Feel the theme: REJECTION

Another month, another theme.  With everyone focused on love this month (especially Hollywood with the abysmal looking “Valentine’s Day”), what better theme than Rejection?

So what about it you lot, any horrible ideas you’ve been itching to try from previous themes?

*Update*

Some of you have already started doing this, but it would be great to get an explanation on how your game fits the theme.  It’s not a requirement, obviously, but I imagine it’s always interesting to see how everyone thinks.

30 Comments | In: Theme | tags: Rejection | #

Best of the Net: 100 Things

2010 is off to a good start, with you lot making 14 games for this theme, each varying wildly from the next.

Check them out!

Denatured, by Toodice
You control 1 of 49 motes. Avoid getting too many electrons, while firing them at your opponents. Once you or an enemy collects 4 motes it’s game over!

99 Bottles of Beer, by Marcos
A sobering look at designated driving (yeah I went there!). Avoid heat seeking bottles of beer. Get hit at they swarm on you, beating you into merciful, blissful unconsciousness.

The FIELD, by Matt Ditton

An atmospheric herding game. Fire small repulsing shots at floating cubes to get them into THE FIELD.

The Chronicles of Bim: The 100 Fake Afros, by Treeman

I knew a Bim once. I don’t think she went a shooting spree against 100’s of afros though. Seriously, this game is HARD.

Is this a Game?, by Renegade

The title is accurate, but if you love achievements you’ll enjoy this one.

100 Things, by Marc-Andre Weibezahn

Search and eliminate tiles by category, looking for the largest clump of similarly colored adjacent tiles.

50 Rocks, 50 Guns, by Mathew Elvey Price

A more modern take on Asteroids, using a crap ton of weapons.

Bubble Farmer, by Gaming Dew

Collect water droplets (I think that’s what those squiggly lines are) to grow the size of your bubble, then absorb others.

Mr. McDougal’s Marvelous Upside-Down Electrotree, by Ben Wilhelm
Not only holding the distinction of being the most ridiculous game title here (though Bim was close), this is an interesting rotating puzzle game.

Juggler’s Duel, by Tobias Wehrum

A charming rhythm matching game with a little bit of a learning curve. Could also help you finally get over your fear of clowns.

Ekato, by Dragomir

Judge the souls of the dead in this biblical nudging game. The indirect control is definitely worth checking out, as it adds up to some interesting moments.

Monkey Madness, by DarthMike

Looks like fun, but I can’t seem to find the game’s executable in the .zip file. Anyone have any luck?

Possessed, by Hannes Rahm

Switch control between multiple enemies, using their powers to kill each other.

Beulah and the Hundred Birds, by Jake Elliot

A serene exploration game about collecting a flock of 100 birds. Jake has also made the source code available if anyone is interested. RPS Link!

*UPDATE*

3 More entries, just under the wire:

On My Mind, by John Reeser

Try to stay focused in this meditation based game.  I wasn’t able to make it to 100 items, but it is fun to get distracted – a tad risque as well.

Envy, by Rendersmith

I read once that people have a hard time maintaining more than 150 relationships.  Let’s see if you can maintain 100!

Emilio’s Flight, by Airbash

Dodge swarming enemies to random streaming music.

17 Comments | In: Games | tags: 100 things, Best of the Net, Games | #

C: Medieval

by Alex Austin

C:Medieval is an amazingly ambitious take on the 100 Things theme.  Probably because up to 100 people can play this game at once!  Destroy your opponents in Zelda style combat, and upgrade your character at the end of the round.

Seriously though, you guys need to try this game out, because fighting the computer alone is HARD (I’m pretty sure it cheats!).

From the Artist

C:Medieval is a 100 player online arcade game based on medieval combat.  Up to 4 players can play on one PC whether it is a server or client.  The combat is similar to Zelda or Gauntlet, at the end of each round players can buy new titles, armor and weapons.

It probably took more than 7 days full-time to complete, multiplayer games are frickin hard to make.

It follows the theme because there is 100 things, and the things are (possibly) made of people!

Play

Download and play: HERE

No Comments | In: Games | tags: 100 things, Alex Austin, Games | #

And the winner is…

The results from the Art Theme competition are back, and while it was a grueling, grueling judging time, congratulations are in order for one Mr. Alexitron for his lifetime platformer entry And Everything Started to Fall.

The folks at the FACT museum also wanted to recognize two runner-ups:

1. Every Day the Same Dream, by Molleindustria- yet another seminal work by mastermind Paolo Pedercini, and a tribute to the white collared wage-slave.

2. We the Giants, by Peter Groeneweg – the collaborative MSOG has generated a lot of buzz, and it’s great fun to build on the shoulders of those that came before you.

If anyone is in the Liverpool, England area between now and Sunday, Feb. 21 they can catch the winning game at the FACT museum’s Space Invaders exhibit.

Thanks again to everyone who entered an Art Game, there were some really fantastic games made this round and we look forward to seeing what everyone makes for “100 Things.”

17 Comments | In: Games | tags: Art Game, Games | #

Sunshine

by Kyle Gabler

Coming in just a little late for Art Game, but still a fun game nonetheless, Mr. Gabler’s “Sunshine” is fun game to take for a loop. Give it a try.

From the Artist

Oh no! It’s raining, and people are falling out of the sky, but that’s not going to ruin your day.  You are a little plant, determined to make your own sunshine.  As you grow, make loops around falling people to sprout them into Flowers.  Flowers give you more energy, so you can grow taller. Watch out for falling rocks.

Play

Download it: HERE

19 Comments | In: Games | tags: Art Game, Kyle Gabler | #

2010 calls for: 100 Things.

Happy New Year, everybody! While 2010, might quite not have the chutzpah of the year 2000 – what with its futuristic robot names and the ever delicious Millenios, it is a bright and bold decade in its own right.  One that calls for an equally bright and bold theme – so what better than one with some strict limitations?

Yes, 100 Things is the name of the game this month, in honor of the original Indie Game Jam, which back in March of 2002 which tasked developers with using 100,000 sprites on screen at the same time.

So what can you do with 100 things?

53 Comments | In: Theme | tags: 100 things, Theme | #

Best of the Net: Art Game

Happy New Year everybody! 2009 was a year of awesome game development, and Art Game was no exception with a grand total of 29 submissions! You guys really pulled out all the stops despite the holidays, so the good folks at FACT will really have their work cut out for them in picking a winner.

Let’s see what we have, shall we?

Secret Uncovered, by Gemedet

An odd game – definitely worth trying.

Color Ride, by Mike Meyer

More a pretty graffiti-style rainbow painting toy than a game. I want this as a full-screen screen-saver. Make it happen, Mr. Meyer.

Jonas Ice Cream Stand, by Made of Tree

An arty tycoon-style game.

Color.art inside…, by Tayron

Paint the world using your keyboard and the microphone… maybe not one to play in a crowded cafe.

Warp Shift, by Jonbro

I don’t know if he finished the game, but here’s a video of his iPhone game in progress.

Ir/rational, by Tom Jubert

In his own words the game is “philosophical puzzler based around an experimental argument formation system, attempting to broach the theme of human rationality itself.” If you like logic games you’ll enjoy it.

An Apple a day…Doctor, by J Tremblay

Play as a doctor and find all 7 endings.

Forms, by Will

The basic artistic intention here is to see how different forms of presentation can effect a games gameplay and feel. The game is self reflexive to the medium of games so hopefully any retro gamers can see the style choices.

Gravity, by Lafe

A 10 level platformer in a Mondrian art style dealing with different zones of gravity.

EARTH, by Alexis Andre

A twist on good ‘ol Space Invaders.

Memory, by Aaron

I’m not sure what’s going on here, you seem to manipulate shadows in a sea of internal organs.

Paint Your Way Home, by Maciej Czekala

Paint the screen to see obstacles ahead. This one seems to be a proof of concept, I couldn’t really find a way past the first screen, but it’s kind of fun to paint the screen to unmask details.

Grey Matter, by Sam Bond

A platformer in a black and white world. Man I wish the main character was brighter, that bugger is hard to see.

And Everything Started to Fall…, by Alexitron

Wow, kind of like the twichy-man’s Passage – very impressive work. Alexitron has made a really clever title where you’ll die over and over trying to (quite literally!) stay on the straight and narrow. Arrow games and the “S” key to jump.

Piss Christ, by Sergio

For pure shock-value (and perhaps flash backs to Art School) I recommend Piss Christ1, especially for all you Beverly Hills Cop fans. IF, however, you only have ONE piss Christ game you can play I’d recommend #2: Christ in Space on pure gameplay merit.

Lucidity, by Alex Wells

An ambient heavy, absorption type game. The music and SFX work really well with the gameplay for an experience that goes down smooth. Somewhat reminiscent of Flow.

Balance, by Trent Polack

A one-button game that deals with gravity, energy absorption, and techno. Trying to manipulate your position in 2D space with only one button requires a smooth hand, indeed.

We the Giants, by Peter Groeneweg

If there was an emoticon for my head exploding I’d totally use it. A great use of twitter in Peter’s Massively Single Player Online Game. Fundamentally a platformer, it has some very unique aspects.

Two Grey Rooms, by Alcorn

Uncover your environment as you explore this ghostly platformer.

PALE, by One Life Remains

Drop lights to find the exit-crystals in this 3D exploration game.

Everything Can Draw, by Mehdi

Doesn’t appear to work with a mouse and keyboard, at least not on my machine. Looks like you’re supposed to manipulate objects to create certain line patterns. Did anyone get this to work?

Space Slay, by Ryan

Old, old school turn-based space game. In ASCII graphics, no less.

Psycull: Perfect (Brain)Storm, by vazor

A game about product development cycles. Collect the good ideas and polish those features!

Andre Copper Picture Panic!, by Ben Wilhelm

Use your mouse to trace outlines, in this art mimicry game. Before I played this game I thought I had a fine degree of mouse precision, but apparently I’m a B mouse artist at best.

Life is One Hard Level, by Alexis Bacot

Another platformer-as-metaphor game. This one taught me that religion is really, really heavy – and that money is impossible to get.

Starry Sky, byMarcos

Given a constellation, find its stars in the sky.  Simple, but man it’s been years since I’ve taken Astronomy.

Games will be played, reviewed, and critically assessed and a winner will be chosen (in the next couple of weeks), so make sure to check back mid-January to see who has a spot in the  FACT museum’s Space Invaders Exhibit!

14 Comments | In: Games | tags: Art Game, Best of the Net | #

This is Infinity

by Cactus

From the Artist

This is Infinity is meant to put you in a state of confusion, where you feel lost and alienated from the world you enter. You have to explore your own perception to figure out what you’re seeing, what you’re doing, and what will lead you to progress.

Play

The game can be downloaded: HERE

Read Mr. Cactus’s explanation of the game (with link to walk through): HERE

…and his original post with a link to the video of the game: HERE

8 Comments | In: Games | tags: Art Game, Cactus | #

Leaf: A Game about Life

by Grapefrukt

In leaf you control the titular character using only the Left & Right keys.  I shan’t spoil the rest of the game, but the aesthetics are quite soothing.

From the Artist

The idea came to me in the cheesiest way possible, i was walking home from somewhere with this very song playing on my ipod and saw a leaf tumbling down from a tree, and decided i needed to make a game about that. jonas just happened to be on msn once i got to my computer and quite liked the idea. his first sketch is what is used for the splash screen. this was something like two or three months ago, and we never got very much further than a minimal prototype and that picture. but once the theme was announced i knew this game would be a perfect fit if we actually made the effort to finish it.

Play

The game can be played: HERE

10 Comments | In: Games | tags: Art Game, Grapefrukt | #

Every Day the Same Dream

A new game from Paolo Pedercini, “Every Day the Same Dream” is a beautiful game with a very bleak outlook (perhaps partially belied by its restrained color scheme).  Parts of it seem like a grim view on the 50’s, while other parts remind me of a bleaker version of my last gig.

From the Artist

“Every day the same dream” is a slightly existential riff on the theme of alienation and refusal of labor. The idea was to charge the cyclic nature of most video games with some kind of meaning (i.e. the “play again” is not a game over). Yes, there is an end state, you can “beat” the game.

Made in about 6 days: 3 code + 3 content + 1 making crappy drones with an electric guitar (alternate soundtrack that didn’t make into the final game).

Play

You can play the game: HERE

The game can be downloaded at the bottom of the page.

25 Comments | In: Games | tags: Art Game, Paolo Pedercini | #