Harvest - Massive Encounter

Welcome back, and wow don't I have one hell of a demo for you to check out today! Harvest - Massive Encounter Is a beautifully made and well polished game. It seems alot of the truly great games thrive off simplicity, Harvest is no exception. Harvest is a real-time strategy game with emphasis on simple resource management. Power plants convert energy which has to be transported via energy links for the construction and running of buildings. Harvester's make "credits" by mining for minerals, credits are then used for the creation of all buildings including your defenses.

The thing I like most about this game is the ability to change the intensity of gameplay, ranging from relaxed to insane. There are 5 modes of gameplay each very simple, but dramatically change how you have to approach the game. In wave mode for example you can spend as long as you like building up your "fortress" and then hammer it with waves of increasingly stronger and numerous alien forces. For more information on the availible features see this link.

Harvest was developed by the Oxeye Game Studio and is available on both Mac OS X, and Windows.

http://www.oxeyegames.com/harvest/download-now/
Game download (Demo, locked features)
$24.99 purchase

Since I still only have the demo (not for long!) I had to grab some screenshots of the hompage to show off some of the unavaible terrain's. Check out those sexy craters.

Bullet Candy

I believe those in the scene call this type of game a Shmup (Shoot 'Em Up), unfortunately for me this doesn't change the fact that I'm utter crap at these type of games. I sometimes wonder how many time's a reviewer get's stuck at a certain stage of the game, becomes so frustrated finally decides to give the game a shit review. That being said Bullet Candy is a very well executed balance of the senses, good music, awesome graphics and a relaxed arcade feel.

A dual analog controller is pretty much a must, left stick for moving and right for aiming. Don't go crazy and try to play with an unrealistic resolution, you'll be doing yourself a massive injustice if you don't have a decent system.

http://www.charliesgames.com/
Game download (free trial version)
$10 purchase

Synasthete

I should probably start with harsh game criticisms to show you all how manly I can be - It seem's that's what everyone's into these days. However Synaesthete has to be one of the best game's I've played in quite some time. Therefore it's no suprise that the team were awarded "Best Student Game" at the IGF this year.

As described on the Synaesthete homepage "Synaesthete creates a harmony between player actions and in-game music, in a way that each influences the other. The rhythm and flow of the music is expressed in every detail of the game, so that the visual and audio are not two experiences, but one." It's hard to find word's that would better describe the game, maybe a piece of music would be more appropriate.

http://www.synaesthetegame.com/
Game download (full free version) availble.

Welcome to indie-source @ blogspot

Another blog, I know - ain't it tedious? Basically I created the blog to keep track of the games I find, hopefully at least one lucky bastard will stumble across this blog and RSS it. I plan to update it at least twice a week, I know that within the first day or so I'll go overboard and say everything I'll need for a whole month - hooray for large amounts of indie games. I'll also probably go ahead and do like a top 10 game list just to pull people in, I like top list's, so do you.