Parallel Problems

A puzzle-platformer featuring a reality-shifting mechanic that takes you between two parallel worlds—but the worlds are identical, with one being offset by about 52 inches from the other.

Made for Utah Indie Game Jam 2023.

Features “Vaata” by Fupi (CC0 license), “Meeting Place” by Snabisch (used under CC-BY-3.0 license).

 

Flickering Chambers

The candles in the Twelve Chambers must be lit by a wickster. Once a wickster lights themself ablaze, they will only have five seconds to light every candle in the room. Plan carefully. Press X to jump. Press Z to ignite. Press K to restart a chamber.

Features “Snowfall” and “It’s Here” by Joseph Gilbert/Kistol.

Released during the final hour of the final day of the final year of the 2010s.

Liz & Laz: The Control Cubes

 

When a freak accident destabilizes the stabilizer, the control cubes go missing and Liz and Laz must work together to secure them! Laz transports into a hazardous landscape and relies on directions from Liz to keep him safe.

Taking direct control of Liz, you’ll issue controls to Laz remotely. Liz uses a life-sized game controller to tell Laz to move, jump, and shoot. She jumps on buttons to guide Laz to the control cubes.

  • twelve control cubes across twelve stages
  • Colorful, dangerous world
  • Inventive indirect control system provides unique platforming action
  • Completely reconfigurable keyboard and gamepad controls

Features music by celestialghost8, Snabisch, Juhani Junkala, and Alex McCulloch

Initially designed to be a quickly dashed-off, intentionally frustrating game, I ended up really liking what this became. Inspired by ZZT Engine games (including my own Punctuation People), Lemmings, and the games Nanairo ringo and Kaerazu no mori by Kabusoft.

After the release of this game–the 90th I’ve released–I wrote up a reflection on my blog on my past two decades of game-making and some of the influences I was mindful of when I approached this game in particular.

CYANiDE

    

Set up stages by fixing the positions of balance levers. When you’re ready, touch the ELECTROPOST and convert yourself into an ELECTROBALL so you can safely roll to the GOAL.

Fifteen single-screen stages.

AND IT IS ALL CYAN.

Press X to jump. Press V to restart stage. Press R to return to title screen.

I began work on this game in February 2016, intending it to be just a weekend project, and showed an unfinished version at an Indie Game Play Test Night in Eugene, Oregon at Shoryuken League. I meant to release the game very shortly thereafter, but wanted to explore the elements further with a few more levels. The game was placed on hold as I got increasingly busy with school, teaching, and then went and got married. I dusted the files off in October 2017

Explobers

 

Explobers pushes your planning, puzzle and platforming skills to the limit for a challenging but rewarding experience. —MMOaholic

Explobers is a unique puzzle platformer that requires you to use multiple player characters to solve difficult challenges by using their powers (and lives) to destroy terrain and build blocks in order to navigate through over eighty tricky stages.

The game begins in the familiar CGA palette of classic PCs. As you progress, new graphic modes become available and you may find some secrets!

Explobers will be featured as a part of the upcoming 2018 Smithsonian American Art Museum Arcade in Washington DC on July 22, 2018.

Explobers has a trailer. It also has an official website.

I worked on this game through most of 2017. Please purchase it at itch.io or GameJolt.

As of 2020, the game is also available for Android-based handheld game consoles (such as the Retroid Pocket 2) as Explobers GO and for Android phones as Explobers Pocket. These can be downloaded from the game’s page on itch.

The game is fully playable in Japanese. 日本語でも遊べる!

Santa Claus’s Candy Cane Craze

  

Santa Claus must eat all the candy canes to open the peppermint vortex in each stage. As he eats, he gets larger, and as he gets larger his abilities change! Break through ice, avoid spikes, crawl through narrow paces, and achieve Santa’s peppermint candy cane vision!

Ten stages.

Released on Christmas Day 2016.

Shadow Wrangler

   

Your shadows have split from you and you must guide them to the exit. You can move at will, but the shadows need to be given commands. Pick up command boxes and drop them where you want the shadows to act.

Ten stages of challenging puzzle platforming by proxy.

Controls:
X: Jump
Z: Pick up/put down boxes
R: Restart level

Press ‘L’ on the title screen to load the game from your previous play session. The game autosaves and starting a new game will overwrite previous progress.

Made for Klik of the Month Klub #93.

Super Stone Ball

   

There are many balls! Get one of them to reach the exit! Have other balls turn to stone and become platforms to guide other balls to advance through all eight stages. Build your way to success!

Extra points awarded for balls left over at the end of stages.

Super Stone Ball was selected as a Freeware Pick by IndieGames.com, calling its puzzles “rock hard.”

Instructions:
————————
X: Jump
Z: Turn current ball into stone
Space + mouse: Scroll stage
R: Reset stage
F: Toggle fullscreen
Q: Quit