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REDDER is a game by Anna Anthropy / Auntie Pixelante, with music by Amon26. It’s an exploration platformer focused around an alternating green/red block switch mechanic, similar to the mechanic used in the third pendent dungeon in the SNES classic A Link to the Past.

I found the colors very nice (even though the backgrounds are often just gradients, there’s a lot that can be done with just gradients of color), and the exploration of a fairly large world excellent. In a few ways the game resembles VVVVVV, but only in basic structure: a world of screen-sized rooms, numerous checkpoints, things to collect, but is more non-linear, slower-paced, and not as focused on challenge (you won’t die very often if you’re decent at platformers).

I’ve played through many of her other games (When Pig’s Fly, Calamity Annie, Calamity Annie, Invader), and so far this one’s by far my favorite; maybe you guys will agree. Continue reading

Farbs just released the latest episode of his Captain Forever series, called Captain Impostor (available for all registered players). CI puts you at the helm of The Narcissus, a new type of ship that’s powered by a CLONE DRIVE. The CLONE DRIVE lets you steal entire ships and make them your own. However, the strength of the parts cloned depends on how much clone power you have. Destroy other ships to raise your clone power!

So far I’m enjoying the cloning mechanic, but the lack of construction makes it a little less interesting than Successor, in my opinion. I’m still waiting for a more cohesive world and story, but I don’t know if that’s in the cards or not. In any case, it’s fun to see the series evolve and try new things. Continue reading

[This is a guest article by Malec2b. If you’d like to contribute a guest article to TIGSource, go here.]

Babies Dream of Dead Worlds is a game by Gregory Weir (I Fell in Love with the Majesty of Colors). It takes place inside the dreams of babies. These babies are dreaming of a world inhabited by strange tentacle creatures. In each level, there is a center line of gravity, meaning that when you are above the line, gravity pulls down, and when you are below the line, gravity pulls up. The creatures have tentacles both below and above their body, so they can walk properly on either side of the line. There are also rifts which serve as obstacles as they will send you back in the level if you touch them. The game is rather quick to play through, although there is some added replay value in getting faster times on races and more coins in the collection levels.

[SPOILERS: The rest of this review reveals key aspects of the game’s plot and structure and is hidden under a jump. -ed.]

The game follows the lives of three of the creatures. Each story has three stages which can be unlocked by playing the previous stage in that story and you can move between stories after beating each level. These stages take place in a different baby’s dream and depict an episode in one of the three creatures’ lives.

Two of the stories follow rather standard video game tropes. One has you racing through increasingly difficult stages, while another has you collecting coins. However, the third story puts you in the role of a researcher studying the rifts. As the researcher, you can talk to people and see their reactions to the events unfolding in the storyline. It would spoil too much to say what exactly happens in the researcher storyline, but the researcher discovers something that puts the rest of the game into context.

BDODW manages to build a strong sense of mood while also maintaining well-designed and challenging gameplay. It’s built on a strong platforming mechanic created by the gravity system. As things get worse for the world in which these creatures live, the game naturally gets harder. The storyline and the gameplay feed into each other making the simple actions of racing, collecting and talking take on more meaning. The characters in this game, despite being strange tentacle creatures, feel very human in their actions and reactions.

TIGdb: Entry for Babies Dream of Dead Worlds

With a trailer released just before Christmas, Eon is now available to play over at Newgrounds. It is indeed a take on Cypher Prime's Auditorium, with particle manipulation used to fill containers.

It's got a lovely feel to it, with the retro graphics and atmospheric soundtrack really doing it justice. I found it to be just a little too difficult from the get-go, but if you're looking for a challenge, this is it. There are even user-created levels (and the ability to create your own, obviously). Check it out.

Joey has been throwing out some brilliant browser games recently, and this is no exception. Sushi Cat is part Peggle, part feeding a cat. With sushi, obviously.

Once the cat is dropped from the top of the screen, you have no control over where he ends up, but his bouncing and body-jiggling is almost hypnotic. As he eats the sushi, he also expands, making for some tight squeezes. It's all about eating your sushi quota for each level to progress. The visuals and assorted reggae/japanese music give it a great vibe, too.

Find the fat cat over at Armor Games. Continue reading

[This is a guest article by Valter. If you’d like to contribute a guest article to TIGSource, go here.]

Pick Up the Phone Booth and Aisle is a parody of text-based adventure games. (Specifically, it’s a parody of Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die. -ed.) The premise is simple: You are standing in the center of a non-descript New England town. A phone booth is near you. What do you do? > _

The catch to this game is that the game ends after one command – every single command possible in the game will give you an “ending” (with a very small number of exceptions, which merely restart you automatically). A lot of time was given into writing endings for every bizarre thing you can think of! (You could think of it as taking the Scribblenauts approach to adventure gaming).

Finding endings can be a bit difficult, as certain “obvious” results like “use phone booth” do not work, whereas obscure entries such as “fry phone booth” have endings. Apart from that, though, it’s an excellent way to spend 10-20 if you’re bored. There are “over 200 endings”, as boasted by the authors, and they’re all comedic. The majority of the endings I found were capable of eliciting at least a dry chuckle, some were given a hearty chortle, and I must admit that a few led to some honest-to-goodness guffawing. Give it a shot! Continue reading

Pixeljam (Gamma Bros., Dino Run) and messhof (Flywrench, Punishment), have teamed up to create a new “8-bit Rejects” game for Adult Swim. It’s called Cream Wolf.

TIGdb: Entry for Cream Wolf