I spent much of today beating 2 flash games. I like the sound of that: beating flash games. Not just playing them but beating them, because there is enough in the games to play that when you’re done you can actually say the games are beaten.
Dino Run: I found this beauty c/o the blog over at indiegames.com and I was very impressed with PixelJam’s work. I’d label it under the Sonic the Hedgehog genre of games, one I’d like to play more of. It’s a full game with a lot to play with. The look and feel is nice, some of the physics are a tad weak, but they do the job and beat the norm. I love the tension, the atmosphere of fleeing. It would be excellent setting for a simple story because the nature of a chase is that it is linear. Not to say that stories must be linear, but game-stories tend to be (due to laziness). Unfortunately, the game is lacking in the story department, but it’s alright because it does well everywhere else. GO PLAY IT.
Warlords: I was linked to this piece from Ben Olding after playing Dino Run and was really surprised by such a simple design adds up to strategy on multiple levels. It’s not only about unit selection, but timing, and tactics as well. Again, the game has tons built into it: multiple races and unit types, unlockable races and unit types, leveling-up, a filled out campaign mode and the unit purchasing/upgrading system really gives players a place to craft a style of play. It’s all very simple, but the game is much more than the sum of its parts. PLAY THIS ONE TOO.
As a bonus, each of these games has a form of multiplayer. Dino Run is actual online play and Warlords allows 2 people to play on the same keyboard. Both options are pretty cool if you ask me.
Man, it’s nice to find good games.
-Christopher J. Rock
Filed under: Everything, Flash Gaming, Flash Reviews, Reviews, Video Games by Christopher J. Rock
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Flash games all around but some stand out much more than others. Yesterday I discovered Kavalmaja by Tonypa, a pretty amazing game. He describes it as a “kind of adventure-puzzle game”. That’s pretty much what it is.
Kavalmaja by Tonypa
In the game you wander around a maze trying to figure out what everything does. It uses only the arrow keys and you don’t fight anything. The game uses abstract pixel art and offers no upfront explanation so you have to play around and interact with objects to progress in the game. The artwork is pretty clever and makes symbolic use colors. For example, a gray block is a door that can be opened by a switch or a key and a red object will hurt you. You’re wandering through the maze as you attempt to figure out what these objects do and when you think you’ve figured it all out, it throws in a new surprise for you.
What I found was that my view of what the game actually was changed constantly as I played, as I learned the new rules. That made me curious to find out what it was all about and if I could solve the puzzle!
It’s an simple and clean game. It auto-saves at every screen so you can pick it up and play it any anytime. I think I’m close to finishing it! The perfect game for a mid-core gamer. 
But that isn’t the only game to catch my eye recently…
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Filed under: Everything, Flash Gaming, Video Games by Bryson Whiteman
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I’ve been seeing a lot of cool 3d Flash stuff here and there, mostly on development blogs or forums. When I tell people that Flash can do 3d stuff, I get an impression which is a mixture of shock and disbelief. After checking out an informative PaperVision 3d video tutorial on gotoandlearn.com, I was less intimidated and ready to jump into it. Been looking for an excuse to brush up on my 3d skillz.
CUBOCC face demo
Anyway, I saw this demo at http://cubo.cc/ today and it kind of shocked me. Apparently it’s a bit viral already, spreading around the net as it should. Some awesome coding, brilliant texturing and a simple design goes a long way, doesn’t it? The future of Google Adsense? Unfortunately, most likely! haha
But wait… that’s not all!
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Filed under: 3d, Actionscript, Everything, Flash Gaming by Bryson Whiteman
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I’ve had an exciting week sitting at my computer. Reading all the news and happenings from GDC. Hoping for some great info, some great discoveries to be rained down upon me like liquid inspiration.
The most important news story to me is that on Wednesday Microsoft finally announced that games created with XNA Game Studio will be able to be distributed to ALL Xbox Live members. They’ve developed a system similar to Newgrounds.com, allowing anybody to upload content, undergoing peer review to be approved. This seems like another great way to reach a game audience, beyond Flash. You can read the details of how they plan to “Democratize Game Distribution” here.
N+ on Xbox 360
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that Wednesday marked the release of N+ on Xbox Live Marketplace, an upgrade to Metanet Software’s well-known ninja-simulator Flash game.
It seems that making the transition from free Flash game to a commercial product is becoming more reasonably obtainable/acceptable.
In other news… what have I been playing recently?
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Filed under: Everything, Flash Gaming, Video Games by Bryson Whiteman
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Monday morning and I just stumbled upon this game on the Flashkit forum. In this game you cooperate with yourself to finish stages. Very interesting concept and excellent execution.
Cursor*10 by Nekogames
Short, simple, clever and fun. Characteristics of other Nekogames releases I’ve played.
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Filed under: Everything, Flash Gaming by Bryson Whiteman
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Daymare Town. I found this gem when someone mentioned it on the Flashkit games forum. Straight forward point-and-click adventure game. Excellent presentation, interesting art style, great puzzle design.
I couldn’t finish this without a walkthrough, but I blame it on a couple poorly drawn props. You’re in for a good hour or so of headscratching.
This game reminds me that there’s nothing wrong with keeping things simple sometimes. Props to the designer.
Check out Daymare Town at www.pastelstories.com.
Filed under: Everything, Flash Gaming by Bryson Whiteman
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I was reading the Flashkit Gaming Forum and someone made a post about this game. I was hesitant to try it because I believed it was just going to be a cheap knock-off. What I discovered was a cleverly designed and well executed game. This one is simply fun to pick up and play. I played 23 stages in one sitting.
Check it out at http://portal.wecreatestuff.com/. Game by We Create Stuff.
Filed under: Everything, Flash Gaming by Bryson Whiteman
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So I took a look at Gameshot.org because of a few referrals they sent back here (they grabbed our LUV Tank game) and noticed this pleasant surprise on their front page…
At first I was attracted to the awesome art style. All pretty pixel work. The description said something about it being a platformer with a Yin Yang twist so I wanted to see if it went beyond a gimmick. I was impressed before I even finished the first stage.
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Filed under: Everything, Flash Gaming, Flash Reviews by Bryson Whiteman
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Gateway II by Anders Gustafsson.
This is one of first Flash games I’ve truly enjoyed in such a long time. I discovered this adventure game on the Newgrounds frontpage and gave it a legitimate chance. It reminded me of Leo’s Great Day, one of the first amazingly well done Flash games I’d played, so I had optimistic expectations. From the title screen I could tell that it at least had great production quality.
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Filed under: Everything, Flash Gaming, Flash Reviews by Bryson Whiteman
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I just checked out this impressive port of the Doom engine to Flash. It even loads up the original external .wad map files!
Check it out!
It might not be the first Flash port, but it’s definitely the first that resembles the original in speed and resolution. I could totally imagine playing some deathmatch in this thing. Can’t wait till something like that is available.
It’s also worth nothing that this was not created using Flash. It was developed on Linux using open-source/free Flex tools.
This reminds of back in 2001 or so when I saw a demo for a Quake 3 looking engine in Shockwave running incredibly fluidly. I recall it being a Q3 port of some sort because it was created by the same company that ported Q3 to Dreamcast, Raster Productions. I’m assuming it was some kind of port because they removed the demo after a short while, I believe because of legal matters.
Filed under: 3d, Actionscript, Everything, Flash Gaming by Bryson Whiteman
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