Vector Graphics

What intrigues me particularly about Triangle Wizard is the aesthetics. For a start, it's a Rogue-like, with randomly-generated levels and a variety of character and class types, and spells or abilities triggered by alpha key presses. It uses the mouse, though; left-click to trigger the selected spell/action, and right-click to move to the moused-over location. But it's also a realtime game, with monsters acting continuously (although via fairly predictable AI), to the point that hammering on the mouse button at critical moments is essential. Diablo-esque, in a way.

Clean Asia! is a hardcore shmup that consists wholly of boss battles, carried in what appears to be vector graphics. There are three levels (called Thailand, New Korea, and China, hence the title), with different boss behaviors for each. What's unique and original about the game, however, is that your objective isn't so much shooting enemies as smashing enemies into debris, and then collecting that debris magnetically.

Battleships Forever -- a finalist in the "design innovation" category at this year's Independent Games Festival -- is billed by its designer, Sean Chan, as a space RTS. Actually, it's real-time tactics rather than strategy -- no diplomacy, no resource extraction or building construction, and here at PTT!, we are nothing if not anal in our identification of (and support for) obscure genres.

It's also very nice indeed, despite the occasional crash bug (but it's not yet up to version 1.0, so we may hope these will be taken care of).