Welcome to Indie Focus. Each week, I'll showcase a different independent game. Independent games are really great, and they deserve as much recognition as they can get.
This first week, we'll take a look at a game called Chalk.
(http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h315/garfieldfan26/Chalkscreen.jpg)
Link: http://www.konjak.org/chalk.htm (http://www.konjak.org/chalk.htm)
Platform: PC
Chalk is a very interesting game. Everything from the graphics to the sound is bursting with flair, style, and originality. The controls are even interesting: Hold the right mouse button to move, and use the left mouse button to draw with your chalk.
Basically, the game is kind of like a shmup with no shooting. You have to draw lines of chalk from the enemy bullets to the enemies themselves to do any kind of damage. There are also different shapes with dotted green lines. Draw a line through all the dots to destroy them. It's a highly original concept, and it would really work well on a system like the Wii or DS. The game is also very difficult, which is definitely good. It's just difficult to make you try more. You'll more than likely never get too frustrated, but there are some hard spots.
The music is also very nice. It ranges from techno, to kinda happy and fun - almost Yoshi's Story-like - and it fits the game well. Where the game really shines, though, is definitely in its art style; everything really looks like it's drawn on a chalkboard. Everything also animates very smoothly, and the character models all look great.
All in all, I can't wait to see more from this developer, and I highly recommend you download it immediately. The style of the game is absolutely beautiful, and the game is equally fun. It's a great little freeware title that is easy to recommend to almost anyone.