Rebuild

By: Derek Yu

On: May 20th, 2011

Sarah Northway’s Rebuild has racked up nearly 2.5 million plays on Kongregate, and it’s not hard to see why: the game’s zombie outbreak theme is married quite well with its city-building mechanics. Each day you can send your team out on various missions to scout, scavenge, and reclaim the city, block by block. Survivors can be recruited and trained in various roles, reducing the time and danger involved in carrying out these tasks. At night, the zombies can invade, so it’s important to bolster your defenses and leave some people (preferably soldiers) behind to guard.

It’s great fun, and there’s a lot of potential here for a sequel with more depth, more personalization, more possibilities. Thankfully, Sarah is already pursuing it! You can read about the development of Rebuild 2 here, on the blog she shares with her husband (Fantastic Contraption creator Colin Northway).

TIGdb: Entry for Rebuild

Spike: A Love Story

By: Derek Yu

On: May 16th, 2011

In Matzerath’s Spike: A Love Story, you play a spike trap who’s fallen in love with the “player” but can only express its affection by smashing him repeatedly. It’s a cute backstory that lends some humor to an entertaining game of timing and memorization.

TIGdb: Entry for Spike: A Love Story

Soul Brother

By: ithamore

On: April 23rd, 2011

For those of us who have been waiting to play the Flash version of Soul Brother, the age of its online existence is finally here: go and play. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, please continue reading.

Jasper Byrne has been putting a lot of time and love into this platformer about a spirit who is transported into the nearest animal after the body he was in dies, which grants the player with different abilities to play with in order to proceed through the game. This alternate reality method of reincarnation is a central mechanic of the gameplay, and a tally is kept of the times you die without having an animal into which to reincarnate. There are also wisdom gems to collect, speed runs to attempt, and combinations of variables to explore for the more challenging achievements while playing and replaying Soul Brother. Then there is the extra difficult Rainbow Star Challenge, … Edit: the challenge has been bested.

The pixel art and animations are adorable. Then there is the catchy, melodious soundtrack, which Jasper will be releasing as an OST later this year. And, if you aren’t already playing the game by now, maybe you’re reading too much.

GIRP

By: Derek Yu

On: March 28th, 2011

Billed as the spiritual sequel to QWOP (which is now on iPad), GIRP employs every alphabetic character on the keyboard to great effect, letting you experience the closest feeling to rock climbing you’ll have while your fat butt is still glued to your chair. The goal of the game is to reach the top of the cliff and find the treasure hidden inside a bird’s nest.

According to Bennett Foddy, the game’s creator, GIRP is “NOT AS HARD AS QWOP BUT I THINK YOU WILL FIND IT… HARD ENOUGH.”

TIGdb: Entry for GIRP

Mamono Sweeper

By: Derek Yu

On: March 6th, 2011

Mamono Sweeper came out last year, but I just tried it on a friend’s recommendation and I like it! It’s a take on the classic puzzle game Minesweeper that makes things a bit more interesting by replacing the mines with monsters of varying levels. If you’re at the same level as a monster when you reveal it, then you take no damage; otherwise, you take damage equal to the monster’s level. The numbered tiles show you the sum of the adjacent monsters’ levels, rather than the number of monsters.

The description below the game contains links to more difficult modes that have larger playfields and more monsters. Would have been nice if these were all included in one package, but oh well.

TIGdb: Entry for Mamono Sweeper

Hot Throttle

By: Lorne Whiting

On: February 18th, 2011

A little late, but cactus recently released a new game through Adult Swim’s Flash portal [With the help of Mark Johns, aka Doomlaser. -Ed.]. Hot Throttle is a surreal racing game where you unleash your carsona, racing against fellow nude carsonas while avoiding garbage cans, hobos, and robots. The graphics are all simple and pastel, lending the game a simultaneously cute and unsettling look, with the numerous cutscenes definitely contributing to the ‘creepy’ aspect of the races.

In other cactus-related news: he posted a teaser image for a new Mondo game on his blog. Alas, one of the only series of games that actually uses the 3D part of Game Maker.

Grow Cannon

By: Derek Yu

On: January 31st, 2011

Awesome, a new Grow game from Japanese developer “On”! In Grow Cannon, you’re trying to wake someone who’s sleeping heavily. Fire the cannon at seven spots in the right order to win! Simple, cute, and fun.

TIGdb: Entry for Grow Cannon

Disco? Very!

By: Derek Yu

On: January 6th, 2011

[This is a guest review by increpare. To submit a guest article for TIGSource, go here.]

This past Ludum Dare birthed a wonderful wonderful game which is also a terrible terrible pun (one so obvious and enticing in its awfulness that two people chose it as their title).  Disco? Very! is this entirely beautiful game made by Tom 7.

IF YOU WANT TO PLAY IT THEN PLEASE BE CLICKING HERE (flash)

I found it a captivating, marveloquent piece of work, overflowing with soul and infinity.

Of course, there were several other games made as well for the jam.  I’m simply too much of a lazy bastard to have even played them all. Of those that I have done, though, I will point to Cardboard Adventures and Dinosaur Dance-Off as being works of extreme culturotainment value.

Endeavor

By: ithamore

On: December 15th, 2010

Endeavor is a Metroidvania with multiple endings and a story about a dwarf who is asked by his dead father to try to gain the strength and wisdom to obtain a treasure that has been handed down their family for generations. After learning the basics while exploring your home land the story takes a sudden turn (or literally a fall). It is up to you to choose what to do from there.

Zillix started making the game for the October challenge at  Ludum Dare and as a sequel to his mini-LD entry, Summit. Earlier this month he got Endeavor sponsored by Newgrounds, and he also has it up at Kongregate (where it is doing quiet well in the monthly ranking contest for new games).

I like the slightly obscured look of the tiny pixel art and the variety and quality of the music. It took me an hour or two to finish the game the first time, but the length was significantly shorter when I started over to get the other endings. I also enjoyed the non-linear, power up encapsulated exploration so much I highly recommend Endeavor.

TIGdb: Entry for Endeavor

Happy Wheels

By: Derek Yu

On: November 20th, 2010

Dammit, why are ragdolls so much fun? In Jim Bonacci’s Happy Wheels, you’ll have quite a few to choose from, from “old man in rocket-powered wheelchair” to my personal favorite, “irresponsible dad”, a man with his toddler riding behind him on a bicycle. The goal of the game is to get to the end of each level alive, but in this case, it really is about the journey itself – the best levels in the game are cleverly designed to inflict pain on the happy wheelers in the most absurd ways possible.

Happy Wheels comes with a built-in level editor and users can easily share their morbid senses of humor in-game. Jim is also continuing to work on the project, adding new features and characters (the latest addition is a young couple riding a moped).

TIGdb: Entry for Happy Wheels