No Money, No Problem: Windowframe

Title: Windowframe
Developer: Daniel Linssen
Platforms: PC
Price: Free
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Daniel Linssen, aka managore, has quite an impressive portfolio of games over on itch.io, from the spear-throwing Javel-ein and the dimly-lit dungeon crawler Roguelight to the sepia-swept Sandstorm. But perhaps his most interesting was HopSlide, a game that was actually two games, in two different windows, but linked. What happened in one affected the other. It was a smart concept that extended gameplay beyond the confines of the typical window.

His newest game, a jam entry for Ludum Dare 35, takes that idea of merging gameplay and the means through which the gameplay is presented, and refines it in a brilliant way. I'd say Windowframe might be the most ingenious use of the screen since The Fourth Wall's screen-wrapping and Perspective's first person/2D hybrid.

Windowframe follows a hero on a quest to slay a series of vampire lords, navigating a gauntlet of spikes, fireballs, and other hazards along the way. Control-wise, Windowframe isn't anything new, running, jumping, wall-sliding, and other acrobatic feats let you evade danger with ease. But your arsenal of stakes grant you a new ability that turns the platforming on its head.

The game window of Windowframe is a dynamic entity, traveling across your computer screen along with your character, changing in size and shape with each level. Sometimes you can only see a small section of a level, other times the entire area is visible. But the edges of the screen also act as the walls of the level, and your stakes let you bend those walls to your will. Stakes will freeze the edges of the screen in place and allow you to drag those edges closer to you. What was once a wall too high to climb over becomes a narrow chute to ascend.

But more interestingly, only the areas visible within the screen can affect you or be interacted with. Climb high enough to hide a spike pit from view, freeze the bottom of the screen, and now you can walk unharmed across the newly-designated "floor" of the level. An impassable wall of fireball turrets can be rendered moot by covering them with the screen. It's a clever, visually-interesting and mechanically-varied idea that's just begging to be expanded upon and further explored.

Windowframe can be found on itch.io and the Ludum Dare database.

No Money, No Problem: Ludum Dare 34 Edition

It's December, the time for Christmas cheer and a few thousand Ludum Dare jam entries. The theme this year is actually two-fold - "Growing" and "Two button controls" - and hundreds of developers have explored the themes in countless ways.

With almost 3,000 entries, it would be impossible to play them all, so here is a selection of twenty games that grabbed my attention with their mechanics, looks, or both.

If you like these or just want to browse the submissions yourself, you can find the entire collection of Ludum Dare 34 entries here.

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Zunus - PC, Mac

A 2 button space trading miniature. Buy, sell, dodge pirates, fling asteroids and get berated by your gran.

Reap - PC

Your ship breaks up on the rocky shores, but luckily you've made it to the island! Every action drains your energy, but the sleep you get each night revitalizes you

Forklift Man - PC, Mac

You are Forklift Man! He can rapidly grow his limbs at his will. His amazing superpower must be put in good use among various challenges and puzzles.

Cubyrinth - PC

Cubyrinth is an atmospheric Puzzle/Exploration game. The level is constructed like a Rubik's Cube, where every sections can lead you anywhere if you choose the right button to press.

Concrete Jungle - Browser

Guide the plant to sunlight above its dark and dingy habitat.

Mobsferatu - PC, Mac, Linux

Take your place in an angry mob while you climb through Nosferatu's Tower seeking revenge, avoiding traps and looking for other folks to join your crusade and your crowd will grow.

SAAM - PC

Play as a Crewmember 341 who is waking up in their cryo-stasis pod on a ship called Trieste. You will be assisted by S.A.A.A.M. (System Automation, Assistance, and Analysis Matrix). Will you do what it wants you to? Will you be obedient?

DUO - PC, Linux, Browser

We have some funky geometry for you, again. All you gonna get is two buttons and lots of deadly spikes.

CICP - Browser

aka the Center for Interplanetary Pest Control

2DOOR - PC, Browser

The game is about following the right path, guided by the form and sound of illuminated doors. Choose the right path and pass through all 6 chambers.

Alien Pathogen - PC

Alien Pathogen is Top-Down Sci-Fi Horror Shooter. Mars 2315 , Alien Pathogen control Facility - Extraterrestrial decontamination Unit.

BoltStorm - PC, Linux, Browser

Boltstorm is a game about a Knight that ventures into the dungeon to save his fellow knights, but instead he gets trapped and is attacked by merciless executioners!

Abyssal Zone - PC, Mac

Abyssal Zone is a puzzle game similar to Sokoban.

Button Simulator 2000 - Browser

You've been unemployed for a while, and by the time you applied for the job online you would have taken just about anything. The advert said "Wanted - Grower to maintain crops and ensure high yield. Must have experience using HappyTime GrowMaster 2.0 HyperTerminal growing machinery."

Stargazer - PC

Enter into a mysterious icy world on the brink of its end. Solve puzzles and unravel the story of men and stars.

Growees - PC, Browser

Help mother nature to overwhelm the wild industrialization!

Double Kick Heroes - PC, Browser

Double Kick Heroes mixes a shoot'em up with a rhythm game! You must survive on the highway to hell by killing zombies with your gundillac! Struggle throught the 4 levels of total madness and escape from this nightmare! Only the power of Black Metal can save your band!

Breathe - PC, Browser

Four hundred years ago, in an ancient forest of somewhere in Japan Ni-tsu was left by her family in an very old temple. She started a deep meditation journey in order to fulfill her loneliness and to reach the highest state of illumination, however evil spirits won’t let her in peace. 

We invite you to help Ni-Tsu in this journey of self-illumination!

Unicell Manager - PC

You are controlling inner workings of a unicell organism, which is growing bigger and bigger, eating plancton, fish, and people...

White Rose - PC, Mac, Linux, Browser

In a world created by sound, play as a boy with synesthesia as he fights the ever growing darkness with music and his fists, painting the world in color with every damaging blow. Choose between 3 tracks and destroy the monsters before the song ends, or else they will overwhelm you. Turn up the beats and enjoy the visual experience.

No Money, No Problem: Ludum Dare 33 Edition

It's that time of year again, time for a new Ludum Dare and hundreds of new game jam entries. Ludum Dare 33's theme is "You are the Monster", and developers have explored the theme in myriad ways.

It's impossible to play or see every entry, but here are some that caught my eye while browsing the submissions

You can check out more Ludum Dare 33 games here.
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Death of a Lich - PC
The grand lich is immortal and, many years after each death, returns back to the world of the living, thanks to his crown phylactery.
Play as the grand lich and journey down the tower in search of escape.

The Sacrifice - PC, Mac
The Sacrifice is a management game where you, along with the five noble families of the Village, decide on what needs to be done in order to survive the island's harsh seasons.
Alongside these tasks is a dark secret that the Village has upheld for decades, one that is more crucial to its survival than anything else. It requires an iron will to do whatever is necessary to protect the Village, its secrets, and life itself.

The Monster Inside - PC, Mac, Browser
A film noir style audio-visual novella.
A mysterious woman... a string of murders... and a man with a hidden past.

Delicious Cortex - Browser
Play a Lich King (and eat brains)

Mythos - PC, Mac, Linux, Browser
Mythos is a sidescroller platformer based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cuthulhu Mythos.

Me - PC
An intriguing story in a 2D sidescroller.

Bloodworm - PC, Mac
Be Bloodworm, and escape this place they've held you in for too long.

Grave - PC, Mac, Linux

Totem - Browser

No Money, No Problem: Ludum Dare 32

Ludum Dare 32 ended last month and voting results were posted recently, revealing the best rated games in this "unconventional weapon"-themed jam. Here are some of more interesting and fun entries I played: 

A Knife Made Of Whispers
A new platformer from Daniel Linssen (HopSlide, Javel-ein, The Sun & The Moon, etc.). Reach the exit, defeat enemies, but be sure to stay within the light of your lantern.

Badass Inc.

A short tribute to Blade Runner, Another World & Flashback. As a skilled assassin, you must take out your target in an unconventional way.

Copycat
A roguelike from Terry Cavanagh, of Super Hexagon and VVVVVV fame. Kill your enemies to gain their abilities, and adapt to each new skill to survive.

Mable: The Journey
An pixel art vertical slice of this in-development game's interesting mechanics. Drop your sword and then recall it to slice enemies in half, evading enemies and projectiles in the interim

Out of Mind
A top-down horror game. Looking at enemies hurts you, so flee and find the exit before losing your sanity in the dark passages.

Photophobia
An atmospheric horror game with a unique art style. Defend against encroaching creatures with your holy light and find the key to escape.

Udom Nebdon
An "Alone in the Dark"-inspired game; utilize a magic mirror to survive and escape

The Rock the Paper and the Scissors (currently renamed Rhythm Ranger)
In this sidescrolling Western, you take on bandits in the ultimate showdown of Rock Paper Scissors

Shafted
A short but effective experience where you take revenge on your boss.

ScarKrow
Use your teleportation ability to slice and dice enemies in this action platformer

No Money, No Problem: "Ludum Dare 30" Edition, Part 2

Ludum Dare 30 ended in August, with hundreds of entries to check out. If there's one thing I love about game jams like this and 7 Day Roguelike, it's seeing the many creative interpretations of the themes. I couldn't possibly play every entry so here's a selection of some of the more interesting and fun entries I played.

Part 1

Rest In Peace
A simple shooter where you must swap between the world of the living and the dead. Enemies will return to life unless you burn their corpses in the alternate dimension.

 

Low Battery 2: Electric Boogaloo

Swing through the levels and switch between dimensions to avoid certain barriers and obstacles. The grappling feels a bit unwieldly and could probably be more refined, but still worth checking out

NeCLiD
A cool Sokoban-inspired puzzle game where you control two characters and must interact by switching dimensions. Certain platforms and switches are only available in one dimension or the other.

Glitched

Glitched is a shooter set in a virtual landscape, where you must clear away glitched growths and defeat enemies. Not the fastest, or most hectic shooter, but the glitch effect is cool and it's an enjoyable experience that grows more challenging as more enemies are introduced

Fluid Perspectives

A puzzle platformer. Control two characters that reside in their own realities but can interact with each other. Some obstacles may be hazardous in one world but not in the other, and the fluid switch between worlds is really well done. 

Signum
A minimalist puzzler where you switch dimensions to navigate through obstacles. Not that challenging, but the visuals and backgrounds make it worth checking out.

Awe

Not much game here, but certainly an enjoyable meditative experience. Essentially you're presented with a revolving globe and by tapping different patterns of colors, you can spawn various environmental items - a tree here, a mountain there - thus offering new colors and new items to spawn. An interesting feature is that you can play solo or with a random anonymous player.

Layer

An interesting shooter with a great visual style, but feels far complete. Switch between the red and blue layers to avoid enemies, but you can only shoot while in the red layer. Definitely has potential for an expanded game.

Computer, Open That Door!

A quick game where you essentially got to play HAL. As the ship's sentient AI, rid the spacecraft of all humans by manipulating the various systems onboard.

Line Crossing
A short adventure as you explore a mysterious alien train. Has some lovely pixel art, an intereting story, and multiple endings

Starpiercer

A sci-fi game of avoidance as you evade asteroids and missiles and smash through enemies. The low-poly art style and sense of movement makes Starpiecer an enjoyable experience.

Superdimensional
A visually inventive auto-runner where you manipulate multiple dimensions to allow your rolling sphere to travel safely. The seamless transitions between worlds is very impressive and allows for some unique and interesting level design.