Best Of Indie Games: With A Little Help From My Friends

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. rounds up the week's top free-to-download and commercial indie games, plus 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 edition include a 2D platform game with 3D graphics, two adventure games about spirits and ghosts, and a Flash game created with Adam Atomic's flixel framework. Other highlights include an exploration platformer in which you play an agile fox, a game that involves gathering a group of friends for your birthday party, and a new score-based arcade game from Adult Swim. Game Pick: 'Trine' (Frozenbyte, commercial indie - demo available) "The concept of Trine goes something like this: A wizard, a thief and a warrior are stuck together by forces unknown, and set out on a quest to find means of separating themselves. You would need to switch between characters with different abilities frequently, in order to defeat enemies and get the better of platforming-based puzzles in this game." Game Pick: 'The Blackwell Convergence' (Wadjet Eye Games, commercial indie - demo available) "The story in The Blackwell Convergence follows Rosangela Blackwell, a spirit medium, and her ghostly guide Joey Mallone as they attempt to locate wandering souls and help them find peace. Players take control of Rosa and Joey, both with their unique abilities, in an attempt to piece together exactly what has happened to each ghost they find and set about easing them into the light." Game Pick: 'Wonder Bounce' (Robert Lupinek, browser) "Darthlupi's first foray into the world of Flash game development, where you play an apprentice named Ishmoo whose soul was separated from his body in an accident. Lost souls will try and possess the lifeless body of our protagonist lying on the floor, but you can keep them at bay by using the ancient art of Wonder Bounce learnt from the scroll that placed him in this situation in the first place." Game Pick: 'William and Sly' (Lucas Paakh, browser) "William and Sly is the story of one fox's journey around a vast landscape, and it's wonderfully charming and peaceful. The playing field is absolutely huge and takes a good amount of time to just run across. There's also tons of hidden pathways under the ground too, so be prepared to do quite a bit of exploration here." Game Pick: 'Tanaka's Friendly Adventure' (Bento Smile, freeware) "Something of a mix between Passage and Polkadot, Tanaka's Friendly Adventure is a charming little exploration game that involves gathering a group of friends to attend the titular character's birthday party celebration. There's no time limit to rush you into doing anything, and the adventure can be replayed as many times as you want." Game Pick: 'Floater' (Adult Swim, browser) "A score-based satirical arcade game created by This is Pop, where the objective is to prod a body down the river with a stick as quickly as you can before time runs out. Since you have no direct control over the corpse, points are scored by inflicting injuries such as burns, bruises, and animal bites on it." Game Pick: 'Heed' (Ben Chandler, freeware) "A short adventure game developed with the reliable AGS engine, where you assume control over an unnamed protagonist who is searching for the purpose of his existence. There's not a lot of puzzles in this release, and none of them are particularly difficult, although the game has been structured in such a way that you would only find the interesting ones in the second half of your adventure."