SKT had recently updated Red White Yellow, their color matching puzzler, to include several new tracks and sound effects. From the original review:

The objective of the game is to remove tiles from the screen by connecting six or more blocks of the same color are connected to each other.

The current type of colored blocks which can be removed from the field switches whenever a chain is made.

Click here to play

There's a small flash toy called Comic Dice added to Matt Hammill's Underwater Base site. Gesundheit was updated with minor changes as well.

Roll the hand-printed, hand-sewn dice to randomly generates a three-panel comic strip with a beginning, middle and end for a few minutes' worth of diversion.

Nifflas had confirmed that the chances of Knytt Stories released before the 30th of August is slim, though development would be wrapped up long before then.

Foppy is working on Race Challenge, a game featuring the sort of perspective seen in Pole Position and Out Run. [Flyout, Gridfire review]

A complete walkthrough for Joakim's Tripline was recently posted in the konjak.org forums.

The translation patch for the Narcissu Side 2nd should be out early next month.

Game.Dev Competition 15 announced. [forum thread]

JNKPlat 07 updated to version 0.2. Fullscreen mode added.

New screenshots from Tormishire posted.

Vince Twelve's next game titled.

Pretty much the sequel to Seiklus, in spirit if not in form. cly5m has been secretly working on a new project entitled Avaus, with at least 130 rooms to explore. As described on the autofish site:

In this game, you'll pilot a ship on a rescue mission in a dream world. This is a pretty large project, and I hope to have it finished in 2007.

Read more, autofish.net

eXceed3rd-JADE PENETRATE- is the latest vertical shooter from the eXceed series, with much of the interface and gameplay mechanics simplified to allow accessibility for new players while challenging veterans as well.

Extra lives are awarded when the extend gauge is full, while options are granted with each charge of the reinforce bar. Collect small bonus items marked 'P' to increase the extend count, and grab the large ones marked 'D' to add one percentage to the reinforce counter. Bombs are launched using the X key. Hold the Z key for your primary means of attack, and press the C key to focus your shots.

When fighting a boss, a position marker shows up on the bottom margin of the screen, indicating where the boss is on the horizontal axis. Both easy and original modes feature two stages only, though the player will be rewarded with additional boss attack patterns for choosing a harder difficulty setting.

Mirrors can be acquired from this page. Simply click on any of the bracketed numbers from 1 to 12 to begin downloading.

Name: eXceed3rd-JADE PENETRATE-
Developer: tennen-sozai
Category: Shooter
Type: Demo
Size: 250MB
Download page: click here

As announced by Nifflas in this forum post, Knytt Stories should be out before August 30th.

Nothing new was revealed, so how about a screenshot instead. [web site]

Immortal Defense isn't the first Game Maker project to go commercial (see Mr. Chubigan's Shellblast and MAGI), plus developers rarely reveal their sales numbers to outsiders - hence it's a kind gesture by RPGCreations to publish not only sales stats but their marketing strategies as well, with the intention that the information can be of some use to other independent game developers. [recent interviews]

Interestingly, Mr. Chubigans had also set himself a sales target of fifteen copies for Shellblast each month (before being published on a major game portal), though no official numbers have been made public yet.

Read more

Chaffinch Challenge is a decent action game by Pete Bunting which features retro-style graphics and a variety of chiptunes for each stage. In it, your task is to guide the frail little bird into the bowels of the earth and beyond while collecting glowing crystals to fill your power indicator.

Use the arrow keys to direct the protagonist while avoiding walls, trees, clouds and just about every single object in the game. Requires a fair amount of arcade skills to complete. Click on the screenshot to begin downloading the file. Seven levels in total.

Chaffinch Challenge
Developer: Pete Bunting
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: click here

JNKPlat 07 is a puzzler by Jayenkai disguised as a platformer, in which all movements are measured in grids. The problem of missing a leap by mere pixels is avoided, though two jump buttons have been included so there could be a slight confusion when learning the controls.

Each of the twenty stages can be completed without collecting all bonus items.

Name: JNKPlat 07
Developer: Jayenkai
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

RPGCreations (creators of Missing and Alphasix) announce the release of Immortal Defense, a story-based tower defense game.

The classic elements of tower defense are there: players must use strategically-placed towers to fight off waves of "creeps", preventing them from getting to the end of the path. The player can build new towers or upgrade existing ones to defeat the ever-more-dangerous "creeps", earning money for each kill--money which can be used to expand and refine the basic defense even further.

Immortal Defense features eleven unique towers (or "Points"), each with their own distinctive personality and style of fighting. Each Point represents a different aspect of the player's will and personality.

The mouse cursor is an integral gameplay element. The cursor fires at enemies in its range, giving your overall defense an extra boost at critical moments. The mouse cursor also allows you to "target" specific enemies, involving the player more closely in the action than the typical tower defense game (where it's sufficient to simply place all of your towers, sit back, and watch your strategy in action.)

Name: Immortal Defense
Developer: RPGCreations
Category: Tower Defense
Type: Shareware
Size: 17MB

Strangely, there's little swearing in this episode as the upcoming platformer by Jonathan Blow earns glowing praises. As Graham puts it:

It's the most original and fresh platform game I've played in at least ten years, and almost every single puzzle in it will make you grin with happiness and clap with appreciation at the cleverness of it.

Braid is almost like a series of six different games, each of which has a uniquely excellent and original gameplay mechanic except you're getting it all in a single package.

Read, listen

The latest addition to the Ricochet family of brick-busting relatives, Ricochet Infinity features 215 levels, while additional stages will be made available to download from Reflexive's web site.

A mouse party mode is included for competitive and cooperative multiplayer play, while the new 'Recall' ability allows a player to control the ball direction or path directly with the press of a button. Due out in mid-July.

Read more, official web site

From the Metanet Software's metablog:

SUBLiME, the Submit Unique and Brilliant Levels in to Metanet Event, launches today. It's only open for two weeks, so get ready to make some great N levels, really really quickly.

We're accepting submissions of levels specifically made for this event, using special versions of Ned (available at the SUBLiME entry page; link below) from anyone worldwide who wishes to send 'em in.

Our favourite submissions may make it into N+, garnering their author credit in-game and a free copy of the version in which their level appears. Level submitters may also receive some other lovely N+ swag.

Check out the Instructable on How to Create A Good N Level, and then head on over to the SUBLiME entry page to read the full rules and guidelines, and send in your submission.

N+ was originally announced for the XBLA, DS and PSP platforms, with the release date scheduled as fall 2007.

Read more

mrkwang had recently interviewed the CEO of Manifesto Games, which can be found here. Though nowhere near as comprehensive as Dean Takahashi's article, they do discuss about the company's growth ("Our best sellers are in the hundreds of units sold...") and his current favorites. (The Shivah, Peacemaker, Kudos, DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold and Ninjastarmageddon - all available to purchase from the Manifesto Games site)

Read more

Warning: Contain scenes of violence, strong language, blood and gore.

Action Cyborg is a short action game by John Karlgren with four playable levels, though it's quite unlikely that more will be added in the near future since the original artist has left the project.

Speech can be turned off by using the options menu. Press the Z key to jump, or hold the X key to shoot. Switch weapons with the 1, 2, 3 and 4 keys. No continues, but there's a cheat for level skip in the text manual if you're having difficulty with the game.

Name: Action Cyborg
Developer: John Karlgren
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB