Biolab Disaster
Platform: Javascript/HTML5
Initially created to showcase the upcoming Impact Game Engine, Dominic Szablewski's Biolab Disaster morphed into a short platform adventure all its own. As the game begins, a short quake rocks the underground lab, sending debris falling all over the place. Monsters have spread themselves around the lab, and pools of acid threaten to end your day all too quickly. What's a guy in a biohazard suit with a gun to do? Run through the lab and take out the computer core, that's what!
Walk around the lab using the [arrow] keys and use [X] to jump and [C] to fire your gun. There aren't any power-ups to find, but there are test tubes scattered about that you can collect for the sake of being a completionist. Touch the computer terminals to save your game, and if you die, you'll reappear at the last terminal you walked by.
Because the technology that built Biolab Disaster is still relatively new, some browsers have a difficult time running the game smoothly. Dominic points out on his blog that Opera provides the best performance, followed by Chrome. Firefox and Safari users come in at a distant third, so to squeeze the most out of this game, stick with the former.
Biolab Disaster is a really short game, so you'll probably make it through in 15 minutes without much trouble. The difficulty level is quite low and save points are frequent, so it's pretty much a walk through the park. A monster-infested acid-filled park. It's still an enjoyable game that looks and sounds great, and it's a fine showpiece for the Impact engine as well as HTML5. Hopefully work will continue on the game to turn it into something really special!
Be sure to check out the making of video for some nice technical information about the game's creation, as well as a glimpse of the level editor.
Nice, but way too easy.
Considering that this is essentially a proof-of-concept piece, it's pretty good. Let's hope they keep those standards of sound and animation with anything else they design.
Once they release the engine, I'll be watching to see if someone creates a good Metroidvania game, or an RPG.
Of course, my biggest comment is that it's too short! My other is just nitpicky nonsense, but I've never understood why game developers make the "jump" function anything other than "up" on the d-pad, when there is no other specific purpose for that key. It makes no sense to me. But other than that, wonderfully executed little game.
Looks like a nice engine.
Some things I noticed:
-In multiple spots there's three boxes stacked in a pyramid shape. If you walk and push into them, one of them gets forced upwards, stacking all three into a vertical tower.
-I'm playing with headphones on a laptop and for whatever reason, while the game was running, the headphone and internal speakers became separated for volume control. Not sure if this is one of the known "audio problems" when running in chrome. Only a small problem that I needed to adjust the headphone volume from the mixer, since the normal volume controls ended up defaulting to the internal speakers.
(Chrome6.0.472.62, Windows 7. I'm not sure about my sound card. It only identifies as "ATI High Definition Audio Device")
Great stuff, I've been waiting for HTML5 engine to rival Flixel and Flashpunk. Runs kind of slow on my netbook, but looks neat. I wonder what's performance on handhelds - has anyone tried running it on Android/iOS based devices?
I tried loading it on an Android 2.1 phone, and it stops loading about 2/3 of the way done.
That being said, since the game uses keyboard control, I wouldn't have been able to play it anyways.
I did play it on my desktop computer, though, and enjoyed it from beginning to end. I was disappointed there weren't more levels. Looking forward to the level editor!
Crashing in Chrome, about 1 minute in.
Aww.. I tried to play the game and I got this message at the loading screen:
"Hey there, it looks like you're using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Microsoft hates the Web and doesn't support HTML5 :( "
I guess it's time to download Firefox!
Game won't finish loading for me in Firefox.
This is HTML5? That is impressive. Works fine in Chrome for me.
Makes me want to watch "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" for some reason.
Four crashes running in Google Chrome, at various points, anywhere from about 5 minutes in to immediately on startup. Very enjoyable little game, from what I could play of it.
This plays horribly for me. It keeps crashing Chrome, and when it doesn't crash it lags to the point that I can't kill an enemy without it freezing.
Odd, I'm running chrome and could play with no noticeable problems. Not even 'sound problems'. Hmm.
Cool games.. I enjoyed playing it.. :)
Cool little game.
Works perfectly in Safari 5.0.5 on Snow Leopard 10.6.7 - and the developer mentions below the game that Safari should work perfectly now. Maybe update the support mentioned in the review?
I realy love this game but it is tooooo eeasyyyy!!!
It took me like 5 minutes
But it is a very good game
Update