The TIGSource A Game By Its Cover competition has ended, all the votes are in, and the games are ready to play! The competition asked artists to craft cover art for imaginary games, then the programmers stepped in and made games based on the art. We've already featured a few of the contenders in the competition (Cat Poke, 8:Capsule, Dot Order Tie, and Love Letter), so below we'll highlight a few other favorites from the competition.
Under the Garden (Windows, 10MB, free) - Nabbing the largest majority of the votes, Farmergnome's sandbox-style 2D survival game combines a great atmosphere with a strong do-it-yourself philosophy. Out in the cold wilderness, it's your job to travel back and forth searching for firewood, food, and other items of interest. You can use the mouse to arrange some parts of the environment, both for decoration and to help you reach certain areas of the wilderness. Nature will do its best to toy with your intentions, and the pervading theme of loneliness is quite bleak, but the game is solid and gives back a great experience if you take some time to get into it.
MADRIS (Windows, 9MB, free) - This puzzle game by Gary Dahl combines Tetris with The Sims. You read that right! Rooms with brown doors fall from the top of the screen. People with different needs occupy some of the rooms below, and it's your job to line up doors so they can get where they need to go. Student needing a bathroom trapped in the common area? Stick a connecting hallway there and slide the bathroom on the side. It takes a minute or two to get used to, but once the concept sinks in, you'll realize how deep this puzzle game really is.
Tales of Unspoken World (Mac/Win, 8-13MB, free) - A remarkably thrilling 3D game of running and jumping created by Santa Ragione. Your goal is to gather some speed and leap over the chasms using the [spacebar]. That's it, really, but the stark visuals combined with the sound effects create a tense atmosphere that really gets you going. Think of it as sort of a striipped-down 3D Canabalt, on rails, with a bit of Mirror's Edge thrown in for excitement value.
Infinity Bit (Windows, 15MB, free) - A trippy action game by Vince Twelve, this one can really mess with your head. In a good way. Travel between waystations in your ship as you pilot around colorful corridors and avoid equally-colorful walls. When fuel gets low, you'll land, run through a quick platform area, then take off again. Upgrades and puzzles are abound, and there are so many colors, Roy G. Biv would get angry.
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows Vista and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!
Whoa! What is up with the new ads that cover up the entire screen. That isn't cool, Jay. Did you realize that they are doing it? The one that I saw was for Chase bank.
[I already noticed that and have notified the ad network responsible that it was unauthorized to deliver ads like that at this time. I've deactivated the ad network in the meantime. However, that being said, it is just an ad and there will be more ads like that in the future when I do authorize them. They are a means for us to stay in business because we deliver free content every day (content that is not free to create). Please support our efforts with our advertisers, otherwise our days are numbered. Thank you. :) -Jay]
Grrr... why wont under the garden work for me?
I downloaded it, started it up, and then it takes me to the title screen. Sounds good right? Well, theres no OPTIONS on the screen, just the title, some snow effect, a changing background, 2 arrows, and the "Restart?" button. When I press Restart, it plays a "ding!" chime and the screen fades black then stays black.
HELP!
Tales of unspoken world doesn't work for me. When I try to play any of the levels, all I see is a white screen and the status bar at the bottom. Changing the resolution and graphics quality doesn't fix the problem.
Can anyone help?
In Under the Garden I can't seem to build a shelter that protects me from the weather. Is that meant to happen?
you can't build a perfect shelter in Under the Garden. but it will keep out the snow, which is good. i currently explored the whole main area and now im looking at the secret places... not sure if there's some point to it all
@Turnip
I read in the readme of a problem with pixel shaders below 2.0. Try following the instructions in the readme to see if it helps fix your problem.
Jay, Thanks for responding to my previous comment. I understand it is just an ad. Which is why I have Ad Block turned off for your site. I appreciate the quality work that you and all of the other writers put in to the site, and I understand that ads are what pay for it (along with sponsored links). I just have been seeing that particular type of ad creep in to more places and I find it frustrating. It tends to be more difficult to dismiss on a mobile device and will not allow viewing before it is dismissed. Hopefully advertisers will learn that causing annoyance for your potential clients does not lead to sales. Thank you for contacting your ad provider.
On topic: Under the garden is interesting. It would be better if the weather did not reach inside your well built house or deep inside caverns.
I am having the same problem as Turnip. Hitting restart means going to a black screen of death. No other button or click does anything.
I figured out my problem. When extracting the files from the .zip archive, I didn't have the setting checked to keep subfolders. It put all the files into one folder, and since there were multiple files with the same name, some files were overwritten or not copied in the first place. After changing the subfolder option, it seems to work.
Ah yes, I went to the forum that Under the Garden was posted and saw the comment about not being able to build perfect structures any more.
Can't wait to start finding bears :D
GRRRRRR!!!!! Tales of unspoken world had no visible quit button. I tried hitting "q" and "esc" and every other keyboard combo I could think of!! After 10 mins I just had to do a forced shut down of my computer. What gives?
MADRIS won't work for me. I download the exe but when i try to run it it just crashes. Anyone else have the same problem?
@Dave
I played that game and I didn't even realize this.
Pro-tip - Alt+F4 will usually quit whatever program you are in at the moment.
You should see the text "Original Game" between the arrows.
That is the start button.
Under the Garden is fab but, I think I saw it all... or mostly... I just didn't get through
the barrels with the bear after them. Just remembered them, but the game's already closed :(. A save function would be nice...
Um, do I need to register at the tigsource forums just to download a game? Clicking on one of the links gives me:
> Sorry Guest, you are banned from using this forum!
Spamming.
Madris is inspired Genius. very lovely
A save function would be nice...
Under the Garden automatically saves your progress. Just start the game again and you'll have all your item at the last fireplace you lit. If you want to start from the beginning, click the restart button on the title screen.
Oh yay! It really does!
Now, has anyone found any use to the
penguins?
tchupvskja: Wow, that sucks, must be an IP ban for someone who isn't you. I don't know if I'm allowed to post links, but if you google "Under the Garden" you can check the google cache for the thread and the link will be there!
Under the Garden is beautiful and great, I'm such a sucker for sim games, though I find it quite hard, possibly because I always play games quite recklessly/hastily and I consider ANY time the stamina bars empty a huge loss even though it really isn't!
About a couple parts after the 3rd fireplace:
I worked so hard making tiny platforms to get up to the door at the top with the 2 bears, and when I finally opened the door... WHAT A GREAT SURPRISE! I immediately switched windows to tell my friend what happened... little did I know I would respawn in the same room to get mauled AGAIN. A+ great room I ragequit (but not forever)
The part underground with the bats and the "deep holes" in the ceiling, where you find the soniq spring:
I totally thought I was supposed to go up those, since I am given the spring and some extra blocks to drag around. Boy was I surprised when I ended up INSIDE the ceiling! Good thing I had the spring to get myself out of there!
Still regarding Under the Garden..
This is probably a glitch, but if you try long enough, you can do some
wall jumping to climb higer places. Dunno if this was a spoiler, still...
Under the Garden = 2D Minecraft
Ok, so I've done lots and lots in "under the garden" but I'm at a loss as to whether I'm done... Is there an end or do you just keep surviving?
Also, does anyone know what the
little hoppy birds
are about?
@Jordan
No it doesn't.
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