The Indiegames Torrent Begins (Rose and Camellia)

Indiegames.com has a "best of" section that's sort of like indie gaming awards. Quality indie games don't come out as often as commercial games for obvious reasons (no money), so a lot of the games on the list are from last year, or possibly earlier. Regardless, there's enough new and interesting stuff that I'll have plenty to write about for a while.

Let's start with an older one I finally decided to bother playing.

Rose and Camellia is basically a slap fight. Zip your mouse across the opposing cheek to slap. Zip it across the bottom of the screen in the opposite direction to dodge. Mice are pretty crappy for drawing with, of course, so the interface is the main obstacle. I suspect this game is best played with a tablet.

Also, you don't heal or save between fights which makes the game an exercise in repetition. But the concept is refreshingly bizarre and the art's nice.