Best Of Indie Games: Space, The Final Frontier

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days, as well as any notable features 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 delights in this latest version include a murder mystery adventure set in space, a frantic arena shooter, a cute Flash-based game development toolkit, and a fiendish platformer that will have many tearing their hair out in frustration. Game Pick: 'The Vacuum' (David Proctor, freeware) "The Vacuum is a sci-fi adventure game which tells the story of a couple traveling home inside a cargo ship, when a pair of explosions set off a chain of events that will forever change their lives. An admirable first effort by David, coded with the popular AGS engine and bears more than a passing resemblance to Yahtzee's 7 Days a Skeptic." Game Pick: 'Torque' (Jesse Venbrux, freeware) "A new arena shooter by the developer of Frozzd and the Karoshi series, where players get to pilot a rotating ship engaged in an intergalactic war with a nameless alien race. Plays a bit like Paperblast, but with entirely new graphics and gameplay modes." Game Pick: 'OmniLudiCon' (Zara Tustra, browser) "A browser-based development toolkit consisting of a fully-featured editor and a host of example games for users to test out or experiment with - no programming skills required." Game Pick: 'Breaking the Tower' (Markus Persson, browser) "A strategy game which involves careful resource management as you attempt to destroy the stone tower located at one end of an island. This solid coffee-break game was created in less than two days for the twelfth Ludum Dare competition." Game Pick: 'Jumper 3' (Matt Thorson, freeware) "The much-awaited sequel to Matt's series of frustratingly difficult platformers, where players will once again be able to assume control over Ogmo and his various forms while taking on the challenges presented by carefully-placed traps and obstacles in each area."