Thursday, November 30, 2006

Flow


Wow! This game is a demonstration of Jenova Chen's Master's thesis topic, "Flow in Games" - the short version is that games should adapt their difficulty to the player so that they stay in the "zone" where players are engaged but not frustrated. Whether or not that purpose was achieved (to me it seems pretty good), this game is lots of fun, and very aesthetically pleasing. Things get darker as you go deeper, and the enemies get harder - basically, your mission is to eat or be eaten. The red "pings" lead you deeper, and that's about all you need to know.

If you enjoy Flow, you'll also want to check out a downloadable game that Chen made, called Cloud:
I don't usually suggest non-browser games, but this one is incredibly interesting and well worth the download time. I hope and expect to see many more great games from Chen in the future. From his bio page:

One of Jenova's greatest dreams is to bring the best things and messages to the world. Like what Hayao Miyazaki did to anime, Jenova wants to be one of the heroes who can make video game a more mature and adorable treasure shared by every human beings.

I would say he's well on his way - these offerings are among the most interesting games that I've seen in a while, right up there in my book with Katamari Damacy (although on a less grand scale - but hey, they're free games, I'm sure if you put hundreds of thousand dollars into the guy's war chest you'd end up with something even more ambitious and compelling). Enjoy!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Infinite Mario Bros.


This is a pretty faithful Super Mario clone, and apparently you can keep playing forever and it just keeps generating new levels! I haven't tested that theory, but I played the first few and it seems pretty close to the original. A little sluggish on the buttons, and there are a few glitches (only 2 fireballs on screen at a time, for example), but definitely worth checking out.

Drag The Dot



This game has very simple controls: it's all in the name, you drag the dot to the goal. You just have to make sure you don't touch anything along the way. It gets hard pretty quickly.

I'm generally somewhat opposed to games that rely on precise machinations of the mouse pointer, but this one is pretty well done. It's more about planning a course than following a single pixel wide path, and that's a good thing. There are some pretty interesting level designs, check it out.

POS game of the day: Bush Aerobics


Miniclip is responsible for some real crappy games - however, this series is by far one of their worst creations yet.

Oh, and if Bush Aerobics isn't enough for you, don't worry, there's more! Head over to Miniclip's Dancing and Shows section for such treats as:


Someone should really be punished for this type of thing...

Playing Field 2


This is an interesting sequel to an interesting game - you play God, and you punish people for...well, nothing in particular, you just punish them! The original game was crude but fun, and the new one looks a bit more polished; honestly, I think people like these types of games because they are generally sick and like to inflict pain.

More morally bankrupt gaming here:

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Red

Can't show you a screenshot for this one because I'm writing from a friend's computer, but I can give you a link to the game. You shoot bullets at incoming rocks to try and deflect them from hitting you. Sound simple? It is, and it's lots of fun. Check it out.

From the programmer:

My name is Case. I made Storm the House 1 and 2. Both are on ArmorGames.com. The song playing in the background is called 'Absolute Space(Jazzanova Remix)' by Koop.

Don't be surprised if you see games entitled 'Orange, Green, Blue, Black, etc start popping up. They're all in the works. Visit mypersonal website @ http://ivorydrive.deviantart.com. Have fun!!


Storm The House and Storm The House 2 are also worth checking out. Enjoy!

Friday, November 24, 2006

Zombie 4


This game is sweet - make sure you've got a Java Runtime Environment installed. This is one of the few 3-D shooters available as a web game, and it doesn't disappoint. Okay, it's not Half Life 2, but it's got a simple charm and great gameplay. This was developed by a guy named John G in Processing (you can find him in the forums if you have suggestions for the next game), which is a fantastic environment to write Java games in because it makes Java graphics effortless; for anyone that has ever struggled with Swing/AWT, this is an awesome achievement, and it even does 3D! If you're interested in making web games, you should definitely check it out. It's more flexible than Flash, and as free open source software, the price is right!

Chaos Faction



From Dissolute Productions, the creators: "29 weapons, 18 characters, 15 levels, 14 months in the making... this is Dissolute Production's biggest project yet!"

This game is similar to Super Smash Bros., except you beat the piss out of cute little furballs. Enjoy!

Teagames Motocross 2


If you haven't yet been to Teagames, do yourself a favor and check this game out right now. While you're at it, take a look at the other great stuff on that site. These guys really make fantastic webgames - these games are without exception original, challenging, and polished. Make sure to take a turn at BMX Star, Extreme Climbing, and Funky Truck Arizona. Someone over there has a real touch for game physics!

Java SnakeJump

Snake Jump Game
Watch out, this is an incredibly addictive game! I've gotten to about 40,000, but it gets really hard from there on. This is a remake of a game called PapiJump by SunFlat: Papi Jump Game
There are many other great games at SunFlat's homepage, as well as Necrosaro's. Also well worth checking out is NecroCave: