I find this Flash game very addictive and very fun. Obviously, it’s pretty short, especially if you’re a bit crap at it but I find myself wanting to return every so often, trying to better my poor high score (at the moment it’s 1,937,965). Even more so than I did with Canabalt. I think this is probably because I feel Solipskier is fairer and more meaty.

PS3: Race Driver: GRID

This gritty racing game is a couple years old now; I couldn’t play it when it was released because I didn’t have a next-gen console. Anyway, I’m glad I started playing it because I love it. It straddles arcade and simulation perfectly while the damage models and AI are fantastic. When I play it I feel like I’m kicking on all cylinders, taking in the brilliant atmosphere. One of the best racing games I’ve played, for sure.

DS: More Brain Training

No, it’s not the most exciting game in the world but I’m addicted to one part of it; the sudoku puzzles. While these aren’t exactly hard to find, I really like the input system used on the DS. Pretty much all of my addiction of it stems from my sister’s addiction of it; she decided she’d overtake my percentage complete, so I had no choice but to try and catch up. She currently has 58% completed and I have 40%… She’s only winning because she has nothing better to do all day.

Stencyl are having another (week long) game jam starting near the climax of this month, so KniteBlargh and I are planning on entering it. With Knite’s graphical talents and ideas and therefore my ability to focus on gameplay, I think it should turn out good. Knite has already been knocking up some pretty sweet sprites ready for me to use when the game jam begins!

You may want to bang your head against a saucepan when I say the primary way of writing instructions in Stencyl is by dragging and dropping actions but it really is nothing like Game Maker; the system is a lot better. Stencyl utilises the innovation of the MIT Media Lab to use building blocks of actions to write instructions very similarly to how code is normally written (incidentally, arbitrary AS3 code can be used if preferred). Especially for small instructions, this produces a fluid system.

Another facet to take note of is Stencyl’s behaviours. Whether or not they stole the idea of Scirra, it is a great feature. At first I wanted to code instructions just for one  game actor (Stencyl’s equivalent of a Game Maker object) à la Game Maker. But I’ve quickly realised that these behaviours can be extremely useful since they can be attached to any actor and even actors in different games. This works with the emphasis on community collaboration, because developers can upload a behaviour to StencylForge, a place where other developers can download them to their game. This becomes very useful for common game instructions such as an actor following the mouse cursor.

The last feature I want to mention is the smooth integration of Box2D, the physics library used in many Flash physics games. Because Box2D is automatically integrated, making a ball bounce or a making a player fall safely onto a platform or even making funky death animations has never been easier.

Yes, there are some bugs and it can be annoying with it’s sluggish (but nice-looking) interface and code-heavy behaviours are a struggle to navigate but I believe developers will produce some great games with Stencyl once it’s publically released, hopefully this year. What I’m trying to say is that Stencyl is really good and you should sign up for the closed beta.

OverByte died. I wrote a review of a game on GameMaker Blog. I saw the LittleBigPlanet 2 trailer and I loved it. I played Pac-Man on Google. I named Noel Berry’s brilliant game. I earned a PSN platinum trophy. I made a tiny one-off comic strip. I was dissapointed with England’s lacklustre performance at the World Cup and the whole competition in general. I received Banov’s Dubloon Deluxe CD. I made some Let’s Play’s. I smacked my head against a door frame. I enjoyed the Tour de France. I passed my driving theory test (not the practical, yet). I dropped a packet of biscuits on my laptop keyboard. I started making a game with a cool concept. I went on a short holiday. I got accepted for the Stencyl beta. I actually finished a game. I found out that using Twitter to look at what happened in the past 4 months is really quite interesting.

There we go. I will try to blog more regularly as of now.

I spent Easter Sunday with my family at my Grandma’s with the usual superb roast dinner (and no washing up after, thanks to the dishwasher). I received 5 Easter eggs (more than I anticipated) which you can see below (yes that is my name scribbled all over them).

I’ve eaten all but the Mars. Which is pretty good seeing as Easter Sunday was six days ago.

Pokémon

I’ve been playing Pokémon SoulSilver a lot (21 hours so far). Probably more than I should. I’ve found the game genuinely enjoyable and was nicely reminded of the great time I had playing the original. What’s more, there’s still tons to do and more Pokémon to catch and I can clearly see why people have been calling this the definitive adventure of the series. I will probably be playing this for a long time, as usually happens with Pokémon games. Now, you may also have heard the news this week of Pokémon Black and White. I’m not only surprised about the name choice but the fact that this will be for the DS; I was sure it would follow the trend of one major release per major console. Highly anticipated screenshots of the new games were leaked a few hours ago but I’m not very impressed; I’m not sure the fuller 3D look will work very well. But hey, I can’t be too quick to judge.

Hell Yes It Does

Earlier this week, Joshua Pedroza released the latest video in his series, cheekily entitled ‘Does it Grill?’, where Josh watches something ‘burn’ from behind a couple of tables while wearing some shorts and sandals. While the first two episodes were boring and frankly embarrasing, this one was funny and the thing in it did actually grill (a pine tree). I recommend you watch it.

Ouch

My dad recently broke his leg by crashing and flipping a go-kart after smashing into a tyre wall. God knows how he actually broke his leg and why he was even racing a go-kart… Ironically, he was doing as much work as possible because he’s soon being made redundant but because he broke his leg, he won’t be able to do any work for six months. Nice timing.

Making a Game (Really, I am)

After realising that I hadn’t finished a game since January, I knew I needed to get to work on one. Since I’m looking to expand my knowledge of ActionScript, I thought I’d have a shot at porting another game from Game Maker, especially since I’ve spent such a long time away from FlashPunk. This time, I’ll be porting a very simple game called Tea Time. I’m hoping to improve the gameplay and the graphics to finish up with something genuinely fun. Development is going well so far.

Okay, I’ve finally got a blog up and running. After all, all the cool kids are doing it nowadays. The site has been heavily revamped from that brownish-looking pile of crap I created just over a year ago and although not perfect, I much prefer this. Being integrated with WordPress also means it should be very easy for me to update everything and make new blog posts quickly and quietly. I think this is also an attempt to get organised.

Pokémon

Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver were released throughout Europe just under a week ago and I should be receiving SoulSilver through the mail tomorrow. I remember being a great fan of the original Gold/Silver games, so my expectations are high. I shall likely be trading over most of my Pokemon from Diamond, keeping a few of the strong ones so I can continue playing on that game as well; I still haven’t finished it enough for my liking. Also, I’m glad that the release has coincided with the beginning of the Easter holidays; I’ll be able to sink some real hours into it.

OverByte

You may know that a guy called Greyson Wright and I recently started up a new magazine, based largely on Game Maker (well actually I rejoined after quitting midway through development of issue 1). Our main objectives with this magazine were to make it funny and casual, which I think we did a pretty good job of. Keep an eye out for issue 3 later this month (today’s news post on the site is a joke).

Braingale

I very recently got made a member of the Braingale Team, a game-making group of people led by Andrew Brophy. I’m quite happy about this and it came pretty much out of the blue. I guess I must be getting cooler. Now I just need to start making more games and games that are actually any good.

FlashPunked

I started the FlashPunked blog quite a while ago now and I’ve inevitably lost interest and stopped posting there (for almost two months, in fact). However, I want to begin posting there again, so… watch out. If you didn’t know, FlashPunked is basically the FlashPunk equivalent of GameMaker Blog. And FlashPunk is a new ActionScript 3.0 library created by Chevy Ray Johnston, with which I finished my first game in Flash.

I guess this was quite a long post by my standards. See you next decade. Also, this post contained no April Fools jokes.

Don’t Touch the Spikes is a simple variant of precision platformer with an abundance of spikes. There are 12 levels of fairly high difficulty to overcome before you’re present with a result of your performance. The graphics are good ol’ black and white and the music is strangely gentle. This was entered into both Game Jolt’s second weekend jam and Stencyl’s fourth game jam (only Stencyl beta testers can currently see this) in which it placed third, being made in a weekend.

Released: August 2010

Development: 1 Weekend | Stencyl (Beta 21)

Genre: Platform

Play: Game Jolt

Ne Touchez Pas! is a Flash port of Andrew McCluskey’s original game with the same name. Being my first game created in Flash, it is simple. The objective of the game is to simply fly to the exit in each of the 40 levels using the awkward and twitchy bird, however the game is extremely tough. The visuals are aptly monochromatic and simple. At the time of writing, the game has been globally played almost 3000 times, with largely positive comments.

Released: January 2010

Development: 3 Weeks | FlashPunk 0.74

Genre: Arcade

Play: Kongregate | Newgrounds | Game Jolt | Dob Dob

GETSUMCOKE is another straightforward arcade game with similarities to Swingshock. The aim of the game is to bounce around the collecting as much ‘coke’ as possible. Missing any or getting punched in the face results in the circular character getting progressively depressed; if he gets too mad, it’s game over. The visuals were enhanced by Andrew McCluskey and the game was entered into Mini Ludum Dare 16 to no prevail.

Released: November 2009

Development: 3 Days | GM7 Pro

Genre: Arcade

Download: YoYo Games | Game Jolt

Circum Skull is a quick arcade ‘bullet-hell’ type game. You basically have to dodge bullets which fire out of the rotating skull placed in the middle of the arena. The game gets very hard very fast. Visuals-wise, it’s monochromatic and  simply pixelled. The game was entered into QOG’s ‘Retro Horror’ competition and was reviewed by Andrew McCluskey.

Released: October 2009

Development: 2 Days | GM7 Pro

Genre: Arcade

Download: Game Jolt

SubAttack is a quick and simple arcade game with an online leaderboard giving a nice amount of replayability. The objective is simple; defend your fragile underwater base by firing explosives towards the stream of oncoming submarines. However, it’s more strategic than it may seem, with damage limitation and the potential to gain huge (refreshing) combo chains. The visuals are fairly simple, reflecting the gameplay, although they’re consistent and quite well sprited, I believe. SubAttack was created for the GameCOG ‘Explosions’ competition, coming in a respectable equal sixth place. If you upload a high score, you will likely get (maybe falsely) prompted by you anti-virus software. This is because my computer was infected when I uploaded it. Sorry; it shouldn’t do any harm…

Released: September 2009

Development: 5 Days | GM5.3

Genre: Arcade

Download: Game Jolt | GMArcade

Swingshock is a very short arcade game with extreme yellow/black visuals (epileptics, don’t play it). The aim of the game is to absorb the constantly appearing electric orbs by swinging the barely controllable ball into them, so as not to run out of charge. You will require great precision and tactics to survive for as long as possible and get a high score (even if the leaderboard doesn’t work). Swingshock was created for the Game Jolt ‘Shocking’ contest and won ‘The Bleeding Eyeball Seizure Award’; heh heh.

Released: June 2009

Development: 6 Days | GM7 Pro

Genre: Arcade

Download: YoYo Games | Game Jolt | GMArcade | SigmaNine

Businessman Bob is a short (and glitchy) platformer which follows the journey of a greedy businessman called Bob. The objective of the game is to collect all money in each level to progress. There’s a slightly lame ending (sorry ’bout that) and there are only eight levels (the game was made in just four hours), so it won’t keep you playing for very long. The graphic style is highly inspired by 10800 Zombies and, while they are a little rough around the edges, overall, they’re pleasing. Businessman Bob was made for the Poppenkast ’4 Hours to Glory’ contest.

Released: March 2009

Development: 4 Hours (During 1 Week) | GM7 Pro

Genre: Platform

Download: YoYo Games | GMArcade | SigmaNine

Pelman is a retro-styled platformer, with very simple gameplay mechanics. The aim of Pelman is to retrieve the stolen diamond to keep the world in balance (clichéd or what?!). You must cross many levels through various terrains, each with differing challenges. The graphics are extremely simple because it was developed for the Zerosoft Games ‘Retro’ competition.

Released: February 2009

Development: 3 Weeks | GM7 Pro

Genre: Platform

Download: YoYo Games | GMArcade

Snowfall is a relaxing, winter-themed arcade game where you must control a slippery wagon in order to catch dropping snowflakes, while avoiding an array of obstacles. I attempted cartoon graphics with this one but generally failed. Your main aim is to catch a certain amount of the magical snow to ensure the snowmens’ safety (lamest story ever). It includes an online high score leaderboard to make things more interesting and was created for the Zerosoft Games ‘Christmas’ competition as well as the YoYo Games ‘Save the Planet’ competition.

Released: December 2008

Development: 3 Weeks | GM7 Pro

Genre: Arcade

Download: YoYo Games