Have you got nothing to do for the next 72 hours? Then why not enter this competition and boast about your game making skills by making a small game during this period (which has already started by the way). There aren't any rewards for the winner as of yet. But finishing a game is in itself a reward, especially if you make it good.

Buster is working on a new game after completing development on the upcoming Iwanaga. [download page, review]



A complete map for Joe Gunn can be found in this wiki entry. Walkthrough available. [full size image]

Some 'behind the scenes' look at the production set of Fate by Numbers.

Events

The last six games developed during the recent Toronto Indie GameJam meet are now available. [source: Jim]

Finalists for Intel Game Demo Contest have been announced.

Shooters

More screenshots from x.x's upcoming vertical shooter (pictured below) were posted in his development journal. [rough translation, download page]

According to a post on G.rev's web site (Border Down, Under Defeat), a new game from the company will be announced at the end of August. [rough translation]

A Tale of Two Kingdoms is an epic tale in the style of the famous Sierra and LucasArts graphical adventure games. This ambitious project features five different endings, sidequests, alternate solutions, quality music and even a director's commentary.

The ancient kingdom of Theylinn is beset by enemies, and within the castle walls nobles vie for the old King's favor. Meanwhile, danger approaches in the form of an invading army, a hostile giant, and a mercenary troop who are ancient enemies of the Theylann king.

I had problems getting the graphics to look decent, so I made a small setup tutorial for anyone who requires it. Note that games saved when playing in one resolution setting do not work when loaded in another.

Name: A Tale of Two Kingdoms
Developer: Crystal Shard
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 100MB
Walkthrough: Click here

cactus' upcoming Protoganda (pictured above), now in color. Gameplay video available. [Cactus Soft games]

Pixel has uploaded a development log for Guxt, complete with dates, information and screenshots for each stage of development. [translated]

The full version for Lazrael's Banana Nababa (previously titled Boss Arena) is out. Six stages only. [final boss video]

A Nintendo DS port of the latest ScummVM version is now available. [list of playable games]

More screenshots from Everyday Shooter can be found in this Kotaku post.

The Jonathan Blow interview is up.

Warning: Strong language.

"Fate by Numbers is a sci-fi noir FMV adventure game. You assume the role of Alice Sanger, female private eye. She is assigned to get a briefcase, but quickly finds herself immersed in a web of corruption and shadowy motives.

What follows is a mysterious journey through the layers of a future metropolis with 50's noir influences."

Read the comments for reviews. (thanks guys!)

Name: Fate by Numbers
Developer: Revival
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 1.2GB

MTV's Stephen Totilo recently did an e-mail interview with Jonathan Blow. In the article, the author of Braid mentions that the game will be released for the PC platform sometime between November 2007 and February 2008. A console port was hinted as well.

The latest edition of GameShark's The Indies is up. Copycats welcomed?

A new Hammerfall version (0.21) is now available. [direct download link, original thread]

Both GamePure and GameDesign have released new flash games, though Sliding Block Puzzle is perhaps a little more fun than the other.

Texas updated with an online high score table.

Punishment: The Punishing is a new sequel to Messhof's popular platformer, currently in development. [source: Jared]

A new gameplay video from Everyday Shooter can be found over at Gametrailers.com.

Pinocchio is a simple 3D animation program which seeks to assist children and amateur animators create professional animation in a matter of minutes. The method is called character rigging, and does away with expensive motion capture employed by many large commercial outfits.

The program itself is available for download, but requires a little knowledge about operating command prompts. This student project was developed by Ilya Baran and Jovan Popovic. [thanks to bob of Retro Remakes]

Louis Ferina:

I plan to finish the game within a year from now. Most of the coding is done, which is the toughest part for a mathematically challenged artist like myself.

It's tough to determine the scope of the game since I haven't built a full level yet. I'm planning (hopefully) 6 different worlds and 10+ levels based on each world. One level would be about 4x-6x larger in width and height than the demo level so there would be some exploration involved and not just a Metal Slug\Contra horizontal shooter.

I'm planning is a shield that would use up the same charge bar as the gun does. Other than that, there will be all the usual action game items: powerups, various weapons, secret areas etc.


You can download the demo here.

The best of list (2006/2007 edition) to end all best of lists! Thanks to everyone who contributed. Coming up next - the top 10 list of the best of lists about the best games of whenever. [permalink]

In nonsensical order:

Top 20 Top Whatever List

1. Remakes 100
2. Edge Magazine's The 100 Best Videogames Ever
3. 2007 IGF Winners
4. Edge Magazine's The Best Indie Games of 2007
5. Game Tunnel's Top 100 Indie Games
6. Game Tunnel's 2006 Game of the Year Awards
7. 50 Really Good Indie Games
8. Top 10 Doujin Shmups
9. 1UP's 101 Best Free Games 2007
10. Best of Casual Gameplay 2006
11. Paul Eres' Favorite 20 Indie Game Picks
12. Echo's Favorite Indie Games
13. The 10 Worst Games of All Time
14. Wired's Best Indie Games 2007
15. Art Games: Best Indy Titles
16. The Top 1 Greatest List of Lists in the World Ever
17. NeoTeo.com's Top 10 Freeware Adventure Games
18. IGN's Top 10 Adventure Games
19. Top 10 Adventure Games IGN Missed Out in Their Top 10 Adventure Games List
20. Top 21 Linux Games of 2007


Remakes 100 (1)
Top 100 games as voted for by various members of the community.

Edge Magazine's The 100 Best Videogames Ever (2)
A poll of Edge magazine readers and industry experts to find the top 100 games of all time.

2007 IGF Winners (3)
Main Competition finalists and winners of the 2007 Independent Games Festival, selected from a field of 141 entries.

Edge Magazine's The Best Indie Games of 2007 (4)
Edge Magazine's list of finalists in the IGF Student Competition.

Game Tunnel's Top 100 Indie Games (5)
Game Tunnel's Top 100 indie games, based on 458 panel reviews from the last 3 years.

Game Tunnel's 2006 Game of the Year Awards (6)
Top Independent Games of 2006, based on game submissions to Game Tunnel.

50 Really Good Indie Games (7)
A list of games compiled by TIGSource forum members.

Top 10 Doujin Shmups (8)
Top 10 doujin shmups as selected by Postman (of Shoot the Core).

1UP's 101 Best Free Games 2007 (9)
An annual list of 101 free games considered the absolute best, by the editors of Games For Windows.

Best of Casual Gameplay 2006 (10)

Paul Eres' Favorite 20 Indie Game Picks (11)
A list consisting twenty of Paul's favorite games.

Echo's Favorite Indie Games (12)
A list consisting twelve of Echo's favorite games.

The 10 Worst Games of All Time (13)
The ten worst games of all time, as selected by Mr. Emru Townsend.

Wired's Best Indie Games 2007 (14)
A list of the best five games from 2007, as selected by Clive Thompson.

Art Games: Best Indy Titles (15)
A list of twenty-seven art games, as compiled by Mentisworks.

The Top 1 Greatest List of Lists in the World Ever (16)
A list of lists considered by Oddbob as the greatest ever.

NeoTeo.com's Top 10 Freeware Adventure Games (17)
NeoTeo.com's article about ten of the best freeware adventure games, in Spanish. (translated)

IGN's Top 10 Adventure Games (18)
Ten of the greatest graphic adventure games of all-time, as chosen by IGN.

Top 10 Adventure Games IGN Missed Out in Their Top 10 Adventure Games List (19)

Top 21 Linux Games of 2007 (20)
Or Worst 21 Linux Games of 2007.

see also:
- Freeware Indie Games for Linux
- cly5m's favorite games
- SourceForge.net 2007 Community Choice Awards
- Adrenaline Vault's Top Casual Games of 2006
- Top Ten 8 and 16-bit Games That Deserve Next-Gen Remakes
- A Guide to the World of Indy Adventure Games

Exit Fate is a new RPG game from Origami, creator of the well-received RPGMaker effort entitled Last Scenario.

Note that it isn't the full game but a partial demo, hence most players can expect to complete it in an hour or so. Press the alternate and Enter key to switch between full screen and windowed mode.

The game not only features standard 2D encounters but boasts a tactical strategy mode as well, in which the player must assume control over legions of troops, issue commands and lead their armies to a crushing victory. Bonus items are awarded for good results, especially if the battle ends quickly with minimal losses to your side.

A new addition is the bribe system, allowing players to avoid potentially dangerous encounters by using the local currency as a bargaining device. Use the C key to confirm your selections, or press the X key to cancel your choices.

The magic system is also a slight departure from most common RPGs. You earn mana points as the battle progresses, meaning that most spells can only be cast after several turns. The number of times a spell can be used in each battle is limited, but unused healing spells are cast automatically to restore the health of party members after battle.

Name: Exit Fate
Developer: SCF
Category: RPG
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB
Direct download link: Click here

Here is a brand, spanking new interview with Pixeljam. Read, relax, enjoy. Or don't.

Another Room is another escape game by Mofuya, one of many in a crowded genre of puzzlers.

Walkthrough under comments.

Name: Another Room
Developer: Mofuya
Category: Puzzle
Type: Browser

New screenshot of Wolverine's Hero.

Joe Gunn is a superb new original C64 platformer by Georg Rottensteiner. It sorta plays like a cross between Dizzy and Rick Dangerous; though I'm sure there's a better comparison out there than that. LaMulana wouldn't be a million miles off.

The game has you skillfully avoiding enemies and solving item based puzzles. It's really rather simple, but I'm enjoying it quite a lot. Probably because I've got a soft spot for Commodore 64 games.

The controls are a little awkward at first, so here's a quick run down:
Left/Right: Walk Left or Right
Up/Down: Climb up and down ladders
Fire + Down: Examine
Fire + Up: Use an Item
Fire + Left or Right: Jump

Some advice to get started: Climb down the ladder and press Fire + Down to examine the skeleton - then press Fire + Right to jump the spikes. Walk over to the entrance and press Fire + Up to use the Scarab and open the door.

Unless you're lucky enough to have some way to transfer this onto a C64 disk, you'll need a C64 emulator to run it. I highly recommend WinVice.

Name: Joe Gunn
Developer: Endurion (Georg Rottensteiner)
Category: Platform Adventure
Type: Freeware, C64
Size: A minuscule 22kb
Download: On the Retro Remakes forums, or directly.

[source: Retro Remakes]

Articles

TIGSource's top 50 list of indie games is out.

The Indies is a bi-weekly feature written by James Fudge which focuses on a collection of complete (and incomplete) Sourceforge projects, casual games, shareware and the occasional free stuff.

He has also interviewed several luminaries from the scene, for example Mr. Greg Costikyan (of Manifesto Games) and the infamous (?) Mat Dickie of MDickie.com.

Miscellaneous

Music from Return to Sector 9 (all twelve tracks) are now available to download from Pug Fugly Games.

cly5m's favorite games are listed on this page.

GBAX Coding Competition results announced.

Release Dates

Hurdler 2 will be released in Winter 2007.

Blackwell Unbound is nearly done, and would be made available for purchase from Wadjet Eye Games' web site very soon. Should be out around the same time as Erin Robinson's Nanobots.

Nigoro has confirmed that they are not only working on a new shooter for their next release, but also on a second game (pictured below) as well which involves vehicular chases. Expect both games to be released in the coming weeks.

Seiklus and Knytt are both serene platformers with more focus on ambiance and atmosphere than challenges. I'm sure that if both of them were thrown into a real cage match they'd make friends with one another instead of fight.

Vote for your favorite! (To enable easy vote-counting, please mention your vote as the first word of the comment.)

Vote count: Seiklus 16 - 25 Knytt




Previous results:
Warning Forever [27] - [29] Fraxy
Dwarf Fortress [73] - [21] The Kingdom of Loathing
Sumotori Dreams [8] - [44] Toribash

Incursion is a freeware roguelike game based on the mechanics of the d20 system made available under the Open Game License by Wizards of the Coast - the same rules system used by the popular tabletop roleplaying game, Dungeons and Dragons.

Much like ADOM and Dungeon Crawl, it was designed by one person over the course of a couple of years. The number of options presented to the player from the very start of the game can be staggering, bewildering even. This is not a roguelike for the weak of heart.

Once a character has been created, your avatar is sent to the first level of the Goblin Caves with only a flight of stairs deeper into the dungeon as the only exit. Expect to encounter mobs, traps, monsters, spellcasters, undead, dragons, and many other deadly adversaries during your long journey before reaching the tenth and final level of the labyrinth to face the Goblin King himself.

A Linux version is currently in production. More information about the game itself can be found in this forum thread and a recently published article, if details on the web site do little to satiate your needs.

Name: Incursion
Developer: Julian Mensch
Category: Roguelike
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Hammerfall is a violent action game which mainly involves swinging a heavy object on a chain in a looping or sideways motion. Damage is then calculated when your weapon connects with a foe, enemy or adversary.

Just about everything is controlled using the mouse, save for accessing several menu options and the like. Mouse sensitivity can be changed by editing a configuration file in the game folder. The download link is available from Fun-Motion.com.

Name: Hammerfall
Developer: GKosh
Category: Action
Type: Demo
Size: 10MB

The Ruins of the Lost Kingdom is a freeware action RPG created by a group of veteran Japanese developers, featuring decent 3D graphics and a complicated gameplay system that is guaranteed to please any fans of the genre with an understanding of the Japanese language.

Your avatar can perform standard melee attacks in battle, cast spells, execute combos, rolls, and even embark on adventures alone or with a party of three other heroes in the multiplayer mode.

Understanding the menus can be a daunting task, so here's an easy tutorial for folks who aren't familiar with the language.

Download the game here. [direct download link]

Unzip the file, then double-click on rol.exe. A config menu will appear, just choose next for default options. Once the configuration menu closes, double click on rol.exe again to start the game.

main menu
user selection screen
create a profile
select a profile
select a profile 2
mode select
mission select
save room
game screen
combat screen

Name: The Ruins of the Lost Kingdom
Developer: Tomoshibi
Category: Action RPG
Type: Freeware
Size: 80MB
Screenshots page: Click here

Proximity HD is a simplified strategy game for up to four players. You have five tiles in your hand at any given time, each tile with a number on it from 1 to 20, representing the strength of that tile.

Each turn, you can place a tile on any empty space on the hex-based board. Once that tile is placed, it affects any tiles surrounding it. Tiles that belong to the same team are reinforced by 2 points, enemy tiles with a smaller number than the tile placed are captured, and enemy tiles with the same or higher numbers than the placed tile have their strength reduced by two points.

After the board is filled, the scores on all the tiles are added up and the team with the highest score is considered the winner. There are plenty of tweaks and settings to tinker with, for example computer AI, winning conditions, map and even gameplay types.

Name: Proximity HD
Developer: Brian Cable
Category: Strategy
Type: Browser