Best of the Net: Rejection

February 27th, 2010

Despite romantic-themed-holidays and February being the shortest month of the year, you lot cranked out quite a number of games. Let’s see what we have this month, shall we?

Tapestry, by Marcos

A cognitively challenging game – click on tapestries with more than the requisite number of errors to progress. Definitely gets challenging as you progress – by round 3 or 4 things get ugly – in a good way.

3114, by Tayron

A mouse only platformer, 3114 has some pretty crazy stuff going on – and it’s certainly atmospheric. Worth the price of admission to try out the control scheme alone.

Operation/Reject, by Ed Scheindlin

Kind of like Asteroids and Robotron crammed together. Use ASDW to move, and the mouse to shoot.

DeForest, by J. Tremblay

A simple sim-city esq game, set to the blues. Never has destroying nature been so sad-isfying.

It’s been too long, by Ed Scheindlin

The 2nd entry from Ed Scheindlin, “It’s been too long” is a platformer with dark themes. I like the masking nature of the game, but the jumping bits could use a little more tuning.

Mouse Hug, by vazor222

A romantically charged 2-player game. Play with someone whose hand you mind touching for prolonged amounts of time.

GT Multitude, by Ben Wilhelm

Described as a “grab bag of game mechanics” – props to Mr. Wilhelm for trying a bunch of stuff out and showing us the results.

The Plant, by ND

An adventure game based on Kafka’s “The Castle.” For spoilers, see ND’s comments here.

Odd One Out, by Nathan

Reject items that don’t match the level’s theme – iiiiiiin spaaaaaaaaace.

Sausages, by MZO

Remove rotten sausages from the assembly line and throw them into the incinerator.

Peer Review, by Luis Anton

Type, type, type to get your papers through academia.

The Job, by Tobias Wehrum

If you’ve ever worked in the food service industry, or retail, this one’s for you!

A Geek Valentine, by Treeman

Avoid girls while putting together your time machine!  Use arrow keys and space to play.

I don’t have to if I don’t want to, by Roland Mortiz

Taking a stalker approach to rejection.  Wander around trying to get others to accept you through various means – including music, violence, and what looks like a lunch bag. Graphics by Laura Sperl.

Gift, by Adam Abeshouse

Get your girlfriend flowers by crushing hapless creatures in this Valentine’s Day massacre platformer.

Rejection, by Zink Interactive

Protect bunnies on the bottom from badgers with bombs – one of the trippiest games this month.  I wish it had sound.

Rejection, by Christoffer

A typing-reaction game.  Type keys to reject the wrong colored blocks, well letting the right ones by for points.  Can get pretty overwhelming after a few minutes!

Rejection, by Zachstronaut

A one-button game about a donor heart killing white blood cells.

20 Comments | In: Games | tags: Best of the Net, Rejection | #

Best of the Net: 100 Things

January 31st, 2010

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.

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

Best of the Net: Art Game

January 1st, 2010

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 | #

Best of the Net: Numbers

October 30th, 2009

And the onslaught of fall commitments continues. While work, school, and life conspired to eat up most people’s time, a bunch of you did manage to hammer out some pretty solid games this month. Let’s view them, shall we?

1,2, 3:

Sanor, by LeFishy

Explore a three-dimensional world solely made up of colored numbers in this visually compelling game. Use the mouse to control the camera and arrow keys to navigate.

Numeros, by Luis Correia

Target moving numbers using +, -, *, or / to approach your target number. Use the right mouse button to change operation, and the left mouse button to perform the operation. Requires the Love engine.

Hidden Numbers, by Maciej

Search the screen for hidden numbers by dropping physics-enabled balls. Also check out Magic Brain Training, which is more of a brain exercise than game.

Slidoku, by FrankForce

Part Sidoku, part rubik’s cube – all mind-blowingly challenging. I need a bigger brain to play this game.

Menu City, by Treeman

A puzzling-platform like game. Navigate using the arrow keys.

Number Swap, by Travis Smith

Swap numbers around until you get them in order. The name on this one is exceedingly accurate.

Number Guy, by Marcos

An interesting spatial reasoning/math solving combination – compete to see who can solve this in the least number of moves.

Virii, by Dustin
Virii have attacked your computer, changing some of the 1s and 0s into… 2s! Use the + and – keys to add or subtract from any number on your screen. Surround a virus with either all 1s or all 0s and it will be neutralized. Press ‘r’ to reset the puzzle. Requires the Love engine.

Squirrel Squisher, by Rodski

At last, a game about solving multiplication problems and crushing rodents with an over-sized mallet!

Addsplode, by Carl

A run and gun game. Try to defeat the giant robot boss using a gun that changes numbers – interesting concept here.

Number Ninja, by Peter Groeneweg

Another stylish entry by Peter Groeneweg. Play as a ninja-themed number and do combat with other numbers using one of 4 shurikens to answer math problems correctly.

Infinite Number Adventure, by Vazor

I wish I knew what was going on in this game.

Make the Number Bigger, by Ben Wilhelm

Click to make the number bigger every 30 seconds. You too can construct numbers with significance like the one to the left.

Number to Number Combat, by J Tremblay

Quick addition/subtraction combat combined with light RPG elements!

$Trade$, by Alexis Andre

Buy and sell stocks in this frantic trading game.

Shoot 1Up, by Mommy’s Best Game’s

An interesting shooter by the creator of Weapon of Choice.  1ups become active as other ships the moment you collect them!

Eat Number, by Czl

Eat static and moving numbers which are less than your level,then you can up your level after get 10 score.

Look for next month’s theme announcement, it’s going to be a doozy and a first-ever for EGP!

10 Comments | In: Games | tags: Best of the Net, Games, Numbers | #

Best of the Net: Failure

September 29th, 2009

Best of the Net!

September appears to be the busiest time of the year for most people – what with the end of vacations and people getting back to their jobs and school and whatnot.  Be that as it may, a bunch of you EGP’ers have turned out a fantastic assortment of failing games.  Let’s see what you’ve made, shall we?

Lose/Lose, by Zach Gage (Mac)

Be sure you read all of the warnings on this one Mac Users, the real life effects could be devastating to your computer.

Bugger, by Made of Tree

Get rid of programming bugs in this typing game! 10 levels of typing insanity.

Run, by Pedro Teche

Interesting ambiance on this one – the sounds really scale up the graphics well.

Bubsy the Bobcat in “Rip Van Bubsy”, Starring Bubsy, by Cutmat

No relation to the failed SNES platforming mascot. A time-limited adventure game.

Too Big To Fail, by Adam Bishop (XNA)

Control the banks in this 2008 investment game.

Operation Florist, by Rhymes with Carl

Try to get kicked out of your job and open a flower shop.  I have no idea what’s going on in this game…

Welfare Survivor, by Raymond Martineau

A retro-style text survival game.  The second game seemingly inspired by our current economic woes.

Six and a Half, by Groeneweg

A game about divorce. Scream or kiss your way to victory!

Fail/Fail, by Vazor

A picture recognition game – comes in Facebook and non-Facebook flavors.

Reentry, by Mr Fredman

Steer your spaceship to avoid burning your hull as you re-enter the atmosphere.

Mobius, by Ben Wilhelm

An RTS where the more you die the stronger you get.

Mailure, by Amidos2006

Stop the mail man from delivering the bad news to your parents.

NYFG, by 4mlr

You play as a detective tasked with five missions..Your first mission is to investigate a serial murderer.

Failure, by J Tremblay

Rotate blocks to pass them through the breach.

10 Comments | In: Games | tags: Best of the Net, Failure, Games | #

Best of the Net: Bare Minimum Edition

August 31st, 2009

Best of the Net

Holy crap this month was a prolific time for all of you rapid prototypers! Together you guys made a whopping 29 games, with some deciding to make multiple titles. I’ve compiled a list of everyone’s games here, but do tell me if I missed anyone’s!

Eat EO, by Gaming Dew

Eat goos to grow bigger, don’t let them eat you. Retro but stylish game with nice scenery bubbles.
Also, food is included.

Arpeggi, by Zacqary Adam Green

The one pixel wonder scaled up to save your poor eyeballs. A sound and color based game controlled solely with your mouse.

Wire Race, by Will

Use your mouse to dodge oncoming obstacles in this minimalist 3-d rail-racer.

Moderation, by Mike Smith

A Robotron-esq shooter. Use WASD and the arrow keys or a 360 controller to shoot oncoming waves of block enemies.

Falken’s Maze, by dAlbergaria

Dalbergaria is an evil, evil man. Navigate Falken’s maze with the arrow keys, whilst avoiding deadly invisible walls…of death!

Squaretastic, by Sven Camrath

Match your square to the oncoming color waves, in this twitchy color game. A tense game for those hopped up on 4 shots of espresso.

Tunnel Vision, by Marauth
Fly as far as you can while keeping your ice ship’s temperature at bare minimum! The game is entirely played with the mouse. Reminds me a lot of those later levels of Star Fox.

Saloons of Death, by Man of Doom

Shoot ‘em down, pixel cowboys. Deal mouse-only death in this 3-color shooter. A little western themed run n gun. Press f4 for fullscreen mode.

Nanok, Defender of the Earth, by Ben Wilhelm

Save the planet as Nanok the highly equipped bear! Bear minimum, indeed.

Bare Minimum, by Pablo Reda

Drop life-preservers on drowning sailors before the sharks get them – though for some reason they seem to fall underwater when this happens. Probably because you’re dropping them from a speeding plane.

Strip the Forest Bare, by J. Tremblay

And the bear/bare puns continue! Strip the forest as a lumberjack while avoiding dangerous bears.

Black and White, by Treeman

Create and flip blocks to help your black and white characters escape.

Mozart’s Musical Mayhem, by Tayron

Help Mozart match his synthesizer to the song.

Contrast Survival, by Bacioiu Ciprian

Survive as long as you can in this vectory 3D graveyard. WASD to move, and control to activate your shield.

Paintship, by Michael Pratt

Draw your ship, then do battle! A unique and challenging barrage space shooter where you control what the protagonist ship looks like. Check back for updates!

Bactoriam, by Amidos2006

Bactoriam king of Bacteria wants to prove to human that bacteria are not the minimum bare living organism and they are better than Viruses which the human afraid of them. A mouse-only game.

1D Pong, by Chris Pugh

A one-dimensional pong game, need I say more?

Super Score, by Jeston

Press a button, get a score. We’re all winners! Hard to get more minimal than this one, folks.

The Red Switch, by Matthew Elvey Price

The first game I’ve seen using the 2Dboy rapid prototyping framework. 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.

Minput, by Vazor222

A one-click interactive movie made in 4 hours.

About Sound, by Pedro Teche

A sonar-esq moody and atmospheric experience. Use sound to find your targets. A very nice sound game.

Minima Bomber, by Mike Gnade

Keep your clothes on in this very fun pixel platformer. Deform the terrain with explosives, but be warned – too much damage will strip your character down to practically nothing. Someone was bound to go there eventually.

Just a Button, by Mathieu (iPhone)

And the first game for the iPhone is up, courtesy of Mathieu. 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?

Screen Kill, by Ryan D.

Destroy everything on screen – I think. An Asteroids-ish game, with a springy control system.

Sphere of Influence, by Forrest Trepte

Place spheres strategically to beat out your opponent.

Moonhop, 1D Platformer, and Johnny the Bat, by Jozef “Bobo” Hudec

Three games for one theme seems to be going above and beyond the Bare Minimum Theme, but the games themselves definitely follow the theme. I’d recommend downloading the zip files.

Equip > Pants, by Zachary Johnson

Having perhaps the highest hilarious: number of pixels ratio, equip > pants follows the exploits of a pantless hero who must don pants.

Running Against the Clouds, by Zebreu

A short, soothing experience – until you’re met with the DEATH option.

No Quarter: V-Sides, by Alex Austin

Squeaking in just at the nick of time, is a small collection of Bare Minimum games by Mr. Bridge Builder, Alex Austin.

Congratulations to everyone that made a game this month! I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with for next month’s theme – starting… TOMORROW!

23 Comments | In: Games | tags: Bare Minimum, Best of the Net | #