Time for stuff! With the notable exception of Great Migrations, the games in this edition of Weekend Download seem to be dominated by white on black landscapes. Old school throwback or conscious atmospheric design choice? To that question I answer: yes!
A House in California (Mac/Win/Linux, 14MB, free) - A surreal sort of game with a mouse-driven interface that works like an old adventure game. The narrative follows four characters who bring a house to life, mainly through memories. Look, remember, play, forget, and other verbs help you interact with pieces of the world, traveling from area to area by visiting old memories and interacting with them. It's a very captivating and emotionally touching experience, and it's great to see a classic game style such as this live on.
Light Arrow (Windows, 8MB, free) - Halloween may be over, but that doesn't mean you can't scare yourself into a hysterical fit, does it? Light Arrow is a minimalist 3D game that manages to be disturbing even though there are only a few environmental obstacles and enemies are a few blocks of pixels. You've got a bow and arrow that shoots light (kind of), and you move around looking for the bright glowing red exit. Enemies, however, really want to give you a hard time, so you've got to take care of them with your arrows. Simple, well made, and with sound effects that beg to be listened to with headphones on.
Great Migrations (Windows, 59MB, demo) - Created to promote the new National Geographic series of the same name, Great Migrations is all about leading animals to safety. Dangers present themselves in the form of predators as well as natural obstacles, and as wave after wave of your animals appear, you must choose a leader, mark out a path, and adjust everything as necessary. After a few levels, you can purchase items to use before each stage as well as utilize helpers that speed up your animals, slow down predators, and heal the wounded. Surprisingly challenging, surprisingly informative (thanks, NatGeo!), and it's always fun herding butterflies, salmon, zebras and red crabs and telling them where to go.
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows 7 and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!
A House in California was absolutely beautiful.
A tip: Remember to always check if you have new actions. :P
You should have no trouble completing this one on your own. :]
I liked A House in California.
Ah, I'm hopeless without walkthroughs. I'm stuck with the fireflies. What to do next?
I
learned how to repair the the kicking machine (from the Computer)
and
broke the dome and the jar with fireflies on the table
Now im stuck. There must be more actions to be learned, but I have no clue what to do next and have tried every combination I can think of. Must have missed something...
"A House in California" is an amazingly beautiful little game (like all his works) but I too am stuck without a walkthrough. I think we can help each other, susi234:
There are fireflies in the computer, and everything you need is on that screen. I'll give you a more direct answer if you need one but aren't hints more fun?
How did you break the jar? I broke the dome but am stuck on the jar.
Logical Ghost,
Play with the table. You'll break its leg. You might have done this already, since this comment is a day late.
I really liked A House in California. One thing that bothered me though,
On the story where you release the birds, there was one point where the character covered up a bird, so I couldn't click on it. I was able to get to it after continuing on and returning, but it tripped me up a bit when I thought I couldn't continue.
Did anyone complete A House In California? I'm stuck on the second chapter and I could really use a walkthrough.
Walkthrough for A House in California, since I really would have liked one and there's a request for one:
READ THIS FIRST:
The beauty of this game is simplicity. There are only a few actions you can take with only a few objects, so if you feel stuck try combining objects with actions even if they don't make sense ... ESPECIALLY if they don't make sense!
This walkthrough covers only the steps necessary to get from the beginning of the game to the end. If you follow it without exploring more you'll miss a lot of beautiful and often very funny descriptions.
Chapter 1: Lois
Catch the fireflies.
Remember the moon.
Remember the small fountain.
Play with the table.
Catch the fireflies.
Remember the window.
Play with the floppy disk.
Learn about the kicking machine (that's just appeared on the computer screen).
Play with the strange painting.
Play with the boy on the computer screen.
Catch the fireflies.
Forget the computer screen.
Forget the fountain.
Repair the broken kicking machine.
Catch the fireflies.
Forget the stars.
Light the lamppost.
Chapter 2: Beulah
Read the billboard.
Cook the (recipe on the) billboard.
Befriend each of the birds.
Write about the clouds.
Read the airplain with the banner.
Cook the (recipe on the) banner.
Befriend each of the birds.
Write about the house on the hill.
Read the cook book.
(There are only two readable books, both much brighter than the others on the shelves. The cookbook is the larger central one.)
Befriend the boy who likes peanut butter.
Cook the empty jar of peanut butter.
Befriend each of the birds.
Read the book about clouds.
(The smaller bright book, above and to the right of the cook book.)
Read the cloud.
Sing with any of the birds.
Chapter 3: Connie
Watch the television.
Watch the car.
Watch the cross.
Listen to the cathedral.
Free the green butterfly. (Any one of them will do.)
Save the orange butterfly.
Watch the television.
Watch the sleeping boy.
Listen to the cathedral.
Rest with the blue butterfly.
Chapter 4: Ann
Remember the lamppost.
Forget the lamppost.
Read any of the birds.
Write about any of the birds.
Watch any of the butterflies.
Listen to any of the butterflies.
Enter the house.
I also really liked house in california, got stuck at the first screen haha the walkthrough was very helpful when i was done exploring :)
@bluemoose19 i had the same problem :/ took me a while to figure out why it wasnt letting me finish the chapter :/
but great game :)
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