In conjunction with TIGSource's B-Game Competition, here are a couple of promising games with decent gameplay but intentionally features bland textures or blocky sprites.
Noisy Mountain is a lengthy adventure game originally written in German but then translated to English shortly with barely any mistakes to be found. The intro seems to suggest that the game will employ a crummy look and feel but the pixel art is consistently average from start to end so, no worries there.
Object interaction is done via a Sierra-style point and click interface. And yes, it's a parody. Walkthrough available.
Name: Noisy Mountain Developer: Fightmeyer Category: Adventure Type: Freeware Size: 2MB Direct download link: Click here
Hero's Quest is a tribute game of sorts by Kevin Mulka with ripped music and blocky sprites, but does have decent Gauntlet-like gameplay. Use the arrow keys to move around, and tap the W, A, S or D quickly to attack once you have acquired a weapon in hand.
Kevin has provided a lengthy description for his release (something that most Game Maker regulars are not capable of) and included three game modes, each with a different challenge to complete.
Jay Parker's Cityban is a decent block pushing puzzler which features cars, trucks, houses, tyres and christmas trees. The aim of the game is to clear a path to the red truck by pushing blocks with your vehicle, while trying to avoid getting any of them caught in an unmovable position.
Jay is currently adding additional levels to complete the game, and the use of bland textures isn't such a surprise because Caiman regulars are known to be rather fond of them. The author had made great-looking 2D games before, for example X-It Again (another block pushing puzzler).
Shortest of the bunch, with only three playable stages at the moment.
Name: Cityban Developer: Puzzlehouse Category: Puzzle Type: Freeware Size: 2MB Direct download link: Click here
