StormWinds is a more action-oriented take on the ol’ “Defend the Castle” theme, letting you man up to four turrets to take down waves of flying/rolling contraptions. Turrets gain levels during battle and can be upgraded between waves. There are two types: active (which you control), and passive (which you don’t).
The game is beautiful, and really polished, but the actual gameplay feels repetitive. Unfortunately, the variety of options and opponents is fairly limited (although it can be expanded for $5 by buying the deluxe version). It gets most interesting when, in later campaigns, finding enemy weak points becomes more important to winning. I wish there were more tactical situations like that.
A lot of the fun of these types of games comes from the progression and upgrades. “Can I make a castle so impenetrable that I don’t even have to do anything myself?”
I appreciate that StormWind is trying to make a more active game, but to make it truly compelling for me, the action has to be much more interesting.
Coil is an experimental Flash game with no instruction or clear direction.
Please keep an open mind while playing.
A bizarre game that definitely shows off Edmund’s talents as an artist and game designer. He and programmer Florian are in top form with this lovely little piece. I’m inclined to think you’ll agree (provided you don’t get stuck too early on).
Basho Kioku is a fun memory game from the developers of Cursor*10 and xananeko. A grid of 36 tiles confronts you, and in each level you are shown a subset of those tiles which you can click. The goal of the game is to click every tile once, and just once, without running out the timer. Six markers can be used to help jog your memory.
A simple idea that is implemented well. I actually managed to beat it with a score of 11100. I credit Brain Age for my amazing victory!
Robot
and the Cities that Built Him is a 7-day prototype Flash game by Kyle Gabler of 2d Boy. In the game you play a deadly robot going on some kind of coke binge. The robot attacks automatically (LASERDEATH!), and the gameplay involves moving him about, and managing his laser charge and various upgrades.
I think this is the only game ever created while listening to Bette Midler’s version of “From a Distance” on loop for a week. It’s also one of my only games involving genocide. What is man? What is machine? What does it mean to be human? Perhaps from a distance we’re not so different from giant kill bots? Can a computer make you cry? Yes, if it has lasers.
It’s a neat concept – it just feels a little bit unfinished. Probably because it is! There are only two robot available for purchase in-game, currently.
In other 2d Boy news, World of Goo will be hitting PC and Wii first (soonish, I hear), followed shortly thereafter by Mac and Linux. You can pre-order the PC version now for $20.
Cursor*10 is an amazing little doujin flash game that asks “Cooperate by oneself?!” You have 10 little cursors and you have to make it up to the 16th floor. I’ve made it to the top and my high score is 183. I think that’s pretty good (i.e. I know you can beat me)!
This game’s nothing too special. I don’t even know if it’s technically indie, either. I just wanted to draw your attention to the cartoon it’s based on, a series of shorts made for MTV Japan about two rabbits trapped in a Russian prison.
A brother and sister are driving together late at night and run over the corpse of an old man who is carrying 10,000 dollars. So begins Move or Die, a visual novel where you play a hitchhiker riding with the duo who must advise them on what to do.
Unfortunately, Move or Die suffers from the same problem many games in this genre do: there are too few “right” choices, and the “right” choices are not obvious. Discovering a winning solution requires too much trial-and-error versus using your noggin. I have to say, though, I found the basic idea behind this one to be interesting.
The creators have more episodes planned, but considering this first one was released in 2005, I wouldn’t hold my breath!
FreeRice is a website that tests your vocabulary, and for every word you get right, its many sponsors (Apple, American Express, Macy’s, etc.) will donate 10 grains of rice to the The United Nations World Food Program. To date, the site has donated 1.3 billion grains of rice, and the rate at which rice donations are growing each day reminds me of the chessboard story.
I always jump at the chance to improve my vocabulary, and it’s nice to know it’s contributing to something good. It’s fun, too! The site automatically adjusts its level based on how many correct/incorrect guesses you make. You viviparous stentor, you.
And coming up next: World of FreeRiceCraft. 10 grains of rice for every goblin smashed. You heard it here first!
