game306

It's Not Toronto

2012-01-31T18:28:00.000-08:00

Before starting a new game, I went back and made some changes to the game 'It's Not Toronto'

I've always thought that this was an excellent game, but the controls were too jerky, so I went back and made the controls smoother, as well as some other minor changes.

Hopefully, this will make the game more enjoyable. You can play it here: www.flashbynight.com/toronto

Comments and feedback are welcome.

Game Release: Clowd

2012-01-27T02:50:00.000-08:00

Introducing a new game from FlashByNight.com…

In Clowd, you control a fluffy little cloud that can changecolors as he drifts through the various levels.

Use the arrow keys to navigate

Press SPACE to change color:

If you hit an enemy of the same color, you destroy it:

There are four different level types:

You have two minutes to get through each level and thelevels get progressively more difficult as you go.

The URL is: www.flashbynight.com/clowd

Developer’s notes:

I’ve been obsessed for a while with games that use colors invarious ways, so I decided to experiment with this little game. The originalconcept was to have smaller color blocks orbiting Clowd, which you could rotateby pressing the spacebar (see prototype here). However, the gameplay seemed too difficultand I decided to make the character change color instead (even though a cloudis usually white). I made the motion controls a bit ‘loose’ – hold down anarrow key and when you let go, the character will still move a bit further.This seemed natural to the game and also for the difficulty level I wanted toachieve.

The first few levels should be really easy, but fun, as youget to pop all the enemies in your path. After about level 10 or twelve, it’llstart to get quite challenging and you would have to be really good to get farbeyond level 20.

An Emo Game

2012-01-25T02:55:00.000-08:00

I'd like to share a little 'emo' adventure game that someone sent me.

"Q - Compressing the Heart" is the story of a little guy in the underworld who has had his heart stolen and yearns to get it back. This is a point-and-click adventure game with super slick graphics. The game mechanic is that you can remove your soul from your body to get to hard-to-reach places. It's great fun.

The game loses points for being surrounded by zillions of annoying ads, but if you can ignore those, you'll have fun with it.

The URL is:

http://www.bigdino.com/game/352/Q-Compressing-the-Heart

Here's a sneak peek:

Making Monkeys

2012-01-14T02:48:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun little game that I found called Making Monkeys. It's a simple little platform puzzler, but it's well made and it's great fun:

http://www.smileygamer.com/play/11158/making-monkeys.html

AS3 Tutorials for Intermediate to Advanced Level

2012-01-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

I found this blog which has some great AS3 tutorials for intermediate to advanced level:

http://kirill-poletaev.blogspot.com/

As well as AS3, the blog covers Flex, AIR and SQL

Create Backwards Text

2012-01-07T00:08:00.001-08:00

Just a little tool I created to make reverse text:

www.flashbynight.com/backwardstext

Contact me if you want the source code.

New Game: Smooth Mooves

2011-12-12T02:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a new game release for folks who like block-type games.

In Smooth Mooves, the pace really picks up after the first couple of levels as you try to match and remove blocks from the screen before the timer runs out.

Give it a try:

http://flashbynight.com/smoothmooves/

How to Create a Simple Shooting Game Using Flash AS3

2011-12-12T02:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, I thought it would be a good idea to provide a simple tutorial to help people create a Flash Game, and so I did.

This tutorial would probably take a couple of hours to work through and it covers the minimum you need to know to get started in Flash Game design. It's perfect for self-motivated people who enjoy learning from tutorials.

The tutorial is here: http://www.flashbynight.com/tutes/simplegame/

Previous tutorials are here: http://flashbynight.com/tutes/

Dabbling in HTML5

2011-11-27T19:29:00.001-08:00

Although I love Flash, I decided to dabble in HTML5 to see how easy or difficult it is to produce games in it.

I dug up this tutorial, which is excellent, and produces a 'BreakOut' game using HTML5, the coding in javascript, of course:

http://www.canvasdemos.com/2009/02/21/breakout/

The end product of the tutorial is a simple playable game. However, you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get there. This means that HTML5 for this kind of game is fine for the end user, but harsh on the programmer.

It also seems that HTML5 could be applied to simple games, like this one, but it would be a real pain to program a more advanced game in it. This is where Flash shines.

Flash, of course, is not available in-browser on the iPad, whereas HTML5 is. Android supports HTML5 too.

So I'm going to experiment and convert Drench (flashbynight.com/drench) to an HTML5 game and see how it goes.

I don't like HTML5 at the moment, and I'm experimenting with it grudgingly... but people say it will improve over time.

Game Release: Retris 2

2011-11-20T02:01:00.001-08:00

Time for another game release... introducing 'Retris 2'

Like the original Retris game (flashbynight.com/retris), Retris 2 takes the concept of Tetris and expands on it by featuring new types of blocks and bonuses. Retris is popular, but I wrote it when my programming skills were not so honed and I've always wanted to make improvements to it - I thought it would be good to make a sequel.

Retris 2 can be played at: http://flashbynight.com/retris2

Retris has 8 new block types:

1 The 'awkward' blocks - unusually and tricky shaped blocks
2 The 'eraser' block which destroys blocks of a similar colour
3 The back-and-forth block, which moves back and forth along the top of the screen until you press the down arrow.
4 The 'singles' a column of single blocks that drop one after the other
5 Horizontal single blocks
6 The 'uber-line' - a full line of blocks that fall together
7 The 'lightning block' - a block that falls rapidly then slows
8 The superbonus - if you destroy this block in a line, you destroy ALL blocks beneath it and earn 1000 points. A lifeline, when you get into trouble.

In addition to this, blocks grouped in a rectangle of six of the same colour, will be destroyed.

Retris 2 will be in 'Beta Testing' mode until the end of November. This means that I may still be making changes to the game during this time. I'll also be taking suggestions for improvements. Post them here if you have any.

Here are some screenshots:

A Couple of Good Android Apps

2011-11-10T06:41:00.000-08:00

I would like to share a couple of great Android apps that I found recently.

1 Apps2SD (https://market.android.com/details?id=com.a0soft.gphone.app2sd&hl=en)

Apps2SD moves apps off your phone's internal memory and onto the SD card, thus freeing up tons of space. Once installed, the next time you download an app, it will give you the choice to install it on the phone or on the SD card

2 Out of Milk (http://www.outofmilkapp.com/)

I searched long and hard for a really good 'to do' list app. This great little app triples as a to-do list, shopping list and pantry list. This is the nicest one I found and it's great for trips to the supermarket.

A Hangman Game Sample

2011-10-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

I've been getting some good feedback on my hangman tutorial since posting it a few weeks ago.

An example of how it can be used is here as a history quiz: http://flashnhistory.com/MedievalHangman/Hangman.swf

The original tutorial is here: http://www.flashbynight.com/tutes/hangman/

Flash FAQ: Communicating between Classes in AS3

2011-09-05T04:01:00.000-07:00

I often answer questions on the forums over at Actionscript.org and I noticed that people are always asking about communicating between classes. In particular, people ask how you can change a variable in the document class (main class) from another class. So instead of repeating myself, I'll post it here.

Short answer: MovieClip.(this.parent).variable=xxx;

Long Answer:

You have to be careful when you access variables in one class from another class. Things can get confusing pretty quickly. But a good example of when it is kosher is when you have an enemy in a game; when it is hit by a bullet, it tells the document class to increase the score. It's simple and foolproof enough.

Okay, I set up a flash document with Main.as as the document class. I declare an object obj which is an instance of the class Obj. I declare a variable pvar, which we will set to 1 and then set to 2 by running a function in Obj.as:

package {

import flash.display.MovieClip;

public class Main extends MovieClip {

public var obj:Obj;
public var pvar:int;

public function Main() {
pvar=1;
obj = new Obj;addChild(obj);
obj.ResetVar();
trace(pvar);
}//game
}

}

Can you see that? It's easy to run a function on a separate class... we just say obj.ResetVar();

Of course, we haven't created Obj.as yet, so let's do that now:

package {
import flash.display.MovieClip;
public class Obj extends MovieClip {

public function Obj() {}//Obj

public function ResetVar(){
MovieClip(this.parent).pvar=2;
}//rv

}
}

Now you can see how we use the line MovieClip(this.parent).pvar=2; to refer to the parent of this movie clip and set pvar to 2.

Try it and you should get the trace '2'.

Got it? Good.

If you have any questions or the explanation isn't clear, please feel free to leave a comment. If you're looking for some more Flash tutorials or projects, try here: flashbynight.com/tutes

Things Fall Down

2011-09-04T02:55:00.000-07:00

Time for a new Flash game and I hope you like it.

In Things Fall Down, the sky is falling and everything else along with it. Keep jumping up and keep yourself above ground.

There are fifteen short levels that would probably take around one hour to finish.

The game is at: http://www.flashbynight.com/thingsfalldown

Have a look at some screenshots here:

If you've played some of my games before, you'll recognise the graphical style. Enjoy!

Off the Grid

2011-07-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've tried my hand at another Android game.

This one is called Off the Grid and you can get it at: https://market.android.com/details?id=air.grid&feature=search_result or just search the market for 'off the grid'.

In this game, you are presented with four puzzle pieces at a time, which you have to drag into place before the timer runs out. When you line up four pieces, they explode. It's just a slightly different take on the classic block game; I thought the drag mechanic would work well on Android.

New Tute! Guide to coding a hangman game.

2011-06-10T02:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a step-by-step guide to creating a hangman game in Flash CS5 with AS3. Feel free to play around with the code:

http://flashbynight.com/tutes/hangman

Here is a downloadable pdf version:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/57512256/Create-a-HangMan-Game-in-Flash-AS3-Tutorial

Enjoy!

Swivvel

2011-05-23T00:26:00.000-07:00

Time for a new game release.

This game is called Swivvel and it's a match-3 style game with a twist - literally.

Press space to rotate puzzle pieces and score when you match three of the same color. It gets faster as you level up.

Click here to play Swivvel

What Makes Final Fantasy XIII a Great Game?

2011-04-16T05:04:00.000-07:00

I've just finished Final Fantasy 13 - the first FF I've played - and I want to share some thoughts on the game.

What makes Final Fantasy a great game?

1 Lightning

I just love Lightning's character. She's tough and she's cool, like a female Clint Eastwood. Sometimes morally ambiguous ("a target's a target"), she does soften somewhat throughout the game. A soldier by profession, a loner by nature, Lightning turns her back on the army to go on a one-woman suicide mission to save her sister. Somewhat reluctantly, she picks up an entourage along the way.

Game designers, please give us more characters like Lightning.

Lightning

2 Anarchistic Themes

Like many Japanese games, the storyline is hard to follow at times and too confusing to summarize here. The underlying theme, though, is clear: The Government lies to the people and abuses them; most people swallow the lies, but a few enlightened anti-authority types refuse to toe the line. Another theme is the Government's use of an invented 'enemy' to control the masses through fear, as espoused by Neo-con favorite Leo Strauss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Strauss).

Just take a look at our fine anarchist heroes:

"No rules, authority or obligations"

3 Value

I put 70 hours in to beat the game. While many Western games are this long, it is unusual to find a Western game with this quality graphics and artwork of that length (the game takes 3 discs on the 360). Western-made games with the best quality graphics are often less than 10 hours to play through. How the Japanese manage it, I don't know.

Have a look at this eye-candy:

"I made a promise and I'll see it through"

That's a wrap, folks, and that's why Final Fantasy 13 is a great game. Buy it!

Chobo: Trapped in a Tetris Game

2011-04-01T04:34:00.000-07:00

So I had this premise for a game where the character is trapped inside a round of Tetris, and I made this into a Flash game.

Okay, well the game is similar to Tetris. I had to play around with the mechanics to get it to work nicely and I threw in a few enemies and power-ups.

I invite you to play the result:

Click here to play Chobo

Mamas, let your babies grow up to be gamers

2011-03-26T23:11:00.000-07:00

A lot of my friends have kids now and I've been trying to explain to them that gaming is a healthy and beneficial activity, a comment which is often met with some skepticism.

People seem to have three main objections to allowing their kids to game:

1 "There's too much violence in games"

Sure. The same way there's too much violence in movies. Games have an extensive ratings system that has probably been prone to less controversy over the years than the movie ratings system. As a parent, when you buy a game, if it's not clear from the packaging whether the game is suitable for kids, the store clerk should be able to help you. Or simply do some research online. Isn't it worth ten minutes of research for a game that will keep your kids happy and engaged for dozens of hours (compared to a DVD which is over in one and a half hours)? On top of all that, gaming consoles come with family settings.

2 "Isn't gaming an antisocial activity?"

Sure. The same way that reading a book is antisocial. Except that books don't have multiplayer. Many games have a co-op mode where a player plays alongside a friend, or multiplayer, where a player plays with a whole group of friends. Besides that, being a gamer means, like with any hobby, your child will be able to connect and make friends with fellow gamers at school and other places.

Always remember that video games are an evolution of sports and board games. Early video games were less social due to the constraints of technology that we have now overcome.

3 "Isn't gaming unhealthy?"

No way. Console games are extremely sophisticated and it takes time to learn how to play them well. This means that your brain is in learning mode for a lot of the gameplay. For children, this enhances the fact that learning is a pleasurable experience. (Something schools try to make them 'unlearn'.) Games teach perseverance, strategic thinking and many other positive skills.

So Mamas, please let your babies grow up to be gamers - it's good for them.

Reality is Broken

2011-03-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

I've started on Jane McGonigal's excellent book, 'Reality is Broken', and I just wanted to share an excerpt:

"Gamers want to know: Where, in the real world, is that gamer sense of being fully alive, focused, and engaged in every moment? Where is the gamer feeling of power, heroic purpose, and community? Where are the bursts of exhilarating and creative game accomplishment? Where is the heart-expanding thrill of success and team victory? While gamers may experience these pleasures occasionally in their real lives, they experience them almost constantly when they’re playing their favorite games.

The real world just doesn’t offer these things up as easily. Reality isn’t engineered to maximize our potential. Reality wasn’t designed from the bottom up to make us happy. And so, there is a growing perception in the gaming community: Reality, compared to games, is broken."

FLUX - The perpetual state

2011-02-20T00:02:00.000-08:00

I've finished a new game for FlashByNight.com called 'FLUX'.

http://www.flashbynight.com/flux

In this game, you move green blocks around the board in order to conquer the red blocks. You do this by converting blank blocks to green before they can be converted to red.

It's a simple, 'experimental' game based on the concept that 'everything is connected':

'All phenomena, link together in a mutually conditioning network' (Buddha)

All creatures are involved in the life of all others, consequently every species... all nature is in a perpetual state of flux. - John Dewey

Screenshots:

Space Invasion 1981

2011-01-20T01:47:00.000-08:00

Here is FlashByNight's first game of 2011.

www.flashbynight.com/spaceinvasion

Space Invasion 1981 is a modern retro take on those old handheld games that you might remember if you were around in those days. Waves of pesky space aliens come at you in a 'stepping down' motion reminiscent of Space Invaders. But they also form patterns and dive bomb you like in Galaga.

Space Invasion 1981 starts out pretty easy and gets harder and harder as you go along, eventually turning into a 'bullet hell'. But never fear, you get power-ups to help you win the day. A good player can get 'in the zone' and finish the 30 levels in about 30-40 minutes.

Finish all 30 levels and you'll enter the ultimate challenge - the 'infinity level'. How long can you last?

There are 3 monthly top score slots as well as an all-time hi score slot.

Word Strips Android App

2010-11-28T00:54:00.000-08:00

So I've been wanting to get an Android App up and running for some time. It's pretty easy to build an app in Flash for the Android, but the tough part is making it playable.

Most of the games I have on FlashByNight don't translate well to the small, touch screen. In particular, I create larger games, usually 800 x 600, whereas I've noticed most other devs create smaller games for whatever reason. The small device screen and lack of controls is quite limiting. For example, I tried creating a version of The Inside Job (www.flashbynight.com/insidejob), but it works out that the orbs are too small too press with precision.

One game however, translates quite well, and that is Word Strips. You can drag and drop the strips with your finger and it's actually easier than playing on the desktop/laptop.

So, you can find Word Strips in the Android Marketplace by searching for 'Word Strips'.

A word of warning: your device needs to be Android 2.2. It will NOT work on 2.1 or earlier. (Unfortunately, this has led to some low ratings/negative comments, even though I specified it on the app page). You will also be prompted to download Adobe Air before you can play the game. (There is a chance that you already have Adobe Air on your system.)

So give it a try and help me out with some good comments if you like it. The high scores for the Android App are the same as the ones for the web version, by the way.

GRE Master

2010-10-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

I've finished updating an old quiz: GRE Master, and you can find it at: www.flashbynight.com/GRE

The database has around 5000 words from the 'Barron's' vocab list, so you can use the quiz to prep for your GRE exam or just to learn some bombastic words.

It's also available on roadtogrammar.com/GRE

New Game Release

2010-10-09T03:20:00.000-07:00

There's a new game up on FlashByNight.

Wordo is a simple but fun word game where you have to use up all the tiles on the board to make words of 3 - 8 letters long. It sounds easy, but you'll need a good strategy.

Why not play it now and be the first to get your name on the High Score list. The URL is www.flashbynight.com/wordo

Technical Issues

2010-09-25T02:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone who's having difficulties with certain games. It's a database issue with my web hosting company. Worst of all, I can't get it fixed until Monday. Some of the games are working but with no high scores and some aren't working at all. Sorry!

In other news, though, I'm working on a word game that should be ready in a week or two.

Play Drench on your Android Browser

2010-09-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

I figured that Drench, probably the simplest game on my site, can be played directly in the browser on Android phones (must be Android 2.2). It's a tiny bit slower but still fun. Who needs apps?

So I resized the game and put it here: www.flashbynight.com/m/drench

You'll need to tilt the phone to portrait and then double tap the flash part of the screen and it'll resize perfectly.

It looks like this:

New Game Release: Vi:Roos

2010-09-10T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've released a new game on FlashByNight.com, so anyway, here it is:

www.flashbynight.com/viroos

Vi:Roos is a semi-experimental game where you play a green virus and you need to take over a computer system before the other viruses beat you to it.

In gameplay terms, this means clicking on smaller clumps of squares to take them over. It's surprisingly trickier than it sounds and the enemy AI gets 'smarter' as you level up.

Have fun.

Closing a Flash Android App

2010-08-13T01:54:00.000-07:00

I've just finished my first complete build of a Flash Game App for Android and I thought I'd share some code.

It's the little things that'll stump you, like figuring how to quit the app. So many apps make you use the HOME key and then the app continues running in the background. That's really frustrating. Use this line of code to kill your app:

NativeApplication.nativeApplication.exit();

And you'll need this import statement in your document class:

import flash.desktop.NativeApplication;

Another good thing to know is how to access the MENU, HOME and SEARCH keys. To do this, add a keyListener for a keyboard event:

stage.addEventListener(KeyboardEvent.KEY_UP,keyUpListener);

...then:

function keyUpListener(e:KeyboardEvent):void {

if( e.keyCode == Keyboard.MENU ){ }

if( e.keyCode == Keyboard.HOME ){ }

if( e.keyCode == Keyboard.SEARCH ){ }

}

Don't forget to add this to your document class: import flash.ui.Keyboard;

Simples! A few lines to code to help you with your Flash App for Android.

Remember to support Android - Android loves Flash, unlike the iPhone.

Android

2010-07-31T03:35:00.000-07:00

What I'm currently working on is getting some of my games packaged as Android apps. Mainly since I bought an Android phone (HTC Desire), I love it and I want to support Google's efforts in making it easy for anyone to make games and get them out to people who want to play them.

I'm pretty excited about it and I hope to post my progress here.

What makes Red Dead Redemption a great game?

2010-07-25T02:50:00.001-07:00

I'm about halfway through playing Red Dead Redemption on the 360, and I wanted to jot a few thoughts about what makes it a great game.

1 Immersion

Immersion is one of the most important aspects of game design. RDR stands out as the most immersive game that I have ever played. It nails the look and feel of the Old West. The language, the clothes, even the way people walk and react. It feels alive.

There is a massive map and very little repetition of things that you see. For example, to pick an older game, Far Cry, all the huts in each village looked alike. Every jungle path looked alike. In RDR, every trail, every hacienda looks unique.

2 Sandbox format

Rockstar games are famous for giving you a massive free-roam area to play around in. Plenty of players just ride around and get into trouble. I believe that the play area in Fallout 3 was probably a little bit bigger, but Fallout 3 didn't feel like free roam because you'd get attacked by something every 20 yards. RDR gives you the chance to take a stagecoach from place to place but you feel like riding instead because it's so much fun.

3 That five-year-old feeling

By which I mean that when I play an XBox game, I want something that makes me feel like a 5-year-old kid playing cowboys and indians again. Somehow, RDR manages to do that and still keep a decent level of realism.

4 A great script

Okay, the story is pretty straightforward, but the characters in the story are great fun. People sometimes argue whether a game should have a great story (or whether it's a work of art), but I'm a firm believer that a great story makes a great game.

RDR has a wicked sense of humor, too. For example, there's a guy who *loves* his horse in a way that is not quite appropriate, and there's a hard-drinking Mick by the name of Irish who swears incessantly. In fact, it's the first time I've heard the word c**t used in a game.

RDR pulls every Wild West cliche out of its ten gallon hat, but it's all in the name of good fun.

Pac Man For The Win is Ready

2010-06-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

Pac Man for the win is ready and hopefully bug-free. Hope you enjoy playing it!

PacMan ftw

2010-06-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

Since PacMan is thirty years old this year, I thought I might just do a homage and give pacman the old flashbynight treatment. By which I mean I take the game and mess around with the mechanics and the gameplay until I reckon I’ve come up with something different.

I’m calling my game, Pac Man For The Win because I used to really suck at the stand-up arcade version and I wanted to make something more casual. My idea is to come up with totally different mazes for each level and also to have different numbers of ghosts and powerpills and so on.

The first step was to build the ‘engine’ – basically a class which would recognize when pacman encounters blocks, dots, powerpills and ghosts. I could reuse some of this code to control the ghosts. After that, I was free to concentrate on level design, which is where I am now. I’ve designed 12 out of twenty levels and you can play the first three here:

www.flashbynight.com/pacmanftw

I’ll update the page and eventually the finished game will appear there, sometime around the latter part of June.

Another thing I did was to look closely at the AI of the ghosts in the original game. I always thought that they pressured pacman too much and made it a difficult game. However, the original designer claimed that he made the AI such that the ghosts would not chase pacman 100% of the time. I got this from a great article on ‘Ghost Psychology’ here: www.webpacman.com/ghosts.html

My ghosts have three modes:

1 random => they move randomly about the maze
2 pursuit => they actively home in on pacman
3 scatter => they flee from pacman

For most of the game, the ghosts are in random mode. Every so often, one or more will go into pursuit mode for a short time. If the player completes all 20 levels, he can replay them with all ghosts constantly in pursuit mode. (Without this feature, I couldn’t have a high score feature, because everyone who finished the game would have a similar score).

When pacman eats a powerpill, all ghosts go into scatter mode, but only for a few seconds (or else they end up bunched against the walls).

So as you can see, I had a lot of fun creating PacMan For The Win and I hope everyone has a fun time playing it.

Don’t forget to try my other reworked retro games:

Retris

Nanopedes

Spack Invaders

New Tute: Creating a Document Class

2010-06-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

There's a new tute available: Creating a Document Class:

www.flashbynight.com/tutes/doc_class/

A document class in AS3 allows you to keep all your code in an external .as file instead of the main .fla movie.

This tutorial is suitable for beginners to AS3 - you'll need to know how to create a document class before you can go on to do anything else, really.

A Quiz Template

2010-05-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

A visitor to my site recently commented on my tutorial for building a multiple choice quiz in AS3 and asked for help with a simple fill-in-the-blanks quiz.

I put together a template and I thought I would share it here. (Right-click and select save-as.)

I will probably put this into a short tutorial available on flashbynight. Until then, just contact me if you need any help with it.

I also have a drag-and-drop tutorial here.

The Inside Job

2010-04-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

Just finished another game, called the Inside Job and it's playable at www.flashbynight.com/insidejob

It's an orb-popping game that I'm sure will grow on you if you give it a chance.

I can't link it to my main page yet since I'm away from home, but the link will go up next week.

Angels of Bayonetta

2010-03-05T00:12:00.001-08:00

I'm playing Bayonetta on the 360 at the moment.

What grabbed me from the beginning was how cool and well designed the angel enemies are. Unfortunately, in the game you can't get a good look at them because they come at you really fast. I didn't even realise they had faces and I thought the pointy bits were beaks! They're actually beards.

Anyway, here they are in all their glory (click on the picture for a full view):

Game Prototype: Fall On Me

2010-02-27T02:10:00.000-08:00

Here is the prototype of a game I'm working on: Fall On Me.

The premise is basically that it is a platform game where the platforms fall into place as you go along. They are generated randomly.

Keep in mind that it is far from finished. So far, the basic game mechanic is done, but the game basically needs more 'stuff'.

Give it a try at: www.flashbynight.com/fallonme

Spelling Bee Game

2010-02-26T23:33:00.000-08:00

I thought I might just post this link:

http://berzerker.com/spelling.html

It's a spelling game someone made using my word scramble tutorial, which can be found here:

http://www.flashbynight.com/tutes/scramble/

Mass Effect 2: New Best Game

2010-02-24T00:44:00.000-08:00

I've just finished Mass Effect 2 and my verdict is that is the best game ever for the 360.

Here is my personal Top 5:

1 Mass Effect 2

2 Mass Effect

3 Ninja Gaiden 2

4 Gears of War 2

5 Gears of War

Unlike Hollywood movies, in the gaming world, sequels are actually better!

Drifting Afternoon

2010-02-10T22:55:00.000-08:00

I have to mention this game that I discovered today: Drifting Afternoon.

I've always been a fan of Ferry Halim's work; he does flash games like no one else. Anyway, I won't ramble on; here's the link below. Enjoy.

http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/drift.htm

AS3 class for finding four-letter words

2010-01-31T20:32:00.000-08:00

When I created the game Merge (flashbynight.com/merge), I created an AS3 class that can be used to:

1 Check the validity of a four letter word
2 Choose a four letter word at random

This could come in useful for anyone interested in creating word games. It weighs in at 22k, but contains all the four-letter words in English.

The class is FourLetterList.as and to get a four-letter word, use the function return_random_word(); To check if a word exists, use check_validity("word"); and it will return TRUE or FALSE.

The class and a sample .fla can be downloaded here: http://www.esnips.com/doc/0eeae33e-a79e-4dcd-884a-a6f09c0ef687/4word

Hope it comes in useful.

Merge

2010-01-31T20:24:00.000-08:00

I had the idea for a fun little word game. It only took a short time to make and it turned out pretty well, IMHO.

www.flashbynight.com/merge

It's Not Toronto

2010-01-16T01:53:00.000-08:00

Phew! I've finally finished my current game: It's Not Toronto. (www.flashbynight.com/toronto)

I've always wanted to do a platform game and here it is. Hopefully, it's different from platform games you've seen before. It's got, er..., lots of blocks in it, and puzzle elements. Some parts of the game are randomized, so they'll look different each time you play.

There are twenty levels in all, but I'll make more levels if the game proves popular.

DragonAge

2009-12-30T00:24:00.001-08:00

I’d like to start looking at what makes Triple-A games so successful and whether there is a lesson to be learned for designers of flash games and casual games.

I’m going to start with DragonAge Origins, because that’s what I’m playing at the moment. NOTE: Spoilers ahead if you’re not at least a few hours into the game.

It’s just another fantasy game. You know, elves, dwarves, humans, spells, you know the routine. But if it’s just another fantasy game, how come it’s up for RPG of the year?

I’ll pick out three things about this game and the first is pedigree. That’s right, DragonAge is made by Bioware and to Bioware fans, that already means the game is expected to be good. Bioware has developed (note, I didn’t say mastered) the art of crafting an excellent RPG experience. That means finding the right balance between a great combat system, a compelling story and character development. Bioware uses what has worked in previous games to make their current games better and that’s smart.

Speaking of a great story, that’s the second point I like about this game. The story is dark fantasy and takes chances. A standout point for me was becoming a grey warden – you went through the ritual of drinking demon blood with two other apprentices, but none of the other apprentices made it, they died in the ritual. I just thought this was a great twist and brought home the point that a lot of characters are going to die, including ones you have formed a bond with. And you can’t ignore the story and skip through the dialog because you will screw yourself up. DragonAge can be unforgiving.

The last thing and the one I wish to focus on is choice. Bioware obviously figured that giving gamers choice is a large part of what makes their games successful. So in DA:O, they give you a choice from the very beginning. If you haven’t played it yet, there are six different ways to begin the game. The story has a customized feel to it all the way through. Playing as an Elven Mage, I was constantly coming across dialogs and situations that I obviously wouldn’t encounter if I was playing a dwarf or a rogue.

Bioware has always specialized in branching conversations and they’ve taken it a step further here. You’ll find yourself having conversations that last for a good five minutes! And somehow they’ve made it interesting enough that you WANT to engage in a five-minute conversation with a computer-controlled character.

I think I spotted a trick, though. Many of the conversations have only two outcomes (for example, settle the issue amiably or fight) or even one outcome. But there are many pathways to get to these two outcomes. In other words, they are giving you the illusion of choice. Why is this a good thing? Because it lets you play the way you want to play and act the way you want to act. Here’s a made-up example:

Baddie: Are you threatening me?

Option A: That’s right.
Option B: No. Can’t we talk this over?

Then, no matter which option you have chosen:

Baddie: The time for talking is over! *trigger fight scene*

Okay, so my example is lame! But it shows the illusion of choice. If I want to play the good guy and settle it peacefully, I’m still satisfied because I tried that path. In my ‘real job’, I develop e-learning courses, and we use these types of branching dialogs with limited outcomes extensively. It gives the learner or the gamer a sense of control.

So when was the last time you played a Flash game and felt you had a sense of choice? In fact, when was the last time you played a Flash game and engaged in a dialog? An audio dialog is a stretch for an online game, but a text dialog or at least pop-up speech bubbles would help the player have more of a sense of interaction and immersion. Early PC games were full of these things. We’re starting to see more flash games with an actual story. Let’s take it to the next level!

Six Levels Done

2009-12-18T20:48:00.000-08:00

The latest iteration of It's Not Toronto: www.flashbynight.com/toronto

There are six playable levels. The finished game will have twenty.

Yet to do:
1 skipcodes so previous players can jump to a certain level
2 enlarge asset library
3 level design 7 - 20
4 smoother jumping movement
5 security check so it can only be played on my own site
6 debugging and testing

Negative Motivation

2009-12-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

Tetris for me is probably the greatest game ever made. There is a great story behind the rise of the game, which you can view here.

One of the surprising things for me when I watched the documentary is when they talked about negative motivation in the game. We are usually taught that positivity is king and game design should always feature positive motivation. For example, you should big up the fx when the player levels up or collects a coin. When a player dies, don’t rub his face in it by glorifying the death with OTT special effects and a huge grinning skull.

Yet Tetris does it the other way around.

In Tetris, your failures are right there in your face, taunting you – all those gaps you failed to fill. Yet when you finally succeed, and you line up a row of blocks, your victory is short-lived indeed. The row of blocks disappears in an instant and you are back to your seemingly impossible task. You will never win; the blocks will always keep coming. Faster and faster until they consign you to your doom.

Recently, I was surprised to see my game Drench getting a lot of attention. When I thought about it, Drench is also based on negative motivation. Victory is fleeting – you clear the board and then, an instant later, you have an even harder one to clear. You start with 30 moves and the next level is 29 moves and so on. You can never win – you can never clear the board in 1 move or 0 moves. Maybe this is what makes Drench so popular.

Lesson learned.

Games of 2009

2009-12-14T21:56:00.000-08:00

Here are the games I played in 2009:

1 The Force Unleashed
2 Fable 2
3 Medal of Honor: Airborne
4 Fallout 3
5 Gears of War 2
6 Batman: Arkham Asylum
7 Rainbow 6: Las Vegas
8 Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars
9 DragonAge: Origins

All good games! The best for me were Fallout, Gears, Batman, C&C and DragonAge.

What a great year for games and next year there's even more gaming bliss. Borderlands and Assassin's Creed 2 are waiting to be played. Bioshock 2 and Mass Effect 2 will be out soon.

Toronto

2009-12-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a preview of the game I'm working on:

flashbynight.com/toronto

It's a platformer, yay, I've always wanted to put together a decent platformer. And it's got blocks, of course.

Spack Invaders

2009-10-25T18:41:00.001-07:00

I'm working on a new retro space game called 'Spack Invaders'. Hope to post an advanced prototype within a day or two.

Command and Conquer 3

2009-10-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

I'm playing the second of my bargain basement games: Command and Conquer 3 for the 360.

People told me that it wouldn't be fun to play a RTS game with a controller and I had my doubts. It is tough, but doable. Like everything else, you get used to it.

As for the game itself, I breezed through the levels on Medium difficulty until I got to Croatia. Croatia killed me. I'm always worst at the defend-against-the-onslaught missions and this one has a double whammy. You're told to hold out for two minutes until reinforcements arrive, but when they arrive, you have to actually go and rescue them on the other side of the city. You can't build any more buildings until you do.

I got creamed a few times, so I'm taking a breather and I'll try again tonight.

Tiberium wars, ladies and gentlmen.

Rainbow Six Las Vegas

2009-10-10T04:23:00.000-07:00

After finishing Batman: Arkham Asylum on the 360, I picked up a 'bargain bin' game called Rainbow Six Las Vegas.

It took me a while to get into it, but once you get going, this is a good game. The graphics show the game's age, but the gameplay is tight. You command a three man squad and you have to get your tactics right to defeat terrorists who have taken over several casinos in Las Vegas.

The fun part of the game is setting up assaults using your team. You can storm a room using a variety of explosive devices and you can outflank enemies on two sides using your squad. Like Gears of War, there is a run-and-cover system that gives you time to plot your next assault.

The main weak point in the game is that the checkpoints are spaced far apart. It should autosave after a major battle, but it doesn't, which is annoying but also gives you more to play for.

This was big release back in the day. If you can spot it in the bargain bin like I did, pick it up - you won't regret it.

Agent Orange

2009-10-10T04:18:00.000-07:00

Finally, I've completed a new game: Agent Orange.

Like Escapoids, it's based on the Drench game model (which got good reviews). You guide the hero around the maze, this time turning blocks orange as you go along.

It's an original idea for a game. Will people like it? Let's see.

The game can be played at www.flashbynight.com/agentorange

Batman: Arkham Asylum

2009-09-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

I was planning to buy Prototype but the guys at my local games shop talked me into buying this instead (and those guys know their games.)

I'm not a big Batman fan but I love the gothic feel of the game. Essentially, Joker has taken over a lunatic asylum and is throwing a 'party' for Batman. The game is a lot of fun and it's easy to pick up and play; it's got a short learning curve.

My only gripe is that it is a bit easy. I'm 28% of the way through and I haven't faced any real challenges, even though the boss fights are ... tricky, but not tough. You get lots of hints, too. I guess I should have played it on difficult level.

Anyway, it's not enough to put me off the game and the storyline is pretty cool. All in all, I would suggest this game for people like me: people who don't play superhero games but would like to try something different.

Playing it on the 360, of course.

Current Projects

2009-09-04T01:45:00.000-07:00

I'm working on two current projects:

1 A tutorial on how to set up a word scramble game in AS3

2 A new game that involves manipulating blocks in order to roll across an obstacle course. It's in its early stages. Previous to this, I worked on a couple of game concepts but decided not to flesh them out.

I'm still trying for that 'killer game': the next Tetris.

Speaking of Tetris, this documentary is an absolute MUST for game designers. It's awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn9dO_iL7lo

Escapoids

2009-09-04T01:41:00.000-07:00

Escapoids is a game that I completed a short while ago.

Although it is based on an earlier game, Drench, I redid it from scratch because Drench was done in AS2, and Escapoids in AS3. Escapoids is the first game for me where all the code is held externally in .as and class files. It felt odd to code that way at first but I'm getting used to it.

Play Escapoids here

Play Drench here.

Tutorial: How to build a quiz in AS3

2009-07-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

Right then, for those who are interested in this sort of thing, I have written a detailed tutorial on how to build a quiz in AS3.

You can access the tutorial here:

http://www.flashbynight.com/tutes/quiz/

This tutorial also shows a practical way to read data from an XML file into a quiz. It would make a good hands-on project for someone who knows a tiny bit of flash but wants to learn more.

The source files are all there, so anyone who wants to 'help themselves' can go ahead. Feel free.

Ciao for now.

VOXX

2009-06-08T03:29:00.000-07:00

I've been putting together a new game and the prototype can be viewed here:

http://www.flashbynight.com/voxx/voxx2.1.swf

It's still really rough. Trust me, it will look better when it's done.

I've been wanting to post tutes as I learn more AS3 myself, but I have to admit that I still don't feel confident enough. Before AS3 came out, I thought I had mastered AS2, but AS3 is a real shock.

If anyone has no idea what I'm talking about, flash games are programmed in Actionscript 3. And it's a bugger for even the most simple things. The payoff should be better performance. I've always wanted to program a 'bullet hell' genre game, but AS2 couldn't handle it in terms of performance.

Back to Voxx, my new game. The original concept was to have a cross between a block puzzler and a shooter. That didn't quite work out, so it's going to be a good old-fashioned space shooter, top scrolling. Fun!

Gameloop Tutorial

2009-05-22T00:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's time to post the first of what I hope will be many game design tutorials. I thought I would start with the game loop, which is a basic building block of just about every game.

Rather than post the tutorial here, I've just put it up on my site along with the fla file.

Click here to check it out.

Nanopedes is finished

2009-05-16T03:40:00.001-07:00

I have finished my 'reinterpretation' of Centipede and you can play it at www.flashbynight.com/nanopedes

I estimated that it would take about ten hours to finish; well, it took a little bit longer but not too much. I'm happy with the finished product. The controls are smooth and the gameplay is nice. I'll get some feedback from players and decide if any more tweaking is in order.

A few posts ago, I mentioned I would post some code, but I decided against it in the end since I coded this in AS2 and I think everyone has switched to AS3 by now. Me, too. Starting from now, all my projects will be in AS3 and I promise to post some code and hopefully some tutes, too.

Here are some pics of the game:

Fallout 3

2009-05-16T03:26:00.000-07:00

My latest obsession on the Xbox360 is Fallout 3.

Set in the post-apocalyptic surroundings of Washington DC, you play a character who has only recently escaped the underground vault or fallout shelter that you grew up in to brave the perils of the wastelands for the first time.

An RPG with a compelling story and lots of tongue-in-cheek humor, Fallout 3 is a blast of a game. The gameworld is huge and I reckon a full playthrough without exploring everything would take 80 - 100 hours. In other words, know what you're getting yourself into before you start on this game.

The combat in Fallout 3 is a kind of real-time turn-based system called VATS that allows you to target parts of the opponent's body and uses 'action points' as a means of controlling the turns. It's a bit hard to explain here, but it's a lot of fun and it doesn't become tedious (compared to the combat in Fable 2, for example).

I, personally, was a big fan of Fallout 2 and surprisingly Fallout 3 is very similar to Fallout 2 in many ways. If you played the previous game and liked it, it's a sure bet you'll like the new version.

I give this game a 9.7 out of 10, I think it's awesome.

Progress on Nanopedes Game

2009-05-04T18:03:00.000-07:00

I found the time to do a bit more work on my Nanopedes game. The latest working version is at: www.flashbynight.com/nanopedes/nanopedes1.5.swf

What I have done since the last time is:

1 Add an instructions page
2 The player can die and has three lives
3 Add a scoring system
4 Add a mechanism to control the level - how many nanopedes, what type and what speed
5 Add a feature that when the head is shot, the next section regenerates as a head - this was a tricky bit

The next things to do will be

1 Add a mechanism for levelling up
2 Come up with more enemies

At the moment, when you lose all three lives, you go to a page that says Game Stats. Game Psychology 101 states that it is not good to end a game players experience with failure - the classic 'you lose' screen. So I hope by adding a game stats page, I can shift the focus to what the player has achieved in the game rather than the failure of having been killed. A bit touchy-feely, I know, but this stuff is important.

Laters.

Game in Progress: Nanopedes

2009-05-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

I've started on a new game for Flashbynight.com, which I'll call Nanopedes. It's based on the classic centipede game, but with a twist, of course.

The first thing that I did was to see what other Flash adaptations of Centipede are out there and surprisingly there's not much. A quick 'digg' turned up this version which is faithful to the original, but seems to be too fast and why is the screen size so small?

http://www.thegameblazer.com/centipede.php

My idea was to have smoother motion, vector graphics and a 'lazy' kind of gameplay that casual gamers like. I thought I would call it 'nanopedes' and instead of one big centipede, I could have lots of small ones on the screen at the same time. Then I could play around and have different types of nanopedes in different colors with slightly different behaviors. When you level up, you meet different 'pedes and the speed increases. Sounds like fun and not too difficult to do. I estimate it will take me about ten hours to complete.

About 1 - 2 hours into the process, this is what I have:

http://www.flashbynight.com/nanopedes/nanopedes1.2.swf

So far, I have designed the 'hero' (but I think it needs redesigned), the basic nanopede and the mushrooms I got from a vector pack. I have done the movement of the hero (unfinished), added the ability to shoot 'lazy' bullets, the ability of the bullets to hit the mushrooms and hit the nanopede. I have put in the basic AI of the nanopede (unfinished), and I have designed a basic logo and into page.

So far, I think it's looking good. It has a nice feel to it and I'm happy with the speed and the playability. The only difficult bit is the movement of the nanopede around the mushrooms and the basics of that is done. And would you believe that it weighs in less than 7K?

I want to add some tutes to this blog, so I'll be posting snippets of code later. But that will have to wait for another day, since it's almost lunchtime!

Balloon Headed Boy

2009-04-29T00:15:00.000-07:00

Because I have a flash game portal at http://www.flashbynight.com/, a lot of people send me games hoping that I will put them up on my site. Although I only feature my own games (made with blood, sweat and tears) on flashbynight, I thought I might post links to games of interest here.

Here's one I received the other day. (Click the image to play the game.) It's called Balloon Headed Boy.

I'm a real sucker for platform games and, after an overly long intro, this one looks pretty slick. The movement and interaction has a nice feel to it. It's not without its issues, but if you're looking for a platform gaming time waster, this could be it.

Medal of Honor: Airborne

2009-04-28T01:29:00.000-07:00

I just finished playing Medal of Honor: Airborne on the 360. It's a bit of an older game (in gaming terms), but it's one I always wanted to play but never got around to. I got it from the bargain bin.

The two previous MOH games I tried were top notch and Airborne was excellent, too. The developers put a lot of work into the enemy AI and it showed. It's not the kind of game where you can run through blasting at things. Do that and you'll get your head blown off in a matter of seconds. You have to take your time, strategize and work with the rest of the team.

The standout level was the last one: Der Flakturm. See the pictures below; the one on the top is the real Der Flakturm (flak tower) and the one on the bottom is the game version. Cool, huh? It's a massive tower that you have to fight your way through and it's filled with elite troops at every turn. You can start the battle at the top, bottom or middle of the tower, since you drop in by parachute.

MOH: Airborne is highly recommended for hardcore WWII action, especially if you see it sitting in the bargain bin, like me.