There are no hidden messages in this opening paragraph. It contains no inside jokes, references to external events, or puns. It isn't dedicated to anyone, real or imaginary. This Link Dump Friday paragraph does not taste like butter.
Left 4k Dead - A 2D top-down shooter that's an absolute blood fest. Loosely based on Valve's Left4Dead game, this little guy clocks in at under 4k in size and is written in Java. Impressive lighting effects for such a tiny game, and you'll have fun blasting zombies for a minute or two. Or 4!
Cable Miner - Gah! The simplicity! Gah! The challenge! Gah! The utter addictiveness of it! All you do is tap and hold the [spacebar] to grab the wire, releasing it to jump higher in the air. Use the [arrow] keys to move. Then... win! Many times!
Bomboozle - Connect groups of adjacent, like-colored blocks to remove them from the screen. Destroy large groups to create a bomb, which can then be used to remove indestructible blocks and cause chain reactions. Nothing revolutionary, but the visuals are fun and interface very touch screen-esque.
Shape Switcher - A nicely-designed top-down adventure-type game that uses colors and shapes to create door puzzles. Doors are locked according to shapes or colors, and fortunately for you, the main character can alter both. To move through a blue square door, for example, you should either be blue or be a square.
Pede Off - A simple but somehow enjoyable clone of the classic arcade game Centipede. And... um... it has pretty flowers?
I really enjoyed Shape Switcher. It didn't take long to load on my dial up nor did it freeze once it was loaded. It had a great learning curve that caused me to think without making me so frustrated as to want to give up. There were just enough levels without it being too long of a time to stare at the gray background. Nor was it too easy that it felt like a waste of time. I enjoyed this one. Good call JiG.
One point of contention however in the description: You have to be both green and a square to get through a green square door, not either.
Bomboozle seems to be yet another game unplayable under Linux. Looks like the Flash 10 plugin made those rare, but not extinct.
Bomboozle also seems to not work for Firefox either.
Bomboozle works fine for me in Firefox, it might be a different issue.
Cable Miner rocks! It takes a little while to get used to but once you've got the hang of it you can really fling that little guy around!
If anyone's looking for a bit of challenge, my Fewest Jumps total is 45, see if you can beat it. :D
Here's the actual numbers for each level:
1-5: 1,1,2,4,3
6-10: 3,1,3,4,2
11-15: 1,2,3,2,2
16-20: 1,1,4,3,2
Ad-blocking software seems to screw with bomboozle; try disabling it.
Cable miner was a little bit difficult, but fun. Shapeshifter was easy, though I like that in a puzzle game, seeing as I'm not great at puzzles.
Bomboozle is fun! To be picky, it lacks a certain sense of challenge, so after a while it tires a bit... but a fresh game all the same, I like it!
Bomboozle was my favorite of the bunch, followed closely by Shape Switcher.
I'm still confused about Shape Switcher's criteria for getting through doors. Sometimes it seemed that JohnB's descripton was right and later on it seemed that Imzadi's was right. I'lll have to play it again.
Pede Off got me tee'd off. Yeh, yeh, I know it's no big deal to have to sign in. I have the bogus email address and all that good stuff. It was their reason I needed to log in that got my feathers ruffled. Don't feed me a turd sandwich and tell me it's steak. You collect email addresses and that's your business. Why come up with some bogus excuse about earning butterflies.
Jay - If I'm wrong, feel free to edit that part of my comment out.
About the color/shape issue with Shape Switcher.
If the door has a "transparent" (pale yellow) circle, square or triangle it only requires that you be the same shape.
If the door has a red, blue or green circle, square or triangle it requires that you be the same shape and color.
If the door has a red, blue or green lightning bolt it only requires that you be the same color.
That may sound confusing but it makes more sense after you've played it a bit. Cool game.
Zeke - I was able to play Pede Off without signing in.
@Barking Spleen - Thanks for that heads up. I tried it and it did work for me too.
That will teach me to go shooting off my mouth before my brain is loaded.
@Jay - If you would be so kind, would you edit out my remarks in the comment about about Pede Off. They're are misleading.
Worst. Mining. Technique. Ever.
David E. Frankel is a sick, cruel man. Would play again.
Just realized left 4k dead was made by notch, creator of minecraft, which happens to be a bit more addictive than Cable Miner
Update