The MiniScript community has been really growing lately, in part due to our partnership with Micro-Jam. Some amazingly talented game devs have started building games for Mini Micro, and even though most of them are made in a weekend, they’re really fun to play! Here are a few of my favorites.
Game jammer SuperMatCat24 has been a game-dev superstar, producing most of the games in this list. First up is Demake, a fun platformer with a unique gimmick: your hero (an adorable penguin) starts in a Gameboy game, and has to advance through the generations of Nintendo hardware in order to get home!
(If you love SuperMatCat24’s platformers, be sure to check out Mauo Demo too! And if you just can’t get enough Mini Micro platformers, be sure to try Kip and the Caves of Lava.)
That’s Mini Macro, not Mini Micro! Also by SuperMatCat24, Mini Macro is a polished, top-down 1v1 racing game. You can hold Shift to drift, the better to scoot around corners or pick up coins. Coins can be spent on various upgrades for your car. Work your way through 10 different races.
The game features nice polish like smoke and tire tracks, excellent overall design, and controls that feel really good. It’s not an easy game — I have yet to actually win a race — but it has depth. (So much so, that you may see this one develop into a DLC game!)
The next game on our list is Sub-Optimal by Florian Castel. I loved this puzzle game so much that I made a level editor for it! You control a little orange sub trying to get out of an underground cave, but on every turn you move a fixed distance unless you hit something — and hitting something reduces your subsequent distance.
It’s a simple but unique concept, and quickly addictive. And with the new level editor, you can now create your own puzzles to share with your friends! This game has the potential to become a Sokoban-like puzzle classic. Give it a try!
Next up is Spectre Rescue, again by SuperMatCat24. This is an arena shooter in a monster-infested mansion. As usual with this dev’s games, there is a fun twist: the defeated monsters turn into ghosts who will follow you around and fight on your side for a while, as thanks for freeing them from their torment.
It’s a well-done game with cute graphics, good balance, and tight controls. If you love an arena shooter, you’re going to love Spectre Rescue!
Last up, I’m going to plug a game that I made with Armen138, a talented game developer who was kind enough to step into the artist role for this project. Together we built Spider-Pig, in which you web-swing through the city, eating junk food and collecting alien tech powerups. The goal is to reach the malfunctioning UFO as fast as you can.
It’s a game made for speed-runners! The web-swinging mechanic is fun but tricky to use efficiently, giving the game lots of replay potential. My record for beating it is about 10 minutes (though that was without collecting all the food). I bet you can do better!
So, there are some of my favorite recent Mini Micro games. Which is your favorite? Chime in using the comment form below!