Indie collective Braingale has compiled a seven track "EP" of rapidly developed free games. Called BRAIN THEATRE , the aim is to provide tiny synaptic bursts of electronic entertainment. It's a handful of ideas, each whipped up in anywhere between 12 hours and a month, focusing on the weird, experimental, or the instantly gratifying.
Here's what you'll find inside:
PUNKSNOTDEAD
Which we've covered previously . It remains a short, sharp burst of frantic noise and punching. And swearing. But mostly punching.
PS: I'm pretty sure it's Punks-Not-Dead, not Punk-Snot-Dead. That would be a very different game.
Swap
The most accomplished game in a bundle that's really not about accomplished games. Here you play a ghost (or something?) that can "Swap" with enemies, possessing them to use their attacks against there friends. It's a pretty excellent idea, simply executed and well worth a look.
Squestuid
What the what? Squestuid starts as a weird platformer, rotating the screen as you try to safely make your way to the bottom. Then it gets weird(er), and you become trapped in a nightmarish neon Pacman shmup, where ghosts chase you across a pulsating screen while you collect coins.
Millions
Fact: It doesn't count as a gamejam unless there's an experimental 2D platformer with a weird gimmick. Millions' gimmick is that when you jump, the background turns black, obscuring your view of the platforms and traps. Every jump becomes a leap of faith, punctuated only by the protagonist's red tie.
Variation 6
A tricky and varied puzzle game that starts when a corpse tells you which way their murderer went. Tracking your quarry down involves solving non-euclidean mazes and solving a door puzzle in which a bunch of jerks lie to you.
Snake Fighter '99
I couldn't get this one to work. First, it told me off for not having a controller, then it crashed because I'd plugged in a controller. Is that the game? Is it a blistering critique of our unquestioning acceptance of peripheral preference? Maybe! That, or it's a Tron-esque Snake-based arena battler. I just don't know.
...Oh, wait, it's just got a slightly awkward and temperamental configuration menu. It is a Tron-esque Snake-based arena battler. And a local multiplayer one at that.
HYPER ATTACK SPIN TURMOIL DX
Forget War of the Roses, forget Chivalry: Medieval Warfare - this is the true master swordfighting technique: wildly flailing in a circle, sword at arms reach. While crying. These robots won't know what hit 'em... Well they will. It's a sword.
You can download all the games from the BRAIN THEATRE site . The download all link is currently broken, but you can get at each game by clicking its picture.
