Flash Game Interweb Mash-up: Monday, Aug 31, 2009: Flash Game Distribution Reviews

Flash Game Interweb Mash-up: Monday, Aug 31, 2009: Flash Game
Distribution Reviews

One cannot live by Mochi games alone. I burned myself out after 3 weeks
of reviewing virtually every Mochi game launched (during that time
frame), so I have decided to take a little detour and review the latest
batch of games from the Flash Game Distribution list.

Games Reviewed:  Nudge (Game of the Day), Falling Eggs,
Polarized, Farmers on Fire, World Cities, Squirroll, Drunken Rabbit 2,
Armored Corps

Two other games are in the distribution: The amazing Cyclomaniacs and
the fun Red Hat. Both are fine games, but I have reviewed them
previously on when they were on Mochi.

---

Game of the Day: Nudge:

Nudge is a beautifully crafted puzzle game.  Cartoon style
visuals accompany a puzzle game with elements of Pengo, Chips
Challenge, Lemmings and more. Your task is to navigate the tile-based,
overhead 2D levels and collect all of the balloons. Nudge is a complete
treat to play and should be a very nice addition to any portal.
 There is a level editor and you can undo Nudge's moves during
game play if you make a mistake.  What a joy to play!
Grade A.


Game Design Note:
Nudge has implemented a very nice tile to tile system of movement that
all tile-base puzzle game designers should consider. The character
moves freely, but will stop when he is at the center of a tile. Not
only is this very user friendly,  and shows code style
maturity (to me at least).

---

Falling Eggs: A relatively well
done little game where you must move the mouse to touch Easter Eggs
that are falling from the sky. If you touch one, it will bound back
toward the top of the screen. The goal is to keep quite a few on the
screen at once. Everything in the game is pretty well done and the
presentation is nice. There isn't a huge amount of "game" here, but
sometimes the simple ideas are the best.
Grade C+.

Polarized: Wow, now this is a
unique, very very well made little game. The goal is to move a metal
ball from the start to the goal by using a series of electro-magnets.
It reminds me of an ST/Amiga game from the late 80's (not a particular
one). There are some very nice little cinematic pieces at game start
and when you finally get to the actual game, the puzzles are fun and
well done.  
Grade B+

Farmers on Fire: This is a fun
little game where you must try to kill the other farmers with barrels
of explosives. You travel around a 2D tile-based (over head
environment) and try with out wit AI opponents or another human at the
same keyboard. I think we need more games that allow players to play
with one another at the same machine and this is a fun one. The jaunty
music and Western theme are very well. This one has oodles of classic
game play.
Grade A.

World Cities: World Cities is a
pretty good little educational game. You are presented with a world map
and 10 random cities. You must click on the map where you think the
city is located and your score is based on how close you were to the
real location of each.  Really not bad at all, but some of the
interface elements are very plain.
Grade C+.

Squirroll: Squirroll is a very
well designed and implemented physics-based action game. You are a
squirrel and you are rolling on logs, holding nuts. The better you are
are rolling on the logs to your destination, the more nuts you will
have (not drop) when you get there. Everything is top class.
Grade A.

Drunken Rabbit 2: You are a
rabbit, who digs the sauce (so to speak), and you need to ingest as
many spirits as you can. This is a nicely executed physics based
platform game. It is very enjoyable and very much worth your time.
Grade B+.

Armored Corps: Armored Corps is a little like Geometry Wars
with tanks. There are 250 levels to fight through and many extra
weapons to buy and power ups to collect.  You use the WASD
keys to move and the mouse to fire. The presentation is well done and
the game play is pretty damn good. Nice all around.
Grade B+.

Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Mochi Game Reviews,nbsp; Tuesday Aug 25, 2009

Flash Game Interweb Mashup:
Mochi Game Reviews 
Tuesday Aug 25,
2009

Wow, what a haul today. Great
games all around. This is what happens when you take a few days
off. 

Games covered this time:
Bug Box,  Kahoots, Crazy Go Nuts 2, The Unfortunate
Necromancer, Little Farm, Pirate Golf Adventure, Hitstick 4, Fall,
Asteroids, Firework Columns.

8bitrocket Game Of The Day:
Bug
Box

Bug Box has finally made the
move to Mochi. I played this little gem a couple weeks ago and was very
impressed. I have been waiting to play the final version and do a full
Mochi review and my chance has finally come. In Bug Box you have a very
simple task:  Get the Butterfly to the exit. The game play is
based on a very simple sliding puzzle concept, but the execution and
quality is first rate.  Bug box is another in a series of
Mochi games that would fit right into the casual game mix on Yahoo or
Big Fish. Kids and traditional casual gamers should all get a kick out
of this fun, inventive, wildly well executed puzzle contest. Everything
in the game, from the wonderful cartoon style graphics to the classy
environmental sounds is perfectly chosen. Plus, it was created by
Richard Davey of PhotonStorm.com in less than a week. He is quite a
talent. Keep up the great work, Rich.

Note: Richard has added a link to 8bitrocket.com on the title screen for his game. He did this AFTER I decided to make his game Game Of The Day (Last Friday). This was not a paid sponsorship. (see his note in the comments).

 Grade
A.

---

Mochi Coins and 
Featured Game Mini Reviews (in
grade order):

Kahoots:
 I don't know what to say about Kahoots other than: "What the
f*ck
is
this crazy-ass awesome game?", and that I'd love to share whatever mind
bending
pharmaceuticals they ingested when making it.  It's Lemmings
on
acid,
and it's awesome. You need to play it to understand completely. You
might want to dig into the hollowed out book where you keep your stash
of "candy" from college before you play this one. I think I'm going to
have
nightmares of Peg Beast (but good ones). Grade A+.

Crazy Go Nuts 2:
 Wow, Crazy Go Nuts 2
has Pop Cap written all over it. It is rare that I find a free Mochi
game that would actually be worth the $19.99 that Pop Cap charges for
casual games, but this is one of them. Nuts has top quality class all
over the field. It is like the Lakers, Yankees, Arsenal, Barcelona,
and Patriots,Red Wings and DC United all rolled into on fun action /
puzzle game for the whole family. The game is a little like Bloons, but
you are firing squirrels at nuts. It also combines elements of
Arkanoid, Clowns and Balloons, Point Blank, physics puzzles and more.
The presentation and originality is first class. You must collect nuts,
stars, and other items and amass a score high enough to make it to the
next level. There is no way to "die" other than not achieving a score
high enough to move on. Grade A+.

Pirate
Golf Adventure:  This
is beautifully crafted, laid back little
casual golf game with a pirate theme. You are tasked with moving about
the pirate world and advancing the story by knocking a pretty big golf
ball into a hole on each level. This isn't a plain old golf course, and
you don't have any clubs. Using the mouse you direct the ball, and hold
/ release the button to choose the power of your stroke over hills,
pirate ships, caves, and more. You can keep knocking the ball even
while it is in the air. Your job is to collect as many gold coins as
possible in as few strokes as possible and get the ball into the flag
designated hole.  This a another extremely high quality game
that
would not be out of place on the all of the biggest commercial casual
game portals. Grade A.

The Unfortunate Necromancer:
 This is a fun
(and funny)  little retro styled game where you play a
necromancer
in the center of the screen and you must do battle with hordes of
attacking undead. You have mana that you use to fire magic missiles and
other spells . You can purchase spells with in-game collected gold and
with Mochi-Coins. The Mochi-coins upgrades are pretty worthwhile items
that kick zombie some ass. A very unique element to the game is the
movement. You actually don't move, you just rotate in the center of the
screen, firing in the direction of the mouse, If an item appears that
you want to collect, you need to point to it press the "S" key. This
will send your trusty servant, Igor out to collect the item
(hilarious!). This is a
simple, but fun retro-style game. My favorite kind. Grade B+.

Little Farm:
Another Mochi Coins casual game that
has Big Fish or  Yahoo written all over it. The quality of
coins
games is going up to match the best commercial casual games because
more real revenue can be derived from these games. The problem is
finding the audience that will pay. Those players are not on the same
portals that Mochi normally serves (I think). Most of the Yahoo and Big
Fish players stay on those portals. In any case,  Little Farm
is a
first class casual game. You need to water your crops and harvest them
into trucks that drive by. You do this by drawing a rectangle
around the crop squares so that all 4 corners match the crop that the
truck needs to pick up.  There are many hazards and many
pick/ups
and power-ups. It isn't even fair comparing these types of games to the
typical Mochi fare. For the right audience, this will be a huge winner, Grade B+.

Hitstick 4:
 Is a "Hitman" style mission
oriented game. You click through the environment, either blasting, or
sneaking your way to the target. The missions usually require you to
take out a particular individual who is guarded by his own squad of
minions. Like the other Mochi Coins games, this is a top class entrant.
It isn't like Big Fish, Yahoo, or Pop Cap games,. It is more is a
traditional Flash/Old Skool computer game. A lot if time was spent on
character and mission creation. You will have a blast playing just like
I did. Grade
B+.

---

Mochi New Game Mini Reviews (in grade
order):

Fall:
 Fall has the Zarjaz! You don't shoot anything, you just fall.
But you
fall to a sweet little techno sound track in a slowly rotating room.
Your  goal is to fall from one platform to another, avoiding
obstacles
and picking up trinkets along the way, It is simple and it is fun. Grade B.

Asteroids:
 It's no secret that I will try any game with ships and rocks
in it.  This one takes what I assume is an engine from a
popular book and adds some nice game play features. There were a few
render hiccups on my browser, but this is a fun, if not very unique
little blaster. Grade B-.

Firework Columns:
Firework columns is a Columns style game where you are treated to a
nice little firework display when you match three in a column. The game
is probably an IP
hazard, but the fire work element is pretty neat. Grade B-.

Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Mochi Game Reviews, Friday Aug 21, 2009

Flash Game Interweb Mashup:
Blogs, Sites and Mochi Game Reviews, Friday
Aug 21,
2009

For a second straight day I am doing a Mochi Review AND Site, Blog, and
Game Mashup. I am a sadist, and I hate myself. I even have two games of
the day today, one Mochi and one non-Mochi. Anyway, no need to read
any more of this jibjab...

Let's start with the games. Here are the titles on tap for today:

8bitrocket Game Of The Day
(non-Mochi): Tower
of Greed

Tower of greed has NES classic
written all over it, but it doesn't steal any IP and isn't a clone. How
can that be? Talent, understanding, and an appreciation for the
classics, that's how. Epic Shadow (Porter and Andrew) have created a very
sweet little retro contest. Everything about this jaunty little 8-bit
style game is of the highest quality. Your goal is to collect as many
treasures and trinkets as you can while climbing up the tower. As you
start the ascent, the screen will start to scroll up faster and faster
and you must make some very quick decisions on how to proceed. This
could have been a nice little classic quarter gobbler in the mid-late
80's. Grade A.

---

 

8bitrocket Game Of The Day
(Mochi):
Description:
Sacred
Symbols:

Sacred Symbols is a very well
done puzzle game that has all of the elements I would think Mochi would
find valuable in a featured game. Only, they did not feature it (yet).
Actually, the flow of featured games has been very slow this week in
general. In the\is game, you need to remove blocks from a grid, so yes,
they premise is not very original, but the game is very well done with
some deep play patterns. There are multiple types of blocks to click
and each destroys like (and some unlike) blocks in unique ways. Also,
you have spells (and mana to use up) such as teleport, heal, transmute,
and randomize. The visual and sonic touches added to the game are first
rate. Your main goal is to make sure you destroy more than two blocks
on each turn. If you don't, you will get into trouble quickly. The
visuals, while well done, slightly lack that final professional touch,
but the game-play is first-rate. Grade
B+.

---

 

Mochi Game Mini Reviews
(in grade order):

Sling
Wars 2: Angels VS Demons: The
Classic Worms or Artillery Range game with incredibly done visuals and
sounds. You play either and angel or a demon and you must fire your
weapons across the scrolling landscape to destroy your enemy
counterpart. This is a fun, cartoon-styled, and very inventive title
that should be a hit on many a portal. This was a candidate for game of
the day. Grade A.

Synth Blox:
A Tetris-like game with a beat-heavy techno sound track. Macro blocks
fall from the top of the screen and are made up of 4 mini
blocks with different colors in a square (2x2). You move the
macro  blocks, place them and rotate the position of the
colors. A laser will come by and destroy mini blocks in groups of the
same colors (2x2). This is a very well made, fun puzzle game
with some nice visuals and the aforementioned sound track. Game of the
Day Candidate. Grade B.

Impossible
2: Jungle Escape: Sweet! This is
a very simple, retro styled game. You basically control a soccer ball
along a scrolling (you move up, the background moved down) jungle path.
Your ball rotates and has some limited inertia. Your job is you move it
as far down the path as possible, avoiding the sides, the trees and any
other hazards that come along. The music is especially well done in
this title. The visuals are pretty simple, but the game-play is fun. Grade
B.

Jumping
John: A well done little
puzzle/platform game where you must walk on each platform (and make it
melt away) before you can finish the level. It is more difficult than
it sounds. The music and visuals are nice, and the game play is pretty
fun. Grade B.

Mancala:
An ancient board game played between you and the computer. DaveKG is
the KING of recent pretty good quality B Grade Mochi games. This one is
no exception. The AI is good and the visuals are pleasing. Nice work. Grade
B.

Death
Delayer: Death Delayer is a very
slow-paced, thinking-man's game. You need to patiently use your magic
to keep spiders and other beasties from attacking a man who has been
buried alive. The game is high on creativity, but low on action. It is
a unique, pretty well done game, but the game play is targeted at those
who not as twitch happy as I am. Morbid in some ways, and fascinating
in others, there might just be an audience out there for games of this
style. Grade B-.

Jungle
Truck: Drive the truck along the
side-scrolling, jungle terrain, collecting stars. You need to reach the
finish line before time runs out. There are no shortage of games that
use the Glenn Rhodes side scrolling racing engine (or one like it).
This one looks nice, and plays pretty well. It has that "me too"
feeling, but if you enjoy games like this, you can't really go wrong
here. The sonic experience is a little lacking though. Grade
B-.

Flox:
Flox is a well crafted, slow paced (many will enjoy this aspect), but
ultimately very simple game. You are tasked with drawing circles around
like colored circles that are floating in the game space. If you
"lasso" two like colored circles, they will merge to create a bigger
one. A had a few good minutes of fun with this one. The music is
soothing, and it plays nicely. Grade
B-.

Kit's
Odyssey: Kit is a platform game
where you move from the left to the right and jump over things. The
screen doesn't scroll, but once to get to the right edge, you move to
the next screen. There is nothing really good or really bad about Kit.
The visuals are well done, but the platform engine controls are a
little tight. Grade B-.

Protect
Mission: A relatively simple,
but well made game. You man a highly maneuverable tank and you must
protect a medic truck on the road from enemy tanks. Basically, drive
around and BLOW SHIT UP. Don't shoot the medic truck though. It is good
clean cartoony fun. Grade
C+.

Airplane
Competition: Take the most
difficult to control arcade game airplane in the history of the medium
and attempt to have fun crashing into the pretty landscape. I can't
give it too bad a grade just because I suck at it, but COME ON, why put
some much work into a game and then make it a complete BITCH to play?
Some good graphics and animation in this one though. Grade
C+.

Water Drive:
You are a stone and you must fall down the screen on platforms. If you
don't fall fast enough (and get hit by the top of the screen) or fall
below the bottom of the screen, your game is over. This is a nice
simple little diversion without much in the way of either polish or
extended game play. Grade
C-.

Hungry
Hungry Hobo: A very very
simplistic "advergame" style catch contest. Using the Hobo's arm to
extend a cup, catch falling money. That's pretty much it. The Hobo
looks pretty good, and the name is a funny take on the classic board
game (with Hippos), but there isn't really much here to grade. This
should be re-skinned and sold as an ad banner. Grade
D+.

 

---

Blogs
/ Sites / Etc

Very
cool Flex/Air Code Coverage Tool:
I'm a little late to the game on Flex Cover, but it seems to be a very
useful tool, and it's free!

The
Collision Detection Kit : Looks
KICK ASS! A set of classes to do pixel perfect collision detection for
ALL display objects. SWEET does not cover it! Corey O'Neil, you have
some new fans over here.

Write AS3 on- line and compile it
into a swf: The Actionscript
Minibuilder is a Java App that runs in a browser. It lets you compile
AS3 with code assist.

How to cater your game do the male
demographic:  Freelance
Flash games has some better ideas than mine (ie: boobies, and fart
jokes). His ideas for targeting kids
might actually work too.

New Basic Enemy AI Tutorial at Flash
Perfection:  It's in
AS1/AS2 and pretty basic (onClipEvent), but if you are in need, it's
worth a look.

The Game In Your Blog Flash Game
Round Up for Aug 20:
 Cyclomaniacs, The Competitor, GT and the Evil Factory, This
is the Only Level, and Bubble Spinner. 

Hey Zap Now Gives Publisher a cut too
now: So says this this Tech
Crunch article.

 10 Reasons Flash Is Better
Than Silverlight: As if you
needed this list =) I'm actually very interested in Silverlight 3. We
tested Silverlight 2 earlier this year and made a couple small games. I
was disappointed with the bitmapdata and sound support. Both have
supposedly been fixed in version 3, but I haven't had time to check it
out yet. 

---

A
little Off Topic: 

The Angry Video Game Nerd Review NES
Bible Games: The games are
unauthorized and AWESOME! Did you realize that Moses was that strong!

 Modernclassicgaming.com
has launched:   From
the staff behind the awesome RecycledGaming.com.

Way Way Off Topic:

Will Ferrell answers your Internet
questions.

As
always, hit www.flashgameblogs.com
for your daily does.  

Indie Game I.P. Issues Start To Heat-Up

We here at 8bitrocket.com spend a lot of time trying to educate small developers on the issues of Intellectual Property" (I.P. or IP). Why? Well, one because we love you. Two, because we both have vast experience working for major corporations that really take the issue of "Intellectual Property" seriously. These large corporations all have tons of lawyers, on-staff, and ready to sue. However, that is not all, there are many companies that do business with their lawyers. That is, they are more apt to sue first and ask questions later. In fact, in many cases it does not even matter if you (the indie developer we love) are in the "right" or not. All that matters is that you are tied-up in court spending money you don't have to fight a lawsuit that could have been otherwise avoided.

In our yearly predictions from last year, we had this one: "an I.P. incident similar to the Facebook "Scrabulous" issue will rock the viral, Flash game world. It will force many domestic U.S./Europe portals to screen games more closely...". We were wrong about the Flash market, as this has not happened yet. However, yesterday a funny yet slightly disturbing story came out of Game Set Watch. Apparently, a joke was created on the New Zealand gaming site Game Console about a "breakout/arkanoid" style game for the Playstation Network that was going to get a "William Shatner/Star Trek" graphical overhaul. While it was a funny joke, someone took it very seriously... William Shatner's lawyers!

Not only was cease a desist letter sent to the developer of the game threatening a lawsuit, but they also claimed to have alerted Paramount Studios of the this "I.P. crime". In a vacuum, this story has all the elements of something quite funny. Its got uptight lawyers, William Shatner, and mistaken identity, etc. However, the internet is not a vacuum. (unless you consider that some days it totally SUCKS). Since we see these kinds of I.P. issues with viral Flash games almost daily, it is only a matter of time before some tiny Flash developer is sued for all their Mochipennies (plus legal costs - read: $$$$$) because they used a copyrighted Megan Fox image in their dress-up game. We await the hammer to fall. In any event, I claim another one of our predictions to now be validated.

 

Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Game reviews,Thursday Aug 20, 2009

Flash Game Interweb Mashup:
Blogs, Sites and Game reviews,Thursday Aug 20,
2009

This is a combined Blog / Site Mashup as well as a Mochi Game review
Mashup all in one.  I figured why not try to do as many of
these as possible, as often as possible There is more to life than just
games, and there's more to games than just blogs. Let's see how this
plays out. I'd love to do this daily, but time is limited, so it might
be every other day. Mochi has gone ahead and changed up the Publisher
page to highlight coins and featured games, while literally burying the
"new games" so far down the page that most people will never get there.
Alas, I cannot be fooled, so I will trudge through the sea of "me
too's", "dress-up games", and "laser-dodgers" to find some hidden gems
(and some not so gem-like).

Let's start with the games. Here are the titles on tap for today:

8bitrocket Game Of The Day:
8Bit Junkie
Description:
SWEEEEEEET! Not a Mochi Game today, but a fun retro inspired action
game. Using your Pac-man like character, you must eat all of the green,
blue and purple classic characters and void the red ones. The game play
is pretty good, but the entire atmosphere puts me into a retro-arcade
on the 80s mixed with some Jeff Minter Zarjaz. It's a fun little game
with an awesome atmosphere.

(8bit Junkie is a Paul Stamp
Production).

Mochi Game Mini Reviews:

Cubes R
Square: A relatively simple
looking, but ultimately pretty difficult puzzle game. You are tasked
with removing colored cubes and their adjacent neighbors from a line of
cubes at the bottom of the screen. Your score is based on the square
(math) of the number of cubes you eliminate. There are quite a few
special (good and bad) cubes and one that cubes your score (more math)
rather than squaring it. The puzzles are based on removing all of the
cubes (good and bad - but bad removes some of your score too) to
complete a level. This is a nice, well made game. I had to play a few
times to really get it, but then again, I'm an idiot. so most people
will take to this one pretty easily. Grade
B.

Crosszle
3D: Part 2: This is sliding
match-3 puzzle, played at a sort of 3-D perspective (really iso). It
looks pretty, but there is no sound to speak of. The way matches are
completed is a new idea (at least to me). You move entire rows and
columns and try to match up colored squares with other rows and
columns. You don't just swap to pieces. This makes for some interesting
game play. Grade B

Snowboarding
DX: A first-person (well 3rd,
from behind) snowboarding game. This is is a visual and sonic treat.
The controls are a little difficult to get used to, but for the most
part they work great. We are now starting to see games that reach the
PS1 level of quality on the Flash platform. This one isn't quite there
yet (Maybe Jaguar/Early Saturn quality), but is certainly is the best
Flash snowboarding game I have played. Grade
A.

FG Filler:
Your job is to fill the screen with Blue Balls (sic). Watch out for the
red balls as they will destroy your blue balls if they collide during
creation. I call all of these games Qix games (because that was the
original filler in in the early 80's). This isn't a bad little game,
but there is not enough special about it to really make it stand out.
Grade C+.

Minesweeper:
A pretty good version of the Microsoft Windows time sapping classic.
There are quite a few options for creating your own game with different
board sizes, difficulty, etc. I dig the effort. It's simple, might have
IP issues (I don't know the trademark on the name), but all in all, it
is kind of fun. Grade C+.

Electro-City:
A sweet little mouse avoider style game with some nice custom music (a
really decent song). It's done well and has good elements. It is a
little like other games, but I really appreciate this attempt to make
is different in some with with little touches of Mintereque zarjaz.
There are places where it could use some visual upgrades though. Game
Grade B-. Song Grade B+.

Difficult
to Kill: This has to be the most
difficult defense game I have ever played. You are a guard, defending a
bank from zombie looking robbers. You have the worst gun in the history
of guns (it can be upgraded though) and the robbers all have unlimited
supplies of weapons and grenades to throw at you. It doesn't look like
much and really doesn't play like much. There is a way to upgrade, but
I never made it that far because my gun hardly ever fired and hit an
attacker. It needs some work in all areas, but it looks like a lot of
code was put in to get it this far. Grade
D.

Asteroids
: Hmm, it looks a lot like Atari classic (and the Neave Flash version),
and some of the original sounds are sampled. But some of the sounds are
just plain crap. Why sample some and not others. Actually, why re-make
the exact game with some sounds and not others, I mean were you really
concerned about the IP issues with just the shooting sound. Anyway, as
much as I like retro games and Asteroids, exact duplicates (even with
one sound replaced) are ripe for legal issues.Nice coding job though, Grade
C.

Astro
Runner: God I was hoping this
would be better than the last Asteroids game, I was wrong. It is ok,
but odd. You must dodge falling asteroids as you move up the screen.
Inexplicably, at some points you earn a "charge" that you are supposed
to be able to use to destroy some of the rocks. I never got it to work.
At least the asteroids are not stolen IP, but they do look like soccer
balls in some ways. Grade
C.

 
By the way, Mochi seems to have some ROS (run of site) Vlassic Pickle
ads now. I have not seen those since between commercial Knight Rider
and Chips episodes in the early 80's.

Blogs
/ Sites / Etc

Mochi-Coins
Rev Share Enabled Games - If you
are a publisher, reluctant to add Mochicoins games because of the
potential for player to leave your site, you can now be compensated if
you add Mochicoins Rev Share enabled games to your site. There
are 6 up now with more to come.
"RTFA" for questions =).

Once Upon A Time In Flash Development
Part II -Vortixgames' Vlad gives
his take on the Greg v Ryan argument with own discussion of developer
practices and maturity levels. Of course many new developers want cash
for little work...don't we all though?

Porter
Takes on Sponsor Click Through Rates:
I like Porter because he wants to create retro-style games ( we do
to!). Anyway, Porter finds some interesting views on the value of
traffic, unique games, and CTR in this nice article.

The
Speccy Game Bible!: Rich, over
at Photonstorm, has a review up concerning this series of great books
on Spectrum games. The books cover 1982-1993 and 1200+ games. Nice
find, Rich. This is the type of material that ALL game developers
should be reading.

The average game is now 35, fat and
bummed - so says MSNBC from a
poll given to fat, bummed Seattle Tacoma residents.

If you hate AS3, then this thread is
for you - People mostly hate AS3
because it makes time line and embedded clip coding a fuck-nutsy
experience. If you are like me, and you like to build applications and
games with pure code, then  AS3 rocks. It is obvious to me
that there are large camps on both sides of the issue. Neither is wrong
because both use code for completely different purposes.

Does
Flash CS4 Still Crash For You?-Icky
G. (The Dime Man) has it running smooth as a kitten after the latest
patches.

20
Useful Flash APIs and Tools
-Lorenz has put together a very nice list of 3D, Multiplayer, physics,
IDE, tweens, and other tools that can really help you get the job done.

How
HitTest behaves with scrollrect:
-Jobe has discovered some interesting things about hit testing with a
scrollrect. Basically, you can't hitTestPoint outside the boundaries of
the scrollrect and expect to get accurate results. See Jobe's example.
I never use scrollRect, I just offset the point and use the
BitmapData.hitTest. I don't think this will work for Jobe, but I like
to write things that are in my head (obviously).

An
Open source AS3 Isometric Engine
- Emanuele has an entry with the details on this sweet little piece of
code from Djibril Tavares.

A
little Off Topic: 

The
latest version of Retro Gaming Times
- Alas, I didn't make the Atari Playfield article this time - damn
book, salting up my game. 

Way Way Off Topic:

Total Eclipse OF The Heart (As
Performed By The Dan Band in Old School) - Flow Charted and diagrammed
for convenience sake. 

The Ten Coolest Cartoon Cars Of All
Time - The
Tom Slick car and and Mach 5 are awesome, but the car from the Ambiguously
gay Duo?

Beck's Loser, the Literal Video
Interpretation! I always knew
that was death with his shirt off.  

As
always, hit www.flashgameblogs.com
for your daily does.  

Flash Game Interweb Mashup: Blogs, Sites and Game reviews, Aug 18, 2009

Flash Game Interweb Mashup:
Blogs, Sites and Game reviews, Aug 18, 2009

This is a combined Blog / Site Mashup as well as a Mochi Game review
Mashup all in one.  I had to take a weekend break because it
was my wedding anniversary. My wife was already not pleased that I had
to write 15 pages of my latest chapter, so instead of  Mochi
games, a Mash-up, and a divorce, I took a break and started back today
with a combination Mash-Up, and a solid marriage.

Let's start with the games. Here are the titles on tap for today:


Mochi
Game Mini Reviews:

Game Of The Day:
CycloManiacs 

One of the best all around
Flash games you will ever play. It's a bicycle race similar to
Excitebike, but with modern physics and a quality second to none. Robot
Jam and Long Animals, I salute you. Please make more games, but don't
give them away for free. Sell them on Xbox live or Wiiware! Make me
feel inadequate. Grade
A+

Max Damage:
A sweet little retro style physics based puzzle - shoot a cannot ball
at all kinds of household items and try to inflict the most damage. Grade
B+.

SAS:
Zombie Assault 2 - Insane Asylum:
Kick Zombie ass, collect money to open new areas and weapons. There is
also a Mochi Coin implementation that confuses me a little (the Mochi $
vs the in game $), but it is a very fun game. Grade
B+.

Ascaris
Rush: This is a well done, but
seemingly incomplete overhead, scrolling (360) shooter. You run around
and shoot baddies using the keys and the mouse. It seems incomplete -
no sound, no real instructions, etc. In its current state it is an odd
duck, but interesting all the same. Grade
B-.

Pleiades:
Not a conversion the obscure 80's sequel to Phoenix, this is a simple,
but well made game where you must use the mouse to guide a group from
left to right and avoid any of them being killed. It's pretty fun. Grade
B.

Snap 'n
Bounce: A fun little puzzle game
where you snap a "cord" to bounce a ball around the level until it hits
the key. It doesn't look like much, but it is a pretty good game. Grade
C+

jj's
Flower Garden: The style and
look of this game is very nice, but the game play if very odd. Stuff
seems to be falling from the sky, and you must either open or close the
umbrella over each plant to let the "stuff" hit it or not. Good stuff
(water) and bad stuff (lemonade?) will with help or hurt you plants.
Some young girls will get a kick out of this one. Grade
C+.

Turbo Tanks:
Sonic the Hedge Hog with a tank .Pretty well done and fun. Grade
B+

Rescue The Houseworld:
A fun little retro-style space shooter where you man a cannon at the
top and blow away enemy attacking from the bottom. It's more my type of
game that yours, but I think you will enjoy it too. Grade B.

Blogs
/ Sites / Etc

The Flash Love Letter Part 2
- Danc, you have me at "New Definition of Value"!  Danc gives
the metric measurement ideas that will help you make money from your
games.

Colby's
Finite State Machine For Games.-
Colby is extending his great entity based game framework with a
discussion of OOP state machines. Nice!

Yak's Making Of Attack Of The Mutant
Camels - Read all about how Jeff
Minter entered the game industry in the Edge.com article.

Wired's
Using Math To Defeat Zombies -
It's possible, though not probable that you will need to fight off
zombies one day. They all watch Dancing with the Stars now, but what
happens when it's taken off the air?

Wired's Virtual Reality Game: Find
Evan Ratliff and win $5000 - He
is gone, but keep up to date on his credit card purchases, cell phone
calls, and blog entries. If you find him first he will give you a
password to obtain your cash!

Martin Hollis , who has been doing
this since the dark ages, interview at Gamasutra.
- They discuss Rare, Speccy games, etc all they up to the new Wii
titles.

Freelance Flash Games get's jiggy
with Cronus X for a week. - It
couldn't have happened to a more deserving game.

FlodPro
Tracker interface for Flash 10-
Have you ever mistyped in Photonstorm.com and gone to Photostorm.com?
I hope they get some extra business out of it. Maybe Richard Davey can
make them a new site with his impressive skillz. Anyway, over at Rich's
Game development blog, not the wedding photo site, he has a sweet news
item on the FlodPro Tracker interface for Flash 10.

Want to play Flash Games on you PSP?
 The Techie-buzz blog have the goods.

Off
Topic:

The
Funny or Die Ballad of GI Joe-
What do the Joes
and Cobra do in their off hours? Three Dog Night, Painting landscapes
and Ham radios?

As
always, hit www.flashgameblogs.com
for your daily does.