And the theme of August is…
August 1st, 2009
It’s a new month, so time for a new theme! In honor of those lazy, lazy summer days this month’s theme is Bare Minimum. Really, that could be anything – graphics, sound, gameplay – some have even been so crass as to suggest clothing!
But we here at good ‘ol EGP are nothing, if not gentlemen. Speaking of which, I should introduce this month’s *new* participants:
Ron Carmel is one half of 2D BOY, the independent game studio behind World of Goo. He is responsible for programming, production and business development and occasionally speaks about himself in the 3rd person.
Paolo Pedercini is mostly known and hated for his games released under the project name molleindustria. He’s currently based in Pittsburgh where he is trying to teach game design to artists, mavericks and troublemakers [http://gamedesign.molleindustria.org/].
Adam Atomic created flixel, FATHOM, and Gravity Hook, and helped make Edgecrement, Cave Story Wii, Paper Moon, wurdle, and Owl Country.
Michael Todd is a Toronto indie game developer. He spends his time designing, programming & doodling small crazy games.
If you’ve made a game for this month’s theme, do send us a link in the comments section and we’ll be sure to include you in our monthly net roundup!
We're a group of indie game developers, running a friendly competition every month. The rules: Make a game based on the month's theme, and don't spend more than 7 days. New games posted at the end of every month. 
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86 Comments, Comment or Ping
Good news! Soon we’ll have an armada of games and developers every month! Looking forward seeing all the games in a month.
August 1st, 2009
I wasnt planning on having a go at this until I got other games out of the way, but with a theme like that I have no excuse to try :)
I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with :D
August 1st, 2009
Alright, I finished my submission. A bare minimum digital game.
http://www.angelfire.com/psy/vazor/mingame/mingame.html
…
Oh, you meant a _working_ and _interesting_ bare minimum game? Haha ok, I’ll get right on that. :P :)
August 1st, 2009
Ok. I’m sure I can do this. Time to get that thinking cap on :>
August 1st, 2009
Whoo I officially have an idea.
August 1st, 2009
Who can take part in competition? Only people from post or everybody?
August 1st, 2009
Where is previous experimentalgameplay.com ???????
August 2nd, 2009
@Stew
Anyone can make a game, just post your game in the comments.
August 2nd, 2009
I downloaded some of your games yesterday and my AV has detected a tojan in some of them! Could you please check this?
AV: Norman virus control
Tojan detected: W32/Agent.OVOJ
Some of the programs with the problem:
the crowth, gravity head, big vine, towerofgoo, darwinhill
Thanks!
August 2nd, 2009
I might enter this one :)
good luck everyone :D
August 2nd, 2009
Haha great theme! So gonna enter it!
August 3rd, 2009
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yfqzmd2e3du
Eat goos to grow bigger, don’t let them eat you. Retro but stylish game with nice scenery bubbles.
Also, food is included. Goos spawn aren’t done yet, but i’ve already made the main engine for egg – planting. Now they spawn randomly at sizes close to your goos, in different shapes ( x and y’s doesn’t equal ).
Read more about it by clicking my name O_o
It’s developed in gamemaker (7).
ANNYYYWAAAYYYY i’d love if you would try it out! And…
Nice theme lol.
August 3rd, 2009
Ok I have started work on my game today so if it isn’t done by next tuesday someone please tell me. It combines minimal graphics with a gameplay take on the theme. I hope it will be fun.
August 4th, 2009
I started 1st August 17:06 GMT. I’m almost finished, so I’ll be able to add Shaders and other polish. It’d benefit very much from Parallax.
I’ve gone for Minimal External Media
August 4th, 2009
My scanner says, in this file is a virus – please check.
http://experimentalgameplay.com/egp1games/towerofgoo.exe
August 4th, 2009
Hmm, I like this theme. I might have a chance of actually making a game with this theme. Thanks. ;)
My first experimental gameplay submission! I can’t wait. :)
August 4th, 2009
Working on my submission now.
PaintShip: An asteroids/barrage shooter mashup.
Minimal theme: I don’t even give you a ship to fly. You draw it yourself, attach lasers, missiles, and engines, then do battle! Includes the ability to save your ship to hard drive and share with friends.
Programmed in Flash.
Teaser screenshots: http://picasaweb.google.com/urthen/PaintShip#
In-game UI is not implemented, neither are any enemies.
Will post a link once it’s done, I’m aiming to get it in within the 7-day deadline.
August 4th, 2009
Thought this could be fun, and so I started on mine tonight.
August 5th, 2009
I started ~ an hour ago, I hope I will finish it within the next days :)
HF everyone! :)
August 5th, 2009
Please explain me, what is “Bare Minimum” ( because, I know english bad ). And, where I can upload my game, for subsequent post it here?
Sorry for my bad english :(
August 5th, 2009
Nice theme, and just got an idea so I’m definitely entering this one!
@vizgl : bare minimum = strict, complete, minimum
August 5th, 2009
I’m doing an iPhone game but I’m not sure it will be available before the end of the month… I’ll try to post a movie or a web version of the game.
August 6th, 2009
My idea wasn’t fun. I’m trying to come up with a better idea. If that fails I’ll just polish up my unfun prototype and post that.
August 6th, 2009
I did something. It has the bare minimum amount of pixels: one.
Well, okay, one pixel magnified 600 times. Otherwise it would hurt your eyes. But it could be scaled down to one pixel and still work.
Anyway, go play it please?
August 6th, 2009
I’m done,
http://90cdalstonlane.co.uk/downloads/wirerace.zip
its minimal on the controls yet still fun a juicey.
August 7th, 2009
Started last night I guess on general coding, got the gameplay idea tonight. Aiming to be finished by next Wednesday.
August 7th, 2009
Will: good game, but I don’t understand, why did you used shader? :)
August 8th, 2009
VIZGL,
Hi, thanks.
I use shaders cos i have a template skeleton of code that i write my experimental games into (basicly just does dx initialisation etc). And my skeleton supports shaders. In theory i could have added some snazz to the shader but ive been lazy :) glad you enjoyed it. Try some of my other games from my site if you like “ragdolltron” is the only one on there that makes use of shaders but please enjoy :)
http://90cdalstonlane.co.uk/games.html
August 8th, 2009
Here you go.
ASWD and arrow keys. Or use a xbox 360 controller:
http://www.mikedsmith.com/Moderation.html
The “bare minimum” is how little I can do to keep you playing and trying to beat your last score…. also a chance to make something to put Unity through the paces.
August 8th, 2009
Check this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t307FPxGvzk
remained a bit to finish
August 8th, 2009
When is the deadline? End of the month I assume?
Don’t know if I have time for a submission, but who knows :P
August 8th, 2009
Hope you like it. There are a lot more on level design to go.
Hope you like it.
Falken’s Maze
[]s
dAlbergaria
August 9th, 2009
I finished squaretastic – I hope you enjoy it, it’s available for Mac and Windows.
Was fun creating a game in this short period of time and to keep it simple :)
The other games are great so far – I can’t wait to see more of you guys! :)
August 9th, 2009
I fear I will not have anything to show even by the end of the month. I simply have not come up with an idea that makes a good game. I’ll just have to play all the others and steal your ideas :P. Blizzard have a good business model.
August 9th, 2009
ill have mine in later today, it involves catching lots of rain in 1 minute
August 10th, 2009
ill have mine in later today, it involves catching lots of rain in 1 minute
August 10th, 2009
Here’s my submission, Tunnel Vision.
http://www.tomvankruijsbergen.nl/Files/TunnelVision.rar
Fly as far as you can while keeping your ice ship’s temperature at bare minimum! The game is entirely played with the mouse.
Although Unity allows you to choose a resolution, the best resolution to play is something wide (like 1280 x 800). I also made this game because it’s my first bigger project in Unity. Let me know what you think!
August 11th, 2009
Marauth: Nice game! kind of reminds me of one of my own..
“The Tunnel”
http://67.55.60.25/game.php?g=474
August 11th, 2009
I have 2 days left of development for my iPhone game. It’s coming nicely, you can follow my progress on the Touche Arcade forum : http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=21342
August 13th, 2009
http://willhostforfood.com/users/M/manofdoom/finalgame.exe
Simplifire Part 2-SALOONS OF DEATH
A little western themed run n gun. 9 levels demonstrating some level of variety in gameplay. Fullscreen is recommended-use F4.
Bare minimum controls- play using only the mouse.
Bare minimum graphics- only uses three colours.
Hope you enjoy it.
August 13th, 2009
Man of doom: awsome game!
August 13th, 2009
Finally I got my game ready for the compo. Ok, by ready I mean a working concept I guess. Anywho, details and downloads here: http://zapakitul.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/grandpa-told-me-to-go-and-play-with-my-tiles/
August 13th, 2009
I just submitted my game to Apple. With a little luck it’ll be available (for free) at the end of the month… just in time :)
August 15th, 2009
http://www.mandible-games.com/release/nanok-1.0.exe – Nanok, Defender of Earth!
Nanok, a poor circus bear, is recruited by an annoying wisp to defend the earth from invading aliens. Nanok can fashion equipment out of the various objects and toys in his cage, but the Ringmaster will be angry if too much of his property is damaged. Can Nanok save the world without incurring an excess of the Ringmaster’s painfully polysyllabic frustration?
I’ve posted a full writeup of the dev process at http://www.mandible.net – any commentary is welcome, either here or at my dev journal.
August 17th, 2009
Sigh. Found a rather important bug.
http://www.mandible-games.com/release/nanok-1.1.exe
(Mods, if you can just edit my previous comment and delete this one, go for it :) )
August 17th, 2009
Alright, for some reason my *second* comment is unmoderated but my *first* comment is moderated. Wtf. Here I will just combine the two
http://www.mandible-games.com/release/nanok-1.1.exe – Nanok, Defender of Earth!
Nanok, a poor circus bear, is recruited by an annoying wisp to defend the earth from invading aliens. Nanok can fashion equipment out of the various objects and toys in his cage, but the Ringmaster will be angry if too much of his property is damaged. Can Nanok save the world without incurring an excess of the Ringmaster’s painfully polysyllabic frustration?
I’ve posted a full writeup of the dev process at http://www.mandible.net – any commentary is welcome, either here or at my dev journal.
August 18th, 2009
indie (freeware?) dev team startup, anyone want to join?
http://devdreamteam.webs.com/
August 18th, 2009
Hi,
this is my entry
http://www.reda4.org/bareminimun.rar
bare minimun controls…only space for drop “bombs”
is made with .r4
http://code.google.com/p/reda4/
August 18th, 2009
Ben Wilhelm: is it essential o have an installer for your game, I warry about actually “installing” games it messes with my registry and leads to me having a messy computer. any chance of a straight zip with no registry instally things in it? :)
August 18th, 2009
Hi everyone,
I made a little game for the month of august theme, it is called STRIP THE FOREST BARE. In my game this month you play a lumberjack, in order to make money you have to avoid bears and cut trees down.
Check on my blog to download the game and for further information: http://softhope.blogspot.com/2009/08/exprimental-gameplay-strip-forest-bare.html
It is an XNA game so you will need to install the framework.
August 19th, 2009
Wow great games everyone! My game isn’t nearly as good as yours but I tried to make a it under the seven day limit but it was hard… Check it out at http://madeoftree.net/blog/Black_and_White/
August 20th, 2009
hello everyone! nice games so far. here’s my entry for this month: http://awkwardgames.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/mozarts-musical-mayhem/
August 20th, 2009
I decided to take out my last entry hence it wasn’t actually ideal for this competition and, instead, developed a new game, that I think, suits the theme better. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Contrast Survival: http://zapakitul.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/contrast-survival-a-game-in-10-hours-bare-minimum-game/
August 20th, 2009
Ugh, I feel bad about releasing multiple versions of my game, but I finally tracked down and fixed the crash glitch that was plaguing people, as well as put together a .ZIP version.
http://www.mandible-games.com/release/nanok-1.2.exe
http://www.mandible-games.com/release/nanok-1.2.zip
Yes, at this point I’ve spent more than the allotted week on it, I admit it. But the only thing I’ve done since is fix up my framework so it doesn’t leak memory like a sieve :) The game mechanics are absolutely untouched! I swear!
August 21st, 2009
Finally, PaintShip is complete!
Took a little bit longer than expected, mostly due to fine-tuning levels and enemies. Also I got busy with job stuff. Core gameplay, UI, etc all came in under the 7-day mark however.
Linky: http://paintship.paranoidstudios.com/
Minimal Aspects: Graphics, Controls (Mouse only)
Synopsis: Draw your ship, then do battle! A unique and challenging barrage space shooter where you control what the protagonist ship looks like.
I plan on releasing new content regularly.
August 22nd, 2009
@Michael Pratt – Woah, very cool game! I really like the un-ending aspect of it, and the design is pretty cool. I find myself fighting the controls a bit, but I was surprised at how well the concept works. I can see it being very addictive.
August 22nd, 2009
I have made a game fits with that theme in two ways.
First way in graphics as I only make the game graphics from circles and lines and rectangles no other shapes
The Second way which was something strange which is something in the story as you play with a bacteria called Bactoriam which think that if it destroy viruses people wont consider the Bacteria as minimum bare living organism and will respect them.
Hope that I am not late
here is the link: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/shooter/bactoriam/641/
This game is made in 5 days no more.
I will post this comment in this post and the new one so that to see it :)
Sorry for disturbance :) Hope I am not late :)
August 23rd, 2009
@CASUALSAX
Thanks! I just released a bit of an update to counter some common complaints from the web and my friends. The instructions now better explain exactly how movement vs attacking works. I also give you an option to display a “targetting beam” showing exactly where you need to point to start firing your lasers. Finally, I responded to the widespread issue that level 1 is too hard by decreasing the difficulty of levels 1 and 2 slightly and also adding a practice level where you can learn at your own pace.
Full changelog is available on the website (scroll down a touch). If anyone wants to be updated whenever theres a change to PaintShip, I encourage you to become a fan on facebook or follow the twitter feed!
The link is in my name if you’re lazy (like me) and don’t want to scroll up.
August 23rd, 2009
Here’s the game I came up with – a reimagining of the classic game Pong in one dimension. The game requires opengl 2.0.
http://www.homicidalrabbit.com/1DPong7Day.zip
Tonight’s my last night before classes begin, so I just barely made it. I’ll update with linux binaries tomorrow. I’m out of time for the 7 day challenge version of this, but I’d really like to go back and add better AI and add sound, and look into making a mac version.
I’ve always been a 6 month minimum action game development kind of person, so as this is a bit outside my element, I hope someone likes it :p
August 23rd, 2009
Update: Linux Binaries added for 1D Pong
http://www.homicidalrabbit.com/1DPong7Day.zip
August 23rd, 2009
I would like to submit my game Super Score. It is pretty straight forward in terms of what the game is: Push a button, get a score. You can get another score or finalize the score you have and hope it was high enough to win.
It can be played at : http://loudgames.net/superscore/
This is the most minimalistic game I could think of, there are no graphics really, there is only one choice, a win/lose condition, and a social competition element to it.
What is interesting to me, will be to see at what point people will stop rolling for scores and accept their fate or to see who can figure out what rules I have blindly put in place of the scoring algorithm.
I must also admit the level of effort of just getting a score seemed like a ridiculous notion to attempt and make fun, yet I tried my best.
August 24th, 2009
I ended up making a game for this too, you can either read the blog about it or just click the link here: http://stuff.d15.biz/files/TheRedSwitch.zip
You control a rocket car helicopter submarine that has a single control, mapped to every button. Basically turns the rocket on. Spinning the front wheel powers the helicopter rotors. Bare minimum sound (none) and controls (apart from progress quest).
Made using box2d physics and the 2dboy rapid prototyping framework.
August 25th, 2009
Here is my submission, made in 4 hours so very bare minimum, but I had fun making it. :)
http://vazor222.livejournal.com/15950.html
August 25th, 2009
My submission is a game called “About Sound”. Bare minimum graphics and gameplay.
Get it here: http://www.4shared.com/file/127646826/97e801ae/About_Sound.html
August 25th, 2009
Sorry about double posting, I highly recommend using headphones while playing “About Sound”.
Cheers
August 25th, 2009
Ben Wilhelm: thanks for the zip version :)
really nice game i like it!
August 26th, 2009
Pedro Teche, I really like your About Sound game! It’s probably the best audio game I’ve played – I really like the sense of atmosphere and the audio location gameplay is very relaxing. :D
One thing I found myself wanting was to have the text information also represented by the sound, so when you do something good, there is a good sound that plays, and when you do something bad, there is a bad sound that plays. It also seemed like it might be cool to make the sound fragments do something after you collect them, like add to the background music and make things more difficult or interesting.
Anyway, it would be cool if you elaborate on this or decide to port it to Flash or something! I was actually planning on making an audio-only game for this contest too, so maybe you’ll see a game from me soon. :)
Keep up the good work!
August 27th, 2009
Oops, my website is not “pedroteche” it is Evolution Live! :p
August 27th, 2009
I just finished up my ‘Bare Minimum’ Entry: Minima Bomber. You can play it at: http://www.graduategames.com/blog/minimabomber.html
August 27th, 2009
My game was just released on the App Store, just before the end of the month… that’s a nice timing :)
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=327532792&mt=8
You can follow the Touch Arcade thread here:
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=23610
The idea behind Just a Button is that pushing a button is the minimal action needed to do something in 95% of video games, so why not trying to make a game where this action is the only one available?
This game explore gameplay variations around this thought. Quickly the multiplayer aspect was added to the project because hell yeah, playing games is even better with friends around!
August 28th, 2009
Here’s my submission:
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~rgdelato/experimentalgameplay/
When I think of bare minimum games, I think of the old, black-and-white line games like Asteroids and Tempest, so I kind of riffed off of those, but made a game that only controls with the arrow keys.
I call it “Screen Kill.”
August 28th, 2009
Here is my submission :
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?0gdthgondjw
Or you can go to my website, where there is almost nothing: http://indieclouds.blogspot.com/
It’s bare minimum in the sense of gameplay, where you can complete the game (even the second ending) with having almost nothing to do. It’s also my first game, so my experience is at a minimum.
And it was made in a week, so there it is, my Experimental Gameplay eligible game!
August 30th, 2009
Here is my submission:
http://www.treptefamily.com/experimentalgames/SphereOfInfluenceInstaller.msi
Click to place expanding spheres. Push against opposing spheres to dominate more space. With each higher level you must place your spheres more carefully as your opponent is given the advantage of more frequent placements.
This follows the “bare minimum” theme with visuals consisting entirely of spheres and a little text. The play style is also minimal with the only action to place a sphere, and with no movement of the pieces besides their gradual expansion.
August 31st, 2009
Two “bare minimum” games from me, see them here:
http://egp.wz.cz/
“Moonhop”: One button controls your hopping on the Moon.
“1D platformer”: Play simple platformer in one-dimensional world. After beating it in 1D, you will be shown 2D representation of the same playfield.
Any comments, bug reports, suggestions-for-improving are welcome!
August 31st, 2009
A small update: I created the third game for BM theme, it’s called “Johnny the Bat”, you’ll find it here:
http://egp.wz.cz/
There is no graphics in that game, just sounds. The goal is to navigate a bat through a simple maze, just by hearing the sounds reflected off walls.
August 31st, 2009
I made a game both bare minimum in terms of graphics and gameplay, and also gare minimum in terms of clothing: An RPG I titled “Equip > Pants.”
It is not *quite* as done as I would have liked… it is still August, so I might try to finish it a bit more. I’ve put in less than 40 hours work on it so far.
http://www.zachstronaut.com/lab/equip-pants/
This is the first time I’ve participated in the themed game competition, and it was a lot of fun.
August 31st, 2009
I’m so glad I found this site…Keep up the good work
September 2nd, 2009
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