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!
Minicraft (Mac/Win/Linux, 1MB, free) - Created by Notch, the original developer of Minecraft, for the most recent Ludum Dare compo, Minicraft is an open sandbox crafting sort of game that basically works like Minecraft if it were released on the NES. Fight enemies, allocate resources, craft new tools, and strike out as you attempt to fulfill your goal of eliminating all sentient life so you can be forever alone! Shockingly playable and absorbing, especially for such a simple game, but considering the source, it's a wonder you won't lose hours of your life to the little diversion. You can also play Minicraft in your browser!
Incomitat (Windows, 1.5MB, free) - Another Ludum Dare entry, this one from hempuli, creator of Floating Islands Game as well as a handful of other, smaller projects. Similar to Minicraft in some ways, Incomitat doesn't have much of a purpose, it's just a little world simulator that lets you dig up dirt, cut down trees, harvest resources and use them to build things. There's a boss lurking somewhere in this low-res world, so if you can find it, you accomplished something worthy!
Void (Windows, 179MB, free) - A short but phenomenal first person puzzle game created by students at DigiPen, Singapore. Void takes place in a library ruined in a recent disaster. You're trying to find a way out, but that doesn't really seem possible given the state of things. Fortunately, time is on your site. More specifically, the past, and your ability to both see it and open pockets of the past using limited portals. For example, a platform may be out of reach because the ground beneath it has crumbled. Open a portal to the past, though, and the floor is intact, giving you a few seconds to walk across. It's a great game mechanic, and the team used it in some very creative ways, including a stint in the sewers that were once filled with water. It's a short, experimental sort of game, but one you'll be glad to have tried! Note: Void requires the Steam client, a free download, to play.
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows 7 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!
First off, Happy New Year to everyone on JayIsGames! (Well, in Australia it is, so from me to you xD). What a wonderful year it's been and hopefully more great ones follow.
Void looks really amazing, so I'll have to give that one a shot when I wake up tomorrow. :)
I've downloaded MiniCraft in Linux (Ubuntu 10.04 LTS for netbook) but I don't know how to set it up to make it playable. I think it might simply be a matter of putting the HTML file in the correct directory, but I don't know where that would be.
OH YEAH! This actually reminds me - does anyone remember that old PC adventure-style game with time travel? There were a couple releases of it I think, and I want to say it was something like "something-nauts", but I can't say for sure.
In any case, Void looks great! I'll give it a whirl when I get back from vacation.
Browser version of Minicraft freezes up constantly. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, since if given the chance I would likely spend days flattening the entire landscape, removing all trees or rocks.
Minicraft needs a minimap. Other than that, it is really addicting.
Void is a great game. Very glad to see the "to be continued" at the end.
I absolutely can't get Minicraft to run, online or offline, which is weird because I almost never have game run issues (I have all my plugins all updated and everything).
When I go to the online page or load the offline page, the page just never finishes loading.
Any ideas how I can play this cool-looking clone?
Minicraft runs fine for me, and it's pretty good.
Apparently it doesn't save your progress. :-/
Is the only way that the player can make a solid wall by planting trees?
The review for Void should probably warn the user that after downloading the game you have to have a Steam account, install steam, then download the Steam SDK, then download updates for Void, etc.
Incomitat is a cool little game, although I could not figure out how to beat the boss. The game generates a random map every time (sometimes the houses in the ghost towns cannot be entered because they are spawned too close to another house). I would love to fool around with this a little more because I have a feeling I haven't found everything out yet, but here is a little list of hints I have figured out - please feel free to correct anything I haven't gotten right!
General:
The main screen indicates "G" to open inventory, but it is actually "Q." Holding "Space" will open your map. At upper right are the red health bar and the blue energy bar. The little multi-colored circle under the bars is the clock to tell you when it's going to turn from day into night. When it's the night there is a little snowflake next to the clock. Further, to the left of these items, little green bubbles will appear if you are poisoned and a purple question mark will appear if you are confused.
Map:
Home is designated with an "H." Clearings are light green, forests are dark green, beaches are light tan (sand-colored), shallow water is light blue, deep water is dark blue, and the brown on the map indicates ghost towns. When you have visited a ghost town block, the map notes this with a little black cross. (Sometimes if there is nothing to interact with in a ghost town block it will NOT leave a cross.) When you have found the boss, the map will indicate its location with a red skull.
Health and Energy:
Health decreases when you do dangerous things like run into bad guys. Activities such as chopping down trees will decrease your energy. Also, when you swim, energy decreases steadily. If you swim in deep water then your energy will decrease VERY rapidly. Your energy also slowly goes down as time passes, and if you run out of energy then your health goes down instead. You can bring health and energy back up by eating things such as meat (found in houses in ghost towns), apples (occasionally gotten from chopping down trees), and mushrooms. You can also kill rabbits with a gun and eat them. If you eat them without cooking them you get poisoned. If you take it back to your house, you can put the log in your stove to make a fire and cook the rabbit.
Mushrooms:
There are several types of mushrooms. Black ones are poison and will drastically reduce your health and life. The ones that have two stems will make you confused (you will walk in random little circles for a while). Red mushrooms increase your health, blue mushrooms increase your energy, and the ones that remind me of stalks of wheat will increase your health and energy but only by a tiny bit.
Enemies and Weapons:
Your axe comes in handy as a weapon. Also, in the ghost towns, you can pick up revolvers, shotguns, and ammunition. Unfortunately the guns do NOT come preloaded and so you must have ammunition in your inventory if you want to shoot bad guys (or rabbits for food - I haven't tried to shoot birds). Skeletons appear in most parts of ghosts towns. They will take a chunk out of your health if they touch you but they're pretty easy to kill with the axe. Souls don't hurt you if they touch you but they shoot balls of energy at you that do hurt. They only come out at night and generally they are in clearings.
Boss:
You will know that you've found the place where the boss lives when you see a big marking on the ground with a skull. A lot of skeletons spawn here. In order to summon the boss, you have to go around and find four skulls and drop them at each point around the skull marking. Then the boss will appear. I haven't yet come across the boss while wielding a loaded gun, I suspect this is how he dies, but so far he's killed me every time.
Miscellaneous:
When you lose all health it's game over, and you must start over from a newly generated map. You can listen to seashells by holding the left button on your little person but so far I have found no other use for them (except that they're pretty!). I have found some seeds by hoeing and inside ghost town houses, and I've tried planting them in places where I've used the hoe (ala Harvest Moon) but it didn't seem to work. Also you can build walls using logs you've cut down and if you don't like your walls, you can axe them down and turn them back into logs. Felling a tree will cause birds to scatter.
I enjoyed this game very very much, maybe later I will make a more serious attempt at figuring out the little mysteries I've come across. Otherwise, if anyone has any other hints for me I'd appreciate it!
Hmm, I have to agree with Cris regarding Void. I was excited to try this game out except that I know nothing about the Steam website. I'm used to Weekend Downloads just being exe files or self contained installers which I uninstall upon completion of the game. Honestly I'm hesitant to sign up for some site just to play one game!
Ottoman,
no prob with Steam ;)
bio
Normally Weekend Downloads have the barest minimum of requirements, but Void was too good to pass up. Steam is a free download, and it's an awesome thing to have.
Coldfrog, I know it doesn't end in "-nauts," but might you be thinking of The Journeyman Project trilogy? The one with the canned cheese in space puzzle and the Better Butter Buddha? Those were great games.
I don't have a problem with Steam being required for Void. It is extremely well done and absolutely worth it. I really look forward to seeing the continuation in the future.
But, I really think that the user deserves to be warned in advance when extras will be required to play a game.
Why can't minicraft have a continue point?? WHY???
I got killed after 1.75 hours after I got to
cloud land
GAH! 1.75 hours I'll never get back!
Having similar problems with the download version of minicraft. The error message is:
Failed to load Main-Class manifest attribute from minicraft/ld22.jar
I'm running OS X 10.6.8
also, while the browser version WORKS, it has a problem where the screen often flickers to black
Void was very interesting and unique. I'm amazed that a few college kids put together such a great-looking game. The gameplay was a little buggy, but I was impressed. I saw one of the paintings, but couldn't figure out how to reach it on my first playthrough. I never found the second either. However, I found the other three easily! I'm looking forward to replaying and I hope Part 2 comes soon!
Question! How do I add a weekend download to my favorites so I get only that weekend download? I tried to bookmark minicraft, but found that it pulls up all the weekend downloads! Thanks!
Where can I find gold?
Update