Anyone looking for a blueprint on how to port classic action games to iOS should look no further than Jordan Mechner's classic Karateka. Said old karate action thingy has simply nailed its controls and is ages ahead of, say, the recent and superficially shiny Karateka remake. If you have fond memories of gaming on an 8-bit micro you know you have to grab it; besides, it will only set you back $0.99.

The Ludum Dare 26 Humorous award winner (compo) and first-person, puzzle-platformer Get The Potato was just what I needed at the end of a long day. No TV. No sports. Just potato-puzzle rocket science to discuss around the water cooler. I actually enjoyed someone randomly yelling at me to get the potato, even when it's too far away or when a big purple cube is obstructing my path. I just have to get the potato. Thanks, Get The Potato developer James lIljenquist!

Over 20 demos of some of the most innovative game designs were on display during the 11th annual Experimental Gameplay Workshop, as shown in this free GDC 2013 video.

Courtesy of the GDC Vault, all of these fascinating micro-demonstrations are now available to view and learn from, including Brenda Romero's bold restaurant research for Mexican Kitchen Workers, Keita Takahashi's Tenya Wanya Teens with an LED-lit, 16-button controller; Itay Keren's Indie Funded, indirect side-scroller Mushroom 11; game design challenge grand champion winner Jason Rohrer with home defense MMO The Castle Doctrine; and Michael Brough's extensive collection of local multiplayer games.

The video starts after the jump.

Folmer Kelly, one half of Sets and Settings, has released his latest small, impeccably crafted game. Steel Novella 2083 is a tough-as-nails platform adventure made according to the restrictions of the NES hardware. It was Kelly's entry in the 1st Annual NESFan Game Jam.

The voting for Ludum Dare's latest game jam has ended, and its winners have been chosen. Timtipgames' art-inspired puzzler MONO takes home the virtual gold for the 48-hour compo, and Clawhammer Mark and David Fenn's minimalist metroidvania Leaf Me Alone takes top honors for the 72-hour jam.

Silicon Twins, a developer from the era when almost everyone was indie, originally released Paradise Lost for the Amiga back in 1991 and have only decided to re-release it as freeware in the year of our lord 2013. The game can be downloaded from oagd.net and, in order to actually play it instead of just having it lie around your hard drive, you'll also be needing an Amiga emulator; WinUAE is a fine choice for Windows PCs.

Alexandre Grilletta wrote in to let us know about his new Unity game, Kill Mittal. It is a little rough around the edges, but I found myself engaged enough by its central mechanic to play through to the end. It's not a long game, and it's not that difficult once you get the hang of it, but it's pretty to look at and fun to play. Also, the pulsing, gltched-out soundtrack is great. The game definitely has a certain je ne sais quoi (sorry).

Developers Terry Cavanagh (Super Hexagon) and Porpentine (Howling Dogs) call for other developers to highlight interesting games, as they have been on their Free Indie Games blog, in this talk from GDC 2013.

Courtesy of the GDC Vault, this free, 30-minute session focuses primarily on the innovation in a large list of games, including Merritt Kopas' Lim, which deals with the gender topic of passing, and Droqen's platformer Asphyx, which asks the player not to breathe in real life whenever their avatar is underwater.

The video starts after the jump.

Upcoming rhythm and roguelike hybrid Crypt of the NecroDancer developer Ryan Clark recently spoke with me to fill in the gaps left from the early alpha trailer above. His latest project is certainly different from his earlier work at Grubby, such as FizzBall and IncrediBots. He still likes creating title words with capital letters in the middle of them, though.

Now running Brace Yourself Games, Ryan speaks here about the groove meter that dictates how players can crawl, how enemies and your own music collection work, and how he aims to incorporate Dance Dance Revolution to make this Windows and Mac dungeon crawler aerobic.

Though its reach may frequently exceed its grasp, The World Is in Your Hand is such an ambitious and interesting game (especially considering that it was originally crafted in less than 48 hours) that it bears repeated plays. Don't get the impression that developer Jack LeHamster's execution is entirely flawed; on the contrary, the silhouetted graphics are beautiful, and the gameplay is satisfying more often than not. The lack of precise controls can get frustrating, and the puzzles can be on the obscure side, but what can we expect from a one-button exploration-puzzle adventure?