The guy that is making The Undertaking also has another project in the works titled Katakijin. It essentially looks like it's going to be a exploration slash 'em up platformer. Since 64 digits finally re-surfaced, he posted a small demo and Youtube clip.

Prototype II is X-0ut's new horizontal shooter with a nod to the R-Type series in particular. Shaders can be disabled from the configuration menu if the game doesn't run when this option is turned on. Hold the Z key to shoot or press the X key to manipulate the pod. The A and S keys can be used to change your ship's speed.

Name: Prototype II
Developer: X-0ut
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 50MB
Direct download link: Click here

Micro Art is a new puzzler from GamePure, creator of the popular Speed Cluster, Oshidama and Combat Heaven Next series. Tiles on the left side of the screen are removed by drawing a line and collecting at least three pieces from the right. The order in which the pieces are acquired determines which columns or rows of tiles will be taken out. Tiles can be removed either horizontally or vertically.

Name: Micro Art
Developer: GamePure
Category: Puzzle
Type: Browser

Garden of Coloured Lights is a new vertical shooter by Linley Henzell, creator of Excellent Bifurcation and the popular Dungeon Crawl. The game features four levels, each with a different theme and end level boss. Sound effects are implemented in a very unique manner, in which every shot fired triggers a different sound based on their colours.

There are plenty of options to choose from, though your ship can only be equipped with a maximum of three. Some requires a cooling period to recharge, while others can be fired constantly with no penalties whatsoever. Weapons are upgraded by using them repeatedly, as represented by gauges shown at the top left of the screen. [download requires registration]

Name: Garden of Coloured Lights
Developer: Linley Henzell
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB
Gameplay video: watch
Previous works: Dungeon Crawl, Excellent Bifurcation [direct download link]

Short movie of AblationX by Nenad.

[Source: Retro Remakes]

• New Music Formats. In addition to BAM [the native OHRRPGCE format] and MIDI, you can also play MP3, OGG, MOD, XM, S3M and IT.


• New sample game: Fenrir Lunaris's modern retro epic fantasy masterpiece "Vikings of Midgard".





• Multiple improvements to the scripting language and game editor.

Bernie's Platformer: Bernie's new game is two-thirds done.

Announcements

Moonpod: Moonpod has acquired official Wii developer certification. No Moonpod Wii titles announced yet, though there is every possibility the Wii could get a Starscape or Mr. Robot port.

3Punge: The 15th edition of 3Punge (Three Minutes Game Contest) is scheduled to start on the 7th of October 2007.

PyWeek: Results for PyWeek 5 announced.

Articles

What's New in Indie: GameTunnel's monthly column, The 60-Minute Trial renamed to What's New in Indie.

B-Game Competition: Gnome has decided to review all entries from TIGSource's recent B-Game Competition. [source: Terry]

Updates

The Endless Forest: The Endless Forest version 3.0 is now available for download. [download page]

RIAH: RIAH (2D platformer) updated with several new levels.

Upcoming

Monokey: The Monokey development team are still working on their secret project.

Dwarf Fortress: The latest version of Dwarf Fortress is currently undergoing it's stringent testing phase. A release can be expected very soon.

Miscellaneous

Temple of the Roguelike: Site updated with a new review for Xenocide.

flOw: thatgamecompany's flOw nominated for a BAFTA award in the Innovation category. [download flOw]

Cube Farm: Joshua Jersild, the author of Mop of Destiny is working on converting Cheapass Games' Cube Farm into digital format, though unfortunately not for distribution. [Mop of Destiny download link]

A recap of the games mentioned this month, September 2007:

The objective of Minimal Yahtzee is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations. The dice can be rolled up to three times in a turn to try to make one of the thirteen possible scoring combinations.

A game of Yahtzee consists of thirteen rounds during which the player chooses which scoring combination is to be used in that round. Once a combination has been used in the game, it cannot be used again.

Each of the scoring combinations has a different point value, some of which are fixed values and others of which have the cumulative value of the dice. A Yahtzee is a five-of-a-kind and holds the game's highest point value of 50. [rules from Wikipedia]

Name: Minimal Yahtzee
Developer: Gary Warne
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

Castlewars is a card game in which players from both sides can win by being the first to build a hundred storey castle or destroy the opponent's castle entirely. A number of cards are shown at the bottom of the screen, and the player has to decide which card to play for each turn by clicking on it. Cards can be discarded from their hands by holding down the control key while selecting a card. Only one card can be discarded during each turn.

This is a remake of the classic game Ants.

Revelation is a short action game with stealth elements made by dkh using the AGS engine, originally designed for development of adventure games. Use the arrow keys to move around, or press the space key to use your weapon. Press the up cursor key to climb a ledge, and tap any of the number keys to swap weapons when more are acquired.

Additional levels can be designed by editing a text file, then placing it into the game directory.

Name: Revelation
Developer: Jan Simon
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Direct download link: Click here

Decobliss is a shmup. Your ship is stuck on a curved rail, which you can move right or left to either end of but no further, adding to the challenge of dodging the enemies' onslaught of fire (and other obstacles). Keyboard is used for moving left and right, while aiming is performed with the mouse.

Name: Decobliss
Developer: STARFOXROX
Category: Shmup
Type: Freeware
Size: 3.3MB

This week, Ben "Yahtzee" Crowshaw reviews Popcap's "Peggle".



So, who else thinks that Zero Punctuation is the best thing to hit game reviewing since the arsecast?

Some of Yahtzee's previous projects:
6 Days a Sacrifice
Trilby's Notes
5 Days a Stranger
1213 Episodes 1 2 and 3
Adventures in the Galaxy of Fantabulous Wonderment

Bear Go Home is an action game in which players are assigned the objective of helping the protagonist to find his way home. Influence his movements by stretching and squeezing him to get past obstacles, for example pulling his tail to catapult him over pits.

Items such as umbrellas and candles can be used to deflect harmful objects or illuminate your surroundings. This student project is rather short in length, and can be easily beaten in under an hour's time. Shortlisted for this year's BAFTA Ones to Watch Award.

Name: Bear Go Home
Developer: Phoenix Seed
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 70MB
Gameplay video: Watch
Direct download link: Click here

Manifold is a room-by-room platform puzzle game with a little twist - the player can shoot "anomalies" against walls which propel the player in any given direction.

It's quite short, more of a prototype that a fleshed out game, but worth checking out nonetheless!

Name: Manifold
Developer: Joe Lesler
Category: Platform
Type: Browser
Play: On Kongregate, here

Adrian has compiled a list of freeware games released in 2007, complete with a screenshot for each entry and sorted by category. This definite bookmark item currently contains over two hundred games. Recommendations are also included.

Adrian Werner's Guide to 2007 Freeware Games

i've been talking with simon carless and matt wegner of the igf triumvirate and they have handed down a pretty exciting decision: games created with game maker are now eligible for the main and student competitions of the independent games festival.

game maker games had previously been disallowed because of a technicality: in order for a game to be eligible, the authors must be capable of commercially distributing it. because there's a cash prize for the competition, you see. well, the igf committee did their research, and it turns out game maker games authors are totally able to sell their games. hence, they are eligible.

the deadline for entering the main competition is on october first, a week away. there's also an obscene usd95 entry fee. i think it's important, though, to show that games can be made by people who are not coders. i think it's vital to the medium, in fact, that lack of programming experience not be a barrier to a person producing the game she's envisioned.

so show these folks what you've got, kids.

(recently translated to English; repost)

Kaipuu is a platformer by Virtanen which is heavily inspired by Seiklus and an extension to their earlier release entitled Painajainen. Power-ups can be collected for new abilities such as double jumps and pushing blocks.

Placed first in the recent Suomipelit game development competition. To save a game, simply press the down arrow key when standing right in front of the stone located at the starting point. Load your saved progress by choosing the second option from the main menu. Use the enter key to access a world map.

Name: Kaipuu
Developer: Virtanen Games
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Download page: Click here

Walaber's JelloCar is an experimental XNA game project which uses his soft body physics library. The game involves driving a car that can change shape with the press of a key, an action which will be repeated quite frequently before the end of each stage is reached.

Press the space key to change the shape of your vehicle, and use the arrow keys to move the car around. Tap the escape key at any time to leave a game in progress or to quit the program directly. [source: Fun-Motion]

ABA, OMEGA, Queasy Games: Brandon scores an exclusive chat with Kenta Cho, OMEGA and Jonathan Mak in the same sitting.

Everyday Shooter: Kotaku has done another preview of Jonathan Mak's Everyday Shooter. Expect to hear about the new project from Queasy Games sometime in the near future.

Typhoon 2001: A Linux port of Typhoon 2001 can be expected next week.

FAQ: FAQ updated with information about changing keyboard layout for games which uses the Z, X, C mapping.

According to the official web site for Plasma Pong, the download link and information page for this freeware game had been taken down until further notice.

The forums are still up, while the game itself can be acquired from Download.com and CHIP Online. Both Washington Post and Gamasutra interviews had revealed that a multi-player version was in the works before this setback.

Apparently you can't do a Pong remake without approval from Atari it seems.