BattleJewels has been made available for Windows and Palm OS. Originally a GP2X title only, it's the 3rd place winner in this year's GBAX Competition. The game clearly uses the Bejeweled concept taken in a new direction as commercialized in Puzzle Quest.

It's addition of gems with different effects, and roleplaying elements which allow for character building make it quite addictive. To quote from its website, "it's as simple or as complex as you want .. play to clear, play to win, or play to level up and perfect your character."

Name: BattleJewels
Developer: CodeJedi
Category: Puzzle
Type: Shareware
Size: 3MB
Direct download link: Click here

Labels: games, puzzle

Loco Mogul is a resource management game not unlike Mind Control's Oasis, viewed from an isometric perspective with trade as it's focus instead of conquest. Each round of the game is played out in two phases. The first phase involves surveying a given territory for towns, farms, fishery and mines. Players have a limited number of days to explore the landscape, with each click using up either one or three days depending on the action taken. Important landmarks are usually surrounded by roads on it's sides. Train tracks would then have to be placed strategically to provide service coverage for as many trade locations as possible.

A train is placed on the map for the second phase, and it is for the player to decide which routes to undertake and cargoes to deliver for maximum profit. The train can only carry two cars at any time.

A lecture about innovation in indie games from the Independent Games Summit, GDC (March 2007) - panel represented by Jonathan Blow (Braid), Kyle Gabler (World of Goo), Jonathan Mak (Everyday Shooter) and Jenova Chen (Flower).

- watch on Google video
- download high res version

Too bad Derek didn't get to ask his question though. Nice shirt! [source: GSW]

Winners of the PDRoms Coding Competition #3.667 have been announced. There are seven entries, and all were created for the GameBoy Advance as per competition requirements. For the winners, and download links for each game, visit the official PDRC #3.667 forum thread.

Labels: competition, freeware, news

The guy that is making The Undertaking also has another project in the works titled Katakijin. It essentially looks like it's going to be a exploration slash 'em up platformer. Since 64 digits finally re-surfaced, he posted a small demo and Youtube clip.

Prototype II is X-0ut's new horizontal shooter with a nod to the R-Type series in particular. Shaders can be disabled from the configuration menu if the game doesn't run when this option is turned on. Hold the Z key to shoot or press the X key to manipulate the pod. The A and S keys can be used to change your ship's speed.

Name: Prototype II
Developer: X-0ut
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 50MB
Direct download link: Click here

Labels: sh0907, shmupdev4

Micro Art is a new puzzler from GamePure, creator of the popular Speed Cluster, Oshidama and Combat Heaven Next series. Tiles on the left side of the screen are removed by drawing a line and collecting at least three pieces from the right. The order in which the pieces are acquired determines which columns or rows of tiles will be taken out. Tiles can be removed either horizontally or vertically.

Name: Micro Art
Developer: GamePure
Category: Puzzle
Type: Browser

Garden of Coloured Lights is a new vertical shooter by Linley Henzell, creator of Excellent Bifurcation and the popular Dungeon Crawl. The game features four levels, each with a different theme and end level boss. Sound effects are implemented in a very unique manner, in which every shot fired triggers a different sound based on their colours.

There are plenty of options to choose from, though your ship can only be equipped with a maximum of three. Some requires a cooling period to recharge, while others can be fired constantly with no penalties whatsoever. Weapons are upgraded by using them repeatedly, as represented by gauges shown at the top left of the screen. [download requires registration]

Name: Garden of Coloured Lights
Developer: Linley Henzell
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB
Gameplay video: watch
Previous works: Dungeon Crawl, Excellent Bifurcation [direct download link]

Labels: sh0907

Short movie of AblationX by Nenad.

[Source: Retro Remakes]

A new version of OHRRPGCE, a flexible open source RPG engine, has been released in the last week. Titled "Ubersetzung", this is the first stable build in over a year, and is the first build to drop DOS support.

The biggest changes in this release are (to quote from the website):

• New Music Formats. In addition to BAM [the native OHRRPGCE format] and MIDI, you can also play MP3, OGG, MOD, XM, S3M and IT.


• New sample game: Fenrir Lunaris's modern retro epic fantasy masterpiece "Vikings of Midgard".





• Multiple improvements to the scripting language and game editor.

Some OHRRPGCE projects that you may have heard of:
Wandering Hamster - James Paige [OHRRPGCE Founder]
Boundless Ocean - Hardi "Orchard-L" Gosal
Missing - Hardi "Orchard-L" Gosal
Sword of Jade - Kevin "Charbile" Loan, Michael "Fyrewulff" Kidder

Bernie's Platformer: Bernie's new game is two-thirds done.

Announcements

Moonpod: Moonpod has acquired official Wii developer certification. No Moonpod Wii titles announced yet, though there is every possibility the Wii could get a Starscape or Mr. Robot port.

3Punge: The 15th edition of 3Punge (Three Minutes Game Contest) is scheduled to start on the 7th of October 2007.

PyWeek: Results for PyWeek 5 announced.

Articles

What's New in Indie: GameTunnel's monthly column, The 60-Minute Trial renamed to What's New in Indie.

B-Game Competition: Gnome has decided to review all entries from TIGSource's recent B-Game Competition. [source: Terry]

Updates

The Endless Forest: The Endless Forest version 3.0 is now available for download. [download page]

RIAH: RIAH (2D platformer) updated with several new levels.

Upcoming

Monokey: The Monokey development team are still working on their secret project.

Dwarf Fortress: The latest version of Dwarf Fortress is currently undergoing it's stringent testing phase. A release can be expected very soon.

Miscellaneous

Temple of the Roguelike: Site updated with a new review for Xenocide.

flOw: thatgamecompany's flOw nominated for a BAFTA award in the Innovation category. [download flOw]

Cube Farm: Joshua Jersild, the author of Mop of Destiny is working on converting Cheapass Games' Cube Farm into digital format, though unfortunately not for distribution. [Mop of Destiny download link]

A recap of the games mentioned this month, September 2007:

Action/Arcade Revelation Bear Go Home JelloCar Roadclub GoldenEye 2D Mondo Medicals Battle Garden Iwanaga Combat Heaven Next Spout Quiescence Lila Experiments Serious Sam-I-Am

Puzzle/Strategy Minimal Yahtzee Castlewars Pipeful Sunday DHTML Lemmings NIX Crocodile Garden Platformer Maniform Kaipuu Platform Adv./IF/Roguelike Poizoned Mind Crypts of Despair Blackwell Unbound

Shmups Prototype II G.o.C.L. Decobliss Tamanegi Galaxian 2007 Typhoon 2001 Arcanacra DroneSwarm Mono

Previews Illusion of the Tower Flower Brave Karma Warriors Everyday Shooter Aquaria Night Game Resonance World of Goo Trailer Gish 2 Test Valdis Story Mutant Glum Chronicles of Oswyn.. Starfox: Shadows of.. Braid Gameplay Video

Articles
Zero Punctuation: Peggle
Adrian's Guide to 2007 Freeware Games
Plasma Pong Removed
Mac Games
Upcoming Indie Games
IAC Acquires GarageGames
QB Express
GDC 2007 Videos
Interview with clysm
Braid for Xbox Live Arcade
Game Maker for Mac Soon
Metanet Interviewed
Mono Updated
Play This Thing
The Indies
Dare to be Digital
Free Play 2007 Videos
PC Gamer's Top 100 2007

Labels: recaps

The objective of Minimal Yahtzee is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn to try to make one of the thirteen possible scoring combinations.

A game of Yahtzee consists of thirteen rounds during which the player chooses which scoring combination is to be used in that round. Once a combination has been used in the game, it cannot be used again.

Each of the scoring combinations has a different point value, some of which are fixed values and others of which have the cumulative value of the dice. A Yahtzee is a five-of-a-kind and holds the game's highest point value of 50. [rules from Wikipedia]

Name: Minimal Yahtzee
Developer: Gary Warne
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

Labels: pu0907

Castlewars is a card game in which players from both sides can win by being the first to build a hundred storey castle or destroy the opponent's castle entirely. A number of cards are shown at the bottom of the screen, and the player has to decide which card to play for each turn by clicking on it. Cards can be discarded from their hands by holding down the control key while selecting a card. Only one card can be discarded during each turn.

This is a remake of the classic game Ants.

Labels: pu0907

Revelation is a short action game with stealth elements made by dkh using the AGS engine, originally designed for development of adventure games. Use the arrow keys to move around, or press the space key to use your weapon. Press the up cursor key to climb a ledge, and tap any of the number keys to swap weapons when more are acquired.

Additional levels can be designed by editing a text file, then placing it into the game directory.

Name: Revelation
Developer: Jan Simon
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

Labels: ac0907

Decobliss is a shmup. Your ship is stuck on a curved rail, which you can move right or left to either end of but no further, adding to the challenge of dodging the enemies' onslaught of fire (and other obstacles). Keyboard is used for moving left and right, while aiming is performed with the mouse.

Name: Decobliss
Developer: STARFOXROX
Category: Shmup
Type: Freeware
Size: 3.3MB

Labels: sh0907

This week, Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw reviews Popcap's "Peggle".



So, who else thinks that Zero Punctuation is the best thing to hit game reviewing since the arsecast?

Some of Yahtzee's previous projects:
6 Days a Sacrifice
Trilby's Notes
5 Days a Stranger
1213 Episodes 1 2 and 3
Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment

Labels: ar0907

Bear Go Home is an action game in which players are assigned the objective of helping the protagonist to find his way home. Influence his movements by stretching and squeezing him to get past obstacles, for example pulling his tail to catapult him over pits.

Items such as umbrellas and candles can be used to deflect harmful objects or illuminate your surroundings. This student project is rather short in length, and can be easily beaten in under an hour's time. Shortlisted for this year's BAFTA Ones to Watch Award.

Name: Bear Go Home
Developer: Phoenix Seed
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 70MB
Gameplay video: Watch
Direct download link: Click here

Labels: ac0907

Manifold is a room-by-room platform puzzle game with a little twist - the player can shoot "anomalies" against walls which propel the player in any given direction.

It's quite short, more of a prototype that a fleshed out game, but worth checking out nonetheless!

Name: Manifold
Developer: Joe Lesler
Category: Platform
Type: Browser
Play: On Kongregate, here

Labels: pl0907

Adrian has compiled a list of freeware games released in 2007, complete with a screenshot for each entry and sorted by category. This definite bookmark item currently contains over two hundred games. Recommendations are also included.

Adrian Werner's Guide to 2007 Freeware Games

Labels: ar0907

i've been talking with simon carless and matt wegner of the igf triumvirate and they have handed down a pretty exciting decision: games created with game maker are now eligible for the main and student competitions of the independent games festival.

game maker games had previously been disallowed because of a technicality: in order for a game to be eligible, the authors must be capable of commercially distributing it. because there's a cash prize for the competition, you see. well, the igf committee did their research, and it turns out game maker games authors are totally able to sell their games. hence, they are eligible.

the deadline for entering the main competition is on october first, a week away. there's also an obscene usd95 entry fee. i think it's important, though, to show that games can be made by people who are not coders. i think it's vital to the medium, in fact, that lack of programming experience not be a barrier to a person producing the game she's envisioned.

so show these folks what you've got, kids.

(recently translated to English; repost)

Kaipuu is a platformer by Virtanen which is heavily inspired by Seiklus and an extension to their earlier release entitled Painajainen. Power-ups can be collected for new abilities such as double jumps and pushing blocks.

Placed first in the recent Suomipelit game development competition. To save a game, simply press the down arrow key when standing right in front of the stone located at the starting point. Load your saved progress by choosing the second option from the main menu. Use the enter key to access a world map.

Name: Kaipuu
Developer: Virtanen Games
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Download page: Click here

Labels: pl0907

Walaber's JelloCar is an experimental XNA game project which uses his soft body physics library. The game involves driving a car that can change shape with the press of a key, an action which will be repeated quite frequently before the end of each stage is reached.

Press the space key to change the shape of your vehicle, and use the arrow keys to move the car around. Tap the escape key at any time to leave a game in progress or to quit the program directly. [source: Fun-Motion]

Labels: ac0907

ABA, OMEGA, Queasy Games: Brandon scores an exclusive chat with Kenta Cho, OMEGA and Jonathan Mak in the same sitting.

Everyday Shooter: Kotaku has done another preview of Jonathan Mak's Everyday Shooter. Expect to hear about the new project from Queasy Games sometime in the near future.

Typhoon 2001: A Linux port of Typhoon 2001 can be expected next week.

FAQ: FAQ updated with information about changing keyboard layout for games which uses the Z, X, C mapping.

According to the official web site for Plasma Pong, the download link and information page for this freeware game had been taken down until further notice.

The forums are still up, while the game itself can be acquired from Download.com and CHIP Online. Both Washington Post and Gamasutra interviews had revealed that a multi-player version was in the works before this setback.

Apparently you can't do a Pong remake without approval from Atari it seems.

Labels: ar0907

A collection of freeware games for the Mac:

http://shinh.skr.jp/osxbin/
Titanion, Gunroar, Torus Trooper, A7XPG, Tumiki Fighters, PARSEC47
isshiki's games: Area 2048

Shmups
Noiz2sa and rRootage
Grid Wars
Gamma Bros
Alien Abduction (Defender clone)
Space Giko Harriya-n (Space Harrier clone)
ToJam Thing

Arcade
Millenipede (Centipede remake)
flOw
XIQ
Frets on Fire
Swarm Racer
Stair Dismount
Pogo Sticker
Tremulous
Route 960
Exolon DX
Super Obliteration
Heads Over Heels

Strategy
The Ur-Quan Masters (Star Control 2 remake)
FreeCol (Colonization remake)
Battle for Wesnoth
UFO: Alien Invasion
Gate 88

Platformers
N
Cave Story (translation patch)
Alex the Allegator 4
The Goonies 20th Anniversary

Adventure
Facade
Narcissu
Nearly Departed

Puzzlers
Rooms
Enigma (Oxyd remake)
Rocks'n'Diamonds (Boulder Dash, Emerald Mine, Supaplex and Sokoban remake)

Apple's Mac OS X games page has about 600-odd titles to download.

Labels: ar0907

Terry had posted a list of upcoming indie games (complete with gameplay videos) to look out for before leaving on a holiday in Amsterdam.

Recent competitions:
PyWeek 5 (52)
Speedhack (24)
Game In A Day
Shmup-Dev Compo
TIGSource's B-Game Competition (29)
Gaming World Game Design Competition (16)
The Game Creators NVIDIA Competition (50)
Something Awful Game Dev Challenge

Labels: ar0907

Tamanegi is a short vertical shooter which features only three levels. Collect items to increase your upgrade indicator, then press the V key to choose your powerup. Hold the X key to activate your shields, and use the C key to launch a bomb. [2MB, screenshot, download]

Niga Beta is an arena shooter by Comet Mistake which uses both keyboard and mouse for controls. Three worlds are presented to the player at the start of each game. Select a world by using the up and down arrow keys, then make your choice by pressing the left mouse button. The number of souls you have to collect in order to complete each stage is indicated by a gauge on the right portion of the screen. [5MB, screenshot, download]

Labels: sh0907

Roadclub is a top-down 2D racing game developed by Solid Core Entertainment, presumably modelled after the popular Super Cars series. Customization and upgrades are possible with the earnings acquired from competitions. [direct download link]

Labels: ac0907

The Underside: A new screenshot from The Underside can be found at it's official web site. [soundtrack preview - right click to save, The Underside preview, source: Terry]

Roguelikes

Dwarf Fortress: According to this Next Release Task List (a list of changes to implement before release), a new version for Dwarf Fortress can be expected very soon.

Incursion: The final version for Incursion (until early 2008 at least) is out. This freeware roguelike game is available for Linux as well. [main page]

Upcoming Releases

The Sandbox of God remake: There is a small possibility that The Sandbox of God remake could be released this year.

Biddie Crisis: BenH's Biddie Crisis (arena shooter) will be released before the end of the month. [gameplay video, Axion]

Articles

The Indies: The latest edition of GameShark's The Indies is up.

GarageGames Interview: GameDaily BIZ talks to GarageGames' CEO and CTO Josh Williams about the company's recent acquisition by IAC.

Labels: underside

The Illusion of the Tower (18+ only) preview is a short technical demo with only one corridor to explore. There's a couple of fancy options to tinker around with in this release but no real gameplay elements incorporated yet.

A GPU which supports vertex and pixel shader version 2.0 is required to run this demo.

Video: Youtube

Mirrors: Will Host for Food, Megaupload, Rapidshare

Labels: pr0907

A short clip from Jenova Chen's new PSN game Flower was shown today during Sony's keynote speech at the TGS.

An expansion to flOw was also revealed at the pre-TGS press reception. [video update thanks to haowan]

download trailer (right-click to save)
thatgamecompany
TGC Blog
FLOWer preview
Tokyo Game Show web site

Labels: pr0907

Intro and gameplay video from cactus' Brave Karma Warriors. Release date: 24th December, 2007.

Labels: pr0907

Galaxian 2007 is a remake by Danny Boyd with a couple of bells and whistles not found in the original, though gameplay essentially remains the same. Use the arrow keys to move your ship, and hold the shift key to shoot.

Powerups can be collected for temporary firepower upgrades or extra lives.

Name: Galaxian 2007
Developer: danjo
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Labels: sh0907

GoldenEye 2D is a GameBoy-style remake of GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64. This version features only one level but includes several bosses and five different weapons which can be acquired by taking out enemies.

Press the enter key to access the current level objectives. Tap the X key rapidly to shoot, or use the Z key to jump.

Name: GoldenEye 2D
Developer: Perfect Run
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

Labels: ac0907

A twenty minute presentation of Blackwell Unbound by Dave Gilbert, from the IGDA event in New York last month (August 21st, 2007).

There's a lot of videos from the same event posted as well.

Blackwell Unbound presentation: part 1, part 2, part 3
Wadjet Eye Games

According to several sources online, Barry Diller (CEO of IAC) has recently acquired a majority of GarageGames' equity (which includes the Great Games Experiment web site). The GarageGames management team will continue to lead the business under the new partnership while assisting with the development of the new InstantAction network.

When launched, InstantAction.com will be a web-based action gaming portal featuring 3D singleplayer and multiplayer games which will run from any standard web browser with no download or installations required. Plans for a Game Development Fund was also revealed, though no figure was announced yet.

Josh Williams' post
GameDaily BIZ article
InstantAction web site
Kotaku article

Labels: ar0907

There's a new trailer for Everyday Shooter over at the GameTrailers web site. Not too sure what they meant by the description:

This great PC game is now coming home to PlayStation Network!

..since Everyday Shooter was never released for the PC in the first place.

Watch the video
Everyday Shooter web site

Labels: pr0907

From the Bit Blot web site:

"Playing around with some of Aquaria's side quests for seven minutes.

In this video I hang out in Naija's cave, take a nap with a freaky dream, and fight 'Nautilus Prime' to find a new friend.

I also play around with ingredients a little bit... ingredients are part of the Recipe System, and it's starting to feel pretty good. Naija can cook stuff at home or on the go. At home she'll have access to one extra wok. The items she creates can do all sorts of things, like heal her, protect her, speed her up."

Watch the video

Labels: pr0907

The author of Knytt Stories had posted a concept art for his new project, currently titled Night Game.

Additional information from Nifflas, as pointed out by pi (thanks!):

"I want to create a game that takes place in a 2D landscape. The background scenery will contain slopes, but it does not have to be curved like in the demonstration images.

Except for the static terrain, I am only interested in two shapes. Rectangles and Spheres. The player character will be a ball that can be rolled with the left and right arrow keys. Boxes and rectangles collide realistically with the ball, and can be pushed and tipped."

Nifflas working on a physics game? Scrumptious.

Nifflas' Games
Clickteam forum posting

Labels: pr0907

You might remember a few months ago a game called Qui'Ifon (developer: ultim8p00) was posted about, which had some similarities to Cave Story. Since then, the engine has been reworked, its name has changed to The Undertaking and a new demo has been released, although apparently it was a rushed release so expect some bugs.

Author's description: "It's basically Cave Story meets swords meets Knytt (or Seiklus)." However, he also goes on to say that he wants to distance it from Cave Story.

Labels: cave story, freeware, WIP

Pictured above, a strategy game with puzzle elements named Puzzlegeddon. This cross between Puzzle Quest and Nuclear War recently placed first in the Swedish Game Awards development competition. [gameplay video, screenshots]

Updates

New versions for Fedora Spade Episode 1 and 2 are out. Players can now press the C key to skip text. [direct download link]

Ben's page has migrated to Curses, Foiled.

Releases

Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream adventure game added to the list of games supported by ScummVM.

LittleWing's Fairy Tower pinball simulation game is now available for purchase. A demo can be downloaded from the same information page.

Miscellaneous

Tr00jg had recently interviewed Nifflas for a Dev.Mag article. The magazine is only available in .zip file format.

The author of Bloxorz have made plans for a sequel, but will first concentrate on developing an action game.

Arcanacra playing tips are currently being discussed by Shmups forum members.

Bisse and im9today have announced a remake of Lazrael's Banana Nababa. There's also some misc graphics from the game posted here.

After a lengthy hiatus, the collaborative QBasic scene mag "QB Express" is back, and is now in the second issue of its new run. This issue features the results of the "Qlympics", a best-of-the-community event covering releases between the start of 2003 to mid 2006.


QB Express: Issue #24

Here's a run down of the issue, as posted on qbasicnews.com:

This issue features NINE tutorials, FIVE articles and the results of this year's Qlympics.

Read Lachie Dazdarian's review of Lodestar, RubyNL's tutorial on "Time Based Motion & Collision Detection", learn about Wireframes from Mentat, or discover what makes a game great, thanks to Joe King. We've also got comics, the Gallery and all the other QB Express mainstays you look forward to every month.

Click the button for more info, and a couple of highlights from the Qlympics!

Labels: ar0907

kufi's Typhoon 2001 was recently updated with a number of changes and fixes. This freeware Tempest remake features power-ups such as the ability to jump, particle lasers, and an A.I. droid which provides some additional firepower.

There's a special bonus stage which can be accessed by collecting six warp tokens. [source: Retro Remakes]

Labels: sh0907

Pipeful Sunday is a decent remake of Pipe Dream, in which the player has to connect pipes on a grid to support a flow of water from one end to another. Using a variety of pipe pieces presently randomly in a queue, the player must construct a path from the start to end piece for the onrushing liquid, which begins flowing after a time delay from the start of the round. A minimum pipe length has to be fulfilled for successful completion of each level.

Name: Pipeful Sunday
Developer: replicorn
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

Labels: pu0907