The Independent Gaming Source

Live Action Hamster Game

Posted by Brandon "BMcC" McCartin Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:50:00 GMT

Cute at first, but the boss battle section is not for the squeamish!

Ayiti: The Cost of Life

Posted by Derek Yu Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:24:00 GMT

The short description of Ayiti: The Cost of Life is that it’s like Oregon Trail, except a lot more topical (and consequently more depressing). Control a family of five living in modern-day Haiti as you battle a lack of educational options, poor working conditions, and bad weather.

Some background about the game:

“Playing 4 Keeps (P4K) is an innovative youth media project that involves a team of Global Kids youth leaders at South Shore High School in Brooklyn, New York, USA. These young people learn to develop and produce socially conscious online games, while gaining skills in game design, digital media, leadership, and peer education. The program is a collaboration with the award-winning online game design company Gamelab, with whom the Global Kids Leaders have worked closely in the production of the Ayiti game.”

I’d love to see more programs that get kids engaged in making educational games. Thinking back to my younger days, if you told me that we were going to make a game in class, I think my level of interest in the particular subject would have raised about a billion percent. And what other media requires such extensive creative, artistic, and technical skill? And then the final product is something that can educate OTHER people. It’s a no-brainer, right?

As a game, The Cost of Life is a well-made and fairly entertaining, although there are improvements that could be made to the interface. More information would make the results of your decisions more understandable. How much more money am I making if I “Work Hard” as opposed to “Take it Easy?” How much healthier is Patrick (stricken with Diphtheria) going to get staying at home and resting versus visiting a clinic?

Of course, The Cost of Life is also supposed to be a bit of a life simulator, and how often is it in life that we know the answers to those kinds of questions? Striking that perfect balance of educating and entertaining is difficult. But these types of games are getting closer day by day, I think.

Posted in Social Impact, Browser Games | 3 comments

Dice Wars

Posted by Derek Yu Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:38:00 GMT

I’m not sure that I grasped all the finer strategical points to this game, but I was definitely having fun playing, probably due to the clean, colorful “boardgame-style” graphics and simple controls. And now I hear there’s a multiplayer version called KDice that lets you play against real people. Word.

(Source: Sensible Erection [NSFW])

Posted in Browser Games, Multiplayer, Strategy, Highly Recommended | 8 comments

knytt

Posted by dessgeega Mon, 04 Dec 2006 05:47:00 GMT

nifflas, developer of within a deep forest, has just released a new game: knytt.

the titular knytt is a little pixel ratmonkey who shimmies along walls trying to find the pieces of the spaceship that can take it back home. the pieces are just an excuse to explore a beautiful videogame landscape. the jumping and climbing puzzles that are here are simple and straightforward; the real goal is simply to find and see lovely things.

i’m posting this because i think some of you will love it and some of you will hate it. download already, nifflas is your pixel from the west.

Posted in Highly Recommended, Freeware, Platformers, Windows, Metroidvanias | Tags Nifflas | 27 comments

Server Outage

Posted by Derek Yu Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:14:00 GMT

DNS server went kaputz yesterday. Something about a giant mutant hamster attacking the TIGSource server farm in Peoria. After punching holes in most of the windows, the hamster was finally subdued by helicopters and cop cars, wherein it shrunk and revealed itself to be none other than a very confused Will Wright.

In other news, “city howling mad, sausage scam exposed.”

7 comments

Doom, the Roguelike

Posted by Derek Yu Thu, 30 Nov 2006 20:14:00 GMT

Peanut butter and hamburger, teaching elementary school and being nude… there are many great things in this world that are NOT better together. But Doom and Roguelikes? Those are two great things that are incredible together.

Whereas other Roguelikes require you to remember a zillion key commands and little tricks to get by (“Oh wait, I’ve got to press ‘q’ to ‘quaff’ this potion of troll buggery…”), DoomRL is quite easy to get into, with only a few important commands to remember. And Kornel Kisielewicz, the author of the game, has added just enough to the Doom universe to keep the game interesting, but without losing the flavor of the original FPS.

And if you’ve already played the game a year or so ago, it’s time to try it out again, as the latest version (0.9.8.5) has a buttload of new features, like difficulty levels, challenge modes, advanced traits, and new special levels. And arch-viles!

So yeah, as you can see, I’m a big fan of this project. Play the game and then join the forums. Kornel is great about taking user suggestions to improve the game! Check it out – it’s fun.

Posted in Highly Recommended, Freeware, Roguelikes, Windows, Linux | Tags KornelKisielewicz | 24 comments

Download This #33

Posted by Tim Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:15:00 GMT

Two week’s old – the latest iteration of Download This is out. Morning’s Wrath, TubeTwist and FlatSpace II gets the nod this time.

You’ll hear about Reactor 09 from BMcC when it’s released, which is probably soon. Plenty of time to finish DA. And A Game with A Kitty. Or Cave Story (again). All brilliant, of course.

Hmm… that’s about it. Oh wait, 4E5 competition entries are now available for download.

Need to act lazy (lazier) so I can keep up with EoS, but maybe I can throw in some recommendations… Mop of Destiny (can’t get this to work on my PC, what a shame), The Boomlands, Horror Hotel.

Posted in Competitions, Community | 8 comments

Pluto Strikes Back

Posted by ithamore Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:12:00 GMT

On a whim

On a whim, I browsed through the recent games at the Experimental Gameplay Project in search of a decent entry that was mostly complete in concept, gameplay, and execution. After a trying few disappointing quasi-games, I gave Petri Purho’s Pluto Strikes Back a go and found it rather accessible but a bit irritating at times. Luckily, a recently updated version was posted on his blog, which made the game a more pleasant experience.

In it, the Plutans are quite miffed over the dwarf planet demotion their home world has received. With vengeance pumping through their veins, they power up the meteor magnet and wield their cosmic bat to reek their wrath upon the solar system.

Even with its gravity/magnetism mechanics, Pluto SB played much like an old fashioned baseball themed pinball game in a penny arcade, which made the background music very fitting. I wish there was a way to control the strength of the meteor magnet. It was too strong at times, and being able to manipulate it would enable some interesting slingshoting.

Petri Purho plans to release a new game each month, and his next work will be out tomorrow. Since each game he has released has been better than those before, I’m looking forward to it. The style of his artwork alone has piqued my curiosity, but I’m still hoping for something with a bit more gameplay than his past attempts.

Now, if only the EGP and its developers would learn from Purho’s experience and realize that, just like good graphics, a unique concept alone doesn’t make a game fun. I’m truly thankful for all the quirky development they share and encourage, but I’m starting to get disappointed with the increasing number of “toys” they’re releasing.

Posted in Action / Arcade, Casual, Browser Games, Windows | Tags PetriPurho | 8 comments