third-3-hours-competition posts

The great thing about indie gaming is that developers can try out new concepts without worrying about costs or time spent. If the game only takes a few hours/days, it's easy to just build a prototype of the concept and then move on! Bustle is in that category, but this doesn't make it any less fun. An entry in the Third 3 Hours poppenkast competition, Bustle is a quirky arcade game about bouncing around, rotating rooms, and avoiding arrows. You must activate your shield, which doubles as a reflector, to destroy the arrows being shot at you, which raises your score. Simple concept, interesting execution.

Snake games are a dime a dozen, considering how many companies just remake the original Snake and sell it. String Deluxe, though, feels different. An entry into the Third 3 Hours poppenkast competition, String Deluxe plays exactly the same way Snake does, at least in how you are supposed to advance. Grab the dots and extend your body. The big difference is it is controlled entirely by moving the mouse, and there is no continual movement. It turns the game into one less about reflexes and more about thinking your actions through. The simplistic but well done art style doesn't hurt the game either.

Do you have what it takes to swing from leaf pod to leaf pod, consuming flies in your wake in a desperate attempt to stay alive. Manspider is the game for you, if you can. An entry in the Third 3 Hours poppenkast competition, it's a game that can be played entirely with the mouse. Click on a leaf pod to atach to it, click in the open to detach. Your goal is to grab as many flies as you can before time runs out. Thankfully, grabbing flies extends your time. With springy, stretchy physics and one-click gameplay, it's a great casual physics game that happens to be more fast-paced than your average browser game. You can play it online or download it, depending on your whims.

Please excuse our butchery of the German language. We just felt it appropriate that a game named in German should have a German introduction. Der Angriefer is another entry in the Third 3 Hours competition over on Poppenkast, and it's a fast paced, infinite loop scrolling shooter. Controlling a ship that can take multiple hits, you must shoot down oncoming ships. You can fire either your main gun or activate your special, which sprays a massive amount of bullets that effectively clears the screen of enemies. Thankfully, there's noth9ing else. It's just kill or be killed. Your special recharges pretty quickly, so don't be afraid to use it.

Sometimes there's nothing like a little good-natured "destroy everything" to cheer yourself up. In the Third 3 Hour competition at poppenkast, cactus has taken this theme to heart and crafted Stallions in America, a game about completely annihilating the Unites States with your buff manliness. Don't mistake this for political commentary, though. Eggs drop from the sky, releasing strange bird things to attack you. Enemies explode violently, but with no gore. The only potentially mature thing about this game is the language. No matter, though, as sometimes you just have to go on a total rampage to blow off all that steam.

We have to admit that if we were more juvenile, the title of this game would garner an unprecedented amount of jokes. But since we are mature, the only thing that intrigues us about Sticky Hands is the gameplay. Controlled entirely with the mouse, you must climb along surfaces by guiding your hands to stick to them.

This isn't all, though, as there are turrets and other baddies that seek to knock you off by attacking the hand that is on the ground. Not to worry. You can deflect bullets and kill enemies with your free hand! This competitor in the Third 3 Hours poppenkast competition certainly has some meat to it, and it's a concept that could definitely see further execution.