Dec 4, 2009

Anamaton Time

A product of around 2 years or so of dabbling work-

Anamaton is finally at a state of "Good Enough"completion. The only known errors are those which come up when playing alone, and some tiny award errors, but nothing that will destroy an enjoyable skirmish. 

The controls take a little getting used to, but included is a tiny handy PDF manual. 

I would recommend playing with a joystick. 

The Level "1337 arena" is there so those who are lonely can battle with some ai.

Download it Here

Oct 19, 2009

On Progress and Padlocks

Progress is a difficult issue in games. You want the player to feel like they are improving, but you also want to make sure that they are being challenged. I enjoy returning to an area to explore new territory, as long as it was because I was stronger or had new abilities, and not because I got the freaking blue key. 

I suppose a good way to go about this is to build elaborate, bending, stretchy, convoluted, intertwining, tiered, crunchy, complicated environments. Expand the vertical field with elements that compliment the environment from different angles. Seeing how different the environment looks when venturing to another side of a monument will beckon the act of exploring, and if there exists a path plethora, backtracking will not be so much that as it is adventuring- and if there must be a "locked door" situation, its a better idea to make it hold hands with the scenery than to plop an iron door.

I think player society could agree that a fire pit is more comforting than a padlock, a high cliff more endearing than a mahogany panel and a brass handle, and a tough cookie of a character looking you in the eye more of an important event than a cleverly disguised card key swipe.

I passed a locked door. God dammit. 

I suppose a split path situation is best solved by destroying the act of backtracking or making it relatively painless. Allowing 
multiple instances of subjective decision making in an alternatively rigid game play track tempts the player to return to an area. Forcing them to walk the trampled path is not a bad choice if they are aware of the options around them. 

oh- my GOD! I can go IN the tree as well as AROUND it! Genius! Bloody genius!

Now, don't confuse amoeba like and placid environments as a million paths. The FF12 route does not entice exploration so much as it urges boredom. 

<-- This game really neglected the Y axis... Not to mention the FUN axis.

There are a lot of complaints in the air about linearity, and personally, I don't think linear gameplay is all that crummy. Having a game go from level to level is a much better alternative than mindless backtracking. To make linear gameplay more exciting, there should be options about how the player can go about things. In Metal Gear Solid 4, there are a good 30 ways to go about each situation, so linearity and punishment are hardly an issue.

And now there's that damned key.

Now backtracking sucks, but as long as I have a way to find out where I'm going and there isn't a Cave Story Sand Zone effect going on, then I am perfectly happy to visit a land I've already trekked.

Sep 19, 2009

Aug 10, 2009

Sim War 5

AuthenticKaizen has created a youtubes trailer of my latest invention


Download Here!

Jul 10, 2009

Sim War 5, Coming Your Way

A game that I started around 2007 has been slowly working its way up to this point. It is a 3d Battle Sim, the fifth in a series of games I've just been calling Sim War (Really compelling name, huh?) What happened to the fourth and second one, one who pays to much attention would ask? Well, I've deemed them unworthy.

After a brief test-playing period, I shall release this game into the wild.

Jul 2, 2009

Music I like that you should like too

Slagsmalsklubben is one of my favorite bands.
6 guys on keyboards, and they are Swedish.


And here is Bit Shifter. He Freakin rocks, and this is my favorite song of his:


I, Cactus is good too. Slower stuff, but well done.


This is a good song by Anamanaguchi


Take is slow with Albatross, by Fleetwood Mac


Last but not least, 4 Non Blondes, as done by He Man.


Enjoy some music while I neglect to post some more.

Jun 11, 2009

Uberleben Update!

I have updated Uberleben with a game-changing new feature. Spin! Be ready for some insane (and hypnotizing) challenges.



Also, visit 8bitpeoples and download Mr. Spastic's new album, Claps and Leads. It rocks so hard.

Jun 7, 2009

Movie Trailer For Indie Game

Hell, lets face it. We indie game devs need to start thinking about whether or not Hollywood will want to make our games into hit movies, so I thought I would seek a game that fit what Hollywood was looking for and create a little trailer for them.



Thank you Tim Langdell, for opening our eyes!

May 30, 2009

Uberleben 3.0!


I have updated that game where you plummet to your death as one of many multicolored Suicidal Power Rangers.

In it I have made two more levels, I added a longer difficulty setting, and I added options for disabling the replay function, and for removing violence.

This will probably be the last update unless some divine force decides otherwise.

Looks like ortoslon will have to try a little harder this time-

May 10, 2009

NEW: Old Games!

I have just put up my very old but treasured projects from back in say... 2006?

Back when I used Game Maker's drag and drop only. (which I quite despise now except for a quicky instance_destroy() every now and then)

First, I put up Quadrasquare, a 4 player party game that is reminiscent of TRON, except with blocks and coins. My friends and I enjoy 50 rounds of this one every now and then.

I also put up Helium Floating Object Engage Combat, my homage to the NES classic, Balloon Fight. This one contains lizards with blood curdling screams!

Lastly, I put up a friend favorite, Popo Kikuro. A deceivingly brutal golf game.

So if you want to see how naive (yet charming) I was when I was younger, feel free to check them out.

Apr 15, 2009

Reward and Punishment

I've always questioned how much I should be punishing and rewarding in the games I make. Often times I like to punish the players when they screw up because it puts them on the edge. However, over-punishment can cause people to not invest as much time in a game due to constant negative feedback.

One thing I've never felt comfortable with was the power to save whenever the hell you wanted. While playing Half-Life 2 I was tapping the F6 quick save key after every little advancement, like getting health packs or single kills.

How did it feel? It felt dirty, that's how it felt. It felt like I was abusing the privilege that the game lent to me. But did I stop? No. It was so handy to just tap F6. About once or twice I saved in a bad position, but by retrying a few times I could get myself out of sticky situations.

I'm not sure this would be a problem if the game forced me to only save by pausing, clicking save, choosing a window, then saving, then exiting. If this was the case I definitely would not have abused the power of the omnipresent save ability.
But Valve is not like that. Valve trusts you not to be a dick.


What I'm talking about here is how much should we punish the player for dying? I'm sure you wished that the ending boss line in cave story had save points in-between each fight, but I bet you would have felt a lot less awesome after beating the core had there been a save point right before it.


Where are the effing save points now, Lara!?
I believe that punishment is important to add tension to your game, but the amount of what you take away from the player should be relative to the immediate challenges ahead. Frequent save points can make a player careless, but infrequent ones can make them impatient with your game.




I was hoping to come to a more absolute conclusion with this... But I guess it really just depends on the demographic you are aiming for.




Man. What a shitty conclusion. What do you (3) chaps think?

Apr 7, 2009

Hey, check it out guys-

This is Action Fist, my current project.
At this point I think I've put more hours into this game than any other project of mine. Expect it to come out this year, seeing as though It's more than half-way done.