Platform: Flash — If you're tired of all those physics platformers with jumping balls, try one with a rolling smiley! Absolutely no bouncing involved! Instead, good ol' gravity keeps our yellow hero firmly on the ground, and your task is to get him to the exit, avoiding all manner of dangers along the way, and eating magic mushrooms to get special powers. Tagged as: action, browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, platform, puzzle, rating-g, trinbox, windows

Platform: Flash — A ninja protecting himself with bubble wrap? Check. A strange line of leaping dancers? Yep. Some dude with a green face peering at you through a hole in the wall? Okay. Small blue men doing...something to a vase? Yeah, Detarou's back with another surreal room escape. Tagged as: browser, detarou, escape, flash, free, game, humor, japanese, linux, mac, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-y, surreal, weekday-escape, windows

Platform: iOS, Unity — CastleMine from Mugshot Games combines tower defense with a little bit of old fashioned digging. Instead of mapping out mazes for creeps to crawl through or building balloon things on green green grass, you get to dig underground one block at a time. Uncover extra gold deposits, additional resources, or even nests of enemies as you attempt to defend your castle from the threat from below. Tagged as: browser, defense, demo, game, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, mugshotgames, rating-y, tablet, towerdefense, unity

Platform: Flash — The year is 1978. A child has found a video game they've never heard of before. but he doesn't realize that things on the other side of the screen lie waiting for him to play it. Misadventure is an action-adventure horror game by Mike Houser, done in the retro style of a 4-bit Atari game gone horribly wrong, and its atmospheric creepiness more than makdes up for a little directionessless in its gameplay. Tagged as: action, adventure, atari, browser, flash, free, game, horror, linux, lovecraft, mac, mhouser, pixelart, rating-r, retro, windows

Platform: Flash — Raise money to save a forest from being cut down. It's a good cause so it should be easy, right? Wrong! Pick up your trusty clipboard and beat the streets talking to people and trying to stir them into donating to meet your goals. But be warned... getting people to open their wallets is harder than you think when your confidence, trust, charisma, and even job is on the line in this unique simulation/arcade game. Tagged as: arcade, browser, flash, free, game, jlango, linux, mac, rating-y, simulation, strategy, unique, windows

Basically I’ve mostly been doing one thing since the last update. It’s just that it’s quite a complicated thing

Here’s what I’ve done:

- Read in the xml animation file for Earth and got it working. The original game has a complex animation system that can handle way more than most normal animation systems. I’ve had to write code to read and interpret the xml file and make it work with my sprite engine. This was not easy and there’s still a lot to do.

- Read in the xml sprite files for Earth and got it working. Each sprite, which I’m calling a “game object”, can be made up of several animated sprites, or even several other game objects. This was also pretty complex especially when some parts of a game object control other parts of a game object!

- I made a test screen to show the animations and sprites that I’ve read in. This has proved very useful and I’ve made a video about it (see below).

- Finally I made code to create individual “instances” (that’s a programming term) of a game object using a template that has been read in from the sprite xml file. The in-game aliens are now instances based on a template and you can see that they animate and blink in the video I made.

Video!

This is my first developer video diary. In it I show of the game a little bit and then talk about the test screen I made to test animations and game objects (sprites).

I Hope you enjoy it!

Next up

- Keep going with the xml interpretation code. There’s still a lot to do such as making the aliens move around, making them fire, making the player ship animate as it moves, making particle effects for firing etc. All of this is controlled via the vast xml files that Cas and Chaz (the original developers) made. So I’ve got my work cut out for me!

Games featured this week: Omega Crisis; Star Relic; Gravitee 2 — Captain's Log: Stardate: 52120.13: The Vault Commander wishes to share some of the greatest space games from the JiG archives. As this is well within the parameters of our five year mission, this week in The Vault, we now present a few classic action, strategy, and physics titles. End transmission. Tagged as: blog, browser, thevault

Platform: iPad — If Beret Applications' Demon Chic were a person it would be a Brooklyn-dwelling record store clerk riding a fixie to a farmer's market while listening to Yo La Tengo. It would be of the species Homo ironicus—in other words, the creature popular culture has dubbed the hipster. Yet, astonishingly, the game is neither as insufferable nor pretentious as this analogy would suggest. Instead this mobile piece of art instead is an entirely successful marriage of action RPG gameplay with an absurd, darkly funny, and frequently touching story. Tagged as: beretapplications, game, ios, ipad, mobile, narrative, rating-r, roleplaying, surreal, tablet

Doing an AMA on Reddit right now. http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/1ep0ed/i_invented_the_swinging_in_spiderman_2_now_im/

Platform: Flash — Disaster Will Strike 2 is the second installment of Anton Koshechkin's physics puzzle series where you destroy prehistoric eggs using landslides, earthquakes, epidemics, and bees. Yes, bees. Tagged as: akoshechkin, browser, chainreaction, flash, free, game, linux, mac, physics, puzzle, rating-y, windows

Platform: Flash — Kingdom of Liars is the second in the series of dark fantasy point-and-click adventures and the plot is only getting thicker in the city of Ashbane. Kingdom of Liars 2 features what Hyptosis is best known for: world-building, colorful characters, humorous descriptions, intriguing twists... and smacking players with a "To Be Continued" just as things are getting good. For a short trip, though, it's an excellent one. Tagged as: adventure, browser, fantasy, flash, free, game, horror, hyptosis, linux, mac, oddfellowfloyd, pointandclick, rating-o, windows

Games featured this week: Last Train to Timbuktu; NonoCube; Sparkle 2; Pudding Monsters — Such a friendly edition of Mobile Monday, this is. Everybody's our friend, especially those who deliver good games to us. We also seem to have a penchant for puzzle games, which are basically brain BFFs. Tagged as: blog, mobile, mobile-monday, news, previews

Platform: iPad, Windows — This barbecue is being crashed by some seriously unruly lizards of the prehistoric sort! Most gophers would turn tail, but you're not giving up your delicious steaks without a fight! Plan strategically and make use of a variety of clever tower types to defend your 'cue against incoming dinos of all sorts, ranging from hordes of sprightly compys to enormous bosses in this indie defense game. Tagged as: defense, download, firehosegames, game, indie, ios, ipad, mobile, rating-g, realtime, steam, strategy, tablet, towerdefense, windows

Platform: Mac, Windows — Princess Isabella has been turned to stone by an evil witch, who is now after Isabella's daughter. The witch sends thee spectral hounds to hunt down young Bella and imprison her fairy godmothers, leaving her without protection. Bella must find a way to defeat the evil sorceress and lift the curse which permeates the kingdom in this magical hidden-object adventure. Tagged as: adventure, affiliate, casual, collectorsedition, demo, download, game, gogii, hiddenobject, mac, princessisabella, rating-y, windows

Platform: Flash — Sudoku hits the streets in Skyscrapers Light, another installment of the Conceptis Light series. In this logic puzzle, the numbers on the outside of the grid tell you how many "buildings" are visible from that side of the grid, if each number inside the grid represented a building of that height. Are you streetwise enough to rebuild the city? Tagged as: browser, conceptis, conceptislight, flash, free, game, linux, logic, mac, puzzle, rating-g, sudoku, windows

Platform: iOS — The woods are no place to be stranded in. You can lose your way; you can lose your mind; you can even lose yourself. Developed by Simulated Culture, Rootwork is a new strategic card game that drops you into the heart of the deepest, darkest forest and challenges you to make it out safely. However, a stray critter or a thorny bush are the least of your troubles here. These woods are full of dark forces and malevolent spirits, and at the center of the dark maelstrom is "She." Who is She? That's uncertain. But these are Her woods, and if She wants you to stay lost forever the odds are stacked against you. Tagged as: card, game, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, rating-y, simulatedculture, strategy, tablet

Just a few hours away - I'll be on the Colony of Gamers In-Game Chat podcast tonight (Saturday, May 18th) at 7 PM CST. Come join me and ask questions! http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=29116 The show runs from 6 to 8, if you...

Platform: Mac, Windows — Everyone in town knows to stay out of the forest, but what do you do when the forest won't stay out of the town? Enter this surreal fantasy in Mad Head Game's next hidden object adventure, where only you can save the town—as soon as you can find the pieces to your magic amulet and piece it back together again. Explore gorgeous environments, customize your game settings, and encounter many uniquely logical search scenes and puzzles in an engaging story that is much more than what words can describe. Tagged as: adventure, affiliate, casual, collectorsedition, demo, download, fantasy, game, hiddenobject, hybrid, mac, madheadgames, puzzle, rating-y, riteofpassage, surreal, windows

Platform: Flash — Over eight years ago, Metanet Software gave us N, a minimalistic high-difficulty platformer download featuring a ninja hungry for gold and not-dying. That agile ninja returns in N v 2, featuring another 500 levels full of tempting gold ambrosia and enemies out to thwart your not-dying efforts, right in your browser. Grab a friend and discover once again how a tiny ninja in a deadly world could create quite a compelling and tricky challenge. Tagged as: action, browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, metanet, multiplayer, ninjas, physics, rating-g, windows

Platform: Mac, Windows, Linux — Mr Rescue! Help! A bunch of people are trapped in a burning building and only you can save them! Now that you're inside, it's time to be a hero. Mr. Rescue is a simple but amazingly charming action game from Tangram Games. You control the well-protected Mr. Rescue himself as you spray water on fires and climb through a burning building to save the innocent people inside. The best part? You rescue them by throwing them out the window! Tagged as: action, adventure, download, free, game, indie, linux, mac, tangramgames, windows

Platform: Flash — When your lightbulb bursts, you might head to the store to get a new one, but that's only because you're not nearly as funky and awesome as the two old ladies starring in this point-and-click adventure. Despite suffering from some bizarre leaps of logic, a unique style and fantastic soundtrack make this short game worth checking out. Tagged as: adventure, browser, flash, free, game, kkonwerski, linux, mac, mlachowicz, pastelgames, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-g, tkuczma, windows

Platform: iOS, Android, Unity — You know what your average tug-of-war game needs? A table instead of a rope. At least that's what Otto Ojola thinks, and he's turned the idea into Tug the Table, a simple yet wonderful fighting game that manages to be reminiscent of Wrestle Jump while still being unique. Tagged as: android, browser, fighting, free, game, ios, ipad, iphone, mac, mobile, onebutton, oojala, rating-y, tablet, unity, versus, windows

Games featured this week: Dormant Sky; Among the Sleep; Pandora: Purge of Pride; Town of Salem; Alone in the Park; Damned; Road Not Taken; Rom Check Fail; Contraption Maker — Play with a human head! Experience terror as a toddler! Accuse your friends of being murderers before they do the same to you! This week's Link Dump has a little something for everyone... especially if you're just a little bit weird. Tagged as: blog, linkdump, news, previews

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Platform: iOS — A lot of kids who grew up with RC cars turned into today's gamers. That's a dangerous blanket statement to make, but you can't argue there isn't some overlap. After all, isn't driving a radio controlled car around the living room kind of like a video game? And didn't playing with RC cars and video games make your parents mad? Looking to bring those two worlds together, Paladin Studios, the team behind Momonga Pinball Adventures, has released Nikko RC Racer, a wild and untamed arcade racing game that's about as close to driving the real thing as you can get. Tagged as: action, arcade, free, game, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, paladinstudios, racing, rating-y, tablet

Platform: Flash — The Earth has become too small for Bob the snail. He dreams of space travel, and what do you know, he gets a call from the snail army, asking him to go on an interplanetary mission. Help Bob stay alive as he battles gravity, aliens, and laser beams in this wonderfully entertaining puzzle game. Tagged as: akovalishin, browser, flash, free, game, hunterhamster, linux, mac, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-g, snailbob, windows

Platform: Flash — Ever been attacked by a giant doily from outer space? At the very least, that's how we're choosing to interpret Connor Ullmann's bullet hell shooter Obsolescence. You'll face ten waves of kaleidoscopic bosses with lots of guns and shields to destroy as you blast your way to their cores. Your laser is always firing, so you can focus on moving around and staying alive... if you can. Tagged as: action, browser, bullethell, cullmann, flash, free, game, linux, mac, rating-g, shooter, windows

Platform: Android — One night, Luke decided to go out and visit the love of his life. But an unfortunate note on the door informs him he's now alone in this world. To console himself, Luke wants nothing more than to stare at the stars. With all the buildings in the way, though, how can he? That's where you come into play. Luke at the Stars is a simple but charming puzzle game that's all about moving buildings out of the way so you can get a good view of the sky. Tagged as: alpacateam, android, demo, game, mobile, puzzle, rating-g, tablet

This means Linux support is happening, along with the new zipping and retracting / extending features of the energy line. If you've been holding off because you wanted to make sure Linux support was in there, you're good to go....

Platform: Flash — 8-bit-lovers worldwide having been searching for the next lost retro work, and Watergate: The Video Game, could very well be that. Now some may claim that this point-and-click adventure game, was only recently developed by Samuel Kim, which is why things get so hilariously surreal. A wry combination of video game parody, pop culture riffing, and political satire, Watergate tries to be a lot of things, and it generally succeeds. Tagged as: adventure, browser, flash, free, game, humor, linux, mac, parody, pixelart, pointandclick, politics, rating-r, retro, skim, windows

Platform: Flash — You are a little white ghost – check. You want to be a big, important demon – check. You must defeat other demons to succeed – check. You can only reach them by beating levels where lots of pixels fly around and try to kill you – che... Wait, what? Ghostly Me is a tricky platformer in which you jump over, under and across moving obstacles on your way to fiendish fame. Tagged as: action, arcade, browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, pixelart, platform, ppllaayy, rating-g, windows

Platform: Flash — Join Yuri's chirpy hide-and-seek playing bunch of baby birds in the park playground, where they've nestled into every possible hiding spot waiting to be discovered by you. Your goal is easy: click anywhere you think a baby fowl could fit, pick-up and properly use a smattering of objects, and collect all ten chicks before you can find the exit and escape. Tagged as: browser, escape, flash, free, game, japanese, linux, mac, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-g, weekday-escape, windows, yuri

Platform: iOS, Android, Mac — Money, or freedom. Which will you choose? McBank: The Puzzle of Money and Freedom uses stark, humorous imagery wrapped around a series of quick puzzles that play on the theme of the uneven distribution of wealth and power in modern society. Even though most of the world's money is controlled by a relative few people, the masses continue to support them with their purchases and actions. McBank forces you to to choose with each level you complete, and the results aren't always pretty. Tagged as: android, demo, download, game, honeytribestudios, indie, ios, ipad, iphone, kindle, mac, mobile, narrative, parody, puzzle, tablet

I did a Q&A for The Jace Hall Show. More interviews coming! Shogun Gamer is on deck, and I'll be a live guest on the Colony of Gamers broadcast this Saturday at 7 PM CST / 5 PM PST. And...

Platform: iOS, Android, Flash — Move fast! No, faster! No, even faster! Available in your browser or on your mobile device, Mini Dash is a challenging one-hit K-O platformer full of missiles, buzzsaws, daring jumps, and more that will test your mettle over and over. Tagged as: action, android, browser, flash, game, highdifficulty, ios, ipad, iphone, ipod, mobile, platform, playcreek, rating-y, tablet

Platform: Javascript — Darkness has overtaken the land, bringing with it unspeakable beasts, but one woman is no longer content to cower inside. In this open-source retro RPG adventure demo made in just one month, go on a classic quest to find the source of the dark infestation and get more powerful along the way. Engaging and addictive but challenging too, it's a simple, streamlined experience you can jump right into anytime. Tagged as: adventure, browser, cbellanger, demo, free, game, javascript, linux, mac, rating-y, retro, rpg, turnbased, windows, yubatake

For my January #onegameamonth I was making a game called Techno Zombies that turned out to be way too complex and I was rapidly running out of time to hit the Janurary deadline. So I decided to make an online version of my original Math Forever game instead.

The original Math Forever game was programmed in BlitzMax and is a downloadable executable for PC/Mac. People seemed to like it and so I thought it would be a good idea to bring it to a wider audience by making an online version. This time I used Monkey because it’s a cross-platform language that can output Flash builds, which is perfect for Math Forever 2.

Anyway you can play it here. Can you beat level 10? It gets pretty hard around that level.

Here’s a video of me losing on level 10:

Games featured this week: Tower of Heaven; Never End; My First Quantum Translocator — This week's edition of The Vault is sponsored by... I forget the name. I think it was Opening Science or something like that. Anyways, today we're featuring a selection of Portalesque games. A Portalesque is a puzzle-platformer with a unique mechanic and a sadistic host. There'll be cake after the showcase, I promise! Tagged as: blog, browser, thevault

Platform: iOS, Android — After your rather unceremonious birth, you're sent to the temple of the Silene Monks, where you choose whether to be a medic, a warrior or an engineer. From there, it's up to you to make the right choices to fulfill your destiny and, most crucially, not die. But Trial of the Clone is more than a simple choose-your-own-adventure. Along the way you'll gain stat points, weapons and items, which you can keep track of via a built-in D&D-style Adventure Sheet. These come to play in battles which pop up occasionally and affect the course of the story. Battles are pretty simple: You deal damage to your opponent based on your given stats plus a random number from 0 to 3, and then your opponent does the same — the last one standing wins. Loss in a battle doesn't necessarily mean death; it may just mean being relocated to a different department (say, engineering, where physical strength, ability and charisma are less in demand). Tagged as: adventure, android, game, gamebook, ios, ipad, iphone, kindle, mobile, narrative, rating-r, rpg, tablet, text, tinmangames

Wow! Just wow. We're at $16K right now - I thought it was perfectly possible, before I launched, that $16K might be all we'd raise for the whole thing. I'm over the moon! Which means the gear customization feature is...

Platform: Flash — Short but sweet, this little platform puzzle game stars a ball of blue alien goop that crashes into a strange and sterile place. You'll need to explore and solve a puzzle or two to find your real purpose, and though it's almost more concept than full game, is still worth the few minutes it'll take you. Tagged as: browser, flash, free, game, jjwallace, linux, mac, platform, puzzle, rating-g, windows

Platform: Flash — Though her expedition started out well prepared, our heroine's journey to the temple of the Queen of Snakes hits a snag when her entire crew is wiped out and a rock slide traps her inside. Gorgeous, clever, and visually unique, the Queen of Snakes is a fantastic point-and-click adventure more than worth your time. Tagged as: adventure, browser, flash, free, game, jo99, linux, mac, pointandclick, rating-g, windows

Games featured this week: Hiversaires; OmniDig; Asphalt 7: Heat — Did somebody leave the front door open? Because there's a draft in here. Seriously, stand by the wall there. You feel it, don't you? Maybe just lean down a bit. More. Moooore. HA! Tricked you into reading mobile game news! Tagged as: blog, mobile, mobile-monday, news, previews

Platform: iOS — Douglas Chase, the hero of Tasty Poison's arcade puzzle game Dig!, has it rough. He works as an archaeologist for a failing museum, and in order to save his job, appease his boss and rescue the museum, he has to dig up new and exciting artefacts, pronto. And he has to do all this while mummies, tentacles and moles chase him, which never makes things easy. Oh, and toilet seats count as priceless artefacts, by the way. Have fun! Tagged as: arcade, game, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, puzzle, rating-g, tablet, tastypoison

Platform: Mac, Windows — When a New York City book critic is murdered, dressed up to look like Frankenstein's monster, and hooked up to an electrical current, it's time to call the one detective who actually prefers the really weird cases: Kate Beckett. If she brings her "consultant," a mystery writer named Richard Castle, along with her, so much the better. Such is the premise of Castle: Never Judge A Book By Its Cover, a tie-in hidden object game that was written as a companion to the television show Castle. It appeals to more than just fans of the show, though, and blends hidden object scenes and puzzles seamlessly. Can you find the Hardcover Killer before it's too late? Tagged as: affiliate, casual, demo, download, game, gunnargames, hiddenobject, mac, mystery, pointandclick, rating-o, windows

Platform: Flash — Stargazers is a minimalist puzzle Ludum Dare entry by Cake and Zeik that's sure to have everyone watching the skies. An interesting variation on connect-the-dots, Stargazers may be short, but it has astronomical amounts of polish. Tagged as: browser, cake, cakeandcode, flash, free, game, linux, ludumdare, mac, minimalism, puzzle, rating-g, simpleidea, windows, zeik

Platform: Windows — There's something in Kraven Manor. The old house provides rest from the storm raging outside, and you soon discover it holds an incredible secret... by assembling a model, you can shift and shape the building's layout to your desire. But you're not alone, and you're not wanted... and it won't let you leave alive. A chilling and masterfully atmospheric free indie horror adventure. Tagged as: action, adventure, beta, demonwagonstudios, download, free, game, horror, indie, rating-o, unique, windows

Platform: iOS, Android — Daddy Was a Thief is a solid little arcade game from Rebel Twins, creator of the gorgeous mobile release Crumble Zone. The story begins with dear old dad losing his job, then picking up a How-To book on robbery so he can nip off to the bank for a bit of thievery. When the action begins dad is making his escape. The only problem is there are hundreds of things standing between his high-rise hijinks and the safety of terra firma. Tagged as: android, arcade, game, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, rating-g, rebeltwins, tablet

Platform: Windows — The Binary Mill delivers a gleefully energetic and beautifully visualised racing game that's perfectly playable no matter what your skill level. Bounce around the track, crashing into and off of the scenery and other players, as you go for the gold and upgrade your favourite cars. Casual fans will welcome this with open arms as the perfect giddy party game for friends. Tagged as: action, download, game, indie, racing, rating-g, steam, thebinarymill, upgrades, windows

Platform: Windows — It all started as an innocent trip to Italy. Vanessa's grandfather, a member of a mysterious religious order, went missing a few weeks ago, and she is summoned to the order's headquarters. Once there, she finds out that the gates guarding peace on Earth are all but wide open because some cheeky prankster has stolen four runes which keep the gates shut. Vanessa must track them down by jumping into portals leading to other worlds, all the while trying to discover the evil mind behind this nefarious scheme. Tagged as: 8floorgames, adventure, affiliate, casual, collectorsedition, demo, download, free, game, hiddenobject, rating-y, windows