Madness is a seven-day project that explores the theme of insanity in a roguelike very well, where players take on the role of an adventurer who has to descend ten dungeon floors and defeat the evil Dungeon Master who resides at the lowest level. If you enjoy light roguelikes, then this is definitely one game that you should download just for the concept alone.

Everything after this point is spoiler territory, and it is recommended that you try the game out yourself instead of having me reveal all of the surprises that you might encounter during your adventures here. (Windows/Linux, 1.58MB)

In Madness you have a sanity meter that counts down after every couple of moves, but you can replenish it by drinking a potion of sanity if you have one in your possession. Weapons and armor can be equipped, and you will need to light torches and lamps regularly to illuminate your surroundings.

When your sanity is low, you will begin to imagine things. Instead of fighting the usual array of rats, goblins and dragons, players may have to do battle with odd creatures like butterflies, flying spaghetti monsters and unicorns (both pink and robotic varieties). Occasionally you may even come across one of your brethen, but the state of their mind is more likely to cause concern rather than bring a sense of comfort.

I don't know what happens when the sanity counter reaches zero, but you do get some really trippy effects when your adventurer is very close to losing his mind.

#truecrime Activision, the company that publishes Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, did not get the memo. The recent Game Developers Conference is not the venue for half-naked pole dancers. More »

#toys In the upcoming Iron Man movie sequel, Tony Stark won't be going it alone. He's got James Rhodes, aka War Machine, to help him out. And you know what that means: yes, Don Cheadle action figures. More »

#squareenix For the uninitiated, Final Fantasy XIII might seem like the sequel to Final Fantasy XII. It's not. Each game is its own title, so if there was a FFXIII sequel, it would be FFXIII-2. More »

#nintendo RPAD spent the entire Game Developers Conference trying to dig up information on Nintendo's successor to the wildly-successful DS handheld. His findings? Of interest. More »

#callofduty Capping off a fairly terrible fortnight of news surrounding Call of Duty developers Infinity Ward comes word this morning that Modern Warfare 2's map pack is one of the most over-priced pieces of downloadable content we've ever seen. More »

I'm going to post this on the front page because a few people might not have noticed this trailer when the Gamma IV write-up went live just a couple of days ago. According to Mike:

"4Fourths is a 4-player team game, and is probably my favourite Gamma IV winner. Created by Mikengreg, two spaceships adorn the left and right edge of the screen, with a player controlling each (tapping the button boosts the ship up the screen, while releasing it lets the ship fall slowly down). The other two players control the guns, which are both facing into the centre of the level.

Huge boss ships are then sent one by one down the centre of the screen, and the 4 players work together to take each out. Being on opposite sides of the action, it is possible to shoot your team-mates and kill them, so careful blasting is necessary. Of course, you'll probably want to shoot your team-mates anyway since, let's face it, killing each other is fun. Mikengreg are looking for someone to help them take the idea to the next stage, so if you're a publisher-type person reading this - make this happen please."

Think roguelike meet Small Worlds, and you'd have a pretty good idea of what Team Lantickall's A Most Peculiar Adventure is all about. Viewed from an overhead perspective, your quest is to find a complete set of suits, each hidden somewhere in four separate secret caverns on the area map.

Similar to controlling a tank, you use the left or right cursor key to change the character's facing position, then press the up arrow key to move forward one tile at a time. The game will work on either Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, provided that Java is already installed on your machine.

Let's take a look at the latest interviews with indie game developers on the web. Highlights include: Andy Schatz lays out the platform plans for Monaco, a chat log with Captain Farbs, and a near-complete set of interviews with all of this year's IGF finalists.

Kotaku: Monaco Award-Winner Celebrates
"In this video interview with Stephen Totilo, Andy Schatz confirms that Monaco will be arriving on the PC and at least one console system when it's done."

Dejobaan Games: Possible Untruths about Farbs
"Farbs is one of the most celebrated game developers of the '10s, in no small part because of Captain Forever and Captain Successor. Dejobaan interrogates him in the oddest interview you'll read all week."

Rock, Paper, Shotgun: The (Mostly) Complete IGF Factor 2010
"We've interviewed all those who have been nominated for the short list. When you want to know about who these winners are... this is where to look."

A Hardy Developer's Journal: The Interview with Dave Gilbert
"Dave's Blackwell series of adventure games can be considered classics of the genre, already claiming a strong group of followers and subsequently making his company, Wadjet Eye Games, an overnight success. It was a pleasure to be able to speak to the man behind these games."

GameDev.net: Interview with Loren Schmidt
"I'm ready to try and make a living by making games. My second project is a tiny game called 'Tin Can Knight,' which should be out soon."

GameDev.net: Interview with Daniel Benmergui
"What's next for me? In the immediate future, Today I Die Again, the iPhone version of Today I Die. I am very curious to see what the reaction to this version is."

DIYgamer: The Future of Gaming - Spectre
"Spectre is a game where each time you play, you'll end up with a different experience. The game was created by a group of students from USC Interactive Media calling themselves Vaguely Spectacular."

DIYgamer: The Future of Gaming - Puzzle Bloom
"The game Puzzle Bloom hit PAX last September as one of their notable choices, and it's gone on to hit the student showcase at this year's IGF."

TheGamersHub: Pieces Interactive Interview
"We sat down with Calle Kyhlberg and Mårten Brüggemann, co-founders of Pieces Interactive (Fret Nice), to talk about their past, present and what the future might hold for these amazing developers."

#gdc That Game Company's Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, saw their team's game Flower nominated for several Game Developer's Choice Awards, winning for Best Downloadable. We talked about their future, Pokemon, and, since they made motion-games for the PS3, PlayStation Move. More »

To: Luke More »

#gdc Two of Naughty Dog's top people collected five Game Developers Choice Awards lat week for Uncharted 2. Short on material for my backstage interviews, I asked them which awards they deserved most and least. They answered and offered Pokemon tips. More »

#brevity Haiku is so overdone, and would be verbose compared to these spot-on assessments of nearly 100 video games, done in just five words by Games Radar. Some rate a spoiler alert. More »

#gdc Doom co-creator John Carmack earned a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Game Developer's Choice Awards, but he's not done. Oddly, he wasn't sent an early iPad despite being a big iPhone games booster. We discussed that, plus, naturally, Pokemon. More »

#newreleases Tuesday is named for Tiw, the Norse god of war. Fittingly it's also the day Sony's God of War III releases. More »

#gdc Batman: Arkham Asylum art director David Hego did better than I could, talking in a language other than his native one, about Batman winning Best Game Design at the Game Developer's Choice Awards. Plus, he tolerated my Pokemon tips request. More »

#lists Each week throws off several new video game lists ranging from the humorous to the trivial. What's better? A list of those. Here's a roundup of the rundowns out there. More »

#gdc After Valve's Gabe Newell was honored as a Pioneer at the GDC Awards, I asked him to predict gaming's future and to offer more Portal 2 teases, a Half-Life 2: Episode 3 update and Pokemon tips. My success rate: 50%. More »

#screengrab Lemmings marching across a rail underpass in Copenhagen, Denmark, as seen by reader Staffan O. Note the exit over the second light. More »

Nicemetal is a tower defense game with an interesting gimmick, originally created by babarageo for distribution at Comiket 76. There are a number of unmanned defensive structures in each map, and you have to send out soldiers to operate them for a short amount of time before they'd return back to base.

Enemy robots will attempt to break through your defense, so it is just a question of managing your limited resources and destroying your adversaries before they reach the front gates. Your troops can only move in a straight line, and an enemy robot will have no hesitation when it comes to crushing them with their feet if the two ever meet.

You'll have to skip two cutscenes first before access to stage one is given at the main menu. There are six levels to play in total.