A Small World is a short platformer game by JaJ, featuring the standard set of challenges, an obligatory boss fight and one or two secret areas to discover. Save and load game options are included, while your character's health can be restored by drinking from fountains. Press the down arrow key to start a conversation or interact with other objects.

Name: A Small World
Developer: JaJ Productions
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Dragonfire is a simple game consisting of two screens. Your kingdom has been taken over by dragons and it's your duty as the Prince to get all the king's treasures back from those nasty dragons.

First you must traverse the drawbridge to the castle while dodging fireballs being shot towards you by the dragon. You must use quick reflexes to duck under the high ones and jump over the low ones.

If you make it to the other side you'll find yourself in a a room full of treasures as well as a rather large dragon at the bottom of the screen. You must then gather the treasure as quickly as possible without falling victim to the dragon's fireballs.

When you collect all the treasures an exit appears and you start over again, but with a higher difficulty than before. Get hit a total of seven times and the game is over. Nine castles in total to plunder.

Name: Dragonfire
Developer: Eiksoft
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Eyes of the Jade Sphinx is an old adventure game by Dave Gilbert which was released more than half a decade ago. A classic detective story, though the version made available for download should be considered a short demo at best.

Name: The Eyes of the Jade Sphinx
Developer: Dave Gilbert
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Hermes is a PyWeek competition entry partially inspired by Free Lunch Design's Icy Tower. As an ancient god your mission is to deliver messages to gods settled in height of Olympia. The climb is long, but you will be rewarded with a high score if you manage to reach far enough to surpass the last one.

Featuring pleasant music and cartoony graphics.

Name: Hermes
Developer: Frantisek Jahoda and Pavel Kucera
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

STGs

DieFeen demo now available. [direct download link, DieFeen review]

dessgeega is reviewing a bunch of noteworthy games on a new site. A great read, and definitely a bookmark item!

Typhoon 2001 updated, while Dogfight was finally translated to English. [Typhoon 2001 review]

Beast Invaders 3 will be out in two weeks' time. [screenshots set one, set two, latest G-Force build]

Lunaria complete run added. [Lunaria review by dessgeega]

Kairuga V.1.4 Final released. [Ikaruga clones article]

Miscellaneous

Screenshot from Mike's latest game leaked. [PoV's past projects]

More good news. Ruff'n Tumble is done and dusted, expect this freeware platformer remake to be released soon. [Ruff'n Tumble teaser, preview]

Acidbomb 2: Rearmed updated to version 1.1. There is also a possibility that the game may go commercial next month, so grab it now while you still can. [download page, Acidbomb 2 preview]

Death Worm updated with harder difficulty. JTR also released two other games this week, Robot Attack 4000 and Jimmy Lawnmower. [interview, Death Worm review]

The first demo for Copic Fighter has been released this morning on Mentisworks. It features classic shmup mechanics, with a little twist in terms of presentation. The intention with Copic Fighter was to move towards the art game realm in terms of overall style.



All artwork, sounds, and music in Copic Fighter are original, and unique. At the same time, controls should be quite familiar, as you move with the arrow keys and shoot with Z. Additional controls are outlined in the Readme file, which you should also check for installation instructions.

A little twist to the gameplay is that each shot fired uses up your Ink, indicated by a meter. Collect Ink left behind by destroyed enemies to replenish your supply.

Name: Copic Fighter
Developer: Michal Wisniowski
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 6.23 MB

The demo for Homeland features a portion of the full game, which is set for a release at the end of this year. Developed using RPG Maker, this tribute adapts a similar style found in Earthbound but features a completely different set of sprites and graphics.

Expect to find plenty of humorous conversations, an eclectic collection of enemies to bash, useless quests and obscure inventory items to clutter your inventory space. A worthy tribute to Shigesato Itoi's console classic.

Name: Homeland
Developer: Marcus
Category: RPG
Type: Freeware
Size: 30MB

A screenshot of new artwork for Soft Landing posted. [Soft Landing Developer's Diary]

Update on Copic Fighter and new screenshot posted. [preview, Mentisworks]

Vilmos is working on an update on Thruster. The new version will be running in a higher resolution, a much anticipated improvement. [Thruster via Mentisworks]

Which Way is Up is a traditional and challenging 2D platformer with a slight rotational twist. Help a mysterious big-eared salaryman named Guy find his keys in a labyrinth of dangers and bad dialogue. Use the Z or up arrow key to jump, and press the down arrow key to activate switches or collect items.

Six levels in total. The Windows binary version contains an executable which runs just fine without the need for a Python installation.

Name: Which Way is Up
Developer: Olli Etuaho
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Bubble Kong is a delightful little platformer developed by a couple of PyWeek competition veterans. The objective of the game is to guide a seahorse to the end of each level while collecting items and bonuses.

Three shots are needed in order to encapsulate an enemy in a bubble. Grab a power-up to cut this requirement down to one. Press the X key to shoot and use the Z key to jump. Bubbles can be used to reach higher ground.

Requires the installation of Python and Pygame.

Name: Bubble Kong
Developer: The Olde Battleaxe
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Another screenshot from Buster's upcoming game posted. [Vacant Ark review]

xii games is currently seeking a background artist for their upcoming adventure game (paid position).

The game is set in a not-so-distant future when a particle physicist’s mysterious and spectacular death sparks a race to find his hidden vault and claim his terrifying new discovery.

The team consists of Vince Twelve (Linus), Shane 'ProgZMax' Stevens (The Shivah, Mind’s Eye) and Nikolas Sideris. [Source: Gnomes' Lair, Leisure Suit Larry: Lost in Love, Mind's Eye, The Shivah, Linus]

OEDb recently published a guide to Video Game Degrees and Careers.

Latest PyWeek Competition entries can be found on this page.

the2bears bring news about Mark Incitti's (Grid Wars) upcoming arena shooter entitled AtomHex. To be released soon. [Geometry Wars clones article]

It's a Puzzle Game, a game where there are puzzles, and it's your job to solve them. The main gameplay element here are blocks. Blocks of all shapes and sizes are to be pushed around until a path to the exit appears.

This demonstration version has six levels.

Name: Puzzle Game
Developer: Lazrael
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

More screenshots from TENNEN-SOZAI's upcoming vertical shooter, eXceed3rd-JADE PENETRATE-.

A trial version will be released in either May or June. [eXceed2nd-VAMPIRE-, eXceed review]

Miscellaneous screenshots from Lazrael's other unreleased projects. Currently involved in military service for at least half a year.

Easter Cortex is fairly straightforward game, originally written for the Retro Remakes 2007 Easter Mini competition. The objective is to clear the level of eggs. Eggs are removed by pushing them together in matching groups of three or more.

The cursor keys move the rabbit. You can only push eggs from behind, so be careful of pushing them into corners or against walls. Also try not to leave yourself with fewer than three of any design.

Press the escape key to return to the level selection screen if you get stuck.

Name: Easter Cortex
Developer: Simon Bradley
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB