No Money, No Problem: skorpulac

Title: Skorpulac

Developer: Strotch

Platforms: PC

Free

---

Skorpulac is a quick adrenaline shot of old-school action for the players who've conquered the likes of Volgarr and Odallus. 

Wielding merely your spear, you leap and run through bleak ruined halls and caverns where dangerous oddities lurk. Fans of retro-style platformers will feel at home with Skorpulac's limited levels and precise action. Gauntlets of conveyor belts over deadly hazards and zapped by the rhythmic flashes of lasers. Deceptively trudging foes that lung forward with a devastating sword blow. Narrow platforms under the deadly aim of organic turrets. Skorpulac only offers a few levels, but each offers a finely-tuned challenge.

The game's dark pixel art is impressive as well, establishing an alien world of bipedal walkers and humming electric fields. The decrepit arches and deep shadows gives Skorpulac a foreboding mood fitting its difficult gameplay.

You can download Skorpulac from itch.io.

No Money, No Problem: Windowframe

Title: Windowframe
Developer: Daniel Linssen
Platforms: PC
Price: Free
---
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: 7DRL 2016

Last year's 7DRL (Seven-Day Roguelike) challenge gave a vast and varied array of games, from the synthesizer-controlled roguelike aptly titled Synthesizer and the RoboRally-inspired Garbage In Garbage Out to Malleus Goblinficarium and scroll. This year's selection is just as interesting and unique; here are twelve intriguing roguelikes from 7DRL 2016. For many more, you browse the full list of entries here.

---

Hook & Shield
A Hoplite-inspired roguelike from the developers of Card Crawl. Use your hook and throw your shield Captain American-style to defeat deadly foes and traps

Arachne
As a person cursed by the titular being, you must traverse and fight through her webbed realm, which dynamically deform and shifts as you travel

Switch Hook
Another roguelike with a ranged hook, this one from the developer of Pixel Dungeon. Using your switch hook, you can tactically swap places with monsters to evade danger and destroy other enemies.

cr@sh
In the far future, guide crashed drones through dangerous unknown alien landscapes.

The Trapped Heart
A hex-based roguelike where positioning is key to overcome enemies' protective shields

Quaestum Facere
You're a mercenary. Do jobs, earn money, get better gear and weapons before finally retiring

Marsh Adventure
A puzzle roguelike from the developer of Arcane Tower and Power Grounds, where you play as a morphing druid on tight grids.

Doomed Looters
Explore and survive an endless dungeon as several classes, ranging from wizard to warrior

Small World
Survive passing days and night to charge your solar-powered teleporter and escape an alien world

Star Squadron Commander
Tactical space fleet combat, as you lead fighters, frigates, and cruisers into battle

Cult
Arena combat game whee you fight off other cultists and foes to become the avatar of  dark lord Azzafel

ThiefRL2
A heist roguelike focused on stealth and inspired by Thief 2

No Money, No Problem: Broken Puppet

Title: Broken Puppet
Developer: iDec/UPF student team
Platforms: PC
---
I've played a lot of freeware games. Long before I started writing about games or checking out the more known, mainstream indies, it was freeware games from Digipen and various sites that introduced me into indies, from ASCII roguelikes to the neon futuristic cityscapes of Nitronic Rush, Broken Puppet has some of the most impressive visuals I've seen in a freeware game and, while featuring some janky controls and physics, offers a fun and atmospheric physics-based puzzle-action game.

Broken Pupper puts in the worn faded shoes of puppet Katherine, replaced by a new pupper performer and left in the forgotten shadows of the basement. But she is determined to return to the stage and must ascend through the dreary dilapidated levels to destroy her replacement.

The game centers its puzzles and action around using threads; threads act as both a grappling hook to pull objects or a tether that can connect two points. This allows you to knock down heavy cabinets to activate pressure plates, support broken bridges, and even fight the weird puppet enemies that roam the basements. Soldiers charge you with swords, spinsters collect the needles you fling, and other threat lurk.

But Broken Puppet's most impressive element is its atmospheric aesthetic, build with a custom engine rather than Unreal or Unity. The ruined halls, the dim industrial rooms, the eerie arrangements of discarded toys and parts make for an engrossing world to traverse through the game's six levels.

You can download Broken Puppet from IndieDB and GameJolt.

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.

---

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: Who Must Die

Title: Who Must Die
Developer: Antoinusitos
Platforms: PC
---
Who Must Die is a polished and eerie puzzle/adventure game that, in the vein of recent releases Her Story and Contradiction, uses full motion video to great effect.

Designed for the Epic Game Game Jam, the premise is simple. A bank of monitors, three subjects, and one of them is infected with a disease. From your control room, you must figure out which person is the carrier...and kill him.

Learning who's infected and who's not involves using various stimuli on the subjects and closely watching their reactions on the monsters, using info and clues in the station to look out for key behaviors. It's unique, compelling, and a smart use of FMV, given the game a realistic voyeuristic atmosphere that graphics alone couldn't have accomplished.

Who Must Die is available to download on itch.io.

No Money, No Problem: Rejection

Title: Rejection
Developer: qwerty
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
---
You awaken in a dark futuristic room. Lights power up, consoles rise from the ground, screens appear on the walls. In Rejection, you need figure out how to escape before it all resets.

The game's itch.io page recommends that you have a paper and pen at hand; this is that kind of puzzle game. Each console has an array of colored buttons, and figuring out the proper pattern from the surrounding screen is the only to get out. It's tricky, satisfying when the clues and solutions finally click, and features an uninviting Alien-esque atmosphere, due its retro sci-fi tech and aesthetic.

Rejection is available to download from itch.io.

No Money, No Problem: Spellrazor

Title: Spellrazor
Developer: Dene Carter
Platforms: PC, Mac
Free build
---
What's the most weapons you've had in your arsenal while playing a shooter? Perhaps it was merely two, in a game like Halo, or maybe you had a portable armory in Borderlands. But I doubt that can hold a candle to Spellrazor, a Robotron-inspired roguelite shooter that lets you carry 27 weapons at the same time.

Influenced by titles like Rogue, Robotron, and Berzerk, you control a figure in randomly-generated levels where waves of powerful enemies roam. From the swarming frogs and rushing flies to teleportiing drones, they're all dangerous and your shields won't last very long. But thankfully there's a massive array of tactics at your disposal.

27 weapons and skills, one for each letter key on your keyboard plus a close-range melee attack on spacebar. Opening chests and killing enemies will provide ammo for various slots, but it's up to you to experiment and figure out what each does. You might learn that S recharges your shields or that E unleashes a devastating energy beam, among many other useful abilities, projectiles, and buffs.

With its flashy neon aesthetic, expansive arsenal, and relentless foes, Spellrazor delivers hectic arcade action. You can't manually aim, only maneuver and auto-target near enemies, so combat becomes about strategic positioning and using the best abilities at the most opportune moments. You never know what ammo you might gather, so your strategy is always shifting.

This version of Spellrazor will remain a freeware title, with more enemies and weapons being added. There will also be an interesting text adventure-esque element that involves using a debug terminal to decode glitches and uncover secrets. If the game is well-received, the developer plans to expand Spellrazor into a larger full-fledged release.

You can download Spellrazor here and follow its development on TIGSource.

No Money, No Problem: Red Amazon

Title: Red Amazon
Developer: Tom van den Boogaart
Platforms: PC
---
Red Amazon is a short narrative game, only lasting a few minutes, but it's still an experience fraught with tension.

You find yourself in an isolated cabin, under a grey foreboding sky. The fireplace roars, birds chirp. The minimal art style and sounds of natural create a calming atmospheric tone, but then...that all changes.

You're not alone out there in the woods.

Red Amazon is described as a thriller, and it certainly succeeds in that aspect in its short playtime. It's best to experience it without much knowledge. You can download the game here.

No Money, No Problem: Late Night Shop

Title: Late Night Shop
Developer: Total Monkery
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
---
Horror games love to mess with the concept of sight in games. In Amnesia, you must avert your gaze from the roaming monstrosities to maintain your sanity. In the Five Nights At Freddy series, keeping watch on the dangerous animatronics is the key to surviving the night. The upcoming Perception puts you in the shoes of a blind woman. And in Late Night Shop, watching the beings that want to kill you is the only way to stay alive.

You're an employee investigating an alarm in the mall...but you soon discover that the danger is far worse than a thief. The mannequins stationed throughout the levels have gained murderous life, and are stalking you through the corridors and rooms. However, like Doctor Who's infamous Weeping Angels. these mannequins only move when you can't see them. So don't look away.

Late Night Shop is a wonderfully challenging and creepy horror game. Keeping a mannequin in sight may be easy at first, but then more join in, forcing you to carefully inch through the mall. They move fast when unseen, so every glance for an exit or around a room is fraught with tension.

The version to download is merely a pre-alpha build; the developers plan to expand Late Night Shop with more levels and a multiplayer component where one player controls the mannequins.

You can find the build and more information on the game here.

No Money, No Problem: The Sacrfice

Title: The Sacrifice
Developer: foxboard
Platforms: PC, Mac
Free
---
I've played quite a few Ludum Dare 33 entries so far, but The Sacrifice has been my favorite. It forgoes the "play as a creature/killer/etc." interpretation of the game jam's theme, for a more insidious take.

The Sacrifice is a relatively simple game. You guide the five noble families of the Village, choosing their focus each season. By foraging, building, and evangelizing, the nobles must keep the Village\well-fed and happy,, keep its people sheltered against the elements, and, most importantly...maintain the secrecy of the Sacrifice.

Each season, someone must be sacrificed to please Chernobog, to keep the Village and its people in the god's favor. But each sacrifice will impact the Village stats and the families themselves. Choose wisely. It must be done to keep your people safe.

The sickly green aesthetic adds to the game's uneasy atmosphere too.
You can download The Sacrifice here.

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.
----

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