Sick of all of this sudoku nonsense flying about the place? Need a break from all this "one of each in every row column and square" rubbish? I've got the perfect solution for you... sorta. Kakuro—or Cross Sums or Sum Totals, depending on what school of puzzling you were raised in—is another number puzzler that has gained popularity in recent months.

Like sudoku, kakuro is played by filling in all of the open squares with a digit from 1 to 9. At the top of each column or at the left-hand side of each row of blocks is a number in a triangle. Your job is to fill in all of the blanks with digits that will add up to that number. For example, a row of three blocks with a sum of 14 on the end could be 1-5-8, 3-4-7, or several patterns of numbers.

A few key rules to keep in mind:

1. There are no zeroes in the puzzles at all.
2. No digit is repeated within any sum grouping.
3. The order for a string of numbers may vary. You may end up with 1-2-3, 1-3-2, 2-3-1, 2-1-3, 3-1-2, or 3-2-1. The only way to determine the correct order of a string is to solve for the row or column perpendicular to it.

To input numbers onto this grid, use your arrow keys to move the yellow box to any square and type in the number you want to put there. If you prefer using the mouse, click and hold your cursor on any square, and a small number pad will appear nearby. Mouse over the number you want, and release.

If you've never tried a kakuro puzzle before, I would strongly recommend using the never-changing practice puzzle for a quick start. After a few games in the easy level, you might pick up on some patterns and tricks to make the game a bit easier. (A sum of three in two boxes is always 1-2, a sum of 17 in two boxes is 8-9, and so forth. There are many more that I could mention, but it's probably better that you figure them out on your own.) In no time, you'll be tackling all three levels of play.

But that's not all, kids! The game also comes with some dandy features to help you on your way. If you can't decide on which number to put into a box, the pencil feature lets you write in several numbers in a box, until you've reached a final decision on what number you'd like to use. This is found in the bottom row of the mouse's keypad, or in the top-right hand corner of the game. Also in the keypad is a question mark. If you've marked in every number in a row except for one, using the question mark in that box will automatically fill in the space with the digit that completes the sum for that row or column. Plus, if you click on one of the triangle numbers at the end of a row, a small box pops up showing you all of the different number combinations possible for that row (although you still have to decide the order of the digits on your own). Also, if you put in a string of numbers that do not add up to the required sum, they change color to signal you to try again.

Analysis: For a puzzle-lover like myself, this game surely is a delight. The game's interface is convenient and easy to understand, and there's no doubt that they want to make the kakuro experience as enjoyable as possible. All of the puzzles are created so that only one solution is possible, and it does appear that there are a lot of puzzles to tackle. I would easily recommend this online version to anyone who's ever wanted to try kakuro.

The audio in this game is also quite enjoyable. While you're solving a puzzle, you're treated to a nice little latin piece in the background. Sadly, the musical selections are only about two minutes long, so they might sound a little repetitive after a while. Also, every time you input a number into the grid, you hear what sounds like a dying guitar being plucked. This was a bit hard to bear at first, but I eventually learned to ignore it. Truth be told, for such a puzzle like this, it wouldn't hurt at all to hit the mute button and play whatever music floats your own boat.

So if you're ready for a new puzzle twist, give Kakuro a try! Play Kakuro.

Cheers to Anthony for the link!

It is difficult enough to design a game that is fun to play; harder still to design one that keeps the player coming back to it again and again. It seems that so many games today are one-off, disposable experiences offering little reason for a replay.

When we chose the word "replay" for the theme of this competition, we were looking forward to seeing games with excellent replay value. And like the "grow" themed competition before it, what we received were many varied interpretations of the theme. This is an indication that creativity of expression is alive and well within the Flash game development community, and we feel very fortunate to be in a position to help foster and promote that. However, it has made the judging of this competition especially difficult.

On the one hand we have replay value, which all games possess to some extent—even if very little. Therefore there were no disqualifications this time around: each game submitted was accepted on the basis of its replay value and thus entered into the competition without question. On the other hand, there were some wonderful mind-bending, time-bending interpretations of the theme that produced games the likes of which we've seldom encountered, if ever, before. And yet most of these amazingly creative games were paired with little replay value since once the puzzle is 'solved' or sequence of events figured out there is little left to call the player back.

Due to some confusion and misunderstanding in the comments, let me clarify that incorporating "replay value" in the entries for this competition was never a "requirement". We were pleased to see many creative interpretations of the theme in the entries submitted. Moreover, the entries were not judged on theme alone. Many other factors were considered. For example, games with exceptional replay value were awarded additional points. You can expect this to be true for future competitions as well.

One game, however, continues to nag and gnaw at us to come back for one more try, to replay the game again and again, which indicates the gameplay experience is an exceptionally rich and rewarding one. Likewise, the scoring from 6 competition judges—Zxo, Dancemonkey, JohnB, Harukio, Capuchin, and myself—corroborated this experience and pointed to a single entry deserving of the highest prize...

With 18.18% of the popular vote, Wouter Visser's game proved to be the favorite among the JIG community as well. Wouter will be awarded the Audience prize of $200 to go with the donations his game received, for a total of $289.06!!

For full disclosure, I have made available a spreadsheet listing all proceeds received and how they were distributed based on the voting. We will be in touch with each game designer to arrange for the transfer of all respective voting donations. Our sincere thanks and appreciation go out to everyone who voted.

Most of all, congratulations to everyone who submitted an entry! Just being able to complete a game within a short development period, as this was, is quite an achievement in and of itself. Moreover, your continued participation in these competitions makes future competitions like this possible, and we can't thank you enough. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have received such an excellent response to our call for entries, as the entire collection of entries are all quite deserving of our praise. To show our appreciation, we will be featuring each and every game from the competition in a JIG review complete with our own feedback and constructive criticisms in the days and weeks ahead.

Our sincere gratitude to the kind folks at ArcadeTown, Adobe, and Nitrome for making it all possible by sponsoring this competition...

	"A Bark in the Dark" ...by Bart Bonte
	"Gimme Friction Baby" ...by Wouter Visser
	"Super Earth Defense Game!" ...by Carl Foust
	"JIGorbit" ...by DDams
	"Speck Oppression" ...by Komix
	"Timebot" ...by David Durham
	"Parley" ...by Matt Slaybaugh and Joe Versoza
	"Replay 2 : The Sequel" ...by Caleb, R. Emmett and longhorn54
	"Rerun" ...by Andrew VanHeuklon
	"ReMaze" ...by Felix Reidl
	"Time Raider" ...by Rey Gazu
	"Space Pilot" ...by Alex Kaplan
	"The Turtles of Time" ...by Dom Camus
	"A Good Hunch!" ...by Philipp Seifried and Markus Mundjar
	"Yalpeyalper" ...by Tonypa
	"Music Dodge" ...by Daniel Gutierrez
	"Paracaidas" ...by Scheletro
	"Robot Goal" ...by Ja.Games
	"Karma" ...by Zapak Digital Entertainment Limited

Cute pixelly monsters? Plucky soundtrack? Arcade-style gameplay? It must be the latest release from Nitrome! Hooray!

In Square Meal, you play a cute boxy monster trying to escape from a sinister dungeon. Well, perhaps sinister is a bit of an overstatement—someone has left delicious food lying about all over the place, after all. Still, there are a number of different monsters patrolling each of the 50 levels, as well as floor spikes, exploding blocks, slippery patches, and other hazards. Using the arrow keys, move around each level and use the spacebar to swallow all of the enemies. Before you can eat a monster though, you must first stun it by hitting it with a block. Use the spacebar to swallow a block, then reposition yourself and hit space again to shoot the block at an enemy.

There are a number of different types of blocks available to swallow and shoot. In addition to the normal gray blocks that behave quite predictably, there are also brown blocks that disintegrate when they hit something, blue slow blocks that lose momentum more quickly, green rubber blocks that will bounce off of things (be careful of the rebound!), and black bomb blocks that give you a short countdown and then explode. The normal gray blocks are usually the best to use—they can't kill you, they don't disappear once used, and they travel quickly. Really, all you need is one of these per level, but you are usually given much more than that.

The five types of blocks and four types of enemies combined with the various other hazards provide enough material so that the fifty levels are for the most part unique. However, there are only a handful that are truly challenging—you'll be able to pass most of them on your first try. I was expecting the levels to become more puzzle-like as they progressed, but only a few took advantage of elements such as the retractable spikes and limited ammunition. There's not even a time limit. Mostly, you'll just find yourself avoiding the monsters until you can get in a position to stun and swallow them. Also, I was expecting one or two more types of monsters to appear that were either faster or smarter than the four that exist, but that never happened.

As a result of these game design choices, much of the challenge of Square Meal comes from trying to maximize your score. You have only one life, although thankfully you do not have to start at Level 1 when you die. Nevertheless, your score resets to zero every time you die, so scoring well will require a certain degree of perfection. If you're not careful, you can also miss points on levels by clearing all the monsters before eating all of the bonus food items, or if an exploding block takes food or monsters with it.

With Square Meal, the folks at Nitrome have once again played to their strengths: classic arcade-style gameplay, cute pixelated graphics and an infectious soundtrack that somehow never quite gets old (although if it does, there's a button to turn it off). There's also a collaborative 2-player mode that can be fun to play with a buddy, although it doesn't really add anything to the gameplay. Play Square Meal.

Before we release the results of the 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition, we would like to take this opportunity to announce some exciting news.

We have been working hard these last several weeks to bring you even more opportunities to show off your game design talent and to win fabulous prizes. We are very pleased to announce that Sierra Online has agreed to be our lead sponsor for CGDC #4 and we will be making a formal announcement along with the theme in just a couple of days.

We have been listening to all the feedback you have had with respect to the competitions, and especially from those of you who wanted to participate but ran out of time. You may be very pleased to learn that we are lengthening the development period to 2 months!

But that's not all. We are also more than doubling the value of the prizes for CGDC #4 and adding a 3rd place, too(!):

• 1st place:
  • $2,500
  • (1) Adobe Flash CS3 Professional license
• 2nd place:
  • $1000
  • (1) Adobe Flash CS3 Professional license
• 3rd place:
  • $500
• Audience award:
  • as before, determined by JIG community popular vote and worth at least $200.

There is more news yet to come regarding our 4th Casual Gameplay Design Competition, which is right around the corner, so make sure you don't miss it!

Bodilies is an original, humorous and sassy, graphic adventure that features an elaborate audio-visual production and an engaging story, too. It was originally conceived and developed for a class assignment at the Hogeschool van de Kunsten Utrecht by Jeroen Stout, Mick Moolhuisen, and Roy de Groot.

Submitted by 'Canadian' earlier today: "It combines beautiful graphics and animation, and haunting, melodic music with a story that actually works and feels right. Help Neil in his quest for freedom and self-actualization; it leads you through an interesting point-and-click adventure you won't soon forget! "May your voyages take you to places where imagination has no bounds." Play Bodilies.

You may save your progress by clicking "Save game" just beneath your inventory (lower left of the game window). Doing so will give you a number with which you can enter and reload the game later, or even at a different computer.

Note: Due to some inappropriate language and a rather mature-themed storyline (lots of text), the game is not recommended for young children.

Bodilies walkthrough now available!

Your plane goes down on a mysterious and seemingly deserted island somewhere off the radar charts, and it is up to you to find a way to Escape from Island using only the resources available to you.

Simply move the mouse around each scene to locate positions to click. The mouse cursor will turn into a hand to alert you that something may be there. Arrow symbols are displayed when movement in that direction is possible.

Thought-provoking puzzles and a well-illustrated environment together create an atmosphere ripe for adventure and captivating gameplay. The game is the next in what is hopefully a long series of point-and-click adventure games by Aztec, the same developer(s) that created The Shrine, previously reviewed here last month. Play Escape from Island.

Cheers to Wouter for the link and to Skizzarah for the walkthrough in the comments. =)

Escape from Island walkthrough now available!

Dream Chronicles is a sensual delight, an intellectual challenge, and a very engaging twist on adventure, seek-and-find and puzzle games. It's been compared to Myst and Uru, and whilst it's certainly not as demanding as those mainstream titles, I found Dream Chronicles even more enjoyable.

You play Faye, who has a dream in which Lilith, the Fairy Queen of Dreams casts a sleep spell over the kingdom. When you awaken, you find that your husband has been kidnapped by Lilith and your child is overcome by the sleep spell. You must find your way to Lilith's domain and free your husband to defeat Lilith and lift the spell. To do this, you must solve puzzles that Lilith has left in your way to prevent you from following her. In addition, you can increase your score by collecting Dream Jewels, which are subtly strewn through each scene.

The whole game covers a wide range of game types, including adventure/RPG, jigsaw, seek-and-find, and a final hurdle that looks alarmingly like the graduate aptitude tests I've been doing recently. You are given hints as to how to proceed, and some brief instruction, but you need to work out what is actually required yourself. (I'm not telling—that would ruin it!) There are walkthroughs available on the web, but they are only useful for finding out what has to be done—the locations of the things you have to find change in each game.

As in Mr. Robot, the variety of puzzles is both a strength and a weakness. If you're not a musician, you may find the music puzzle a significant challenge—even knowing what I had to do, I found it very difficult. Puzzles like this can be a real show-stopper. Conversely, those of you who are veteran point-and-click masters may find Dream Chronicles rather easy. I enjoyed most of the puzzles, coped with the ones I didn't enjoy, and only had to refer to a walkthrough once. (I also kept a pen and paper in front of me, and have two envelopes covered in detailed notes!) You can also replay the game to beat your high score, as you are guaranteed to miss a few jewels.

Visually, however, Dream Chronicles is an absolute joy. The artwork is astonishing, even surpassing lovely games like Hidden Expedition: Titanic. Every scene had me marveling at how beautiful the illustration was. Be sure to check out the credits to see some of the conceptual artwork, which is more cartoony than that used in the game, but still visually stunning.

The story is also interesting—it's probably an indicator of how many women are getting into casual gaming that you are playing a woman who has to save her husband from being ravished by the evil Queen! The dialogue and descriptive text reveal a sense of humour and a real interest in storytelling, which is sadly lacking in many puzzle games. Although many will find the ending unsatisfying, it makes it clear that there must be a sequel, and I for one am really looking forward to it.

Just released!
Dream Chronicles 2
by PlayFirst
Navigate this stunning story world of magical landscapes and over eighty intricate puzzles as you unravel the secrets of your family's past. (34 MB)

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Dream Chronicles is available to download from these affiliates:

Positech Games (aka Cliff Harris) specialises in sim games such as Democracy and the previously-reviewed Kudos. His latest album, er, game allows you to indulge your dreams of rock stardom—start out as a struggling band with no publicity or gigs, develop your musical style, write songs and claw your way up to playing the Enormo-dome, making TV appearances and hiring bodyguards to protect you from the hordes of screaming fans.

In Kudos Rock Legend, you start out on your own, and must audition musicians. Each musician has certain personality attributes, such as being articulate (makes you good at interviews), ambitious (makes you less likely to become tired) or destructive (makes you likely to break stuff, costing the band money). You must hire at least three other band members before you can write songs. From there, you need to have at least 6 songs before you can get gigs, and 10 before you can record a CD. Buying CDs and going to gigs will inspire you, making your songs better. You can also practice your musicianship by copying a sequence of notes on your keyboard—this will make your musicians more proficient, and likely to get a record deal. Once you've made enough money, you can also stock up on merchandise, upgrade your equipment and hire staff. As you build up your live experience, recordings and publicity, you'll get better options, such as interviews with newspapers and radio, offers of sponsorship and possibly a record deal!

Every once in a while you'll need to take a day off, or your musicians will get stressed out and quit the band. Fortunately, going to the bar during your day off allows you to both reduce stress and increase hype as you chat about your band and how awesome you are.

Analysis: This is a highly enjoyable sim, especially if you're a frustrated rock star like me. There are lots of fun little references for rock fans like the names of the musicians, such as Lars Halford. (Even Cliff's own name sounds like an amalgam of Cliff Burton and Steve Harris!) Spinal Tap fans will appreciate the ability to buy a styrofoam Stonehenge set. Your 'to do' list has classic rock quotes at the bottom of the page, such as David Lee Roth's "I used to have a drug problem. Now I make enough money."

I only have a couple of little quibbles. Firstly, when you open a musician's window to view their equipment and levels of motivation, tiredness etc, there is a button marked "Fire" if you want to get rid of them. Unfortunately, it's located at the bottom right where you would expect an "OK" button to be. I accidentally fired a couple of perfectly good musicians because of this.

A more serious quibble is that there's no high score table. There's no way to compare if I made more money with my sensitive folk-blues outfit or my operatic cock-rockers, or if my brave, non-selling-out no-record-deal DIY punkers were able to get close to the sales of my big mainstream AOR outfit. The game would be much more replayable with this feature.

Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this game and highly recommend it. Plus, if you're a rock fan, why don't you check out the JayIsGames last.fm group?

Windows:
Download the demo
Order the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available. Use Boot Camp or Parallels.

Kudos Rock Legend is available to download from these affiliates:

The parade of frogs plays trumpets to confetti as the apple moon flies in at 5:67pm. A stitch in time won't save the fairies because no elephant turns on a dime. We are going to the newspapers! We are going to the newspapers! Chocolate! Chocolate! Fax the memo to us! Tuned cans dance falling into mediocrity. Believe it or not, that's a quote from a movie, or at least it might as well be. Can anyone tell me what movie I'm thinking of? Oh, and I'm not crazy, it's just LINK DUMP FRIDAY!!!

• Turret Pong - It's pong, with guns! Use your turret to direct the ball towards your enemy's base-line.
• Statetris You should hopefully know all your states from last LDF, now play Tetris with the U.S. of A.
• Diggtris - Tetris Diggified! Play Tetris with shapes and colors determined by recently dugg stories on Digg.com. It may be hard to resist clicking "10 Tips for Razor Sharp Concentration" while you play, but don't worry, if you click a story the game will pause while you explore. PG-13 for the occasional foul language news title.
• Play the Game - A stomping, clapping, follow the leader rhythm game. Be quick on your feet or be left behind.
• Triangles - Avoid the triangles! Avoid the triangles! A left-hand/right-hand/keyboard/mouse coordination challenge.
• Poco2 Escape 2.0 - An interesting point-and-click, escape the room game.
• TriPeakz - The solitaire game sometimes known as Pyramids made twice as fun with head to head competition.
• Notessimo - Create and share songs with this simple but fun web toy.

Judging continues on the entries for our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition, and it's proving to be quite difficult. We will be announcing the winners on Monday along with the results for the Audience prize, so be sure to vote!! Deadline for voting is this Sunday night.

Just a week following the release of Covert Front, Mateusz Skutnik is up to his shenanigans again. He writes to tell me of something "completely new and unforeseen," something different than anything to have come from him before.

Fade in: DayMare Town, a strange and oddly deserted town that gives the unsettling feeling that eyes are peering from around corners. It is a drab and dreary town, not a very pleasant place to be. But now you're stuck, and you'll do anything you can to leave.

The artwork in this game consists of sketches that create a much different atmosphere for a point-and-click game. Also, the difficulty has been kicked up a notch with the author claiming that DayMare Town is the hardest puzzle game he has made by far. It is for "advanced" point-and-click gamers, only.

You are hereby warned. Proceed at your own risk. Escape if you can. Play DayMare Town.

DayMare Town walkthrough now available!

Now that we've seen all the entries, and while the judging is underway, we invite everyone to take part by voting for your favorite(s) of the competition. Each game entry is represented by its icon along with a "vote" button next to it. The vote button will take you to a PayPal donation form where you may donate $1 (USD) or more to the respective game. (You do not need a PayPal account to vote, PayPal accepts credit cards as well.)

We are limiting voting to only those who donate as it discourages ballot stuffing. And besides, it's only a dollar and these fantastic games are all worth more than that, don't you think? No one is obligated to vote, and all we are asking for is a single dollar from each of you.

At the end of the week, all of the votes will be tallied and the game that receives the most community votes will be awarded the Audience Prize of $200!

All proceeds* from the vote donations will go directly to each respective game designer(s). Of course you may donate more than a dollar when you vote, though your vote will still count as just one vote. (*Your donation less any fees PayPal deducts prior to our receiving it. For reference: PayPal takes $0.33 from a one-dollar donation, but only $0.45 from a five-dollar donation.)

The deadline to vote is this Sunday, July 29, 2007 at 11:59 PM (GMT-5:00).

To cast your vote, simply use the PayPal ("Vote") link next to the game icon you wish to vote for, and then enter your donation amount in the PayPal form. Thank you kindly for your anticipated contributions of support for this very talented group of Flash game designers. =)

Total from voting... $543.43
Wooty! We surpassed the previous competition's donations! Thank you kindly for your support of these competitions! =)

Update (07/30/07 12:00 AM): Voting had ended! And the winner is...

• Audience Prize: Gimme Friction Baby!

Wouter Visser will receive $289.06!! Congratulations, Wouter! And cheers to everyone who voted! =)

(Looking for the competition entries that used to be here? They have been moved to the Game Design Competition #3 announcement page for easy access via the Favorites feature.)

Gravity Pods is a physics-based, projectile shooting, puzzle game created by Keith Peters for his newly launched Wicked Pissah Games website. The goal is to fire a projectile and hit a spinning purple target across the screen. Barriers are usually in the way, but by using gravity pods you can bend the path your projectile takes to send it virtually anywhere.

Aim your turret with the arrow keys and press [space] to fire. Each shot leaves a dotted trail in its wake, so if you miss, your next attempt can be fine-tuned to perfection. Aiming is a precise task that can be obsessed over to the decimal point. Great for puzzle fans, but bad for perfectionists. The real fun begins after about a dozen levels when you get to place gravity pods on your own. Drag and drop orange pods and place them anywhere on the screen, even inside walls, to customize your projectile's path. The possibilities are enormous, and sometimes just a one pixel adjustment can mean the difference between success and failure.

You have around 20 shots per level, so don't be afraid to use a little trial-and-error to supplement your immensely complex physics calculations. Even if you use up your shots without winning, you can simply restart the level and continue until you get it right. And believe me, in some of the later levels, you'll praise this feature on more than one occasion.

Analysis: Gravity Pods is a simple physics shooting game that requires a little more brain work than many gamers may be looking for. Some of the puzzles you'll have to solve can be extremely taxing, forcing you to make fine adjustments to pod positioning as well as your turret's aim. On top of that, trial-and-error is integral to the game, which doesn't float everyone's boat.

Positioning the turret is a precise exercise, but placing pods, however, is more of a slapdash task with no guides other than eyeballing their location. This little bit of randomness is an interesting element in the game, but if you use all your shots and re-start a stage, you lose their position. After two (or three) dozen attempts at a single level without getting a solution, things get pretty frustrating. I resorted to putting my fingers on the screen to mark the pods' spot when forced to re-start a level.

Unique and highly cerebral, if Gravity Pods doesn't make you want to pull your hair out, you'll love it. Play Gravity Pods.

You might know Keith from his BIT-101 lab website, or perhaps from reading his book ActionScript Animation: Making Things Move! His new venture with Wicked Pissah promises that we'll be seeing more new and exciting things coming our way in the near future.

Sometimes you run across a new game that feels exactly like a classic—like it's been around for years. The mechanism behind Michael Le's Jelly Blocks is so simple, so intuitive, and yet so versatile that it makes you wonder if anybody had come up with anything like it before. In short, it bears all of the hallmarks of a great classic puzzler.

The goal of each level is to maneuver blocks of the same color so that they touch. Use the arrow keys to move the entire set of blocks around the screen. Immovable black squares can be used to prevent certain blocks from moving, allowing you to separate adjacent blocks from each other. The twist here is that when blocks of the same color meet, they fuse into a single block. Although this is the ultimate goal of the game, you'll have to be careful, as you can easily render a level unsolvable through premature fusions.

There are 100 available levels to play, but they are generally pretty short—once you figure out the solution. They gradually increase in difficulty, and there are surprisingly few which resemble each other. The first fifteen or so are pretty easy, and are designed to give you a flavor of the types of tricks you'll have to pull later on. Some of these can be solved by a number of different strategies, including random key-mashing (OK, maybe not solved but it'll get you a good start.) Soon though, you'll have to plan your moves carefully, and you'll find the undo and restart buttons come in very handy.

The only thing missing from Jelly Blocks is a move counter—this simple device would add so much: more strategy from figuring out the optimal solution, replay value from trying to beat your previous score, and it would allow for the ever-popular high score table.

But fear not, Jelly Blocks contains more than enough puzzler goodness to satisfy the hunger of anyone. So get your jam on and Play Jelly Blocks!

Or Play Jelly Blocks at the author's website.

Jelly Blocks walkthrough now available!

Now that we have seen all the entries for the 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition, it is almost time for the voting to begin for the coveted Audience prize.

We will be back later today with an update that will include a form with links to each of the competition entries, along with PayPal links to vote for each game. This system has worked well in the past and we encourage you to contribute on behalf of the efforts that all of the competition participants have put into their games. Voting only costs $1 (USD), but we encourage you to donate as much as you can to each game you vote for. Donations received will go directly to each participant following the competition and the number of votes received will determine which entry receives the Audience Prize of $200!

In the meantime, scoring continues on the judging of the entries, and we will be announcing the results in a few days.

The next and final entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Zapak.

Karma is a simple game of drawing lines in succession to connect two objects without crossing any previous line. The objective represents washing away sins of a past life as you progress toward salvation. The lines represent your life, from birth to death, and you "replay" your life by means of drawing, collecting a conch shell along the way to wash away one of 7 deadly sins. Can you wash away all 7?

I nearly missed this entry were it not for an email message received just this morning. An inspection of my spam folder revealed that the entry was received on the 15th of July as required. Please give the kind folks at Zapak the same consideration of a warm welcome, feedback and constructive criticism in the comments. Play Karma.

And that concludes the entries for our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition! \o/

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Karma review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Ja.Games.

Robot Goal is a simple action puzzle game that involves programming a robot to collect green spheres and shoot them into goals before time runs out for each level. Programming is as simple as clicking on the icons representing the actions you would like the robot to take. Sequencing several moves together before clicking play will help master each level within the allowed time limit. The "replay" theme appears to be implemented via the robot carrying out, or replaying, your instructions each time.

Ja.Games is also new to the competitions, so please give him a warm welcome and provide feedback and constructive criticism for him in the comments. Play Robot Goal.

One entry left. Did I miscount? No, I found an entry in my spam folder after receiving an email this morning from a worried participant. So check back later today for the final entry to our competition!

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Parley review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Scheletro.

Paracaidas is an action game of skill and timing with the objective being to jump from an airplane and then land safely on a target platform by way of a parachute, or paracaidas (Spanish). Gauge the wind speed and direction, then prepare to jump(!) The "replay" theme is implemented through allowing you to continue, or replay, the game using different wind parameters if you succeed. Collect stars for bonus points.

Scheletro is new to our competitions, so please do what you do so well and provide him with feedback and constructive criticism in the comments. Play Paracaidas.

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Paracaidas review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Daniel Gutierrez.

Music Dodge bears the distinguished characteristic of being the only music game submitted to the competition. It is played by "scratching" the mouse cursor against the surface of the bars generated in real-time from the music spectrum of the chosen mp3 file. If you allow the bars to penetrate the cursor it will explode giving you a time penalty. Points are scored for the duration of successful scratching. There is only one music file to choose from presently in this online version.

It is a creative interpretation of the "replay" theme in that any piece of music that has been played by the user may be played again within a new context. A song that a player has listened to for entertainment can then be played again under a different context inside this game. Thus, this game allows the user to "replay" their music. Please leave your feedback and constructive criticism for Daniel in the comments. Play Music Dodge.

Note: This is the second of 2 Actionscript 3.0 games we received for the competition. And since AS2 and AS3 are incompatible with each other, I have created two versions of the UI so we could allow games created in either to be entered into the competition. You may experience a slight delay when selecting an AS2 game after having played an AS3 game, since the UI shell must be reloaded with the correct version.

And there's still 2 more to go. Please check back later.

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Music Dodge review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Tonypa.

Yalpeyalper is a multi-level puzzle game based on chain reactions. The objective is to eliminate all squares from the board with a single click. Chain reactions are created from your click as the squares move to adjacent cells until there is no more movement. The "replay" theme is implemented in a way that is suggested you find out for yourself. ;)

Tonypa has entered all three of our competitions, and it's a pleasure to be able to include another one of his games here. He tells me this is his first game working with Actionscript 3.0. Please provide him with feedback and constructive criticism in the comments. Play Yalpeyalper.

Note: This is the first of 2 entries written in Actionscript 3.0. And since AS2 and AS3 are incompatible with each other, I have created two versions of the UI so that we could allow games created in either version to be entered into the competition. You may experience a slight delay when selecting an AS2 game after having played an AS3 game, since the UI shell must be reloaded with the correct version.

And there's still more. Check back a little later today.

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Yalpeyalper review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Philipp Seifried and Markus Mundjar.

A Good Hunch! is a charmingly illustrated and animated platform game of teamwork starring Harvey and Tina, a pair of very colorful goats. In each level you play first as Harvey making your way to one of two available exits. Then switch to Tina to find your way to the 2nd exit while your actions for Harvey are replayed simultaneously. Only one exit may be used per goat, and you may have to jump on Harvey's back to reach higher areas.

You may remember playing a previous game by Philipp called Drifts that was reviewed here back in late 2005. Please join me in welcoming Philipp and Markus to the JIG competitions, and kindly provide them with feedback and constructive criticism in the comments. Play A Good Hunch!

We'll return with more "replay" real soon!

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the A Good Hunch review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Dom Camus.

The Turtles of Time is a "bizarre and somewhat silly minigame," as the author describes. It is a multi-level action game that includes some of the fastest turtles I've seen. A unique gameplay mechanic allows you to turn back time and "replay" a level to acquire more points, as there is a minimum number of points you will need for each level to move on to the next. Later levels introduce even more turtles to add to the fun and challenge.

Please join me in welcoming Dom to the JIG competitions, and kindly provide him with the wonderful feedback and constructive criticism that you do so well in the comments. Play The Turtles of Time.

Still a few more entries to go, check back a little later today for another "replay"!

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the The Turtles of Time review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Alex Kaplan.

Space Pilot is a keyboard controlled, mission-based action game in which you pilot a spaceship that looks, acts and sounds identical to the ship in the classic arcade game of Asteroids. The gameplay, however, is entirely new and original. The "replay" theme is found in the unlimited number of replays you have to complete each mission.

Please give Alex a warm JIG welcome by playing his game and leaving some feedback and constructive criticism for him in the comments. Play Space Pilot.

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Space Pilot review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Rey Gazu.

Time Raider is an extraordinary time-bending platform puzzle game that puts you in the shoes of the game designer himself. Armed with only a napsack and your wits, you will flip switches, escape traps and swing on ropes like Indiana Jones. If you fail, no worries. Just rewind and try again. The "replay" theme is layered so deep within this game that it will likely make your brain hurt as you work toward a solution to the puzzle that awaits you.

Rey is no stranger to these competitions, his Cyberpunk entry took home one of the prizes from our first. Please be kind and offer your feedback and constructive criticism for Rey in the comments. Play Time Raider.

Ain't no stopping us now! Check back a little later for more "replay"!

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Time Raider review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Felix Reidl.

ReMaze is a multi-level puzzle game of increasing complexity. The "replay" theme in this piece is visible as a creative interpretation, and is also present in its replay value as you may see. Navigate through each level of the maze using the keyboard cursor keys for control. An integrated save feature will continue where you left off when coming back to the game. Or, if you wish to start again from the beginning, use the UI console menu reset button. The [spacebar] resets a level.

This is the first of our competitions that Felix has entered, so please give him a warm JIG community welcome by providing lots of feedback and constructive criticism in the comments. Play ReMaze.

And that's not the end of the "replay" you'll see today. Check back later!

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the ReMaze review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Andrew VanHeuklon.

Rerun is a mouseplay action game of collection and avoidance. The "replay" theme plays an important role in the gameplay and forces you to approach this game differently than others of its type. Replay value is also well represented in this entry with its 15 levels and many extras to unlock.

You may have played other games by Andrew, as he is the designer of the brilliant collection of puzzle games titled Click Drag Type, and it is a real pleasure to have him participating in this competition.

The feedback and constructive criticism has been excellent so far, and I encourage you to continue by leaving a few words about this game for the game designer in the comments. Play Rerun.

More great "replay" coming up, check back a little later today!

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Rerun review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

The next entry to our 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition is a game by Caleb, R. Emmett and longhorn54.

Replay 2 : The Sequel is a unique sequel in that the first game never saw a release. Instead, the code was rebuilt from the ground up and a "2" attached to its name. This turn-based puzzle game also implements the "replay" theme in a unique and challenging way, one that will force you to think ahead and calculate your moves carefully. The first level is designed as a tutorial level to familiarize yourself with the game.

Caleb and his team are new to the competitions, but not to the JIG community. As usual, please provide your feedback and constructive criticism in the comments for the game designers. Play Replay 2 : The Sequel.

Still not even halfway through the entries! Check back in a few hours.

Note: All comments originally posted here have been moved to the Replay 2 : The Sequel review page. Please use that page to post your comments and questions about the game. Thank you!

Admit it: you've wanted to slap someone silly at least once today. Just haul-off and give them a good hard smack across the cheek. Those tourists that walk four abreast and block the whole sidewalk. That guy who double-parked in the street when there were plenty of parking spaces. The women of the house that offer you no respect after your rich nobleman husband died.

Enter Rose & Camellia from Japanese developer Nigoro. Reiko has married into a noble family, but shortly afterwards her husband Siyunsuke dies. The women of the house do not respect Reiko, and she must beat them all in successive slap fights.

Each fight is turned-based, and each turn is timed. You must first click on the "Attack" button that appears in the lower right hand corner. Then move your mouse in a curving arc to the left across the other woman's face. Do this as many times and as quickly as you can before your turn passes on to your opponent.

During your opponent's turn, you must click the "Evasion" button, located in the lower left, then move your mouse in a curving arc to the right. If your dodge is successful, you will be presented with a "Counter" button in the lower right. Click there and do a quick slap back to the left to get in a counter-strike.

Note that there are screen shots of this on the game page if you scroll down, though the instructions themselves are in Japanese.

Go back and forth like this until one of you loses all of your flowers (representing hit points, of course) and you move onto the next, more difficult, opponent.

Analysis: As silly and simplistic as this game sounds, I found it to be a challenging and interesting fighting game. My description of how to fight may sound complicated, but once you've tried it you realize that the buttons are actually placed perfectly for the assigned actions. The combat takes on a graceful quality like a dance. With slapping.

The graphics are superb and detailed, with rich colorful artwork and nice details that enhance the action. The sound effects do their job, with critical hits echoing satisfyingly, letting you know you've landed a good solid hit. The background music is very well done too, evoking the atmosphere of the noble family and also the tension of the game's events.

Don't over-analyze this game, but enjoy it for what it is: a simple, silly, and quick fighting game with stellar production values.

Please note: a proper mouse is absolutely critical to play this game. Jay reported some slowdown issues on his laptop as well, but I don't know what the minimum requirements are. Give us some help on that in the comments! Play Rose & Camellia!

Thanks to Daniel, Thomas, and Dahnyull for suggesting the game, and especially Jakev for sending this in and for doing some legwork on the translation!