I'm happy to open this week's column with some great news! GarageGames has announced the return of the IndieGamesCon. IndieGamesCon 2007 will run from October 10th - 11th in Eugene, Oregon and will offer a more casual atmosphere than previous IGC events, but will offer many of the familair sights and sounds that attendees love.

This year, GG promises round-table discussions on topics attendees want to know about, a show-off center to get your game some much needed attention amongst your peers, along with plenty of networking and gaming opportunities. Registration is $100 up until Sep. 8, and will increase to $150 on Sep. 9. Find out more about this year's event by visiting www.indiegamescon.com or www.garagegames.com .

And now for this week's picks!

This week I start off with a brand new fantasy-themed roguelike RPG called Kamyran's Eye 2. In this fun little game the player jumps into the robes of a wizard apprentice faced with the death of their mentor and a whole lot of adventure. The player will help defend towns, take on massive armies, explore dungeons, partake in multiple endings and lots of random generation that provides the replayability you'd expect from a roguelike. The game is pretty easy to play with the mouse, keyboard or a combination of both and is currently available for Windows and Linux.

You can check the game out at its official site . Fans of roguelikes will want to give this game a look. The game has also been picked up by Manifesto Games , which should tell you something about its quality and its appeal to indie gamers.

That's one spicy meatball! Noodle is a unique and free indie puzzler where the player must liberate a bunch of Meatballs from a saucy prison - literally. Players must loop around each meatball to free it but the noodles move strangely, making your task a tad bit challenging. Noodle is all about gameplay - the graphics aren't particularly stellar but the gameplay is unique enough to warrant checking it out. Plus the risk is zero because the game is free and doesn't seem to have any noticeable bugs. Grab it from www.tojam.ca .

One other thing worth noting - the very first version of Noodle was created for the Toronto Indie Game Jam (TOJam) 2007. The game was further refined and has been released into what you see today.

Sad, sweet, odd, and chilling at moments, The Desolate Room is an RPG that has soul. It is one of those rare games I run across that is more than just about hit points and stats. Telling more than that really would spoil the game for you, dear reader, and that would not be cool. I will say that The Desolate Room takes place on an island, in a virtual, dark world and finally the past. While the first part of the game comes off as a bit tedious, players that give up too soon will miss out on some great gaming moments. Role-playing fans should give this game a try if only to enjoy the unique set of attacks and the well crafted story this game delivers on. Check it out at www.create-games.com .

Chocolate Castle, which is available at Manifesto Games , is a cute puzzler about everybody's favorite food - chocolate! In Chocolate Castle you take control of multiple characters that eat different kinds of chocolate, but each eats only one type (white, milk, dark, or rose). The object of the game is to use these cute little guys and gals to remove all the chocolate from the level so you can move on to the next. The game makes clever use of these little guys in a way that requires some planning and thoughtfulness. The full game offers 120 levels, special types of candy that do things like explode, the ability to undo and redo moves (pretty important for the kind of gameplay you'll be engaging in), a level editor, and plenty of fan-built levels.

Our final game, To a Flame , is a high fantasy adventure puzzler for the PC available at GarageGames. In the game you must help the moth princess, Faerdeline, rescue her subjects as she extinguishes their prisons of flame, and defeats evil Ribaragh, the Mushroom King. The Campaign mode offers gamers the opportunity to progress through levels of increasing difficulty right up to the conclusion. For those who want a deeper challenge, the Time Trial mode offers adventurers time-limited gameplay that will keep you stimulated. Other modes include Burn Out mode, which offers players a set time limit within which to complete as many levels as possible and memory mode which test your ability to recall where everything is in the level. To a Flame has an interesting art style that is eye catching as well as a soundtrack that fits in great with the theme.