RunMan: Race Around the World

By: Derek Yu

On: October 2nd, 2009

Tom Sennett and Matt Thorson’s RunMan: Race Around the World elicits a kind of primal joy in me that I was worried had left long ago. It’s just a fun game, through and through, super-injected with whimsy, full of surprising moments and fun characters who feel like old friends. You can’t ever really die, but the game is challenging enough. Still, I imagine one could get through RunMan pretty quickly by playing straight through… but it’s so enjoyable to run, bounce, swing, and fly through some of the levels that I’m more than happy to play them over and over to improve my time or collect medals.

The game’s music warrants its own paragraph. Tom Sennett is fond of using public domain jazz and bluegrass songs in his games (most notably, the original RunMan’s Monster Fracas), and they really add to the charm. I’m pretty accustomed to hearing either chiptunes or orchestral music (or occasionally metal) in games these days, and it’s refreshing to listen to something that deviates from those genres. I like sitting around on the map screen just to listen to the music.

But yeah, this is by far my favorite of Tom and Matt’s games, and possibly one of my favorite indie games of the year. I’d love to see more collaborations between them in the future, ’cause this one worked out really well. Great work!

TIGdb: Entry for RunMan: Race Around the World

Ludum Dare 15: Results

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: September 16th, 2009

The 15th Ludum Dare "48 hour solo game development competition” has ended. The theme this time around was “Caverns,” and there were over 143 (i.e., 144) games submitted — all of which you can find here. (With screen shots!)

The top honors this time went to ChevyRay‘s Beacon (shown above) and ’ Thorson’s Site">YMM’s Broken Cave Robot, which are both excellent. But there are many other gems! I advise scrolling through the voting results and trying everything.

Ludum Dare 16 will begin in December. Prepare thyself!

MoneySeize

By: Derek Yu

On: July 4th, 2009

MoneySeize is a slick new platformer by Matt “YMM” Thorson (Jumper 3, FLaiL, Untitled Story), his first to be released in Flash (available as a download, as well). If you like challenging platforming, you’ll dig it. Matt’s done a great job of lowering the frustration level and making the levels fun to replay over and over again – the levels are short and restarting is a cinch. Love the bird mechanic.

Happy Independence Day, America!

TIGdb: Entry for MoneySeize

Make Games Not War

By: Derek Yu

On: December 8th, 2008

I think we can all agree: one of the many nice things about having good independent gaming communities around is that you can always find friendly people to talk with, to laugh with, to drink with, and yes, to make sweet, sweet, passionate games with. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and then you have… the facts of life. The facts of life. Let’s make games together!

Jonatan “cactus” Söderström teamed up with our very own Terry Cavanagh last month to create Xoldiers, a war-themed action game where you control a squad of deadly troops. There are a couple of neat things going on here: 1. the challenges and trade-offs of controlling a group of characters moving as a cohesive unit, and 2. the built-in level editor that lets you upload levels online. Good stuff!

And here’s a collaboration to keep your eye on: Tom “CoolMoose” Sennet has paired up with Matt “YMM” Thorson for RunMan: Race Around the World, a sequel to the seminal RunMan’s Monster Fracas. The game has been in development for three years and is finally nearing release. That video gives my brain a happy-boner.

You know, the forums are always bustling with new collaborations. So what are you waiting for? Find a nerd who loves games as much as you do, and make the beast with two keyboards. Go on! <3

Jumper 3

By: Derek Yu

On: August 24th, 2008

I just played Jumper 3 from beginning to end and oh, it was good. If you’re a fan of Matt “YMM” Thorson’s other challenging platform games, like FLaiL, you should enjoy this one immensely. But even the Jumper-challenged should have a go at ‘er – one of Matt’s major goals with J3 was to reduce the inherent frustration of the tough platforming by letting you switch between up to 5 different Ogmos to complete the game (each one has its own unique characteristics and abilities). You can also find coins in each level, which can be spent to skip any areas you find too extreme. It’s a great way of integrating a difficulty system naturally into the game.

By finding the right Ogmo to use for each level, you can get through the main game fairly readily, but completists will want to find every coin and obtain every medal (by beating the ridiculously tough completion times). Ultimately, I think this game was made for them… I can only imagine what kind of hedonistic delights await the players who accomplish this monumental task!

TIGdb: Entry for Jumper 3

FLaiL

By: Derek Yu

On: March 20th, 2008

FLaiL, the latest masterpiece from An Untitled Story creator YMM (YoMamasMama), is another punishing platformer that has you leaping, flying, and dodging those terrible, ubiquitous spikes. The silky controls and inspired level design make this pretty much a must-have for anyone who gets a kick out of N, Ninjah, or messhof’s Flywrench. You will need some serious eggs to make it through all of this game’s 80 levels.

To top it off, the game includes lots of extras, like “meticulous statistics tracking”, a level editor, and other unlockables. The best part is this, though: two-player co-op, as well as the option for a third to jump in on the mouse at any time and drop bombs to fuck up the other players! Yay, YMM!

An Untitled Story

By: Derek Yu

On: August 27th, 2007

An Untitled Story is the long-awaited platform game by Game Maker developer YMM. It’s almost impossible not to compare this game to Knytt and Seiklus, since it shares a lot of visual, thematic, and gameplay ideas with those classic games. If you’re fans of either of those classics, you’ll probably appreciate this one.

One thing to consider, however, is that An Untitled Story puts a lot more emphasis on upgrading and hardcore platforming skills than those other games. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot of exploring and finding fun little areas… but if precision jumping isn’t your bag, well, you ain’t gonna get too far in this game.

Overall, I like the graphics and the atmosphere and the challenging platforming bits. It can be really frustrating at times, but there’s a lot of content here, and it’s well worth the $1 (or more) donation to get in.

(Thanks, ChevyRay, for mentioning this game in the forums!)