Last week, we began a countdown to the Independent Games Festival. The way this works is easy: we simply select and discuss games randomly from the lengthy (306 total) list of IGF submissions. For this week’s column, I played through the demos for both The Dream Machine, a point-and-click adventure and Broken Brothers Deluxe, a unique strategy title.

Before starting this I want to emphasize that this is only meant to give you my impressions and perhaps that extra kick to try out some of the IGF submissions, whether they be these or any of the other 306. I assure you, you will discover that there is something unique about each and every game. And hey, if you’re lucky, some of them are even playable for free! All right, without further ado, here are this week’s picks.

The Dream Machine

Well, brushing off my Machinarium high is still no easy task. I’m left wanting more point-and-click adventures. I guess I got lucky and stumbled upon this. The Dream Machine is the work of two people: Erik Zaring and Anders Gustafsson, cleverly under the name Cockroach Inc. Boy, did they work their asses off on this game! Taking a look at just a couple of screenshots will make you realize that the game’s environment, props, and characters are made entirely of clay and cardboard. This was hard to believe while playing through the demo since many of the actions were so fluidly done. So I have to start by applauding the Swedish duo for having the balls to do what they did.

The game looks fantastic and incredibly unique. Perhaps not in terms of gameplay, but its look and feel are at first creepy, then grow to your liking. Basically, you play as a couple, Victor and Alicia, who move into a new apartment only to discover a surveillance camera behind a painting in the home. Weird, right? It’s an excellent premise, really; something that can potentially attach you to the game emotionally. Depending on the direction they choose to take with the story, the game could either turn out to be creepy or happy-go-lucky. Seeing as how the demo is really short, I’d rather have you spend five to ten minutes playing through it and form your own opinions rather than ruin the experience for you. I will, however, say this: there is no hint feature added yet, so you may feel stuck once or twice but since the demo is short, there isn’t too much to ponder over. The title looks promising and could even be an unexpected hit in 2010. All I know is, we look forward to what Cockroach Inc. will offer us in 2010 and wish them luck in the IGF competition.

Broken Brothers Deluxe

Both of this week’s picks have great art and design! Broken Brothers Deluxe is a real-time strategy game by Spyeart (Michael Todd). It’s art style is freakin’ incredible. There aren’t a variety of colors or next-gen graphics, but the stylistic appeal of this game is just far too powerful. Combined with a soundtrack that matches its style, Broken Brothers Deluxe is an otherworldly experience. Now that that’s out of the way, on to the game itself.

Explaining the story is almost impossible, but the general premise is this: You must help Malakai find his brothers and deal with whatever they have become. In the beta, you are given three levels to tinker with. To tell you the truth, I haven’t really played any RTS games since the golden days of Age of Empires and StarCraft. That being said, I truly enjoyed the uniqueness of Broken Brothers Deluxe. You have to become familiar with the different types of units, though, because when you click on a unit, its name does not show. However, being able to zoom in and out should help you out with this problem. Actually, if anything it drags you more into the game since you’re so concentrated on your units. There’s a level-up system which allows you to choose from a list of predetermined upgrades (each time I leveled, it was a different list) which truly takes the game a notch above any other RTS that I’ve played. It is certainly recommended you try it for yourself.

And that’s week number two, everybody! Two powerful contenders for IGF with unique stylistic appeal and strong gameplay elements. I encourage you to try both of these and any of the other submissions as well. We wish the best of luck to all IGF participants and look forward to playing their games!