Here at Radcade, we LOVE indie web games. And what better way to show our love for web games than by covering the best of them from the JS13k Game Jam. For those who don’t know what a game jam is, it is an event in which people try to make a game from scratch under a certain amount of time or set of rules. The JS13K Game Jam is a game jam where indie developers had the restrictions of using Javascript and HTML5 apis to make a game with a total file size capped at 13 kilobytes. Now it may not seem possible to create much with a 13kb limit, but after we played through all the games, we have definitely found a few games that really push the boundaries of those limits or sacrificed something in order to reach the limit. The 13kb limit also ensures these games will be quick to load and play on mobile. These are some really good games that you should really check out and are fun if you have some spare time! #9 Dark Light by ShexTheSwift
Dark Light is a unique combination rogue-like and puzzle adventure game. You walk around in a roguelike dungeon maze and control the light radius of your character. If the radius is too big you will get noticed by enemies and attacked. If it is too small enemies will lose track, but you will have trouble seeing and navigating the dungeon. An overall fun and unique dungeon crawler! #8. Soul Not Found by Martin Tale
Soul Not Found is an incremental game with online and offline progress. You can keep the game idle when you’re not attacking, level up your characters to become stronger and three different abilities that boost your stats. Although the game is simplistic, the strategy and timing in order to survive the many harder stages along the line makes for some very compelling and tense gameplay. #7. Searching for 04 by Nicklas Lof
Searching for 04 is an FPS dungeon crawler where you go around attacking enemies with a sword and try to get out of a dungeon. The game is fully rendered in 3D, and it’s pretty cool seeing this level of graphic rendering on a web browser that runs super smooth! The game is also pretty fun too, providing challenges with different enemy types that will keep you on your toes. It also is a pretty good length of a game even for a contest submission #6. Vote By Mail: Funding Not Found by Matt Mckenna
Vote By Mail is an arcade-style minigame where you play as a USPS employee collecting mail-in ballots in order to uphold democracy for the upcoming collection! It is a fast-paced endless runner where you fill the bar in order to complete the game. The game is very well-made, with spot on controls and addicting gameplay. The graphics and music are simple yet very effective into immersing you in the mail collecting experience! It’s very short, but a great fun time to have! #5. Exit! By James
Exit was designed as a VR/XR experience but it is still a great game when it's played on web. The level design in this 3-dimensional lemmings puzzle game will really scratch your brain a few times. The game is engaging and has some cool obstacles you can go through. It takes simple concepts like pressing a button and pushes it to the limit #4. BYTE! Deliver yourself by Jakubtel
BYTE! is a black-and-white top-down puzzle game where you control a byte of data and avoid “error” hazards along the way. The game is over 10 levels of cool and creative puzzles. The coolest ones are the ones where you control more than one byte and are basically controlling two characters. The game difficulty is challenging too, making it oh-so satisfying once you get past them. The graphics are a bit more simplistic than desired, but it works and the main character you control is pretty cute! BYTE! Is a satisfying experience once you get to play it for yourself. #3. Roll Tanks by David Durham
This simple tactical war game is very fun and definitely one of the more polished games out the roster. The graphics are very well made for small indie games and the gameplay premise is quite fun! You roll a trio of dice and proceed to outwit the opponent with strategic tank blasting and piece placement. A simple game concept with plenty of depth to keep you satisfied. I could see this as a full game title in the near future!#2. Rescue Not Found byDavid Brad
This dice-roll space resource survival management game has you making brutal decisions in order to survive. Will you put all your man power in trying to get your crew oxygen to survive or build up as much power necessary to send a distress signal to save yourselves from torment? Will the RNG gods bless you with a good roll or make you fail all your tasks?
This game will definitely test your patience and make you anxious as you plot your way to get out of the barren and cold outer space. The gameplay is engaging and addicting. I played through this about five times to see how fast I could get through it.Honorable Mentions:And Then It Was Gone by Sebastian Dorn
::FRIENDS NOT FOUND:: by Sam Lynch
OS13k by KilledByAPixel
Shooty Alien Game by Nils
#1. Stolen Sword by Ian Chiao
This game is fantastic… an on-the-rail hack-n-slash type game with clean graphics and presentation. The gameplay is fun and stylish as you hack your way through enemies to try and get back at the thief that stole from you. The game has a really cool time stop effect and some great action that will test your skills. The gameplay is solid as well as the smooth presentation. It’s definitely the cream of the cream of the crop of this year’s JS13K and shouldn’t be missed out on! Stolen Sword has enough potential to be a really popular mobile game if it had a full release You can check Stolen Sword and all other games out on this list by clicking on their names as well check out the rest of the JS13K entries right here! Let us know your favorite titles from this year.If you liked this content follow us on Twitter for more!
