You could write a blog just covering cactus' releases alone, it seems. Alone with Life Is A Race, cactus also released a simple arena shooter called Retro 4. The controls are simple, comprised of just WASD for movement and the mouse for attacks. Enemies are simple geometric shapes that are different colors. You can hold down the left mouse button to fire, tap it to rapid-fire, and press right mouse button to unleash a special. Simple. There's an online leaderboard for those who want to compete with others as well. In other words, it's another simple, addictive, quick game from the mind of everyone's favorite freeware developer.[Via IndieGames]...

If only real life were this simple. A very quick game, Life is a Race! is one of cactus' new releases. It's extremely simple, featuring a little pixel man trying to reach the end of a plain screen. You tap the mouse button to have him run forward. That's it. The game is 1mb and completable in a little under 3 seconds, if you so wish. There are also online leaderboards as well. If you play it more than once, thanks to the simplicity of the game, you can also play it meta, such as using different tools to speed up your time, or see what the lowest time you can possibly get is. In other words, it is a cactus release.[Via IndieGames]...

We here at Big Download love indie games. From telling you about them, playing them, or offering downloads for them, we are all about helping lesser-known developers get their name out into the world. Each week on Saturday, we'll give you the Indie Wrap-up, a collection of all the indie news stories and features during the previous week.It was a slow week on both the news and features fronts for the indie scene. No in-depths, no interviews, and no MODvelous Monday graced us this week, and the TIGSource Procedural Generation Competition has wrapped up. Here's looking at next week for more interesting indie news and features!Features Freeware Friday: Battleships ForeverJames Murff takes a look at yet another freeware game. This time, it's the IGF finalist Battleships Forever! ...

cactus has brought us yet another of his famous quickly made games. This time it's a puzzler platformer by the name of BlockOn! where you control a little man trying to make his way to the exit of each stage. That's not all, though. You must place blocks to help lead your character to the exit as well as trap any enemies to keep them from attacking you. It's a relatively short and simple game, but as it was made in just 3 hours, it's to be expected. cactus explains the full game on his forums, so take a look and see if it's your thing....

cactus, that ever lovable developer of fast and loose indie games, has brought us his next Mondo game. Surprisingly, it isn't a part of his own projects, but rather for the TIGSource Procedural Generation Competition. KrebsWelte is a strangely named platformer where your goal is to reach the end of each stage alive. This is not all, however.You must reach the key in each stage in order to open the escape door. The key is usually blocked by terrain, though, and it is your goal to destroy the terrain with your trusty weapons to reach it and escape. The stages are populated with traps, enemies, weapons dealers, NPCs, and money. You can also buy extra lives, which are definitely needed as there is no save system. The random generation comes in the form of the weapons and weapons dealers. The game also generates all the levels based on seeds, although there is only a single seed that is used. ...

Welcome to Freeware Friday, a weekly column showcasing excellent games that you can play free of charge! Well, we've covered side-scrollers for the past three weeks, so it's time to return to the topic of the very first Freeware Friday: shoot-'em-ups. A genre of fast fingers and faster minds, it's probably the most prolific of all the freeware genres, having countless games in its ranks. One such game, which is also one of the best, is the incomparable Clean Asia by cactus. ...

Most platformers have you run, jump, avoid enemies, and collect items. But what if you can't stop? This seems to be the premise behind cactus' latest little game, Precision. You can't stop, you can only slow down or speed up, and you have to collect every green bottle in a level while jumping over gaps. Thankfully, there's no enemies to be seen and a dotted red line shows you how you jumped previously. It's a fun little time-waster, not too difficult, and even has high-score tables for the people who love to show off their gaming prowess. Give it a looksee.[Via IndieGames]...

cactus has long been established as a complete beast of a developer. The indie developer has developed complete games in the time it takes the normal person to finish Super Mario Bros, as has done it yet again. Working on a competition where the goal is to create a functional game in 3 hours, cactus has make a quirky little arena shooter with unique mechanics called Kryzta. Your goal is to kill other ships by luring enemies into shooting their buddies. Once an enemy dies, you can collect his little chunks for points. After a while, you can utilize a special shot as well. It's very simple, like most of his games, but very fun and easy to pick up. Pick up the download off of the competition thread![Via IndieGames]...

cactus, who we have mentioned before, is an extremely prolific developer, and has an incredible design and graphics aesthetic. GamingWorld recently sat down with him and had a chat, covering everything from current to past projects, and what it is like to be an indie developer who writes simple freeware games. It's an excellent read, and a must for anybody wanting to break into the industry, especially those trying to do it through freeware games. Give it a look, and then head on over to his site and play some of his indescribable games....

Much in the same vein as the amazing Fantastic Blood Boy, Brain-Damaged Toon Underworld is inspired by the VGNG Competition at TIGSource. That's where the similarities end. Made by LoFiMinds, which consist of the genius freeware developers cactus and villek, it's a surreal adventure-platformer romp through bizarre levels and various strange character interactions.The new trailer has dropped for it, and it's very pretty. As seen above, it feature pixelated retro art at a crisp resolution and framerate, and a distinctly old-school play style. Not only that, but along with the trailer comes the announcement that it will be made for the HD aspect ratio and will have higher resolution, making it that much crisper. Sweet.[Via IndieGames]...