Axon

Axon is a curious little neuro science promo-game by wellcomecollection.org where your goal is to grow neurons as long as possible by clicking nearby "protein targets". I really like the look of the branching neuron "tree" and the sound effects when you grow your neuron and how it fits well with the music. I'm not sure if it's a game that I would come back to again in a week or so, but it was a nice experience regardless.

Ludum Dare #22 - Last Breath

Ludum Dare #22 was finished a few days ago and I've started playing some of the top rated games. Last Breath is one of them and it's a nice little platformer where you're in control of a dog "trapped between life and death". The graphics and the music works perfectly together and it makes the game a really nice distraction for a while.

Hungry Forest

I'm not really sure what this is, but it's got some nice pixel art, and that can often be enough :-) The game really lacks instructions, but it seems like you are supposed to grow a forest and make sure it's inhabitants eat the villagers who come to forage.

Hungry Forest

Nitromen did it again! Nitrome must Die!

Nitrome, the studio behind a lot of smash hits such as Steamlands and Test Subject Green, have released another really well made Flash game featuring the same Nitrome style pixel graphics. In the co-op platformer Nitrome Must Die you take on the role of a kid fed up with too difficult Nitrome games and head over to Nitrome HQ with your gun to set things right. It's a slightly unnerving story, but it is as always when it comes to Nitrome beautifully executed.

Roguelike Radio - The Binding of Isaac

The guys over at roguelike radio are churning out new episodes like there's no tomorrow. Last week they dedicated episode #11 to a review of and interview with the developer of The Binding of Isaac. I bought the game myself as a part of the Humble Voxatron Bundle and while it is a real-time game it has many similarities to a roguelike and it was a well chosen topic for a Roguelike Radio episode. The game has received some critique for being a bit gory and disturbing as the player takes on the role of a small boy who escapes down the basement in an attempt to gt away from his mother who is about to sacrifice her son to show her devotion to God. Once Isaac is down in the basement the true nightmare begins with a lot of nasty nightmarish creatures doing their best to kill him.

SIN CAR

SIN CAR is an arcade racer with a very different control scheme. Your car moves in a sine pattern at a constant vertical speed and the only thing you can control is the frequency by moving your mouse up and down the screen. Using this method of movement you need to dodge walls and pick up items for bonus points. It's a very simple game but it works really well and it's fun.

SIN CAR at Kongregate

ffflood and DotWar

I've been toying with the idea of writing a tower defense style game with use of swarming and influence fields for the surging attackers to make them flow and swarm around your defensive positions in a manner that seems intelligent and constantly forces the player to adapt his defensive positions. The graphics can be kept simple without ruining any of the fun. Have a look at ffflood and DotWar for two games that use simple graphics while still being really fun:

ffflood is a tower defense game with simple graphics, a lot of swarming attackers, powerups and research in between swarms. Simple yet a lot of fun:

ffflood

DotWar transforms twitter avatars into swarming armies of soldiers, one per pixel. Depending on pixel color the soldier gets different properties. Black pixels are stationary, red are slow but strong and so on. Really fun!

DotWar

Roguelike Radio Episode 5 and 6

I haven't had much time to spend in front of a computer these last two weeks and definitely not enough time to listen to the latest two episodes of Roguelike Radio. Luckily this is changing for the better and I've had enough time to listen to both episodes and work a little bit on Dweller as well.

In episode 5 Darren Grey, Andrew Doull and Ido Yehieli discuss Frozen Depths. One of the more interesting topics covered in this episode is the pros and cons of a food clock and resource management. I totally agree with the guys that a food clock system shouldn't be tacked on to a game "as an afterthought". Introducing a food clock should be a very conscious decision and it should be made in a way well integrated manner. It was a while since I tested Frozen Depths myself, but I'm definitely going to download and give it a try again.

In episode 6 Darren Grey, Andrew Doull and John Harris discuss the commercial roguelike Dungeons of Dredmore by Gaslamp Games. Some of the things discussed are humor in roguelikes, vendor trash and item overflow and crafting systems. I think the guys have some really valid points regarding the problems with a lot of the crafting systems available and the in my mind illogical desire to add crafting systems to roguelikes (and other games). A crafting system, if added, must be really well thought through and add a lot of value to the game and not simply be an alternative means of getting more gear.

Dig-N-Rig

Dig-N-Rig is ascii gaming at it's finest. You control a Diggit 6400 mining robot on a mission to drill your way to the earth's core. While diggin' and drillin' your way down you need to send the rare minerals and other resources you discover back up to the lab on the surface by constructing a network of conveyor belts. The resources you discover will be refined in the lab and used to purchase upgrades to your rig. As a fan of old-school ascii roguelikes this game really hit home and I'm thrilled to see the use of ascii graphics in an indie title!

Download Dig-N-rig from Digipen

Infestor

Infestor is a really nice platformer with beautiful pixel art and rockin' chip music. You take on the role of a amoeba-like biological weapon with the ability to infest and control humans. Your goal is to move from entrance to exit on each level by clever use of infestation of enemies. While in control of a human you can move faster, jump longer, push items and shoot other humans. Once a host has served it's purpose you can release control by exploding your host and move on to the next one.

Play Infestor over at Kongregate

Hammerfight

Today I had a chance to try to the demo of Hammerfight available on Steam. The game is all about brutal air combat using small flying machines with large weapons such as blades, hammers and metal balls attached to the machines using chains. Imagine yourself being a flying medieval flail kinda weapon wreaking havoc to other equally deadly machines. It is a lot of fun!

One of the real strengths of Hammerfight is it's controls. The game is fully mouse controlled and as you move your mouse in a circular motion your machine swings it's weapon in the same way. Combine this with realistic physics and you get some really intuitive controls where you really need to time your swings for maximum damage.

Forget Me Not

Forgot Me Not is a game that reminds a lot of PacMan, but with a lot of twists. How about procedurally generated levels, many different monsters, the ability to shoot and monsters being able to shoot you? Sounds like fun? It is!

Forget Me Not by Nyarlu Labs

Solar 2

I tested the Solar 2 Demo just now and I must say that it is a pretty cool game. The game won the first price ($200000) in the recent Dream.Build.Play XNA competition. I love the open-ended gameplay available in the demo, and from what I've read the mission mode in the full version sound like a ton of fun too! In Solar 2 you start off as a small asteroid somewhere in space. You exert a bit of gravity and you can collide with other asteroids to grow in size. Once you reach a critical mass you turn into a small planet and you can now pull in asteroids to have them orbit you as your moons. The problem you face now is that if you collide with asteroids you will lose mass so what you want to do is to use your ability to absorb asteroids to grow in mass. While doing so life will start evolving on your planet and if you grow enough you will get an orbital shield, ground to space cannons and small spacecraft that will shoot down asteroids on collision course. The interesting thing is that you are not the only planet and soon you'll find other planets with shields, spacecrafts and ground to space cannons that want nothing else than to obliterate you.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/97000/

Tanooky Tracks

Tanooky Tracks is a cute little browser based point and click adventure where you need to help two kids find and catch a bunch of creatures called Tanookys that hide in the kids' house. At your aid is a book listing all the Tanookies you need to find. The hiding place of each Tanooky and how to lure them out is written in the form of riddles. Each riddle involves figuring out the hiding place and combination of items that particular Tanooky wants. An example:

"Ten discs in her back that are made of gold, but where they may be she has never told"

The graphics remind me of the playful style of Tiny Bang Story, but maybe not as polished. Still, it's a fun little game well worth playing.

Roguelike Radio

This week a new milestone in the history of roguelikes was reached. The first episode of the Roguelike Radio podcast was released! To my knowledge this is the first time a roguelike podcast has been produced and I do hope many more episodes will be released. The first podcast does a deep analysis of the recently released commercial roguelike Cardinal Quest.

The podcast is being produced by Darren Grey, Andrew Doull and Scott Edgar. Darren and Andrew are veterans of the roguelike scene and they've contributed in many different ways to the progression of the roguelike genre. Andrew is the guy behind the popular Angband variant Unangband and the Procedural Content Generation wiki and Darren is the developer behind the innovative Gruesome roguelike and he has contributed to the r.g.r.dev news group for years. Scott Edgar was previously unknown to me, but he did a good job in the podcast. Keep it up guys!

Kingdom Rush

I've never really enjoyed tower defence style games, but I do believe Kingdom Rush is a bit of an exception. Your task is to protect your kingdom from raiding Orcs, Goblins and other monsters. You build barracks, archery towers, mages, call in reinforcements and use abilities such as meteor rain to stop the advancing hordes. The graphics is really cute and cartoony and the audio is fitting. You play in a campaign mode across a big map and you earn stars that can be used to buy upgrades or abilities when you complete a zone.

http://armorgames.com/play/12141/kingdom-rush

/ ESCAPE \

It seems like games where you need to reach as high as possible while dodging obstacles are very popular. Have a look at previous reviews such as Cuboy Hot Pants, Tobe's Hook Shot Escape and The Blocks Cometh to find more of the same kind. In / ESCAPE \ you need to jump and slide on the sides of a vertical shaft while avoiding spiky sections of the walls while at the same time not getting caught by the slowly advancing laser beam. The game is surprisingly addictive (as is most games of this genre). The "one-more-time" feeling immediately hit you.

 http://www.kongregate.com/games/IncredibleApe/escape

Blipzkrieg

I'm really in love with the graphical style of Blipzkrieg. The combination of Tron like graphics and the organic flowing movement of the swarming opponents is really appealing. Your avatar is a circular "blip" that you control by clicking and dragging a path on the map. Nearby allies attract to your avatar and follow you. You need to guide yourself and your allies to an end-point on each map by cleverly utilizing the features of the level, attacking enemies when you outnumber them and fleeing when outnumbered.

http://armorgames.com/play/12123/blipzkrieg

Mr.Runner 2

Mr Runner 2 (MR2) is a side scrolling runner variation of Canabalt. In MR2 you jump and slide through levels filled with obstacles such as spikey floors, walls and large gaps. You mostly run left to right, but at times you need to jump up walls to proceed through the level. While running you can collect coins that together with time will accumulate to your level score. The game feels a bit sluggish and it doesn't scroll as smoothly as Canabalt. It is well worth a try though!

http://bitbattalion.com/games/mr-runner-2/

Experimental Shooter

Experimental Shooter is a nice little puzzle shooter cross-over where the rules of the game change each level. You control a little "cannon" in the middle of the screen and you have a number of "enemies" (white balls) either moving around or lined up in some way on the level. Your goal is to clear the level according to the rules of that particular level. In one level you might have to shoot all your targets within a certain time, in another you need to bounce your shots at least once before hitting the enemies, in yet another you get to play pool and try to pocket the enemies.

http://armorgames.com/play/12154/experimental-shooter