Following Freeware – July 2015 releases

White is More Dead: Episode I

Detective Pigeonmoche gets a new case, in which he must investigate the murder of a pipe-maker named Hector. The murder weapon was a tin whistle, and the victim’s shoes are missing. A black substance is smeared on the victim’s mailbox. Stumped, Pigeonmoche goes back to his office and asks for the help of his friend Chef Georges. Together they solve the case of the shoe-stealing murderer.

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White is More Dead: Episode I, by Ludovic C. (aka chefgeorges), is drawn in a distinct pixel art style. The first half, which plays mostly in the daytime, is drawn in bright colors but the second half at night looks predictably darker and much less vibrant. Everybody you encounter, including the two protagonists, have small bodies and enormous heads, and the whole game has a comic look about it. Most of the game takes place outside at locations including a farm, a villa and a newspaper office. Cheerful jazzy music accompanies the investigation, which has no voices or sound effects. All text is displayed on screen.

The cursor can be cycled using the right mouse button between a walk icon and the inventory item you are currently carrying. At the top of the screen are other commands like grab, use and talk, which you can only access by clicking them directly. The inventory is displayed at the bottom of the screen, as are text choices you can choose from during conversations. The puzzles are a mixed lot of basic inventory challenges and some interesting conversational puzzles. The latter are well constructed but fairly difficult due to translation issues. The game was originally designed in French, and the translation is sometimes so bad that I found it impossible to make out what the characters were talking about. Luckily the choices you have to make during conversations are all perfectly understandable. The script is also sprinkled with funny jokes, so despite the language flaws it’s certainly not a badly written game. There are a few loose ends, but I guess we will find out about them in the next episode.

(Note: Some people, including me, have had trouble running the introductory video that comes with the game. You can run the file directly from the game directory using a suitable video player, but it doesn’t contain any information that is essential for completing the game.)

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White is More Dead: Episode I can be downloaded from the Adventure Game Studio.

Cauchemarionto

You gain consciousness and find yourself in a strange room between dimensions with two doors leading out. On a cupboard stands a talking plant who bluntly tells you that you look like a fridge and that you have to open a door to get out. You manage to open one of the doors and stumble upon a dead body. Not knowing what to do with it, you press on, trying to find someone who can tell you who and what you are. Eventually you learn your name, and that you have been used as a pawn in a terrible war.

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The third-person game world of vladeK’s Cauchemarionto, which consists of a number of small island-like areas, a few rooms and the shore of a lake, is presented in simple, minimalistic screens. Most of the characters are drawn in bright colors using only a few straight lines, with square heads and oblique bodies, and triangles for arms and legs. The titular protagonist does indeed look like a refrigerator with small pointed legs, one big eye on his ‘chest’ and two dog-ear-like things that could be arms hanging on both his sides. In contrast to the colorful characters, the environmental palette is drab and sombre. Strange electronic music plays continuously throughout, with a different tune at each location. No voices or sound effects can be heard. All dialogue is shown on screen as text in bright, colored letters.

Cauchemarionto is played using the mouse. The left mouse button interacts, while the right button cycles through the different cursor options like talk, grab, etc. and uses the current inventory item you carry. Moving the cursor to the top of the screen makes a bar appear from which you can choose the same commands, as well as access the inventory. The few puzzles you’ll face are inventory-based and not hard. This game is more about the very bizarre and slightly intriguing story. As the mysterious protagonist, you have to put up with quite a lot of weird stuff. Everyone you meet is being tortured or dying, you must run errands for a man-like being in a black coat, and you don’t learn much about yourself from the beings you speak to. The ending is not at all what you might expect, but it gives rise to some interesting questions. If you like a game with a few dark subjects to think about after finishing, then this one is for you. It is not suitable for children because it deals with such adult-oriented themes as questions of identity, death and torture.

Cauchemarionto can be downloaded from the Adventure Game Studio.

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Steve’s Selections

You’re Grounded!

For quite a while now your mother has grown tired of you breaking household items with your experiments. When she catches you messing around with the washing machine, she has had enough. You’re grounded and confined to your room. But at that moment a future you arrives with terrible news. In five minutes a bomb will go off that will obliterate the town, including your house. Fortunately, future you brought plans for a device to stop it, and grants you free use of the time machine. But you are only able to transport yourself within those five minutes, and with only what is in your room to work with, can you avert disaster?

With You’re Grounded!, RANDOM games have taken their time travel premise and made as much use of it as they can. The graphics are done in a mildly cartoonish style, with a lot of bright colours. With the entire game set in a single location, a lot needed to be fitted into a small space, and there is plenty of detail. Some items lay scattered on the floor, whilst others can be found on shelves or in cupboards. You also have a couple of pets who act on their own, though you can influence their behaviour. All of these are smoothly animated. The soundtrack is a lively tune that speeds up as your time runs out. There are also plentiful sound effects, the most common being the electrical fizz of the time machine operating.

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