"You get sucked into the mesmerizing setting immediately, and you will not want to blink or turn away for even an instant."
- Bob Mandel, Adrenaline Vault
"(The) combination of atmospheric ambient music and classic arcade-style sound effects compliment the trippy visuals perfectly."
- Joseph Vanburen, HarryBalls.com
"The subtle doppler effect on the constant and schizophrenic audio-visual assault positions you squarely inside the game in ways that most struggle at."
- Brandon Boyer, Offworld
"Digital Eel makes deep games about weird stuff, going so far as to name one of their better games Weird Worlds. Then they went ahead and outdid themselves."
- the99th, Play This Thing!
Nuff said! Learn more, get the demo and reveal your alien brain here!
June 10, 2009
EVERY DAY IS
FREE GAME DAY
AT DIGITAL EEL!
In direct response to the worldwide economic crisis Digital Eel is compelled to remind everyone that free games can (in these uncertain times) mean the difference between gaming and not gaming, and not gaming is no fun, so why take chances? Remember, Plasmaworm, Dr. Blob's Organism, Big Box of Blox and Goblin Slayer are all free and freely distributable --and no strings attached either, like DRM junk, ads, registration or anything like that. Simply download, install and play. Just like the old days. --Enjoy!
Jokers, bombs, frogs, fireballs, slot machines, boulders and more!
Digital Eel's Big Box of Blox is a stacking and matching game taken to outrageous extremes! The rules are simple. With easy keystrokes carefully arrange the three-blox-high columns as they fall. Match blox in each column to eliminate rows. The gameplay is very easy going at first glance -but there's more!
Why just simply stack blox? What if you could smash them, blast them, squish them or mutate them? Digital Eel's Big Box of Blox introduces jokers, bombs, hidden blox, frogs, fireballs, slot machines, "wild" blox, boulders and lots of surprises to keep your eyes, ears, brain and fingers happy and challenged. (And that's a tall order so check it out!)
Blast feisty one-celled organisms before they getcha! Independent Games Festival 2004 Double Award Winner!
Dr. Blob's Organism is a lightning-fast shooter game where players blast feisty one-celled organisms as they try to escape from a petri dish.
Each level -each new dish- introduces powerups (like freeze, lightning and multiguns) and special blob abilities (like force field, regeneration and frenzy) to amp up the fun and increase the challenge throughout the entire game!
The disturbingly addictive Snake game.
Plasmaworm is an easy to play -but challenging to master- arcade game for all ages.
It's best described as a modern relative of early computer games such as Snake, TRON Light Cycles
and Pizza Worm (DOS). The full version of the game includes 20 different levels of increasing perplexity playable
in solo or two-player modes. You can also create your own psychedelic plasma, music and levels
using the built-in editors. Cool!
A print and play boardgame of fantasy combat underground!
Goblin Slayer is a quick easy to play boardgame of heroic adventure and underground combat for two players. One player controls the evil denizens of the "Cave of Woe", an innumerable tribe of goblins (and an optional "guest star") who jealously guard a fabulous object. The other player controls Stormbeard the dwarf, armed with his legendary battleaxe, who must explore the cavern complex, acquire the ancient artifact and escape alive. Not so easy!
May 27, 2009
Hot off the hyperpress: BRAINPIPE for Mac updated... New patch released for OS X version... This is the one you've been waiting for... More details to follow...
We like to call it the frisky patch. It lets you get slippery and frisky at high speeds (and who doesn't want to do that?). This is an ESSENTIAL Mac version update, so grab it now --or click here to go to the Brainpipe site and poke around a bit.
Ripcord out.
May 17, 2009
Phosphorous Lets Slip the Fish of War! Subsurface Defenders of Oceans in Peril
Download a larger, higher quality version for your video collection here.
May 5, 2009
The Music is Back!
Back by popular demand. Cool tunes from the Purple Void. Music for aliens. Songs in the key of weird. To start the playlist, click the first, or any, selection. Also, look forward to more sonic oddities from the Mystery Kitchen --and by The Nightmare Band-- coming soon!
Weird Worlds: The Single Void Probe Blok Atak Weird Worlds: The Soundtrack Dr. Blob Forest Clam Dance Plasmaworm I was a Teenage Haircut
April 24, 2009
Hold it Bert --Brainpipe Nabs an Ernie! Plus a Long Overdue Update!
Here's the scoop from Bytten.com: "Every year, at around Easter time, Bytten pays tribute to selected indie games in the Bytten Ernie awards which reward independent games that stand out of the crowd."
This year, Bytten has bestowed the Best In-game Audio award upon Brainpipe (Zing!), and we're honored and very appreciative of their recognition, and for being included on such a great roster of indie games. Thanks guys!
Here's what Bytten has to say about Brainpipe's soundscape:
A cacophony of bizarre, sometimes soothing and sometimes unnerving samples over an evocative and swirling composition of background tracks. Sound effects that not only react to the action on-screen, but are important to the player in terms of timing and spacial awareness. Brainpipe is noteworthy as a game not only because of the degree to which the player interprets and utilises the in-game audio during play, but also the quality of the audio itself, which is excellent.
Also, a big Digitally Eelish thanks goes out to Meagan VanBurkleo of GameInformer for featuring Brainpipe in GI's annual Indie Week IGF overview. Listed among the likes of cool indie games like Blueberry Garden and CarnyVale Showtime, again, we're honored and grateful for the recognition of what may be our weirdest game! Be sure to check out the Brainpipe Indie Week feature here.
Lastly, you may have noticed that Digital Eel has been rather quiet over the last couple of weeks. Well, we were hit by two viruses: one, a nasty Trojan Horse malware nightmare which eventually took down our main computer, and two, a real virus --the flu kind-- which took Ripcord down for a while longer. The good news is that everything is back to normal (and Ripcord is up and feeling lots better), so updates should appear in a more timely fashion again. Thanks to all for your patience!
The Independent Games Festival at the Game Developers Conference in trippy San Francisco, California. For the indie awards show, aliens tastefully festooned the IGF logo with writhing cilia and black tentacles.
2009 IGF Award Winners Announced BRAINPIPE scores!
Amazingly, considering the sheer number of entries, some terrific co-contenders and the rather daunting presence of game industry insider judges, our trippy little game, Brainpipe, scored the Independent Games FestivalExcellence in Audio award, a catch-all accolade that includes both music and sound effects. Neat!
Getting this award was pretty special and meaningful for us for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that we all worked on the sound and music together, which was more fun than humans should be allowed to have and very productive of fresh and unusual sonic ideas. Three heads can be better than one in this regard, and "With a little help from your friends" is no cheap cliche.
Go read the semi-official Gamasutra announcement here.
We'll be posting the obligatory Digital Eel GDC Mystery Tour 2009 pictures sometime within the next week. Be sure to check back from time to time so you can experience just a smidgeon of our GDC/IGF road trip adventure via the miracle of the internet and a couple of cheap cameras. Also, this way you won't get any on ya.
Ripcord out.
March 13, 2009
Direct from the Mystery Kitchen: The heart, the heads and now The Voice of Digital Eel: Omaha Sternberg interviews Digital Eel artist (and designer and musician) Phosphorous on iGame Radio. This is a rare treat, folks, and Phos really lays it down, whatever that means, so click here to listen to part one of Omaha's Gaming the IGF 2009 podcast!
March 12, 2009
UPDATE YOUR PIPE AND VOTE!
BRAINPIPE Patch Released for Mac & PC
Attention joystick brainpipers! Be sure to grab the BRAINPIPE version 1.0.1 patch because it corrects a joystick calibration error just for you! Please note: the patch is only necessary if you purchased the full version of the game before today, March 12, 2009.
Did you know that YOU can directly participate in the Independent Games Festival awards from afar? Yes, you certainly can and now's your chance! Click this link to go to the Audience Choice award page and cast your vote for your favorite finalist game in this year's competition. You can even download demo versions of each game to help you make your decision. How cool is that?!
Of course, we encourage you to vote for BRAINPIPE, a true indie game created by us, Digital Eel, a completely non-funded development group who create games for no other reason than as a labor of love. Yeah! So, let's share the love, which is always a good thing to do. Vote for BRAINPIPE today!
Brought to you by Phosphorous Enterprizes, a wholly pwned subsidiary of Worldwide Eel, Incorpolated.
February 23, 2009
The viral conspiracy to infect unsuspecting computer users and uncover hidden aliens among us continues to run rampant over the face of the Earth.
Brainpipe has been released for Mac gamers!
Yes, you heard right. The game that melts minds --the game that plays like having sex with Yog Sothoth-- is now available for Mac users, as well it should be! But wait, there's more! There is absolutely no way to escape playing Brainpipe because the Mac Demo has been released as well. Aren't you glad we warned you!
MacPipe, as we like to call it, offers the same exact eye-watering, ear-tickling, wrist-wriggling and out-freaking experience as the PC version but the cool thing is that you don't have to have a PC to play it! Ha ha! Take that, you Windows people, you!
Brainpipe utilizes the concept of sophisticated unsophistication (or is it the other way around?): an almost effortless one hand/one click interface (so you can casually eat a sandwich while you play) so simple that...you know what I'm going to say...even lower lifeforms, like human males, can do it. Brainpipe also sports goinking eyeball buttons, a somewhat unnerving feature which certainly no other game has!
A simple and intuitive interface*
10 levels of ramping perplexity
8 pleasurably distracting obstacles
Striking 3D graphics (Ow, my eyes!)
Immersive stereo sound & music
EELMIX sound management
Supports mouse, joystick and gamepad play
Allows windowed mode (but not Windows)
No pesky DRM
*Designed by simple and intuitive, but mostly simple, people.
Be sure to stop in at Shrapnel Games, take a gander at the trippy Brainpipe page and download MacPipe today! If you do it quickly enough you won't even have time to think about the irreversible effects the game might have on your psyche and indeed, your physical form. What do we mean by this? Play Brainpipe and find out for yourself! Come on. The first one's free. Are ya chicken? We dare ya!
The makers of Brainpipe wish to thank the F'Tang emissary, Galprefect Hoon, K'Kek "the smorbler" Klug'G and the Phantom Federation for undying support, technical advice, psychedelic coercion, sensory deprivation implants and regular mind control transmissions. Without their timely interference humanity would almost certainly remain human.
As Brainpipe began, and my eyes settled on my game surroundings, I asked myself one question: "What in the world is this?"
Indeed, what in the world is Brainpipe? Well, as we've said, it is not of this world. Its origin, once only known by a select few earthlings in key posiitions chosen by the "Masters", is the Purple Void near the rim of our part of the galaxy. Fortunately....or not, its true and shocking purpose has been exposed by none other than ourselves, Digital Eel.
We did submit to telepsychic stimulus from beyond in order to bring this knowledge, and dire warning, to mankind. However, we have also been warped by the experience (imagine creating an electronic game via mental transmissions from an alien focus group) and so, we must offer Brainpipe for sale. Risky, yes, but this is a displacement activity we engage in so we don't go completely insane.
Thanks to Jaime for bestowing a 4/5 rating on Brainpipe, and for taking time to play it and share his impressions. We can only hope he "came back" afterward. Thanks to Helium as well, and to the fine folks posting comments about Brainpipe below Jaime's review. We can only hope you all came back too.
Alas, it is a dim hope.
Ripcord out.
February 4, 2009
Adrenaline Vault just posted Bob Mandel's Top casual PC games of 2008 review and hey, along with a whole bunch of other cool games, Brainpipe made the list --but only barely, having been released in December of last year. Whew, that was close!
Bob uses words like gorgeous, elegant, sumptuous and wonderful to describe what is essentially an alien mind control virus disguised as an innocuous, if trippy, computer game. Talk about irresponsible. He should be waving red warning flags and calling the National Guard!
Note that Mr. Mandel does go on to say that You get sucked into the mesmerizing setting immediately, and you will not want to blink or turn away for even an instant. See! It's obvious isn't it? He's been playing the game and is becoming one of them, if it hasn't happened already, and he's trying to recruit you!
Take heed from examples like this, folks. Brainpipe is a mindwarping "trip" not to be trifled with. Uh-uh. No way. So get it here!
January 25, 2009
Hyperweb Headline News:Brainpipe was awarded 4 out of 5 Balls by Joseph Vanburen in his recent HarryBalls.com review. Joseph thinks playing Brainpipe is like traveling through the Matrix on acid. He also mentions that the combination of atmospheric ambient music and classic arcade-style sound effects compliment the trippy visuals perfectly.
Unfortunately, while these pronouncements are very positive and may well be accurate, I must say at this point that we have lost Joseph. Yes, it's true (and it can happen to you). He's been sucked into his own brain by subconscious titillation of the trippocampus. The only hope for him now is to keep playing Brainpipe (as if he has any choice) until he reveals his hidden self --a liberating yet terrifying experience!
Ripcord out.
January 12, 2009
Just piped in from beyond the Electric Membrane: As seen on boingboing, Offworld and Brandon Boyer have posted The Offworld Guide to the 2009 Independent Games Festival, a comprehensive overview of all 22 main competition IGF finalist games. Definitely check this article out because it's ALL there including mini-reviews, links to demos, game pages, videos and lordy knows what else. You can even see a nifty Brainpipe movie on page 1, but be careful because even just seeing a fuzzy video version can french fry your trippocampus! (And we wouldn't want that to happen. Would we?)
January 7, 2009
2009 IGF Competition Finalists Announced
Cool news! Brainpipe was just nominated by 2009 Independent Games Festival judges for the coveted Excellence in Audio award. This is nifty recognition this time because Iikka, Phosphorous and myself, all of us, created the sfx, the music and the sound system (EELMIX) together. The Indie Games Festival award winners will be announced at the festival itself, part of the Game Developers Conference, on Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. If you happen to be there, be sure to stop by the IGF area and say hi. In the words of John Lennon, we'd love to turn you on!
January 1, 2009
So Brainpipe has been out for a few days --what's the buzz? Well, Jim Rossignol of Rock, Paper, Shotgun describes it as being a game of lysergic excellence, while the99th of Play This Thing says playing Brainpipe is like having sex with Yog Sothoth.
Obviously the message to be gleaned so far is Do not play this gameif you value your sanity, not to mention your mortal soul. In other words, if you're the kind of person who craves dangerous knowledge and believes that psychedelic vision is reality, you'll love it!
Back by popular demand. Cool tunes from the Purple Void. Music for aliens. Songs in the key of weird. To start the playlist, click the first, or any, selection. Also, look forward to more sonic oddities from the Mystery Kitchen --and by The Nightmare Band-- coming soon!
Amazingly, considering the sheer number of entries, some terrific co-contenders and the rather daunting presence of game industry insider judges, our trippy little game, 
Direct from the Mystery Kitchen: The heart, the heads and now The Voice of Digital Eel: Omaha Sternberg interviews Digital Eel artist (and designer and musician) 
