Freeware Games for the Holidays - Part 1

A LOT of people I know, and know of, pirate games. Partly it's because the availability of games here is pretty bad, and the prices are atrocious as I spoke about here. But, I think most of the time, it's the same reason people pirate games anywhere else in the world. It's free, and no one has suffered any consequence for it here.

The whole piracy discussion is a whole separate issue which I do not plan on going into here, what I want to do though is make a couple of recommendations based on my own impressions and suggestions based on other peoples' reviews and impressions of high quality, good length freeware games available for the windows PC, Mac and for those who have them, hacked PSPs as an alternative to getting more pirated games this holiday season. Think of it as getting good karma.

I was originally going to break the list down into sections (PC, MAC, PSP) and then into genres (shmup, platformer etc.), but I am too lazy to do that so you will all have to go through the list and check the description to see if it is for your chosen platform.

Here we go.
1.

Cave Story (PC, MAC, PSP) get it here

Okay, this is hands down one of the best games you will play on any platform guaranteed. It is a platformer/ side-scrolling shooter with heavy exploration elements and a simple but well told story. You will gain hours of play from this as you discover secrets, different paths through the game, hidden weapons and an entire hidden area. You can get all the various versions from here with instructions on setting them up. The game is also being released on the Wii via Wiiware and I will encourage you to buy it, if you can, to support the developer and to try out the extras they are sure to include with its release.

2.

Iji (PC) get it here

Iji is an side-scrolling action/adventure game with a graphical style reminiscent of Flashback. I haven't finished the game yet, but what I have played is of very high quality. The game features rpg mechanics allowing you to tailor your character in such a way that can even allow you to complete the game without killing anybody at all. It also has rave reviews from all over the indie game web, so it is definitely worth a playthrough.

3.

The Spirit Engine (PC) get it here

This is another side-scroller, but this time its an rpg! The Spirit Engine has good dialogue and an intriguing story. The combat system is quite unique in its approach, and although it may take some getting used, is quite fun once you get used to it. I never finished this because it kept crashing at a particular point in one of the later chapters, but I can recommend it wholeheartedly.

4.











Dwarf Fortress (PC, MAC) get it here

Okay, first a disclaimer, the game fresh off whichever server you get it from doesn't look like the screenshot above. In reality, everything is represented by ascii text until you get a new tile set and replace them, but I didn't want to scare you guys off. Anyway, this is one of the deepest and most rewarding strategy/simulation/rpg roguelikes you are likely to play in the next couple of years. You control a band of dwarves as they make a home in the side of a mountain and fend off all manner of creatures and deal with pregnancy, going berserk and competing craftsdwarves. The Sims Extreme in other words. And I haven't talked about the adventure mode or the fact it generates an entire unique world history and myth for you.

5.

Exult (PC, MAC, PSP) get it here (PC & MAC) and here for PSP.

Exult is an engine developed to emulate the old computer rpgs Ultima VII: The Black Gate and The Serpent Isle. These are some of the most acclaimed rpgs ever so this is basically a no-brainer. The exult platform does a great job of bringing these games to modern audiences so you should definitely give it a shot.

6.

La Mulana (PC) get it and the English patch here

La Mulana is a side-scrolling adventure game made to resemble an MSX title. It is fiendishly hard and in fact this is one of the few games I haven't finished due to difficulty, but damn is it FUN! I am including a link to a series of Let's Play... videos on youtube where you can watch someone play through the entire game. So, if you do get stuck, have a look at the series here. It is also one of the longest games on this list, with a full playthrough taking up to 10-12 hours even if one knows what they are doing.

That's it for part 1. Dunno when I will get around to a part 2, but look forward to it and I hope you find something that catches your fancy among these games.

Rescue the Beagles: The Review

Ok, time to finally put up this review as it has been long overdue.

Rescue the Beagles was created as an entry into the TIGSource's Procedural Generation Competition that finished not too long ago. It also emerged as the winner out of some quite worthy entries. You can check out all the other entrants here.



Rescue the Beagles started pretty well for me. The menu screen is really simple, and has the wonderful background art as its background. The pixel art is also very nice and the music set the tone for the excellent ingame music.

The aim of the game is rescue the titular beagles from the evil forces of cosmetic testers while navigating a procedurally generated three-tiered landscape and avoiding lawyers, radioactive lip balm and giant yeti-looking creatures. I shouldn't forget to mention that you can defeat all the enemies (except for the lip balm, 'cos that would just be weird) by well aimed throws of owls...or their poop...yeah.

If you're like me, once you read that and see what it looks like, you would be drawn in like a fly to a fly zapper.

And after my first couple of play throughs I was hooked! The fact that Bibi could serve as a spotter of beagles and in that way collaborate with me was also a major plus.

The pacing of the game, the graphics, the sound, it all comes together to form quite an interesting arcadey title. The integration of an online high score table is also a definite plus.

Sometimes I do feel like whatever code was used to generate the levels may be a tad unfair, but that could also be me just being crap of course. I also feel that it requires a few more animations to help players get feedback about certain activities. The falling distance of the player is very short and it takes some time to be able to gauge a safe distance to fall reliably. The addition of a panic animation or something similar could alert the player to the fact that they may be about to bite off more than they can chew. And maybe some sort of indicator could be used to let players know when they are close to losing a beagle.



Aside from those little niggles, I am quite happy with the game. It is perfect for a 5-10 minute break, and there is enough depth in the level flow and control schemes to allow for 'advanced' play.

You can get it here.

IGF 2009 Competition

Just to let everyone know that the Independent Games Festival 2009 Competition has started receiving entries. I am going to try and get something together (maybe!) in time for the competition.

I am currently working on an IF project tentatively titled 'Phantom'. If that goes well, I might delve into game maker and see whether I cannot make a spin-off of the universe I am building in that.

Here's some of the more important information regarding the competition taken right off their website.

Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; important dates for IGF 2009 are as follows:

July 1st, 2008 - Submissions are Open
November 1st, 2008 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
November 15th, 2008 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition
January 5th, 2009 - Finalists Announced, Main Competition
January 19th, 2009 - Finalists Announced, Student Competition
March 23rd-27th, 2009 - Game Developer’s Conference 2009
March 25th-27th, 2009 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC
March 25th, 2009 - IGF 2009 Awards Ceremony


For a complete list of IGF 2008 event information, please visit the official Independent Games Festival website.

If you think you might enter, say something in the comments.