New Look for 2014

It's 2014 and time for a new look.

The new layout of FlashByNight is cream and charcoal with red buttons. You can now sidescroll and tab through the growing list of games for easier access.

The site is built using responsive design with dynamic loading, e.g. it will fit any size screen and if you log in with a phone or tablet, it will only show games that work on those formats.

Boxto

I felt like making a puzzle game where you compete against the PC to match colored blocks.

So I did and here it is:

http://flashbynight.com/boxto/

Some screenshots:

Tablets, Smartphones, Flash, HTML5

It's tough for a casual game designer at the moment because Adobe Flash is by far the most powerful game design tool for casual games, but it has one major issue: it doesn't work well with phones and tablets. With Apple devices, although you can use Flash to create an app, Flash doesn't run on the browser at all.

Hence a lot of Flash game designers are turning to HTML5, an emerging technology that works well on mobile and desktop. Unfortunately, it is MUCH harder to make a game using HTML5. HTML5 is good for simple games but a royal pain to use to create more complex games. You need many more lines of code and there is no visual editor available. It is also more difficult to protect your games using HTML5. I want my hard work to be featured on my own site and not some Russian scam site.

HTML5 does have one great feature. You can create a game 'canvas' that adapts to the player's screen size. For example, the same game can be played on mobile and desktop and the screen size will adapt. This is called responsive design and I have done it with this game:

www.flashbynight.com/religionquiz

However, again, changing the game's screen size means you can only use this method for very simple games.

So where does this leave a site like FlashByNight.com? A lot of people visit the site on a smartphone or tablet.

The only way ahead that I can see is to feature some simple games for all platforms, while the more complex games will remain desktop/laptop only. Hopefully then, no matter how people log on, they can still have fun...  that's what games are all about.

Game Release: Clowd

Introducing a new game from FlashByNight.com…

In Clowd, you control a fluffy little cloud that can change colors 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 the levels 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 in various ways, so I decided to experiment with this little game. The original concept was to have smaller color blocks orbiting Clowd, which you could rotate by pressing the spacebar. However, the gameplay seemed too difficult and I decided to make the character change color instead (even though a cloud is usually white). I made the motion controls a bit ‘loose’ – hold down an arrow 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 to achieve.

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

New Game: Smooth Mooves

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/

Game Release: Retris 2

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:

New Game Release: Vi:Roos

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.

The Inside Job

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.

Toronto

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.

Command and Conquer 3

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.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

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.

Escapoids

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.

VOXX

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!