Flash Game Blogs

Bashing Grounds has moved into the final stage of development! The game is being pushed out to testers and will be showing its face extremely soon

If you’ve forgotten the basics of how the game works, here’s a refresher:

Bashing Grounds is a tower offense game which pits you against enemy forces in intense battle, continuing until only a single victor remains! Place and control ally structures to produce waves of various unit types to battle oncoming enemy armies, ultimately destroying all enemy presence on the map!

Level up your structures to produce stronger, more efficient units, all while building your overall experience. Obtain usable items with experience, allowing for further ways to assist you in vanquishing your enemy, including napalm attacks, factory turrets, and more!

  

Here’s some updated in-game eye-candy to hold you over this last little span of time:

Platform: Flash — Billed as an arcade cabinet imported from an alternate universe, Nam-Cap takes the familiar concept of Pac-Man and turns it backwards in many ways. Your goal in each level is to fill the whole maze with dots (as opposed to consuming them all, obviously). Despite the reversal, Nam-Cap captures everything that made Pac-Man entertaining. Tagged as: action, arcade, browser, flash, free, game, mac, rating-g, retro, studiopina, windows

Platform: Flash — How could anyone possibly hate candy? Well, if you're the snarky alien hero sent to a candy planet to rescue scientists from cuddly, cheerful toys who want nothing better than to pelt you with the stuff, it's probably pretty easy. A beautiful, silly platforming shooter with a ton of levels. Tagged as: action, browser, cupoffun, flash, free, game, linux, mac, platform, rating-y, shooter, windows

Link: CRUSH
Developed by Radian Games
Genre: Action/Puzzle
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 7.5/10

I always love me a simple puzzle game that I can just play and play and play. These types of games are usually mobile games but sometimes the developer has the foresight and pleasure to put them in online flash game form as well. Such is the case with CRUSH, a simple block clearing game but in an interesting package that is quite addicting.

The goal of CRUSH is simple...don't get crushed. Basically there is a wall of different colored blocks and you clear groups of same colored blocks one at a time and after each group cleared the wall moves to the left one. Eventually if you aren't clearing big enough block groups then the wall reaches too far to the left and crushes you. Now in CRUSH there are two gameplay modes; Think and React. This basically just are speed. Think is the one where you have time to think and after each cleared block group it moves whereas in react the wall is just constantly moving.


In addition to the basic gameplay modes CRUSH features powerups you can use to help you in your quest not to get crushed and more are unlocked the more you play. Also interestingly in CRUSH is the graphical presentation. First the color scheme is quite wonderful, all orange, black and white. But even more cool is the slanted presentation. Really catches the eye and makes it seem super professional. Overall, CRUSH is a fun little game that can get really addicting.

Games featured this week: Back to the Cubeture Era 1; Gridz; Grid Game — It's time to get a little dark and griddy! And by that, I mean, this week in the JayIsGames Vault, we're featuring some great grid-based games. It's so hip to be square! Tagged as: blog, browser, thevault

Platform: iOS, Android — Little Luca from Glowingpine Studios is a unique one button physics puzzle game that puts you in control of a bunch of floating colored things that change shape. Really! As two friends gazed upon the peaceful night sky something terrible happened. Stars fell from their perches, leaving behind a glowing red void. And the only person/creature that can set things right is you. Time to get wobbling! Tagged as: android, game, glowingpinestudios, ios, ipad, iphone, kindle, mobile, onebutton, physics, puzzle, rating-g, tablet

Platform: Flash — Bustermcthundersticks isn't nonsense, it's the new point-and-click puzzle game from Ninjadoodle! The new house you have is practically lousy with ninjas, 33 to be exact, and some serious weird and obscure devices, secret doors, and more to boot! Can you track all of them down? Tagged as: browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, ninjadoodle, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-g, windows

I have found a very good AdMob ANE, it works like a charm for me and supports both Android and iOS.
Big thanks to developer, whoever it is.
http://code.google.com/p/flash-air-admob-ane-for-ios

Platform: Flash — It may look sweet and simple, but don't let it fool you, because this Sokoban-style puzzle game is going to tie your brain into knots. All you have to do is slide crates onto spots marked with an X, but with thirty stages, each more tidily and cleverly designed than the last, Sokoboom proves it has what it takes to keep you challenged. Tagged as: browser, flash, free, game, infinity, linux, mac, puzzle, rating-g, simpleidea, sokoban, windows

Link: Panda Ninja
Sponsored by Ripi
Genre: Action/Puzzle/Physics
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 6.5/10

Seems tons of animals are ninjas if we are to believe flash game titles. I've seen ninja dogs, cats, frogs, you name it. New to this ever expanding list is now Panda Ninja, a flash game where you need to use your shuriken attached to a rope to swing around various levels like Spiderman to get your delicious bamboo.


Now this gameplay gimmick of shooting a rope of some sort that attaches to walls where you then need to swing out and release to move is not unique. Tons of games have utilized this idea. Now I'm not saying it is bad to use it just that don't expect something new and interesting when you load up Panda Ninja as it uses the same tired control scheme. Panda Ninja does it decently well though although I always find it hard to get back into the swing of things (pun kind of intended) with these controls. I also found the bamboo aspect a little weird in Panda Ninja. You end the level by getting the bamboo so you would think touching the bamboo would work and finish the level. Nope...took me a level to understand but you have to actually shoot your shuriken rope extension at the bamboo to get it. This seems counter intuitive (to me) but it actually makes the game quite a bit more easier.

Overall I would describe Panda Ninja as just...bland. Nothing too bad about it but nothing extraordinary or even slightly different from the other countless flash games with this idea.

Platform: Flash — Biology was never my strong suit in school. All those mitochondria and phylums and mitosis... meh. Luckily, you don't have to know your genes from your jeans to make it through Life Sciences, a new room escape by Rose Key. The game takes place inside your standard, four-walled room decorated with the theme of — you guessed it — life sciences. Tagged as: browser, escape, flash, free, game, linux, mac, puzzle, rating-g, rosekey, windows

Recently, some of the players on NEO Scavenger's forums posted a request for advice on how to start making games. I've talked quite a bit about bootstrapping indie game development here, but a lot of my focus has been on the business aspects. I do mention tools and techniques here and there, but they've been spread across two years of posts, and are often directed at a somewhat more experienced crowd.

Today, then, I thought I might take a bit of time to walk newcomers through the field. There's a ton of info out there. And sometimes, that can be just as bad as there being no info out there. How does one know they're following advice or tutorials that will lead anywhere? What if one follows a tutorial, only to find that it dead-ends somewhere down the line?

As it turns out, there's both good and bad news here. The bad news is that false-starts are common. Even experienced devs are lured into dead-ends. Technology is an ever-shifting field, and games even more so. It's easy to commit time and resources to something that won't pan out, and that's par for the course.

The good news is that there's usually something to be gained from such failures. This is particularly the case for beginners, where every step is contributing to new skills and perspectives, if not the end product. When one is a complete beginner, there's nowhere to go but up.

Where to Go for Info

As already mentioned, there are billions of places to get info on developing games. Google searching can be a bit daunting:

Better make some coffee...

So how does one know where to start?

I considered compiling a list of indie development resources, but then I remembered that someone has already gone through the trouble. In fact, many people have:

1. Pixel Prospector maintains a gigantic list of indie resources. It's probably one of the most comprehensive lists on indie game development tools, techniques, and wisdom, collected from around the web. http://www.pixelprospector.com/indie-resources/
2. TIGForums is one of the more active independent developer forums. Subforums abound, covering every aspect of development, including creative, technical, business, and tutorials. http://forums.tigsource.com/
3. Gamasutra is a major source of all things gaming, with a focus more on the developers than consumers. There is a vast catalog of knowledge here, including news, tutorials, GDC videos, jobs, and op-ed. http://www.gamasutra.com/
4. StackExchange is probably one of the most valuable places to know about when trying to find the answer to a technical question. The questions and answers are usually of high quality and value, owed in part to their curation and voting mechanisms. Many of my epic quests for esoteric programming or technical knowledge end here. http://stackexchange.com/
5. Daniel Cook's blog posts are also a good place to read about game design, business, and the craft in general. Aspiring indies who struggle with art may be particularly interested in his article about sourcing game graphics. http://www.lostgarden.com/2008/07/directory-of-posts.html

Some folks like sharing what they've learned, which might make this a good time to mention an important lesson I've learned: see if someone's already done the work for you. The internet is a pretty amazing thing, giving us near-instant access to a growing proportion of all human knowledge. When it comes to game development, a lot of the problems (most, in fact) are ones that have been tackled before. It's worth doing a quick search first, just in case someone's already saved you the trouble.

Which Tools to Use

Choosing a platform, engine, tools, or project management method is like choosing a religion: fanatics are everywhere, and will try to sell you on their favorite. But in the end, just about any of them will teach you something, even if it's that religion isn't for you.

Again, I'm going to harp on Pixel Prospector. One of the first links they list covers a vast list of tools and engines. Read what people say about them. And more importantly, look up what people are building with them. There's no greater proof of a tool's validity than the thing it was used to create.

What did I learn on? Well, this:

Computers can do ANYTHING

I also learned by copying BASIC code from Antic magazine into an Atari 800, and watching the results go. Also, trying to emulate Leisure Suit Larry as a text app in my junior high computer class, using BASIC on an Apple IIe. And taking a "programming for engineering" course at univeristy. And buying 20lb "Learn 2 Program" books from Barnes & Noble, and copying their C-code into engines like Allegro. And writing Flash apps for my web development employer. And following Microsoft's XNA banner for a while.

The point of my telling you this isn't to say that I've had a lot of training. Most of the above was better described as "flailing," or maybe just "failing." And even the things that did succeed became obsolete with time. Technology comes and goes fast, as do platforms.

The point is to learn something in the process. All of the above taught me bits about how computer programs work, how information is organized, how logic controls data in an application, and how bitmaps work. Sometimes those lessons were learned while modding Dark Reign. Other times, I wrote code that put pixels on the screen in a starfield, and I moved them about in sloppy for-loops.

What's my tool of choice? I'm a fan of Flash's Actionscript, and flixel. Actionscript is a c-style, object-oriented (OO) language, which is a good type of language to learn. Many game-related technologies are c-style, OO languages:

• C/C++
• C#
• Objective C
• Flash
• Unreal/UnrealScript
• Java
• HTML5/Javascript
• PHP
• Perl
• Haxe/OpenFL (a.k.a. NME)

Learning one is usually a good head-start in any of the others.

Flixel is a game engine built on Flash actionscript, and is a good balance of existing systems and free-reign to do what I want.

Would I build my next game in Flash/Flixel? Probably not. Flash is starting to limit me in some ways, and I'm looking towards Haxe and HaxeFlixel as a next step. It takes a lot of what I like about Flash and Flixel, adds some powerful abilities to it, and frees it from the clutches of Adobe (and the Apple-Adobe-Android wars).

That said, building something in Flash/Flixel now should put one in a good position to transition to HaxeFlixel later. They're similar enough that learning one teaches most of the other.

Hello, World

And once you've chosen your tools of choice, what then? Should you write an epic design doc, plan out all the facets of your game, and start building?

I'd focus on "Hello, World." If you can get code to compile and display that phrase on the screen, there's nothing stopping you from writing "Health = 100," or "You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door."

Or simply print some ascii art, and let the arrow keys move it around the page. Or maybe write some text about how much candy you have. Or how your dwarves feel.

The point here is that once you've got something displaying on the screen, the rest is just tweaking and watching the results. NEO Scavenger was originally a sprite of a man, and clicking a button moved that man closer to a dot. Each time he moved, his sleepiness went up. If you clicked another button, he slept, and his sleepiness went down. I kid you not.

So choose a tool, any tool. Search Google for:

tutorial "hello world" <tool name>

and don't give up!

Games featured this week: Fish Puncher; Puzzle Retreat; Apple Bin — We're back with more games! More specifically a free game, a game that's on sale with a price that happens to be free, and a game about punching fish that isn't free but is close to it! Tagged as: blog, mobile, mobile-monday, news

Link: Don't Escape
Developed by Scriptwelder
Genre: Action/Puzzle
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 7.5/10

Scriptwelder does it again. Making yet another flash game that is different than everything else he has done (such as Primal Sands or 400 Years). This time it is an interesting take on the point and click escape genre of flash games called Don't Escape. I suppose you can see the interesting aspect from the name.

If you haven't guessed it, the point in Don't Escape is opposite of most point and click escape games in which you are trying not to escape. The whole thing is kind of a tongue in cheek jab at the over saturated genre and does it quite well. But basically you wake up in a cabin remembering exactly the circumstances that got you here. These circumstances are you are a werewolf and the full moon is tonight and you don't want to escape and kill the local villagers. So to accomplish this you try various things. Shutting doors and windows, tying yourself up, etc. To "win" the game you need to do everything possible to ensure you don't escape so it is imperative you get everything.


Overall I don't normally play and review these types of escape games. I find them pretty much the same and kind of silly as most have you looking for hidden combinations in potted plants or other ridiculous circumstances. But Don't Escape, aside from the supernatural werewolf aspect, is pretty down to earth and has none of these ridiculous actions and I found it to be a great addition to the sub-genre of escape flash games.

Platform: iOS, Android — Crazy Machines Golden Gears is a new addition to the Crazy Machines series of physics building/puzzle games. The franchise has made the leap from downloadable desktop game to the mobile world, bringing with it all the challenge, creativity and, well, crazy machines you can imagine. If Rube Goldberg only knew the kind of legacy he would leave to the casual gaming world. Tagged as: android, building, crazymachines, demo, fakt, game, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, physics, puzzle, rating-g, tablet

Platform: Flash — Bob the charitable robber is back! Once again you can steal to your heart's content, and you don't even have to feel guilty about it. Help Bob stay out of sight of guards, watchdogs and security cameras, and empty every drawer and pocket you can find. It's all for a good cause, so do your best! Tagged as: avoidance, browser, flash, flazm, free, game, linux, mac, platform, puzzle, rating-y, stealth, windows

Platform: Windows — In the recently-opened beta of Chris Hecker's SpyParty, one player takes on the role of an unassuming spy, tasked with completing several objectives in a soiree setting. The other player is the sniper, tasked with identifying the spy and taking them out. It's a simple premise, but the action is nail-bitingly tense as both players engage in a sort of inverted Turing test, trying to fool each other until the final pull of the trigger. If you're looking for a gripping but quick challenge, grab a cocktail glass and join the party. Tagged as: checker, download, game, indie, multiplayer, rating-o, stealth, windows

Platform: iPad — In a situation that hits a little too close to home for some of us, Coolson's Artisanal Chocolate Alphabet from Things Made Out Of Other Things is a word game based in a chocolate factory starring an out of work English major desperate for a job. You manage to get a position at Coolson's factory packing boxes with letter-embossed chocolates. But since dropping squares into slots isn't all that exciting (and since you want to put that fancy degree to use), you decide to make things more difficult/entertaining for yourself. Instead of filling boxes, now you're writing words! Tagged as: demo, game, ios, ipad, mobile, puzzle, rating-g, tablet, thingsmadeoutofotherthings, word

Link: Cop Car Parking
Developed by 9 Games
Sponsored by Parkinggames.com
Genre: Action
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 7/10

Time for another flash game review on a parking game! I play a lot of these for whatever reason and it is quite interesting when you can tell a good one versus a horrible one and the transition between. As for Cop Car Parking I would put it up higher than most flash parking games, but of course most are god awful.

Cop Car Parking at its base is just another parking game flash game but with the oh so clever theme of driving a cop car instead of just a normal car or something of the same ilk. However, as basic as Cop Car Parking looks and feels like it does have some good redeeming qualities. For instance one "feature" that really stood out to me was the concept of actual moving traffic obstacles. In most parking games I feel the only obstacles are stationary cars (in say a parking lot), walls, cones, etc. But in Cop Car Parking you have to pay attention to other cars on the roadways which affects how things work.


The other redeeming quality I suppose in Cop Car Parking is its general polish. The graphics are clean and professional which put it, again, miles above recent competition. I should also mention the touchiness of the controls as that is usually the main issue with parking game flash games. Cop Car Parking surprisingly handles quite well and the damage meter responds perfectly. Overall I would say Cop Car Parking really gets the ideals of the sub-genre of parking games and does it well.

Platform: Flash — Say you're a little boy (but really you're a dinosaur) and in your roaring rampage of dinosaur-ness, you've stomped all the plants you can. Well, the king of the forest would like a word with you, and he wants you to replant everything you've crushed. Such is the premise of Seeds, a vibrantly colored game by funstorm that tweaks the launch genre in the most adorable way imaginable. Tagged as: achievements, browser, flash, flixel, free, funstorm, game, launch, linux, mac, rating-g, upgrades, windows

Platform: Mac — It's tough to be a little element. You're at the mercy of every current of wind and lava flow on the block. Fortunately for the four elements in Element4l, they're bound together as a single entity and can switch as easily as you or I eat a whole bar of chocolate (i.e. instantly). This soothing but challenging arcade game from I-Illusions puts you in charge of those transformations, utilizing them as efficiently as you can in order to move through each stage safely. Tagged as: arcade, download, game, iillusions, indie, mac, pc, physics, racing, rating-g, steam

Platform: Mac, Windows, Linux — Wyv and Keep: The Temple of the Lost Idol is finally here! After almost three years in the oven, A Jolly Corpse has released its fully-baked (and delicious) puzzle platform game to the masses. It's got excitement. It's got adventure. It's got treasure. It's got multiplayer co-op. And it's got enough challenge to keep you scratching your head for a very long time. Tagged as: adventure, ajollycorpse, desura, download, game, indie, linux, mac, platform, puzzle, rating-y, windows

Platform: Flash — Here's a simple idea: Using your mouse, trace paths across a board of black and white tiles so that the white tiles you've selected turn to black. Sound too easy? Mateusz Narolewski will make you wonder if someone's been replacing your breakfast cereal with paint chips. Tagged as: browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, mnarolewski, puzzle, rating-g, simpleidea, windows

Games featured this week: Juggernaut: Awakening; Questopia; Kitt's Kingdom; Dream Fishing — I wanted to write something witty here about this week's Link Dump Friday, but now I'm all depressed because I wanted to do it as a creepypasta THEN WHO WAS PHONE style joke and I couldn't figure out how to make it work. Sigh. First world reviewer problems. Tagged as: aspirkin, blog, browser, highupstudio, jallen, linkdump, mjones, njohnson, shoulden

Platform: iOS, Android — Pet Rescue Saga is a cute and captivating puzzle game that made its way from the world of Facebook to the mobile marketplaces. Created by King, the developer behind Candy Crush Saga, expect a well-tuned matching experience punctuated by a number of useful power-ups, all told through a shoestring story about rescuing adorable pets! Tagged as: android, free, game, ios, ipad, iphone, king, mobile, puzzle, rating-g, samegame, tablet

This year the famous sushi-eating furball took a private car to E3 2013 to explore the convention and meet with fans.  Follow his adventure below as Sushi Cat plays video games, makes many quirky new friends and almost gets eaten (more then once).  Oh Sushi Cat, you always know how to have a good time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**You can get your own lovable Sushi Cat at our store.

Platform: iOS, Android, Flash — Follow your dreams! And if your dreams mean you have to pay a monkey scientist in bananas to reach the moon and a hypothetical lady monkey, well, so be it! Though it could use some more variety, this launch game has style and polish to burn for a simple but fun experience. Tagged as: achievements, action, android, arcade, browser, flash, free, game, highupstudio, ios, ipad, iphone, ipodtouch, launch, linux, mac, mobile, rating-g, simpleidea, upgrades, windows

Iam trying to purchase a game and I keep forgetting my password. Can
you help me please

Yeah…

Platform: Flash — TurboNuke knows how to do follow-ups right, and racing fans should definitely enjoy American Racing 2, the sequel to last year's arcade hit. The engine's been refined, if a little more CPU takes, but overall it should satisfy everyone's daily recommended need for speed. Tagged as: arcade, browser, driving, flash, free, game, linux, mac, racing, rating-g, turbonuke, windows

Link: Cube Slam
Developed by Google
Genre: Action
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 9/10

Probably the most classic video game ever is Pong. Everyone knows about it and how to play as well as that it is one of the first video games back in the Atari and beyond days. Since then many developers have tasked themselves on reinventing the classic Pong and bring it into modern times. Many flash and online games have been created to emulate Pong and since it is such a classic game I always like playing a new one. The newest Pong clone to hit the market is actually by Google itself called Cube Slam in an effort to show off the new WebRTC which allows video chatting right in your browser as well as other technology.

I must say that Cube Slam is one of the best Pong clones or browser based Pong games that I've played, of course wouldn't expect any less from Google. Gameplay is quite interesting and deviates from typical Pong action. Basically as the levels go on various obstacles and powerups occur more frequently and are more difficult. These upgrades range from making your paddle longer to creating fireballs to destroy your opponent's defenses. Which reminds me, another huge part of Cube Slam is to of course get the ball behind your enemy's paddle but in Cube Slam there are panels behind the paddle which need hit first to then reach the "sweet" spot to win, think of how the other classic video game Breakout works. Obstacles include permanent obstacles to bounce the ball around more or temporary ones to just mess up the trajectory of the ball.


In addition to the fun and interesting (as well as surprisingly unique) new Pong features that Cube Slam offers another interesting thing which is the real meat of this Chrome Experiment is the part that utilizes the WebRTC aspect. Basically you can play against a friend and then the screen you are trying to break down Pong style is actually a screen of a live video "chat" of your friend. Think Google Hangout mixed with Pong. Overall, Cube Slam is a great new age change up to the classic Pong gameplay style and I always look forward to these Google Chrome experiments.

Platform: iOS, Android — Want to take Mojang's wildly popular sandbox building simulation with you wherever you go? As long as you have an iOS or Android device you can! Though lacking a lot of the content from its desktop edition and multiplayer capability, Pocket Edition is a great way to get your diggy-diggy-hole on whenever you want, or just get your feet wet if you want to find out what all the fuss is about. Tagged as: adventure, android, building, creativity, demo, game, ios, ipad, iphone, ipodtouch, minecraft, mobile, mojang, rating-y, simulation

Platform: Unity — Though currently only in its alpha demo stage, this gorgeously atmospheric puzzler is still well worth checking out. Wield the power of the moon, and thus the light and the tide, as a young girl exploring a series of ruins and temples, manipulating the moon to change your environment and proceed deeper. Tagged as: adventure, alpha, browser, demo, free, game, linux, mac, puzzle, rating-g, surreal, teamlune, unity, windows

Platform: Flash — Escape from a cursed alien tomb, find your crewmate and — if you're particularly fortunate — come out of it all with the brand new, uh, old fabulous Idol of Tavor as your lovely planetary parting gift. Metroidvania-style action and adventure await you in this sci-fi platformer. Tagged as: action, adventure, angril, browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, platform, rating-y, space, windows, zombies

It is a great time to be a PC gamer at the moment. Games developers are really pulling out all the stops to produce a truly dazzling array of high quality titles to stretch the limits of even the most powerful PC. With 2013 not even at the halfway point, the number of games released that could happily appear in a list of the greatest PC titles of all time is quite staggering. Here are some of the current titles for the PC platform for your consideration.


BioShock Infinite

The third instalment in the BioShock franchise from Irrational Games has very quickly become one of the most critically acclaimed game titles in history, in addition to being a huge commercial success. A first-person shooter featuring lush visuals and gameplay that combines blazing action with a number of interesting role-playing elements, this second sequel to BioShock has been hailed as the best in the series so far.


Star Trek: The Game

Of much interest to science-fiction fans, one of the newest PC games around at the moment is Star Trek: The Game. Released to coincide with the new Star Trek film, Into Darkness, the game allows players to control either Kirk or Spock and is a third-person adventure. For added authenticity, the character voices are provided by many of the film's original cast, including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Simon Pegg.


StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

This is an expansion pack to the original game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, so bear this in mind before rushing to buy it and then discovering you can't play it. There are twenty new missions available in the pack and so far, the reaction from players and critics alike has been extremely positive. For a fast-paced, incredibly involving real-time strategy game, this is pretty hard to beat.


Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Another expansion pack but this time a stand-alone one, Blood Dragon continues Ubisoft's epic first-person shooter series in style. Although set in the future, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon has a distinctly retro feel to it with much of the action seeming to be straight out of a video-only action movie from the 1980s. Marvellous fun.


Tomb Raider

Featuring a story that centres on the origins of heroine, Lara Croft, the latest Tomb Raider is being seen as the first in a complete new series for the long-running and immensely popular franchise. The gameplay still features plenty of action and many puzzles to solve, but the overall atmosphere is a lot more gritty and intense than previous entries.

Cynics may point to the fact that all of the above mentioned games and, indeed, the vast majority of today's PC game releases are sequels. Whilst this may well be true, the tremendously high standards set by these titles allows for this fact to be forgiven. If developers continue to release games of this quality, gamers will perhaps forgive anything.

Steve Gladwin is a seasoned gamer of many years' experience. His current game of choice is one of the newest PC games to be released; BioShock Infinite.

Platform: Flash — Here is a full scale escape-the-room adventure made (near) perfect by Kotorinosu's skillful design. Inexplicably locked inside these space age surroundings, with no narrative or changing cursor to guide you, you're left to your observational skills and ability to make connections between clues, using objects (repeatedly) to break through multiple locks until you are free. It's lengthy enough and challenging enough to hold you captive for most the afternoon, both in frustration and delight. Tagged as: browser, escape, flash, free, game, japanese, kotorinosu, linux, mac, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-g, weekday-escape, windows

Platform: iOS — Bridgy Jones, which we promise has absolutely nothing to do with Helen Fielding or Renée Zellweger, is a physics puzzle/building game from Grow App. It's pretty much free from all that romance and stuff, but it's still tells a bit of a love story in its own way. The love between a dog and a chicken, a man and delicious fried eggs, and you and your ability to make bridges out of thin air, that is. Tagged as: building, game, growapp, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, physics, puzzle, rating-y, tablet

Platform: Flash — When you think of miners, the first association isn't necessarily "ninja". And that's where you're wrong, because ninjas have what it takes: mad digging skills, awesome velocity, and they look cool in a yellow helmet. Ninja Miner is a fast-paced arcade game with some puzzles thrown in, where your goal is to figure out your way around a level, picking up all the diamonds and stars and avoiding spikes, all at breakneck speed. Tagged as: 3d, achievements, arcade, browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, puzzle, rating-g, silengames, windows

Link: Mini Commando
Sponsored by FastGames.com and BeGamer.com
Genre: Action/Puzzle/Adventure

Like I mentioned when I reviewed another game by the same developer (Soldier Diary), I don't really review or do blog posts about these point and click adventure games. However, Mini Commando is in the same style as Soldier Diary which is the flash game that turned me or at least inspired me enough to do a blog post on a point and click adventure game.


Mini Commando, as I mentioned above, is in the same style as Soldier Diary and it is a style I really could get behind. Graphically the game is a mixture of dark tones with a lighter golden background which really just makes the foreground of the game pop and more vivid. Gameplay wise is also excellent as it makes the style of point and click adventure games exciting. Normally I play point and click adventure games and I get so bored but not in Mini Commando. You're tasked with saving your kidnapped family from Nazis and to do so you need to be stealthy and quick to kill or otherwise get around your enemies. This is where Mini Commando (and Soldier Diary) excel at due to the interesting and out of the ordinary techniques they employ in the actual pointing and clicking. Overall if you like these types of point and click flash games then Mini Commando is a must play.

Games featured this week: The Visitor; Colour My Heart; I Wish I Were The Moon — It's safe to say that a lot of people are happy to see the old Link Dump Friday return. In LDF's honor, this week in the Vault, we're featuring classic titles from our archives that made their debut by gettin' down on Friday, Friday! Tagged as: blog, browser, thevault

Platform: iOS, Android — Color Zen from Large Animal Games is a relaxing puzzle game that's probably going to be your next go-to for quick bursts of entertainment. Each level hands you shapes of various colors, some of which are movable, all you have to do is give them a quick swipe. When shapes of the same color collide they meld into each other and fill the entire screen, effectively eliminating that color from the puzzle. The goal is to get every visible object the same color as the border. Tagged as: android, game, ios, ipad, iphone, largeanimalgames, mobile, puzzle, rating-g, tablet

The King of Armor Games, Dan McNeely, got his hands on Google Glasses.  When he was off to lunch however a certain round feline decided to try them out and order some Sushi.  Luckily we were able to remove them before he grew 10x bigger!

Links:

• Buy a Sushi Cat Plush
• Play Sushi Cat Games

Pictures:

Platform: Javascript — A Dark Room will run quietly by itself in a tab in your browser with only minimal interaction at first. There's just you, the dark, dwindling wood, and a fire to stoke. But what might that light attract? What could you build if you dared venture the cold quiet outdoors? With gameplay that will remind you of Candy Box! but a decidedly creepier, more intriguing bent to go with simulation and adventure, A Dark Room is well worth checking out. Tagged as: adventure, browser, doublespeak, free, game, horror, javascript, linux, mac, rating-y, simulation, text, webtoy, windows

Platform: Flash — What seems like a dream turns out to be reality... a very weird one. You wake up on the floor of a locked room with a voice over the telephone taunting you to find your way downstairs, but once you do, you'll find out your problems are just beginning in this short but appealingly oddball puzzle adventure game with a retro style. Tagged as: adventure, browser, escape, flash, free, game, linux, mac, puzzle, rating-y, solarvagrant, surreal, windows

Link: American Racing 2
Developed by TurboNuke
Genre: Racing/Sports

Haven't really done a review on a TurboNuke game lately...although I suppose that is because they seem to be continuing in their trend just making racing games which are admittedly not my favorite as I find them all the same. However I do want to just spend a quick blog post on American Racing 2 the new and improved sequel which I found over at http://cargames.org.uk/. It is new and improved but still the same racing formula you all know and love.


But I'll talk a bit about the new features. American Racing 2 features 12 new races and 45 new calender events to keep you busy. Like I mentioned in my review for the original American Racing I find the series to be one of the more realistic racing flash games out there due to the 3D aspect and the tight controls. Of which American Racing 2 offers improved controls so that is even better. Of course, like I mentioned earlier, American Racing 2 is still pretty much the same old same. Not much different than the original and not much different than other TurboNuke racing games (but still better than the majority of other developers' racing games). So I guess if you like racing flash games then American Racing 2 is easily going to be on your to play list.

Games featured this week: Minecraft: Pocket Edition; Pixoban; Final Fantasy IV; Quadropus Rampage — Tiny little change for this week's Mobile Monday. We're going to start featuring a few free games each week along with some mobile games that didn't quite make the cut when we worked out the weekly schedule. Any objections? Didn't think so! Onward! Tagged as: blog, mobile, mobile-monday, news

Platform: Android — Inceptio is a novel take on the alchemy genre, where each level is an adventure of its own. Solve a murder mystery by combining clues, build the New Jedi Order, or combine magical elements until you find Merlin. There's even a level editor so you can create puzzles and elements of your very own. Tagged as: alchemy, android, demo, game, logic, mobile, noon, puzzle, rating-y, tablet

Link: Bois D'Arc
Developed by FireBeast
Sponsored by MiniJuegos
Genre: Shooter/Defense
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 7/10

Bois D'Arc literally a French term meaning bow wood is a new bow defense flash game by FireBeast (of Evilgeddon Spooky Max) where you need to defend your castle against all sorts of evil monsters using just your bow.

Now I'm not one to usually complain about "copies" and such but I do just want to mention the glaringly obvious copy or influence between Bois D'Arc and Ironhide Studios' Clash of the Olympians... Haven't seen anyone mention this yet but I guess its hard to call a copy out when the copied game is fairly unknown. Anyways with that being said I actually like Bois D'Arc better as they got some of the inherent flaws which have kept me away from Clash of the Olympians fixed.


So in Bois D'Arc you pick your warrior which has different stats (either high damage and low speed, vice versa or a mixture) and then you are placed on top of your castle ready to defend. The trick in Bois D'Arc is of course getting the angle of the shot right with the power of your bow. This is the trickiest part and still the most annoying in these types of bow games (or bow games in general really). But again I will say that Bois D'Arc somehow makes it not as bad as Clash of the Olympians and other bow  flash games I've played, but it still is not the best mechanic. In addition, Bois D'Arc has a small upgrade system which I think should be greatly expanded and a challenges tab. The challenges tab is actually pretty neat as it is not just missions like a lot of flash games nowadays are doing but separate gameplay challenges that then reward you with upgrade points.

Graphically, as with Evilgeddon Spooky Max, Bois D'Arc is fantastic. Of course Firebeast is still going with the tried and true method of Kingdom Rush style graphics (you know the kind). Overall, putting aside similarities between other games Bois D'Arc is a good representation of the style and perhaps the best one I've played (but that's not saying much).

Platform: Flash — No1Game is back with the road trip that won't quit, finding those elusive international symbols for an exit in a busy Service Area. Get those lazy bums back to work in this delightful mini-escape. It reminds us that in the vast excursion that is life it is not the destination but the journey that is important. And, you know, the escaping. Tagged as: browser, escape, flash, free, game, japanese, linux, mac, no1game, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-g, windows

Platform: Windows — Beth's led a difficult life, and she's just starting to find happiness as an adult... and then she gets sick. Does she give up, or does she keep fighting? Labyrinthine Dreams is a unique game, combining an emotional, human story with maze-solving, in a way that fits together much more seamlessly than you'd think. Tagged as: download, free, game, indie, narrative, puzzle, rating-y, solestgames, unique, windows

Link: Mushroom Cloud
Developed by Playspal
Genre: Action
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 7/10

Seemingly out of nowhere Playspal is pumping out published flash games over at Kongregate. First Space Croissant which I loved and now an interesting bomb sandbox type game called Mushroom Cloud.

Sandbox games are interesting games and ideas that can harbor creativity and create huge time sinks. One of the biggest ones (aside from the ultimate sandbox game Minecraft) is the Falling Sands franchise. So Mushroom Cloud is...kind of like that. Basically in Mushroom Cloud you have a "campaign" mode and a sandbox mode. Now the campaign mode is really just a long but easy tutorial which walks you through all the different types of bombs you can use in pseudo puzzle like levels. You then of course apply this knowledge in sandbox mode which is where the replay value will be. Although one disappointment is the sandbox mode isn't fully controllable but rather has premade maps just like the "campaign" mode.


I'll say it right now that Mushroom Cloud is very interesting and has the potential to be a very fun time waster sandbox game but as of now it feels like a beta game that is unfinished and still needs some kinks worked out of it. Minus the issues with the campaign mode acting like a tutorial and the fake sandbox mode the bombs themselves need work. Now the variety is great and the dynamics of each is great as well but the way they interact with the world is messy and in the case of about 40% of them, overpowered...extremely overpowered. Overall, again Mushroom Cloud could be a fun sandbox game...if made to be a true sandbox flash game.

Platform: iOS — Two childhood friends would never expect their destinies would grow to be so great... or to pull them in opposite directions. This iOS port of the beloved turn-based tactical RPG classic may suffer from some user interface problems, but with the challenging battles and deep narrative intact, it still remains a formidable, engrossing experience that deserves a place in any fan's library. Tagged as: adventure, fantasy, finalfantasy, game, ios, ipad, iphone, mobile, rating-y, rpg, squareenix, strategy

Link: Sports Heads: Basketball Championship
Developed by Mousebreaker
Genre: Sports/Action

Just going to be a Sports Heads kind of day here at FlashMush. Anyways, following in the footsteps of Sports Heads: Football Championship here comes Sports Heads: Basketball Championship to get in your Sports Heads basketball fix with the addition of tournament style.


Now there isn't much to say about a Sports Heads game especially Sports Heads: Basketball Championship since the original Sports Heads: Basketball is out so you know how that plays and Sports Heads has already done a championship style flash game so you know how that plays out. I will mention that I think the Sports Heads: Basketball game is a lot harder to play control wise than any other Sports Heads game such as Tennis, Football and Volleyball. So there you go, just wanted to spotlight that a new Sports Heads game is out as I know they are very popular (for good reason) and now that Sports Heads: Basketball Championship is out you can have even more fun!

Platform: Mac, Windows — Daedelic Entertainment's point-and-click adventure game The Night of the Rabbit is the equivalent of your childhood picturebooks: visually and aurally lush, with a cast of charming animal characters and a human boy as the plucky protagonist. It's an engaging companion for an evening's play but unfortunately it can also be a little too long-winded for its own good. Tagged as: adventure, daedalicentertainment, download, game, gog, indie, mac, narrative, rating-y, steam, windows

Link: Sports Heads: Squad Swap
Developed by Mousebreaker
Genre: Action/Sports
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 6.5/10

When you hear the name Sports Heads I'm sure you're assuming a fun little action sports game like they did with Football and Ice Hockey...well not today! But don't let that discourage you as I think it is quite nice and a good move overall on Mousebreaker's part to expand the Sports Heads franchise with a different gameplay style. So enter in Sports Heads: Squad Swap a card game reminiscent of War dealing with soccer/football players.


In general Mousebreaker tries to be different in Sports Heads: Squad Swap than in the traditional card game War but it basically is war. You are dealt five cards which have various soccer players on them with various point values on them. You then take turns laying down cards and whichever card has a higher value wins and you take both cards into your deck. Some slight changes include doubling up where you can play a second card if it is of the same nationality of the card you played first and penalties which occur if you play a card of the same value as your opponent then you do a typical War like move with three cards played and the higher value wins. So in general Sports Heads: Squad Swap is not complicated at all.

It is this fairly basic gameplay that is Sports Heads: Squad Swap's downfall though. There is nothing special going on here which hurts the ratings. As well as the general movements of everything are slow...further decreasing ratings. I do like seeing change in the Sports Heads franchise though so maybe Mousebreaker will come out with a sequel to Sports Heads: Squad Swap with more interesting features.

Platform: Flash — You're inside a tiny, one-room cabin with a ton of tools and items at your disposal. But instead of trying to escape like you'd expect, in this point-and-click puzzle game the object is to try to block off every possible avenue of egress. You're a werewolf, see, and you're determined to keep yourself trapped and the townsfolk safe at night. But it's harder than you might think... Tagged as: browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, pointandclick, puzzle, rating-o, scriptwelder, windows

Platform: Flash — Vegetarian zombies might eat GRAAAAAINS, but in VladG's new level pack to the All We Need Is Brain series, the zombies need fresh brains. And since you have a large stockpile of them (presumably from your friendly local brain depositary), who better than you to lead 30 brand new levels of zombies to their doom? Tagged as: allweneedisbrain, box2d, browser, flash, free, game, linux, mac, physics, puzzle, rating-o, vladg, windows, zombies

Link: Seeds
Developed by FunStorm
Sponsored by Polm Studio
Genre: Launcher/Upgrades
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 7/10

I feel as if I haven't reviewed a launcher game in a while... well Seeds is here to change that and does so in an interesting way. At first I played Seeds and kind of disregarded it as a boring pretty little game but gave it a second shot and it held my attention.

Seeds at its foundation is a launcher game. You play as a kid with little seeds in the palm of his hands and you blow them into the wind. However, Seeds is not one of those launcher games where you start from a certain point every time and try to get to the end like Burrito Bison but rather one where you continue where you land like in Flight. Of course wherein Flight you are circumventing the globe, in Seeds you are dropping seeds as you go along to repopulate forests in devastated areas.


This is where the "interesting" aspect of Seeds comes into play. So you launch your seeds and it is a fairly typical almost boring launcher game. However, the main point isn't to just launch the seeds but to drop seeds in mid-flight. Dropping seeds gives you petal points which are used to upgrade your seeds and other powerups and even more interestingly is dropping seeds in certain points give you bonuses (and other points are negative). This gives the gameplay more of a focus rather than just mindless launching over and over. Although to be honest I still found the overall gameplay of Seeds to be fairly boring even with this slight twist. Seeds does have pretty graphics in its favor though as everything graphical is rendered quite nicely in a sort of childhood wonderland (aside from the skulls later on...). Overall I would say Seeds is an interesting launcher game if you want to give it a shot but if you don't you're not missing much.

Platform: Windows — Have you heard? There's a fancy evening dinner party at a stately mansion, and you're invited! But you know, these things would be a lot more fun if we could throw one that didn't involve the wealthier guests falling over dead partway through. Get ready to party the night away with cute talking bats, chic clairvoyant goth girls and giant malfunctioning robots in tpjh2d's premiere afterlife adventure mystery, Ghost Party! Tagged as: adventure, download, free, game, indie, mystery, rating-y, retro, rpgmaker, tuanmarshall, windows

Platform: Mac, Windows — 7 Grand Steps is a new story-driven game from Mousechief, creator of the multi-award-winning Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble. It's a tale of growing and evolving, progress and struggles, families and histories, all told through the lens of a token-operated machine. In practice, 7 Grand Steps is very much like a board game fused with interactive narrative elements. And like any game of substance, just talking about its parts doesn't do justice to the whole. This game will reach out and grab you on a whole different level. It has this uncanny ability to make you feel for the characters, which is surprising seeing as how you're just dropping tokens into slots. Tagged as: board, demo, download, game, indie, knemitz, mac, mousechief, narrative, rating-y, unique, windows

I’m using Adobe AIR SDK to build Monster Loves You! to an .EXE file for our Steam builds, and have been for a while now. Recently I upgraded to v3.7 and started running into an error:

Signing options required to package from descriptor and fileset

Which is ridiculous, because my command-line call includes signing options.  Here’s the excerpt from my batch file (nicely autogenerated from FlashDevelop):

adt -package -target bundle %SIGNING_OPTIONS% “/output/” “application.xml” mly.swf

I figured that maybe something had changed, so I hit up the command line and looked at adt‘s help command.  It mentions, in part:

adt -package SIGNING_OPTIONS? -target bundle SIGNING_OPTIONS?

I noticed that Signing Options are optional in two locations in the comand line. This set alarm bells going off in my head, as I bumped into this problem in the past: ordering of the command line options is sometimes important for no good reason.

Something must have changed in 3.7, as this worked fine previously in 3.6. I made a quick edit, swapping the signing option position:

adt -package %SIGNING_OPTIONS% -target bundle “/output/” “application.xml” mly.swf icons -extdir ext

And now everything works fine again. I hope this helps someone else, too!

(and Adobe should be more on-the-ball with their command line tools!)