Cakewalk 7000 (Jonathan Zhao)

Cakewalk 7000 is  a short and simple think-outside-the-box type platformer. The objective is to deliver a cake (which you carry throughout the adventure) to Princess Hart (don’t make any presumptions, trust me). The platformer bears smooth, cartoony graphics and puzzles are initialised via messages left on the floor from the princess. Cakewalk 7000 was created for this year’s Global Game Jam and as it is Jonathan’s first complete game, it is a great achievement.

pitan et ali IV (noobjam)

This weirdly named arcade game is a quick one-on-one shooter based in a small arena. With your chosen player you must defeat the opponent simply by firing bullets across the screen to the simple AI; each match involves two battles where the characters are positioned on alternate sides of the arena. It is very difficult, even with the given 4-point handicap, but the characters are well sprited.

TapesTry (Marcos D)

TapesTry is an interesting puzzler kind of game, created to meet the theme of ‘rejection’ in the latest Experimental Gameplay contest. You play as a Quality Assurance monitor and must reject all tapestries that don’t meet a specified similarity to the ‘Target Tapestry’. The game becomes exponentially difficult as the tapestries become more and more complex. The graphics are nothing special and there’s no music but it’s a unique experience that puzzle fans may enjoy.

Pixel Runner 2 (Noel Berry)

Pixel Runner 2 is an in-dev bouncy side scrolling platformer where you must run quickly but cautiously before you come to an inevitable and explosive death. The platformer is a sequel port of Noel Berry’s original Game Maker version of Pixel Runner but this includes various improvements that make it much more fun to play. The graphics are consistently greyscale and pixelized; the overall look reminds me of Canabalt, a game created with Flixel. You should definitely check this out.

Ne Touchez Pas! (Jack Brockley)

Made by yours truly, Ne Touchez Pas! is another port from Game Maker. This time of the well-received Ne Touchez Pas series by Andrew McCluskey. The game features forty levels of intensive arcade game play, however you will likely not see them all because of its crazy difficulty. The graphics are plain black and white but these fit the simplistic dynamic. It also features some nice beaty music which I will authorise you to nod your head to.

Gnop (Bit Battalion)

Gnop is a critically acclaimed experimental play on the well-known pong concept. In a unique twist, you play as the ball. So very simple, as too are the monochromatic visuals. The game mainly requires the player to experiment and work out how to pass each level on their own. Gnop is very short but sweet and shows that you don’t need a massive RPG to have some engaging fun.