And a big thank you to you wizz; I doubt the project would have continued in it's present form if it hadn't have been for you, rO and The Webmaster. And thanks for reminding me of all those that have helped (and continue to help). The games syynopsis has been a very valuable contribution to this project, so G@rgoyle, who continues to file away details for us - a special thank you to you. :)

W.R.

Congratulations Stephen, and a big thank you to not only Stephen, rO, thewebmaster, granny (g@rgoyle,) pavid, tnip and some others that I'm sure I've forgotten but also to all of the forum members who have encouraged the growth of the project and supported it day in and day out.

As for today's games. This is an excellent lot of games. Definitely check out the Squid Yes games as those were two that I had set aside to post at some point in time as well. Definitely two of the better freeware games available. I don't know much about the others, but they look good. Thanks again my friend.

Yes, indeed, White Rabbit, Happy Anniversary! What a lot of work you've put into this project over the past year, to the benefit of so many. Thank you.

Yipee! Color mayhem! Thanks, wrabbit, for some neat ones. And Happy Anniversary! :)

I’ll be posting games all this week. reverseOrder has agreed to let me post on his days so that I could celebrate the first years anniversary of the free games project. I meant to do this last month, but got side tracked, so here it is now. I’ll have some good games for you over the next five days (well four now, lol) that include an interesting truck racing game, a squad based /third person shooter, a tank game, asteroids another arena shooter , a children’s drawing game, plus more. Today’s games are all space arena shooters. I know there are loads of them around and we’ve posted quite a few already over the last year, but I think these are worth the effort, especially if you like anything psychedelic and you’ll find some on similar lines to the first couple I post today. The first three are all done by the same author. The third game I’ve had to censor the name because it’s really not appropriate for these forums. Following the download link and videos will take you to the full name. It doesn’t sit right with me. The word is a horrible word and I wish the developer had chosen something else, but that said I don’t think the game should suffer because of its name.

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Squid Yes Not so Octopus: (6.78Mb)

The Story:

Born of atomic death! Raised in the shadow of a mushroom cloud! He’s a squid! Not an Octopus! He’s Squid Yes! Not So Octopus! And…. he’s very irritable.

Let’s face it, you’d be irritable if you were a mutated radioactive squid that nobody wants to talk to for fear of dying a slow painful death after just standing a little too close. And man, some mornings you just want to take it out on the whole wide world. Normally SY!NSO! can keep his temper, those breathing exercises the United States Radioactive Protection Force taught him work wonders. Throw in a nice warm cup of tea and the world usually becomes a nicer place to live in.

Man, it’s not so easy to keep your temper when your home is being invaded by alien robots from the planet Thwip. Must they pick his birthday too? That’s just so inconsiderate.

Oh well, I guess there’s nothing left to do but charge up your patented “Beams Of Electro Death” and annihilate every last one of the little buggers. Terrorising innocent squids is a mistake they won’t ever make again if SY!NSO! has his way. Ok, so maybe he’s not quite so innocent after that incident with the cow and the twig, but that was an accident that could happen to any toxic squid with telepathic powers.
Why they chose SY!NSO!’s abode, nobody will ever know. After they’ve felt his wrath, it’s doubtful they’ll ever return.

Take control of SY!NSO! in this arcade blaster and show the Thwippers that they really picked the wrong house, the wrong morning and the wrong squid this time…

Squid Yes! Not So Octopus! is an arena shooter inspired by the work of Eugene Jarvis and Paul Holmes, early developers of games for the Spectrum and ZX81 The aim of the game is to survive for 8 minutes and score as close to 9 points as possible.

The Game:

Guide SY!NSO! around the arena using either keyboard or joystick taking out the swarms of incoming aliens. Collect gems along the way to score higher. Shooting aliens or collecting gems increases your score by small amounts; every minute you survive gives you one whole bonus point and increased firepower. The maximum possible score is 9.
As well as featuring a full arcade game experience condensed into 8 action packed minutes, SY!NSO! also features a series of accessibility options and player aids to help the player get to grips with the game. Switch on swarm warnings or select a practice mode to learn the ropes or to just kick back and enjoy yourself without having to worry about score.

Play on one of two separate boards, a classic arcade board recalling the arcade classic Robotron or the SY!NSO! pixel board featuring a rather fine pixilated backdrop or play with a selection of screen effects including glow effects, scan lines or the all out insanity of “ARE YOU MENTAL?” mode.

Originally created for awesome web magazine Way Of The Rodent and released by Bagfull of Wrong and Retromasters and built from an idea by Steve “Maibock”, Squid Yes! Not So Octopus is a unique arena shooter experience that appeals to retro lovers, arcade game addicts and those with a nose for a fine game.

Features:

• Incredible pixilated sprites (lol)

• Gaming in bite size chunks – each game takes no more than 8 minutes.

• Customizable Game Experience – shape SY!NSO! to your abilities

• Lasers! Lasers! Lasers! – Everybody needs good lasers.

• Trippy Effects – Somewhere beyond Minter.

• The Giant Head Of Johnny Ball – think of a number…

• The only game based on one line from a Half Man Half Biscuit song

• Perfect for Arcade Cabinets

• XArcade Support with no need to configure your sticks

Video:

You can see a couple of video’s of the game play HERE and HERE

Download:

Download Squid Yes Not so octopus HERE

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This is the sequel to the previous game.

Squid Yes Not so Octopus 2: Squid Harder (16.7Mb)

Squid Yes, Not So Octopus 2: Squid Harder: The latest release from Bagfull Of Wrong
When 4 worlds collide, only one hero can save the day. The very greatest of all squids, SYNSO. Help SYNSO survive for whole minutes at a time using nothing but his head filled with laser beams.

Featuring:

• 4 worlds of non stop mayhem

• Keyboard/Joystick/Switch control

• Configurable effects levels

• Squids

• No octopus :)

Video:

You can watch video of the game play HERE and HERE

You can download Squid Harder HERE]

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War ****: (5.84Mb)

Get on board the double decker bus into chaos and battle the ****’s of war in our critically acclaimed pixilated arena shooter. Chosen as one of the ten best examples of current indie game design for the Eurogamer Expo 2008, War **** is an edge of the seat eye melting experience like no other.

Features:

• Incredible pixel graphics – fill the screen with colorful explosions

• Insane Enemies – Fight handbags, busses, aliens and more

• Arcade style sound FX – it’s like being in an 80’s arcade

• Heart pounding music – provided by Barry Island

• Fun for all ages – aside from the name, obviously

Video:

You can see a few video’s of War ****’s game play HERE, HERE and HERE

You can download a normal and color blindness versions from the same download location HERE

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Storm Assault (Storm Project) (27.2Mb)

Storm Assault is a horizontal shooter created by the Storm Project development team as a tribute to Konami's early Gradius series. Everything from the classic power meter, upgrade capsules, and boss ships with specific weak points have been transferred and updated with slight changes for this loose remake."

Since space arena games are not as popular as they were in the late 80s, the Storm Project development team decided to offer everybody the chance to experience a game similar in concept and look to Gradius. That game is Storm Assault, a freeware game that can be downloaded right away following the link at the end.

The game is still in its early stages of development (version 0.2 currently), but the two available stages are excellent.. You can check out some Storm Assault game play by watching the video’s below.

The second level features battles with Moai statues, which was originally never included in earlier releases. Joystick and gamepads are automatically detected, but you can use the keyboard to control your ship as well.

Video and Images:

I uploaded over 30 images, so though I’d link to my photobucket account as I think posting 30 images here would overwhelm the post, lol. You can see all the images on one page HERE and as a slideshow HERE

HERE HERE
HERE, HERE and HERE

Download:

You can download Storm Assault HERE. Don’t be scared by the tons of Japanese characters – simply click on s_assault_v02.zip on the top of the page you’re done.

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The following three games were created by an indie developer called Dan Christensen. All three games are of a high standard and have some unexpected bonus's not usually associated with freeware games, i.e. Cool graphics, excellent in game customisation and decent menus.

reverseOrder asked if I would post them for him. I was advised to upload the games to my filefront account due to slow download speeds; though I’ve posted a link to Dan’s site at the end of the post out of respect for his marvelous work and just in case my filefront links die. (Files from filefront have a nasty habit of disappearing without warning or trace these days – still it’s a free service so I shouldn’t complain). I've Emailed the developer to ask him where the last games stands with respect to the demo question that I mention below. The game hasn't been updated for a few years, and there's no 'full version ' release mentioned at all, so desite the game mentioning that it's a demo, I think it's actually a full version demo. (I hope so anyway. Despite it's demo tag, I still think it's a worthwhile download, so please don't let that put you off. It doesn't have any time limits, nor does it have any messages saying "This is a demo", lol.

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Twilight:

The author has separated the games music files from the game so that those on dial up shouldn’t have too long to wait for the download to complete. There’s still the original version of the game available from the developers site, but the latest version does have significant improvements made to it, with the addition of new weapons, enemies and other changes. If you check out the images which were all taken by the author, and which I copied and uploaded to my photobucket account, you can see that the author has gone to a lot of trouble to create a nice looking game. I was really impressed with it, and agree with the authors sentiments about this game; that is that it’s a cross between Crimsonland and Doom 3. Crimsonland because of the top down shooter and Doom for the atmosphere. Nice work Dan.

Unfortunately the games graphics seem distorted and the colors are all wrong when playing it on my main machine. I'd appreciate it if anyone else can confirm whether this is a global problem, or it's maybe something wrong with my graphics card (not that there should be as I only replaced it just over a week ago with a reasonable one (NVidia GeForce GTX275 with 875Mb RAM). Maybe it’s a driver that needs updating, but I was not able to play the game due to the objects blending in with the background. The game looked nothing like the screenshot of the game, but I can see why the author said that this game had similarities to Crimsonland (which I already own). The following is what the author had to say:

The most up-to-date version of Twilight. Includes nearly 20 weapons, two dozen classes of monster, and 10 expansive levels.

Adds cool new technology features such as background-distortion effects for cloaked units, NPR techniques for Night Vision and Infrared, and explosion simulations.

Adds cool new gameplay features with more units and weapons, as well as puzzle-based elements.

Download the core game to get up and running with a small download. Download the music pack and unzip in the Twilight directory to add background music.

Revision history:

The original release of Twilight, a 3-week project submitted for U of M's Game Development Major Design course had 8 Levels, 8 weapons, and roughly a dozen different types of monsters. The following are the changes made to the game over time:

1.1.2 (October 2006)

1)……Pause feature (P)

2)……Game no longer crashes when minimized (instead it pauses the game and makes an autosave)

3)……Various gameplay balance tweaks:

• Minigun and shotguns more powerful
• Heavy weapons slow player down less
• Lightning loop re-fire rate toned down substantially
• Fixed some over bright portions of levels
• Reduced lifespan of sticky patches

4)……Separated game into core game and music pack for bandwidth sanity

5)……Updated weapon and monster sound effects to be more varied
More ammunition icons

v1.1.0 (September 2006)

New features:

1)……10 new levels, replacing the original 8

2)……A dozen or so new enemies

3)……Eight or so new weapons

4)……Improved lighting model

5)……Shader-driven effects
• Hue rotations for monsters, eliminating redundant graphics
• Background distortion shaders for cloaked monsters
• Nightvision, Infrared vision, and more

6)……Finite-element simulation driven explosions

7)……Quicksave feature (F5)

1.0.0 (October 2005)

First release; submission as an arcade game for EECS 494

Images:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Forums/Twilight/?albumview=slideshow

Game client download link:

http://www.filefront.com/14164021/Twilight.zip

Music files download link:

http://www.filefront.com/14164743/Twilight_Music_Pack.zip

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Strife:

The author doesn’t say much about Strife on his site, but the game comes with a decent manual that covers all the bases, which you can find in the unpacked games folder. As with Twilight, the game doesn’t come with an installer, so you’ll have to do place it manually as well as create your own desktop shortcut.

Strife is a tank vs tank duel game in which two players try to defeat each other. Rather than having a set number of lives, you have a fleet of tanks which you choose at the beginning of a match. You’ll find more details in the games manual.

You can see from the few screenshots he’s posted that the models he’s created wouldn’t be out of place as extras in a CGI space orientated film, lol. Don’t confuse this game with the 'Doom' like FPS with the same name. I’ll be posting that one soon (though I though I already had, but can’t find it in the synopsis, lol)

Controls:

Keyboard:

W: Move Forward
S: Move Backward
Space: Brake
A: Strafe Left
D: Strafe Right

Mouse:

Move: Aim Crosshair
Left Click: Primary Fire
Right Click: Secondary Fire
Middle Click: Rotate Camera
(not recommended for competitive play)

The author lists some of the features of the game below, though he’s definitely underplayed this game, which has a relatively complex menu system, with lots of choices to make. I’m really impressed with it.

1) The awesome strategic dueling system of Star Control

2) Normal mapping and stencil shadows

3) Networked multiplayer action

Images:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Forums/Strife/?albumview=slideshow

Download link:

http://www.filefront.com/14164989/strife.zip

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Xenocide:

Here’s another gorgeous looking space shooter. There’s loads of screenshots, all copied from the authors web site. I’m not sure whether the game is a demo, or the full version though because while selecting the campaign it mentions that the game is a demo, but there’s nothing on the website to confirm this. I think it may have originally been intended to be sold and this was a demo, but the author has since decided to release it as freeware????

The effects are a little dated by today's standards, though still pretty good. Overall it’s a nice shooter for free. What makes this game interesting is the shop area. You are able to customize your ship significantly via the shop, from an array of choices that includes weapons, shields, reactors, engines plus more. You earn money via game play. If you enjoy building up a super ship, you’ll love this game. The following information can also be found in the games read me (found within the installed games folder). You’ll also find information on making the best use of the games extensive upgrade system as well as the games editor (which the author has said is more suited to developers than lay people. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t have an installer, so you’ll have to manually place the game and create your own desktop shortcut.

Basic game play and controls:

Navigating the menus is simple point and click.

In game controls are a combination of mouse and keyboard. The mouse controls the ship movement. The left mouse button fires the active guns, and right mouse button missiles. If you have a mouse wheel (and you really should), scroll it to change the view angle. Changing view angle is important because a top-down view is generally best for fighting ships, whereas a tilted view allows you to see land enemies from further away.

To change weapons, use the keyboard. Numbers 1-4 switch between guns. The guns will be listed with their numbers in the lower right corner of the screen. Numbers 5-0 switch between missiles, listed beside the guns. If you have two weapons of the same type, pressing either number will activate both of them at once, allowing for dual fire. The same thing holds for triple and quadruple guns, though if you have that many of the same type you should probably be buying more powerful weapons.

In the lower left corner you will have three meters: your shields, your armor, and your energy reserves. Shields and armor are the "health" of your ship. Shields regenerate, but armor does not. Energy reserves power your guns. They regenerate at a rate dependent on your ship's hardware.

The objective of the game is to beat the last mission of the campaign - "Deep Strike". In the full version of this game, that would unlock the next campaign. There are several missions where either of two missions will unlock the same further levels. You can decide to play one, or the other, or both. Missions usually have cash bonuses, plus additional pay for the ships and tanks that you destroy. Levels can be replayed, but you only get the pay the first time you play them. Furthermore, levels can be quit at any time, and you will keep the money that you have earned from killing ships. But you only get the level pay when you actually beat the level.

The following is what the author said:

Features;

Classic arcade style space shooter action
3D Rendering
45 Levels of mayhem
Massive ship customizability

Basic Premise

Xenocide is a top-down scrolling space shooter game. While it uses 3d rendering, the game play is similar to classic 2D games like Raptor, Galaga, or Space Invaders. Unlike these games, however, there is a lot of depth to the variety of the ships, levels, and the customizability of the player's own ship.

Levels and Content:

Xenocide has three complete campaigns with 15 missions each. 45 Missions in all. Each campaign features an entirely different race, human or alien, to fight against. With much different styles of ships for each campaign, the gameplay changes every 15 levels. Each campaign has upwards of a dozen basic types of enemy ship, with at least two variations on each type. Many of the levels also take place on land rather than in space, and each campaign has a variety of tanks and stationary turrets to provide special opposition on those levels.

Player Customizability:

The player ship in Xenocide is built up of about ten different components, ranging from the basic chassis to the reactor, missiles, and weapons. As the player progresses, he or she will unlock an ever increasing variety of components to customize and improve their ship as they see fit. This allows people to design ships to suit their own game play style. Make it slow and powerful, or light and fast. Give it lots of primary guns, or the ability to store a huge supply of missiles.

Engine Flexibility:

All of the files defining the levels, weapons, components, enemies, etc, are open to customization by the players. This is not recommended as a means to beating the game, since the items have already been balanced reasonably well, but it allows people who have finished it to add new features as easily as the old ones.

Images:

http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/Whiterabbit_01/gaotd/Forums/Xenocide/?albumview=slideshow

Download link:

http://www.filefront.com/14165077/Xenocide.zip

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You can get all the games from the autor's address, but I would appreciate it if you download them from the links I've provided above. I will be able to judge how many community members are using our free service. :) Thanks,

The author Dan Christensen’s web address:

http://www.uncalculated.net/dmchris/