Grrr!


LATEST NEWS from DIGITAL EEL

December 24, 2008

It came from outer space
Disguised as a harmless computer game...

It changed little Billy.

Shrapnel Games & Digital Eel Present
A Twisted Holiday Surprise!

(Now, while it may be true that this interstellar "phenomenon" is no theory, we've got a BRAND NEW GAME to talk about here. So let's get on with it.)

The plot, I mean, the game is called Brainpipe: A Plunge to Unhumanity. Unhumanity because it can, some claim, reveal your true alien self. (It can also put you into a coma, but let's not go there.) Plunge because that's what you do. You plunge through a twisting wormhole within the human brain encountering --through imagery and sound-- thoughts, abstractions, memories and nightmares.

You do know that you have a wormhole inside your head, right? Well, we realize that certain questions arise, principally, is this a simulation or are you actually traveling through your own brain?

We leave it to you to decide.

Brainpipe is an easy to pick up "endurance run" arcade-style game of eye-hand coordination and quick reflexes. Supported by hypnotic 3D graphics, ear tickling sound effects and immersive dreamscape music, its free floating forward moving intensity gradually increases from serene to frenetic as you play.

Brainpipe utilizes an almost effortless one hand/one click interface (unless you play with a joystick, ha ha!) so simple that...you know what I'm going to say...a child can do it. It also sports somewhat unsettling eyeball buttons --a feature which certainly no other game has!

Brainpipe is currently available for Windows users. However, other versions are in the (skunk) works. (Hang on, Apple People!)

Here's a list of features:

A simple and intuitive interface
10 levels of ramping perplexity
8 pleasurably distracting obstacles
Striking 3D graphics
Immersive stereo sound & music
EELMIX sound management
Supports mouse, joystick and gamepad play
Allows windowed mode
No pesky DRM
And more! (Though much of the content is rated 33.13-TOXIC on the Pangborn scale.)

Please stop by Shrapnel Games online and check out the groovy Brainpipe page. It's fun, tinged with weird and will show and tell you everything you need to know --and a few things that you may not want to know!

Brainpipe was created by Digital Eel, makers of Podgy & Jasper's Irrelevant Adventure, Smorbler, Smorbler 2, Oi! Dat's My Leg! Online and Basilisks & Biplanes.

Wait a sec...Let's try that again.

Brainpipe was created by Digital Eel (that's us!), makers of Soup Du Jour, Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, Dr. Blob's Organism and Strange Adventures in Infinite Space. Digital Eel is a self-funded independent gamemaking group located in the Seattle area, and has been providing mighty strange games (that nobody else would DARE make) to this sector of the galaxy since 2001.

Shrapnel Games, founded in 1999, is well known for its range of brilliant strategy games --and for occasionally venturing into the realms of science fiction and fantasy. Shrapnel Games in fact has a terrific reputation among discerning hobby gamers --and among the developers who work with them.

Well, that's about it except to say:

Did I mention that there's a DEMO?

And:

Check out Brainpipe! It will melt your mind.

And:

Happy holidays! Be safe and groovy.

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.

December 18, 2008

B R A I N P I P E   I S   G O L D

Are you ready for a trip beyond space?

Beyond time?

Beyond mind?


December 10, 2008

November 27, 2008

2009 IGF Competition Entrants Announced

And cripes are there a lot of them! As it says on the Independent Games Festival website, 226 entries in the Main Competition (an increase of 30% on last year's 173 entries), and a total of 145 Student Showcase entries. (Check out the student showcase competition roster of entries here and the main competition roster here.) Holy moly, that's a lotta games for judges to plow through. I don't envy their task. Or maybe I do. I mean, what better thing to do than play a bunch of cool indie games, right?

Tip: If you want to see a first glimpse of Brainpipe (a quick description and a groovy screenshot) take a peek here.

Ripcord out.

PS: Who's that on the banner at the top of the entrants pages? Hmm...


November 25, 2008

November 21, 2008


November 18, 2008

November 10, 2008

ESCAPE FROM THE ORDINARY
Play DIGITAL EEL games!

November 6, 2008

October 21, 2008

Just brainpiped in from an alternate direction: Many thanks to Kieron Gillen of Rock, Paper, Shotgun for featuring Soup du Jour this week! KG thinks the game is groovy, saying things like "What makes it fun is just the physicality of the physics - throwing the blobs together and pushing stuff out the way" and "playing with blobby stuff appears to be fun on a fundamental level". The operating word here is fun, and that's what Soup du Jour is: A big bouncy bowl of fun! Curious? Check out Soup du Jour here.


October 18, 2008

MORE MUSIC FROM BEYOND THE PURPLE VOID

Weird Worlds: The Single features more out-of-this-world music from Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space. Check out the Moon Maiden theme, the mysterious endgame loop, the original Urluquai theme, Klakar traders, the churning chaos of a black hole and more!

Weird Worlds: The Single is absolutely FREE to download and share (provided that you coax everyone you know to play lots of Digital Eel games) and comes in one delicious all-purpose MP3 flavor: 44100Hz stereo/192Kbps (4MB). Nabbit!


October 7, 2008

Hyperwave newsflash just in from Sector Prime: Check out 5 Reasons I Bought Strange Adventures in Infinite Space by Zeus on the Bucket Bros. website. It's a terrific overview by a fellow who really gets the game. If you haven't played Strange Adventures, check it out here. It's available for download and on CD for OS 9 (!), OS 10, PC and handhelds, and there's a free demo too. Zeus says "SAIS hearkens back to the days of the Bedroom Programmer, when gameplay was more important than graphics, imagination fueled endless gaming sessions, and the only things shaded were the windows. (You can't let a little thing like DAWN keep you from playing a game like this.)" We couldn't say it better so don't take our word for it, take his! Many thanks from Digital Eel to Captain Zeus and Bucket Bros. for putting SAIS through the paces!


October 5, 2008

Y O U R    D E S T I N A T I O N :    S E C T O R    P R I M E
 
S T R A N G E   A D V E N T U R E S   <   W E I R D   W O R L D S

September 21, 2008

August 21, 2008


Latest transmission from the Purple Void
Transmission "Y-22" - Origin date: 4596
d o w n l o a d


August 11, 2008

Please note that the Shrapnel Games website is currently getting a makeover, so links to Weird Worlds may be broken for a day or two. If you experience a problem, wait a while and try again. Never fear! Soon, all will be revealed.

Ripcord out.


July 1, 2008

BIG BOX OF BLOX GETS SYMBIOTIC!

PRESS RELEASE - Staffordshire, UK - July 1st 2008: Astraware and Digital Eel are excited to announce the release of Big Box of Blox for Symbian® S60® smartphones. This blox-stacking extravaganza is already available for Palm OS® and Windows Mobile® smartphones and PDAs.

Big Box of Blox is a blox-stacking game taken to outrageous extremes! Using stylus or button controls, players arrange the three-blox-high stacks as they fall. Match blox in groups of three or more, vertically or horizontally, to eliminate them - but that's not all!

Don't just stack the blox. Smash them, blast them, mutate them or explode them in a shower of flames! Use special blox including jokers, bombs, frogs, mushrooms, fireballs and slot machines to clear the board before it reaches the top!

Big Box of Blox includes five mind-bending game modes: Flaming Peelout, Blok Atak, Groink, Mushroom King and Asylum Cubez, and players can even create their own combination using the special Custom Mode.

Faithful to the critically-acclaimed PC version, Big Box of Blox features cool psychedelic graphics, awe-inspiring animated backgrounds, brain crunching sound effects and an epic music soundtrack. The game's graphics reflect the dark and mysterious nature of the PC original, but smartphone-owners are sometimes known to go outside into the light, so Big Box of Blox also includes a gamma adjustment slider so users can select their preference from dark and atmospheric to vibrant and acidic.

As an introduction, Club Astraware members can get Big Box of Blox FREE during July 2008. Existing Club Astraware members just need to log into their account to get their free copy of the game.

Non-members can join Club Astraware here --it's completely FREE and only takes a couple of minutes, or they can purchase Big Box of Blox for S60®, Palm OS® or Windows Mobile® for $9.95 here.


June 2, 2008 (updated)

Presenting Weird Worlds: The Soundtrack
Music from Beyond the Purple Void

Direct from the Mystery Kitchen, Digital Eel and Shrapnel Games are pleased to present Weird Worlds: The Soundtrack, a mystery mix of game music from Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space! (Read the official Shrapnel Games press release here.)

Weird Worlds: The Soundtrack is a brisk twelve minute medley that includes 20+ tracks and loops from the game as well as alternate material not used in the final version. In this way it "beats the bootlegs" by providing bonus material never heard outside of the Mystery Kitchen before!

Weird Worlds: The Soundtrack is absolutely FREE to download and share (provided that you tell all of your friends to buy lots of Digital Eel games, of course) and comes in two delicious MP3 flavors: 44100Hz stereo/128Kbps (11MB) and 44100Hz stereo/486Kbps-vbr (21MB).

Weird Worlds: The Soundtrack features the "missing" Weird Worlds theme loop, the Tchorak theme, the Tan Ru theme, the Damocles theme, Primordius' theme, the Muktian theme, the Garthan theme and plenty more. So sit back in your crash couch, relax and let Digital Eel transport you on a musical mystery tour of the galaxy, from Sector Prime to far Quarnix and beyond the Purple Void...


May 11, 2008

Put some PHOSPHOROUS on your desktop!

Once again Digital Eel artist and psychedelic visionary, Phosphorous, sends his regards to everyone with some ogle-worthy desktop art direct from the Mystery Kitchen, this one titled simply "Hut". Standing somewhere upon the borderland of both fantasy and science fiction, this is a place I'm sure we'd all like to live in. (If we were aliens with a slightly more relaxed architectural aesthetic, perhaps.) Download the 1152x864 .bmp format image of "Hut", zipped, here!


May 6, 2008

A priceless artifact of antiquity lies hidden, deep within a confounding tangle of goblin-infested warrens. A lone but fearless dwarf must seize it. A numberless horde of monsters must protect it. Who will prevail? Choose sides, play the game and decide!

Digital Eel presents GOBLIN SLAYER
A free boardgame download!

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!

GOBLIN SLAYER features a special geomorphic game board designed to create a "perfect" but different cave system each time the game is played. The map tiles are perfect for use with your favorite paper roleplaying game as well!

The GOBLIN SLAYER zip file includes the game manual, a color "splash" image and nine large monochrome images of the game board tiles for printing. All you need to supply are common components found in other boardgames, like ordinary dice, coins or poker chips, and pawns or figurines.

GOBLIN SLAYER is freely distributable according to the terms stated in the manual. Feel free to share the game so everyone can play.

To get it, visit the GOBLIN SLAYER web page or grab the game right here!


April 23, 2008

The Eel is Loose! The Eel is Free!
AT SHRAPNEL GAMES
So get all three! Free games, that is.

Websites: Plasmaworm, Dr. Blob's Organism
and Digital Eel's Big Box of Blox

PRESS RELEASE
Grrr!
MYSTERY LINK

Warning: Prolonged exposure to free Digital Eel games can make
you silly. You may experience side effects such as facial twinges,
spontaneous laughter and fun. If side effects persist, enjoy them!


April 22, 2008

April 17, 2008

ESCAPE FROM THE ORDINARY


Join Le Chef in his kitchen and play a matching game like no other!

Click here to go to the Eat Electric Death! website.
The electrifying Weird Worlds starship combat boardgame!

Click here to go to the Weird Worlds website.
Happiness is a warm particle vortex cannon.
Independent Games Festival 2006 Award Winner!

Click here to go to the Strange Adventures in Infinite Space website.
Boldly blow up stuff where no one has blown up stuff before!

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!

April 1, 2008

With mighty star empires poised to unleash terrible interstellar war, the fate of the galaxy is uncertain and hangs tenuously in the balance. Yet, an ancient alien prophecy tells of a new age of great heroes, and of an epic battle to be fought beyond the rifts of time... Beyond the Shadows of Infinity!

+ Explore weird worlds of wonder and plunder.

+ Experience strange adventures and exotic quests, like "fetch me a bucket" or the deadly "placate the Tchorak" challenge.

+ Live another life --as a disgusting alien! Create and play any character you can imagine, from a slimy wormlike vent-dweller to a tentacled floating brain.

Infinite Space Olnine: Shadows of Infinity offers graphics rendering technology so excruciatingly beautiful that your eyes will literally explode, and more skills, powers, quirks, feats, levels, quests, items, monsters, minions, onions, grunions, bunions and punions than any other olnine game!

So, you ask, how much does it cost? That's the best part. You decide! Choose between three easy monthly payments: $11/month, $12/month or the $100/month zircon-encrusted platinum plan. What a deal!

Get ready to enter the vortex on April 1, 2007. The Shadows of Infinity await you!

April fools!


March 26, 2008

Look! Amazing! Whoa! Check it out!
THREE MESMERIZING GAMES

   

FOR THE LOW LOW PRICE OF FREE
PC and Mac versions exclusively!

February 27, 2008

Nifty nooz: If you'd like to read an overview of the independent game development movement, check out L. B. Jeffries' article, Rejecting the Conventional Industry: The Independent Gaming Scene, at PopMatters. According to Jeffries "What makes the games these people produce so impressive is not just the dedication of the people making them, but the staggering creativity that makes so many of them stand out." We agree, except for the staggering part. I mean, you could bump into something. Also, many thanks (three or four, actually; there are three or four of us depending on how you're counting) to L. B. for mentioning Weird Worlds and our latest game, Soup du Jour! The man's got great taste in games, I tell ya.

Ripcord out.


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All text and images are copyright 2001-2009 by R. Carlson, I. Keranen and Phosphorous