Games are so damn easy to lose, and they keep getting smaller. And for PC games, you need to find both the cd AND the serial code(s). I swear, I've bought the Dialbo 2 battlechest like two or three times now because I keep losing either one of the four discs or one of the two serial codes.
Oh, and when I said monday? I meant next monday.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Game Du Jour: NPC Quest
Hamumu Games (Dr. Lunatic, Loonyland 1 and 2) is one of my favorite indie developers, and the owner/head programmer also is active in the indie community, and is a judge for some award I forget the name of. A while back, he took part in a 24-hour programming contest, and later took his entry, polished it up, and released it for free.
Premise: Outfit your adventurer with gear, assign points to his stats, and choose where to adventure!
Hook: That's it. You have no more control over your guy than that, you just have to sit and watch him fight enemies.
Gameplay: Er, I've run out of things to put here.
The game isn't the most riveting thing ever, but it's good for an hour or two when you're not in the mood for anything terribly cerebral.
Premise: Outfit your adventurer with gear, assign points to his stats, and choose where to adventure!
Hook: That's it. You have no more control over your guy than that, you just have to sit and watch him fight enemies.
Gameplay: Er, I've run out of things to put here.
The game isn't the most riveting thing ever, but it's good for an hour or two when you're not in the mood for anything terribly cerebral.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Huh
Could have sworn I'd turned on 'anyone can comment, registration not required'. Well, it's turned on now. Comment away!
Game Du Jour: Shift 1, 2, and 3
Portal? Not quite. Just a trio of flash puzzlers that seem kinda portal-esque.
Premise: You're taking part in a dangerous experiment, possibly against your will.
Hook: You can Shift through the floor, turning the world upside down and making the ceiling the roof etc.
Gameplay: The second game mixes things up with gravity-changing arrows, but things start to stale in the third game and you'll likely just be playing it to get the end of the story.
Go and play it.
Edit: I didn't post this at 3 AM like it says. The blog settings are being screwy.
Premise: You're taking part in a dangerous experiment, possibly against your will.
Hook: You can Shift through the floor, turning the world upside down and making the ceiling the roof etc.
Gameplay: The second game mixes things up with gravity-changing arrows, but things start to stale in the third game and you'll likely just be playing it to get the end of the story.
Go and play it.
Edit: I didn't post this at 3 AM like it says. The blog settings are being screwy.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Game Du Jour: Trackmania Nations Forever
I'm not a big fan of racing games, I'll admit. I can count on both hands the racing games I've bought (and on one hand the ones I've enjoyed). But Trackmania, I like Trackmania. Tight controls, fast cars, excellent physics, and none of that goddamned rubberbanding A.I. that I hate so much. If I can prove I'm faster than the computer, then let me finish the race in peace. Don't give it speed boosts and cheats to keep things "interesting". When I want interesting, I'll increase the difficulty myself, thankyouverymuch.
So, anyway, Trackmania Nations Forever. Completely free standalone expansion for Trackmania United Forever. You don't need to have United, but if you do, your custom paint jobs and stuff carry over into Nations.
Premise: Fast cars, insane stunt jumps, enjoyable gameplay, lots of content for a free game.
Hook: Level editor, lots of user-made content, full integration with United Forever if you get it later.
Gameplay: There's this one jump that's like so tight that you can hear the car's undercarriage scrape against the edge of the platform as you land. It's awesome. The best racing game I've ever played (bar Trackmania United Forever). Go and get it.
So, anyway, Trackmania Nations Forever. Completely free standalone expansion for Trackmania United Forever. You don't need to have United, but if you do, your custom paint jobs and stuff carry over into Nations.
Premise: Fast cars, insane stunt jumps, enjoyable gameplay, lots of content for a free game.
Hook: Level editor, lots of user-made content, full integration with United Forever if you get it later.
Gameplay: There's this one jump that's like so tight that you can hear the car's undercarriage scrape against the edge of the platform as you land. It's awesome. The best racing game I've ever played (bar Trackmania United Forever). Go and get it.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Game Du Jour: Dwarf Fortress
Today, we'll take a look at the instant cult classic, Dwarf Fortress.
Premise: Seven dwarves (Snow white not included, har har) set out to establish a new place to live, seek fortune through mineral wealth and/or craftsdwarfship, and ultimately establish a Dwarf Fortress.
Hook: Starvation, thirst, drowning, goblin invasions, elven ambushes, human retribution, elephants, carp, child-snatchers, thieves, lava, cave-ins, fire, colossi, dragons, insanity, and nobles, to name a few.
Gameplay: Dwarf Fortress is like a mix of Spore, Nethack, Dungeon Keeper, and the Sims.
Spore: Right when you start playing, the game procedurally generates an entire world, running rivers and lakes, eroding cliffs, scattering mineral wealth... It's interesting to watch. The world also stays persistent from one game to another, so if you defeat a colossus in one fortress, expect to see references to it in your next ones.
Nethack: This is where most people get turned off on the game. Dwarf Fortress shares a steep learning curve (more like a sheer cliff than a curve) with Nethack, and also its graphical simplicity. Your dwarves are bearded smiley faces, but everything else, from the ground to your pet dogs, are colored ASCII characters. So until you learn the code ("All I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead...") it'll look like a mess of stuff.
The interface isn't that optimized either, unfortunately, so you'll be using the thankfully easy-to-bring-up cheat-sheet for a while.
Dungeon Keeper: You don't control your dwarves directly. Instead, you set what they can and can't do (on an individual basis), and designate where to mine and where to build. If they're not doing something else, they'll get right on it. Unfortunately, they often are doing something else, so you'll want to set up tasks in advance of when you need them done. If you're planning on building a new wing of bedrooms, it's wise to order new beds, doors etc at the same time you start digging.
The Sims: Your dwarves are creatures of flesh (unlike Dungeon Keeper's imps, which are made of magic and can work non-stop) and they have their own needs, wants, and happiness. They need food, and if there's none available, they'll drop whatever they're doing (including, say, making more food) to hunt for small vermin to eat. They want a constant supply of alcohol, and if they're forced to drink *shudder* water instead, they'll drag their heels in their tasks as the massive hangover they've been holding at bay sets in. (Literally, they move and work at half speed if they're sober.) And there's a long list of things that can chip away at their happiness, including smelling rotting food, being outside in the rain, or having pets/family members die (and taking a further hit if they don't get a proper burial).
Should a dwarf remain too unhappy for long enough, he will throw a tantrum and start brawling and wrecking stuff. And since dwarves don't like being punched, they might in turn start a tantrum, and set off a chain reaction that decimates your entire fortress. Good stuff.
Really, I could go on and on about this game. Go and get it already.
Premise: Seven dwarves (Snow white not included, har har) set out to establish a new place to live, seek fortune through mineral wealth and/or craftsdwarfship, and ultimately establish a Dwarf Fortress.
Hook: Starvation, thirst, drowning, goblin invasions, elven ambushes, human retribution, elephants, carp, child-snatchers, thieves, lava, cave-ins, fire, colossi, dragons, insanity, and nobles, to name a few.
Gameplay: Dwarf Fortress is like a mix of Spore, Nethack, Dungeon Keeper, and the Sims.
Spore: Right when you start playing, the game procedurally generates an entire world, running rivers and lakes, eroding cliffs, scattering mineral wealth... It's interesting to watch. The world also stays persistent from one game to another, so if you defeat a colossus in one fortress, expect to see references to it in your next ones.
Nethack: This is where most people get turned off on the game. Dwarf Fortress shares a steep learning curve (more like a sheer cliff than a curve) with Nethack, and also its graphical simplicity. Your dwarves are bearded smiley faces, but everything else, from the ground to your pet dogs, are colored ASCII characters. So until you learn the code ("All I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead...") it'll look like a mess of stuff.
The interface isn't that optimized either, unfortunately, so you'll be using the thankfully easy-to-bring-up cheat-sheet for a while.
Dungeon Keeper: You don't control your dwarves directly. Instead, you set what they can and can't do (on an individual basis), and designate where to mine and where to build. If they're not doing something else, they'll get right on it. Unfortunately, they often are doing something else, so you'll want to set up tasks in advance of when you need them done. If you're planning on building a new wing of bedrooms, it's wise to order new beds, doors etc at the same time you start digging.
The Sims: Your dwarves are creatures of flesh (unlike Dungeon Keeper's imps, which are made of magic and can work non-stop) and they have their own needs, wants, and happiness. They need food, and if there's none available, they'll drop whatever they're doing (including, say, making more food) to hunt for small vermin to eat. They want a constant supply of alcohol, and if they're forced to drink *shudder* water instead, they'll drag their heels in their tasks as the massive hangover they've been holding at bay sets in. (Literally, they move and work at half speed if they're sober.) And there's a long list of things that can chip away at their happiness, including smelling rotting food, being outside in the rain, or having pets/family members die (and taking a further hit if they don't get a proper burial).
Should a dwarf remain too unhappy for long enough, he will throw a tantrum and start brawling and wrecking stuff. And since dwarves don't like being punched, they might in turn start a tantrum, and set off a chain reaction that decimates your entire fortress. Good stuff.
Really, I could go on and on about this game. Go and get it already.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Game Du Jour: Immortal Defense
There's a lot of free games on the internet, enough to keep one occupied for a lifetime without spending a cent. Unfortunately, occupied and entertained are not the same thing, and sometimes you have to sift through some boring stuff to get to the good stuff. I'm gonna try to help you with that, with a daily installment I call Game Du Jour.
Basically, I'll be talking about a different free game (or decent-length demo) each day. The criteria are that it can't have a time limit on how much you can play, I have to find it entertaining, and it has to be free (or the free portion has to meet the previous criteria).
Today's game is the Immortal Defense demo, an indie tower-defense game. The 'demo' is a full third of the game, and has at least two hours worth of entertainment in it.
Premise: The evil alien Bakavh are launching an invasion on your home planet, using phasewarp technology to travel great distances in short amounts of time, ala hyperspace/warp drive/etc. To stop them, your people send you up into pathspace, where you can attack ships in phasewarp.
Hook: The procedure also makes you immortal. And based on the other two pathspace defenders you meet, perhaps slightly... off. Even in the demo, it's pretty clear that Aa has let the hero worship go to his head.
Gameplay: Like any other tower defense game, you place towers (points of will) on the field, and upgrade them as necessary. These towers shoot at and defeat enemies, which earns you points that you can use to build/upgrade more towers so they can defeat harder enemies. It's like a cross between an arms race and an RPG.
(If you're really that unfamiliar with what tower defense is, can I suggest Desktop Tower Defense? Or if you own Warcraft 3, just fire battlenet up and go into custom games, and try something that has 'defense' or 'TD' in the title.)
Immortal Defense takes the traditional archetypes like 'slow' and 'splash' towers, and subjects them to space radiation, changing them into twelve completely unique towers. Your splash towers, for example, are cheap, fast, and powerful, but can only fire at 90-degree angles. The 'Turning Point' towers, which reduce maximum enemy hitpoints and move around on their own, have no counterpart in other TD games.
Really, go check out the demo. You'll be glad you did.
Basically, I'll be talking about a different free game (or decent-length demo) each day. The criteria are that it can't have a time limit on how much you can play, I have to find it entertaining, and it has to be free (or the free portion has to meet the previous criteria).
Today's game is the Immortal Defense demo, an indie tower-defense game. The 'demo' is a full third of the game, and has at least two hours worth of entertainment in it.
Premise: The evil alien Bakavh are launching an invasion on your home planet, using phasewarp technology to travel great distances in short amounts of time, ala hyperspace/warp drive/etc. To stop them, your people send you up into pathspace, where you can attack ships in phasewarp.
Hook: The procedure also makes you immortal. And based on the other two pathspace defenders you meet, perhaps slightly... off. Even in the demo, it's pretty clear that Aa has let the hero worship go to his head.
Gameplay: Like any other tower defense game, you place towers (points of will) on the field, and upgrade them as necessary. These towers shoot at and defeat enemies, which earns you points that you can use to build/upgrade more towers so they can defeat harder enemies. It's like a cross between an arms race and an RPG.
(If you're really that unfamiliar with what tower defense is, can I suggest Desktop Tower Defense? Or if you own Warcraft 3, just fire battlenet up and go into custom games, and try something that has 'defense' or 'TD' in the title.)
Immortal Defense takes the traditional archetypes like 'slow' and 'splash' towers, and subjects them to space radiation, changing them into twelve completely unique towers. Your splash towers, for example, are cheap, fast, and powerful, but can only fire at 90-degree angles. The 'Turning Point' towers, which reduce maximum enemy hitpoints and move around on their own, have no counterpart in other TD games.
Really, go check out the demo. You'll be glad you did.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Welcome!
Welcome to Typing Fingers, my little space to write about games and stuff. Don't expect anything too grand, alright? I'm just one guy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)