Matt Hackett • Richtaur
Matt Hackett's Onslaught! is a HTML5-only game. Designed and coded with Geoff Blair, Matt also did the art. The music and sound is by Joshua Morse.
Play Onslaught! Find out more about the Games Inspired by Music competition, sponsored by Safari Books Online
Sean Monahan • Homepage
Beat Boost into the right color fields--and perform front flips--without hitting the floor. Result: high scores. Each level is a visual representation of the track being played. Sean explains how: "To achieve this I converted each mp3 to a wav and then transcribed the wav to MIDI. The MIDI file is then used to generate the blocks in the level and determine the length."
Zachary Johnson • Zachstronaut
Zachary's Infiltration was built with JavaScript and HTML5's canvas tag, but contains powerful lighting and blending effects normally the province of Flash -- a perfect showcase for plugin-free browser gaming.
By Owen Harris
Created in Unity (get the browser plugin), Owen's entry has artwork by Tom Moore and bespoke chiptune-style music by Andreuch O'Maonaigh.
By Wesley Campbell
Inspired by Happiness in Winter by Gary Lee, Arctic Trek is a straightforward horizontally-scrolling shooter. To play you need to download the GameSalad browser Plug-in for Safari.
Bill Meltsner • Meltsner.com
Bill Meltsner's Gobber Assault features the chiptune "Gobber Groove" from Disasterpeace's free album Neutralite, and artwork by Oddball and Oryx. Whack enemies, leap over blows, and steal their gear.
Download: OSX • Windows • Linux
Zachary Lewis • Kongregate Dev Page
With only a ghost crew and a disabled ship, the space captain's outlook is grim. Will he be able to survive on salvage, blasting away at all oncoming attackers, or will he just become more Space Junk? Created in Flash.
Rapp Daniel • Rappdaniel.com
Posted by Swedish student Dan R. and inspired by Tettix's Earth's Assault on the Main AI, Flatwar was built using the HTML5 canvas tag, but works cross-browser.
Doctor Popular & Team • Docpop
Built in HTML5, Knifetank is compatible with recent versions of Safari. Use the WASD keys to move; click the mouse button to fire; and switch on all the blocks on to move to the next level. It was created by Doctor Popular, Lilia Markham, Crashfaster, Mike Hales, Erik Swedberg and Brian Cronin. Read the dev diary!
These are finalist entries in our Games Inspired by Music competition. Find out more. Once you've played them all, vote for a favorite: