Posted by ithamore
Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:55:00 GMT
In Phyta, from Cambrian Games (Abraham Parangi), you control a dark sun with your mouse to direct the growth of a shadowy plant. Progress is made through its five levels by ensnaring the golden angels in the plant’s branches, which will grow more quickly toward the sun when the left mouse button is pressed.
With its clean, simplic look and play, the first game it made me think of was flOw. And the mellow classical guitar and cello duet music beautifully enhances the hole experience.
Some might find Phyta somber, a few might even consider it to be contrived, and then there are those who might consider this game as another choice example of games as art. I, however, found it to be more than ten minutes of mono no aware. Additionally, I wonder if the lack of ending beyond the abruptness of merely closing the program during the fifth level was based on a developmental or artistic decision.
Speaking of flOw, Little Fish is another game being developed by Cambrian Games with some similarities based on its description. I’m looking forward to seeing how original or imitative it is in comparison to flOw, but I’m also interested in the planet game Parangi has been posting about on his blog.
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Linux, Windows, Abstract | Tags CambrianGames | 23 comments
Posted by Jared
Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:10:00 GMT
Mtp Target is a simple enough concept: In most maps, the penguin you control rolls down a hill, goes off a jump, and then must be put into gliding mode (CTRL) in order to be maneuvered over to the target area, usually some sort of platform. Your first few attempts at Mtp Target will most likely result in frustrating falls into the water, but if you stick with the game you’ll be landing on target in no time.
As I got better at Mtp Target, I picked up on some strategies that reveal a more competitive aspect of the game. For example, instead of racing to the landing area, more experienced players will glide in circles until everyone lands and then zoom over and knock everybody into the water, proving that even the cutest of games can provoke vulgar (not to mention hilarious) exchanges of insults.
My main problem with most multiplayer games is how long it takes to start playing; loading, finding a good server, more loading, waiting for players to join, getting utterly ravished by people who devote their lives to playing, etc. So it’s nice to see that there’s an online game out there that doesn’t take itself too seriously and instead aims for a laid-back, quick experience.
See a trailer for Mtp Target after the jump.
Read more...
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Macintosh, Multiplayer, Linux, Windows, Freeware | 12 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 29 May 2008 07:38:00 GMT
Somewhere out there, a U.S. Senator is earning his or her wings.
But really, what I like about Torture Game 2 is not so much that it lets you hurt a guy with nails, rope, spikes, a chainsaw, etc. – the actual gore is pretty campy, in my opinion. No, what I like is that you can use his body to make macabre art! The game even provides a little paintbrush for you to paint on him with.
For example, check out what the creative folks at Sensible Erection (NSFWish) have done with the game.
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Browser Games, Sim | 49 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 24 May 2008 02:25:00 GMT
I went to Las Vegas with my parents one summer and they took me to an arcade there (I can’t remember which hotel). In the arcade they had this virtual reality headset with Wolfenstein 3d in it that was haphazardly constructed and extremely disorienting, and it made me want to vomit. I haven’t thought about that game in many, many years, but Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist brought the memories flooding back (out of my mouth).
I believe its creator, messhof, is genuinely trying to hurt us with his games.
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Windows, Action / Arcade, Freeware | Tags messhof | 30 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 12 May 2008 21:55:00 GMT
Erik Hermansen at Caravel Games wrote to let me know that they’ve released a trailer for Deadly Rooms of Death: The City Beneath. True, this game is about a year old, but it’s never too late to try out this rather brilliant, and overlooked, series of turn-based puzzle games. And DROD fans consider The City Beneath to be the best of the lot (and suitable for beginners).
I love the game’s really odd visual design and sense of humor. Definitely very unique!
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Macintosh, Puzzle, Videos, Linux, Windows | Tags CaravelGames | 27 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 02 May 2008 06:45:00 GMT
Yeah, torture motherfucka what?
From the mad minds behind Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden comes an all-new adventure – The Sewer Goblet: The Wu-Tang Clan and the Wu-Tang Baby! As the story goes, The Wizard stole the Wu-Tang Baby and fled into the sewers. You must send one of the Wu-Tang Clan into the dungeon and bring the baby back! Along the way you’ll tangle with Teknodwarfs, Baby Seals, and other unsavory characters.
The Sewer Goblet gets a lot of credit as the first rap-themed roguelike game, but doesn’t do too much to innovate the genre in general. Equip weapons, learn spells, manage your hunger (in TSG, every action costs hunger points), eat Wu-Tang snacks with randomized effects, etc. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing – it’s a solid dungeon crawl that’s easy to get into and somehow it never quite gets tiring bringing “da ruckus” as the Wu Tang Clan. Each member has his own special abilities that will aid you on your quest.
Now, all someone has to do is make a gory Bone Thugs-n-Harmony RPG set in an alternate reality Cleveland and I’ll be set!
(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Roguelikes, Windows, Freeware | Tags TalesOfGamesStudios | 10 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:41:00 GMT
A developer known only as “Volumetric Pixel” has released Voxelstein 3d, a single level alpha release of his Wolfenstein 3d-inspired first person shooter. The game is built using Ken Silverman’s open source Voxlap engine. In case you haven’t guessed, it renders graphics using VOXELS (cubes) rather than flat polygons.
Voxelstein 3d is moderately entertaining as a tech demo and nice to look at, in an ugly sort of way. I definitely appreciate the way you can (and must) deform the walls, as you make your escape from the Nazi villa. But unfortunately, moving around in this voxel world feels very disorienting for me, and the combat is also less than satisfying (the eyes popping out is a nice touch, though).
It’s short, it’s voxelated, its Wolfenstein-ish! I’m interested in seeing if/how the game develops.
(Thanks, MisterX!)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, FPS, Remakes, Windows, Freeware | 50 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:36:00 GMT
Here’s a rather amusing experiment – The Naked Game is a simple, browser-based Pong reproduction that’s played by two computer AI’s. The twist is that its code is laid bare and the game allows the player to toggle each line on/off, altering the game’s mechanics in real time.
Unfortunately (in my opinion), the developer decided to cover the site with a bunch of very thinly-stretched “games as art” discussion… whether as a joke or what, it’s hard to say, but ultimately it just distracts from what is a pretty nifty idea.
I’d love to see this concept explored a bit more. It’d be kinda cool to build it into a multi-player game, where one person is playing and the other person is messing with the code in real time! Wouldn’t it?
(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Browser Games, Games and Art | Tags StewartHogarth | 17 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:59:00 GMT
The basic idea behind the original Karoshi was completely counter-intuitive to most games: in every level you must FIND A WAY TO KILL YOURSELF. It was harder than it seemed!
In Karoshi 2.0, creator Jesse Venbrux extends that metaphor across 42 more levels, creating some of the most LOL-worthy and mind-bending puzzles I have ever seen. This is a true battle between Man and Game, and Game is using every trick up its sleeve. Prepare to have your head messed with (sometimes literally). I love it!
Karoshi 2.0 also comes with a level editor and a timed version of the original game (minus the irritating blood splatters on the screen that obscured the playfield).
(Source: Auntie Pixelante, the awesome new games blog from dessgeega)
Posted in Platformers, Unique / Bizarre, Highly Recommended, Windows, Freeware | Tags JesseVenbrux | 42 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:48:00 GMT
In Yume Nikki (or “Dream Diary”), you play a young girl who can delve into a bizarre, and sometimes extremely frightening, dreamworld in order to collect “effects” that can alter her appearance in the dream. Some of the effects also have abilities that can be used there. At (almost) any time, our heroine can wake herself up and return to her small, spartan apartment, where she can write in her diary (save), or play a simple minigame on the television.
I really like this game. The lack of dialogue or any “action” fills me with this strange sense of dread. I also like the contrast between the tiny apartment and the enormous dreamworld. And visually, the game really reminds me very much of Earthbound (especially Moonside!) and cactus, which is a pretty awesome and terrifying mix.
Download the English version of the game here (42 Mb), via Rapidshare. The download includes the RPGMaker runtime, as well as instructions on how to configure your computer’s language support to play the game. It’s a fairly painless process.
Thanks, Anarkex!
UPDATE: Tim to the rescue!
Mirror, via
WHFF.
Posted in RPG, Unique / Bizarre, Highly Recommended, Doujin | Tags Kikiyama | 32 comments
