GEAR

Ever wonder what happens when you mix Froggle, Astrobunny and Super Castlevania 4? Me either.

well, those last two broken games sapped a good amount of time from my day, meaning I'm going to have to be brief with this one.  That's a shame because GEAR is genuinely one of the best designed games I've come across so far.  I guess it's not too bad because there's not much in the way of constructive criticism I have for this game.

Let me be a bit more pointed in my praise.  GEAR really excels in the area of level design.  The game makes absolutely sure that the player knows how to play it.  granted, it's not a very complex game, but still, you'd be surprised how easy it is to obscure simple commands like "run, jump and shoot a gear on a string thingy" with bad instructions and level design.  Even the player who speeds through the textual instructions can easily pick up on what to do through the level design.  "Oh look, there's a thingy that's colored differently from all the other thingies.  I wonder what happens if I click it..."  You get the idea

I'm struggling to think of more things to say.  I betcha if I'd played through the whole game I would have found something that annoys me, but I just didn't have the time for that.  For ostensibly completely delivering on the artistic vision with genuinely good programming and design, this game gets my seal of approval.

Links
Jump! https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=8716

GAmbit

No, that's not a typo.  That's actually how they stylize the title.  I kinda thought it was cool when AEscher did it, but now I can't just dismiss it as an attempt to be artsy because more than one work used it.  Oh well...

aaaand it's a not real exe...

Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=597

Galaxy Express

I've said this before, but I love how every broken game on this list is broken in a unique and different way.  For instance, in this game, I'm presented with as black screen and the only thing I can do is make the word "housing" appear if I mash the "esc" key.  Games are fun, huh?

Links
https://www.digipen.edu/?id=1170&proj=24676