pony.town
browser, android (app) - link! - nov. 15

this one's probably more well-known, but i'm gonna talk about it anyways. pony.town is basically the top (i assume) MLP online game.
first of all, the game features a VERY nice pony creator, full of options and styles, and it's weird how stylized you can get with a seemingly simple pony editor, but there are a lot of options.
secondly, the art, which the ENTIRE GAME is drawn in a beautiful pixel art style. it's not over-anti-alised, but it doesn't give off a distinctly "pixel art" vibe, which i like. it also uses shading and lighting to create a greater effect on the environment, and the whole thing is just very pretty to look at.
what do you DO in the thing? make your pony, talk to others, find more ponies like yours in groups (there are a lot of groups.) roleplay with others, which i haven't done personally, but i'm pretty sure it's a big part of the game. you can also build and decorate your own island and house, which you can see mine here.
last, i have to talk about the OST. it's damn calming, one of the nicest video game soundtracks i've ever heard, and you can find it here. my favorite track is Scherzo.

the blockheads
ios, android, mac? - link! - nov. 3

the blockheads is kinda like terraria, but calmer. it only has one axis of blocks, like terraria, but is rendered in 3d, like minecraft. you explore an empty expanse of world, digging for ores in the dirt or chopping down trees or exploring weirdly narrow caves. it's a bit realistic in the types of blocks and crafting systems it offers. ores include copper, tin, iron, steel, and gold, and the item set is weirdly realistic, featuring things like dodo feathers and steel lamps.

i do like how diverse the crafting system in this game. there are like 20 different crafting benches, ranging from your base workbench to electric stoves and trainyards and kilns and all this other different crap. hell, you have to have like 6 stations just to dye clothing -- but i like that about the game! it offers less in terms of fine gameplay, with like 10 mobs, 5 biomes, and no structures, but it does offer a nice experience for what it has. and it's free. it's just on phone, is all.

the game, however, is a little infamous for hacking. the game has basically no protection against it (or time travelling), and the in-game stock market is a disaster sometimes. it exists because of a trade portal - an item that, with in-game currency (that you craft, or find in a chest, or sell items for), allows you to sell and buy anything you want, given your portal is leveled up enough, and that you have actually obtained said item first.

i should mention portals, kind of a special crafting station, one that you spawn in through, obtain special items through, and can spawn (in single-player) more players through. these can be controlled by you, or with a specially crafted item, controlled by a weird AI that never really makes any progress except from maybe gathering fruit from trees you planted.

that's all i really have to say. it's a good game, it has multiplayer, sort of, try it out maybe.
(side note: i love the OST, it's all classical music.)

everybody edits
.exe, previously browser - link! - oct. 27

everybody edits was this flash browser game, another platformer, and it was online. the entire point of the game was to play with friends, place tiles and make fun challenges or puzzles or whatever you wanted, and play other peoples' levels (called level packs?) to gain energy to buy new tiles!

it was super super fun, a little addicting, but unfortunately, it shut down at the end of 2020 with flash. it briefly had a reboot called everybody edits universe, but this was short-lived, as it's only in closed beta. the current community is currently pretty tight-knit, and we love the game, so we're prepared to wait as long as it takes for the third iteration, 'everybody edits!' (dubbed EE!) to come out! it'll probably come out next year, but i'm hopeful, and i'm prepared to give the devs as long as they need.

if you wanna play everybody edits now, there's a supplement called everybody edits offline, found on the main website, which is just an emulated .exe version of the game, without the online features. i hope you guys try it :)

fun fact: my old icon was the EE B) smiley, hue-shifted.
image placeholder using EE tiles

manyland
browser, steam - link! - oct. 27

manyland is this cool free sandbox game where everything is drawn by the players! everything from the tiles, player sprites, backgrounds, npcs, everything is drawn (and coded) by players! there are different types of.. things to make.

there are regular blocks, slopes, "backs" (backgrounds), climbables, semisolids... everything in a normal platformer. UNIQUE from that are types like Dynamics, which allow you to do whatever you want with their own custom coding language, a color palette of around 64, and nine 27x27 cells. they're very fun to play with!

i have my own manyland world, filled with whatever i can find, and many, many, many creations i've made over the last 3 years ive been there! here's the world, manyland.com/oxygen. i hope you guys visit and maybe play it!

introduction
oct. 27
hello! this will be a blog i'm writing to talk about (usually obscure) video games i love to death. i have a lot to say, i guess, so stay tuned!