Some day I may actually achieve my original intention to make Thursdays into Link Attack days… in the meanwhile, here are a couple of links to fun black-and-white videogames (one published, the other still in production).
Echochrome is a platformer of sorts for the PSP. You manipulate an isometric 3D view to create optical illusions that allow a mannequin to progress through M.C. Escher-inspired levels. This game is available for download on the PSP and PS3, and kept me quite busy during a recent several-hour bus ride. It’s a simple concept, but can be bloody hard… very fun. My only real complaint is that the controls make some of the necessary camera movements difficult to hit precisely under the clock. Screenshot (from Playstation.Blog):
I read about The Unfinished Swan a few weeks ago on Subtraction. To my knowledge it is the only game billing itself as a “first-person painter”, and I really like its basic game mechanic: you reveal your environment, and story clues, by splattering paint on walls and floors. It’s being prototyped in XNA, and the site anticipates a verticle slice in the Spring. Although it’s unclear exactly what the challenge of the game will be, it is a really cool direction for game art direction: