8bitrocket.com Video Podcast-Essential Flash Game Book Games Preview
8bitrocket.com Video Podcast-Halloween Edition. In this edition we preview the games from our forth coming Flash game development book, Essential Flash Games. You actually see them in action. We also learned to use a screen capture utility and the results are...mediocre as always. Hey, but it's getting better. Also, check out out new title sequence!
PS: Sorry for the terrible edit at the beginning. I had to cut 2 minutes to get it on YouTube.
Editorial: Two Big Kids On The Block In The Viral Flash World
When Jeff and I were little, we lived on a block with a lot of other kids. Of all those kids, there were two bigger ones that we tried to be friends with: Justin and Travis. Both had good qualities and bad ones too. Justin was a pretty nice guy, but he sometimes would do some underhanded things that would make his aunt (the one he lived with) pretty upset. Travis on the other hand was the pretty tough but fair character. You never wanted to get on his bad side, but at the same time, he would passionately defend you if you were his friend. Jeff and I always tried to walk the line and be friends with both of them. As the smaller kids, this sometimes worked and sometimes got us smacked around and hurt. No matter, we always felt that Justin and Travis should have been better friends: the whole block would have been better for it, but it never happened.
I tell you this story because in the Flash viral game space we have a couple big kids who should think about playing nice together before the whole block falls apart.
On one side we have The big "M" (let's call them "Mike") : the tireless defender of Flash content. First they let us track it, then they let us monetize it, then they gave us a way to make it more addictive and a way to protect it, and now they are trying to make things even more professional with microtransactions
On the other side, you have the guys at the big "F" (let's call them "Fred"). These guys pioneered the idea of turning Game Sponsorships into a viable business, offered ways for developers to help other developers make better games, and now have gone and taken it even further with in game transactions, distributed save-game features and more.
However it has occurred to us in the past couple days that these two "big guys on the block" "Mike" and "Fred" need to find a way to play nice together. In many ways they compliment each other's offerings very well. The places where they compete would do well to integrate instead of remain proprietary systems. We think both are wonderful platforms with dedicated staffs working hard to make this little corner of the game world a real industry. In short, we would like to see harmony.
But sometimes it does not work that way.
Back on our block at home when were little, when Jeff and I got caught in the middle of the fights between Justin and Travis, we only ended-up getting hurt ourselves. It was up to those two guys to fight their own battles and come to agreements on their own terms. In the same way I'd hope that "Mike" and "Fred" can find a way to work together that does not get the little kids caught in the middle. Otherwise, game developers and bloggers alike might get bloodied in the process. This is still small block we all play on, and it would be terrible to see it all go to waste.
A Youth Well Wasted: Lee Bradly Bogs His Youth In Video Games
UK game journalist Lee Bradly has been writing an on-going blog chronicling his youth playing video games. His series, A Youth Well Wasted is a a fascinating story about his friendship with a kid whose dad was a Sega executive.
As you may know, we here at 8bitrocket.com have been running a similar series named Atari Nerd Chronicles that follows our youth loving Atari. Bradly's story is 100% his own, but at the same, it could be called "Sega Nerd Chronicles", and that is why it like it so much.
Bradly paints himself as an unabashed video game fan, but his writing also gives context to the time and place in which he grew-up. The fact that he titled his series "A Youth Well Wasted" shows that while his story revels in his joyous youth inside arcades and playing consoles, his age has brought an "emerging perspective" to his past.
I love it.
Kill Screen: A Video Game Magazine That Aims For The Mature Mind
If you are like us, you constantly lament the demise of great game magazines like Electronic Games and Next Generation. Those magazines went beyond the standard news/preview/review/strategy format of most gaming tomes to include in-depth articles on subjects like sociology and future of the hobby. However, even those publications still followed a familiar format (obviously invented by Electronic Games but improved-upon by Next Generation) that made them stand-out as magazines for video game fans only. Mainstream general entertainment magazines like Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly have dabbled in gaming, but games never appear as any kind of regular in those publications either. At the same time, there are some very sophisticated, format busting magazines dedicated to music (Blender) technology (Wired), D.I.Y. (Make), culture (Fader) that try to go beyond the mainstream and look at their topics in the context of the real world. However, there has never been gaming magazine that tried to tackle the topic from that angle ....until now.
Kill Screen is a magazine in its' infancy that is trying to fill the void. The project was started by writers from various publication (New Yorker, GQ, the Daily Show, Christian Science Monitor, LA Times, the Colbert Report, the Onion, Paste) that want to see video game topics treated in the same mature manner as other entertainment and cultural topics. In short, they are striving for context. This is a topic near and dear to our hearts at 8bitrocket.com, as we have been struggling to put our love for video games into the context of our normal lives for almost 25 years now. This lack of context in video game journalism is one of the reasons why we tend to read stuff like Retro Gamer (it validates our past), and not Game Informer (we feel no connection to it). As adults we have grown past the need to get excited about each every new game that is coming down the pike, nor do we really need to have our gaming likes and dislikes validated by random game reviewers. Instead, the hole we need filled by a video game magazine is much deeper and more complicated. Basically, we have invested a good portion of our lives into the medium of the video game, and we have a desire to see that investment both validated (or not) and ruminated upon. This is what Kill Screen aims to do. They describe their goal this way:
We're talking about the long format read on the creative minds behind AAA and indie game titles sided by the personal essays about what games mean as part of our daily little lives. There are intersections between the games and everything else that are only beginning to be explored. The minds of the videogame world are woefully faceless and we should change that.
This is something that we are really excited about. However, this a magazine that is being self-funded through Kickstarter.com, so there is a good chance that it won't last very long if people who enjoy this kind of thing do not support it. The first issue has already been paid-for in full by donations, but there is no reason to not support the project and get in on something this interesting very early. We have already pledged our support. When we get the first issue, we'll review it and tell you what you are missing!
note: Yes, the name Kill Screen is reference to "King Of Kong". It's another reason why we like this idea so much.
Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: October 26, 2009 (10 new games reviewed)
Mochi Game Review Mash-Up: October 26, 2009 (10 new games reviewed)
Games Reviewed: Street Fighter 2: CE, GraveShift 2: The Sewers, Zombie Taxi 2, Globulos Challenge, Froggy, Lost Mouse, WS Cup 2009, Battlerun, Speed
Game of the Week: Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition
I don't know why I haven't got around to reviewing this one yet. I was never a huge fan of the fighting games in the 90's (mostly because I button mash), but I always appreciated the technical skill it took to both create and play these games.
This is an official port, used as "adverware" to promote the latest edition of the franchise. From what I remember, this is identical to the arcade version and is an amazing technical achievement as a Flash game. All of the characters, moves and specials you remember are there (at least the ones I remember are are present). I'm not sure that the 6 key config is as easy to use as the Genesis (Medgadrive) 6 button controller I had, but it is still a very fun game to play.
Grade A.
GraveShift 2: The Sewers : This is a very well crafted isometric puzzle/adventure/arcade game in the same class as some of the classic Atari ST and Amiga similar efforts. You must traverse the multi-room levels, searching for artifacts and keys to open doors. There are many traps and puzzles to solve to make your way around them. The only problem I had was with the iso-control as the arrow keys are a difficult match for the actual direction the player needs to move. Once you get used to the control though, this is fun game to play.
Grade B+
Zombie Taxi 2: Zombie Taxi is supposedly a little like Crazy Taxi, but I never even attempted to pick up any passengers. The real fun is running over the green zombies and watching them splat into red goo. In this 2D overhead contest (it looks a little like the original 2 GTA games), your job is to drive around the town on your yellow taxi, picking up passengers to get them to safety from the zombies. Your car has nicely modeled driving physics and an extensive set of damage mapping. You can also upgrade your vehicle and there are a lot of things you can add with Mochi coins.
Grade B+
Globulos Challenge: This is a very unique puzzle game where you must fire one or more cute little yellow Globulos characters at a foot (soccer) ball and attempt to score a goal in a single shot. The challenge is based on collision reactions between your Globulos characters and the ball. On most of the levels you have one shot to get the ball in the goal. You must set the angle and strength the Globulos vector(s) and then fire them off. There are also bad Globulos characters who will also get to add their own collision reaction to the mix and challenge your shot.
Grade B
Froggy: A pretty decent version of the classic Frogger game. I played this game A LOT on multiple platforms in the 80's. There is nothing really special about this tribute, but the graphics and nice and clean. A good effort at a classic remake. They get points for not stealing the original name or graphics, or sounds.
Grade C+
Lost Mouse: Move your mouse through the mazes and don't touch the walls. A nice demo in the use of hitTestPoint. It works though and there are some decently designed levels. The icon for this one is hilarious.
Grade C-
WS Cup 2009: A soccer / football game played as if you are a 5 year old in an AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) game. Actually, it is EXACTLY like an AYSO game. There are 11 pretty stagnant players on each team, and you man one of them on the red squad. Bat the ball around hockey puck style and try to get it in goal. Scoring is not easy, and it is actually a little fun for a few minutes.
Grade C
Battlerun: Battlerun is a nice little arcade game that doesn't look like much at first, but builds into as a sort of combination Galaxian/Robotron game. The interface and poorly looped sound could use a fresh coat of attention, but the core is a nice little game with some unique power ups and action.
Grade B-
Tunnel Syndrome: A really short, simple game with some Zarjaz effects. The game play leaves a lot to be desired, but this is supposed to be a simple game. You just need to keep your ship between the lines of the tunnel as it scrolls up the screen. The ship and tunnel move very fast and it is easy to hit the walls but there is not a lot of feedback when this occurs. In any case, I like the the visuals and sound but the game play is a little lacking.
Grade C-
Speed: Speed is a cool little arcade game. You fly your ship up the screen using the arrow keys and fire your weapon to move blue blocks out of your way with the WASD keys. The graphics are pretty basic, (your ship looks nice though), but the game is pretty fun (and difficult).
Grade B-
Essential Guite To Flash Games Book: Pre-Order
This has been up for a couple weeks but were waiting some confirmations to post it. You can now pre-order the Essential guide to Flash Games book from Amazon.
Also, we learned yesterday that that great Iain Lobb will be the technical reviewer for the book,so if we lead you guys astray, you can be sure Iain will get us back on-track!
Mochi Game Review Mash-Up October 20, 2009 (11 new games reviewed)
Mochi Game Review Mash-Up October 20, 2009 (11 new games reviewed)
I wanted to do a full blog and site mash-up today (along with Mochi
Game Reviews), but I that task is so daunting, I decided to stick to
just reviews for another day. I searched out retro games again (or those
that were probably inspired by retro games) because, unfortunately, I
am THAT guy.
Games
reviewed today: Vector
Conflict The siege, Magnets, Obechi, Assembler 4, Energy
Leak, Macrophage, Robot Bimmy, UFO Attack, Zero,
Baldy Dash, Pumpkin Wars
Game
of the day: Vector Conflict The siege:
Wow, talk about a game that literally rocks, this is it. It's a little
like the classic Atari coin-op, Battlezone in style but without the
movement through the 3D play field. You man your turret,
rotating 360 degrees and fire (helped
by your radar) your extensive arsenal at incoming hoards of
enemy craft.
There are many upgrades to obtain, and everything looks and sounds
first class (especially the rocking soundtrack). I would give
it a slightly higher grade if you could travel through the 3D space
rather than just rotate, but it's gets a great score anyway.
Grade
B+
Magnets:
Not strictly a retro game, but this one is so well done with all of the
subtle touches I would expect from someone who studied under (or at
least played all of the output from) the masters of the medium. This
unique puzzle contest pits you against a play field of graph paper and
desktop widgets (erasers, etc). Your job is to place magnets around the
play field in order to direct polarized particles from one emitter to a
catcher. Obviously this game was designed by someone much smarter than
I.
Grade
B+
Obechi:
The retro connection in this game is Qix. I have no idea if
the author thought of this game when he/she was building it, but to me
all "filler / catch enough inside" games come from Qix just like TD
games really owe their debt to Rampart (in many ways). Anyway, in this
well-designed contest has you catching floating particles by
encapsulating them inside a circle that you create. This one
looks simple, but is pretty tough after level 5.
Grade
B
Assembler 4:
I can't think of a retro game that is much like Assembler 4, but since
this physics based puzzle genre seems to have been around for 10 years
now, and because this game is so sweet, I'll just chalk it up to
nostalgia anyway. Use the gray boxes and wooden shapes to get
the green boxes (and shapes) into their outlined homes. Simple
elegant fun. If the Activision guys had a good physics engine to work
with, I could see them having made an Atari 2600 version of this game.
Grade
B
Energy Leak:
A quality little arcade game not unlike Breakout / Arkanoid, but with
game play elements all its own. Bounce the energy balls into the
collecting conductors. The game starts out slow and takes a little
while to ramp up. Give it a chance though, The presentation is first
rate, and the action does begin to heat up.
Grade
B-
Macrophage:
A simple little arcade shooter completed in 24 hours. The music,
concept and design are all very well done, especially given the time
frame it was produced in. Your job is to protect the heart by killing
the pathogens that are moving left to right. The music is especially
well done. There was an old Atari 800 Gebelli game a little like this
(he went on the be a designer for the Final Fantasy NES games). This is
one pretty fun.
Grade
B-
Robot Bimmy: Your
job is the "jump" up the the bean stalk (scrolling up), collect items,
double jump and blast meanies. It doesn't look like much, but it has a
certain charm. Watch out for the nasty birds. The branches
will start to disappear, so falling down can be vary hazardous.
Actually a pretty good little effort here.
Grade
B-
UFO Attack:
Do the words "unfinished school project" scare the crap out of you when
you look at a game's description? They do to me, but guess what, for an
unfinished school project, this is an outstanding effort. For a game
that a portal will want to place on the front page and earn ads $$,
not so much. But, that aside, I want to encourage this
developer to keep making games because I have seen so so so so much
worse, and I might even play this one a little bit again.
Grade
C+
Zero: This
is an interesting one. It is a little like a very modern version of
Mattel Intellivision Space Battle. That game was supposed to be a clone
of the Atari 800 classic, Star Raiders, but the Mattel hardware
couldn't (at least until the developers got a better handle on the
system) handle the pseudo 3D / First person space correct. So
it seemed like you were firing at a black wall filled with scaling
enemy. This game seems like a very pretty, well made version of that.
Did I make it sound bad, because it is not bad, just a little odd.
There are many things to shoot at and the music/visuals are first rate.
For some reason you fire with the space bar, but move with the mouse.
To each his own. I like it though.
Grade
B-
Baldy Dash: I
usually avoid advergames, but I like the Shaun The Sheep guys. In this
simple little contest, you just need to use the mouse to drive the
truck over the wigs. It looks good, is well coded (except for a bug
when trying to click on the truck to start the level). I know how
advergame design goes, so I cannot disparage the simple
concept because design by committee can be oh so much worse than
this. Plus, young kids will love it.
Grade
B-
Pumpkin Wars: This
is a very well made scrolling shooter where you control a witch in 1/2
a pumpkin. Your job is to shoot baddies and collect candy and other
items. The backgrounds and parallax scrolling are awesome, but the
menus are controlled by a custom cursor that doesn't show up right away
and makes for a very difficult start to the game. I'm afraid a bug like
this might keep it off of some portals. The action is good though and
it seems to have been well coded. I am using a Mac with
Firefox 3 if that is any help to the
developer.
Grade
B-
Essential Flash Games Book Ch.9: Dice Battle! A.I.Battle Puzzle Game.
Here is an alpha sample screen of the game "Dice Battle" from the "Essential Flash Games" book.
This game builds upon the material in Chapter 8 (Color Drop), adding ramping machine-based A.I., a soundtrack manager, multiple enemies in battle-style puzzle game like Book Worm Adventures or Puzzle Quest, plus a bunch of other enhancements. This another game that uses the graphics in spritelib.
The A.I. algorithms are all custom and designed to be as efficient as possible. They are based on the color-matching routines in Ch.8. We have added an intelligence to the code that allows the computer to make decisions based on it's level of ability.
As you can from the screenshots from the various games that Jeff and I have been posting, that the "Essential Flash Games" book contains many different styles of games, many that have never appeared in a book before (that we know of).
Mochi Game Review Mash-Up : Oct 14th, 2009 (Games where things shoot at other things day)
Mochi Game Review Mash-Up : Oct 14th, 2009 (Games where things shoot at other things day)
These were always my favorite types of arcade, video, and computer games, so I scoured the "Coins", "Featured", and "Recent" Mochi lists for some arcade blastin' titles to review.
Games Graded: Tank Destroyer, Gravitor, Bug Squad, Mummy Tombs, Halloween Kill Zone, Spiders Attack, Target Shooter, Indirect Assault, and Jump 'n Gun
Games of the Day: Tank Destroyer
Tank Destroyer is a very well made, over-head scrolling 2D arcade blaster. You man a tank that can be upgraded with an arsenal weapons and you are tasked with destroying all of the enemy tanks.
The mouse moves the turret, the WASD keys move the tank (Asteroids style) and the F keys fires your ass kicking missiles.You also have mines that you can drop. The music, sound fx, and overall presentation are all very well done. This was the most fun I had today playing Flash games.
Grade A
Gravitor: Another in a series of well crafted LongAnimals retro arcade games. This one is a combo of Geometry Wars, Gravitar and Oids. I love the concept, but I had a lot of trouble with the controls. I can't blame them because I'm old an lame though.
Grade B
Bug Squad: A ridiculously fun little arcade shooter. You are in the bed of a pickup, driving right to left, manning a missile launcher. Chasing you are a variety an animals that all carry some sort of flu like virus. Your job is to blow them up into sweet sweet particle glory. Satisfying to say the least.
Grade B+
Mummy Tombs: Mummy Tombs is a very nice looking, fun over-head shooter with a psuedo-3D look and feel. Your job is to run about the nice looking Egyptian themed levels and kill all of the Mummies. There are multiple different zombie-like Mummies to blow up, and you can use your own hit points to buy new weapons. The carnage is fun and the presentation is well crafted.
Grade B+
Halloween Kill Zone: Little kids will dig this simplistic game reminiscent of very early Flash contests (would these be retro now?). Halloween themed baddies float across the screen and you shoot them down by aiming with the mouse. The graphics are pretty well done, and it doesn't pretend to be more than it is.
Grade C-
Spiders Attack: A little like a junior version tank destroyer. While Spiders Attack lacks a certain polished sheen that I have come to expect from the best Flash games, there is no denying that at its core there is a nice little game engine and some fun blasting game play. You are in a tank and you must traverse the scrolling 2D world., blasting all of the spiders and find the exit. Nothing complicated, but there is some fun to be had.
Grade C+
Target Shooter: The very simplest of target shooting games. As a demo of junior coding skills (basic movement and creating a count down clock) it is pretty decent. For an ad supported game to compete with even the mediocre games in the mash-up, it will go no where.
Grade D.
Indirect Assault: Well, it doesn't involve shooting, but it does involve a sweet weapon tethered your ship. This game a akin to Asteroids and Space Duel (think tethering) with no shooting involved. The lack of sound is annoying, but it is a fun little, well coded contest.
Grade B.
Jump 'n Gun: Jump n' Gun is solid little retro-style platformer where you run, jump, collect coins and jewels, and shoot. The music is retro and bouncy and the graphics are very nice little pixel art sprites. The game play is a little on the fast side and some of the physics for jumping could be tweaked to make them more "realistic". Those really are game design decisions though, and what is "realistic" in a game genre where the coins you collect are the same size as you body anyway? If you like retro side scroller games like Super Mario Bros, you will enjoy this one.
Grade B.
Essential Guide To Flash Games Book: Chapter 10: A tile-based scrolling driving game
Essential Guide To Flash Games Book: Chapter 10: A tile-based scrolling driving game
I put the finishing touches on the game for chapter 10 this weekend and started writing up the chapter text. It is supposed to be done by now, but the game took me a little longer than I had thought. I originally wrote a tutorial that covered some of this area, but never finished the game. Now that my code and game will be in print, I needed to spend extra time ensuring that I was doing everything as best as I can. It took a little more time than I thought it would. If this had been a one-off game, I could have taken some short-cuts, but the game engine needed to work will all of the levels that anyone could think of (within reason) and to do that took more time than I thought.
Oh well! I will have the chapter complete by the middle of the week. The beginning chapters took care of most of the basics, so in these later chapters I find my self focusing on the new content and not having to (for example) re-hash how to loop back-ward through an array (and why), or why to create listeners with weak references for the 100th time. That makes for a relatively quick written 40 page chapter with a lot of code and explanation for the new and interesting material.
The game is called "Drive She Said". It is in the Mattel Intellivision Auto Racing / Rally Speedway (Atari and Commodore 8-bit) and Super Cars (ST/Amiga) genre - You drive around a a 2D top-down, scrolling track as fast as you can. I didn't want to create an actual racing game, but rather more of an arcade adventure game based on driving a car. I ended up with a hybrid of both:
Your task is to collect the hearts around the track before time runs out. You must get to the finish line with enough hearts to make it to the next level (I only have 2 levels right now). There are skulls that will slow you down and clocks that will add time to your timer. The sprites (once again) were taken from Ari Feldman's Spritelib GPL, but modified by me to suit this particular game. Philosophically, the game represents the Sisyphusian task of keeping an angry girl friend happy. You have done something she doesn't like and must re-collect all the hearts or she will not take you back. There will always be another level to complete, but the time to do it will get shorter and shorter and the track will get more and more difficult. Eventually time will run out and you will lose the game...don't we all?
On the technical side, the scrolling world is fed by an XML set of tile sheet data and is output on to a single BitmapData canvas. The scrolling is done with a new Camera2D class that is used to create a display buffer. The buffer is one row and column larger than the canvas (12x12) and the camera orients the output properly by moving to the right location on the 13x13 buffer tile grid before outputting to the 12x12 canvas. The collision detection uses a few tricks (such as look ahead points). The angled tiles made me first think about using Pixel Perfect collision detection, but I went for a more math based model in this game. The car is a child of the BlitSprite class from chapters 6 and 7 modified to include some variables needed for basic car physics and trig.
Anyway, enough talking about it, I need to get back to actually doing it.
More game reviews and a mash-up later this week...