Independent Gaming

Sunday, December 23, 2007

UPDATE: cactus has decided to update the game due to the feedback he's gotten. The jumping level is now easier and skippable for those who have trouble beating it. There's been a few other changes as well, including vital bug fixes.

This is cactus entry for the winter competition at YoYoGames.com.

"Welcome to Mondo Agency! An eerie cyber FPS with horror and puzzle elements. As an agent it is your mission to kill laser indians and save the president!

Turn off your lights and turn up your speakers for maximum enjoyment!"

Name: Mondo Agency
Developer: cactus
Category: FPS/Adventure/Weird
Type: Freeware
Size: 7.5MB
Download: link 1
Walkthrough: link

Labels: cactus, freeware, yoyogamescomp1

Posted at 6:42 PM by LoverBoy69

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Saturday, August 18, 2007

xWUNG

In xWUNG, you play by moving the mouse to swing a ball. The ball's attached to a wire, and both of them kill enemies on contact. Be careful of the debris as it's deadly. There are bosses that appear with regular intervals. Make large combos to get good scores. [source: the2bears]

Online high score table

Name: xWUNG
Developer: cactus
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

Labels: cactus, sh0807

Posted at 1:27 AM by lemeza

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Ugliest game ever... Playable?

Just looking at the gameplay video should make you want to give your computer a bath. Anyway, here's the gameplay instructions:

Z: Fire beam against enemies
X: Fire beam against bullets
Z + X: Fire strong beam against enemies (depletes time)
C: Change ship
F1: Toggle motion blur
F2: Launch highscore table
F3: Toggle random mode

Don't fire for too long, you'll overheat and explode! Don't let the time run out or you die. Killing enemies adds more time to the counter.

The game needs to be extracted before playing. There is an online highscore table too, so don't worry if it freezes up for a few secs, it's just sending your scores.

Use joy2key for joypad support!

Name: Burn the Trash
Developer: cactus
Category: Shmup
Type: Freeware
Size: 1.8MB

Labels: cactus, sh0707

Posted at 3:38 PM by LoverBoy69

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Monday, June 18, 2007

Clean Asia II?

Okay, maybe not Clean Asia II. But nearly a sequel in a sense. It's cactus' shmup-dev game number two. This time the game seems to be very retro.

The title is "Akuchizoku", which is bad Japanese for "Evil Blood People". The current plan is to have it play for five very different levels, with the possibillity of an additional small bonus level or two. You get to pilot at least five different fighters, and the game will have a custom made score by John Marwin plus an in game storyline. And it will be shareware, because both authors are apparently in need of funds.

However, there is no price on the game, instead the "customer" makes a donation of at least $1 to get his copy of the full version. Generous donators will be extremely appreciated and therefore get their names in the credit (and possibly a few subsequent cactus games for free, if the economic situation allows it). For those who feel that games should be free to play, there'll be an optional demo version with a bit over 60% of the content from the full version available for download. Note that the full version will probably be released for free whenever there's no point in requiring donations anymore. So anyone who "buys" the game shouldn't consider it that way. Look at it as a donation, and feel that you've done a good deed instead.

Additional screenshots: [1] - [2] - [3] - [4]

Labels: cactus, preview

Posted at 2:08 AM by LoverBoy69

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Sunday, March 25, 2007

Crazy Patterns

Another one for the shooter fans, Crazy Patterns is a bullet dodging simulator with randomly generated patterns. Use the Z key to shoot, and the counter will increase accordingly when damage is inflicted. Hold the X key to activate the slow motion mode.

Name: Crazy Patterns
Developer: cactus
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Labels: cactus

Posted at 1:18 AM by Tim

post a comment | 2 comments

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Insect Invade 2

Insect Invade 2 is a two-dimensional shooter where you are a drunken man trying to defend himself from the invading insects. Of course, these bugs will not give up easily, they will hunt you down.

Name: Insect Invade 2
Developer: cactus
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Labels: cactus

Posted at 7:08 AM by Tim

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Thursday, February 01, 2007

Clean Asia

In Clean Asia, the eyes of mankind has decided to leave their hosts and take over the earth. Their first move was to escape to the moon, where they developed their hostile weapon technology. Ten years later they return and forcefully take over some prominent countries in Asia. Thailand and New Korea has both succumb to the hostile threat, while China insists on dealing with the eyes themselves and refuses any helping hands from around the world.

America sends a pair of pilot twins with extraordinary sixth senses to battle against the evil eyes. They both have designed their own space ships that seems to be about the only thing in existance that can be used to battle these terrible fiends.

It has three levels and two selectable ships with distinct controlling differences and abillities, fourteen bosses and ten regular enemies.

Name: Clean Asia
Developer: cactus
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Labels: autofire, cactus

Posted at 2:18 AM by Tim

post a comment | 2 comments

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Decontrologic

Decontrologic is another short but sweet adventure game by cactus. Any clues or description would probably dilute the experience, hence no spoilers will be mentioned.

Name: Decontrologic
Developer: cactus
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Labels: cactus

Posted at 2:08 AM by Tim

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Sunday, October 01, 2006

God Came to the Cave

From cactus comes another effort that exists only to confuse. Made in one day, God Came to the Cave is simply a love or hate affair. The game sets you off on a task, and does the job extremely well though there is no actual moral or point to it. Easily recommended for fans of Illegal Communication.

Name: God Came to the Cave
Developer: cactus
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Labels: cactus

Posted at 7:18 AM by Tim

post a comment | 2 comments

Friday, July 21, 2006

Illegal Communication

Illegal Communication is an excellent effort by cactus which takes the mouse cursor gameplay to the next level. The first few screens consist of fairly standard obstacles, but as you get further more ingenious elements begin to make their appearances.

No two challenges are the same, although it's quite important to note that you will be returning to the first screen in order to collect the battery later. Don't be fooled by the misleading screenshot, this is much better than it looks especially in the latter stages.

Name: Illegal Communication
Developer: cactus
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Labels: cactus

Posted at 1:18 AM by Tim

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Precision

Precision is another action game by cactus which plays a bit like the RunMan series, although you're able to exert some degree of control over your character's horizontal movements.

The objective is to collect green bottles and make it to the ladder located on the last building in each screen. Your leap height is determined by your running speed, and movements are only allowed when your feet touches the ground. Expect a lot of sliding thanks to the old pair of shoes that your character is wearing.

The sky changes depending on whether you're playing the game in the morning or late at night. Only five levels, although the developer promises another twenty in the near future.

Name: Precision
Developer: cactus
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Labels: cactus

Posted at 1:18 AM by Tim

Recent Comments

Mondo Agency ahaha oh god what
This is going to be a fun ride through hell isn't it Don't have the patience to make it through the jumping towers level (level 2, i guess?)

I really don't understand why this game is so marvelous. I liked a lot of cactus's other games, but i can never really get into mondo, and I feel like if it where made by anyone else short of Kenta Cho there wouldn't be as much asspatting. Level 4 seems to be really difficult! I can't possibly keep track of all those damn laser indians. I really wanted to love this game, but I quit on level 2. Level 1: cheap falling through floor puzzles. Level 2: cheap jumping puzzle (and then I got stuck between 3 of the towers and couldn't move without quitting the game).

Mondo Medicals was cool because it was about figuring out what was going on. It only got frustrating and sucky toward the end when you got to that level with the moving blocks that squish you and you have to constantly start over.

Mondo Agency is like that level of Mondo Medicals, but from the very beginning. Ugh. Sorry about the first jumping level. Seems like a lot of people had problems with getting past that.

Didn't have time to get anything tested before release. Been a busy christmas... I can beat all the levels with ease, so I figured there wouldn't be a problem.

I need to understand where the problem is before I can fix it, though. It could either be that my monitor is too dark (and hence the game would be too bright for you to see things clearly), or that people are trying to take the wrong way to the top.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll post a video walkthrough to see if people can tell me what I do different when playing from those who have trouble with it. Video demonstration of first two levels
here. Loving it so far. I've only managed to play it in short bursts (it's christmas afterall) but I've reached submission 4.
Once I completed the first jump level I could easily do it a second time. My only complaint is that there should have been an ingame mouse sensitivity adjuster and autosaving. Well, cactus - if your games aren't art then I don't know what is. I'm somewhat interested in modern art myself and believe me - if you set up a computer with a demo of e.g. Mondo Agency running in an art gallery it wouldn't stand out as strange in any way. =)

However, I have to agree with Jonathan that jumping puzzles in FPP games are hardly ever a good idea. (Although I had no problems with finishing them.) @Lim-Dul: Thanks! I was concerned that I was possibly repeating Half-Life's Zen world mistake. Guess that concern had some grounds to it :( I really sound like an asshole when the person above me deletes their comment. Anyway, I can't really tell what is going on in the video on level 2, every time I jump on the towers they immediately start to get lower, and i cannot make it to the next one in time. Does it have to do with skipping the shortest tower? Also, a control to adjust mouse sensitivity would be nice, and not that hard to implement. I feel like i move my trackball one inch and I've gone full circle. You're playing with a trackball - that could explain the difficulty. You sir, have a brilliantly diseased mind. Even if I could program anything I wouldn't be able to do anything one jot as bizaare as the nonsensical text and general sinisterness. I tried playing further, and got up to Relativity Practice (or whatever the name is), at which point, after dying about 50 times, I finally quit.

cactus... this game is a lot more frustrating even than the Xen levels, because the field of view is so narrow (can't see jack) and there is very little feedback for when the player has missed or hit anything, or even when he is moving versus not.

The Mondo games are very cool in terms of atmosphere, but the atmosphere is destroyed as soon as the player starts trying to do the same annoying / frustrating thing 20 times in a row.

In the first game, at least you didn't die and have to start over all the time. You would just be kind of lost and trying to find the solution, and that fit the fiction / mood -- of being lost in this weird place and not knowing what's going on. This game is all about starting over from the beginning every time you fail, which is a lot worse (even the 2nd level where you don't literally die, if you miss a tower you start from the ground again).

I think you would benefit from finding about 10 friends (or random people) who have never played this game, then have them try and play it. And just sit there and watch, and don't say anything at all to help. Just watch them try to play, and see if that experience they're having is what you really intended to be. Apart from hurting my eyes and making me get headaches. I like the atmosphere of his mondo games. Medicals I think gets a little bit too much credit than it deserves. As illogical as the puzzles were, none of them were too difficult and none of them really made me feel that smart about myself. They were pretty basic and rather lame puzzles. I like the idea of laser indians. I mean, that's pretty awesome, but the ridiculous jumping puzzle turned me off. No more of this game. hey cactus... any word on Brave Karma Warriors? I don't keep up with your forums, but that video from B-Game competition era looks really great. I agree, Laser Indians are awesome. I want them to be in a more-playable game. cactus, when making games, never, EVER expect players to get trough something because it's easy for you. Those s(t)inking rods on level two require precision with overreactive contols, speed and either perfect 32-bit eysight or excellent memory from all the falls - because when you look at them from above they're just as white as the floor.
F-rust-rat-ing. I have observed that putting jumping in a first-person game often turns PC gamers brains into cottage cheese.

Ask them to dodge through a hail of bullets while countering with pinpoint accuracy against a dozen targets simultaneously, possibly even while reciting poetry, and it's easy. But ask someone to jump from Point A to Point B? That's impossible!

Seriously guys. The platforming level is easy. You just look up, figure out which is the next platform you need to reach (there's only one real tricky jump), then align yourself, look straight down and jump forward. There's very little chance of missing a jump.

Then again, I found Xen easy, and felt right at home playing Metroid Prime, so perhaps I'm some sort of minor god of spatial awareness. I didn't have any problems with the puzzles.

Maybe the people complaining need to get better at gaming? Ah, Cactus, how I love your mind. I'm not spoiling it, but i'm talking about the ending :D Just beat it - had to stop playing halfway through due to christmas reality and all that jazz.

Kudos, Cactus. That was genuinely nightmarish. It really does feel like a bad dream. Your own breath, tinnily echoing, the environment a hazy, glitchy mess. The dialogue is a string of disjointed half-thoughts.

Good stuff. Amusing you churn these things out so quickly, as they're good arguments for the concept of games-as-art. Protoganda (Preview) I hope this thing shows Aces High over Whatever Island how 3D should be done in Game Maker :D Yeah, that was kind of my intention. You can always swing by Poppenkast if you want to give it a play :) Excellent, I'll check it out. Damn, Cactus. You really are unable to make just one game at a time. Is it not challenging enough for you unless you're developing at least five simultaneously?

Not that I'm complaining - more awed than anything. Popov, Lebedev, Kozlov - any other Russian names out there? :) MSOIDS Am I the only one who can't go to the highscore page? I have no problems here. Have you been able to get to it before? Can you get to cactus' other highscore tables? Very cool game. Perhaps too basic? I don't think the game is too basic - it's just not very well designed. The idea of the wacky graphics is brilliant and I kinda dig the music.

However the game area is much too small and doesn't give you enough space to dodge stuff (even the original Asteroids had much more space).

I'd like to see another game using this kind of graphics but with better gameplay... I can't go to any of Cactus' websites. Woo, finally broke 1000, and by quite a bit, too! I'm sure someone will come along and clean up, though. I'm retiring for now, my eyes hurt.

On that note, sometimes I have to kill myself at the start because I get a horrible color scheme, like dark green asteroids on a black background, which makes it impossible to see them, let alone play competitively. Only a minor annoyance, though. Oh, just read the "press space to change colors" thing. That helps. Fun little five-minute timewaster, this. Nice once, Cactus - your prolific game-makeyness is the stuff of e-legend.

Yes, I did just write 'e-legend'. I'm going to hell.

Anyway - the main post needs to be amended. 'Press Space to change colour. Hold Space for a headache' This game is so 90's

in a good way! The screenies look better then the game, which is fun. :) Akuchizoku Demo Now that's a damn fine game right there. Not perfect, but it's only got some flaws and they are probably nitpicks of mine.

I love the presentation. It feels like what the Atari developers would do if they could cram more stuff in the cartridges. The controls are responsive, and all the different strategies and play styles of the three pilots make playing with each of them an unique experience. The game's awfully hard for first timers, but it thankfully just restarts the level automatically when you run out of lives, not interrupting the flow and allowing most players to eventually get through the levels. Not to mention the plot is just crazy awesome (emphasis on the 'crazy') and makes the game be instantly recognizeable as a Cactus game.

Now, for the issues.

First is the fact that each ship's collision box is not apparent. Especially when trying to dodge tight-packed bullet sprays it's very hard to know where you can be hit, especially since there is no way to know how big the box is.
Another is how enemy bullets are just not contrasting enough to stand out and blend way too easily with all the crap going on in the screen.
Then we have how the game is heavily relyiant on the surprise element for its difficulty. With how often you'll restart the levels, you'll eventually figure out all the enemy patterns and all those pushover bosses quickly become a cakewalk, often without any special weapons used.
There are also the coins. What is their purpose? I can't see a score or anything, and they don't seem to affect anything gameplay-wise.

The game's still crazy fun. I might just get the full thing. Also, the link leads to the Substitute game. Fix plz. :P This game looks fantastic. cactus is my hero. Thanks for the great feedback, Melly!

I tried to make the hitbox visible for all the pilots, but it's not very apparent.

Chopper - Wind shield
Skullguy - Arm
Chick - Middle segment/penis shaft

I can't do much about the blood having bad contrast in the first level. Except maybe have it blink a bit or something, but it'd look weird. I think most of my games favour stylistic choices over practical choices when it comes to visibillity of things. Dunno if that's good or bad :P

The coins are supposed to give you a highscore, but I ended up short on time, so I couldn't manage to get that into the game. The HUD is terrible, as well. It's gonna be a lot nicer in the final version. By the way, forgot to mention the music makes me feel fuzzy...

In my pants. I'm pretty much seconding everything Melly said. This is a great little game that could use a tiny bit more tuning.. but this IS a work-in-progress demo, and if it's this good now, the final build should be fantastic.

Keep up the good work, Cactus. Probably your best game so far, and given that I really like your other stuff, that's pretty much frothing praise.

Definitely getting the full thing.. In fact, I recall donating to this very blog a while back, and apparently that included - in part - the full version of this anyway. So there. You've got my money - spend it well, you mad bastard! I've already paid cactus - he will send you guys an email when the game is done. But feel free to donate more. :D

crazy.cactus@gmail.com

Last I heard from him, he's working on at least seven or eight more freeware games. ;) I'm having a tough time figuring out how to use the woman effectively. She seems like she could potentially have the strongest attacking power of them all, much like the Attractor from Clean Asia. The skull man may actually be the easiest one to survive with for newbies, since two of his modes can block enemy bullets. Wow, point me to where I can donate for this game.

I must have it. Oop, gotta transfer some money to Paypal then Strange, as it's layed out on Tim's blog, I replied to Tim before he told me what to do.

Anyways, funds transfering, it'll be about 3 or 4 days cactus, but you'll be getting my pre-order cash soon enough! Details on Akuchizoku's web site (click on Enter, then Buy button):
http://www.akuchizoku.co.nr/

Send at least USD $1 using PayPal to:

crazy.cactus@gmail.com

(but try to send at least $5, or buy five copies if you want, since paypal deducts nearly half of $1 as fee)

Preorders only currently, since the game isn't finished. The full version will be sent to you when it's done.

If you don't have PayPal and still want the game, you can send an email to cactus for 'special arrangements'. ;)

If there is enough preorders, I believe cactus will make a sequel? My thoughts on the characters:

The helicopter: The most standard run-of-the-mill craft, its options trail the ship and fire bullets, its got limited missiles and a focused special. Probably the easiest to figure out.

The skullman: The most unique character for me. His option-ramming attack is, I think, the most powerful unlimited attack of the three when you have all options condensed, making gameplay with him a very agreesive, but effective one if you use that. Also versatile with other attack types. Probably for balance he has no limited weapons. Can be very hard to grasp because of how he controls.

The cockrocket: The best to fire at odd angles and against straight lines of enemies. Her limited lasers also fire rapidly, allowing you to quickly take down the most annoying enemies you save it for.

I love how differently they all control, though you MIGHT want to place a short tutorial mode. It's not that necessary, though. NO SEQUELS! This game may be a labour of love, but all I can remember right now is pain, sweat and tears. And it's not even over yet. Also, I found it very limiting and tedious to simulate low resolutions (although I like the results).

I'm glad you like the Skullman, Melly. I wasn't sure I had nailed him all too well.

Oh, and I'd love some donations. I spend a few hours everyday making games, and I really want to keep doing it. So don't force me to go get a job... :P Mondo Medicals One of the best games in the contest, in my humble opinion. Congratulations on another fantastic game, Cactus! Cactus is a genius with bizarre game plots and settings.

SPOILER

Shooting a cancer? How could I have not thought of that?

END SPOILER xWUNG Ugliest game ever... Playable? YES YES YES!!!! Everything about this game rocks, in a glitch-core drum and bass kind-of-way...

Awesome game! I just wish it had joypad support! Ferkin excellent :D Man, Tim, how did you get such a high score? I can only reach 15000+ -- maybe it has to do with switching ships when they're most effective? there's a screenshot that answers one of your questions over at the2bears :) Destroying bullets also increases your score? Hm, no, it doesn't. It's actually very addicting. Remember kids, just like with girls, ugly games try harder..!

Forget clean asia - trash is where it's at. I've seen uglier... Like most of the earlier 3D PSX games. 'Addicting' is not, nor has it ever been, a word. Sorry, I meant to say:

"It's actually very addictorising". er, i do believe 'addicting' is the present participle of 'addict' Oh gods my EYES! They burn!

It's obviously intentional, but the flashing graphics makes it barely playable. Fractal Fighter Clean Asia II? Crazy Patterns that is super cool,. I love some of the tentical type effects it creats,. and the music is sic! is it a mod? what type? Thanks! I'm a big fan of yours. The music is in xm format (a common tracker format, usually associated with Fasttracker2). It was made by hertzcanary ( http://www.modarchive.com/artists/hertzcanary/ ).

This is just a small tech thing I created, I'll probably turn into more of a real game when I have the time for it. Have some more ideas I want to try... Insect Invade 2 Clean Asia http://www.gametrailers.com/

Clean Asia is on Game Trailers.com :) Space So, compared to the first time around he released this, what changed? And why did it warrant a second release? I played it way back when and this is just how I remember it, except with a scoring system in place. Maybe it's got some new bosses (that I never would've seen anyways, this game is hard!)? It never was released before. Only a nearly finished demo version was posted at a few forums (including the Independent Gaming forums, I believe).

I was planning on adding an intro cutscene, but I settled with making the game easier by adding lives and properly bugchecking everything instead. The highscores and scoring features are also improved. Well, that answers that, then. Thanks for clearing that up. The Design Top marks for style! Yep, certainly looks cool while playing, and it's surely got different gameplay from the norm. Could use a bit more depth before it is actually a complete game in my opinion, as I've told Cactus elsewhere. Decontrologic Short, stylish, atmospheric, innovative, brilliant and you even get to type some stuff too! Ad Nauseam God Came to the Cave Great game, I highly enjoyed it. But I would just like to know if the game ends like that, with nothing. Also, Cactus where is Organic Units? I was looking forward to playing that game, but never saw light of it after it's first announcement. Hope that it sees the light of day sometime soon! I'm glad you liked it. Tim seems to have forgotten to mention that the game was made in about eight hours or so for a competition. That's why the ending is a bit uninspired.

I had planned out just about everything of Organic Units on paper before starting the work on it. Unfortunately, some of the gameplay elements worked a lot better in theory than when implemented in the game. Which is why the game hasn't been completed yet. And now I'm taking a college course in Japanese that demands a lot of my attention... So it's hard to say when it'll be done. But keep an eye out, sooner or later I'll have it ready for release. Illegal Communication yes, it's better than it looks. the gameplay reminds me of oxyd (www.oxyd-game.com) Retro Future Precision Yeah, the game isn't done yet. I intend to make more levels, but it's an extremely time consuming process, since they need a lot of testing before you can figure out if they're impossible to complete or not. maybe you could ask some people to help test some of your levels?
:) Well, I asked some people if they wanted to make their own levels for the game, and some of them did. I got one of them to make two levels for me, which were pretty good. But other than that there seemed to be a general lack of interest in the game to begin with :/

I'll see if I can get some testers instead. I'll probably make a level editor too, so that I can have a decent reason to keep the game relatively short :P

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