So many games about cities, so little time! Whether you want a city that can't decide whether it's light or dark outside, a city that's infested with bugs, a city made out of colorful polygons, or, um, a city that's... not a city at all with blocks that change color... you're pretty much covered for the weekend!
Cities of Day and Night (Mac/Win, 31-37MB, free) - A 3D atmospheric "adventure" game from increpare, Cities of Day and Night is a game you should really play to see what it's all about. You start off on a small island with swirling green fog and mud-colored textures all around. There's a dais nearby, but what does it do? And is that some sort of orb out in the far distance? Prepare to do some hiking to investigate the mysteries of this game, but it's well-worth it!
City of Doom (Windows, 5MB, free) - From SharkArm Studios comes a remake of the Action 52 game of the same, only now, it's more of an original Game Boy kind of experience! Climb the side of the skyscraper and avoid the bugs that are crawling all over the place. Use your gun to take care of them, and rescue the helpless people along the way. You'll also find some more interesting weapons to use during your climb. And don't forget: when you think you're stuck, try climbing over the sides of the building!
FRACT (Mac/Win, 117MB, beta) - A truly inspired adventure game that's nearing completion, FRACT is too good not to share, even while it's still in beta. Inspired by the Myst series, FRACT presents you with a full 3D world complete with strange contraptions and absolutely no explanation on how to solve the puzzles. The sights and sounds of the world were inspired by electronic music, and the mixing of classic adventure styles with a more modern aesthetic creates a game that's far too intriguing to ignore. Go play it right away, and thank its creator Richard Flanagan later. When the full version hits, we'll be all over it!
How (Windows, 5MB, free) - So, let's pretend for a moment the hyper-amazing VVVVVV was repurposed as a block-touching action puzzle game. Now let's pretend Spydog's How is that game. Oh! We don't have to pretend too hard, because that's essentially what it is! The goal is to touch all the blocks to paint them green. Use the [spacebar] to flip gravity, reversing it whenever you darn well feel like it. Now, try reaching those out-of-the-way blocks by constantly flipping gravity while navigating between dangerous blocks. I dare you! Bonus: includes a level editor!
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!
In Cities of Day and Night, I managed to make two spheres vanish any help with the other two. Stopped trying when I read lots claims that it wasn't a game.
I'm gonna play city of doom, but I have a question. Why when a game is being given an older feel do they make it green? Why not black and white? Other than that it looks like it'll be pretty fun.
Need help, I unzipped city of doom, and whenever I try to start it up, a box that says "city of doom" on the bar(where the 'x' button is) shows up, completely white, and then it closes itself
I've got three "Daytime" spheres in Cities of Day and Night. Still trying to figure out the fourth.
First:
Walk up to it
Second:
Follow the path
Third:
Keep it in sight the entire time
Fract was good looking, and the sound was great, but navigation was so jumpy I got nauseous. So I couldn't make the flipping bars do anything, because trying to get the mouse onto them was so wobbly. So I gave up.
Cities of Day and Night
Fourth Daytime Sphere:
Don't walk while the clouds are present.
I've figured out how to get all four spheres in Cities of Day and Night. But after that its unclear what, if anything, I'm supposed to do now.
repairmanman,
back in the day of monochrome, Hercules monitors, there were three common types: black and white, black and orange, and black and green. I guess the last one had the most "cyber" look :)
bio
Cities of Day and Night Hint-Through
(The whole game is figuring out what to do so I figured a Hint-through would be more appropriate than a straight Walk-through.)
Because I'm the artsy-fartsy type, I've named the orbs based on my interpretation.
City of Day
Acceptance:
No big trick to this one. From the dais, walk directly toward the Orb at the top of the hill. (I noticed that this orb followed me to another corner at one point, but I'm not sure what that accomplished.)
Obedience:
Observe the color of the ground around the dais.
Notice a path?
Follow the lightly-colored path to the orb.
Devotion:
For the orb atop the winding cliffs, pay attention to when it goes dark.
Notice that you never actually see it go dark?
Keep the orb in your sight at all times as you approach.
Patience:
For the final orb, the one approximately level with the starting dais, pay attention to what's happening around you as the orb goes dark.
Specifically, pay attention to the environment.
Walk only when the sky is clear.
City of Night
Perspective:
Look around once you've stepped off the dais for anything unusual.
Be sure to look up.
Walk toward the orb in the sky. Change direction as the orb changes position
Encouragement:
Observe the environmental effects.
Specifically, the wind.
Keep the wind at your back. Change direction as the wind changes.
Illumination:
Pay attention to the ground as you turn.
Notice the brightness of the light
Walk in the direction the light is brightest.
Balance:
You may need headphones for this one.
Listen closely as you turn around.
Try to keep the sound centered in front of you as you walk. Change direction as the sound changes.
The End!
Ugh, increpare got me again. That comment about Cities of Day and Night being "well-worth it!" tricked me into playing through to the end, even though the wandering around was really boring. At the end though, the joke was on me:
Nothing happens, except for the words "The End" displaying on the screen. I couldn't even exit the game normally, and had to end-task it.
I like art games that try to push the boundaries of gaming, but I think the blurb really over hyped this one for me.
Sigh* A game that makes you want to stab someone when you beat it is not very satisfying. I think for the first time ever, I have been trolled by a game developer.
Aw man, just as I got to the first hard level of How, the game ended. That's a bummer. Great game though - crisp controls and a good twist on an old concept.
Fract was neat, but I can't bring myself to take enough notes to get farther in it.
I really want to play Fract, but it runs at a really low frame rate.
I run an Intel Mac with Leopard, and all of my games work fine, but this one has framerate problems. Can anyone offer help?
Can someone help me with the rotating tower in FRACT ? The spoiler says what I did so far.
I suppose I'm meant to be able to get into the rotating tower in FRACT but I can't find anything about it to change. I get zapped if I get near it. A minimal clue will be fine: Do I use one of the ramps ? Is there a way to get onto the half-completed bridge ? I'm at an entire loss.
I have already solved the puzzle with the cubes and the puzzle about routing the light ray.
Trout: It runs fine on my MacBook Pro under Snow Leopard even at top quality. Try reducing the resolution or graphics quality. If you don't see the dialog when you start up try holding down the option key as you start the program.
I need help in FRACT solving the cube puzzle! I can't make heads or tails of it... Even with the solution (which I found through clever clicking on the author's website) I don't understand the logic behind it.
Apart from that it's a really fantastic effort!
I got past my earlier problem with the rotating tower in FRACT, though I'm not really sure what I did differently. My problem was in getting up the ramps. Once I got to the top it was all obvious.
sdotco: the FRACT cube puzzle has two places associated with it. One is the place where you can put your own symbols onto a cube's face. But behind that one (i.e. turn 180 degrees and walk until you find it) is another place where you can operate a device which will show you the cube to match. I suspect you didn't find the second place.
Fract looks compelling, but...
Mac 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7
4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
OS X (Version 10.6.5)
... and at any setting (including the lowest) it is unplayable due to frame-rate issues. No place to comment on authors web site (despite the plea for feedback) so I'm complaining here. Wah. (Sound is awesome, wish I could play).
I'm not sure if I've finished FRACT or not. Is there anything to do after
activating the sequencer and playing with it
?
FRACT is great, thanks JIG!
Remember everybody it's beta (thought it says in the changelog that it's still beatable), optimization for slower computers is coming. Got three beams (red, pink and purple). For some reason the changelog says to look and listen for clues:
might be the sounds close to one of the laser deflectors.
Going to send feedback to the developer.
@repairmanman:
The original GameBoy's screen was an LCD that displayed gray and black pixels on a yellowish-green background. If you look up a photo of one in action, you'll see the color scheme is very similar to City of Doom's.
I suspect there must have been a bug in my game.
I did find that second place you were talking about, but upon getting up to that platform with the purple arrows on the ground, I saw that the button didn't work. The game wouldn't let me press it. I think this must be a bug :(
FRACT:
Jim Menard: for once you have done the thing you mentioned, walk around the level you're on (no need to go up or down). I stumbled on it.
AbstractCloud: you do need the fourth beam. You can walk into the rotating tower if you get things right. I was able to finish the game.
Thanks pesky, Richard recently updated the game stating it to "widen the window" of entering the tower, that should make it easier to enter.
I have the same question as Jim Menard. Did what pesky advised to do (on my own), for about 40 minutes. Found nothing. And, since there is no save...
It was an OK demo for a game, but I'd say, with all due respect, that comparing it to any installation of the Myst-saga is too flattering here... I see that the basic idea is similar, but still...
bio
FRACT: bioLarzen
If the sound console has retracted you've solved the sound console puzzle. Walking around straight ahead of where the console was should trigger the appearance of something. If it doesn't, I suppose you have found a bug. Make sure you're running the 'less-busted version' from the download site.
About Fract :
Do I need to do something before entering the big spinning tower ?
I can't find where to solve the light beams puzzle, even though I found
the midair board with the pattern I suppose I have to reproduce
.
So far, I've completed the
cube puzzle
and have thoroughly
written down the red and indigo patterns
.
Never mind, I just found how to solve the laser beam puzzle.
I hadn't noticed I could press the yellow and blue arrows...
FRACT appears not to exist anymore. At least when I try the link, I get a "something's gone wrong" message.
playing FRACT
i ve gotten quite far but dont know what to do now
i ve turned on all four rays
unlocked the elevator into the island
i ve gone inside and set up the synthesizer according to the rotating blocks floating around the tower on the surface...
what now?
Update