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Yes! I have seen and played his stuff. Speaking of interesting 2-D games, have you seen Gish? Not a shooter, but a very unique and fun 2-D game. Check out the demo, or at least look at the gameplay video (no I'm not affiliated with them, my company's name just happens to be similar to theirs!)

well, tryptich does have both linux and mac versions. of course, that doesn't mean gish will be ported anytime soon, but i wouldn't give up hope either

It's more than Gish too, they have what looks like the world's only physics-based puzzler.

You are getting confused by a review trying to explain a game by making references to familiar genres. If you are looking for someone to go "check out this game it is truley unlike ANYTHING you have ever seen" then you will play one game every 5 years. Just because someone explains a new game to you based on familiar themes and genres doesn't mean the game is identical to others.

Any decent indie developer lives by the rule "make something people cannot buy elsewhere" - it's common sense. If you can buy a big publisher mainstream version of an indie game from a year or two ago it will always be better and probably cheaper. So it makes no sense for indies to just replicate mainstream titles. Hence GOOD INDIES DON'T.

However, very rarely will someone make something so "off the wall" that it has no connection to any previous form of gaming. There is a good reason for this, there is a very good chance people will reject it. They wont understand.

Think about two truely innovative titles like REZ(ps2) and ViewtifulJoe(GameCube) - both of these lost their publishers a lot of money (FACT). These were rare titles that were good and totally new, yet people didn't get it and voted with their wallets.

Starscape - this one is very good, yet again I defy you to find anything remotely similar in a shop. It's like a shootemup crossed with command&conquer (kind of).

GISH - not my cup of tea, but certainly unique, you cannot buy anything like this in a shop.

Hamsterball - I enjoyed this, but it got really hard really quick. Again, you CANNOT buy this in a shop. Ok you could download marble madness for an emulator or a phone, but it isn't the same really, the true 3D environments here lead to much more interesting puzzles.

If you can find the proper top quality indie titles you will always see something you cannot get anywhere else. The serious indies would be out of business if they just copied mainstream titles. What idiot would spend more on something that they could get out of a Walmart bargain bin for half the price? Nobody.

much. Unless you are trying to simulate reality I don't understand the continued obsession with improved graphics. With the Dreamcast hadn't we reached the golden age where any game imaginable can be created? What about using stylized graphics like Jet Set Radio instead of realistic graphics? Would The Simpsons be funnier if it had more realistic drawings or real actors instead of voice actors and simple drawings which look less real than Disney's Snow White from the 1930s?

Look how anime gets away with simple "graphics", but is able to quickly communicate emotions. Same with "South Park." We need to be more worried about what we do in games and how we do it (look at the success of novelty items like the eye toy) instead of only trying to push visuals.

I understand the excitement over new graphics when they enabled new games. Pong->Space Invaders->Pac Man->Super Mario->Street Fighter II->Super Mario Cart->Virtua Fighter, but I just don't see the point any more.

Here are three screen shots; which looks most fun?
fake far cry
real far cry
gish
Personally after watching the gish movies I think it looks the most fun :) But even the fake far cry screen shot, which won't happen until far in the future, doesn't really look more fun than the real far cry screen shot.

Hi, I'd highly recommend you check out Bridge Construction Set by Chronic Logic. There's a free demo available for Windows AND Linux.

(Lifted from the website)
In The Bridge Construction Set(aka Pontifex II), Building a bridge that doesn't break is what its all about, although watching your bridge creation break and plunge a train into the watery depths below can be half the fun. In the Bridge Construction Set you design and build bridges and then stress test them to see how your creations hold up under pressure. If when test vehicles pass over your bridge they make it safely across you know you've succeeded. If they plummet into the river you know you need to go back to the drawing board.

The robust physics deployed in the Bridge Construction Set let you build a wide variety of bridges that can span the river. The 3D graphics allow you to view your bridge from any angle including a first person train view - its like being strapped to the front of the train when your bridge is first tested (if this happened in real life I think we might have engineers checking all their bridges in a simulator).

The Bridge Construction Set includes many types of bridge building levels in varying degrees of difficulty from simple to complex with a tutorial section to get you started. A Level Editor is also included so you can create your own levels and trade them with others.

I mean, unless watching a few blocks representing a train plummet into a river counts as violent.

I forgot to mention Bridge Construction Set, the sequel to Pontifex. Same idea, better implementation. Oh, by the way, there's a Linux version. Go to http://www.chroniclogic.com/pontifex2.htm for a demo.

It wasn't new for 2003, but I discovered it in 2003. Go to their website to find out more, and to play the demo. It's loads of fun! By the way, if you remember your latin, "pontifex" literally means "maker of bridges," iirc. In this game you're tasked with designing a 3D bridge spanning various bodies of water, capable of withstanding varying loads. It's deceptively simple, but, as far as I can tell, original and fun!

Here's a review of an older version: Firing Squad Review.

Yeah, I don't see the issue either. From the standpoint of this particular small, independend shareware developer this kind of marketing deal makes perfect sense.

And if any of you fellow engineering geeks do have Nvidia cards, I highly recommend this game, and the rest of the series of bridge building games that ChronicLogic produced. Definitely a neat concept for a puzzle game.

(I am not affiliated with Chronic Logic in any way)

This whole story should be modded as -1, RTFFAQ.

The game was made primarly as a graphics demo for NVIDIA cards. It makes sense, then, that it should be for NVIDIA cards, no?

From the Bridge It FAQ:
Bridge It was specifically designed as graphics demo to show off NVIDIA graphics cards.

The gene for colorblindness is tied to the X chromosome and is recessive. The reason that more males have colorblindness is that the Y chromosome is treated as having the gene.

On topic; Color difficulties usually come into play with puzzle games. I wish that Capcom would release a playable version of Super Puzzle Fighter II X someday. I've been able to play Puzzle Bobble and Columns by using shapes and got pretty good with Klax by using sound as an assistance, but SPFIIX is completely unplayable. For a game that only uses 4 different colors they could at least make them somewhat different.

For a better solution, check out Triptych which has a color select mode. I personally think that they should list that as one of their main features.

BTW, I am a colorblind female who plays games and frequents Slashdot. (How's that for rare)

Retro Power Pack (4 REALLY retro games) $4.95
www.retropack.com

Spheres Of Chaos (awesome particles!!) $8.00
www.chaotics.u-net.com

Pontifex II (words defy me ;) $19.95
www.chroniclogic.com

These games really are addictive, and a lot more fun than they might sound. Also, the Bridge Builder site runs regular contests where you can win other Chronic Logic games, the next one should be starting anytime now...

You might want to check out Chronic Logic. Specifically, Pontifex and/or Pontifex II. Pretty cool games, simple in concept (build a bridge that crosses the river) but some of the levels take a lot of thought to complete. Same guys that did the freeware (or was it shareware?) Bridge Builder a while back. Check them out, I think there is a demo available for both Pontifex and Pontifex II.

It's not all doom and gloom - don't count us indies out so quickly.

There is a very interesting game I personally enjoy by Chronic Logic called Triptych that is quite innovative in my opinion. Kind of like bubble-popping Tetris, but with physics thrown in. They also have a popular bridge-building game called Pontifex II that you might find interesting. Definitely different than most indie games.

And of course there are the games at GarageGames, including our title Orbz - oh yeah, plugging away ;) . I challenge you to find a game quite like Orbz out there - it is definitely not a knock-off.

It's not all doom and gloom - don't count us indies out so quickly.

There is a very interesting game I personally enjoy by Chronic Logic called Triptych that is quite innovative in my opinion. Kind of like bubble-popping Tetris, but with physics thrown in. They also have a popular bridge-building game called Pontifex II that you might find interesting. Definitely different than most indie games.

And of course there are the games at GarageGames, including our title Orbz - oh yeah, plugging away ;) . I challenge you to find a game quite like Orbz out there - it is definitely not a knock-off.

It's not all doom and gloom - don't count us indies out so quickly.

There is a very interesting game I personally enjoy by Chronic Logic called Triptych that is quite innovative in my opinion. Kind of like bubble-popping Tetris, but with physics thrown in. They also have a popular bridge-building game called Pontifex II that you might find interesting. Definitely different than most indie games.

And of course there are the games at GarageGames, including our title Orbz - oh yeah, plugging away ;) . I challenge you to find a game quite like Orbz out there - it is definitely not a knock-off.

Well, and I think everything should start with a piece of ochre and an empty cave wall. You claim that handwriting have some magic properties that are not reproduced in computers. I would really like to see some references to research on such properties, because as it is I am not in the very least convinced.

I think that you will learn about materials, structures and their mechanical strength better through some (of course) real-life experience, some books (e-books are just fine) and a liberal dose of Pontifex. How a pencil and a sheet of paper would help, I do not know, unless, of course, you want to learn the mechanical strength of wood and graphite and want to build structures from paper...

You just have to look a little harder. Games like Uplink, Pontifex and Combat Mission are available, successful on their own scale, and pretty durned innovative! I would love to see more games like Pontifex that educate while they entertain.

Where do the new ideas go if we can't have games like...Shenmue...?

In the case of Shenmue, hopefully into the garbage. Someone at Sega seems to have confused "innovative" with "boring," "pointless," "repetative," "plot-free," and "wildly unrealistic."

Anyway... back on topic...

The editorial is off base. As any creative industry grows the core of the industry becomes conservative, unwilling to take the risks necessary to create truly innovative work. But just because the core does doesn't mean that everyone will. Some companies will realize that you don't need to sell millions of copies to be successful and will happily make modest profits with smaller markets making truly innovative games. The original Counterstrike was just such a case, it popularized the modern SWAT style game and refined into the basis of many multi-player games. Pop Cap Games has done phenominally well with their little games, most notably Bejeweled Something genuinely original? How about surprisingly addictive game about building bridges, Chronic Logic's Pontifex . How about a hard to explain that can only be inaccurately described as action puzzle play matched with turn based stategy, Moonbase Commander . Check out the Independent Games Festival for bunches more of genuinely new and interesting games.

Of course, certain genres are completely unreasonable for small publishers, like massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Or are they? How about a MMORPG without any combat? A Tale in the Desert . A puzzle based MMORPG? Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates .

Thanks to internet distribution, it's becoming more and more economical for a smaller company to reach out to a global audience.

So, there is lots of great new game ideas. Sometimes they even escape from big, conservative companies. So why don't we see them? Why aren't more people aware of them? The problem isn't that a lack of new ideas, the problem is the journalists themselves! By focusing on the big budget rehash games, spending time giving us pointless "preview" coverage over and over ("We still haven't actually played the game, but boy, it sure does look neat. We look forward to its release in forty-eight months") instead of seeking out and publicizing great stuff from small companies. It wouldn't take much to get the general public looking for these games, helping to encourage further innovation. Because the journalists hype them so, the game industry is still stuck in the idiot "Big budget, big payoff" gamble that the movie industry is. With a few small budge success stories we could see big companies realizing that quarter or half million dollar risks don't have huge rewards, but they also lack the possibility of becoming catastrophic failures.

If you're worried about the lack of innovative games, go looking for them, they exist. Point them out to your friends. And if you're a journalist, don't just bitch, tell your readers about what gems you do find!

Have you ever considered calling up the local Game Spot or EB and ask them to stock your game?

Big chains like EB are actually paid by publishers to put the game on their shelves. They also don't pay the publisher for the game until it actually sells. If it doesn't sell, the publisher has to pay shipping to take it back (or they can retroactively lower the price, which is why bargin bins exist). In some cases a store makes more money from publishers than from actually selling the game. Furthermore, purchases are done in huge quantities by central warehouses, not on a store-by-store basis. They don't want to talk to you unless you can supply 1,000 copies (two copies per store). So, you get to pay them to take 1,000 copies of your game which they can return to you if they decide it won't sell.

The game is hostile to small companies and individuals. Not out of malice, but simple economics. This system works well for them, talking to you just isn't reasonable.

To have any hope, you're going to need to find management for your local store willing to make an exception. The big chains often have rules that simply won't allow your little deal to go through. If no such rule exists, the local management may simply quickly check the numbers and realize that even if your game is moderately successful (and the odds are against it), it will cost them more to stock it than they will make in profit. You need to find someone with the freedom to put your product on their shelves and a willingness to make a high-risk, low-benefit move. Really, you're looking for someone willing to take on your product out of a desire to do good, not simple greed. They're out there, but it's a small number. Since you're working on a store-to-store basis, you'll be hard-pressed to get widespread availability.

Your best bet will be truly independent game stores. They certainly exist. Of course, your potential market shrinks even further.

Like all too many things, economies of scale have lead to a situation where the lone creator has serious problems entering the market. Fortunately the internet makes it easy and financially possible to start selling a product, get a few people to try it out, and use work of mouth to spread the word. Thanks to the Internet I've found bands and games I would never otherwise have discovered.

Okay, how about a truly original (not to mention addictive) twist on Tetris

Triptych is kindasorta like Tetris, except you freely rotate the blocks (instead of in 90 degree increments), and it has physics. Yes, _physics_.. the blocks act like spongey rubber blocks, bouncing around and stuff. It's insanely fun to play - personally, I find it extremely easy, but that's kinda nice.. y'can take your brain off the hook and just enjoy the mad bouncy fun. And of course, it gets faster the further you get.

FWIW, it's from the same people who made Pontifex 1 and 2 - the bridge building games. Definately worth checking out.

Want something really original? Try building bridges in Pontifex II. Works under Windows and Linux now (and I believe they're working on MacOS support).

(Screenshots, since the official site's screenshots fail to capture what you can do with it: 1, 2, 3.) I've been a fan of the two previous versions (the regrettably non-Linux friendly Bridge Builder and Pontifex), and I'm pleased to no end that I can play under Linux. The game is alot of fun, like a really geeky Lego set. You get a large number of materials to work with, iron, steel, heavy steel, cables, suspension cables, and hydralics. The game starts a bit slowly with simple levels (probably to help introduce you), but advances to some real tricky problems. Can I span 800 meters? Can I build a drawbridge that allows two boats to pass side by side? Can I build a 200 meter long bridge with no underwater anchor points using only iron beams (the weakest beams). And once you've successfully completed a level, it's fun to see how low you can drive the price down without dunking the train or cars in the river. Or try something radical like a bridge that swings to the side out of the way of the boat or other tortured designs. Or just stick to more conventional designs.

I purchased Pontifex II and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the same day and it's a hard choice for which to play each night.

The game comes with a level editor and has a healthy community that discusses designs, runs contests, and develops extra levels.

I'm glad I purchased a copy and highly recommend it to fans of building stuff and simulations.

Want something really original? Try building bridges in Pontifex II. Works under Windows and Linux now (and I believe they're working on MacOS support).

(Screenshots, since the official site's screenshots fail to capture what you can do with it: 1, 2, 3.) I've been a fan of the two previous versions (the regrettably non-Linux friendly Bridge Builder and Pontifex), and I'm pleased to no end that I can play under Linux. The game is alot of fun, like a really geeky Lego set. You get a large number of materials to work with, iron, steel, heavy steel, cables, suspension cables, and hydralics. The game starts a bit slowly with simple levels (probably to help introduce you), but advances to some real tricky problems. Can I span 800 meters? Can I build a drawbridge that allows two boats to pass side by side? Can I build a 200 meter long bridge with no underwater anchor points using only iron beams (the weakest beams). And once you've successfully completed a level, it's fun to see how low you can drive the price down without dunking the train or cars in the river. Or try something radical like a bridge that swings to the side out of the way of the boat or other tortured designs. Or just stick to more conventional designs.

I purchased Pontifex II and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the same day and it's a hard choice for which to play each night.

The game comes with a level editor and has a healthy community that discusses designs, runs contests, and develops extra levels.

I'm glad I purchased a copy and highly recommend it to fans of building stuff and simulations.

Pontifex is great. And the new version (Pontifex II) is coming out from Linux Real Soon Now. I've been testing the Linux release for the last few days, and while it has rough edges, it's still alot of fun.

...Pontifex. You try and build bridges which stay up when you run trains over them. Really cool.

Go Here -> http://www.chroniclogic.com/

Physics engines arent necessarily for shooting people like in UT. Ever heard of Pontifex?
The old one stresses the heck out of my 1333 Tbird although admittedly, only on very large bridges.
The thing with physics is that it can be a game in and of itself. Once you break away the chains of abstract, made-for-computer, models of reality, and start focusing on actually producing the real thing through the very mathematical equations that physicysts and engineers use on a day-to-day basis, you introduce a whole new level of flexibility into your game, allowing good old human creativity to kick in.
People have been doing the craziest stuff with this series of games, thanks to its realistic physics model. For example, instead of merely building bridges like the game tells us to do, some of us build skyscrapers, mechanical contraptions, or even try to design structures that will withstand being dropped from a certain height. The aforementioned flexibility is perfectly examplified in Pontifex Olympics, a fan-made map pack where you try to build gadgets that mimic the olympic sports.
The problem with real physics versus computer physics is, of course, that you need more computing power in your box in order to provide an accurate simulation. Raytracing versus rendering, for instance, there's lots of examples out there.
Finding more is left as an exercise to the reader ;)

Triptych is like tetris with real physics. Blocks bounce and rotate a *full* 360 degrees;. It's addictive as hell - Works on Linux, Mac and Windows too!

Be sure to check out Pontifex - build bridges...One of the most addictive games I have ever played!

Chronic Logic, the people who brought you the cool Pontifex bridge builder game, have a game called Triptych, which can loosely be defined as 'Tetris meets Columns with physics'.

When you drop blocks, gravity affects them, and you can move blocks around with other blocks. (If your blocks aren't placed square, they don't land square! V shaped blocks tend to sit upside down etc) You get rid of blocks not by making lines, but by getting 3 of the same colour in a row, which then 'energize' and let you eat other blocks of the same colour.

And the best part - it's written in the Simple DirectMedia Layer, so it runs on Windows, Mac or Linux. Check it out. (The main site is in Flash; this site takes you straight to it.

(Disclaimer - I am nothing to do with Chronic Logic - I just like the game.)

Chronic Logic, the people who brought you the cool Pontifex bridge builder game, have a game called Triptych, which can loosely be defined as 'Tetris meets Columns with physics'.

When you drop blocks, gravity affects them, and you can move blocks around with other blocks. (If your blocks aren't placed square, they don't land square! V shaped blocks tend to sit upside down etc) You get rid of blocks not by making lines, but by getting 3 of the same colour in a row, which then 'energize' and let you eat other blocks of the same colour.

And the best part - it's written in the Simple DirectMedia Layer, so it runs on Windows, Mac or Linux. Check it out. (The main site is in Flash; this site takes you straight to it.

(Disclaimer - I am nothing to do with Chronic Logic - I just like the game.)

from Chronic Logic, you have the superb 1 man (i think) effort, Pontifex. (Sounds like crap but play it... it's so much more fun than it sounds!)
And another one that made ./ a while back (which probably whacked their sales up 400%) - Introversion's Uplink... Not so good, but minimal dev team and zero marketing (except for the viral kind...).
It can still be done. It just takes a bit of luck, some real dedication and a decent game before you actually get noticed.

Perhaps my favourite game is elastomania. It's got 18 levels for free (I soon registered) and it may not be for mac (Windows or BeOS). There's loads of fan sites with plenty of free levels as well. I had everyone playing it where I used to work and I've been looking for similarly simple but fun games since. If you think you're getting good at it, just check out the world records for the levels, some people seem to have dedicated their life to it.

It's actually a remake of Action Supercross, but I think it's pretty much a modern classic.

Other games I've found are PocoMan, Pontifex and Triptych

If anyone like these and has more similar suggestions then let me know!

Pontifex is the official sequel to a free ware game in which the player designs and tests bridges. Pontifex uses a complex physics engine called the Immortal Engine which allows the construction of many different types of bridges. Once the design is completed, the player can test the strength of the bridge by sending a train across it. Depending on the quality of the bridges' design, the train will either pass over it safely or plummet into the river below. The 3D engine lets the player view their bridge from any angle including a first-person train view. Many different levels are included, from simple to complex, and a level editor lets users make their own levels to trade with other people.

I stumbled across a Bridge building game a few years ago. Pontifex! (you can grab the demo at the site. It is a great game that lets you construct a bridge by using light weight material/ heavy weight material/ cable/ and decks. while having to stay within a simple materials budget. Each type of constuction equipment had advantage and disadvantages (weight/strength/cost/ etc.)
The best part about this is that it is REALLY EASY to use and understand.
My 7 year old daughter plays with it, and it is not suprising to hear her make comments (I made a bride with the same kind of triangles) or hear her ask questions about a bridge ( Why isn't this bridge too tall with the supports as wide as they are?).
This game is great. I reccomend it.

flogger

From Chronic Logic comes Pontifex where the object is to construct a bridge that can support not only its own weight but that of a train which then attemps to traverse the bridge.

A demo for Win32 is available.

While this game doesn't really have the "sharing" quality descriped in the news item, it does promote development of problem-solving skills and can also become qutie addictive.

Even after you've solved a level, you wind up going back to see how much more efficient (or outrageous) your design can be. Thus promoting creativity as well.

Certainly something that helps stimulate the mind and it's enjoyable for all ages.

From Chronic Logic comes Pontifex where the object is to construct a bridge that can support not only its own weight but that of a train which then attemps to traverse the bridge.

A demo for Win32 is available.

While this game doesn't really have the "sharing" quality descriped in the news item, it does promote development of problem-solving skills and can also become qutie addictive.

Even after you've solved a level, you wind up going back to see how much more efficient (or outrageous) your design can be. Thus promoting creativity as well.

Certainly something that helps stimulate the mind and it's enjoyable for all ages.

Don't forget Pontifex by Chronic Logic.

http://www.chroniclogic.com released Triptych this spring. It has some of the features you've always missed the most in the original, namely the ability to smack that blocking piece away and to squeeze a piece in between two others. This game is actually a physical 2D simulation of slightly bouncy blocks being jammed into a limited space.

They had to change the rules a bit to accomodate the more... ermm... physical nature of this game, but it's still near enough that I'd nominate it for Tetris clone of the year.

Have fun! I've had a lot!

It's a very nice game, with sleek graphics though there is nothing more than a few pictures at best.
the game isn't realistic at all (not opengl style cracking like the movie 'hackers' , but not real either)

Though the game gets pretty repetitive, it does have an external plot, and is very nice.
For a nice review check out the home of the underdogs' review
Another game that is being exclusivly published over the net is pontifex, better known as bridge builder 2, which is an awesome and very addictive game.

...of this really cool game where you build bridges. It's in full 3D with a complex physics engine. I had a lot of fun with this game yesterday :)