Best Of Indie Games: From Wizorb to Windosill

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog co-editor-in-chief Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days on his sister 'state of indie' weblog.] This week on 'Best Of Indie Games', we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week. The goodies in this edition include a pair of Ludum Dare 22 entries produced last weekend, a new release from Justin Smith (creator of Enviro-Bear 2000), the Mac and Linux port of Tribute Games' debut title Wizorb, plus a traditional roguelike that will delight fans of the genre. Here's some recent highlights from the site: Game Pick: 'Rainbow Space Donkey Escape' (Niall Moody, freeware) "In Rainbow Space Donkey Escape, players take control of a rainbow space donkey trying to make his way back to his herd while avoiding murderous evil Santas who apparently want to punch it in the nose." Game Pick: 'Craequ' (Jonathan Whiting, browser) "Craequ is Jonathan Whiting's Ludum Dare 22 entry, and it's a bit brilliant. The protagonist is stuck in a world full of blocks that have strange symbols on them, and must shift the blocks around to explore the adjoining rooms." Game Pick: 'Realistic Summer Sports Simulator' (Justin Smith, commercial indie) "Justin Smith, creator of the premier bear-driving-a-car simulator Enviro-Bear 2000, has applied his unique brand of realism to the olympic sports genre in his latest iOS release, Realistic Summer Sports Simulator." Game Pick: 'Wizorb' (Tribute Games, commercial indie) "Initially released for the Xbox Live Indie Games service in October, Wizorb puts a new spin on the Breakout/Arkanoid formula, allowing players to use magic attacks to more efficiently bust bricks and bowl over the game's enemy armies." Game Pick: 'Brogue' (Brian Walker, freeware) "Created by Brian Walker, Brogue follows the traditional recipes: players will have to fight their way down 26 levels to acquire the Amulet of Yendor before making their way up to the surface." Game Pick: 'Windosill' (Vectorpark, commercial indie) "The goal of each puzzle in Windosill is to discover a cube to pass through the door. To find the cube, you must cause some whimsical chain of events within the background." Game Pick: '.flow' (lol, freeware) "Like Yume Nikki, the eerie Japanese title that the game pays homage to, .flow is disturbing but not in a conventional way. At first glance, it can feel like a somewhat primitive attempt at an RPG Maker title." Game Pick: 'The Word Alone' (Matt Rix, browser) "The Word Alone is a smart little game with polished graphics and an inventive take on word games and the current Ludum Dare's subject matter. In this surprisingly complex offering, players will have to construct words out of randomly assigned letters and endeavor to shove all but the letters forming the word 'Alone' off the board." Game Pick: 'Homeless' (Silver Dollar Games, commercial indie) "Silver Dollar Games' latest effort Homeless pairs a unique concept with simple, focused gameplay mechanics. Players control a homeless man who must beg passerby for change while battling a strict time limit and a dwindling stamina mete." Game Pick: 'I, Zombie' (AwesomeGamesStudio, commercial indie) "I, Zombie puts you in control of a lone zombie that must infect all humans within each single-screen level. Once you add one or more zombies to your army of the undead, you can command them to follow you around and even attack nearby humans." Game Pick: 'Glitch Tank' (Michael Brough, browser) "Michael Brough, developer of the wonderfully complex strategy title Vertex Dispenser, has wandered onto the iPad to create the digital board game/action-strategy title Glitch Tank."