Posted by Derek Yu Mon, 11 Jun 2007 18:20:00 GMT
The Crossing is another beautiful flash game from Ferry “Orisinal” Halim. Though many of the Orisinal games ramp up too slowly in difficulty for me, this one got it spot on. Gorgeous presentation and incredibly moving atmosphere.
This game is like a drop of dew falling on a baby bunny’s nose, waking him. And as the bunny shakes his nose, the dew disappears, and there’s a miracle to take its place.
Posted by Albert Lai Sun, 10 Jun 2007 09:07:00 GMT
From the land of casual games, I introduce Red White Yellow, a game that follows the best traditions of the "match 6 blocks that are adjacent to each other" genre. If this was some kind of magazine devoted to all things geek instead of TIGSource we’d be running:
| Expired | Tired | Wired |
| Match-3 | Tower Defense | Match N adjacent blocks |
Remember, you heard it here first!
Anyway,
Red White Yellow is a fairly relaxing casual game that I could really see on
the cellphone and/or calculator—though it would have to be rebranded "Black
White Stippled" on the calculator—because of the quick, casual way it works.
The gameplay is fairly simple, but for those who don’t want to sit through a tutorial—The game allows you to clear only one color at a time. Each time you clear a color, there’s a short pause before the "clear color" switches. If you manage to keep clearing colors, the combo counter begins to go up. Fun for those casual fans, and has that clean art style that always reminds me of Chiclets.
Are Chiclets even around anymore? Oh, TIGSource reader base, when did we grow up?
(Source: Tim’s Blog)
Posted by Derek Yu Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:21:00 GMT
They’ve innovated the tower defense genre considerably in this one by giving you opponents that learn to avoid your towers. Am I being sarcastic? Honestly, even I don’t know any more. Also, CAEK.
(Also, remember that you can click an ant to have all nearby towers target it.)
Posted by Derek Yu Wed, 06 Jun 2007 17:25:00 GMT
Dessgeega (via the Gamer’s Quarter forums) describes Powder Game as World of Sand plus fluid dynamics, and you know what, she’s totally right! It’s fun.
And holy shit, I’ve got a lot of vertical space left, so I just want to say that the forums have been up for a couple months now, and it’s exactly how I envisioned it: people making games together, sharing information, giving feedback, starting up friendly competitions… it’s been really proactive and the discussions have been fruitful. So yeah, you guys frickin’ rule! Let’s keep showin’ ‘em how it’s done!
Posted by Derek Yu Thu, 24 May 2007 20:57:00 GMT
“Play it before you live it” is the mantra behind World Without Oil, an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that simulates a world oil crisis. Users submit stories via text, audio, or video describing events unfolding during the pretend crisis, and the game’s admins rank users based on how well their content fits with the reality of the game.
An interesting idea that I’m sure is worth trying! It sounds like a lot of fun… crowd-sourcing a real-world problem through role-playing and creative writing.
(Source: GameSetWatch)
Posted by Guest Reviewer Thu, 17 May 2007 19:00:00 GMT
[Guest review by Haowan]
xananeko and xananeko scene 2 are punishingly difficult 1-room action-RPGs.
Arrow keys move left and right. Walk into things to attack them, but time it right or you’ll lose health. Don’t get attacked from behind and attack others from behind when you can. The inn costs 50 gold to rest (restore your health), but rises by 50 gold per player level until it maxes out at 500. Up cursor will go up and down stairs and pick up items. Down cursor will drop bombs (after you get them).
You start with a shield and a dagger, although it’s hard to see it. When you rest at the inn, the game is saved, but only the statistics for the character are saved – if you die, and continue, any progress in the game will be reset, any items you have will be returned to the game and you will have to get them again. In addition, after a certain point you will not be allowed back into the shop area to save or shop, meaning you will more or less have to complete the game without saving. I recommend saving with at least enough gold left over to buy the sword and potion.
To win the first room, fetch the sword from the chest in the top left and exit the room through the bottom right entrance. To win the second room… beat the dragon. :)
The first room contains a fairly scary double-ended penisworm, and is worth playing just to see that, I think.
There are also a bunch of smaller games on the nekogames site. Requires Shockwave 8 or later.
Posted by Derek Yu Mon, 14 May 2007 15:46:00 GMT
NIGORO (formerly GR3PROJECT), creators of La Mulana, continue their tradition of making really, really friggin’ hard games with Death Village, a decidedly smaller, more casual title that will nonetheless have you crying by the second level. At least, that’s where I started crying. But then again, I always cry when I play games. (And also when I touch myself!)
I’m not certain what the story is behind Death Village, but your goal in each level is to get a funny old man through a haunted house and to the exit door. You don’t have direct control over him, but by slamming doors and enabling a variety of traps and scary things, you can lead him over. The atmosphere is spot on, with creepy graphics and sound effects bringing the haunted houses to life and pushing you onward.
The learning curve is deadly high, however, so make sure you at least watch the Level 1 video to get a handle on how the traps work. I couldn’t beat level two, which, on the bottom floor, requires you to somehow jump a gap. So yeah, anyone have any ideas?
(Source: Tim W.)
Posted by Guest Reviewer Thu, 10 May 2007 22:35:00 GMT
[Guest review by Tommaso Sciortino]
Do you remember playing MUDs on your 14.4 dial-up? Do you remember when computer games featured no animation of any kind? No? Well, I don’t either. But had I been old enough to form long-term memories in the early 80’s I imagine that Kingdom of Loathing by Asymmetric Publications would remind me of the simple days when playing an RPG meant admiring ASCII art and lots of reading.
KoL is a free* web-based multi-player RPG though more than anything it’s a parody of those genres and more. Yes, it has Wizard and Barbarian classes, but here they’re called “Pastamancers” and “Seal Clubers”. Fortunately the writing is actually funny – as opposed to punny – drawing on popular references obscure and common. If you pick this up look forward to an entire quest devoted to parodying “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” and a familiar called “Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot”.
The graphics are minimal. I mean, really minimal. Like stick figures. Basically the game looks like it was drawn by the xkcd guy. It’s occasionally endearing but usually it’s just functional.
Because this game only allows a certain number of “adventures” per day it might serve as a methadone treatment for players coming off life-consuming games like WoW. Otherwise it’ll serve as an enjoyable 30-60 diversion a day.
*Donations encouraged but not required.
Posted by Derek Yu Thu, 10 May 2007 16:49:00 GMT
During the intro sequence of Mike Bithell’s Reunion, I was really hoping that I would end up playing a full-length game in the vein of Orisinal. Unfortunately, while Reunion has the same aesthetic, it lacks the tightness of Ferry Halim’s game design.
In the game, you control a sleeping boy by leading him with fireflies. Even though I really dig the concept, in practice it ends up being rather unwieldy. The worst part is that every time you fall into a pit or otherwise go off the path, the wind sends you back to the beginning of the level. And given how slow the movement is, it’s pretty disheartening.
(Source: Tim W.)
Posted by Derek Yu Wed, 09 May 2007 20:21:00 GMT
LightForce is a collection of mostly classic puzzle games remade in Flash and Java by Nick Kouvaris. You’ll recognize games like Tetris, Minesweeper, and Sudoku, but there are a lot of obscure puzzles in there, also. I like the very minimal way in which these games are implemented, and even if you’ve played these games before, it’s nice to have them all collected in one place!
