Posted by ithamore
Mon, 11 Dec 2006 04:29:00 GMT
Now that the 10th competition of
Now that the 10th iteration of the 3 Minute Game Contest
(a.k.a. 3 Punge) has been declared
complete, its results have finally been given an
official page
(roughly translated from Japanese to English by
Google’s Language Tools). Each
game is suppose to be based on a 3 minute theme, but longer mini-games have also been
accepted. The winner is suppose to be "3 hours" worth of play and, from what I
read, pretty funny, but it was created with RPG Maker. I usually don’t bother with
any of the games requiring RPGM’s RTPs.
As for the non-RPGM games,
Crostar released another cute platformer, Sky-Whirling Geo, which didn’t
fare as well as his entry for the
previous contest, Supakingurato. I prefer the gameplay of Supakingurato, and
it’s more forgiving than its successor.
Granspope Frial is TERU-soach’s best effort in
most ways. The graphics have a clean,
interesting style, and the design’s concept has some good potential. You race as a bird
against the clock by pressing a single key (‘Z’ or ‘Space’) to fly through a course covered with
acceleration bars, which boosts you at the angle at which you touch them as long
as your momentum is increasing. The problem is that the timing is quite tricky
and that there is little room for error when it comes to hitting the 90˚
direction switching boosters. Course 0 took about 10 tries before I got the hang
of it and unlocked the next. 
Although it might have been because I’m a bit
rhythmical challenged, it took me much longer to get past Course 1. I tried 20
or 30 times at first and several times more since September, but it wasn’t until
yesterday that I was able to shave off those last 10 seconds I needed loose in
order
to progress. Course 2 was a good change of pace with new layout elements, but Course 3
is currently frustrating me. Still, I want to get into that sweet spot of the
game’s flow, which makes Granspope Frial so mumy favorite of the entries for the 10th
contest. But it’s not recommended for those low in patience.
Probably the easiest entry to get into, however, is
Y. ABE’s Whirlwind. Its
semi-auto-lock aim and invincibility probably made it seem too easy to most
voters and earned it a shared rank of 11th place. As a 360˚
turret-like mini-STG, however, it’s rather decent.
Back in October, Tim posted Sky-Whirling Geo, Whirlwind, and a couple more 3
Punge games at Independent Gaming. You can head over
there
to get more details on them and his opinion.
Recently, the number of decent games submitted to 3 Punge has been improving.
There still haven’t been any gems to match the sparkle and shine of
Omega’s
Every Extend and
Dan! Da! Dan!
from the 2nd and 5th contests, and there still are several disappointing
submissions. However, one of the best things about the site is
it also serves as a portal to other games made by its contestants.
The newcomer who took 3rd place,
nemu90kWw, has created several
Flash games. The best is a remake of Flixx,
FliFlixx, which originally appeared on the wonderful
PC98. He also made a
Parodius inspired STG and a cat bouncing game, but you can read about those and
his 3 Punge entry in
Tim’s posts. Then there’s
Disorder Island: a simple platformer during stage 1 and 2, but stage 3 is
infuriating. (Controls: hold ‘Shift’ to run with the arrows, up jumps, down
crouches or drops through the platform, ‘Z’ swings the sword, and ‘X’ throws a
bomb once you’ve defeated enough enemies.)
Y. ABE, for whom the 10th contest was also a first, has 2 other STGs on his
site. Electrical
Bird, which Tim
found disappointing,
offers more play and challenge than Whirlwind, so
I prefer it. But I also have a soft spot for graphics and music that have a
computerized or electronic aesthetic,
which makes me a bit biased. The new 1.0 version is even better than 0.9 was.
Scene1 hasn’t changed much and Scene3 has been tweaked, but Scene2 has had 4
elevator columns added to it, which can raise both the player and the enemies.
And the best change is the lightening attack has been replaced with jets of plasma
that shoot out like wings. It works very well with the new energy chain scoring
system.
On the other hand,
Marsenary (direct download) is different from his other 2 games. The environment is a 3D sim, and it
has arena play (which has been abandoned), a story/mission mode, an online high score mode for each area, and ship
customization. Even with all that, though, I found it less enjoyable than Electrical Bird.
Last week, the deadline for the 11th 3 Minute Game Contest was
announced for December 24. A prize won’t be awarded to a winner outside of Japan, but that
doesn’t exclude any of us from entering for bragging rights. Just be sure to follow the rules
as well as you can to keep your entry from being disqualified. As for myself, I’m looking forward to more
3 Punge gaming in January.
Posted in Platformers, Remakes, Browser Games, Shoot-em-ups, Competitions | 7 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:06:00 GMT
I feel like a crack dealer mentioning this game.
It gets a bit brilliant when your castle’s fallen (fucking trebuchets) and you’re running around on the ground as a little guy. And dragons.
Posted in Browser Games, Casual, Action / Arcade | 9 comments
Posted by Albert Lai
Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:36:00 GMT
It is so amazing how car manufacturers don’t seem to be able to synchronize
left and right turn signals. Is it that hard? Is on for one second and off for
one second too difficult? There’s always a moment when it seems that your
lights and the ones of the car in front of you are in sync, but it really isn’t
and there’s a split second when your brain tries to process that it’s
not in sync and things just go downhill from there.
But wait, there’s actually a reason for this post. I would be
regaling you with my marvelous finds of a quality RPG, but the only one I turned
up so far was Grave Spirit,
which is surprisingly mediocre and, actually, rather boring.
Instead, I shall tell you about Master of Defense, which is basically a prettier
version of the plethora of Warcraft 3 maps which involve building towers to
take out monsters that are so hell-bent on reaching the castle that they can’t
be bothered to demolish the very towers that are ripping them and their friends
apart. What can you say?
Master of Defense is a fairly
well-thought out tower defense game, involving nice graphics, a fairly addictive
way to manage and upgrade towers, and a difficulty curve that is just a bit
on the lenient side. But, on the other hand, Master of Defense is not shareware
– it costs, as we say here on the internet, 19.84 US DOLLARS!
Which is rather hard to justify, given that all it adds is three levels, one
more tower, survival mode, and online scoring.
Well, whatever causes you to
give up the fruits of your hard-earned labor for a product that may be inferior,
I suppose.
On the other hand, you could play what amounts to the same game, just with
prettier graphics and less special abilities with Tower
Defense, the free Flash alternative to Master of Defense that is, arguably,
just as good. In my defense though, I didn’t get it from Digg. I just
got it from a website that got it from Digg.
SUMMARY: Albert Lai cannot find quality games that are out of alpha. He also
cannot beat SCWU
to save his life.
Posted in Browser Games, Casual | 5 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:24:00 GMT
The short description of Ayiti: The Cost of Life is that it’s like Oregon Trail, except a lot more topical (and consequently more depressing). Control a family of five living in modern-day Haiti as you battle a lack of educational options, poor working conditions, and bad weather.
Some background about the game:
“Playing 4 Keeps (P4K) is an innovative youth media project that involves a team of Global Kids youth leaders at South Shore High School in Brooklyn, New York, USA. These young people learn to develop and produce socially conscious online games, while gaining skills in game design, digital media, leadership, and peer education. The program is a collaboration with the award-winning online game design company Gamelab, with whom the Global Kids Leaders have worked closely in the production of the Ayiti game.”
I’d love to see more programs that get kids engaged in making educational games. Thinking back to my younger days, if you told me that we were going to make a game in class, I think my level of interest in the particular subject would have raised about a billion percent. And what other media requires such extensive creative, artistic, and technical skill? And then the final product is something that can educate OTHER people. It’s a no-brainer, right?
As a game, The Cost of Life is a well-made and fairly entertaining, although there are improvements that could be made to the interface. More information would make the results of your decisions more understandable. How much more money am I making if I “Work Hard” as opposed to “Take it Easy?” How much healthier is Patrick (stricken with Diphtheria) going to get staying at home and resting versus visiting a clinic?
Of course, The Cost of Life is also supposed to be a bit of a life simulator, and how often is it in life that we know the answers to those kinds of questions? Striking that perfect balance of educating and entertaining is difficult. But these types of games are getting closer day by day, I think.
Posted in Browser Games, Social Impact | 3 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:38:00 GMT
I’m not sure that I grasped all the finer strategical points to this game, but I was definitely having fun playing, probably due to the clean, colorful “boardgame-style” graphics and simple controls. And now I hear there’s a multiplayer version called KDice that lets you play against real people. Word.
(Source: Sensible Erection [NSFW])
Posted in Multiplayer, Highly Recommended, Browser Games, Strategy | 8 comments
Posted by ithamore
Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:12:00 GMT
On a whim
On a whim, I browsed through the recent games at the Experimental
Gameplay Project in search of a decent entry that was mostly complete in concept, gameplay, and execution. After a trying few disappointing quasi-games, I gave Petri
Purho’s Pluto Strikes Back a go and found it rather accessible but a bit irritating at times. Luckily, a recently updated version was posted on his blog, which made the game a more pleasant experience.
In it, the Plutans are quite miffed over the dwarf planet
demotion their home world has received. With vengeance pumping through their veins, they
power up the meteor magnet and wield their cosmic bat to reek their wrath upon
the solar system.
Even with its gravity/magnetism mechanics, Pluto SB played much like an old
fashioned baseball themed pinball game in a penny arcade, which made the
background music very fitting. I wish there was a way to control the strength of
the meteor magnet. It was too strong at times, and being able to manipulate it
would enable some interesting slingshoting.
Petri Purho plans to release a new game each month, and his next work will be out
tomorrow. Since each game he has released has been better than those
before, I’m looking forward to it. The style of his artwork alone has piqued my
curiosity, but I’m still hoping for something with a bit more gameplay than his past
attempts.
Now, if only the EGP and its developers would learn from Purho’s experience and
realize that, just like good graphics, a unique concept alone doesn’t make a
game fun. I’m truly thankful for all the quirky development they share and encourage, but I’m starting to get disappointed with the increasing number of “toys” they’re releasing.
Posted in Browser Games, Casual, Windows, Action / Arcade | Tags PetriPurho | 8 comments
Posted by Tim
Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:40:00 GMT
If distracting games aren’t enough to make you mad, here’s a collection of twenty-seven games that are guaranteed to irritate you.
The Marble Madness clones are quite good, and game for secretary is aptly named. Some really decent stuff to be found on that page.
(Source: Rox271, RR Forums)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Browser Games, Action / Arcade | 4 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:48:00 GMT
This is a game where you… wait a second, I’m getting a phone call. Sorry, what was I saying? Oh yeah, this is a flash game where you try and (hmmm, I should probably do my laundry soon) collect fruit while… hold on, I have to take a dump. Hold that thought, I’ll be right back, okay?
(Never returns.)
EDIT: Haha, I actually got so distracted trying to write my lame post that I forgot to add a link to the damn game.
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Browser Games, Action / Arcade, Doujin | 5 comments
Posted by Eos
Sat, 25 Nov 2006 20:02:00 GMT
Are you as tired of turkey as I am with writing 15-page papers? Because if you are, you need a shot of Jagermeister or whatever those crazy college kids drink. If you’re looking for something equivalent to a brain cell death, try Neko Games. I especially like Neko-tuna just because it’s so inventive. You have to keep Neko balanced between the rope, all the while collecting the diamonds and avoiding the shurikens by clicking the mouse button. It was really hard for me but it might have something to do with using a trackpad on my laptop.
I found out that this game is indeed one of their older games, as someone deftly pointed out. However, they have a more recent game called Neko-Juppiki that features Lemmings-style neko cats. It’s not as fun or innovative as Neko-tuna but still definitely worth checking out.
Posted in Browser Games, Action / Arcade | 4 comments
Posted by Albert Lai
Fri, 24 Nov 2006 17:09:00 GMT
Wiicade is a relatively new arrival, boasting games that supposedly mesh well with the recently 
released Nintendo Wii.
You see the clinical analysis in that previous sentence? I make myself shiver
sometimes.
What is Wiicade? A site to host Flash games designed for the Wii apparently.
Not owning a Wii (I’ve been persuaded by a friend to wait until the rush
is over, damn him) I can’t say whether the games are fun or not
on the console, but on the computer most are fairly lack-luster. Ellipsis
was fairly fun, and I expect Scribble,
a fast-paced connect-the-dots game, may have more appeal on a TV with the Wii
controller than on a computer with a mouse.
Really, I probably shouldn’t be passing any judgments at all since I
can’t say whether this is worth playing or not. Go go TIGSource swarm,
we’re counting on you.
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Browser Games, Wii | 5 comments
We're drawing robots in the forums. 
