TOJam-2009 posts

The theme of games at TOJam is always "prototypes". It's rare for a game to reach anywhere resembling a completed state in such a short amount of time, but some are reasonably well-finished. Alpinist is not one of those games. An incredibly short prototype, Alpinist is more of an art game to show off some truly amazing pixel work. And man, it really does. You might be disappointed by the lack of much of anything at all, but you could sit and stare at this game for hours...

Where were we? Oh yes. Alpinist revolves around a mountain climber as he scales a mountain. You can control his movement, how he runs, and his jumps. Not much else! The game lasts literally less than a minute, but acts as a showcase for some incredibly detailed sprite work. Flags wave in the wind, snow slowly blows across the landscape, and doors creak open and shut. The world seems alive, even for the minute or so that you actually play. Now that's impressive. We look forward to the continuations that the ending screen hints at!

There's a never-ending glut of puzzle games, thanks to the human mind's natural tendency to drift towards things that challenge it. Not only that, but it is a limitless field of potential. This is no less true in any game competition, and for TOJam 4, one of the excellent entries was the short, but sweet, Bloat. Requiring fast reflexes and fast thinking, it has a ton of potential thanks to its simple but rewarding gameplay.

Bloat revolves around little guys that wander back and forth. You can change their size, and even their position, by clicking on them and dragging up and down. Bigger bloats will eat smaller bloats, and if done right, the big bloat will poop the small bloat as money. If done incorrectly, however (IE the wrong color bloat eats another bloat), then you lose money. All you must do is reach the specified ending amount, and you pass on to the next level. With multiple platforms, teleporters that change the size of your bloats, and tubes that only small bloats can use, things rapidly become complex and frantic. It's incredibly fun, and worth the ten minutes or so it takes to finish.

Tower defense games. Chances are you have played one, two, or a dozen, especially if you frequent browser game portals like Newgrounds or Kongregate. Most of them revolve around the simple concept of enemies going for a goal along a set path, and you have to kill them. Some even make use of mazing, which forces enemies to take different paths that you determine. But what if the enemy placement is random? And want if your towers actually attracted enemies before killing them? Well, you'd have No Home For Gnomes.

The gameplay behind No Home For Gnomes is so simple, yet completely untried elsewhere, that it truly impresses. Gnomes will approach your house from any angle, up to 180 degrees in front of the house. You must stop them by placing flowers, which gnomes can't resist! These flowers pull in the gnomes, and after a short while, damage them. If the flower damaged them enough, they die. If not, the gnome continues, the flower depleted for a short while. It's such an easy system to get used to, but trust us: it's hard to master. The game is short (you can beat it in 5-10 minutes) but really oozes quality of design and art. It's easily one of the best concepts to emerge from TOJam 4.

Shoot-'em-ups, or shmups, are a perennial classic for any arcade fan. They provide distinct challenges, such as huge waves of bullets or a unique mechanic, for players to overcome and show their skill. It's no wonder that some developers at TOJam 4 took some inspiration from classics like Ikaruga and incorporated some of the color-changing mechanics into their games. What is more interesting, though, is just how this bullet-type mechanic was implemented. Roshamblaster is the product of this thought process.

If you couldn't guess by the name, Roshamblaster is about the classic game of Roshambo, or Rock Paper Scissors. A horizontal shmup, you progress through the stages defeating enemies based on their color: yellow is weak to blue, blue to red, and red to yellow. These colors (yellow, blue, red) correspond to rock, paper, and scissors, respectively. Where it differs from other color-changing games, however, is that the bullets actually change with each color. Rock bullets sort of fling forward randomly, paper bullets fly forward in a straight line, and scissor bullets create a dual zig-zag pattern. It's a neat concept, and with some more refinement, could be a landmark indie shmup.

There are a lot of Pong clones out there. It's often the very first project any game programmer does, due to it's simplicity. Every once in a while, some developers will try to spruce things up with a new coat of paint or a few new gameplay mechanics, but it never really changes. Steam Ponk, however, is one of those games that takes an established notion and turns it on its head with beautiful art and some excellent gameplay additions. You may never be able to go back to any other Pong game again.

Originally made for the Nintendo DS for TOJam 4, Steam Ponk can be played just as easily on your computer by running the .bat file included in the download. Controls are W and S for the left paddle, and Numpad 8 and 5 for the right. The base mechanic is very much like Pong: bounce a ball back and forth, and whoever misses it loses a point. However, where it shines is in the genius art and the inspired gameplay. The art is fantastic steampunk pixel work, with some truly impressive pseudo-isometric sprites at play. The gameplay incorporates the art by making it so that everything in the environment interacts with the ball. Clouds? They block your vision. Buildings bounce the ball. Water speeds it up, forests slow it down. Enemies appear out of nowhere. It's addicting in a whole new way!

Sometimes unusual games are the most addicting. In this case, the game in question is Penguin Cow Tipping, an entry into the TOJam 4 competition. Penguin Cow Tipping revolves around just that: tipping cows with penguins. And while the atmosphere is bizarre, and the controls a little screwy (why can't I use the mouse?), the gameplay is simple and sublime and reeks heavily of classic puzzle games like Chu Chu Rocket.

Penguin Cow Tipping is a grid-based puzzle game that almost any fan of the genre will recognize immediately. Given a bunch of penguins, you must lay rotation pieces to lead them to their target. In this particular case, you must lead eight penguins to the cows, in order to tip them. It's all portrayed in simple 3D graphics with adorable little noises. It definitely has potential, and we'd love to see more!

There's a sort of minimalist art style one sometimes sees in sprites. The sprites themselves are amazingly intricate, but the color beneath it all is limited. Only greens, or only oranges, for example. Ascent is one of these games, but only in the character and "enemy sprites". And we have to say, the background art is absolutely fantastic.

Ascent, created for TOJam 4, follows a boy as he climbs a tree with traps all around. He was left alone in an unknown place, and now searches for his parents. It's an affecting and vaguely disturbing premise, as carved into the tree are phrases such as "we're so sorry". The gameplay is simple: jump up, avoid the spikes. It'll take you maybe three minutes to finish the game, but the artwork is so intricate and lovely that you might play it over just to see more detail! Here's hoping more is made of it.

We have to say, this is one of the most interesting and hilarious games we've seen to come from the indie scene. An entry into TOJam #4, Cheesohol has simple graphics and animation that belie the true nature of the beast: get a bunch of brewskis and chug until you pass out. The catch is that you do this by connecting Wiimotes to your computer through a bluetooth dongle, and then duct taping a beer to the Wiimote. As expected, this is definitely a social game!

The goal of Cheesohol is very simple: kill the goats and reach the top of the mountain. You do this by drinking, or, in order to move forward out of your drunken stupor, stop drinking. The more you drink, the more inebriated you become, with your character's attacks being little black Ts of simulated vomit. It would be digusting if it wasn't so hilarious, especially since there is none of the gross sound effects associated with such things. Just get as far as possible, drinking with your buddies all the while! For those inclined to a less inebriating course of action, you can play the game with your mouse in solo mode, but it isn't nearly as fun.