Stephen’s Sausage Roll

Posted in games I like

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Increpare’s magnum opus, Stephen’s Sausage Roll, finally got released yesterday. He started it way back when we lived together in Cambridge, and it’s actually kinda surreal to see it finished, at last. I got to see it grow and change over the years, and see the incredible thought and attention to detail that went into it first hand as he painstakingly iterated over every level and somehow brought this enormous thing together as a cohesive whole.

People are calling it the Dark Souls of puzzle games, which is fitting for lots of reasons – it’s bloody hard, for one – but mostly because, like the original Dark Souls, every part of this thing is deliberate and meticulously designed. It’s a masterpiece.

Stephen’s chosen to be pretty succinct with talking about the game to avoid spoiling its secrets, prefering to let people find out about it through word of mouth. So let me tell you about it. This is one of the best games, of all the games. Go play it right now.

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App Store > Games > Terry Cavanagh’s Favourite Games

suphexapp

This morning someone on twitter reminded me that today is Super Hexagon’s 2nd birthday! Gosh 😀

It’s probably a coincidence, but Apple got in touch recently to say they’d like to put Super Hexagon in one of their App Store indie game showcase features that they’ve been doing recently, which is very nice of them and very good timing.

Part of the feature meant that I get to put together a list of iOS games to tell the world about. Here’s the ones I chose:

4nr 4NR

An elegant, fun little platform game that I love the structure of. Still find myself replaying it occasionally, long after finishing it with a perfect score.

80days 80 Days

Probably the most recent game on my list – it’s a great boardgamey interactive fiction take on Around the World in 80 Days. It nails this feel of being on a long trip and getting a fleeting sense of this world you’re passing through.

868hack 868-Hack

A brilliantly designed roguelike-like with a smart take on character progression. I’ve probably played more of this than anything else on my iPad.

bosonx Boson-X

One of the best endless runners I’ve come across – moreso than usual, I got really competitive with this one!

ending Ending

A drod-like of sorts, with a wonderful roguelike mode. Have played this pretty compulsively since it came out.

englishcountrytune English Country Tune

It’s by my flatmate, so, you know, nepotism – but I’m far from the only person to love this one. There’s an astonishing, mindblowing idea in the middle of the game that not enough people have seen.

gamedog GameDog

GAMEDOG! I love Gamedog! It’s this weird broken fake-LCD bootleg game emulator for a machine that doesn’t exist, with lots of weird bootleg takes on pacman and things like that. Charming and really funny.

hoplite Hoplite

Another roguelike-like! I love games that challenge you to purposefully make things harder for yourself as a show of swagger, something this game does very well with its achievement system.

iamlevel I am Level

Like somebody looked at an iPad and said “RIGHT, how can I make a Spectrum platformer work on this?”. The solution they came up with is unlikely and really clever. Hits right at the things I get nostalgic about. Plus the ending’s pretty funny.

kairo Kairo

A mystlike – walk around giant environments and interact with mysterious machines. I originally played this with two friends, passing the controller around and taking turns at the puzzles, which worked great because it’s beautiful both to watch and explore.

keroblaster Kero Blaster

Pixel’s low key follow up to Cave Story, a humble little platform shooter bursting with character and charm. I get a bit fanboyish about Pixel’s work!

mcpixel McPixel

A fantastic take on point-and-click adventure games, and a GREAT fit for touchscreens.

rebuild Rebuild

A really great board-game-like zombie survival game about rebuilding society. When it came out I played all the way through in one sitting.

rss Realistic Summer Sports Simulator

My favourite multiplayer game on iPad – hilarious and really fun. Watch the trailer!

skullpogo Skullpogo

Does tilt controls *really really* well. You play as a skeleton on a pogo stick, hence, Skullpogo. I like Skeletons.

spikedislike Super Spike Dislike

Aaaa I love Super Spike Dislike. It’s a really simple one-jump action game. Like Hoplite, has that wonderful quality of being hard mostly because you’re making it hard on yourself. One of the first games I recommend to people who get an iOS device.

thicket Thicket

Thicket’s a music toy that’s so spongy and great, you touch it and it makes sounds and you can mess with it with all your fingers at once. Ah it’s so lovely.

tumbledrop Tumbledrop

Beautiful and cute and charming and such a perfect fit for a touchscreen device. A thing I often show to people who aren’t sure if they really like games.

There’s a bunch of other stuff I love on the App Store too of course, but hard choices need to made for things like this. Hope it helps people find some stuff they like!

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868-HACK

Posted in games I like

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I’m on Michael Brough’s testflight, so over the past couple of months I’ve gotten to play a lot of his amazing new game 868-HACK. It’s really, really good, just a beautifully designed little thing. It’s easily the iPad game I’ve played the most of ever. It’s an update to his 7DRL 86856527 from earlier this year, only with, like, months and months of careful tweaking and balancing and attention to detail.

I don’t often post other people’s games on this blog, but I think this one is pretty special. Go check it out.

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Mixtape 2: Obscure

My last mixtape was intended for non-gamers – this one is more of an insider thing.

Mixtape 2: “Obscure”

Over the long term in this medium, I think people tend to only remember the highlights. The best games on a system. The best games in a genre. The best games in a given year. A developer’s best game. In the process, a lot of flawed, interesting games get forgotten.

We’re long enough into this whole solo-indie developer thing that there are now quite a few prolific developers out there with a substantial body of work – in many cases, a body of work that includes extremely interesting games overshadowed by more famous productions. You could make many mixtapes like this one.

This mixtape is a collection of early or lesser known works by designers I like. (The title, “obscure”, wasn’t quite the word I was looking for, but I struggled to find a better one.)

Click here to download the entire collection for windows, or play the games individually below:

TRACK 1: “Operator Status” by Nifflas
Better known for: Knytt Stories, NightSky
[Download for Windows]
TRACK 2: “Striptease” by Increpare
Better known for: English Country Tune, Mirror Stage
[For Windows] [For Mac]
TRACK 3: “Calamity Annie” by Anna Anthropy
Better known for: Dys4ia, REDDER
[For Windows] [For Mac]
TRACK 4: “Enemy Of The Solid State” by Bento Smile
Better known for: Air Pressure, Tanaka’s Friendly Adventure
[Win] [Mac] [Linux]
TRACK 5: “Exploit” by Gregory Weir
Better known for: The Majesty of Colors, How to Raise a Dragon
[Play online]
TRACK 6: “Night Raveler and the Heartbroken Uruguayans” by Daniel Benmergui
Better known for: Today I die, I wish I were the moon
[Play online]
TRACK 7: “Moneyseize” by Matt Thorson
Better known for: Give up Robot, An Untitled Story
[Play online]
TRACK 8: “Painter” by Jonathan Blow
Better known for: The Witness, Braid
[Download for Windows]
TRACK 9: “You Shall Know The Truth” by Jonas Kyratzes
Better known for: The Infinite Ocean, The Sea Will Claim Everything
[Play online]
TRACK 10: “Barista 1” by Blendo Games
Better known for: Thirty Flights of Loving, Flotilla
[Download for Windows]
TRACK 11: “Tekkyuuman” by Ikiki
Better known for: Nikujin, Hakaiman
[Download for Windows]
TRACK 12: “Precision” by Cactus
Better known for: Hotline Miami, Norrland
[Download for Windows]
TRACK 13: “Randy Balma Municipal Abortionist” by Messhof
Better known for: Nidhogg, Flywrench
[Download for Windows]
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Mixtape 1: Introduction

A little while ago on twitter, some people I follow were putting together themed mix tapes of games they like. I think it’s a cool idea, so I’m going to try putting a couple of them together myself. Here’s the first one.

Mixtape 1: “Introduction”

This mixtape is for people who haven’t played many games, and think they won’t like them.

All of these games are controlled with the mouse, arrow keys, and space bar. They’re all free.

Click here to download the entire collection, or play the games individually below:

TRACK 1: “I wish I were the moon” by Daniel Benmergui [Play online]
TRACK 2: “The Republica Times” by Lucas Pope [Play online]
TRACK 3: “La La Land 3” by TheAnemic [Download for Windows]
TRACK 4: “Dys4ia” by Anna Anthropy [Play online]
TRACK 5: “LaserTube: Trapped In The Closet” by Jeremy Penner [Play online]
TRACK 6: “Home” by Increpare [Download for Windows]
TRACK 7: “Terra Tam: The World Warrior” by Leon Arnott [Play online]
TRACK 8: “Air Pressure” by Bentosmile [Play online], [Download for Windows]
TRACK 9: “Get Lost” by Allen Henderson [Play online]
TRACK 10: “Drill Killer” by thecatamites [Download for Windows]
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Lone Survivor

Hello blog readers – sorry I haven’t been posting much about what I’m working on recently. I’ll do something about that soon. In the meantime, I wanted to draw your attention to a very cool game that came out today – Lone Survivor, by fellow Cambridge indie Jasper Byrne.

Jasper’s been working on this for far, far longer than I’ve known him (the very first version was a point and click adventure game he made about eight years ago). It’s changed a lot since its initial inception, and been called many different things through the years – but the core ideas have been there, driving it since the start.

You can’t talk about this game without talking about Jasper, because it’s impossible to play this game and not be overwhelmed by the personality of the person who made it. It seeps though every detail, every flaw and moment of brilliance – it’s a personal labour of love by its creator. It’s incredible to see something with this kind of singular vision actually come together, and be as good as it is. It’s something I aspire to with my own work.

This is a really amazing game, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. If you have any interest at all in the idea of games as personal expression, then be sure to check it out.

4 Comments

The Book of Living Magic

Just thought I’d mention that Jonas released a new game a couple of days ago, The Book of Living Magic. It’s a very short game, set in the same universe as The Strange and Somewhat Sinister Tale of the House at Desert Bridge. It’s funny and personal and surprising and beautiful, and I think you guys will like it a lot.

Unlike some of his other flash games, this is a game that really demands your full attention, right from the start – but don’t be put off by that! Grab a cup of tea and get comfortable – I think it’s his best flash game to date.

The Book of Living Magic

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The Infinite Ocean Awaits

I first played The Infinite Ocean in college, and loved it for its moody atmosphere and clever writing. Jonas Kyratzes originally released it way back in 2003 as a downloadable game – but just yesterday, he re-released it as a browser game, significantly reworked.

I’m collaborating with Jonas on Nexus City. If you’re not familiar with his games and wanna get a feel for his style, this is a good place to start!

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