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In Mountain Maniac you control a man with a hammer whose single aim is to destroy the town at the foot of a mountain for points. He does this by smashing boulders with his instrument of doom, sending them down the mountain Pachinko-style while crushing everything that stands in its way. Occasionally the police force or a yeti might try and stop him, but you can use the mallet to protect yourself by swinging it at them as well.

There is a certain percentage of town destruction that you must achieve to pass each level, and failure to do so equates to a loss of a precious life. An online high score submission feature is included as well, although players must first register for an Adult Swim account before they can post their best achievements up on the site. Continue reading

The Syndicate, one of the worlds largest online gaming guilds, held its 8th Annual World Conference two weekends ago in Austin, bringing together more than 170 members and developer guests. The primary focus of the event was the guild's annual charity raffle, which raised $5,500 for Youth Opportunity Unlimited. SyndCon 09 featured LAN parties, studio tours, roundtables, and other attractions to keep attendees entertained.

In addition to G4TV's highlights (interviews with 38 Studios' Curt Schilling, Syndicate founder Sean Stalzer, and famed MMO developer/astronaut Richard Garriott) from the conference, Ten Ton Hammer also posted a short interview with Sony Online Entertainment's president John Smedley about how the company plans to better support guilds in the future.

Ten Ton Hammer also filmed Garriott's talk at SyndCon 09 about "space travel and his possible future in games", with Stalzer introducing him by explaining why the Syndicate guild partially existed because the Ultima creator wanted to go to the bathroom in space.

Hammerfall, which was one of my favorites for IGF 2008, has re-emerged as Hammerfight, now with new trailer and website. In the game you fly around in vehicles that can be armed with swords, flails, guns, and other weapons. It’s a gorgeous production, and the physics-based game mechanics are genuinely very inventive and fun.

No release date yet. Thanks to Matthew Wegner and Fun-Motion for the news! Continue reading

The Cherokee Indian is a platformer implemented in Game Maker (and hence somewhat slow loading) in which you play a young Cherokee man undergoing his trials of manhood, which apparently involve platforming. It's evident that quite a lot of work has gone into the game; objectives vary by level (and don't all involve "getting to the end"), and new weapons unlock over time. You start with a hatchet, but can also gain a hammer (for breaking rocks), a spear (useful for spear-fishing), and a bow. Each weapon has its own capabilities.

The developer says he was "inspired by Harvest Moon", though the connection isn't obvious; gameplay is utterly unlike that farm-sim. Indeed, at first I was somewhat taken aback by the gameplay, which involves killing animals, cutting down trees, and so on, that is, destruction and exploitation of the physical environment, which would seem counter to the Cherokee ethos. But then I realized that the trees grow back, and the animals respawn, so you are evidently harvesting resources in a sustainable way.

Serious platform players won't find much challenge here; though it's possible to lose lives, it's difficult to do so, and the physical challenges posed by the platforms themselves are slight. It's somewhat casual in approach, in other words; perseverance more than player skill completes each level.

There are also minigames available at the Cherokee village, and as part of several levels.

Pleasant enough, and suitable for the kids.