Games Featured:
- • My Little Investigations
- • Home
- • Poacher
- • Torchlight 2
Pre-orders, ponies, poaching, and p... uh... p-contests! This week's Link Dump Friday has it all. Indie developers are serving up a whole lot of awesome, while one title gets an update, and another gets a release date!
Games Featured:
- • Proximity
- • Climate Challenge
- • StarShine
Things have been pretty tough this spring on Tricky Farm in JayIsGamesVille. First, I wasn't able to get enough invite responses to save ol' Bessie. Then, after forgetting to check in every seventeen minutes, the whole sorghum crop dried out. At least, I know I can always look to the JIG Archives for a bumper harvest of fun. This week, we have some gateway strategy games that are sure to take your mind off any agricultural trouble.
Games Featured:
- • Slingshot Racing
- • Kingdom Rush HD
- • Deepworld
- • Rivals for Catan
There's always something exciting just around the corner in the mobile world. Actually, there's probably three or four things just around the corner, along with a dozen or two more around the corner after that! And let's not even think about the other corners you passed while walking to this corner. What were you doing in this dark alley, again?
Games Featured:
- • Knightmare Tower
- • Cheese Dreams
- • Home
Demos, fair maidens, slashing, cheese, and more await you in this week's Link Dump Friday! As an added bonus, we've also included a special spotlight on a talented young man who's going to make you feel very inadequate about what you had accomplished when you were ten. No, couch cushion forts do not count.
Games Featured:
- • Robot Wants Kitty
- • Sushi Cat
- • Space Kitteh
- • Copy Cat
- • Flash Cat
We're pulling out the whole kittenkaboodle for this week's supersized Vault, celebrating all things fantastically feline in our favourite games. They're cute, they're cuddly, they're destructive, but we love them anyway, whether we're chasing after them, stuffing them with fish, or piloting them through space.
Games Featured:
- • Burrito Bison
- • The Last Rocket
- • Star Command
- • SpellTower
What's going on in the mobile world? It's time to find out! Mobile Monday is evolving, setting the individual game features loose for their own spaces in the spotlight in exchange for news, updates, previews, sales and more. Now you get more mobile reviews while keeping an eye on the biggest and most exciting happenings in the mobile world. Sound like a fair exchange? Good, because here we go!
Games Featured:
- • Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure
- • The Dark Room (YouTube)
This week's Link Dump Friday is extra special as we highlight some of the developers at the PAX East Indie Megabooth thanks to the intrepid camera work of our own Steve, who also wrangles an interview from Extra Credits' James Portnow!
Games Featured:
- • Questionaut
- • The Blue Beanie
- • Pieces
Kids just wanna have fun, and there are a lot of games our there that are tyke-accessible without being too silly or insipid for us big kids to boot. This week's Vault looks at three kid friendly games we love, and love to enjoy even if we've long grown out of mandatory bed times and superhero undies ourselves.
Games Featured:
- • Love+
- • Keylugger
- • Game Title
There are games you love, games you hate, games you love to hate, and games you love to love. Why aren't there any games you love to hate to love or hate to love to hate? Or, is that where the Build-a-lot series goes? *rimshot*
Games Featured:
- • On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3
- • Stasis
- • Botanicula
- • Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery
- • Shadowrun Returns
Get ready to adventure with Tycho and Gabe again, or find yourself stranded in somewhere cold and hostile, or maybe just save your home from a dark and deadly infestation! There's a whole lot of gaming going on!
Games Featured:
- • Aunts and Butlers
- • Violet
- • Suveh Nux
When you play games, do you carefully read and pay attention to every bit of dialogue on the screen, or do you just start mashing buttons to get to the good stuff? In the case of this week's Vault, the words are the good stuff as we shine a spotlight on three of our favourite games in the underutilized genre of interactive fiction.
Games Featured:
- • Vertex
- • Rogue Moon
- • Omelette Boris
Choose your own introductory paragraph! A) I'd rather have something short and informative, but please make at least one joke about cheese. B) I don't have time to read this, I have too many games to play! C) I can't find the parser input line. Help!
Games Featured:
- • The Sea Will Claim Everything
- • Closure
- • Baldur's Gate
Jonas Kyratzes, Baldur's Gate, and Closure? Good news, or GREAT news? This week's Link Dump Friday is drowning in a sea of radness. You wouldn't think rad could be liquefied, but then, not everyone can be a scienmatist like me.
Games Featured:
- • Amorphous+
- • Cursor*10
- • Bubble Islands
Journal Entry 77 - It will soon be over. The monsters are at the door. So before I recklessly solve that final puzzle, and inevitably turn into a zombie, I leave to you another collection of classic games from the JayIsGames Vault. This week we have astonishing arena action, a peculiarly player-propelled pointer puzzler, and adorably addictive arcade awesomeness.
Games Featured:
- • Psycho Powers
- • Tombs and Treasures
- • Fox Aliens from Space Invade a Planet within Space
It would take some sort of psycho alien to come up with some of these games below. And we say that with all the affection we can muster. Which is a lot, mind you, as we placed second in the International Hug and General Non-Offensive Physical Affection Competition held last year in Denmark.
Games Featured:
- • Hot Air Jr.
- • Defender's Quest
- • Project Zomboid
- • The Walking Dead
- • Baldur's Gate
Look at you. Sitting there. All zombie-less. Balloon-less. SLAK-less. It's a real sorry sight. Fortunately, Link Dump Friday is here to solve all that by forcing you to be interested in the same things we're interested in. Yaaaay!
Games Featured:
- • MoneySeize
- • Don't Look Back
- • Dino Run
Retro doesn't have to mean old and boring! This week's Vault proves that it's more than just a series of blocky pixels that make retro-styled games fun and involving, with three picks from our archives with three very different gameplay styles.
Games Featured:
- • Impulse
- • Deharmonized
- • Bit of War
Remember the days when you had nothing to do but sit around and play video games? No school, no work, no taxes, no neighbor blowing leaves out of his yard even though autumn was months ago. Just maybe, if you close the windows and call in sick, you can grab the games below and pretend this weekend is one of those times. Just... maybe...
Games Featured:
- • Lone Survivor
- • Onimusha Soul
- • Ms. Particle Man
- • Closure
- • Fixation
- • Pony Kart
Monsters? Apocalypse? Psychological trauma? Ponies? I don't know about you, but those sound like the makings of a great weekend to me! March is turning into a month jam-packed with big releases for both the casual browser and indie community, and this week's Link Dump Friday features just a few of them we're excited about in addition to an update or two.
Games Featured:
- • Casual Gameplay Escape
- • Crazy Doors of Rainbow Colors
- • Magneto Syndrome
ESCAPE!... through games, that is. The "escape" genre is an odd one, one that doesn't even sound like it should even be any fun, but for years now designers have thought up new ways to trap you with fiendish puzzles, and the audience is loving every megabyte of it. This week's Vault peeks at three of our favourite escape games that approach the genre from slightly different angles.
Games Featured:
- • Pizza vs. Skeletons
- • Cavorite 2
- • Ziggurat
- • Zombie Panic in Wonderland Plus
It seems like everybody's obsessed with some sort of undead creatures nowadays. Zombies, vampires, skeletons, republicans... They're popping up all over the place, and game makers are taking advantage of this left and right! Cases in point: most of the games below!
We would like to encourage everyone to include a moment of silence today for those lost and for those affected by the enormous and horrific tragedy that occurred one year ago today in Japan.
Games Featured:
- • Yeti Hunter
- • On the Shoulders of Ancestors
- • Hubris
Conspiracy theory time! The order the following games are listed in along with the general theme of their content will, when viewed as a string of text on a single page from afar, show an outline of an Egyptian hieroglyph hidden in the chamber below the Sphinx. At least, that's what we're telling people... Shh!
I've created this entry to alert you to known issues, and to track progress on their resolution, regarding the brand spanking new server we now have to better serve you here at JIG. If you encounter anything strange that seems to be broken or that doesn't work quite like before, please post a comment here and provide as much information as you can so we can try to reproduce the issue (preferably with the same OS/browser combo). Thank you for your patience and continued support while we iron out the wrinkles.
We work very hard to maintain a safe browsing experience for everyone, but there's really no way to ensure something like this will never happen. All we can do is try our very best, and to resolve any situation that arises as quickly and efficiently as we can.
Games Featured:
- • Pokemon TD
- • Infectonator 2
- • Closure
- • My Little Investigations
The great thing about the internet is that there's something for everyone on it. You like stuffing helpless little animals in airtight balls and forcing them to battle to exhaustion for your enjoyment? You like cackling madly while you orchestrate the downfall of humanity in the most grisly fashion possible? We got that... and you're going on some sort of government watch list. There's a lot of cool stuff coming on the horizon, and here's just some of it we're going to be keeping an eye on.
Games Featured:
- • Closure
- • Continuity
- • Spewer
Sure you could stomp a goomba or bust open some bricks if you had to, but what if you needed to solve some complex mental challenges while you were doing so? This week's Vault celebrates brains over brawn and combines them with light feel and quick reflexes in the puzzle platformer!
Games Featured:
- • Tobe & Friends Hookshot Escape
- • Lume
- • AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! (Force = Mass x Acceleration)
When you think of a "mobile" game, you probably think of a stripped-down, broken version of what could have been a big and meaty game for a PC or console system, right? Well, this week's selection of games aims to prove you wrong. Three titles that migrated from larger platforms but gained content in the process. Is that some sort of magic?!
Games Featured:
- • Zatikon
- • DoomRL
- • Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory
It's blasts from the past(s) time! We dug up several games previously featured on Weekend Download to see how they've fared over the last few years. Some of them have vanished (oops), some of them have stayed the same, and some of them have grown into bigger, better projects! Take a look at some of the neater upgrades some of our classic games have gone through.
Games Featured:
- • Loren the Amazon Princess
- • The Banner Saga
- • Fighting is Magic
- • Minecraft update, 1.2
With all the big exciting console and big-name gaming news happening in March, you might be forgetting about your indie friends, which is terrible, because as this Link Dump Friday clearly illustrates they've been slaving away creating more content. For you. And look at you, you never even say thank you, do you? Terrible. Go write a letter to Princess Celestia this instant... and then catch up on all the indie awesomeness you should be excited about.
Games Featured:
- • Ginormo Sword
- • Zilch
- • Music Catch
Hey, JiG-fans. I have to admit that I don't really know where I am right now. I mean, when I woke up, I found myself locked in this weird room. Good thing I was able to get a Wi-Fi password by breaking that creepy clown statue in the corner, and so am able to bring you another wonderful round of classics from the JayIsGames Vault! This week, we've got a surprisingly deep retro-RPG, a dice game that'll keep your week rolling, and an absolute masterpiece of music play.
Games Featured:
- • Retro Racing
- • Little Acorns
- • A Clockwork Brain
Get your acorns in a row, it's time to settle down and partake in some mobile en-ter-tain-ment with the smell of burning tires in the air and a shower of clockwork machines for all to enjoy!
Games Featured:
- • Para Para Paranoid
- • Cherry's Quest for Coffee
- • Me and My Shadow
I see you there, shadow. Following my every move. Writing a Weekend Download introduction as I do the same. Having cookies for breakfast just like I did. I've got my eye on you. And you've got your eye on me!
Internet, prepare thyself! There's a whole pack of new and amazing games on the horizon, from sci-fi free-roaming sandbox adventures, to complex psychological thrillers, to machines of questionable use, and more! Awwww yeah, we're gonna get our game on this year!
Games Featured:
- • Fishing Girl
- • Potion Panic
- • Andrew the Droid
When you want serious casual gaming, you want something with chutzpah. You need to harness the power of anger and boulder tossing and hamburger grilling and car repair and taking out the garbage. You need something manly, and thus have we provided you with three ultra-manly games from our well-stocked archives. What's more manly than fishing? Explodey science? Robots? Nothing, we tell you. Nothing!
Games Featured:
- • Mr. Legs
- • Word Train
- • Trigger Knight
Word games everywhere! Word games galore! Except, there's just one word game, but it's really fun, so let's pretend! There's also crazy RPG running game and a game with cherries and a guy with really long legs. And if you thought "hey, I know what long legs are!", you're probably wrong, because this guy's legs are really long.
Games Featured:
- • Verminest
- • Co-Op
- • The Little Quest
If you were given an apple, an orange, a bag full of thumb tacks, and a yearly subscription to I Just Made This Name Up magazine, could you turn it into a game? Maybe by rolling the fruit along the ground to see how many tacks you could collect before hitting the magazine fort? Fortunately, you don't have to be that creative to enjoy the fruits of other folk's creativity, as this weekend's collection of freeware games nicely illustrates!
They say no news is good news, but WE DEFY YOU and bring it to you anyway! This week, something scary is happening on the internet, some chick is about to be lit on fire, a baby chicken shows you pretty pictures, and more!
Games Featured:
- • Sonny
- • Caravaneer
- • Monsters' Den: Book of Dread
It's a three letter genre you either love or love to hate. The RPG is one of the oldest types of games around, and has grown considerably from its early days at the hands of Miyamoto or Garriott. This week's Vault serves up three different examples of the genre that serve to remind us that there a million ways to incorporate it, but there hasn't been a decent Final Fantasy since Terra and Kefka. Yes, I went there.
Games Featured:
- • Blot
- • The Tiny Bang Story
- • Jump Out!
- • Paper Monsters
Things can get messy when you're a ball of ink. Or when you're a bug that can only live while riding on a turning gear! Those guys should switch places. An insect could do great things flying through a world of pencils, and why would ink care if it fell from a piece of machinery?
Games Featured:
- • Process
- • Hubris
- • Bust-n-Rush
Weekend... INITIATE! Now that your non-week is underway, it's time to fill your time with time-eating games. Not only will you learn valuable life lessons, you'll feel good that you aren't just sitting around eating cheesecake again!
It's-a me, Mario! And William. And Tim. And a whole bunch of other awesome people. This week's Link Dump Friday not only features the usual batch of interesting news, but also features an interview with the one and only Lucas Paakh, creator of the wildly popular William and Sly games.
Games Featured:
- • Aether
- • The Fog Fall
- • Mr. Coo: El Laberinto Esférico
Earth is boring! Who needs this stupid old spinning blue ball when there's a whole universe out there to explore? But fear not; even if you aren't Richard Garriot you can still explore the realms beyond with this collection of strange and otherworldly games!
Games Featured:
- • Off the Leash
- • Jigsaw Mansion 2
- • Boy Loves Girl
Here's a puzzle for you to piece together: how can you help a pack of dogs evade the cops while getting the attention of a girl who won't pay you any mind even though you've got the moon on a string? PROTIP: You'll need two iOS devices to pull that simultaneous feat off!
Games Featured:
- • Invert
- • Hack, Slash, Loot
- • Dungeon Chaos
A little bit of looting, a little bit of inverting, and a whole lot of shooting in this edition of Weekend Download. In fact, if you tried to take Weekend Download through an airport security gate, you'd probably find yourself on the receiving in of some nasty stares and/or unusual search techniques.
Ponies? Wrestlers? Word magic? Check, check, check, and then some! Link Dump Friday has some very cool news this week about some upcoming games, as well as and interview with recent Game of the Year 2011 winners Ironhide Games!
Each year our "Best of" the year awards eclipse all years to have come before, and 2011 was an excellent year for excellent games. Just take a look at all the creative wonders that have earned the title of "Best of 2011" and see for yourself! You are sure to find many games worthy of your time among the Top 5 presented for each category, including an all-new Game of the Year award we're introducing for the first time this year. These games represent the very best of all the games we covered in 2011, and we thank you kindly for participating with us by voting for your favorites!
Games Featured:
- • Spin the Black Circle
- • Totem Destroyer
- • Fantastic Contraption
BEHOLD THE POWER OF PHYSICS, BESTOWED UPON US BY THE GODS. Or, in this case, by three very different but equally talented developers. This week's installment of the Vault takes a look at (you guessed it) physics and the many ways it can challenge, delight, and torment us.
Games Featured:
- • Twist n' Catch
- • Monkey Kick Off
- • Cosmonauts
- • Where's My Water?
Hey there Android device owners! Ready for some more excuses to use your phone for things other than making prank calls to the pizza place down the street? Thought so. These games will both entertain you and help you drain your battery. Since, you know, a full battery is just so annoying!
Games Featured:
- • The Cat that Got the Milk
- • The Fourth Wall
- • Backworlds
How do you feel about... TACTICAL MISDIRECTION?!!! *flashing lights* That's good. Glad to know it. Now, how do you feel about a game semi-sorta doing that with its title? And what if that title involves felines?
Well, we've got some good news and some bad news. The opposite of the non-good news first: so many promising games hiding just below the horizon! Also, so many cool things going on for gamers to enjoy! The not-opposite of the non-good news: mobile companies are still ripping off small indie dev by stealing their ideas. Chocolate and cookies can't made the sadness that news brings us go away. But... it can help!
Games Featured:
- • The Several Journeys of Reemus
- • Dolphin Olympics 2
- • Alan Probe: Amateur Surgeon
Need a change of pace? Maybe you should try being one of the heroes in this week's edition of the Vault! A dolphin, a pizza delivery boy, and an exterminator might not sound particularly heroic, but you might just be surprised.
Games Featured:
- • Mysterious Castle
- • Seal Force
- • Secret of Mana
Scene opens in the forest. A mysterious castle looms in the background. Hobbling in from the side, a group of three seals carrying machinery on their backs. They know what the secret of mana is, but they're not telling. They're not telling... indeed!
What better way to spend the weekend than gorging on more than a dozen creative, original games? The AGS Bake Sale Bundle does something new and neat with the "sticking indie games together into bundles" fad, releasing 14 unique games made with Adventure Game Studio by members of its community. The price, as you might have guessed, is pay-what-you-want, and proceeds are donated to Child's Play charity!
Games Featured:
- • Deity
- • ^_^, Pitiri 1977
A rousing mix of games this week, featuring pleasantly strange free releases alongside some sturdy demos. A bunny who likes to yell? A demon that can live in a candle? That'll get you to sit up straight and start downloading some games!
Internet! We missed you! To show just how much, we baked up this special Link Dump Friday loaf, liberally spiced with the efforts of other people! Christine Love's dark new visual novel is coming, as is a new installment in the adventures of everyone's paunchy exterminator... and more!
Games Featured:
- • Final Ninja
- • Cat on a Dolphin
- • The Alchemist's Apprentice
Are you not feeling like the super awesome, totally rad, seriously-not-sucking-up-to-you person you are today? That won't do at all! Try on this week's Vault for size, where we picked three action-packed, silly, and even downright mystical games to help you feel like your best and put you in a better mood.
Games Featured:
- • Bar Oasis
- • Realistic Summer Sports Simulator
- • Ladders to Heaven
Sports and ladders! Snakes and beer! Can you imagine a combination of things more exciting than that? More exciting combinations that do not involve sharks, bears, dinosaurs, or anything capable of fusion, that is.
Games Featured:
- • Split Party!
- • One Final Trek
- • Stray Whisker
Bringing in the end of 2011 with a happy little ring, the 22nd Ludum Dare competition challenged participants to make a game based on a given theme within a 48 hour time frame. Over 700 entries were submitted, and after some rounds of user voting, everything has been ranked and categorized according to awesomeness. We've featured a few of our favorites below, each one representing the compo's "alone" theme quite nicely!
There's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on in the internet, and Link Dump Friday brings you a whole bunch of previews and updates this week, from ponies to creepers to restaurants! We've also got an interview with Lab of the Dead creator EvilDog, who talks about his work and his ambitious plans for the future!
And the sun didst set upon another year. But whilst we travel bravely into 2012, blinking uncertainly but hopefully into that great blinding light that is the future, let us not forget... 2011 frickin' rocked, dude! That's right, dearly beloved, it's that time again... for you fine folks to vote for your favourite games that we covered during ye olde 2011.
Games Featured:
- • Amberial
- • Fold
- • Snow Drift
Like platforms? Like jumping on platforms? Like jumping on platforms in a nice, normal, predictable fashion? Well TOO BAD FOR YOU since this week's Vault features three games that offer different twists on the plumber's turf, ranging from physics and momentum to big furry ice surfers.
Games Featured:
- • Azaroshi
- • Piyomori
- • CheeseMan
It's an iPhone/iPod Touch special on this edition of Mobile Monday! Who needs those big iPad screens when a cozy, portable device can hold the same amount of fun? Of course, if you do happen to own an iPad, you can still play everything below, but it's sort of cheating, wouldn't you agree? Nah, who cares!
Games Featured:
- • Bomb Detective
- • Seraphim Flame
- • FOLLY
A bountiful harvest of platform games? Sure, why not?! They're sort of the trail mix of the gaming realm. They're everywhere, and there are so many different flavors you can barely choose one to munch on at a time. Some of them have unsavory elements (like coconut flakes, who puts that in trail mix?!), but others are irresistibly delicious with all those banana chips and almonds and tiny bits of chocolate...
Link Dump Friday loves you, and to prove it this week we're serving up double the intrigue with two interviews. Mine the brain of Mike Morin, part of the team behind the creepy-cool Alice is Dead series, and find out more about the upcoming indie horror adventure Home by Bejamin Rivers. Also, dapper kittens!
Last week we wanted you to share your gaming memories of 2011. This week, we want you to spin around with those snazzy time binoculars and give us what you think 2012 will bring for the world of gaming. Is it a long-awaited game? A new way to play it? Or perhaps something else entirely? Jump into the discussion and share your thoughts!
Games Featured:
- • Reflections
- • Magnet 2
- • Fields of Logic
Who needs work when you've got puzzles to keep you busy? This week's Vault rustles up three more puzzles for you to solve, ranging from clean and straightforward to surreal leaps of logic. Crossword puzzles in the morning paper are old news, baby; free range computers and electromagnetic bunny rabbits are the way of the future!
Games Featured:
- • Elemental
- • Bumbledore
- • Cause and Effect
As you can probably tell, we had a bit of an elemental kick for this week's edition of Mobile Monday. Hey, sometimes you get an idea in your head, and you just run with it! Fortunately, Google Play Android Games is filled with creative (if unpolished) games that try to bend the rules a bit. And we've got a few of those below!
Games Featured:
- • Minicraft
- • Incomitat
- • Void
How about some diversions for the last day of the year? Two games pulled from the recent Ludum Dare compo, both of which share some of the same basic ideas and gameplay directions but end up being very different from each other, Then, just to make sure you're paying attention, a totally different game! Wow!
Tick... tick... tick... the end of 2011 is almost upon us! To celebrate and prepare for Best od 2011, we're taking a look back at some of the games that wowed and won in Best of for years past! We're also getting excited about some upcoming games, gaping at some awesome musical talent, and celebrating Terry Cavanagh's latest feather in his cap!
You've probably seen our staff highlighting some of our favorite games of the year in our Link Dump Fridays, and we'll be opening the voting for our Best of 2011 within a few weeks, but until then, we want to turn the microphone over to you! We want to know your favorite gaming moments of 2011. Drop us a line and share your highlights with us!
Games Featured:
- • Survivoo
- • Dr. Stanley's House
- • Daymare Town
Knock knock! Who's there? ADVENTURE! Saddle up, Sonny Jim/Jimette, because this week's Vault has a series of strange little adventures of varying sizes and complexity that will be sure to keep you sailing through the week with mystery and oddity.
Games Featured:
- • Time Ducks
- • Winter Walk
- • MinioMonsters
Well, it's the final Mobile Monday of the year. It's times like this we like to take pause and think happy thoughts about all of the mobile games of the past months. We wonder things like "how many were developed by people wearing hats?" and "do you think at least one of these game's names is a palindrome?". Questions without answers, so we just nod our hatless heads and prepare ourselves for another year.
Games Featured:
- • Fireplace
- • Frostbite
- • Home Sheep Home 2
- • A Little Epic
- • Zetanoid
Ice and fire! Hot and cold! Marshmallows! Sheep! During the holidays it's important to shout random things from time to time, just to make sure you're in the festive spirit. For bonus points, shout while playing these games. If you annoy a neighbor/roommate, achievement unlocked!
Games Featured:
- • Xenos
- • Terraria
- • Realm of the Mad God
- • Nick Toldy and the Legend of Dragon Peninsula
- • Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure
- • ClickPLAY Rainbow
The clock is ticking, and so are we as we keep picking out our personal favourite games of 2011. We also have a special holiday wish featuring some prickly performers, and an interview with developer dynamo Nitrome, who recently released their 100th game!
Games Featured:
- • SnowDays
- • Warbears Adventures: An A.R. Xmas
- • My Diamond Baby
Snowflakes, teddy bears, and diamond rings? The Vault really DOES have riches inside it! This week we take a look at three games sure to melt any frosty chill around you, from a webtoy, to a challenging escape, and even a deadly serious point-and-click bear mission.
RPGs and pretty physics games and... SONIC! So much to consume on this edition of Mobile Monday. So much. Sooooo much. Hmm. Maybe too much? Yeah, a bit. Maybe just pretend these three games are two games, one of which has an unusual growth on the side that looks, acts, and plays like a different game? That's not too much to handle is it?
Bundling up indie games is what all the cool kids are doing these days, as is pricing them "pay what you want" while donating portions of the proceeds to charity. But here's something refreshingly different: The 99 Percent Bundle. This totally free collection of indie games aims to highlight some of the lesser-known developers out there, the people who continue to make the games they love and release them for free. It's sort of the indies of the indie community, and it's the perfect way to discover new titles you might have missed over the last few months.
Games Featured:
- • Hyper Princess Pitch
- • Egress - The Test of STS-417
- • Dragon Fantasy
Hey—hi there! Welcome! Come on it, have a seat. Would you like a warm beverage? Cold one? Just a handful of games? All right, that's fine too. Although the hot cocoa is stunning... Anyway! You asked for games, and so you get them. One game to make you scratch your head, one game where you can shoot Mecha Santa, and one game where you can learn to be a thief. Game enough for you? No? Maybe some hot cocoa would fill the void, then?
Games Featured:
- • Elephant Quest
- • Hungry Sumo
- • Racing Comrade
- • Cactus McCoy
- • The End of Us
- • Lee Lee's Quest
Our writers pony up more of their personal favourite games of 2011, and this time on our new developer interview feature, Friday Five, we bring Zeebarf into the studio to talk about his work, the new upcoming premium Reemus adventure, and more! And by "studio" I of course mean "a polite, sterile digital exchange because Jay vetoed my plans to demolish his house and build a studio where I would interview after being trained by James Lipton".
Games Featured:
- • Skywire
- • Zoo Keeper Quest
- • FoolYoo
Action isn't all brawling robots, blasting guns, and pop culture references. This week's Vault takes a look at three titles that all share a common strangeness, but also incorporate action into their gameplay in different ways.
Games Featured:
- • Sprinkle Jr.
- • Egg Punch
- • Sea Stars
- • Horror Vacui 2
Cute games seem to be the "in" thing to do for iOS releases. Why feature an ugly cockroach as a main character when you can sketch out an adorable dolphin with rainbow eyes instead? Most of our games this week are frosted in that sugary cuteness, so you might want abstain from riding on your unicorn for a few hours, just so you don't overdose on adorableness!
Games Featured:
- • Lost and Found
- • Hyperbolic Rogue
- • Six
Ready for a nugget of the strange and unusual? Three games carved from the walls of the Cave of Indie Coolness, built with non-standard ideas and experimental concepts in mind. No copy/paste genre cloning, more like the genres wish they could copy/paste these games!
Games Featured:
- • Insectonator
- • Derereba
- • The I of It
- • Westward Kingdoms
- • Wonderputt
- • Daps
Favourite games of the year? Check! Upcoming titles and ports? Check! Developer interviews and previews? Double check! This week's installment of Link Dump Friday features the very first of our new series of developer interviews with the esteemed Bart Bonte, and a peek at the upcoming adventure game My Little Investigations with its creator, GabuEx.
Perhaps you've been wandering through the endless corridors of this website and found a "game" that seemed to be little more than a picture of gibberish text in a grid. "Surely," you think, "there's got to be more than meets the eye here." And there is! You've stumbled upon Letters In Boxes, a (usually) weekly feature here on Jay Is Games. If you love a good word puzzle with some tricky twists tossed in, you'll want to keep an eye out for new editions. But if you're new to the game and looking for instructions to get started, here's a little guide to help you out.
Games Featured:
- • Inquisitive Dave
- • You Have to Burn the Rope
- • Thy Dungeonman 3: Behold Thy Graphics!
Need a laugh? Yeah, well, YOUR FACE! HA!... okay, so there's a reason I don't tell the jokes around here, but fortunately, with this week's Vault focusing on some very funny, silly, and weird little titles, you don't have to rely on me for your chuckles.
Games Featured:
- • The King's Path
- • Catball Eats it All
- • Mr.Oops!!
- • Judge Dredd vs. Zombies
If you're looking for a few wild distractions, allow us to point to your left, where you'll see a tricycle riding a bear eating a hotdog. The bear isn't eating the hotdog, the tricycle is. And it's covered in mustard. The bear, not the hotdog. Also, four unique mobile games representing four different genres, each capable of stealing hours of your life away!
Games Featured:
- • Ninja vs Samurai
- • ALTCODE
- • Johnny Platform Saves Christmas
Let's celebrate this weekend like it's a holiday! An ASCII shooter/Christmas/ninja holiday! We'll all rise before dawn, steal down to the local airfield, nab a jet, and fly around all day long! Also: gingerbread men for dessert!!!
Games Featured:
- • Humbug
- • Starwish
- • Don't Take It Personally, Babe, It Just Ain't Your Story
From now until the end of the year, your writers here at Jay is Games are showcasing some of their personal favourite games from 2011. We also take a look at a whole host of promising new games, including sweet, sweet birdie romance, zombie blasting, ponies on farms, and more!
Games Featured:
- • Rose & Camellia
- • Grow Island
- • The Majesty of Colors
Who says weird is bad? This week's installment of the Vault focuses on three games we've branded "unique" that all take the moniker and run with it in different directions. From a soul-searching sea monster to a bustling island, to stately women slugging it out for respect, these are all games that might be a little different, but are more than a little memorable and awesome.
Games Featured:
- • Paul & Percy
- • Bag It!
- • Saving Yellow
Need a pick-me-up to start the week? Why not try saving a goldfish from an impish little brat? Going on a quest for biscuits? Or, heck, bag some groceries!
Games Featured:
- • Tiny Plumbers
- • Space Chunks II
- • Trail
As much as designers and players would love it to be true, games don't appear out of magical elf dust. They take hours, weeks, months and years to create, stitching together every line of code and every piece of artwork. To that end, many programmers and studios have taken to releasing alpha and beta games to drum up support, snagging players early to help with feedback and bug reports while the developer gets to continue drinking coffee and coding. Everybody wins, and we get more games, better games, and games at a more rapid pace!
Games Featured:
- • Pony Creator
- • Device
- • Diamond Hollow 2
- • Pedro and the Pearls of Peril
Link Dump Friday gets excited about an iOS port of a classic SNES RPG, takes a peek at the future of one of the best sites to get DRM free old PC games, and then wraps you up in a big warm hug and tells you everything is going to be just fine. Shhh, baby, shhh.
Games Featured:
- • Level Up!
- • endeavor
- • Robot Wants Kitty
Cats, gems, robots, and dwarves. What do they have in common? They're all starring in this week's installment of The Vault that celebrates some of our favourite Metroidvania style games! Running, jumping, exploring, tracking down new items and power ups... it's everything we love, and here are three of the games that have done it the best.
Games Featured:
- • Snoopy's Street Fair
- • Chickon
- • Minecraft: Pocket Edition
Still not sure iOS devices are a serious gaming platform? Game designers sure think they are, and the result is more and more big games making their way to the touch screen. Minecraft is a fine example of this, and this week, it's making its iOS debut with a highly playable portable version of the desktop game!
Games Featured:
- • Wither
- • The Thirteenth Year
- • The Caldwell Incident
We've got some serious subject matter on the plate for this edition of Weekend Download. Grief, loss, religion, philosophy, government conspiracies, and probably a whole lot more hiding beneath the surface! Only venture forth if you've got a mind ready to do some serious digesting...
Games Featured:
- • Daps
- • 3 Slices
- • Bloom Defender
It's Friday, Friday, gotta play games on Friday! This week marks a significant milestone for one very talented indie developer, brought us some furry little critters with some culinary talents, and a whole lot more.
Games Featured:
- • Mass Attack
- • Dot Action 2
- • Klikwerk
Sometimes you'll play a game so memorable it'll stay with you for days. Other times it's the game's soundtrack that stays with you. In this week's Vault, we visit a rhythm game, a platformer, and a balance puzzler, all of which have some pretty intense earworms for audio. Prepare to get some catchy music stuck in your head.
Games Featured:
- • Zombieville USA 2
- • Whale Trail
- • Neon Zone
Note to humans: the zombies are coming. They might even be riding flying whales that swoop in from the clouds, wielding neon sticks they use to smite you with. So, you know, wear a hat. Maybe some protective goggles and a suit of spikes for good measure.
In addition to having two games starring astronauts, this little piece of Weekend Download deliciousness happens to include some games that, in our humblest of opinions, display extraordinary amounts of creativity. Prepare to be intrigued! *spooky hand gestures*