Also, there is an interesting "hack" to me, but it's sort of a stretch. Notice that the game powered by the Box2D physics engine. It's cool to me how that physics engine has revolutionized 2D games in a small way. Erin Catto, its creator, decided to open source it, and now suddenly we have hundreds of games that have been able to experiment around with physics in gameplay. And new gameplay in small games is just one step away from new gameplay in AAA titles like Half-Life 2 ... Portal was inspired by a small game that a few Digipen students created for their final project, for example. (It's called Narbacular Drop. Check it out -- it's fun! http://tinyurl.com/5m2qtp)
So I think we should encourage people to continue experimenting with new gameplay ideas... hint hint.