January 31, 2006
Boucoup Freeware Stickman Action
Raigan Burns, one half of the N team whom we briefly met at Slamdance, sends us this list of freeware games he recommends, culled from looking at hundreds of freeware titles. Several of the stickman titles in the list were inspiration for N, which won the Audience award at both IGF05 and Slamdance06. Enjoy, in no particular order:
Seiklus: abstract stickman adventure game
http://autofish.net/clysm/games/seiklus/index.html
http://autofish.net/clysm/art/video_games/seiklus/seiklus12.zip
Puchi: another tiny stickman game, this was a huge inspiration for N, super-fun puzzle/platforming
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=4849
Frontline: yet more unclassifiable and addictive stickman action
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=4378
Umihara Kawase: running + jumping + fishing rod = "rubbering platformer"
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=3630
Cave Story: made by one person over several years, this platform/action/shooter rivals the best SNES games, in terms of gameplay, story, graphics, music, etc..
http://agtp.romhack.net/doukutsu.html
Colorful Notes: really awesome style, and a great/simple puzzle game concept
http://maruchu.nobody.jp/soft/CN/ent.html
A2K and Z-Lock: abstract shooters with minimal vector graphics
http://homepage2.nifty.com/isshiki/prog_win_d.html
http://homepage2.nifty.com/isshiki/a2k.zip
<–download link
http://homepage2.nifty.com/isshiki/z-lock.zip
<–download link
Spout: 1-bit graphics, particle-tastic abstract
cave-flier
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=4781
Warning Forever: abstract shooter made of endless boss fights (hence
the name); the enemy ships are genetically evolved based on how you
destroy them, and are drawn using procedurally generated+assembled
chunks
http://www18.big.or.jp/~hikoza/Prod/index_e.html
http://www18.big.or.jp/~hikoza/Archive/wf106.exe
Every Extend: a weird and yet addictive combination of puzzle and
shooter, apparently coming soon to psp
http://nagoya.cool.ne.jp/o_mega/product/e2.html
http://www.vector.co.jp/download/file/win95/game/fh327077.html
<–download link (it’s sort of hard to find)
Kenta Cho/Aba games.. this guy is amazing! of special
interest for you
might be his game "Noiz2sa", which has super-abstract graphics. but..
really, check all the games out, they’re each unique
and awesome.
Also, many of the games (such as parsec47) use BulletML
and a random
number generator to produce always-unique waves of enemies,
enemy-shapes, bullet-patterns, etc..
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html
Wirehang Redux: almost no
graphics to speak of, but INCREDIBLY
addictive gameplay!
http://www.ewtoo.org/~matt/wirehang/
UFO: strange sumo-wrestling with spaceships.
the way that they handle shooting is pretty cool (the aim direction
constantly rotates 360deg, so to "aim" the player just has to fire at
the right time; this simplifies the controls a LOT while adding a
totally weird and new dynamic to the game)
http://gamehippo.com/search/search_title_1_843b983079959af5417b26b8c7ef7d3d.shtml
http://gamehippo.com/pub_20050329_4618fced8637677d7b4b/1746_ufov11d.zip
Super Bubble Blob: another game that inspired N, more simple yet
addictive puzzle/platforming
http://gamehippo.com/search/search_title_1_6851f3e1b800a3f1e612757d971a8f36.shtml
http://www.thegamespage.com/downloads/games/sbb.exe
Klass of 99: remake of an old ZX Spectrum game, this game
is AWESOME,
the tiny pixel-y graphics are cool and the game "genre" is totally
unique.. a puzzle/adventure/simulation
http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/rjordan/klass/downl.htm
Iteration Games: a lot of good, abstract, retro-y games
http://iterationgames.com
FlapFlapFlap: AWESOME example of simple-yet-stylish
graphics, and
fun/different gameplay
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=4942
Orbital Sniper: made for a 48h game contest
http://sol.planet-d.net/files/OrbitalSniper120.zip
Medieval Clash: another genre-defying game (other than "strategy" in
general) with tiny pixel-y graphics and awesome gameplay
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=4851
Fallen Angel Industries: another great freeware group, these guys have
lots of great retro-yet-contemporary games; check out Commando, Seige,
and Tango Strike
http://www.faind.com/downloads.asp
Brainchild Design: more great freeware; jump-n-bump is highly recommended
(note: you might want to download the windows version of jump-n-bump
since the originals are DOS-based and hard to get running:
http://www.icculus.org/jumpnbump/
)
http://www.brainchilddesign.com/Bottom.php?Page=Games&SubPage=Download
WW1 Medic: a bizarre yet pretty cool game
http://www.bay12games.com/ww1medic/index.htm
Free Lunch Design: you’ve probably already heard of icy tower, but
just in case.. get it!
http://www.freelunchdesign.com/
Binary Zoo: very fun, very abstract-looking games
http://www.binaryzoo.com/home/index.htm
Euphoric Rush/Chris Street: "zone runner 2" is another game we played
a lot of while making N
http://www.klikacademy.com/circy/downloads.htm
http://www.klikacademy.com/circy/games_zone1+2.htm
Ikiki: this guy has made several really cool, weird platforming
games.. here’s one. others (google
them) are called "bimboman",
"teppoman", "teppodon",
and "100ponknock"
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=5115
Legend of Shadow: retro super-ninja action
http://www.darthlupi.com/games.php
Super Secret Ninja: tiny stickman stealth platforming
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?name=Super+Secret+Ninja
Helix Games: cool freeware platformers, "jumper
two" and "dim" are two
you should definitely check out
http://www.helixgamesinc.com/games.html
February 1st, 2006 at 12:21 am
Andrew, thanks for this great list!
I have to add The Way of the Exploding Stick and one of the great stick-figure games of all time, remade by two Grand Text Auto contributors and about a dozen others: Mystery House.
February 1st, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Thank Raigan, not me!