Description: Binary Toys are animated windowless vector characters “made up of springs, muscles, and masses” that are designed to inhabit your computer, interacting with your desktop environment in accordance with the laws of physics.

Get the picture: animated wireframe creatures walking, crawling around your desktop, tumbling from the top of one open window to the another, falling on their backs, legs wriggling in the air, and hence unable to move without your intervention (which, in this case, could either be to grab hold of the edge of the creature and flick it around with the mouse, or press “U” to magically untangle it). Not sure if I should categorize this as a “game” or a “desktop enhancement . Here are more notes:

• Interaction: you can grab any of the “nodes” on the creature’s body and drag it around, drop it, etc. Keyboard controls as follows: T/toggle transparency, S/change size, large and small, M/show muscles (really just changes the look a little bit), U/untangle, get back on its feet, R/reverse direction, Space/pause and unpause.
• Creatures: ten in total (right click on a creature to change). You can have creatures change randomly or have multiple creatures running around the screen simultaneously. Creatures include: Amoeba , Bouncy Diamond, Breaking Wave, Caterpillar Pod, Cheeky Triangle, Dainty Walker, Dirk Jiggler, Hairy Caterpillar, Millipede, Wiggly Worm. There’s an option to load creatures from an XML file for future additions.
• Behavior: according to the Binary Toys site: “these toys exhibit complex behavior and are surprisingly life-like”. They really do.
• Memory consumption: around 5 megs in memory.
• Installation: no installing necessary; simply run the executable.
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Description: Over the past few months there seems to have been an explosion of games released as freeware. This posting will present a sort of meta-index of freeware games-lists that I have found on the net.

At first when this posting was conceived I was going to put together a list of my favorite freeware games; however, I was thinking why create another list when there are so many out there? Here’s a collection of my favorite freeware games lists:

1. Freewaregenius’ reviewed freeware games category (scroll down, multiple pages).
2. 1UP.com’s 101 Free games 2008
3. 1UP.com’s 101 Free games 2007
4. 1UP.com’s 101 Free games 2006
5. Gamespot: Adrian’s guide to 2007 freeware games
6. Wikipedia’s list of freeware games.
7. Wikipedia’s list of commercial games released as freeware
8. Wikipedia’s list of open source games
9. Wikipedia’s list of free first person shooters
10. Open source games at the Open Directory Project
11. IndieGames.com: best freeware games 2007 and 2006 . Categories include shoot em ups, platformers, arcade games, etc.
12. TIGsource: best freeware games of 2007
13. Indygamer has their own best of lists 2007; whaddyaknowit.
14. GameTap free games: you have to download and install the “GameTap Player”, and you will have to watch an ad before you play, but it’s worth it for some great games. The fantastic Psychonauts is available for free (although it’s a 1.5 gig download).
15. Caiman Games: top 60 ranked freeware games
16. The Random Gnome’s Lair: Our freshly hand-picked free games selection.
17. Another Random Gnome’s: Oh no! More hand-picked free games.
18. Also Gnome’s Lair: 100 excellent free games in bloom
19. Finally Gnome’s: bouquet of hand picked games with dirty commercial pasts
20. Home of the underdogs’: list of freeware [games] recommendations.
21. Ghacks also has an ultimate free games list.
22. Über 100 kostenlose Games!
23. Cnet’s: 10 most addictive flash games ever made.
24. Butterblog: neverending list of best free games
25. MarcoFolio: best freeware first person shooters
26. Last one — I’m going to bed.
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Description: Synaesthete is a free 3D isometric game that introduces some very interesting innovations to the shoot em up genre. It aims to synchronize visuals and audio in a unified whole, where both interact and are an part of the gaming experience.

The objective of this game is not new: make your way from room to room inside a 3D Isometric universe, dispensing of bad guys along the way, collecting health power-ups and the like that are scattered around the terrain, and using spells that have various effects (such as killing all baddies within a certain range). Its all woven together within the sub-text of your character, termed a "Zaikman", protecting the collective unconscious.

It all sounds all too familiar, you might say, except for the way your Zaikman’s firepower is deployed. This is done with the help of a device called the "tracker" which sits prominently in the middle of the screen. Both the intensity and accuracy of your firepower depends on how accurately you can mimic the patterns of colored blips that cascade down the screen (and into the tracker) using three keys on your keyboard, basically the same principle as that employed by games such as "Dance Dance Revolution" or "Guitar Hero".

The net effect of this is as follows: with your left hand you will be maneuvering your guy to dodge bad guys, while with your right hand you will be frantically tapping three keys and trying to match the falling patterns. Add to this the pulsating beats of music, and the patterns and colors that are exploding all over the screen, and it all makes for some very intense gameplay (see video below).
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Description: Phun, described as a "2D physics sandbox", is a free physics game where the user can construct the entire game environment using combinations of objects and then observe and tweak how the various creations/objects interact.

This is one of those programs that can be described as not being a game, but a toy. There is no goal beyond unleashing your imagination and building up a world of objects and then seeing how they interact together, then tweaking and re-building again when you get a sense of what actually goes on in the interaction. A lot of the fun in Phun comes from the many surprises that you will invariably encounter when the objects do things that you wouldn’t have expected. Here is more info on this program:

• How it works: draw and create your objects and environment, then press the "play button" and watch as your objects fall , collide with each other, bounce, and do whatever it is that they will do. The physics in this game are remarkably well done; things behave as you would expect them to,
• The user interface: what makes this game so easy to get into is that everything - everything - is done through clicking an object and right clicking to manipulate it. Aside from a toolbar on the left hand side that selects the various actions and objects you can use, all of the functions and options that you need to manipulate objects are a right click away in the context menu.
• Objects: include anything that you can draw with a brush such as a square or rectangle or any irregular object that you can imagine. Or you can select defined objects such as a plane, circle or box, or functional objects that do specific things such as chains, hinges, or springs you can attach to things.
• Object properties: everything from friction to bounciness and density can be defined for your objects. You can also set whether they collide with stuff or whether they liquefy on playback. Other things you can define: whether your world has gravity, and whether there is air friction.
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Description: Risk is an open source Java implementation of the famous board game with the same name. It offers 3 different game modes (domination, capital, and mission), customized downloadable maps, multiplayer play (over the internet or LAN), excellent computer AI, and generally high production qualities

If you’re a fan of Risk, as I am, you will really like this implementation of it. It combines some excellent game innovations with fantastic production qualities. Here are more notes on this game:

• Game modes: “Domination” (where the objective is to conquer all territories), “Capital” (where the object is to capture all of the capitals on the map), and “Mission” (where the computer gives you a specific objective, such as to hold 12 adjacent territories and arm them with 20 armies each, or to destroy a certain opponent).
• Custom maps: these can either be (a) completely new maps, such as the “Roman Empire” map or the map of the UK (there’s even a map of the London underground subway); or (b) the traditional world map, but with new ’access routes’ between continents, or (c) the traditional Risk world map in a new skin. Look here for a gallery of downloadable maps.
• The computer AI: there are 3 types of computer opponent (crap AI, easy AI, and hard AI). The hard AI is generally very good. The hard AI is excellent; if you are accustomed to rolling over computer Risk opponents try going against mostly hard AI’s (it will certainly be a challenge).
• Multiplayer: over the internet is on the way, but as of this writing (Feb 10th 2008) it was not yet implemented. Network play over LAN is also possible but I did not try it.
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Description: Line Golfer is a flash game where the player creates a golf course by drawing it (and everything else in the game environment) using simple pencil tools. The courses that are created can then be played using a little stick-figure golfer and shared with the other community of players.

A reader emailed my about this game after reading my LineRider posting (thanks Brockman!). If you’ve played LineRider you will see that this game is very similar: create a world around your little guy by drawing it using simple pen tools, then see how your character interacts with it.

Line Golfer has a number of differences from it’s LineRider inspiration; for example, it offers 3 types of terrain (fairway, rough, and sand), and instead of a sled you are given a golf ball and club and the ability to control both the angle and power of your shot (and the task of getting your ball into the hole within the alloted # of “Par” shots).

A major strength of Line Golfer and games like it is the community sharing aspect. You can forgo creating your own course altogether and spend a lot of time just playing the large variety of courses that other people have created, most of which are surprisingly well made. (And most are very playable indeed).
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Description: Launchball is a physics flash game where you solve puzzles by setting up a sequence of events to drive a ball into the goal area. The game also allows for level-construction by users as well as sharing your created levels with the player community.

This game is commissioned by the Museum of Science in London and is located on their website. All the elements in this game (e.g. batteries, fire source, water tank to generate steam, seesaws, etc.), have to be put together in a logical way such as to kick off the correct sequence of events. (Here’s an example: place a heat source by a water tank to generate steam and connect that to a steam-powered generator that produces electricity; place this generator adjacent to blocks of copper connected in a row that lead up to a fan which, once powered, will blow the stationary ball onto the goal area). The game in fact is somewhat reminiscent of the old “Incredible Machine” game which first appeared in 1992. Here are some more notes on this game.

• Playability: the game is highly playable, and very easy to learn and get into. The objective is to (a) solve the puzzles, but also (b) to get through the levels as quickly as possible. You can also request a hint for each level if you are stuck, and, if uncertain, you can get info on any object simply by hovering over it with the mouse.
• The production qualities: are in general very good even as they are kept simple. The graphics and sound are competent and deliver a very nice gaming experience.
• Play and create: this game is as much about creating and sharing your own custom levels as it is about solving the puzzles in the available levels.
• Available levels: the game has 30 pre-built levels for you to play through (aside from 6 levels intended to familiarize you with the game). There are also dozens of levels that have been created by other users that are of surprisingly high quality. The game also allows you to send/receive levels from your friends and to bookmark your favorite levels as well.
• Creating an account: you can easily create an account wihin the game by entering your email information. You will then receive an email with your own distinct code that you could enter into the game whenever you play it and retrieve your history of finished and/or created levels. Although this system works well enough, the game strangely takes a very long time to retrieve your account once you key in your code.
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Description: Frequently referred to as "a toy rather than a game", Linerider is a physics flash game that allows you to draw the physical environment around a little guy on a virtual sledder careening down the course that you create.

Initially created by a student from the Czech Republic for an animation course, Linerider has become somewhat of an internet phenomenon, with a huge community of fans that have created and shared courses and uploaded hundreds of videos on YouTube showing off their Linerider creations (see below for a couple of these).

The genius of this game is its simplicity; create ramps, hills, jumps, and in fact a complete world that is as big as you want it to be using simple pencil tools. And while the simple and straightforward controls and gameplay make Linerider extremely easy to get into, it has a high addictive potential (I can just imagine how many hours people have put into creating these detailed worlds in the videos).

This game used to be available on various flash-game sites but recently seems to have been enhanced and given its own website where you can register to join a community of Linerider users and share your creations with the rest of the world. Check it out for yourself. Also check out Linerider on your mobile phone.

Linerider Jagged Peak Adventure video

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Rating: 4.5

Version tested: 1.0

Description: JelloCar is a free physics game where you drive your car through a world where everything is made out of Jello, including your car, the terrain, and the objects you have to interact with along the way. The objective is to make it to the end of each level while making the best possible time.

I’m always looking for interesting and/or original games, and even before its release when I saw a video of this game in action I knew I had to post it on Freewaregenius (see video below). The reason this game is interesting is the physics engine behind it that models the way these objects would behave to very pleasing effect. Here are some notes on this game:

• Controls: use left/right arrows to go forward/back, and the z and x keys to make your car lean forwards or backwards. Pressing space blows your car up so that it becomes temporarily much larger, which is very useful in many situations where you need to climb over obstacles.
• Objective: is to reach the end of each level (marked by a circular ’target-like’ object) in the best possible time.
• The levels: over 15 levels that in general are well made and interesting, and you can play any level at well without having to finish a level to unlock another.
• The level editor: is included in the download; if you’re into level creation be sure to send your creations to the author.
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Kloonigames is a blog about games, or, I should say, about the games made by Petri Purho of Finland, whose game development philosophy is that any single game should, to quote his site, be made "within a 7-day limit, …. made by me alone and [has to] test some new form of gameplay".

In other words, Mr. Purho has set himself a bunch of constraints that force him to take his games back to basics and to be creative. And his philosophy seems to be paying off; the games are really cool. (Although it seems that he recast his approach to "a game a month" rather than a game a week from the looks of it).

Anyway, make sure to check out the fantastic Crayon Physics (5.6 megs), a truly great game in my opinion. Also download the Extra levels and the Level Editor (also see this posting for a tutorial on how to use the editor). Another game I like is Pluto Strikes Back.

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Rating: 4.5

Version tested: 1.0b

Description: Perfect Battle Online is a free 3D action/strategy game that combines elements of a Real Time Strategy game with top-down fighting action. It offers single player battles against the computer or multiplayer over LAN or the internet with up to 8 players.

This game implements all the elements that would classify it as a Real Time Strategy game (an economoy, structures that you can build, tech research), but in a very simple, straightforward way that keeps the focus on the frantic fighting action.

There is only a single resource (gold) that you can collect, 3 structures (see below), and just a handful of technology upgrades. This makes “Perfect Battle Online” the kind of game that you can instantly get into with only a very small learning curve. Here are some notes on this game:

• Objectives: in general the objective is either to destroy all other players (or at least be the only surviving player), or, if not, to score the most points before time runs out. However, when playing in campaign mode you are given specific objectives to carry out (e.g. survive for 8 minutes, destroy all enemy factories, etc.)
• Units: aside from your main ship you have other, smaller ships that set forth and fight on their own without the player’s intervention. These ships are constantly being produced in factories; typically you will start the game with a handful of these factories surrounding your base, and while you cannot build more of these you can upgrade them as well as capture them from other players.
  The terrain: although the objects in the game are apparently 3 Dimensional, the game is viewed top-down 2D style from above. Maps occupy a single screen or can be large scrolling maps. Each map will contain its own geography of mountains and other objects that act as natural barriers.
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Rating: 5

Version tested: 0.34 beta

Description: Harmotion is a 2D top down shoot em up that is played duel-style online against human opponents. It offers a blend of colorful visuals, an excellent soundtrack, and a simple, original game design.

Let me say from the outset that this is a great game that is both exceedingly simple and well designed. However, brilliant as it may be it suffers somewhat in maintaining long term traction. It is still in beta, however, and still being developed, so I will keep my fingers crossed. Here are some notes on this one:

• Offers Co-Op, Singleplayer, and Player vs. Player Game Modes: there is something really satisfying about playing against another human player or players. For one thing, unlike the typical shoot em up action whereby your ship blasts away dozens if not hundreds of hapless opponents, fighting against one or two other ships that exhibit the same kind of agility and intelligence as your own ship makes intuitive sense and is a refreshing change of pace.
• Types of spaceship: there are a handful of different spaceships on offer (5 in total), each with its distinct weaponry and style of movement (and even visual and sound effects). You will soon find that you like to play certain ships more than others.
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3 Questions on my mind:

• Is there such a thing as doing the wrong thing for the right reason?
• Are humans the only species that can sense or appreciate beauty and the aesthetic?
• Do the best free shoot em ups come from Japan?

I don’t know about the first 2 questions, but I think the answer to the third one is a definite yes. Here are 3 shoot em ups that will prove this:

1- EndEffector

5

Great side scrolling shooter with excellent production qualities. Though EndEffector does not feature weapons upgrades, it employs an original element in that, aside from the main laser cannon it features a secondary, "orb of energy type" weapon. What’s interesting about this orb is that it grows larger and more supercharged the longer you press the button, but in the meantime there is a trade off in that you are unable use your main weapon. Once sufficiently charged the orb has to be aimed and hurled in the appropriate direction. All in all the system is somewhat unique and works well (and is very fun). I will also mention the end of level baddies, which are really cool and menacing.

More info: unzip and run the executable to play this game; nothing to install. Use (x) and (z) for your weapons. For more info and downloading use the links at the bottom of this page.

2- Deadline

5

Another great game, Deadline is an intense and fast paced vertical shooter. This game borrows a lot from Gradius, especially when it comes to the 4 color-coded weapons systems. Once familiarized with the levels and the different weapons upgrades you will be able to determine which weapons upgrades to go for that work best with your playing style as well as the terrain you are navigating.

The production qualities are excellent here as well, with large sprites that can at times occupy large swaths of the screen. Most importantly, the game has excellent playability that will keep you entertained for a long time.
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Rating: 4.5

Description: Heaven to Ocean (H2O) is a 2D puzzle platformer physics game where the user mnipulates the game environment in order to move a drop of water across the screen. The objective is to drive the droplet into the ocean while preserving as much of the water’s original volume as possible.

This is a student entry into the Dare to be Digital video game competition from the UK. Here are some notes on this game:

• The storyline: your are a drop of water (more like a cupful, actually) just released from a cloud onto some sort of construction site. Your mission is to find your way back and re-unite with the Ocean (actually, a sink on the ground floor which, we assume, drains into the ocean).
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Rating: 5

Version tested: 0.42

Description: “Ghouls’n Ghosts Remix” is a side scrolling platform shoot em up. It is a “retro remake” based on a conflation of the old 80’s arcade games Ghosts’n Goblins, Ghouls and Ghosts, and the newer Super Ghouls’n Ghosts.

I knew I was going to have to write this game up as I’ve been a fan of the Ghosts’n Goblins since the good old days when the Commodore Amiga was the hottest thing around in the late 80’s. The storyline, if you need one, is that you’re a knight striving to free your princess from the clutches of a demon boss or somesuch, and have to fight through his minions and legions of, well, ghosts, goblins, and other monsters to get her back. (click here for the Wikipedia entry for Ghosts’n Goblins). Here are some notes on this game:

• Playability: very playable game; faithful to the originals (and, well, the reason there were three of these games is that they’re very playable). Incidentally these games were known to be somewhat hard and this one is no exception.
• The graphics: look appropriately retro (i.e. will have a somewhat pixellated look on big screens even on the highest resolution); very well done and faithful to the original, actually.
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