September 2004 Archives

You have been sent to detention with a couple of your friends, and locked in a room in the school by the evil principal seeking revenge. The only way out is to use your ingenuity and resources around you, along with the help of your friends, to Escape from Detention. The Shockwave game was produced by Bitcasters, a talented multimedia studio in Toronto, Ontario.

Use your mouse to click on any of the three students, Serin, Geo or Bravo, then click to move around each room and pick up items. Inventory items may be combined to solve puzzles, and even shared between students. Very nice pixel graphics and challenging puzzles make this game a lot of fun for anyone.

Play Escape from Detention

Another entry for the Independent Games Festival in 2005, Girls TeamUp is a Shockwave game about teamwork, developed by Large Animal Games. With a mission to inspire all girls to be strong, smart and bold, Girls Inc. has come up with a game where you can solve puzzles by helping girls work together.

The game starts out very easy, and eases you into the various abilities unique to each type of girl. Some are jumpers, some are sliders, and some are throwers. Each level presents various obstacles and situations, and teamwork is accomplished by utilizing each girl's abilities to help all of the girls make it to the goal.

Gorgeous pixel graphics make this game very pretty to look at. And though the game is aimed at the female gamer, it certainly can be fun regardless of gender. Besides, the girl theme is great to see in this male-dominated gamer world in which we live.

Play Girls TeamUp

Around the net today, rumors abound regarding another piece to the DS picture that is set to be revealed at the upcoming Nintendo press conference on October 7th. Along with the software launch lineup and final hardware form factor for the DS, Engadget is reporting there is something else Nintendo will reveal. Following the link in the article yields a hint about a "marionette" (Mario Net?) among others. Click.

It sounds like Nintendo may have a networked Mario game in store, and Mario-anything will surely be golden for them. Whatever it is, I'm certain Nintendo intends to make a big splash with their DS, since the stakes are high with the imminent release of Sony's PSP.

The object of the game is simple: Mudpeople gather dirt and water to make more Mudpeople and build huts to protect themselves from the rain. If caught in the rain, Mudpeople melt and must be revived with more dirt. Gather resources to complete the objectives for each level.

For those who have played any of Blizzard's 'craft games, Mudcraft will feel like an old comfortable shoe. For those unfamiliar with resource gathering games, a tutorial is provided that walks you through the basics.

Designed to appeal to the broad, casual game audience found on the web, Mudcraft is a cute game with cute voices and familiar gameplay with a unique twist.

Play Mudcraft

A downloadable version of the game (for Mac or PC) is also available, as well as an expanded pay-to-play "full" version boasting 45 levels across 15 unique maps.

Fun stuff over at Andre-Michelle.com. Andre is a Flash designer extraordinaire from Germany who has put together a personal playground of a site full of experiments and whatnot all done in Flash. This one is simply called Cell Talk, which I found to be infinitely relaxing and mesmerizing playing in the background while I was doing some writing for graduate school. Oh, and most of his work is interactive, too. Click one of the cells to drag it.

Play Cell Talk

Andre is joint founder of Extrajetzt.de, the ones behind Tag Der Arbeit, previously highlighted here.

RIT's own, Professor Andy Phelps, was Slashdotted yesterday after a recent post on his Got Game blog over at Corante. In his article—posted almost 2 weeks ago—Andy suggested the game industry promote innovation and new ideas by including “B-side” games along with the major titles on their release DVDs. These B-sides could be independent games such as student work, Flash games that haven't caught on yet, or other experimental games to increase exposure of often overlooked, and yet exceptional, content.

I am all for the idea, since my research lately has uncovered many excellent games that truly deserve some serious exposure. Games that are available and distributed over the Web, and accessible with merely a browser and a Flash or Shockwave plug-in, are showing that you really don't need a huge budget to make games that are fun to play and worthy of time spent. For starters, try: Chasm, Conqueror, Tontie, Merlin's Revenge, PixelHugger, iSketch, and just about any of Ferry Halim's Orisinal games.

There are also many excellent games produced independently of the major game developers and publishers that are available for download and play on Mac, Linux, or PC. One has only to look at games like Gish, or sites like Reflexive Arcade, Cornutopia, GarageGames, or DIY Games to see there is a groundswell of activity happening in the indie game community. In fact, there is a group of students I know well at RIT who have been putting the finishing touches on an excellent looking game they crafted over this summer, Wings of Megaira, together with Andy Phelps.

Will we begin to see indie games being included on the DVDs of major releases any time soon? Probably not. What is more likely to happen is the continued practice of including commercials and demos, in increasing number, marketing their own products. To these monolithic publishers with a narrow focus on the bottom line, cross-marketing their own products and services is likely to make better financial sense. Still, “B-Side games” is a good idea. Possibly even a practice that the indie game publishers themselves can come together on and begin to co-market games on each others release distros. That might get the ball rolling.

Reverse is another mouse cursor game of avoidance that is nicely put together. Simple, minimalist graphics with levels of increasing difficulty, 20 in all. Guide the mouse cursor to the goal, however the control of the mouse is reversed. Simple and straight forward, Reverse is yet another short little diversion to cleanse the palette of your brain. Created by Mobasher Lqbal, available from Scenta UK.

Play Reverse

Letters is a game that has been floating around the Flash game ether for a while now. Created by Hannu Pelkonen, this game will also help you practice your touch-typing skills. Letters appear and scroll across the screen at varying speeds. Typing the corresponding key on the keyboard will zap the moving letter, and any other like it, from play, while incrementing your score 1 point for each letter zapped. Typing a key for which there are no letters present reduces your score by one. It's fun, easy (at first), and a quick productive diversion.

Play Letters

The down side is that submitting a high score fails to update and the game must be restarted. This will be a small issue for most, since getting on the score board will require mad skills. Still, the game is fun just the same.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the classic Infocom text adventure created by the late Douglas Adams, the BBC has put together this wonderful Flash re-creation of the game complete with illustrations and a graphical interface! Yes, it is still the same great text adventure, but now there are pictures to help you envision the wacky way-out worlds of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and get you across the galaxy safely—just don't expect them to reflect all of the events described. The interface even shows inventory items you pick up along the way, further enhancing the experience. This is 1984 interactive fiction at its finest, as well as its more insane moments, too.

If you are interested in learning more about Douglas Adams and the history behind ‘the Guide', the BBC website is the place to go.

There is now an alternate version available with different art created as part of a picture competition, also from the BBC website.

Update: Like most games on the BBC website, this one has also fallen into the void of disrepair and neglect and does not function properly anymore. I wish the BBC would take better care of the awesome games they have given us over the years. Previously tagged as: bbc, browser, flash, free, game, ifiction, infocom, linux, mac, narrative, puzzle, rating-g, remake, text, unique, windows

The Curse of Sylvaniah is an action adventure platformer game created in Flash that has a decidedly old-school feel to it. Stylish pixel graphics, sampled sound effects, multiple weapons and a simple targeting system—just point-and-click with the mouse—make this game unique and fun to play. Coding by Mattias Stridsman, graphics by Cyril Guichard, and sound design by Justin R.Durban.

Play The Curse of Sylvaniah

A brand new game just released by David Thorburn, BMX Backflips is another marvel in Flash game design. The game has you navigating hills, half pipes, and jumps on a BMX bike, while performing wheelies and backflips for points. The game is mission oriented and presents various levels of increasing complexity. This variety combined with solid Flash programming, smooth animation and realistic physics is what makes the game shine.

The only downside: sound is sorely missing from most of his games. But that's a small complaint compared to how enjoyable his games are. David tells me that he aims towards minimalism in his designs to compensate for Flash's lack of power. And his games are a testament to those who emphasize gameplay over graphics: they arguably create the games that are more fun to play. Click.

Be sure to check out all of his games on his Tea Games website. And read what I previously wrote about them here. Click.

A storm at sea has left you shipwrecked on a strange group of islands filled with mysterious gadgets and devices. Use your wits to solve the puzzles and escape it if you can. Archipelago is a point-and-click adventure in Flash, created by Jonathan May of Woolythinking.

All actions are performed with the mouse: movement, camera panning, picking up items and activating levers and buttons. To look around, position the mouse near the edge of the game window. A little practice is all it takes to get the feel of it, just don't press any keys on the keyboard during the game or everything you've done will be hopelessly lost, and the only recourse will be to close the game window and start again. Aside from that, the game is a remarkable adventure in simulated 3D, and shows what can be done in Flash with a bit of ingenuity.

Play Archipelago

For all the classic board gamers, as well as for those who were searching the site for one the other day, here is a Shockwave multiplayer Backgammon game from Nabisco. A simple menu gets you playing right away, just click on 'Join Any Open Game'. Once there are two players, click the 'Yes' button to start. If no one shows up, you can click the button anyway to play against the computer. If your opponent leaves the game early, the computer will take over. There is even a rudimentary chat system where you can select from a short menu of messages to display. It's not spectacular, but it is a solid implementation that gets the job done. Click.

In fact, Nabisco has several other multiplayer games available to play: Hearts, Spades, Chess and Checkers.

From Lego.com comes one of the best Shockwave 3D implementations I've seen. Supersonic RC mixes fast and furious checkpoint racing with extreme stunts. What you wind up with is a 3D racer that is exciting and fun, with 5 different challenge modes of play. Each level must be unlocked by completing the one before it, thus providing a system of rewards that enhances enjoyment of the game.

The first level, Free Driving, acquaints you with the vehicle, the environment, and the placement of the checkpoints. The goal is to make two complete laps of the circuit within the time limit. An arrow on-screen points in the direction of the next checkpoint to help you along. The second level, Checkpoint Chase, gives you just 10 seconds to reach each checkpoint. Doing so shouldn't be too difficult once completing the first level.

Subsequent levels require you to perform aerobatic stunts for points. Simply get your racer off the ground any way you can. The more flips and turns in the air you do, the more points you'll get. Landings do not have to be perfect, this is worry-free extreme stunting at its best. There is also a scavenger hunt element added where finding the higher ground is necessary to rack up enough points to move on.

Plain and simple, this game ROCKS and is a lot of fun to play. The framerate may drop on slower computers since it is Shockwave 3D, but it was fairly smooth on my 1.7GHz P4 with GeForce4 video card. The only other downside I see is that you must unlock each level each time you play, but that is a small issue since each level offers something slightly different.

Play Lego Racing

Audiogame est musique interactive by Frenchman marc Em. This Flash ‘game' is a collection of works incorporating feats of multimedia genius. Combining audio and video elements with interactivity and motion graphics, marc Em draws you into each of his creations as conductor, director, performer, and player. The entire project has evolved over the last 2 years, and Audiogame continues to be a work in progress. As dynamic as the compositions it contains.

Play Audiogame

If you enjoy playing with music and sound such as this, you may also enjoy Jim Johnstone's Infinite Wheel series of interactive Flash audio toys.

Squares 2 is an addictive Flash arcade game with a phat beat by Gavin Shapiro. Very similar in concept (and sound) to Manuel Fallmann's previously featured Bubbles collecting game, Squares 2 has you collecting all the black squares while avoiding all the red ones. Simply move the mouse to control the black square cursor that gets larger with each black square collected. Special 'round' squares act as power-ups that affect the game, such as slow motion, invincibility, big square, small square, etc. The game is extremely easy to pick up and play, and good fun for a quick diversion or two, or three or four.

Play Squares 2

Word Pads is a new action word game done in Flash with a tropical theme. Similar to games like WEBoggle, except played as a single-player experience, the object of Word Pads is to form English words to score points by clicking on the lily pads in a race against the clock. Words of 3 or more letters are safe, but words of 4 or more letters only score points. The longer the word, the more points it is worth. Letters do not have to be on adjacent pads, and forming words of more than 5 letters creates a golden lily pad that acts as a score multiplier for future words formed with it. Misspell a word or run out of time and you lose a lily pad. The game is over when you run out of lily pads. A high score list provides the challenge of a competitive element.

Play Word Pads

The game is a new offering from Shawn at Hot Flash Games, the same Flash developer who created the awesome Asteroids clone: Hot Rocks, highlighted here previously.

Ron Gilbert has started a series of Flash comics poking fun at the Games industry on his Grumpy Gamer site. Co-produced with creative partner Clayton Kauzlaric, they're now up to #4 in the series. The comic is short and sassy, irreverent and funny. In fact, Grumpy Gamer “the comic” has got to be more fun than playing Bladehunt: Deathspank 2: The Revenge! ...well, better than the cut scenes anyway. Click.

Welcome to the world of Flash motorcycle racing, courtesy of Ulrich Tausend and the NeoDelight crew. In Turbo Spirit, the object of the game is to race through 4 different tracks as fast as you can. Each track has 5 checkpoints that you need to reach within the time limit of 30 seconds per segment. Your score is calculated based on how fast you reach each checkpoint, with bonus points awarded for finishing each race. To make it on the high score list you must complete all 4 races. Control is using the arrow keys: up to accelerate, down to brake, and right and left to steer. Running off the course slows you down, as does running into any of the other racers. The game is very well done.

Play Turbo Spirit

The only downside is the links will take you to their site where they have lots of ads, and some are annoying. But their games keep getting better and so it's a small price to pay to play. You might even think about clicking on one to support their site.

From Japan, created by Kenta Cho and available on his ABA Games website are a bunch of shmups, and all with source code. Highlighted here is Noiz2, a game that runs as an applet in any Java-enabled browser.

Noiz2 is an excellent little game that can keep you mesmerized for hours. Your ship is the mouse pointer, move it around the screen to shoot at enemies and avoid their fire. To destroy enemies, position your ship directly underneath one and it will automatically lock-on and fire back. Green stars are bonus items, so collect them to increase your score. Click.

The graphics are very nicely done, but unfortunately there is no sound. The version number indicates that it is still a work in progress, so it's possible that it may get even better. Still, the game is very pretty to look at and fun to play, and if you feel like improving on it, you'll find the source code available for it here. Besides Noiz2, there are many other shmups available at the author's site that run on a variety of platforms.

Remember that this game is a Java applet so patience is needed when loading it in the browser.

Steve Hutchins and Patrick Bradford of Specular Arts have produced a magnificent point-and-click adventure with 3D graphics and puzzles very similar to those found in the original game of Myst. The Shockwave game contains beautifully rendered scenes with mechanical levers, buttons, sliding doors, and other contraptions to manipulate, and sound effects that set the mood and atmosphere of the game. And while the game is not very long, it will challenge you and keep you busy for some time solving all of the puzzles. If you get stuck there is even a hint section available on their site, where you can also purchase parts 1 and 2 of Terra Realms for a mere $7 via Paypal. If you like games like Myst, Samorost, Viridian Room, etc, you will enjoy this game very much.

Play Terra Realms

Another classic movie gets the makeover by Jennifer Shiman and her Angry Alien studio. This time out it's “Jaws in 30 Seconds (and Re-enacted by Bunnies).” As mentioned here before, Jennifer has a talent for capturing the essence of each film and presenting it in a short little Flash movie that she animates herself. It is a very creative idea for a series that she started, and I look forward to seeing what she does with each new movie she releases. Be sure to check out all of her movies, and also stop by the Angry Alien shoppe to buy something and help Jennifer pay for her bandwidth. Click.

Use the space bar to jump off the ground, and then use the left and right arrow keys to negotiate the next landing. If done right, you can ‘hop' from one pacman to the next without falling to the ground.

The game is easy to pick up and play, and is therefore quick to gratify. And yet, each level requires you to get more pacmans in a shorter period of time, thereby providing the real challenge. The only complaint I have is the game lacks a scoring mechanism or any way to rank how well you did. Still, it's a simple and fun game concept with well-produced graphics, animation and sound.

Play Kill the Pacman

The awe-inspiring Flash graphics of Yenz are combined into a creative and original point-and-click adventure that has you solving the mystery of the Secret Garden.

You see, the garden is in great danger and it's up to you to solve the mystery and to save it, if possible. There are several easy puzzles to solve and several screens of unusual yet fantastic and beautiful art to enjoy while doing so. Mostly eye candy, but with light story and puzzle elements mixed in that make it fun.

Play The Secret Garden

Control your punk with the arrow keys, and use the space bar to throw rocks and ignite articles. Items will burn only when keeping the space bar pressed until the progress bar fills completely. Everything you destroy adds points to your score, there is even a pile of rocks that adds additional time. The pixel graphics are nicely done, and the smashing good fun of being a bit destructive has it's pluses too. And no one gets hurt. Click.

There is a bit of German history that is the basis for this game, and it provides a bit of depth and perspective as to why acting as a hooligan scores points. I found some information (with bias) on it here. Click.

Thanks to PixelHugger Pete for the link. And to Free-Translator.com for the translation services. =)

These beautiful Flash casino games were created by Eugene Potapenko and are available to play on his website flash.init(). Each game has been given extraordinary attention to detail right down to the wood grain finish on the tables. You won't get rich playing these games, but you won't lose any money either. Choose between: American Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps, Keno, two kinds of slots, and video poker. You can switch between games using the menu provided within each.

Here's a game where you can win $100,000 just by being registered to vote in the November 2004 US General Election. Two guys, Jim and James, who have made a lot of money with an online dating service, care enough about this year's election to offer up $100,000 to a registered voter just for entering their sweepstakes, and $100,000 to the person who refers them to their site. They promise not to give out or sell your personal information to anyone, they just want to provide an incentive to get people to register to vote. So what are you waiting for? Click.

If you're not registered to vote, please do so before it's too late. It's real easy, you can even do it online. Click.

Following the link provided above to the sweepstakes entry form will automatically enter me as your referrer. Thank you kindly, I hope you win. =)

From PopCap comes this beautiful and very popular, well-conceived puzzle game that is similar to games like Bust-A-Move. Gameplay consists of shooting colored beads onto the play field using the mouse for aiming and shooting, aligning three or more in a row removes them from play. The Zuma beads continue to roll around the play field until they reach the skull, at which point you lose a life.

What makes Zuma special from other games like it is the excellent Aztec Indian-themed graphics and style, its unusual and increasingly intricate spiral layouts—referred to as 'temples'—and its engaging chants and drum sounds that fit the style of the game perfectly. Special power-ups and bonuses abound that add spice and variety, as well as strategic elements, to the gameplay. It's a game that I've wanted to highlight here for some time, and it's a good example of what can be done by expanding on an established game design, thereby redefining it.

Windows:
Download the demo Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Download the demo Get the full version

Unfortunately, BLiX is no longer available to play online. This review and walkthrough are left as an archive.

Next up is this great little puzzle game, BLiX, with stylish pixel graphics and addictive gameplay created by gameLab, of New York City.

Click the cells to create blocks that deflect the moving ball into the center cup. It looks easy and is simple enough to get started with, but quickly becomes a challenge to get it right. The trick is to find paths in the patterns that will direct the ball(s) to the goal. Time counts down via a ring around the play field that slowly closes in on the center. Once it reaches the goal, the game is over. For every 5 levels you complete you are given a password that allows you to start a new game at that level.

Add together flashy pixel graphics, a compelling techno soundtrack, and gameplay that is deceptively challenging, and you wind up with an excellent little Shockwave game called BLiX.

Another Flash game by Neodelight, Cyber Mice Party borrows gameplay elements from the classic game of Lemmings to create an entirely different take on the survival strategy genre. Each level presents a bunch of mice, a hunk of cheese and various items such as sticks, matchboxes, and different shaped blocks. The object is to use the objects to herd the mice towards the cheese while avoiding the pits and pitfalls of each level. Success is determined by rescuing the specified number of mice within the time limit provided. The hand-drawn graphic style of the game adds a touch of originality, and the variation on the Lemmings theme works well and is even a tad bit more accessible than the original. The colors are a bit drab, but that is just a personal preference. This game is great fun while being easy to pick up and play.

Play Cyber Mice Party

An estimable goal from Atlanta-based company A Broader View, has inspired this Flash game with a global perspective: help the United States improve its disappointing knowledge of geography by challenging it to participate with the rest of the world in a geographical testing game, the Geography Olympics. The game asks you first to select the country you will be representing, then it gives you 200 seconds to locate 10 random countries on a world map. Following the test, your answers are graded and averaged into the rest of your country's score and presented on the leader board. The current ranking of the US is paltry at best, and serves to prove the lack of geography knowledge in the United States relative to the rest of the world.

Truth be told, A Broader View sells geography products such as atlases, games, globes and puzzles, but their aim is also true: to provide the tools needed to become a geography expert. And if the United States of America is truly one of the great nations of the world, it is the responsibility of each and every one of us to be at least cognizant of the other countries in the world. So do your part, learn some geography and help improve the overall geography knowledge of your country. Click.

Also known as Yeti Sports Part 6, Chris Hilgert has come out with yet another game in his series of brilliant and famously addictive Flash games featuring penguins and, of course, a yeti. Big Wave is about surfing to gain speed, then rack up the points by doing aerial jumps and stunts, and score bonus points by kicking penguins. Unlike his previous games in the series which were all very accessible to pick up and play easily, this game is a bit more difficult to control. However, patience and persistence pays off and you'll be surfing with the big dude with a little practice. Click.

Update (9/02): There are a lot of people playing this game since it was just released, so expect delays when loading the game in the window.