You may or may not know of Gregory Weir's 'A Game a Month' challenge to himself, but in any case, here is his February achievement entitled Exploit - although it's not fully ready yet. He does promise that it will be available in 'only a few days' though, so we'll let him off this time.

A description from the man himself:

Exploit is a game about totalitarianism, computer security, and terrorism. Players will solve puzzles to progress through the storyline, or create their own puzzles and trade them in comments or on forums. The game features a very cool soundtrack, which you can hear some of in the video, written by Evan Merz.

Sounding good already! Of course, we'll keep you informed about the impending release.

Increpare's games are usually pretty interesting, but Opera Omnia really impressed me. In this game you play a state historian who is charged by his politician friend to come up with convenient theories about migration in the past (of their people and "the others").

The gameplay may be a bit hard to "get" at first. Basically, you have to think backwards: if people were in this city during a plague, and if plagues reduce population, that means that they had to have had a lot of people in order to survive that plague: thus, plagues actually increase population if you work backwards in time.

The challenge of each level is that you're given something to prove -- such as prove that 300,000 people lived in this city a long time ago -- and you adjust migration patterns that will show how 300,000 people could have lived in that city a long time ago.

Again, it's hard to "get", and a lot of the people I've recommended the game to had a hard time wrapping their mind around the concept, but if you do manage to do it you'll find it a clever gameplay mechanic and some interesting challenges unlike most other games. There's also a pretty well-written story over the span of its 20 levels.

- Windows Download (6.4MB)
- OSX 10.5+ Download (6.4MB)

Here's your dose of crazy for the day ahead. Signifier depicts the life of a guy growing up from a baby to an adult, walking through all the stages of his life, from first baby steps to getting his first job. Using a combination of the keyboard and (ironically) Black and White style mouse movements, it's all about growing up to be a polite individual.

Earlier levels see you learning the names of objects, with everything on the screen being represented as words rather than pictures. It all gets extremely odd after a few minutes and I couldn't help smiling at some of the dialogue. Give it a try and see what I mean.

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Capcom, NetDevil, Realtime Worlds, PlayFirst, and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Ping Pong is cactus' take on the popular table tennis game, although some rules were changed for a more arcade feel rather than an accurate simulation of the sporting pastime. Each player serves the ball twice before possession goes over to their opponent, and the first player to reach eleven points wins the set. It's a bit disorientating at first to see the ball pass through the net instead of bouncing off it, but after a few games this oddity will hardly be noticed as you struggle to keep up with the pace of the action.

A training module is included to assist new players with learning the controls, while the hotseat multiplayer feature allows two people to take on each other in a friendly match. Note also the super smash is only available to use in the original mode.

Name: Ping Pong
Developer: cactus
Category: Sports
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Related:
Ping Pong (Cactus Squid)
Ping Pong gameplay video

[For anyone who hasn't got a Game Developers Conference ticket yet, this Green Label Games-supported competition is a definite chance to win an All-Access pass, which includes entry to the Indie Games Summit and IGF, just by inventing a game concept that represents (futuramavoice) the wooorld of tomorrrrrow (/futuramavoice).]

Gamasutra and its sister sites are presenting a new competition for future-oriented developers, with 20 All-Access GDC Passes (collectively worth over $40,000!) available for lucky winners who can envisage what video games might be like in the year 2020.

The prizes in this special competition are awarded thanks to Green Label Gaming. The Mountain Dew-backed gaming label is heavily supporting innovative gaming at GDC this year, and is committed to empowering the emerging talent – helping to shape the future of the industry.

In addition to the GDC All-Access passes, Green Label Gaming is adding $10,000 to the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the Independent Games Festival, to make the IGF's top prize $30,000 this year.

We know the kind of break-out games that are popular in 2009 - from World Of Goo to LittleBigPlanet and beyond. But how about in 2020? Can you predict what kind of games will be smash hits, how they will be delivered, and how we will consume games as an entertainment medium?

As you may know, there are people called futurists who get awarded to talk about what hasn't happened yet. So that's what we're letting competition entrants be for this test, with the winners being showcased in a special Gamasutra feature.

If you liked a bit of Castle Crashers, you're going to love this. Portal Defenders sees players taking control of the Newgrounds creator Tom Fulp (and a cast of other Newgrounds regulars after you've unlocked them) as wave upon wave of enemies are sent in your direction. Your mission? Button-bash them all to death.

If you know your indie developers you'll recognise a good few names here, including a certain Armor Games developer and a guy in need of Closure. There's plenty to do here, with lots of bosses and mini-games to fill out the time, plus achievements of course.

There's a whole page dedicated to explaining Portal Defenders here, but if you'd rather just jump straight in, give this link a click.

Hey Wizard is a magic-orientated platformer with a unique look and interesting gameplay. Our little wizard friend has had his powers stolen, so obviously this means he must jump into a book and destroy everything in sight to get them back.

The game plays really well and everything seems to mould together rather nicely. Stringing attacks into a combo to both take the enemy out and boost yourself around the level is a charming experience and flows intriguingly.

Give it a spell over on Spelgrim.

Now this looks interesting - Raycatcher from Thinking Studios takes your mp3s, turns them into rays and fires them at a ball - you must then in turn spin the ball to allow the correct colour rays to hit the ball in the correct spots.

If Audiosurf proved anything last year, it's that gamers love to incorporate their music into a slick-looking arcade game and it seems Raycatcher hopes to capitalize on that. A demo is available for now, with a full version coming very soon.

Zeno Clash, ACE Team's upcoming Source-powered action/fighting game has beaten off the competition to be crowned ModDB's Best Upcoming Indie game for 2008.

Up against the likes of Overgrowth and Infinity, the award should help boost Zeno Clash into the limelight and give it the attention it deserves.

Check out the full list of winners and runner-ups at ModDB.

Escape-the-room games irritate me incredibly in the sense that I am absolutely terrible at them, yet once I start one, I can't help but sit and pop a vein over it for an extremely long time.

Sagrario’s Room Escape didn't disappoint and my frustration levels were sent sky high. The aspect that made this one so unique compared to others I've played is that Sagrario's Room is rather bare at first glance, yet still packs just as much puzzle.

What begins quite simple looking quickly becomes head-scratchingly complex. If you're a fan of escape-the-room games, you'll find a nice time-wasting opportunity here. And when you finally decide to give up, check out the walkthrough over on Jay is Games.

Ever since the announcement that the indie hit Xbox360-exclusive Braid is finally coming to PC, many avid Steam users have called for a Steam release of Jonathan Blow's time-warping masterpiece.

And so their dreams have been fulfilled! It was announced today by Valve that Braid will indeed be hitting Steam on March 31st at a price of $14.99 (12.99 EUR, £9.99). Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve, had this to say on the release:

"Braid is arguably the strongest example of what can be accomplished by an independent game designer. From GDC to DICE, the title has deservedly collected numerous accolades and, along with World of Goo, Audiosurf and many others, is redefining the way people think about 'Independent Games.'"

It's worth mentioning that the original Xbox 360 version is still on offer for $10 at the moment for Gold Live members.

Space Sausage is a short horizontal shooter created by the author of Bullet Candy, in which brave pilots must attempt to fly their ship past hordes of enemies in the shape of unmentionable body parts and take down the bosses waiting at the end of each level.

The game features an online high score table, a special guest appearance by General Custer himself, and is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. There are three waves to play in total.

Name: Space Sausage
Developer: Charlie's Games
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux

One can't help but think that Passage had been the catalyst for the creation of many 'art games' we've been seeing in the last year or so, from Daniel Bernmergui's I Wish I Were the Moon to Gregory Weir's The Majesty of Colors, and even Tales of Tales' pair Auriea and Michaël couldn't resist contributing an attempt of their own with the release of The Graveyard. We could also argue that biggt's La La Land series first set the stage for others to follow, although how much of that was an influence to Jason Rohrer's work we would never know.

Terry Cavanagh's Pathways is another entry in this line of interactive storytelling, where the progression of a tale is dictated by your choices, and hence the key moments and endings will be directly affected as well. As hinted by the title, players are offered the options of taking one route or another at many of the junctions to be found inside the game, with all paths previously explored conveniently marked by a fuzzy snow effect seen commonly on old television sets. A good selection of music and sound effects help accentuate the experience, although the conclusion of this adventure may surprise a few people because of how little resolution it provides to many of the questions that might arise from playing.

Name: Pathways
Developer: Terry Cavanagh
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Dinowaurs is a hefty multiplayer combat/strategy game done completely in real-time. Players pick a dinosaur, give him a name, dress him up, kit him out with weapons, then aim in the direction of the enemy and blow them to pieces.

Each team is given a set of villages and each village generates money which can in turn be turned into bigger and better weapons to destroy the opposition with. Online matches are found via a matchmaking system and there's a tutorial to plug your way through, so you can get to grips before taking on the world.

There's actually a lot going on here, with a nice online ranking system to boot. It appears that initial reactions from players are rather varied, with some loving the mix of combat and trajectory-work and others just not liking it at all. Overall it's good solid fun which is easily accessible for those who want a quick, silly game, yet deep enough for serious players to keep at it.

Play it over at Kongregate Games now. There's a gameplay trailer below, too.

Shinobido is a web advergame for Acquire's PS2 stealth-based action title with a similar name, in which players assume the role of a ninja who has to storm five different samurai strongholds, carry out their assigned objectives and reach the topmost floor to complete the mission.

Only the space and cursor keys are needed to play this game. Surprise an enemy from the back to execute a stealth kill, or press the space key to throw a shuriken at an opponent and stun them momentarily. Direct confrontations should be avoided whenever possible, as some health would be lost if you trade blows with an adversary. Mission objectives range from collecting all scrolls in the current stage to killing a certain number of enemies to progress.

There are only five strongholds to infiltrate in total.

Name: Shinobido
Developer: Acquire
Category: Action
Type: Browser

Related:
Shinobido gameplay video

2 Minutes RPG is essentially a roguelike with minor action elements included in the form of basic combat, where players get to name their hero and take him or her on an adventure to save the kingdom from evil beasts, dragons, barbarians and the occasional black knight or two. Created with Mark Overmars' Game Maker, this little project has been diluted to the extent of leaving out character stats, inventory, experience points and even health. What's left is a gold count indicating the amount of loot you've managed to acquire during your short journey, and some additional information shown during the end screen once all usable turns have been expended.

Each move consumes one turn from your counter, while going forward one square in a crypt takes up only half a turn.

Name: 2 Minutes RPG
Developer: Tembac
Category: RPG
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB

Blade Gardener is a one-level tech demo for darthlupi's upcoming blade-swinging action game, which seems to borrow swordplay elements from his other unreleased project called Sword Fighter Zero. You take on the role of a gardener in the Garden of Life, who has to drive back enemies sent by the Goddess of Decay to corrupt everything that is under your care.

This basically involves going around the map and turning large dark crystals into pulsating life orbs with your beam of light, simply by holding down the right mouse button and aiming it at whatever you need converting or eradicated. You can fill up the beam gauge easily by hovering close to a giant life orb with some mana from the enemies you have defeated. The sword acts as a form of protection against harmful projectiles, and can also be used to slice at your adversaries to convert them into mana for collection.

This short level ends once you've managed to convert all dark crystals into life orbs. You can use the F4 function key to switch between full screen and windowed mode.

Name: Blade Gardener
Developer: darthlupi
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Cursor*10 (2nd Session) is a new follow-up to Yoshio Ishii's popular mouse click game, where players have to once again collect all pyramids in each of the sixteen floors with only the ten cursors they're allowed to use as lives. You will direct the action of every cursor, one at a time, with events beginning to loop once the allocated time for that cursor runs out.

The game is largely similar to its predecessor, but contains enough subtle additions to warrant a second play.

Name: Cursor*10 2nd Session
Developer: Yoshio Ishii
Category: Puzzle
Type: Browser

For this week only, Braid on the Xbox 360 is $10, giving a saving of $5. Obviously with word that Braid is coming to the PC next month, Microsoft are trying to grab a few more willing souls for the Xbox version.

The slight hitch with this offer is that you must have Gold Membership for Xbox Live to make use of the offer. Still, if you are a Gold member, it's a great deal.

Source: Braid Official Site

Avalancher is a strategy game involving lots of snow and a fearless eskimo. Players are invited to choose a spot for our freezing hero and then given the chance to build a small igloo around him before unleashing the avalanche.

Of course the game follows the recent trend of 'physics is cool', so expect the little guy to go a-tumbling about when the snow hits. It all starts off pretty simple but soon gets rather challenging. Cliff edges, lack of igloo pieces and harshly-placed trees will surely hinder your progress and cause our woolly-coated one numerous deaths.

Take to the mountains over at Sinister Sea.

[Continuing interviews with the 2009 Independent Games Festival finalists, Eric Caoili talks to Ace Team' Andres Bordeu about Zeno Clash -- a first-person action game set in a "punk fantasy" world and emphasizing hand-to-hand combat -- nominated for the Visual Art Award.]

Looking to separate its title from the dozens of other PC first-person game hitting the market this year, Chilean developer Ace Team set Zeno Clash, its first commercial title, in a punk fantasy world that's both beautiful and disturbing, populated with grotesque creatures that seem taken from The Island of Doctor Moreau.

Zeno Clash also stands out for its focus on up-close, hand-to-hand combat, allowing characters to punch, deflect, knockback, and grab their opponents, learning new moves and combos as they encounter new enemies with different fighting styles.

In the Source engine-powered game, players take on the role of Ghat, a member of his city's most powerful clan and the son of an aberrant, hermaphrodite creature named Father-Mother. Ghat seeks to escape his family and explore the world of Zenozoik as part of a quest that the studio hints could be driven by feelings of rebellion or revenge.

We spoke with Ace Team game designer and artist Andres Bordeu about Zeno Clash, nominated for the Visual Art award at this year's Independent Games Festival (part of Think Services, as is this website):

Pac-Man Physics is an experimental take on Namco's classic maze game, where the law of physics is applied to wall sections, dots and power pellets which are not anchored down to their original spots onscreen. Your goal remains the same and ghosts will still chase you, although collecting power pellets now creates a force of gravity pulling all objects towards one particular direction.

Click on the tiny green arrow just beneath the post date to display the download link.

Name: Pac-Man Physics
Developer: imwill
Category: Physics
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Download mirror: Click here

Green Terror is a physics-based puzzle shooter where killing aliens is your goal. The object is to aim the cannon and fire to kill the alien, whilst making sure you don't hit the human at the same time.

It's a little trickier than a simple aim-and-shoot strategy, however. Magnets pull and push fired balls around, making aiming much harder work. Hitting certain body parts on both the alien and the human is a game in itself, as the cannonball will knock a number of different limbs off their little bodies. Managing to replace the alien's head with a ball is satisfying work.

Give it a blast at Newgrounds.

Typomagia! is a typing game in which you quickly enter words on your keyboard to build up magic power, which can then be used to conjure creatures to battle enemies.

While not exactly unique, it's presented nicely and even has a Story Mode, as well as the option to choose the types of words so you can practice specific sets. It's also (dare I say it) quite tactical in the way that your built up magic can be used to create a variety of monsters and even power-up the monsters already conjured - you could see it as a kind of typing/tower defense style mashup.

Grab Typomagia! from the Sol Games site.

The 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences were held on the 19th February, and World of Goo and Braid walked away with an award under their belt each.

While it was LittleBigPlanet which mopped the floor with the competition, taking home 8 victories, World of Goo took home the Outstanding Achievement in Game Design while Braid nabbed Casual Game of the Year.

Read up on all the winners over at the AIAS site.

Tester Phase One is a fast-paced vertical shooter created by the developer of Made in Wired, where the player's ship is equipped with a standard issue primary firing weapon and a special reflect attack used to deflect projectiles fired by enemy ships. The reflect mode can be activated pressing the X key, although once the full charge is depleted there is a small delay before it can be used again.

Your progress is only saved after every tenth level, with all previously attempted stages available for selection from the main menu. (source: the2bears)

Name: Tester Phase One
Developer: Isshiki
Category: Shooter
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB

Related:
Tester Phase One gameplay video

Time4Cat is the story of a stray feline who accidentally discovers a time-controlling collar. With its power, he sets out to do what he does best - eat leftovers off the street.

Utilizing a unique gaming mechanic to make time seem all bendery, the best use of which has been in last year's classic Braid, the player must collect food whilst dodging the people walking around. However, no-one will move a muscle unless the cat does. It works really smoothly and controlling with the mouse is spot-on.

Give the cat a hand over at Armor Games now.

For this weekend only, Steam have an incredible deal on a pack of 5 indie games.

For just $9.99, a pack is now available which contains the following games: Eets, Gravitron 2, I-Fluid, Multiwinia and Trials 2. It really is not a bad collection at all, especially for the price, and definitely worth checking out.

Grab the pack from the Steam Store - you need to have a Steam account, of course.

Jumpman is a retro 2D platformer which has been in production for over a year, where a variety of gameplay elements such as level rotations, infinite repeating patterns and physics are introduced after every couple of stages. The controls will take some getting used to, as friction is nearly non-existent and will be the main cause for plenty of frustration when it comes to timing the jumps right.

Levels are grouped into paths, with your progress saved automatically once you've reached the start of each path. One neat trick implemented by the developer is that you can see the next few maps which you will have to play shown in the distant background, as if taunting you with the difficulties and obstacles that you have to face next.

A level editor and playground feature is included, should you find yourself craving for more platforming action after completing the main campaign. There are nine paths to play in total, and a special bonus can be unlocked by completing all challenges. The game is also available for both Windows and Mac platforms, while Linux users should be able to get it working under Wine. (source: Trame)

Name: Jumpman
Developer: Andrew McClure
Category: Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 2MB
Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux (Wine)

Related:
Jumpman gameplay video

I have quite a soft spot for point-and-click adventure games. As a child, the likes of Sam and Max, Broken Sword and Monkey Island kept me glued to my computer screen and kept my brain ticking. Recent takes of the genre haven't really done it for me - until now.

Emerald City Confidential is Wadjet Eye Games' concept for a sequel to the well-loved Wizard of Oz and they have pulled it off with such finesse, I was enthralled the entire time.

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Telltale Games, Konami, Krome Studios, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

Kakuro Nichiyo is a freeware implementation of the kakuro numbers puzzle. Similar to crossword puzzles, you are given clues about the sum of the numbers that are found in any given row and column, and from this you must deduce what number appears in each entry on the grid.

This game also features a fairly robust solver and a puzzle creation utility.

Versions for Linux and Mac can be found on the game's download page.

Name: Kakuro Nichiyou
Developer: MK2K
Category: Puzzle
Type: Freeware
Size: 4MB
Direct download link (Windows): Click here

Wadjet Eye Games today released Emerald City Confidential.

A 1940's film noir take on L. Frank Baum's classic Wizard of Oz, the story behind this adventure game revolves around Emerald City's only private detective, a missing person and a seedy criminal underground. According to the site there are 'over 6,500 lines of spoken dialog for 35 characters' set over 5 chapters.

The game is available to buy from the Wadjet Eye site for $19.95 - there's also a free demo so you can try it out first.

The official trailer is in the extended.

It's been around for quite some time now - say, 20 years - on various formats, and now Jamie Woodhouse's recent PC release of Qwak is half price over on Archive Games for the next few days.

Qwak is a 1 or 2 player platforming collectathon affair where grabbing fruit and gems while dodging falling spikes and strange, fish-like creatures is the key. As a single-player experience it's pretty solid, but whip out a friend and you could both be stuck at your keyboard for a rather lengthy amount of time - the gameplay is simple, addictive and jolly good fun.

Check out the Qwak site for more details on the game, download the demo to see what you think, then head over to Archive Games and grab it half price now.

Well this is odd - although you'd expect nothing less of Edmund McMillen. It's the first official trailer for his in-development platformer Super Meat Boy and it involves no gameplay footage whatsoever.

Check out the Super Meat Boy blog for all the latest on the game.

Following the recent news that Jonathan Blow's hugely successful Xbox 360 exclusive Braid is now finally coming to PC, there was unhinged murmuring from lots of PC gamers that the price tag of $20 was a little too steep.

Jonathan has now posted on his Braid blog explaining that he has decided to set the price down to $15. Describing exactly why he chose $20 initially, Blow says:

I just looked at some comparable games on the PC and saw how much they were charging. Crayon Physics Deluxe, World of Goo, and Aquaria, among many others, are all priced at $20. It seemed reasonable not to charge less for Braid than for those games.

He then goes on to say that he 'would rather have people talking about the game itself, what they like and dislike about it' than having people complaining about the price.

[We're talking to this year's Independent Games Festival finalists, and this time Eric Caoili interviews Amanita Design's Jakub Dvorský about Machinarium -- a gorgeous full-scale adventure title populated with rusty, hand-drawn robots -- nominated for the Visual Art Award.]

Based in the Czech Republic, Amanita Design has made a name for itself producing visually unique point-and-click 2D adventure titles, crafting several commissioned games for the BBC, Nike, and symphonic group the Polyphonic Spree.

The studio is best known for its Samorost games, a series of Flash-based releases in which players control a gnome on his quests to save his home planet and recover his kidnapped dog, exploring and interacting with a collection of surreal backdrops to advance the plot. Samorost 2 was a finalist in two categories for the 2007 IGF competition, and took home the "Best Web Browser Game" award.

Machinarium, Amanita's latest title, is once again a point-and-click title featuring detailed, decayed scenes, but it's also the developer's first full-length project. The game will release later this year for PC, with other platforms under consideration.

Featuring hand-drawn graphics, Machinarium follows a little robot who's been left to rust in a scrap yard, as he tries to save his robot-girl friend and stop a bomb attack from the "Black Cap Brotherhood."

We spoke with Amanita's founder and designer Jakub Dvorský about Machinarium, nominated for the Visual Art award at this year's Independent Games Festival (part of Think Services, as is this website):

Offworld has reported that the Windows version of Number None's XBLA darling Braid will be released on Stardock's Impulse distribution platform at the end of next month (31st March, 2009). Retailing at $19.95 (now $14.95), the game should also be available on a few other popular digital distribution channels somewhere around the same time.

No word yet from Jonathan Blow on whether there would be any new content or exclusives for the PC release of Braid.

You may or may not recall an entry into the recent Global Game Jam by a certain Petri Purho of Crayon Physics fame.

'4 Minutes and 33 Seconds of Uniqueness' was an extremely strange yet unique invention by which the user loaded the 'game' up and then simply sat and watched a bar fill up. If anyone else in the world booted the program up while you were 'playing', it would quit and you had lost. If, however, you managed to last the entire time as the sole user, you won.

Now Jonathan Basseri has created a tracker so players can follow exactly who is 'winning' at any time. Utilizing Google Maps and GeoCityLite, the current leader is displayed along with how far through the time they have achieved. When a new player enters the arena, the view is switched to them. And so on.

While being completely pointless, it's quite humourous to load both the program and this site up together and check from which part of the world your victory is being stolen.

The original game can be found over on Petri's blog, while the tracker is located over here.

Our 'Best of the Global Game Jam' list

I Love You is a 2D platformer created for increpare's friendly Love Letter Competition, a contest where participating developers will attempt to code a full game in under two weeks as a present to their loved ones. There is a puzzle near the end that might require some thought to solve, but the adventure itself is rather short and won't pose too much of a challenge for anyone to complete.

The game is intended for mature audiences only.

Name: I Love You
Developer: Miroslav Malesevic
Category: Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here

Mind F**k is the latest odd offering from auntie pixelante. A 2-player ordeal, blocks move up the middle of the screen and add to a counter at the top. The object of the game is to hit your shift button and claim the points as your own before the other person does.

Of course you could just keep hitting it early and claiming small amounts over and over, but both players soon realise that leaving it to run for longer is the best strategy - just so long as you manage to grab them first!

Based on the idea of 'Mind Chess', it's a simple idea created with pure style.

Visit auntie's site for the download.

Don't Soil Your Pants is a one-room text adventure game created by Rete, featuring multiple solutions to the same problem and a set of awards to unlock for players who are into pointless achievements.

Simply click on the prompt symbol at the lower left side of the screen and type the word play to start your quest for the throne.

Name: Don't Soil Your Pants
Developer: Rete
Category: Adventure
Type: Browser

The Space Game is a space-based RTS involving building up a mining base while holding back enemies.

Earlier levels see mining asteroids being the main priority, while later on surviving wave after wave of incoming attackers in the number one concern. It's simple but very polished, with a number of different modes to choose from and a variety of baddies heading your way.

Play it at the Casual Collective

Infinite Chamber is a challenging little number from Bulortio. Your task is to get from one side of the playing field to the other... and then back again... and then back the other way... et al.

What starts off as a simple platformer begins to get rather more difficult after a while and it's genuinely interesting to see how far you can get. All kinds of randomly-generated obstacles get involved, including disappearing blocks, fireballs and flickering lights.

Take to the chamber and see how far you can push it.

Where is a small but atmospheric maze game created by Mike Inel in under three days. There is an actual way to reach your intended destination, although you will have to figure out the solution to a puzzle or two in order to get there.

The game is played using both mouse and keyboard. Use the arrow keys to move, and hold the right mouse button to fast forward the action onscreen.

Name: Where
Developer: Mike Inel
Category: Adventure
Type: Freeware
Size: 10MB
Direct download link: Click here

Beau Blyth's hotseat multiplayer game was recently updated with two new areas (Death Star and molten), meaning that there are now four stages to play in total. It now rains in the forest level as well, a cosmetic effect that was absent in the previous version. (previous mention)

Uberleben web site

30 Second Hero is an action RPG which consists of really short battles that require no interaction, as players race against the clock to save the kingdom from an evil wizard's wrath. As indicated by the title, you only have thirty seconds to level up your character sufficiently for the final battle, although additional time can be bought from the castle at the cost of a hundred gold pieces per increment of ten seconds. Health can also be replenished for a small sum of ten gold pieces, and there are several equipment that are on sale from the same buy screen as well.

The game is currently being remade into a PSP title called Yuusha 30.

Name: 30 Second Hero
Developer: UUE
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 1MB
Download page: Click here (direct download link)

Related:
30 Second Hero video walkthrough

Armor Games have finally released the game they have been teasing us with for a while now: Super Mafia Land!

Inspired by their 'favourite game of all time', Super Mafia Land is an amusing take on the classic Super Mario Bros 2, turnip-pulling and all, but with an added Mafia storyline going on.

If you're interested, you can head over to Armor Games and give it a spin. Capiche?

ClassicNight is a strategy game with arcade elements, where players are asked to help a talking moon grow brighter by constructing utilities or buildings which give off light. Light from flowers and structures can then be collected as the main resource for upgrades or new constructions.

Though originally created by a Korean developer, the game is in English by default.

Name: Classic Night
Developer: Akarolls
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 50MB

Related:
Classic Night trailer

Cave Demon is a freeware action game created by Japanese developer kon, featuring a story that is centered around a demon who lives inside a massive cavern and carries a steel ball around for protection. Creatures from another dimension have decided to pay him an unwelcomed visit, hence the player must take up arms and help drive these nuisances back to where they came from. Oddly enough, the abode of the beast is actually a rectangular platform with no walls on all four sides, allowing enemies to invade his personal space from all directions.

By pressing the Z key you are able to throw the steel ball towards the direction you are facing, Holding the same button causes the ball to travel back and forth, although the momentum will decrease as time passes and no enemies are hit. The special move gauge can be charged if you swing the steel ball around until it turns orange. Press the left shift key to activate the special move when this bar is at least half full.

The game will only work on Windows operating systems with the Japanese language pack already installed.

Name: Cave Demon
Developer: kon
Category: Action, Arcade
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here (Vector site)

Colour My Heart is a short adventure game with easy puzzles to solve, and takes only a couple of minutes to play from start to end. Note that certain objects can be clicked on for surprising or amusing results, as the developer had made no effort to mention this inside the game.

Name: Colour My Heart
Developer: Silver Stitch
Category: Platformer
Type: Browser

unRevolutionary is an XNA-based take on Geometry Wars by one Doug Ward - and before you moan 'aww man, not another Geometry Wars clone!', this one has some interesting things to offer.

First off you've got a leveling up system which Doug says was inspirated by, of all things, Diablo. Then there are also 'classes' you can choose to build yourself into, which each come with their own special abilities and gameplay styles. He also promises 'hundreds of onscreen enemies at one time' which, although it's been done many times before, still makes me go 'ooh' when I hear it.

Currently in the playtesting phase, you can expect to see this hitting Xbox Live Community Games for the Xbox 360 sometime soon.

Check out clips of the game over at Gametrailers

When games used to look like a car crash on Silicon Valley Way, developers had to come up with fun and challenging gameplay ideas to keep the punters happy. Of course, emulating a middle-aged gamer who periodically spouts off 'In my day' isn't going to help me get my upcoming point across so well, but it's not so difficult to comprehend that in many cases, as graphics have evolved, the balance between gameplay and looks has shifted rather a lot.

It's now feasible for a game to get by nearly on beauty alone and the evolution of the 'artistic' game has taken leaps and bounds into gamers' hearts. The mix of conceptual gameplay and sheer awe-inspiring sights has spawned a huge range of hits - and misses too.

Flower is thatgamecompany's latest artistic bag - thatgamecompany having already dabbled a fair amount in the field (see fl0w, Cloud). And while no-one can deny that it is unique gaming art, the lack of actual gameplay is a worry of mine.

Jump on Mushrooms: The Game is a short 2D platformer created by Hempuli (FIG) in under two days, where players would have to retrace their steps around each level based on the number of coins collected and the location of every mushroom men they've squashed. Players can jump as high as they like, although touching the ceiling will cause the protagonist to fall. Fall from too high, and you would have to replay the level from the start.

Some understanding of how physics work in Mario's universe is required to overcome many of the obstacles in this adventure.

Name: Jump on Mushrooms: The Game
Developer: Arvi Teikari
Category: Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB
Direct download link: Click here

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Disney Interactive Studios, Capcom, Next Level Games, Budcat Creations, and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

The follow-up to thatgamecompany's 2007 hit fl0w has been released.

Flower follows the dreams of flowers as they burst from a dull landscape into a vibrant wonderland. Available to download for the Playstation 3 via the Playstation Network, the selling price is $9.99 (£6.29 in the UK, 8.99euros in European countries).

We'll be plugging our way through it and giving you our opinion very soon. For now, head over to the official site for all the info.

It's been in the beta stages for a good while now, but 2D Boy have finally announced that their award-winning puzzler World of Goo is now available to download for Linux users.

If you have already purchased the game from the 2D Boy site when only Windows and Mac were available, it is now possible to get the Linux edition free of charge. If you still haven't given World of Goo a whirl, we recommend it whole-heartedly.

Grab the Linux version here

Paradox Interactive have announced the creation of a brand new indie label with which they hope to promote independent developers and their games.

Mezmer Games has been set up to help indie developers reach a wider audience through their digital distribution. Games will apparently range from $9.99 - $19.99. Fredrik Wester, Executive Vice President of Paradox, had this to say of the move:

“There are so many high-quality titles out there that show a great deal of potential but never reach the gamers... our intention is to be a platform for great games that traditional publishers do not want to invest their time and money in. By exclusively releasing the products digitally, we’ll be to deliver many niche and developing titles to an audience that would otherwise be unable to purchase the products.”

The Mezmer Games site is also set up like a community to allow developers to talk directly to gamers an find out what they think about latest projects and general gaming trends.

Two games are penned in for a Q2 2009 release at the moment - Legio which is described as 'a mix between chess and real-time strategy' and Stalin vs Martians, another strategy game, this one involving aliens and World War II.

It's definitely great news for indie developers and hopefully we'll start to see them jumping onto the bandwagon sometime soon.

Neverending Light (part 1 of 3) is a top down adventure game which tells the story of a man trapped inside a dark cave with only a flashlight in hand to illuminate his ominous surroundings. Besides solving the odd puzzle or two in your quest to escape, there are also forty-nine bonus items scattered around the map to collect for end game unlockables.

You can press the enter key to select or skip scenes. The entire game takes about fifteen minutes to play from start to end.

Name: Neverending Light
Developer: Jiggmin
Category: Adventure
Type: Browser

Descent is a new platformer created by the developer of the Visit series, where complicated moves such as air jumps, spring jumps and ledge grabbing must be mastered if you are to stand any chance of completing the game. Players assume control over an unnamed character who has to explore winding corridors and climb down pits, so that he or she could discover what lies at the bottom of this massive cave.

You can switch between full screen and windowed mode by pressing the F4 function key. Graphical glitches can be fixed by restarting your machine before playing. (download instructions)

Name: Descent
Developer: Ted Lauterbach
Category: Platformer
Type: Freeware
Size: 5MB

Released this week over on Direct2Drive, IGF 09 Student Showcase winner 'City Rain - Building Sustainability' sees players forming a city by placing falling buildings onto a plot of land. Objectives must be met to progress and the happiness of your residents is essential to moving on.

[We're talking to this year's Independent Games Festival finalists, and Eric Caoili talks to Ratloop's Lucas Pope about Mightier -- a combination puzzle and action game, best played with a printer and webcam -- nominated for the Innovation Award.]

Raising the game's barrier of entry and requiring players to go beyond their usual efforts to fully experience its unique mechanics, Mightier Engineer section asks players to print out puzzles before attempting to collect "Datagon" pieces scattered around a particular stage.

Players draw out a solution -- a plan for eventually obtaining those Datagons -- on the printed sheet, and use a webcam to record the sketch into the game. In Mightier's Actionaut portion, they'll explore a 3D version of the puzzle, jumping on platforms that were shaped by their drawings to reach the level's Datagons.

The PC title's printing aspect also enables players to illustrate their own characters and see them appear in the game in 3D. For the less bold, or for users without a printer or webcam, Mightier provides an in-game interface that allows users to draw puzzle solutions and characters with their mouse.

We spoke with Pope about Mightier, nominated for the Innovation award at this year's Independent Games Festival (part of Think Services, as is this website).

He discusses the game's origins as a technology experiment in 2001, his thoughts on 5th Cell's Drawn to Life for Nintendo DS, and why he believes that most people would've dismissed Mightier, despite its quirkiness, were it not for the more traditional, mouse-drawing interface:

[A final - we promise - reminder for anyone who hasn't signed up for GDC 2009 and still wants to. You can save 30% on registration by doing so today or tomorrow.]

Organizers of the 2009 Game Developers Conference are reminding potential attendees that early registration for the March 23rd-27th San Francisco conference ends on Thursday, February 12th, with 30% discounts only available until that date.

Game Developers Conference, which is run by Think Services, as it this website, has been running a weblog covering the major GDC news this year, which includes the latest information on the Moscone Center-located conference.

Major recent announcements include major keynotes from Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, with his GDC debut 'Solid Game Design: Making the ‘Impossible’ Possible', and from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, with a lecture named 'Discovering New Development Opportunities'.

In addition, organizers have profiled each of the individual Tutorials and Summits on the GDC website. These Summits, which take place on the Monday and Tuesday of GDC, include standalone events devoted to AI, casual games, mobile games, game outsourcing, education, independent games, serious games, localization, and online worlds.

The main GDC event takes place from Wednesday to Friday, and includes major three-day tracks regarding audio, business and management, game design, production, programming, and visual arts. In hundreds of lectures, major developers from all the year's big games (from LittleBigPlanet through Gears Of War 2 and Fable II) will discuss the art and science of game creation.

On the Wednesday night of GDC, the flagship Independent Games Festival Awards and Game Developers Choice Awards, honoring the best titles of the year, will take place. Other major events at the show include the Independent Games Festival Pavilion, located on the Expo Show Floor, which will also have exhibits from major tools companies and game publishers.

Early registration savings for the 2009 Game Developers Conference end at midnight PDT on Thursday, February 12th, and more information about registration and content is available at the official GDC website.

Exit Fate is a new full-length RPG from SCF, creator of the well-received RPGMaker effort Last Scenario. The game not only features standard 2D battle encounters but boasts a tactical strategy mode as well, in which players 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 fight 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.

Press the Left Alt and Enter key to switch between full screen and windowed mode. This game comes highly recommended if you're a big fan of RPGs, and wouldn't mind a couple of ripped sound effects, music and familiar-looking tilesets. (SA forum thread)

Name: Exit Fate
Developer: SCF
Category: RPG
Type: Freeware
Size: 150MB
Direct download link: Click here

Din is a short experimental work which uses audio in a very novel manner, where each game lasts for only a couple of minutes and players are scored based on their listening ability. The story is centered around a laid-back character named Bill who is having a quiet walk in the park, but is soon followed by his friends and family who harasses him with their troubles, concerns and opinions. Being the friendly guy that he is, Bill must be attentive to their requests or risk upsetting and losing a couple of close buddies. (source: Play This Thing)

Name: Din
Developers: Ted Diefenbach, Mansa Gory and Brian Lee
Category: Action
Type: Freeware
Size: 70MB
Direct download link: Click here

Twin Shot is a single or 2-player platformer by Nitrome in which strange cat-like angels jump and fly around simple arenas destroying all the enemies with use of a bow and arrow.

There are coins and powerups to grab and players can move off any side of the screen to reappear back on the other side. It's very reminiscent of the classic Bubble Bobble... with arrow-firing angel blobs, obviously. A nice touch is that arrows can be fired into walls to create temporary platforms.

Sit yourself down with a friend and see what you think. And if you like this (or even if you don't), it's worth checking out another of Nitrome's games, the brilliant Icebreaker, where cutting ice to save trapped vikings is the name of the game.

The finalists for the 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced.

Posted on the official site, the list of nominees features a number of indie gaming selections, including Number None's Braid, which has been nominated for 5 awards, and 2D Boy's World of Goo, nominated for 2 awards. Also nominated in the Best Downloadable Game category: N+, PixelJunk Eden and Castle Crashers.

The awards ceremony will be held on March 25th in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival. It has also been revealed that YouTube-famous Mega64, past contributors at the awards, will be producing exclusive video skits to accompany the evening.

It's a neat step for the indie scene to be featuring for such prestigious awards, although with the buzz behind titles like Braid and World of Goo, it's not exactly surprising.

Check out more info over at the awards site now.

Following on from his original title 'You Made It', Jesse Venbrux has released sequel 'You Probably Won't Make It'.

It's an extremely difficult platformer which involves spikes, double jumps and recorded deaths. That's right - when you die, not only must you restart the level again, but your spilt blood and death path stick around. You'll soon find each level becomes coated in red and your frustration rising.

It's a nice little time-waster for when boredom sets in - just don't try too hard to complete all 20 levels, you might pop a vein.

You Probably Won't Make It on Jesse's Blog

The Global Game Jam was held a week ago, from the 31st January to 1st February. Over the course of 48 hours in 53 different cities, participants were asked to work in teams to create a game. The full list of games eventually outputted can be found over at the official GGJ site. We've had a trawl through them all and now present you with our hot picks of the weekend.

A simple puzzle game by the developer of Rara Racer and Mirror Stage, The Black Yeti tells the story of large ape creature who has to devour all intruders to the cave without them noticing its presence.

The game was created in under a weekend for a friendly Mini Ludum Dare competition, hence the lack of polish and content. There are about ten levels to play in total.

Name: The Black Yeti
Developer: Stephen Lavelle
Category: Puzzle
Type: Browser

Related:
The Black Yeti; done! (Ludum Dare)
The Black Yeti (increpare's keep)

The organizers of the 2009 Independent Games Summit have revealed the completed line-up for the March 23-24 GDC 2009 event, with Electronic Arts exec and art-game creator Rod Humble, Audiosurf's Dylan Fitterer and Flower's Kellee Santiago among the newly confirmed speakers.

The third annual Independent Games Summit, which takes place on the Monday and Tuesday of this year's GDC at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, features lectures, postmortems and roundtables from some of the most notable independent game creators, including many former and current Independent Games Festival finalists and winners.

The 2009 IGS seeks to highlight the brightest and the best of indie development, with discussions ranging from game design philosophy, distribution, business, marketing, and much more. A synopsis of the full summit line-up is as follows:

All games available to buy from the Addictive 247 Games site are now $2.47 until the end of February.

From now until February 28th, all of their games, including the likes of 'Skin & Bones' and 'Addictive Football' are reduced to this price. From the guys who brought us Ten Ton Ninja, the offer is definitely worth a look.

The soundtrack to konjak's The Legend of Princess is now available to download from his official web site. There are eight tracks altogether in this 12 MB zip file.

konjak.org

The guys over at The Poppenkast are currently holding a competition, for which participants are asked to create a 'Game Noir' - described by the organiser JW as 'film noir but then a game'.

Anyone can enter, individually or in a team, and the name Poppenkast must be mentioned somewhere in your game. It's all for a bit of a laugh - the prize for the winning developer/s will apparently be a Film Noir style hat.

If you're up for a challenge, check out the rules for the contest and get creative!

A to B Basset is an arcade game created by Adam Lobacz for a friendly TDC competition, where players get to drag a Basset Hound around the rooms of an old house in an attempt to reunite the puppy with its favorite red ball.

A magic crate will only appear once you've collected all ice creams in each area, while the exit is unlocked by placing the crate at the location marked by a red arrow.

There are only six stages to play in total.

Name: A to B Basset
Developer: Adam Lobacz
Category: Action, Arcade
Type: Freeware
Size: 3MB
Download link: Click here

In this round-up, we highlight some of the notable jobs posted in big sister site Gamasutra's industry-leading game jobs section this week, including positions from Snowblind Studios, Diesel Games, Pandemic Studios, RealNetworks, Armature Studios, and more.

Each position posted by employers will appear on the main Gamasutra job board, and appear in the site's daily and weekly newsletters, reaching our readers directly.

It will also be cross-posted for free across its network of submarket sites, which includes content sites focused on online worlds, cellphone games, 'serious games', independent games and more.

Some of the notable jobs posted in each market area this week include:

New gameplay video from Cletus Clay, TunaSnax's upcoming 'claymation' action game for Windows and Xbox Live Arcade. (source)

IGF information page

The final beta for Plain Sight will end in a week's time, so if you haven't yet given it a go, now is the time. Plain Sight, developed by Beatnik Games, is a multiplayer arcade game which revolves around robots, blowing yourself up and crazy physics.

Besides adding brand new maps to the fray, the final beta also contains reworked menus and 'an entirely new combat system, to give a more strategic and controlled experience'. The beta is available to download from the official Plain Sight website.

The object of Plain Sight is to destroy enemy robots and then use the gathered power to blow yourself up. While the game itself looks gorgeous and throws a variety of brilliant effects at the screen, the gameplay turns out to be a bit of a button-basher, with attacks usually carried out by simply hitting the same buttons over and over again.

Grab the beta and see what you make of it.

Auditorium is a beautiful puzzle game based around the flow of music.The full version has been released and is available to buy for $10.99. In Auditorium, players attempt to direct a flow of sound into audio containers, releasing the music. As each container is filled, more parts are added to the music, eventually resulting in a full musical piece.

A shorter version of the game is available to try on the Auditorium site. It looks brilliant and plays like a dream - well worth checking out. The full version of the game features over 70 levels, 15 pieces of music and 'easily over 20 hours of stunning audio-visual gameplay'.

More details on the game

Update: City Rain has now been released and is available to download for $9.95 from Direct2Drive

Original Story: City Rain - Building Sustainability will be available soon to purchase, according to the brand-spanking new official site. Downloadable through Direct2Drive, City Rain will cost somewhere between $9.95 and $14.95.

One of the winners of the IGF Student Showcase this year, it's a cross between Sim City and Tetris where players must fit falling buildings onto a plot of land to create a bustling city, complete with power plants, schools, police stations and more. The upcoming release will feature worldwide online ranking and a bonus game called Blockmania.

It's a unique experience and there is plenty of fun to be had. A demo is available to play on the official site.

More information on the release

Cliff Johnson has released a demo for his 20 years in the making adventure game, The Fool and His Money. A sequel to his 1987 game The Fool's Errand, it follows on from where Errand left off, with 'The Fool' on a quest to return treasure to their rightful owners.

Featuring lots of logic and word puzzles, it's incredibly difficult and will give any brain a run for its money. The game is available to pre-order and anyone who does will apparently have their name 'immortalized in the Compendium of True Believers inside the game.' The demo link can be found at the bottom of the main page.

The Fool and His Money
Direct download link: Click here

Mystic Mine is a single or multiplayer experience in which players control the direction of a minecart with the use of a single keyboard button. As it flies around a track, the upcoming junction can be changed in order to make the cart take a different path. Coins are scattered around the levels and it's a frantic rush to secure as many as possible before your fellow players do.

The main selling point of the game is the fact that up to 6 people can play at the same time on one keyboard, leading to some hilarious gameplay. There's also some brilliant use of optical illusion, with certain parts of the track leading to other seemingly impossible to reach places. While the single player isn't much fun, the multiplayer is a huge laugh.

Name: Mystic Mine
Developer: Koonsolo
Category: Puzzler
Type: Demo
Size: 12500KB

Although the World of Goo publisher Brighter Minds Media recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company does not intend to fire a single member of staff.

A representative for Brighter Minds has stated that there are "no plans to lay anybody off as we have a great team that is going to do great things". With many game developers and publishers being forced to cut down their teams due to financial problems recently, this news is a breath of fresh air for the gaming scene.

[EDIT: To be clear, Brighter Minds just organizes retail distribution for the North American retail version of the game - thus, they have relatively little to do with 2D Boy, besides being one of a number of distribution methods.]

Source: Joystiq

Telltale Games is currently offering free digital copies of Sam and Max: Ice Station Santa (first episode of season two) and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective to anyone who subscribes to their newsletter using a valid email address.

For this to work, simply type in your email address into both input fields, check the boxes for Telltale's Monthly Newsletter and Terms of Use, then click on the 'Subscribe Me' button to proceed to the free game selection page. A serial number will be generated for you under the Past Purchases tab once you've chosen the game you would like to receive free of charge. You can use either the serial number or your email address and the automatically generated password for your Telltale user account (sent to your email) to unlock the game.

You will need two valid email addresses to get both games. This offer is only valid until the 28th of February, 2009.

Get your free copy of Sam and Max: Ice Station Santa or Strong Bad Episode 4: Dangeresque 3 here

[We're talking to this year's Independent Games Festival finalists, and this time, Eric Caoili interviews Edmund McMillen about Coil -- an "experimental art game" that provides no instructions and presents two parallel stories -- nominated for the Innovation Award.]

Cryptic Sea's prolific game designer Edmund McMillen has had his hand in a number of high-profile, thoughtful indie projects -- Aether, Gish, Blast Miner, Meat Boy (coming to WiiWare), and others -- all of which were recently compiled in This Is A Cry For Help, a disc collecting ten years-worth of his independently created games, comics and art.

He collaborated with Komix Games founder and Austrian programmer Florian Himsl for Coil, McMillen's first autobiographical game. The Flash title, which features a haunting soundtrack and beautiful, unearthly illustrations, purposely offers no instructions, encouraging players to explore what they can and can't do in its minigames.

Even the title screen and text interludes are puzzles, requiring an appropriate gesture from players before they can continue.

We spoke with McMillen about Coil, nominated for the Innovation award at this year's Independent Games Festival (part of Think Services, as is this website).

He discusses his motivation for having players work out each minigame's controls, some of the more strange interpretations he's heard for the odd title, and why he doesn't believe he could create Coil in the same way if he were to repeat the project:

A new preview for the IGF finalist Machinarium was posted yesterday, containing bits of gameplay from a couple of early areas in the game. There are even a few new scenes included near the end of the clip.

Best watched in fullscreen HD mode.

Machinarium Preview 02 (Amanita Design)

From the awesome Offworld comes this NES rom recommendation called D-Pad Hero - a remake of familiar music-rhythm games but with a twist. Rather than simulating a DJ console, guitar or drums, what we have here is a NES controller onscreen with corresponding buttons mapped to your gamepad or keyboard. Press a button and the correct arrow key at the right time to increase your 'awesome' gauge, but miss a couple and your final score suffers.

The game requires a working emulator to play (whether it's for Windows, Mac or Linux). Funnily enough, the developers had even started an online petition in hopes of getting adequate support for a possible Wii Virtual Console release.

D-Pad Hero
Gameplay Videos

Avault had published their picks for the best casual games of 2008, with 2D Boy's World of Goo at the forefront of the list. Selections from past editions are perhaps (for the lack of a better definition) 'too casual', although Bob has redeemed himself by including a couple of odd releases that you won't find inside any other best indie games list of 2008.

Adrenaline Vault: Top casual PC games of 2008

Dates for upcoming IndieCade venues have been posted on the official site. Games can now be submitted for showcase exhibition consideration, so don't miss this chance to participate in one of the premier events of the year for independent game developers from all around the world. Entries for the top prizes will be announced at the IndieCade 2009 Festival.

The final submission date is on 30th April, 2009.

IndieCade - International Festivals of Independent Games
Game Submissions Page
Official Game Selections from 2007 - 2008 (IndieCade)

Blueful is a prelude to Blue Lacuna, the new interactive fiction work written by Aaron Reed (author of Whom the Telling Changed). The short story is told using a collection of paragraphs, with the clue to next snippet placed somewhere on the current page being viewed. This is usually an address placed just before two colons and a quoted keyword. Some visitors have started breaking down the chain, but a user can always return to the index page and type in the keyword for the next URL.

Blueful
Blue Lacuna

Bars of Black and White is an escape the room game created by Gregory Weir, developer of the popular pixel-horror Flash game (I Fell in Love With) The Majesty of Colors. The adventure involves using a barcode scanner to read clues scattered around the room you're trapped in, with hopes that a key can be found to unlock the door blocking your exit.

Note that a barcode can only be scanned by dragging the red light from left to right. A package containing the scanner will only appear once you've solved the puzzle on your computer screen. (source, video walkthrough)

Name: Bars of Black and White
Developer: Gregory Weir
Category: Puzzle
Type: Browser