How did you achieve this amount of fluidity with the critters' animation (when they bend for a turn)? Is is procedural?

They're rendered procedurally, yes. Although I did not get a chance to generate them procedurally like I wanted to, so there's just like ten varieties that I made. Each critter sprite is a polygon that I manually entered into code, and the vertices of the polygon are mapped to the coordinate systems of the nodes in the chain physics model, interpolating between the two nearest nodes using some crazy algorithm that's hard to explain.

The chain is a bunch of circles of varying sizes that are kept tangent to each other. By default they follow verlet physics. When they are following a path, they ignore velocity and just move towards the next circle (following an arc) like a snake. I have a system for smoothly interpolating between the verlet and snake physics that I am proud of.

What I want to do is jump into a pool of thick jello with a snorkel, and wait until it hardens around my body. Then my friend digs me out from above, leaving an imprint in the shape of my body in relative weightlessness in the jello. I can use this as a mold to craft a chair in the shape of my body in perfect repose.  

Better yet, I can go into orbit, or maybe a stalled plane, to get a mold of my body in actual weightlessness. I can dream.

As long as they post in the appropriate place (e.g. Announcements) and as long as it's an actual game or a tool that could feasibly be useful, I don't see what the big deal is. I see no need to discriminate against a game just because its creator doesn't spend time in online communities.

Basically I'm in favor of lowering the barrier to entry. I mean, isn't that what "indie" is all about?

EDIT: Oops, sorry, let's not have a discussion about the word "indie".   What matters isn't whether something is "indie" but whether it's a good idea.

3070.

This game is secretly pretty stressful if you're trying to get a high score. But don't tell anyone! I wouldn't want to break the spell. 

Oh wow, the reviews on Newgrounds have been so friendly! 

I want to play this but I get like 1 frame per second. 

Mac Intel 2.13 GHz 2 Core, OS X 10.6.4, Safari 5.0.1, Flash Debug Plugin 10.1.53.64

Great! That's pretty much what I set out to accomplish. 

<td style="width: 350px; vertical-align: top">
    <strong>flowEST</strong><br/>
    <em>by John Nesky</em><br/>
    <b><a href="http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=13630.0">Thread</a></b>
    <a href="http://johnnesky.com/index.php?page=flowest">Web</a>
</td>

Okay! I binged on this project at the last minute and now it is done. 

http://johnnesky.com/index.php?page=flowest

Updated!

It's basically a game now! Though it could use a bunch of polish.

Right now it is like this. Hmm... It didn't lag nearly as much when I ran it directly in the flash player. 

The controls take some getting used to, but I like it. I bet it will work better if the player starts with just one critter and learns about the chain mechanics later... It's secretly a micromanagement RTS game, I think.

I will have a version with a more clear objective ready for the deadline. I might make another, more complete version after that.

It seems a month has passed. Oops!

The game will be called "flowEST", since that title hasn't been claimed yet.

Have you checked out the Flash Game Dojo?
http://flashgamedojo.com/

I think most Flash programmers don't even use Flash CS, nor do pixel artists.

The last third of Metroid: Zero Mission has intelligent platformer enemies that follow the player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUeybo9QkHE#t=2h8m50s

Technically the enemies are not persistent from one room to the next, but the game keeps track of whether you're being followed, indicated by the flashing red lights.

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=8263

This Gamma 4 game:
http://www.potoandcabenga.com/

If you're lonely, Treasure Treasure:
http://db.tigsource.com/games/treasure-treasure

It also crashes for me... immediately after entering the tutorial level. I saw some text that said "Eat" and then the screen froze for a moment and then my browser crashed. There was also some slowdown during the title screen earlier. I was not able to actually play any levels.

Mac OS 10.5.8, Safari 5.0, Flash Debug Player 10,0,12,36. 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.

EDIT: I tried again, I reduced the size of the window to make rendering faster, and I lasted until the end of the first tutorial level before crashing again.

I'm particularly irked that they messed with Radiohead and did a weird choir cover of the song Creep... GRR!

The cover was not made for this preview and it is

.

Shameless self-promotion:
http://johnnesky.com/index.php?page=monk
It's a 2 player tank game with AI decoys. SpyParty ripped us off! 

I eventually stopped playing because I never lost.