Punk Arcade

Cyberbox by Anna Anthropy

Oh my, hat tip to Kill Screen's playlist for the tip off on this wonderful game (? sure!) by Tom 7. The most recent Ludum Dare weekend game jam/competition was Entire Screen Of One Game and Tom 7's game (playable in your browser right here) is a surprising darling. A meta-platformer of epic proportion. In this game, you control a little square character, moving and jumping about, but almost instantly the game zooms out and you realize you're controlling the overall level, the previous levels, and you know you'll be in control (?) of levels to come. This game is instantly fun, and a quick play. I have no idea if you can win. I doubt it. But that doesn't seem to be the point. Give it a shot.

But be forewarned: You can't win the game! It exists only to destroy your mind!

Aspire is an interesting game, playing with the roguelike genre and expanding its form. It's not the most complex game I've ever played, nor is there is a deep storyline, but I found enough action and challenge to keep it interesting.

I am usually the person that doesn't care about strict definitions. I like playing around the boundary of genres and parameters. Nonetheless, Disco Pixel Art certainly doesn't feel like the game. I liked the aesthetics and its built-in URL name generator though. And I guess I reviewed it because it feels like a nice art-making toy.

The Fast And The Flatulent. Ok.

I'll just let this previous online comment by Snail_Man tell the story:

Play Visit by jsspiegel!

Okay, this game Entity Unchained is way strange and way beautiful. It's an ascii rpg adventure game, not completely unlike Candy Box though it does have its own flavor and is quite a bit easier (what'd you expect, it was made in a short game jam). Created by Czech game maker Vilem Zouhar using an ASCII game framework, the game has a really neat mechanic. It reminded me of old ZZT games.

Well usually Punk Arcade covers games made with accessible tools. I'm not sure what this one was made in, and I know this has the potential of being somewhat inaccessible but I liked this short game about using the Terminal to figure out the commands to avoid firing a nuclear missile. Reminds me of old Infocom games like Zork or the Colossal Cave game, but on an accelerated schedule. Incidentally, I couldn't beat the game, so I think I need to put some more time in. Check out Thermonuclear War by Panda.

P.S. Quick check at the code and I see it's in javascipt.

Ok, so I've reviewed some very scrappy Scratch games before. Let me just say that I really enjoyed this. I found it fun to play.

Basically, you name a fish (I choose Josephine) and each turn (the passing of an hour on the clock) you can choose to pray or eat. Sometimes there are other options and predators (a cat attempting to get you, a dog's paw). I don't want to give away too many spoilers. Let me say this. I wanted to play again. And another time. I want to see all the different endings. The concept of a fish praying is too much for me, and for that, I love it. One of the best Scratch games I've ever played.

There's something interesting going on here. This is a game made as therapy (specifically for the creator I should add). Entertainment Software For Lonely Children alternates between a solo Pong game (where you play as two people) and when you lose a point, the game's creator gives his childhood self advice. Worth a play to explore and get into his head.

Ummmmm....a kid made this (Dream Heist)? I like it? It's made in Scratch and MS Paint?! Probably the least professional looking game I've played in a while. Which is why I wrote about it. I enjoyed it. He says it's his first game. Amen.

It's been a minute, hasn't it.? I'm going to mention (haiku review?) a few greats from the recently-finished Ludum Dare 31 Game Jam. 

This one is Princess Saving Princes, which seems inspired by old handheld  games. Extremely simple gameplay (arrow keys). 

"In a universe where princes are captured in dungeons, a princess takes on the task to set them free. " 

Hooray.

Crazy. DOOM on an ATM. An exploration video. Posted by HackADay.-LT

Spreadsheets are not usually considered very punk. Nonetheless, if you love insane programming concepts and hacks and fancy playing an oldskool-looking RPG game, maybe you should consider trying out ARENA XLSM, a RPG game created by "chartered accountant" Cary Walkin. Arena.Xlsm is a turn-based RPG made entirely in Microsoft Excel using macros. An extensive wiki dedicated to the game is online here. There are some severe system limitations (doesn't work on modern Macs. Only works on Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010 and 2013. And should you fancy trying out other Excel-based games coded by Mr. Walkin, be sure to visit his website.-LT

Just a goodbye obituary to freeindiegam.es. For about 2 years, a team of 4 game curators selected new DIY free videogames and posted them to the blog regularly. What they lacked in descriptions, they made up for in breadth and quality. Freeindiegame.es was often my go-to site when I wanted to find something brand new, on the bleeding edge, and darn-it, a punk videogame. Several days ago they posted a goodbye announcement. It's a huge loss that I'm feeling already, and I'm going to try to step up and post games more regularly here on Punk Arcade as a small way to carry on its legacy.

Ok, here is the game Marshall 4 that you can play online (click the green flag to start). It's created entirely in Scratch, the kid-friendly programming language designed at MIT. In Scratch, code is made up of lego-like blocks that you snap together. I've made a few things in Scratch, and let me tell you, this game Marshall 4 must have been a bear to build, not because Scratch is hard (it isn't), but because it's really for making much simpler games, animations and objects. Not only is a fun to play platform game,  the animation of the ball is sophisticated, there are no bugs (at least that i could find), and the game is enough of a challenge that I wanted to keep playing. That's rather impressive for a Scratch game, it has high ratings. After playing, take a look at the code to get a good human-readable understanding of how the game was made. Remember that in Scratch, each sprite (like the Marshall ball, or a key, or a button) has its own code that tells it what to do, so try looking at the code for each sprite, and you can even try to remix it and create your own fork of the game (as 217 others have done so far).-LT

Hey world, here's a video from early February Pixel Punks DIY arcade curated by our friend Paolo Pedercini/Molleindustria along with Caitlin Boyle, Tim Sherman, and Tenley Schmida (aka Crushed Screen Collective). Check the video. They've taken our cardboard arcade aesthetic from the 1st Punk Arcade exhibition in 2012 and run with it, and made an exhibition zine too. Looking good.-LT 

Arcades are not dead! Skip school and waste your time at Pixel Punks, a showcase of deranged independent games. In the depths of the Internet a brave new movement of DIY game makers is producing rough, cheap, and brilliant digital entertainment. Their budget is zero. Their deadlines are whenever they want. Their games are fast and direct like a three-chord-song or visceral and political like a photocopied zine. Pixel Punks is an homage and a gateway drug to this exciting phenomenon.