Veck Special Edition released. [screenshot from the upcoming Veck 2, Veck review]

Richard Jordan's remake of Zub (A Commodore 64 game by The Pickford Brothers of Naked War fame) will be released soon. [Jetpak - Solar Crisis, Atic Atac, Klass of 99]

The origin of Jenka's theme (Cave Story) uncovered.

A gameplay video from oddbob's Beast Invaders 3 can be viewed here. [screenshots set one, set two, latest G-Force build]

Crimsonland 2 and Azangara will be released soon. [Source: Lexder]

Another doujin fighting game with a very novel idea. Parotte Fighter Special Heroes Dynamite (by Retsuzan Games) features female cosplayers dressed up as characters from classic 2D fighters such as the Street Fighter series, World Heroes (Rasputin, Captain Kid), Fatal Fury and several others.

Orbit Racers is an oldie but a goodie -- it's basically a very simplistic racing game, but the twist is that there is only one button in the game, the space bar. The entire game is controlled with that one button.

How does that work? Letting go of the space bar moves you toward the center of the track, and pushing it moves you away. Because you don’t want to hit either side of the track, you will continuously tap the space bar throughout the races, avoiding obstacles and targeting speed boost arrows.

Every race is a perfect circle, orbiting some center of gravity. After you get used to the controls it’s rather simple and gets tedious (there are 10 laps for each track, and the tracks are all circles so they don’t vary very much), but the idea of a single-button game alone made it worth playing.

Name: Orbit Racers
Developer: Pug Fugly Games
Category: Racing
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB

Chocolate Castle is one of the better puzzle games I've ever played, and I would recommend it to anyone who is into logic puzzles to give it a go. Don't let the casual look or the cute animals and chocolate theme fool you, this takes some very serious thinking to play well, and you get a great sense of satisfaction when you solve some of the more difficult puzzles.

The controls are intuitive, the graphics are sharp, the level design is superb, I really have no complaints except the lack of an option for music during gameplay -- some people can do without it, but it doesn't feel right to me without background music. But you can always play your own music.

The gameplay is hard to describe. You drag chocolate pieces; if two pieces of the same type touch they merge. The object of the game is to clear the level of all chocolate, which you do by dragging the cute animals to the chocolate of their type. However, they disappear after one use, so you need to get all the chocolate of similar types bunched up before you drag the animal that can eat that type into it. There are 120 levels, 12 in the demo.

Name: Chocolate Castle
Developer: Lexaloffle Software
Category: Puzzle
Type: Shareware
Size: Less than 1MB

My new project now has a name: Copic Fighter. It's a top down scrolling shooter, with a (hopefully) unique art twist. Official announcement can be found here, and a boss battle update here [Mentisworks, Thruster].

A preliminary demo should be ready soon. Your feedback is, as always, welcome and appreciated.

Pictured on the right, a screenshot from Bernie's latest project. [Darkside Adventures, A Game with a Kitty, Reactor 09, Cedric and the Revolution]

Engage to Jabberwock mapped. [Shoot the Core article, Inverted Castle's download mirrors, Engage to Jabberwock review]

Here's another teaser screenshot from rEIZUs3. [click to open in new window, Crazy Patterns, Clean Asia review, past projects by cactus]

PEKPOK has at least two games in development. [PEKPOK's games]

9th Night has a new action game in production. A preview video was also released. [Blood Over review]

Another screenshot from NotKnytt (Knytt sequel) leaked. [Interview, Knytt, Within a Deep Forest, other games by Nifflas]

Hank makes some pocket money by selling eggs, and plans to win the yearly egg contest with a huge egg. NationalLiberal, on the prowl for revenge, steals the big eggs and sends out his minions to paint and hide the rest of the eggs. Hank, along with his old pal Bernard, has to go through twenty-seven levels, meet around twenty different enemies and search for hidden bonus levels to defeat NationalLiberal once again and get his egg back.

Bernard and Hank: Springtime Again is a straightforward platform game. The graphics are as simple as in the first game, but the gameplay, sound effects and music tracks have seen improvements. Also included is the minigame Liberball and a jukebox to listen to all music tracks.

Name: Bernard and Hank: Springtime Again
Developer: The Peasants
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Vs Snake is a decent two player implementation of the classic time waster, with a configurable A.I. thrown in for good measure. There are even four different skins to choose from, though the gameplay is a little too basic and won't sustain interest for more than a couple of minutes.

Name: Vs Snake
Developer: Unknown
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Conformity is an experimental game in which the player has to cast a multicolored net by holding down the left mouse button and capture every single green circle on screen to progress. Catching a red circle will incur a health penalty. Restore a small percentage of health by grabbing the white ones.

Name: Conformity
Developer: Scott Anderson
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

L.A.2 updated to ver 0.2. The blue turrets have been made much more visible now. [L.A.2 play instructions]

Acidbomb 2: Rearmed is out. [Acidbomb 2 preview]

Fun-Motion.com updated with news about an editor for Ski Stunt Extreme.

An interview with Amanda Fitch (Aveyond) can be found here.

The Fourth PyWeek Challenge will end in four days.

Gaism complete run added. [Gaism review]

Space Aggressor is currently undergoing beta testing.

There's a new release from Babarageo entitled Drill Boost Missile.

Cave Jumper could be released for free, again. [Cave Jumper review, hints, thanks to Sandcrab for the correction!]

Space Quest II Remake has been officially announced by the Infamous Adventures team. The released demo is rather shoddy though. [Scott Murphy interview, earlier mention]

Galshell 2 Bullet Rain recently updated to version 0.26. [Warning: Contains nudity! Galshell 2 Bullet Rain review]

New pixel art posted by buloght. Anonymous also pointed out a recent interview, thanks! [Knightsquire/The Family Treasure review, buloght's past projects]

The 40MB demo link for DROD: The City Beneath can be acquired from this page. [direct download links: Windows, Mac, Linux, purchase]

There's a couple of new posts over at the Softlanding development journal.

GameDesign has a new game out, a surprisingly average puzzler entitled Porolith Flash.

Another Rozen Diadem gameplay video posted.

Prominence is a new point-and-click science-fiction adventure game scheduled for release in 2008. [Adventure Gamers' article]

Ballz is a rather nifty platformer which involves getting your main character to the teleporter located somewhere at the end of each stage. Horizontal movement is constant, with Ballz doing a complete turn only after hitting a wall. To jump, simply press the space key.

Levels can be attempted several times, since collecting stars is vital to unlock the rest of the game. Made in under seventy-two hours.

Name: Ballz
Developer: Team Darkbits
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Can Can Crusher is a rather average mini game by GRC, the creators of Mission Missyo. Press the space key to crush the cans, but avoid stepping on bombs or face the consequences.

Name: Can Can Crusher
Developer: GRC
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

The objective of Cosmic Invaders is to prevent the invaders from reaching the bottom of the screen. This is done by deploying defensive structures, accessible from the bottom right. Once deployed, towers will automatically fire on your enemies. Each costs money, which along with your remaining life is displayed in the bottom left. Towers can be sold, giving you back half of their original cost plus potentially valuable real estate, by selecting them with the left mouse button and clicking the demolish button. Right click cancels selection and placement. Pressing the escape key exits the game.

Laser turrets fire straight up every few seconds, dealing damage to the first invader the shot hits. Missile batteries fire seeking missiles at a slower rate, but they deal heavier damage, plus splash damage around them. The missiles explode if they fail to hit anything within a few seconds, although they still deal splash damage if they're close enough to anything when they do. Spark towers will deal heavy damage to a single invader, but have much shorter range.

There are planned features not yet in the game, such as the ability to upgrade towers once placed, more types of towers, more enemy types, and boss waves. Click on the paper clip icon to initiate download.

Name: Cosmic Invaders
Developer: X-G
Category: Strategy
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Thruster is a caveflier, originally released for the Tapwave Zodiac, then ported to the GP2X, and now Windows. The game's concept is based on an older black and white title called Spout, by Kuni. Here are some of the features of Thruster.

• Three different game modes.
• Two difficulty levels.
• High score tables with replay.
• Beautiful backgrounds.
• Original Soundtrack.
• Ability to add your own music.
  
• More than 2K particles in play at once.

Art and music in Thruster was inspired a good deal by Rez, resulting in background images and sounds that will be familiar to fans of the latter.



Use X to select menu items and active your ships thrust. Space will pause the game, as well as going back in menus. Using the arrow keys to steer your ship, propel yourself upwards and erode the landscape with the thrust particles.

(Thruster wallpapers can be found here, via Mentisworks)

Name: Thruster 1.3
Developer: Andrew Kearns
Category: Arcade
Type: Freeware
Size: 18MB

Binary Land is a remake of an old NES action game, created with Clickteam's MultiMedia Fusion 2. The goal is to guide two penguins to opposite sides of a heartcage. The trick is that you control both penguins at once and one of the penguins movements are mirrored.

Differences from the original includes updated graphics, thirty stages of puzzle action, brand new levels, circling flames as a new enemy type, the nifty level editor and an oldschool ending.

Use the arrow keys to move both penguins around, and hold the left control key to shoot bugspray. Handy for freeing your partner, removing webs and spiders. Press the escape key to quit game at any time. Game is saved automatically when each stage is cleared.

A gamepad can be configured by changing the control type at the options screen, with the control key mapped to the first button on the joypad.

Name: Binary Land
Developer: Magnus Nilsson
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Penumbra: Overture is an innovative first person survival horror game using advanced physics interaction. Instead of relying on combat as the main gameplay element Penumbra focuses on puzzles, exploration and enemies have to be dealt with by using wits rather than brute strength. This creates a unique experience in an atmospheric game world.

Penumbra tells the story of Philip, who in search of his presumed dead father uncovers more than he could ever had imagined. Trapped in an underground complex below the icy wastelands of Greenland, Philip needs to not only fight for his survival, but for his sanity as well.

Penumbra: Overture is to be released in two more episodes during 2007-2008. More information can be found at: http://www.penumbra-overture.com/

Frictional Games has also released a quick tour of their 'office' which briefly describes the conditions under which Penumbra: Overture was developed. The tour can be found at: http://tour.frictionalgames.com/

Adventure

Charlie Foxtrot is set for a release this month. [The Winter Rose review]

New screenshot from Indiana Jones and the Fountain of Youth added. [Fountain of Youth review]

The creator of Spooks will release a new game this month.

Screenshots from other upcoming AGS releases can be found in this forum thread.

Here's an interview with Al Lowe which lasts over an entire hour. [direct download link]

The CD-ROM version of Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist has been made available as a web download for quite a while now. [500MB download link]

Gesundheit updated to version 1.1, with new keyboard controls introduced and an optional aiming crosshair. A replacement index file can also be downloaded to unlock all levels. [Underwater Base, Gesundheit review]

Bullet Candy Update 7 now available.

DHC announced a new shooter entitled Vulkaiser as an April 1st event.

Chris' blog is situated here. [A Mini Falafel Adventure]

RTSoft gets a new look.

Paul Robertson's new short film will be out this month.

Leisure Suit Larry: Lost in Love sets our favorite character on a new adventure, with gorgeous pixel graphics by the talented ProgZmax and the sort of humor that Al Lowe is most famous for replicated with incredible accuracy. Only a demo for now but what a tasty appetizer for things to come.

Name: Leisure Suit Larry: Lost in Love
Developer: Shane Stevens
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Pogo Fred: Chapter 1 is a platform adventure featuring blue pyjama wearing Fred and his friend Adrian the Pogostick. Fred has no idea where he is, or what has gone on, but eventually with your help, he will learn the truth.

Pogo Fred is coded in Blitzmax with music written in MilkyTracker and most of the graphics drawn in Macromedia Flash, then edited in Paintshop Pro X. Just like Within a Deep Forest, your character is always in a perpetual vertical motion throughout the entire game. Hold the down arrow key to lower your bounce height, or use the up arrow key to jump higher. Press the S key to stomp on enemies.

There's quite a number of stuff to collect and even secret areas to discover in this one.

Name: Pogo Fred: Chapter 1
Developer: Chris Raz
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB

Cross Pang, Asteroids, Turrican and Plasma, and you get TCK’s Super Obliteration.

This is a simple game, destroy all the rocks on each level before the timer runs out. Collect powerups or avoid bad ones for different weapons, faster or slower shots, and even shields.

There are four control methods to choose from. To send your highscores to the online board, go to the high scores screen and click on the sync button. Please ensure that you allow the program access through any firewall you may have in place.

Name: Super Obliteration
Developer: TCK
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

This actually happened a month ago, but the winners of the 2006 XYZZY Awards for interactive fiction have been announced! Top honors went to Eric Eve's science fiction story The Elysium Enigma, while Andrew Plotkin's Edward Gorey homage Delightful Wallpaper and Emily Short's Floatpoint were among winners in several other categories.

The Elysium Enigma casts you as an Imperial officer charged with contacting a mysteriously technophobic settlement on a remote planet. I've only had a chance to play the first five minutes of it, but the premise seems intriguing so far.

For elegant multi-platform interpreters that should be able to run most or all of the nominated titles, I recommend Gargoyle for Windows or Spatterlight for Macintosh systems.

(XYZZY Awards 2006 summarized at Baf's Guide and ifwiki.org)

The Path by Tale-of-Tales, makers of The Endless Forest, is a single-player horror game currently in production that I've been following for awhile. It's hard to describe, so I'll quote from its website:

• play six different characters with distinct personalities
• interact with autonomous characters driven by Drama Princess technology
• unique free-form gameplay: do what you want when you want it
• mix the music in realtime through in-game activity
• lose yourself in an endless forest filled with attractions and atrocities
  

L.A.2 is a Flash experiment by Kenta Cho which involves destroying blue turrets with the use of gliders.

Hold the Z key to fire a glider. When the glider touches a green cell, it will turn brown and spread out. Release the Z key to destroy all brown cells on screen.

Name: L.A.2
Developer: Kenta Cho
Category: Shooter
Type: Browser

Chirality is a one-switch game of reflexes and perception. The menu cycles through four choices - three different modes of play which are increasingly tougher, and the exit command. Press the space key to select a play mode, the game will begin.

There will be two sets of vanes in the play area. These look somewhat like fans rotating. There is a white set of vanes rotating in one direction, and a blue set rotating in the other direction. On both sets of vanes are yellow symbols. There are six different symbols in all.

As the vanes rotate they will eventually overlap each other. If you hit the button when a match overlap is happening, you score one point for each matching pair. If there is a match and you don't press the button before the overlap ends, the match pairs turn red and disappear. They are also replaced by new symbols, but you lose one try in the process. If you press the button when there is no match, you also lose one try.

There are three different play levels in this game, each of which is harder than the previous one. You start each game with five tries, which are shown at the bottom of the game screen as blue circles.

Name: Chirality
Developer: Dream Codex
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB