7th Swarming of the Machines is a competition entry by DrPetter, placing you in the shoes of an explorer equipped with a jetpack. Platforms float dangerously in space, attempting to crush you between their walls when given the chance.

Your objective is to collect all the jetpack items indicated by the radar on the top left of the screen. The jetpack boost can be activated by pressing the Z key, and certain tiles can be shot at using the X key.

In ASCIIpOrtal you can fire up to two portals with your hand-held portal device, then enter through one before coming out of the other for some mind-bending teleportation effect. Some of the puzzles in this 2D remake of Valve's Portal include manipulating switches using blocks, placing portals on the other side of chain links, dodging boulders before they crush you, and avoiding laser fields that will burn your flesh instantly on contact.

Links to binaries for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems all available from the Cymon's Games site.

Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game on a hexgrid with single-player campaigns and multi-player matches. Players can build an army of different kinds of fighters from races such as elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls, and more.

Each unit has its own strengths and weaknesses. A unit's defense is based solely on the type of terrain it stands on, making terrain and placement of units very important. Different types of attacks such as melee and ranged, weapon types, and a day-night cycle that alternately favors lawful and chaotic units add to the strategy. Throughout the campaigns units can advance to higher level counterparts and become more powerful. Part of the fun is developing your own army of advanced units as you play through the campaigns.

Boondog is a puzzle-oriented platformer where you progress from stage to stage by jumping and grabbing ledges, moving blocks, avoiding hazards and activating switches. The game includes a friendly tutorial, two separate level packs consisting of a dozen areas in total, plus a comprehensive text manual which explains everything you need to know when creating new level packs with your own music and themes.

Cave Story is a freeware sidescrolling platformer title created by Daisuke Amaya, art-name Pixel. You control a cute little amnesiac who runs around helping out these rabbit-ish creatures called Mimigas while trying to find your way out of the giant cave inside the floating island which makes up the game's setting.

You can expand your health meter by collecting Life Capsules in similar fashion to Metroid games, while you can get stronger by collecting energy to boost your firearms' output. Each weapon can be built up to the maximum level fairly quickly, but taking damage will drain energy from its experience meter, sometimes causing it to level down. Given how quickly they power up this only tends to be an issue during boss fights, and even then there's usually plenty of opportunities for collecting more weapon energy.

The game has loads of secrets, too. For a freeware Japanese platformer, it's fairly lengthy and has quite a large amount of text. We're also talking three very different endings, plenty of plot, and quite a cast of charming characters. It really is a superb little gem.

COBEX - Cruising on Broadway Extra is TCK's remake of the ZX Spectrum game Cruising on Broadway, created with the permission and feedback from the original author of the software. The game involves colouring grids in each stage by moving over them while trying to avoid colliding with enemy ships called chasers.

You can press the space key to break lines and prevent chasers from following your ship, and there is also a combo system that rewards players with bonus points for continuously changing the colour of lines.

In CryptRover, you assume the identity of an archaeologist who's trapped in an underground crypt with limited supply of air. Strangely enough, air supply can be replenished by collecting air cans, while health is restored by walking over med packs strategically placed in areas packed with spiders.

Items are collected and used automatically whenever any of your stats are under optimal values. There are twelve dungeons to explore in total.

Dead Like Ants is another well-written IF adventure game created by Pacian, developer of Gun Mute and Snowblind Aces. In it, you play a young daughter who had been requested by the queen to carry out a special task for her majesty.

The game is rather short with only a handful of locations to explore and even less rooms containing actual puzzles, although some might point out that navigating the maze-like tree is a puzzle in itself. You can type EXITS into the parser to reveal all available passageways inside the room you are currently occupying, while keying in HINT allows you to access a flexible hints system that only reveals solutions to puzzles you have discovered during your journey. It shouldn't take more than half an hour to complete the entire adventure, but as with most of Pacian's releases there are a couple of amusing actions that you could try out by returning to the game after finishing the main quest for the first time.

Dead Like Ants is also playable on Linux and OS X, although you will need the right TADS interpreter for this purpose.

Devil's Brigade Lux is a game of strategy and domination inspired by the board game Risk. Control your armies to conquer and hold strategic countries on the map.

DROD: Architect's Edition is basically a turn-based puzzle game very much in the style of Chip's Challenge and Sokoban.

Gameplay involves moving your player character around, killing critters and solving puzzles in each room. Throughout the game you will be introduced to other elements which will attempt to hinder your progress.

This is a remake of the original Deadly Rooms of Death.