Here are a couple of Cave Story covers in MP3 format (right click to save). Short clip from a live performance in the extended.

Cave Story - Main Theme
Cave Story - Jam
Cave Story - Grasstown
Cave Story - Moonsong

From Jonathan Blow: "Gravitation is another art game. It’s good. It’s also easier for new players to 'get' than Passage, which hopefully will help more people realize how interesting these games are.

It’s great that Jason is managing to create such good games in such a short time period. It makes me wonder if I’ve been going the wrong way working 3 years on Braid."

Use the cursor keys to move, and press the space key to jump. Similar to Jason's previous release, very little instructions are provided and it's up to the player to figure out gameplay mechanics from discovery through trial and error.

The F key can be used to switch between full screen and windowed mode. Press the Q key to quit at any time. The creator's statement can be found on the same download page.

Name: Gravitation
Developer: Jason Rohrer
Category: Art
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB

Interviews with makers of PixelJunk and flOw (30 minutes running time). GDC 2008 Best Downloadable Game award presentation video in the extended.

From Gamasutra: Organizers of the Penny Arcade Expo have announced "The PAX 10," a new independent games showcase to be featured at the August 29-31st Expo, put together with the help of DigiPen Institute of Technology.

Interested parties can submit their game for consideration by May 7th. A panel of 50 judges will select the ten best submissions for inclusion, and will award the winners with four exhibitor badges and a PAX floor kiosk to demonstrate the game.

PAX Attendees will also get the chance to vote on all of the PAX 10 exhibited games, with the winner receiving an "Audience Choice Award" following this year's event.

As part of the announcement, PAX organizers have also announced that Sony Online, Microsoft, THQ, Blizzard, Namco, NCSoft, Foundation 9 and more than two dozen other developers and publishers have already signed up for this year's Expo.

Organizers also note that ticket sales should outpace last year's 37,000 attendees. Said Penny Arcade's Robert Khoo, "We're selling tickets over twice as fast as we did in 2007, which of course is terrifying. At this point, attendees expect a great show. That's something we know how to do."

Penny Arcade Expo To Feature PAX10 Indie Showcase
PAX10 submission form (source: GameSetWatch)

Mighty Jill Off is dessgeega's tribute to the fantastic Bomb Jack series, created with collaborative efforts from James Harvey and Andrew Toups. Players jump with the Z key, and can cancel this action at any time by pressing the same button again for a smaller leap. Tap the Z key rapidly to reduce the speed of descent while in mid-air.

The game can be finished in roughly ten or twenty minutes with the first try.

Mighty Jill Off
Developer: dessgeega
Category: Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB
Direct download link: Click here

The final 2007 Best Of Features here on the IndieGames.com.blog, we're proud to present twenty of the best freeware shoot 'em ups released in 2007.

Horizontal, vertical or hybrid 2D and 3D shooters. Whatever your fancy, you'll find everything here as we unveil another twenty noteworthy shoot 'em ups from last year.

Best Freeware Shoot 'em ups 2007

  1. Varia
  2. MinishoterRS
  3. Garden of Colored Lights
  4. Return to Sector 9
  5. Prototype II
  6. Storm Assault
  7. Arcanacra Black Label
  8. Echoes
  9. Sonic Ironstorm: Fatal Attack
10. Honeyblaster
11. Fraxy
12. XED
13. Exception
14. Axion
15. Genetos
16. Kamiha
17. Gaism
18. Blast Force
19. Dotechin
20. Reincarnation

Stargirl & the Thief from the Exploded Moon is a new platformer by Bernie, developer of Darkside Adventures and Reactor 9. The game features plenty of secrets, hidden items and occasional boss battles as well.

Press the C key to jump, or hold the V key to increase running speed when available. The same button can also be used to grab and throw objects found in all levels. Press the return key to pause at any time.

Name: Stargirl and the Thief from the Exploded Moon
Developer: Bernie
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

Two new gameplay videos added to Ookiblok's official web site.

An Untitled Story is a shareware platformer which was recently released as freeware by Matt Thorson, developer of the popular but frustratingly hard Jumper series. The game world is expansive but players with anything less than incredible reflexes would find it difficult to progress very far, since most of the challenges revolve around precision jumps and a knack for perfect timing.

Switching between full screen and windowed mode is only possible once a new profile has been created. Press the space key to bring up a pause menu, then choose the options tab to find this well-hidden feature.

Name: An Untitled Story
Developer: Helix Games
Category: Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 20MB
Direct download link: Click here

Full guide for An Untitled Story

Raider and Repeler is a rather creative take on the shooter genre in which the player doesn't actually do any shooting. Instead, you must intercept the enemies fire and send it back at them. However, unlike other versions of this concept I have seen, you have to intercept ALL of the enemy fire. Any bullets or enemy ships that manage to escape off of the screen will cause your ship damage.

The visuals may not astound, but the game is simply a blast once you get the hang of it. Highly recommended.

(Note, the author's last name might not actually be Shirotama, that's my best guess as to the reading of his last name.)

Name: Raider and Repeler
Developer: Yukito Shirotama
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 8MB
Direct download link: Click here

From Gamasutra: There have been few indie gaming success stories as big as Dwarf Fortress, an ASCII freeware simulation game in which the player helps to establish and govern a colony of dwarves, as they construct a Moria of their own.

The scope of the game defies belief: it contains an extensive world generator, a three-dimensional cellular automata system for simulating fluids, naming languages for all major races, an economics simulation, and even a complete Adventure Mode in which the player can explore abandoned fortresses.

It's so detailed that large web communities have sprung up around the game, both on the developer's forums and Something Awful, where players trade stories about what happened in their games. Some of these stories have even become popular outside the game's community.

Amazingly for a game as rich as Dwarf Fortress, it remains the work of just two people, programmer Tarn "Toady One" Adams and his brother Zach. Tarn supports himself primarily with donations from Dwarf Fortress enthusiasts. In this interview, Tarn talks about the inspiration and origins of the game, and some of the finer points of its construction.

This interview was originally held over a private IRC conversation, and edited into a more traditional interview format.

Interview: The Making Of Dwarf Fortress

In Yaruhara's arena shooter Nanosmiles, players have to collect inactive options scattered around each area and use them to inflict damage on the enemies. Hold the Z key to activate your targeting system. Your weapons will automatically fire at targeted enemies if the same button is held down. Press the X key to make your ship travel quicker.

Note: This new version features sixteen levels, twelve more than the original demo released shortly before Comiket 73.

Name: Nanosmiles
Developer: Yaruhara
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB
Direct download link: Click here

Blast Works (Wii port of Kenta Cho's Tumiki Fighters) will be released on May 1st of 2008. Unlockable goodies include rRootage, Gunroar, Torus Trooper and the original Tumiki Fighters.

Aha, a quick side note to point out a new Gamasutra article by David Marsh, who you may know as the creator of DevBump, but is also a former big-budget and current indie game developer - which is why he's in a good position to write the feature 'Nine Paths To Indie Game Greatness'.

As he postulated in his intro: "Many game studios are crippled by the amount of resources they require to keep operations going. I have seen plenty of companies that operate "contract to contract" with little hope of ever breaking out of the cycle. The studio growth required by the increasingly resource intensive modern crop of games is many times unsustainable. In fact, the problem seems to be getting worse.

According to a report by the BBC, "Back in 1982, the Japanese company Namco produced Pac-Man for $100,000. Now, the average PlayStation 3 title is estimated to cost $15m. Even after adjusting for inflation, that is still a significant rise. While production costs have tripled in recent years with the introduction of next-gen consoles, sales and revenue have hardly changed." [EDITOR'S NOTE: Well, game industry revenue has gone up a tad in aggregate, but we abstractly take the point, the BBC!]

Independent developers usually operate with very limited initial resources. By operating without a loan of resources, they create a development environment for themselves free from outside influences or restrictions. The only obligations they hold are to themselves as developers and the people who play and purchase their games."

In any case, the full feature on Gamasutra lists a number of specific ways indies can innovate and create with less, including 'Procedural Content', 'Avoiding Photorealistic Art Direction', and by "utilizing existing free, cheap, or open technology". All fine points (and sorry I had to use the Little Miss Sunshine graphic again!)

So, the full IGF Awards show will be coming in due course, but in the meantime, the gods at Mega64 have posted up their three specially commissioned IGF skits, and they are really, happily ridiculous.

All three of the videos are rather 'special', but rather than trying to redescribe them, I'll just quote what they said on their official website:

"So as you may have heard, Mega64 once again provided videos for the big awards show at the Game Developers Conference. This year, though, their videos instead focused on the independent games. Was the Mega64 crew indie enough to do the game industry justice! Watch these new videos to find out!

And then finally, watch "Independent Inspirations" to prepare yourself to be an indie winner!"

Ah yes, and one more things from the Mega64-ers - a little vignette, if you will: "My favorite thing about GDC is how every time we go, we seem to have one defining moment that makes us realize, 'Wow, this was totally all worth it.' This year, for me, it was Jason Della Rocca, after winning his Ambassador Award, coming down to tell us that Ralph Baer, the father of modern video games, apparently looked like he was going to have a heart attack during our awards intro video.

Now of course we love Mr. Baer and everything he's done for video games, and would never wish any ill will unto him. But just the fact that we even heard that spoken to us was just a mindblower- How the hell did we get here? I mean, really? (Love you, Ralph)."

Knytt Nano is a small platformer created as an experimental piece by the author of Within a Deep Forest and Knytt Stories. Use the cursor keys for movement, or hold the A key to run quicker. Tap the S key to jump.

The game has a proper ending. (full map)

Name: Knytt Nano
Developer: Nifflas
Category: Platform
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here

From Wired: "Everyday Shooter creator Jonathan Mak baffled attendees of the Game Designer's Rant when he didn't use his segment of the panel to complain about the state of game design, but rather to play some catchy music and release a number of balloons into the crowd."

Balloons, Not Words From Everyday Shooter Creator
Three Wild Theories About Everyday Shooter Designer's Rant
Jon Mak Makes GDC Real
GDC08 Six things to take from Game Developers Rant Balloons! - Joystiq

Vegetable Soup Tactics is the result of an attempt by Stewart Hogarth and Lyall Bruce to create a physics-based tile matching puzzler in under one day for the Dundee Game Jam meet in Scotland. Similar to Digital Eel's Soup du Jour, players must remove ingredients from the pot by selecting three or more of the same food stuff with each click of the left mouse button.

Use the add vegetable or shake option for extra points.

Name: Vegetable Soup Tactics
Developer: Stewart Hogarth and Lyall Bruce
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here

The Behemoth's upcoming console release is set to be released on the XBLA this summer 2008. (trailer in the extended)

Flipside of the Divine is an action game with deep puzzle elements, created by a team of university students for their school project last year. Players guide the onscreen warrior using the keyboard, all the while attempting to reach a portal usually located at the end of each level. Camera view can be controlled by moving the mouse around or scrolling the wheel.

Press the left mouse button to release a bird and flip up to five separate platforms. The game introduces limited resources, enemies, walls, fire, winds and more as you progress through the main campaign.

Name: Flipside of the Divine
Developer: Team Flipside
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 50MB
Direct download link: Click here

Metro.Siberia is a remake of an old classic in which players only need to hold or release one key to control their ship. The game includes three levels with varying difficulty. Press the S key to mute sound, and use the P key to access the pause feature at any time.

Name: Metro.Siberia
Developer: Tommy Salomonsson
Category: Action
Type: Browser

Nick Montfort calls Passage a better game than Portal in an article recently posted on Grand Text Auto. (source: Play This Thing)

Thanks to Cycle for reminding me about this piece as well: Immortal Defense is better than Portal AND Bioshock

PvP: Portal versus Passage
A Lie Worse Than The Cake

From GameSetWatch: A complete set of Mega64 videos shown during the IGF awards ceremony.

More clips in the extended. Videos are also available for download from the Mega64 web site. (may not be safe to watch at work; strong language)

Alan Probe: Amateur Surgeon is a new flash game by Adult Swim. You play the role of a pizza delivery boy who has to undertake an emergency operation to redeem himself for a mistake, then quickly proceeds to make it a new career choice with comical results.

Be prepared to handle numerous inconventional operating instruments as you attempt to carry out life-saving emergency surgeries in a number of awkward situations. The game isn't without it's flaws though, as certain nicks and cuts are extremely difficult to spot in a sea of blood. There are ten patients to treat in the first act.

Name: Alan Probe: Amateur Surgeon
Developer: adult swim
Category: Action
Type: Browser

New set of photos posted on the 2D Boy web site. Text in red refers to an inside joke.

Ultimate Vengance Power 4: The Lemon of Justice is an experimental game submitted by Sophie Houlden for a recent Ludum Dare competition, in which developers must create a playable prototype and post their hastily-made project on the site in less than 48 hours.

Use the cursor keys to move the protagonist around, and grab as many stars as you can for points. Press the Z key to jump, and tap the X key to shoot.

Name: Ultimate Vengeance Power 4: The Lemon of Justice
Developer: Sophie Houlden
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

Cubetendo is another Ludum Dare entry made in under two days, with gameplay resembling the Flash puzzler Bloxorz. Players have to color all floor tiles in each level by moving the main block over them one step at a time, though this task is made a little more difficult with the low horizontal camera perspective.

The game can be restarted using the backspace or R key. Press F11 to switch between full screen and windowed mode.

Name: Cubetendo
Developer: mjau
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Direct download link: Click here

Tetris: Compromise is a messed up version of Alexey Pajitnov's popular puzzler, in which players have to control pieces on both sides of the playing field with only one set of controls. Use the cursor keys to move each pair of blocks around.

A new variation of an old classic is introduced on Retro Sabotage Games every Thursday.

Name: Tetris: Compromise
Developer: Retro Sabotage Games
Category: Puzzle
Type: Browser

Flatliner is a physics-based action game which comes with a fully-featured level editor. Players can sort through user creations by date or ratings using a simple search filter. In addition to basic save and upload functions, level codes can also be generated as a string of text and numbers for sharing purposes.

There are plenty of vehicles to choose from, and best completion times for each stage can be submitted online as well. Controls are pretty much limited to the cursor keys. Simply collect all coins in a level to activate the exit.

Name: Flatliner
Developer: Tom Thornton
Category: Action
Type: Browser