag right button to steer at current speed.

it uses transparency so if it runs too slowly on your machine, then shrink the window down.

motherload

2005-11-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

download this... drill through the earth, dig for minerals, conserve your fuel, upgrade your driller, and avoid damaging it kinda game.

its like a cross between dig dug and elite, this cute flash game was suggested by toby. less innovative than some weve posted its a definite combination of two genres, the diging and the trading. the nice thing is that as you mine out the area near your base, you have to search further afield, taking more risk and requiring upgrades. its a nice smooth progression mechanism.

i enjoyed it, and its playable online too via the magic of flash.

poom

2005-11-02T19:22:00.000-05:00

the things i like about poom are that...
it is a new take on an old game, it has simple gameplay, your skill builds each time you play it, and its a mashup of several different games into one.
coolio, thats what this list is supposed to be about!

you play a form of keepie-uppie with a set of tiles which keep changing their arrangement when the ball bounces. some tiles are extra points, some reduce the height of the bounce and some increase it, some are treasure oooohhhhhh.

also its a flash game so will work on systems with a modern browser! more coolness.

hitch hikers guide to the galaxy

2005-11-01T19:12:00.000-05:00

like everyone (before affordable computer graphics) i played text adventures. and have been trying to think of a real quality one to post here. the most memorable one of all the text adventures from the bit era has to be the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy.

if you recently saw the movie, then give this one a revisit. toby reminded me that the bbc has a cutified version with a nice flash interface. remember some of the puzzles require an understanding of douglas adams' sense of humor and a lot of lateral thinking.

if you get stuck (and you will) game faqs has some walkthroughs for you to help.

tower of goo

2005-10-31T12:54:00.000-05:00

every so often the experimental gameplay site spews forth a new cute take on gameplay. tower of goo is something nice. its sortof a game, but mostly a toy.

build a tower as high as you can, but not out of stirdy girders, out of wobbly goo creatures. its cool, but only for pc.

wire hang redux

2005-10-28T11:42:00.000-04:00

dang! i wish i'd made this.

wire hang redux is a mac and pc port of wire hang. move the mouse to set the aim, and fire your grappling hook onto floating platforms. try to not fall off the bottom othats it!

the key is in the aiming and the timing. high scores exist for one upmanship and competition.
keep an eye on the angle meter at the bottom of the window, and click to shoot.

the zip file is about 400k so youre not going to lose more than 30 seconds of your life downloading it. do it now.

hyper frame

2005-10-27T20:41:00.000-04:00

sauleil sent me a link for hyperframe, its been doing the rounds for a month or so now, but that doesnt stop it being a cute linking game. its rather like the pencil and paper game where you join dots and try not to tie yourself in knots.

instead of playing aginst an opponent, this shockwave implementation is played on the outside of a rotating 3x3 cube. it has a slick interface, and the time limit provides pressure.

eternal daughter

2005-10-26T18:15:00.000-04:00

this game is in the mould of super metroid / castlevania but its more like an RPG.

the story in eternal daughter is integral to the gameplay and the world is non-linear. combine this with quality graphics and original music and we have a "stand out from the flock of other 2d RPGs" game. download this and lose hours of your time as soon as possible.

rom

2005-10-25T19:28:00.000-04:00

rom is what i'd like to call a frantic puzzler its an innovation. it feels like a puzzle game, but you have to act with lightening reflexes to get a really high score.

to score points you flip tiles in realtime to encourage the trails of these little deltas to grow. then when the tails are long enough flip the tiles again to make the tails concatina up for points.

did i mention that as the tails grow there is a slight disadvantage? touch the red tails and you lose a heart. enjoy!

amju super cool pool

2005-10-24T20:12:00.000-04:00

amju super cool pool is a fountain of lovelyness, from the laid back jazzy soundtrack to the magic roundabout style environments. this simple pool game's redeming feature is the ability to play with UK style rules.

in addition to normal play, you can attempt trick shots, use alternative rules, play against a friend instead of the computer or just practice on your own. also there are free demos available on windows and macintosh.

the new kind

2005-10-21T15:04:00.000-04:00

the greatest video game in the entire universe was elite. back in the early 80s it was released across all platforms sold millions of copies, and made someone a lot of money.

you can fly through a 3d open universe of 8 galaxies with a few thousand planets in each one, trading, fighting, exploring as you see fit.

buy low, sell high. collect bouny on criminals, destroy agressive aliens and steal their artifacts. if you trade well you can buy tech for your ship, of you trade badly then you may need to turn to a life of crime. if you commit crimes the police come after you.

you need to take notice of the politics and advancement of each planet you visit to help you trade, and learn the best routes. exploration is the key.

elite spawned a new genre space flight trading combat RPG influencing everything that was to come after it right up to the modern day. what made it so great was that the spaceflight model was 3d (unique for the time) and that it was not realistic, but fun. no complicated celestial mechanics, just point your ship and accelerate!

the new kind is an abandonware clone of elite. as such its a completely fantastic retro space game. you must play this game.

gene rally

2005-10-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

gene rally is very cool. there are lots of top down racing games available on the web, but the feeling of fun and ease of play with this one sets it out as a must play.

each time your car is bumped you take damage and have to visit the pits to get it repaired. damage affects how your car handles, and you get feedback through the smoke and sounds of the engine. dont worry driving into the pits durnig a race is forgiving, and easy.

stick soldiers

2005-10-19T12:52:00.000-04:00

stick soldiers has the feel of a quake multiplayer game, but none of the gore or realism! which isnt actually a bad thing. its a side on 2d deathmatch. there are bots and you can play against other people.

there is an assortment of weapons to choose, and just like quake you can build your own maps and make mods.

the graphics are stylised, and cute, the bots have a chat mode, and its relentless. the controls can feel a little wierd, but its worth perserevering (sp).

there are three versions each more recently developed. version one allows you to make your own maps, version two allows more tweakage. a new version is in the pipeline with improved graphics. download and play version 2 (ss2).

sky puppy

2005-10-17T19:50:00.000-04:00

sky puppy is a one key game which means the pressure is on the developer to compress all the fun into one button. if youve never played one of these before, then dont be put off. usually they are more fun than many which use joysticks or mouse and keyboard and so on.

following the pattern for many of these you dont steer your character in the usual way. instead when the puppy is on a platform he walks back and forth reversing direction at each end. when in the air you can use the space bar to make him flap his dumbo-esq ears. reminds me slightly of klonoa. large floating arrows act like breezes and blow you about plus you bounce easily.

i insist you play this before you go to bed tonight.

deanimator and treeplanter

2005-10-14T12:26:00.000-04:00

im posting two games today, because each one is so simple that it is barely more than an animation.
they are worth examining because they have innovation or interest from their visual aesthetic rather than the frantic gameplay.

deanimator and treeplanter are two "games" that were created as an experiment by undergraduate korean artist bum lee. take five minutes to give them a look.

b panic

2005-10-12T18:48:00.000-04:00

this building panic style game pits you against enemies or against a friend in a competition to build a skyscraper with walls of your team's colour. meanwhile other meanies are painting it their colour. once all panels are full, you move to the next level.

jump and run, collect pickups to increase your power, speed, etc. throw things at the meanies to disrupt them. im really looking forward to playing my girlfriend at this one.

some slight errors in the sprite animation may spoil its otherwise slick presentation for you, but i thought the game was fantastic despite this error.

oti3

2005-10-11T19:37:00.000-04:00

tetris was the king of the early 90's as far as games go. a clear influencer of many other games which followed. this version isnt a straight remake, its 3d.

challenging is an under-statement, multiple rotations, translations and changing the view point all from the keyboard. it may seem impossible at first, but bear with it.

the interface is slick and easy to use, but the game demands complexity, its a mental workout.

parmen

2005-10-07T18:37:00.000-04:00

there are many chess programmes on the internet of various strengths, some free, some not. i chose this one not because it playes the strongest game, ever, or because it has the most fantastic graphics, but because in addition to playing the normal game, it gives you the ability to play on an alternative board.

star trek fans especialy those of the previous generation will remember seeing mister spock play vulcan chess on the enterprise. however this 3d board means different rules. enjoy.

cave ship

2005-10-06T22:13:00.000-04:00

the nice thing about cave ship is its simplicity. the web has spawned many version over the yers, but this downloadable example allows you to import your own images as environments. thus extending the game and allowing anyone to experiment with this fundamental example of gameplay.

acter world

2005-10-05T19:19:00.000-04:00

princess lina has to rid the world (acter world) of meanies, all she has is a magic ring that blows bubbles, catching the enemies within. once captured a slight nudge will make them tumble off the world.

this character-full old skool platformer is a throwback to the mid eighties when all gameplay happened in one screen. its nice to have a reduced violence, and the slightly slower pace makes this game accessible to younger players.

strategy comes from only having one bubble at a time, and having to wait until the enemy has fallen off the world before making another. these bubbles are your only means of defence though you can jump up through the platforms, but only fall off the end, so think ahead and plan your moves.

kumoon

2005-10-04T12:52:00.000-04:00

as an ickle chickey trapped in stark rooms, your only means of escape is to topple bricks with the minimum use of ammo. huh? oh yes, you can use a revolver, a shotgun or a grenade launcher. this smooth physics simulation is an entertaining cross between a first person shooter and a puzzle.

extra points are awarded for multi-bounce shots, and points are lost for using too much ammo, or touching the bricks directly.

you will need a meaty pc to run this one, but its worth it. im hooked. available for pc or mac! yay!

tower toppler

2005-10-03T11:12:00.000-04:00

it gives me a warm feeling inside when an open source game is great to play. this one is a faithful remake of "nebulus".

the aim is to guide your little green creature to the top of a tower to reach a switch which will allow you to go to the next. there are platforms to negotiate, and enemies to avoid. but thats not really telling it straight. back in the day, when nebulus was first released it was very successful, i think this was down to two things, both of which are present in this remake.

first, the extra complexity of the round tower. unlike most 2d platformers, nebulus takes place on the outside of a round tower, so when you go off to the left, the tower rotates to keep you on screen. this extra dimension make for some more intersting thinkign whilst playing.

second, when you fall or are knocked off a ledge by an enemy, you land on one further down, so the precariousness of your position is a factor in the tension. this aspect is generally overlooked in 2d platformers, but one of the thing that makes 3d platformers great.

oh, and its open source so its been internationalised, and ported to loads of different operating systems, yay!

zeux's world

2005-09-30T16:25:00.000-04:00

if you enjoyed super mario world on the gameboy or nintendo entertainmen systems, then you are going to like this too. its a competent side scrolling platformer done in a primary colour, floaty jump, land on creatures to defeat them, pick up coins, hit blocks to reveal their contents, secret invisble blocks among the clouds kind of way.

its made using the virge rpg system, and is very cute,oh dont forget to read the "readme" files.

pyramids of ra isometric

2005-09-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

i was looking for a decent q-bert remake online and stumbled upon this its not qbert, but does have some of the properties. pyramids of ra is like a reverse of solitaire. visit every square in turn, but none twice, and make your way back to the begining again. its cute and simple, and you can play it in the browser.

junkbot

2005-09-28T19:00:00.000-04:00

lego has had a bit of a renaissance recently, thanks to the internet and mindstorms and other innovations.

here is junkbot, a construction game, the little junkbot wants to get over to that rubbish and collect
it. your mission is to move the lego bricks about so it can, and in doing so avoid any nasties that may be lurking.

junkbot is a cool little puzzle construction game suitable for all players, there is an element of timing sometimes, but its mostly planning and construction. its high quality, fun, polished, friendly, bright coloured and involves construction. just what we expect from lego.

junkbot needs shockwave plugin, but otherwise it should run in any modern browser.

.shot (dot shot)

2005-09-27T18:51:00.000-04:00

aahh yes, back when we were all wee and computers that sat in your pocket couldnt play MP3s or show high rez photos, the graphics were terrible. that didnt stop us though. we wanted fun and we didnt really care how blockey the graphics were.

if you remember that time, check this out the (ahem) rudimentary graphics.

dot shot is a simple vertical shooter. shoot everything, anything that consists of white squares needs to be annihalated.

success comes from collecting the powerups, selecting the correct shooting mode for the current enemy and knowing what is coming next. just keep trying. i like it, i like its style and sass.

girls inc - team up

2005-09-26T18:24:00.000-04:00

team up by large animal games is a puzzle game of cooperation. sounds worthy but this simple game has potential.

as the screenshots show, there is a small isometric world, where you guide your small group of friends about. each has a special ability, and they have to work together to escape their predicament.

you get to choose which of the available characters has the abilities, this is a nice personal graphic touch, but doesnt affect gameplay.

also, there is a browser demo, an downloadable demo, and you can buy it. i really enjoyed the time limited demo, but didnt buy it. perhaps it suits a slightly younger gamer.

kiki the nanobot

2005-09-25T16:12:00.000-04:00

kiki the nanobot is a 3d puzzle game with a microscopic vr style. its like sokoban, except its in 3d rather than 2d so its more like kula world. if anybody remembers that.

you play a little nano-robot who needs to progress from one abstract sub atomic environment to the next. you go this by reaching a gate, you can push blocks and move and jump, just like other games, except in this one there is no single direction down. gravity works towards the surface you were last touching. you can walk around the walls and on all sides of any block. it a little tricky at first, but the spatial twisting make for a fun puzzle.

it sounds difficult, but its not, the interface is simple, and easy to use, so you spend your time monkeying with the puzzle not the interface. also its freeware, so no nag screens, and there are downloads for win32, OSX and linux, so everyone can play!

hex

2005-09-22T12:41:00.000-04:00

many hex variants exist on the web, some are freeware, some are demos. this example is playable in a browser with all the advantages that confers, but also has a downloadable version.

hex involves taking turns to place a token on the board to make an unbroken bridge from one side to the other. only its not that simple, your opponent (in this case the computer) will be trying to do the same with tokens of a different colour. no two tokens can occupy the same location. many resource exist on the web describing this interesting little game.

pontifex

2005-09-21T12:28:00.000-04:00

building bridges might not seem like fun, but this physics simulation is a compelling puzzle. the demo presents you with a river and you have to build a bridge from one side to the other. thats it.

anchor your bridge to the ground at specific points, and construct using girders. the point and click interface is adequate and allows you to build easily and quickly.

remember triangles are your friend.

akuji

2005-09-20T10:02:00.000-04:00

i dont know wether akuji is japanese for vampire or the protagonist's name, but that doesnt spoil the cutsey gothic themed 2d platform exploration this game provides.

extra abilities are scattered through the opening locations, and each time you are presented with an image of your main character feeling the power of this new ability. this screen and the opening garphics may be a little disturbing to some of the very youngest players, but they are cute and entertaining to the rest of us.

akuji has a slightly unusual control system: to run fast, and so jump further you have to triple tap the direction key, this leads to a feeling of pre-action winding up like in a cartoon. eventually you get the ability to spit fireballs and other powers.

play it, its cute! the exploration is enjoyable because you get a feeling your newly gained abilities are effective in allowing you to progress.

drew cameron's time ship

2005-09-19T12:10:00.000-04:00

ahoy there land lubber. ho ho ho and a bottle o grog. today is international talk like a pirate day, so ive found a little game of ship to ship battle. this freeware game is complete and downloadable.

navgate your ship, avoid obstacles, fire cannons, collect treasure etc. all good clean fun. i really enjoyed it. looks like drew has more games in the pipeline too.

rocket boards

2005-09-18T20:18:00.000-04:00

the downloadable demo of binary sun's rocket boards is a fun racer. if you like your racers with drift then this is for you. the cartoon art style and may appeal to a younger gamer, but the inertia and lack of friction make for challenging race physics.

slick presentation, varied worlds, multiple characters all bring this cutsey racer to the top of the pile. download the demo today.

head over heals

2005-09-17T14:47:00.000-04:00

this pc remake of an old spectrum game is a colourful clone of a highly praised original. which was huge with varied environments, and innovative in its time by having two avatars.

check out the colourful screenshots. you can download the game for many operating systems including win, mac, linux, beos. so anyone can play!

the original author jon ritman used to work at the same company (argonaut) as me in england a few years back, and was praised for his design skills due to this game, i think he lives in north london now.

fate

2005-09-16T21:58:00.000-04:00

designed to be a role playing game for casual play, fate isnt casual or shallow, but it is very accessable. you can download this demo of fate, and see a game that is a clear descendent of rogue and nethack. it even has a little dog which follows you about and can attack enemies on your behalf.

hugely improved graphics and an expansion which includes your home town where you can upgrade through trade and store your treasure allowing each repeat visit to the dungeon to benefit from the past.

those with a pc who thought the rogue/nethack games were a little sparse in their presentation will like this, the graphics are great but the gameplay is very similar.

daleet microlife

2005-09-15T12:42:00.000-04:00

the craze for tamagotchi died out, but the concept of artificial life on which the virtual pets are based goes back much further. the earliest home computer game with them in that i know of was little computer people.

microlife is a professional looking flash/web implemention of a simple artificial life ecosystem. you need to develop your population by managing the resources available to the creatures.

they can combat invaders, lay eggs, get sick, heal, eat, grow old, die etc etc. its a cute lunchtime diversion although not as sophisticated as creatures but has a little more involved gameplay than the average virtual pet.

thrust

2005-09-14T19:38:00.000-04:00

as any gamers over 30 may remember, this is a remake of an old C64 game. its an exercise in resource management (fuel) and intertial physics.

you need to steer your ship using fuel you collect as you go along to the bottom of a cave, collect the "klystron pod" and return to the stars. along the way you will be shot at, negotiate tunnels, avoid powerstations, hit switches, doors etc.

the fun comes about because your ship has very little friction, and gravity is always pulling you down. balance your thrust against gravity whilst steering your ship and negotiating the obstacles. once you pick up the pod it hangs from your ship on a tether and seems to dynamically alter the dynamics of your ship.

each level is small, and it can take a few tries to get the hang of it. but persevere because your skills will improve rapidly.

whats even more fun is that there are level editing instructions, its source codes are available and its been ported to a range of operating systems. way to go!

hmmm, i wonder if it is useful for teaching physics?

zen puzzle garden

2005-09-13T22:38:00.000-04:00

this puzzle demo from lexaloffle is a cute cerebral exercise with an eastern metaphor, and aesthetic goal. i shared it with my girlfriend and the designers at work, everyone thinks it is lovely.

the monk rakes a path after him as he walks across the zen garden. your task is to guide him so the garden is perfectly raked. he cant walk across already raked areas, and cant rake across obstacles such as rocks etc. once raking in a direction he cant stop until he reaches an obstruction and he cant reverse direction.

this simple set of rules makes an interesting puzzle, especially once obstacles are ararnged in the garden for him to walk around.

the secondary aim is also an aesthetic one. of course you want to guide the little monk around so the patterns he rakes are sublime.

download the demo and give it a whirl, its available for win and mac.

npr quake

2005-09-11T18:12:00.000-04:00

no not national public radio quake. we cant do first person shooters over the radio!

its non-photo-realistic quake!

the graphics students at university of wisconsin seemed to have made plugins for the shareware version of the original quake which change the graphics. instead of being the height of oldskool 3d realtime rendering it becomes cool non-realistic sketch, blueprint style instead.

bewarned the content of the original quake is not suitable for minors, once rendered in this artistic manner you may disagree.

basically you download and install the original shareware version and download their patch and unpack it to the correct directory. then once in the game type ~R_LOAD SKETCH, ~R_LOAD BPRINT, ~R_LOAD BRUSH to select the different rending modes.

the sketch mode is fantastic, make the entire game feel different.its wierd like running around inside a drawing on a piece of paper.

rogue

2005-09-10T15:17:00.000-04:00

back in the day computers only did text, and that text just appeared on screen then moved up as new text appeared, disappearing at the top.

inspired bt the text game "adventure" rogue came about because a student made a package of code that allowed programmers to address any part of the screen and so use characters to draw pictures. and people wanted to have graphical adventure games rather than text ones.

your aim is to explore a dungeon, survive the attentions of monsters and collect gold. if you have ever played an adventure game viewed from above and used cursor keys to move from room to room killing monsters in a dungeon then you have played a descendent of this game. rogue is nice because you can play it again and again, the dungeon is always different, but the rules stay the same.

its still going strong today, with clones, and remakes, some may dislike its rudimentary (ahem) "graphics" so pretty tileset versions are available. you can also read rogue's history by glen wichman.

grow rpg

2005-09-09T14:53:00.000-04:00

my step brother toby sent me this one, and its different.

your goal is to create a world, which allows a small RPG to play out and the character inside to succeed in his quest. through repeated attempts, you must explore the possibilities of which order you add elements to the world. thus building his environment.

did i mention that there is an opposing agent who is being destructive. its definately and exploration, not of space like other games, but of preparation.

eyemaze who made grow RPG seem to specialise in "different" flash games, check em out.

doukutsu monogatari - cave story

2005-09-08T13:45:00.000-04:00

pixel the author of cave story is japanese. however because this game is soo good, hackers have translated and created a patch to make this excellent freeware adventure run in english!

i'd usually not post a game that needed patching or hacking to get to work, but this is such a nice and complete platformer adventure with a large scope that it seems a small price to pay for an english translation of this japanese freeware classic.

if you cant find your way throught the japanese text, there here are some links, download the original, and unpack it, download and run the patch, tell it where the original game is, play the game. (its worth the extra hurdle)

samorost

2005-09-07T18:08:00.000-04:00

you dont have to look very hard on the web to find small point and click flash adventures, so if we are going to provide a lunchtime's distraction then it had better be a nice one. enter samorost by amonita design.

it has a combination of simple etherial audio, lyrical passive puzzle elements, and beautiful original graphics. these combine to create a memorable puzzle adventure which you wont forget even if you complete it in a lunchtime.

carl the caveman

2005-09-06T21:15:00.000-04:00

this demo from alawar is a professional cute side on version of sokoban, like the recent professor fizwizzle its cute, fun, and involving. but this time the action proceeds at a pace which you decide.

the demo is a little short however, i blazed through it in 5 minutes. ho hum. so perhaps a short one for a coffee break rather than lunch. to be honest the professor looks like a better bet that the caveman for short term download value.

sunday drivers

2005-09-05T19:35:00.000-04:00

a cute, cute, cute childrens driving game, its lovely and simple and sooo suitable for the very youngest child. (at least i think so)

this cartoon based racer might not hold the attention of an adult for very long, i started winning all my races after the second, but it should be good for a child, and its free.

it has simple tracks, colorful backgrounds, easy gameplay, and funny pickups. download it and sit a small child of yours in front of it today.

binary zoo's duo

2005-09-04T18:33:00.000-04:00

there are just so many 2d shooters and arcanoid style breakout clones that the indie/freeware game world can endure. most of them are already high quality, so im really not keen on adding 2d shoot-em ups unless they are very high quality or different and add something to the genre.

as it says on the binary zoo web site, instruction: shoot stuff. everything is there, the lack of story line, the fast paced action, geometric shapes, simplicity, multitude of distracting particles, and er, a little extra something.

oh and dont forget to check out mono whilst you are there for something else just sufficiently different to warrant a mention. download noOW!

nolimits rollercoaster simulation

2005-09-03T13:03:00.000-04:00

this demo of their rollercoaster simulation is in the strictest sense of the word not a game. more of a virtual playpen. you can download, and ride real and fictional rollercoasters!

its a demo of a more complex product that includes an editor. so its incomplete, but wow is it great!

im not sure of the long term appeal, but its fun to play with.
you can view the roller coasters from multiple perspectives, ride along, look around, load up different tracks, etc. check it out.

perfect cherry blossum

2005-09-02T18:04:00.000-04:00

where i work a lot of people play video games in their spare time, natch. one colleague is mad about modern style 2d shoote-em-ups. so i sat him down in front of this. he said its great, and is very hard on the later levels.

perfect cherry blossum a curtain shooter, which means that there are so many enemies on screen at one time that you feel like they are falling in curtains. that said its not impossible, because these multitudes form short lived slowly moving mazes that you have to navigate whilst concentrating your fire on the current main enemy.

it is (from my perspective) wierd. none of the text is in english, and i dont really know whats going on. so i just made this up. its about ultra advanced beings from another dimention. these beings choose their protruberances into our dimention to be shaped like girls in frilly edwardian style dresses. except that they are girls with the ability to shoot fireballs at about 100 times per second whilst simultaneously floating about and levitating and so on.

im including a direct download because the link can be hard to find it you cant read the site. Team Shanghai Alice who made it also make other similar offerings, but im not sure all of them can be downloaded.

is it violence? hmm, i dont know it doesnt feel like real violence. there is definately no gore, every one is magical, and everyone appears to be immortal. i'll leave it up to you as to wether this is sutable for kids.

seiklus

2005-09-01T18:18:00.000-04:00

seiklus by clysm is not a fully fledged action adventure. its web site calls it an exploration adventure.

seiklus is a poetic game, not in the sense that it rhymes, more that it has ambiguity and a different pace. much is left to you imagination. the action is slower than other games, but then frantic action isnt the whole point.

i love this game, it gave me similar feelings to ICO, the world seems slightly more passive than other video games, which gives you a more relaxed type of experience. also you dont have lives as such. sometime you can touch dangerous enemies, but you restart that screen just a few seconds earlier.

dont be afraid of the graphics, their simplicity only adds to the experience. collect all the goodies, explore the strange environments, solve the puzzles.

rocks and diamonds

2005-08-31T14:51:00.000-04:00

rocks and diamonds is a boulderdash remake, that means its like a version of sokoban wth a side view and gravity. for those that remember so far back, its a much more fun puzzler version of the Mr Dig or DigDug type of game.

it was difficult to choose a quality boulderdash type game for posting here, not because they are difficult to find, but because there are so many and they are all so good. in the end i had to choose one: rocks and diamonds has great reviews, a built in editor and what made it stand out, a really clear tutorial that introduces the concepts one step at a time.

the graphics are a bit more lightweight than others so it should run on less meaty machines, and its been around since 1995 so hopefully there arent any major bugs, and its avail on linux, mac osx and windows. yay!

an all round quality freeware game. a simple puzzle game which anyone can play, it challenges you to short term spatial planning under the pressure of a time limit. bargain!

planarity

2005-08-30T21:50:00.000-04:00

planarity is one of those game which comes along once in a while and is completely different to all the others around at the time. basically its a computer puzzle based on laying out planar graphs.

that is, you move each of the dots in the diagram, so none of the black lines cross. its easy at first but the problem gets exceedingly more complex with each level but the principle remains the same.

it runs in the browser, so there is no download or install and you should be able to play it on any modern desktop machine. i'd love to have this on a portable, perhaps someone will port it to the nintendo ds?

a maths teacher could easily use this to introduce concepts of graph theory, and a computer science teacher to introduce issues surrounding complexity and heuristics vs algorithms. you can use it as a game, which is what i do, coz its a great original puzzle.

celestia

2005-08-29T13:32:00.000-04:00

celestia is a planetarium, except you can choose to view the heavens from any point in the known universe! in fact its the best freely available virtual orrary. you can seamlessly zoom from any part of the universe to any other part and the rendering scales and adjusts accordingly. wonderful!

it has a database of thousands of stars, planets (including extra-solar planets), satellites, space ships etc.

there is a thriving community of people all over the net contributing extra data, models, even addons to describe their favourite fictional universe.

i play with this regularly. but because it has no definitive goal some may say its not a game its a plaything rather than a game. so play with it instead.

alex the alligator

2005-08-28T10:54:00.000-04:00

a slightly environmental theme to this "rescue my kidnapped girlfriend" story. alex the alligator is trying to stop his girlfriend being turned into a pair of shoes!

your growing skills are going to make this a repeat player. many items seem difficult to collect on the first time through, but as you learn to anticipate the enemies moves you can use them to reach new places.

ports to other systems exist, as do a map editor! and sites which contain additional maps for download. so it looks like this game really is worth the money!

deadly rooms of death

2005-08-27T11:05:00.000-04:00

the kings dungeon has become overrun with critters and vermin because the soldiers dont clean up their crumbs after eating! you're the medieval exterminator.

deadly rooms of death is a turn based puzzle slash em up (i think) but that doesnt really describe it accurately.

every time you make a move, so do the enemies on the current screen. you can take as long as you like to make your move, and the enemies will wait where they are for you. the game therefore consists of planning your route and attacks so that you dont get overrun with enemies.

i really enjoyed this, its a change of pace from other games with fast or twitchy time based gameplay. it promotes careful planning and forethought on the part of the player, whilst still retaining the exploration of traditional 2d games.

n

2005-08-26T17:50:00.000-04:00

n is a 2d platformer with physics, the floaty movement coupled with liberal dash of inertia make for some frantic involving action gameplay.

not only is n a good game, it has a distinctive visual style. n is an innovation, with polish.
in 2005 it won at the independent games festival. so congrats to metanet software, yay!

you probably want a P4 or at least P3 @ 800Mhz to run in and a nice accelerated graphics card. there are max and linux versions available, but ive not tried them, so let me know.

out of order

2005-08-25T17:52:00.000-04:00

you the hero are transported to another world one night during a terrible thunderstorm. what happens next is a series of challenges which i wont describe too closely, except to say its got great self conscious humor and takes the mickey out of video games, and science fiction in general.

out of order is a point and click adventure game, and puzzles that you dont need a twitchy trigger finger to play it, just a good sense of fun and some lateral thinking.

whilst playing it reminded me a little of the hitch hikers guide to the galaxy, and like that series has some humor and situations which may not be apropriate for younger children. the hero in both starts off getting out of bed and wanders around in his dressing-gown. so if you like that sort if thing...

its polished, and complete, it looks good, plays good, has recieved glowing reviews, and an award. i liked it and i hope you will too.

neverball

2005-08-24T17:38:00.000-04:00

anyone with a gamecube will have seen the original inspiration for this game. neverball is a high quality polished remake of the successful super monkey ball.

the challenge is to tilt a ball into a goal, this may seem simple but as you can see from the screenshots, the levels have challenges, platforms timelimits, etc, to make it fun.

an open source implementation it has been ported to the three main platforms and you do have the option to make your own levels if you like. neverball is best played on a meaty machine at least 500Mhz, and an accelerated graphics card.

orisinal

2005-08-23T07:49:00.000-04:00

fans of high quality flash games will already know about ferry halims collection of cute gamplay widgets. everyone is peachy in visuals and gameplay. can we have peachy gameplay?

standouts include bubble bees and floats, both of which would work nicely in a conversion to the nintendo ds. the former needs you to blow bubbles around cute little bees and the latter, to draw draw large loops around a cloud of differently coloured floaters. both are cute dextrous fun.

because they are flash games, you can run them on any machine that supports a modern browser. yay!

amju super golf

2005-08-22T18:12:00.000-04:00

a naive visual style of bright colours and checkerboards awaits you in this little girls golf game.

its a polished demo with a unique graphic style which make it good for some quality parent child computering.

don't forget to check out the original amju animal action puzzle whilst you're there (its free).

gltron

2005-08-21T17:19:00.000-04:00

this was the game that made me reaslise that there are people out there who are producing high quality 3d video games to download and play for free!

cudos to Andreas for making a easy to pickup and play multi (and single player) 3d tron game.

what is extra nice about this one is that its open source and available for linux and macintosh.

crack dot com's abuse

2005-08-20T20:10:00.000-04:00

a casualty of the game industry's move from 2d to 3d crack dot com ceased trading and left abuse and the art resources of golgotha for community use. scot has taken the sources and ported them to windows for our pleasure.

the darkly themed alien blasting gameplay is controlled using the keyboard to move and the mouse to aim and fire.

its pimarily all about exploring complex set of dark science fiction styled corridors, collecting ammo, shooting hoards of aliens, hitting switches, findingsecret passages, teleporting about etc etc

amazingly enough the original creators included an implementation of the computer language lisp as part of the game engine. this is usually used for AI and other academic projects.

the runman games

2005-08-19T20:48:00.000-04:00

keep it simple stupid! it seems that the developers of runman kept it simple, and in doing so created a tiny tiny gem of a game.

running, and jumping, and running and ducking, all at an ever increasing speed. what sets this one apart is the slow increase in speed is actually managable, and makes for a game with high replay value.

the single executable doesnt need an installer, keep it on your desktop and play it right out of the zip. successive episodes include runman unlimited, runman's christmas adventure etc...