Petals Around the Rose

I spent some time agonizing about this game today after discovering it by accident. I highly encourage you to try it out yourself. I finally did discover the solution, and I understand why folks are reluctant to just tell the solution - the feeling you get when you find out for yourself is quite gratifying, besides its just dice :) Try not to pull your hair out too much!

Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications

Here's a very interesting article about creating applications for the web using standard javascript, css, html, etc. The rise of the age of "weblications". Sucks for me, because I thought of this almost 5 years ago (if not longer) while working at Netscape. I guess it's all in the timing and execution :)

TEKHNA3D - shockwave demo goodness

Remember the days of old, when Amiga reigned supreme as the graphical and computing powerhouse for "PC Demos"? You can relive those glory days of bobs and colors with this site which seems to be a collection of demos showing off features of Shockwave. In all honesty its easy to forget that shockwave is the older brother to Flash and contains quite a bit bang for the buck still - especially with a nice 3D engine. Who knows? You might find some inspiration here.

Make your own games - Gamemaker

I've been tooting the horn of GameMaker from Mark Overmars for quite some time, but lately I've felt the need to toot a bit louder. With version 6.0 - there's been added support for 3-D style graphics which seems to have resulted in an explosion of Wolfenstein-style games. It's great! I want to post again to heartily recommend you give this app a try and create for yourself that game you've always wanted to do. It's easy enough that my 7yr old can create something (with my help) while sophisticated enough through scripting that you could create a seriously nice game - and sell it yourself with no attachments from the tool. After seeing many 3D demos lately, I've gotten the idea of creating a simple Tactics clone. We'll see if this ever get's off the ground, but at least with a tool like this it's something that is very possible, instead of merely pie in the sky dreaming.

Also, it's a must to use the Forums effectively - you can find sourcecode, help, graphics, etc. to help you in your quest for indie game stardom.

Midieval Strategy - Slay

Heard about this game via some indie gamer boards. I haven't tried it out myself yet, but it looks very interesting. Give it a go yourself and let me know what you think,

From the site:

Slay is a simple to learn game of strategy and cunning set in medieval times. The island is divided up between the six players, and you must try to capture your enemies' land and link up your own territories to create larger and stronger ones. You begin capturing land by attacking with your peasants. Once your territories become richer you can combine peasants to make stronger and stronger people (Spearmen, Knights and then Barons) who can kill weaker enemy troops, or knock down their castles. Just be careful that you don't create too many expensive men or the territory will go bankrupt!

The latest version of Slay for Windows allows you to play games over a network or the Internet, and to design your own islands.

January Game Round Up at GameTunnel

If you are an indie game fan, as I am, you'll enjoy poking around the list that Game Tunnel has created this month of indie games. The games are reviewed to save you time playing them yourself.