Porter's World

Classic Games

Games have evolved a lot over the years, so much in fact that some developers have begun to forget to focus on the basics in game design. Classic games have been around since the days people camped outside bars to play Pacman, yet despite their age, they still remain popular today. Modern games are often frowned upon for taking too much time making things shiny, and not enough time making things fun. I’m in no way against modern gaming, but it’s my honest opinion that very few developers do things right these days.

Now you may be thinking I’m just nostalgic for oldschool games, especially with me releasing games such as Tower of Greed and praising Super Mario World all the time, I can assure you this isn’t the case. I am nostalgic for classic games, I won’t deny that, but I take that into consideration when observing games and my thoughts still stand true. Every modern game in existence today builds itself upon ideas that have already been done. New games may expand upon these foundations, but the foundations are always the same. There are certain fundamentals within games that please us over and over again, from game to game, they’re just disguised differently each time. Puzzle games make us think, then give us gratification upon completion, that’s what makes them good, always has, always will be. Action games keep us entertained because we can move quickly, explore, use cool abilities, kill things, experience a challenge, never have a dull moment, the list goes on.  Contra on the NES may not be Ninja Gaiden 2 on the Xbox 360, but the same elements exist, and without them the game would fail. What made Mario so great? You explored (went to new worlds and found secrets), collected coins, avoided tricky situations (were presented challenge), and had a definite ending that was to give you gratification upon completion. Mario hasn’t changed since it’s first game, Super Mario Galaxies may have tons of shiny new features, but those core elements all exist, and the game designers are definitely taking those into consideration when designing the game.

Let’s take a look at a new game that really utilizes what I’m getting at. Grid 16 is an amazing flash game, built almost entirely on a collection of classic mechanics. It adds the neat twist of switching between 16 games as you go, but if you were tossed even 100 crappy games, would you care that it was switching between them? Grid 16 is successful in part by it’s creative switching mechanic, but mostly due to the fact that it presents a bunch of proven games to you all at once. Everyone loves pong, even if for just a few seconds, it’s great fun. Platforming has been around forever, still stands strong to this day. Dodging has been a core element of games such as Pacman and Space Invaders. As you can see, Grid 16 basically is the classics, nearly all of them tossed into one game.

Okay, so all games are built upon the same core foundations, what does this mean? In short, study your classic games, they are a limitless source of knowledge pertaining to what makes all games great. Combining your knowledge of what makes the classics so great, while keeping the importance of originality in mind, is exactly what makes a successful game. If you’re looking for a bit of something to get you into the classic games, I suggest watching the movie “The King of Kong“, it was recently suggested to me and I loved it; it’ll definitely open up your eyes to how the gaming world used to be, and perhaps give you ideas of where you can take things in the near future.

Here are the Prince’s top picks of the month, these are the best of the best from September of 2009.

1.) Momentum Missile Mayhem 4 – Momentum Missile Mayhem 4 is a fast paced, action packed physics game like no other. I rarely sit down and play an entire flash game these days, this one really drew me in and presented an excellent level of challenge. Tons of levels, a great skill tree system, and a variety in enemies, make this an excellent game that should definitely be played by all.

2.) Madness Accelerant – Madness Accelerant offers an action filled adventure like no other flash game. Beautiful graphics and intense boss moments give an experience that really isn’t found anywhere else in flash games. Any fan of the Madness series will be truly entertained by this masterpiece of a quick action filled adventure.

3.) Mushroom Madness – Defense games have always been among player’s favorites. Mushroom Madness offers an impressive mix of charming graphics, balanced gameplay, and action oriented defense mechanics. Various weapons and upgrades make this medium sized game pass by without a dull moment, give it a play.

4.) SkyFyre – SkyFyre offers some of the internet’s most intense side scrolling shooter action. Four classes, a shop, and a level up system, all allow you to customize and play the game in a number of unique styles. Take the above combination and mix in some retro graphics, and you have one hell of a gaming experience.

5.) Back To The Cubeture – Cuboy has been a successful animation on the net for some time now. Cuboy has now entered the gaming atmosphere, and in what better way then through a time traveling adventure? Highly entertaining voice acting and a crazy story make this one of the best point and click adventure games to exist on the net today.

If you haven’t checked out all of the above games, I strongly suggest you head over and give them a play, they’re all of excellent quality. Be sure to check back frequently to the greatest source of quality games on the net.

Ninja Gaiden Intro

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the differences in design pertaining to flash games versus console games. This brought a new thought to my mind that I’m rather surprised hasn’t hit me until now; why don’t more flash games have cut scenes? Movie intros to games help set a mood, entertain the player before they even start playing, and give the player a feel for what’s to come. For a minimal amount of work, a significant increase in value can be added. I’ve spoken of the importance of plot, and it’s simple intros like these that can achieve the desired story telling effect.

Cut scenes have been in games since the NES, even earlier if you count the character intros and instruction demos arcade classics such as Pac Man had to offer. The NES had what I would say is the closest style of cut scene that a flash game should offer. Games such as Ninja Gaiden 1 had very simple cut scenes, but they really added to the game. They weren’t complex, the animations were minimal, but they got a point across and they looked pretty good too. Other NES titles that had incredibly short, minimal animation intros include, but are not limited to, Little Nemo: The Dream Master, Ninja Turtles, Blaster Master, Night Shade, and so on. All of these games were excellent, and those quick intros and mid game cute scenes really added to the game, whether the player noticed it or not.

So why haven’t developers been adding cut scenes? First and foremost, I think the biggest reason is that it just hasn’t been a custom in flash games yet. People aren’t leaving them out on purpose, they’re simply not thinking to add them at all. When is the last time you developed a game and planned out mini cut scenes for a game that wasn’t an RPG? I’m sure a select few of you can give an example where you did, but I’m guessing that most would say you haven’t ever, I know I haven’t. Another reason to leave them out of the plan is that they do require a bit of work, nothing significant, but nothing that isn’t going to add a few hours to the production time; for what it’s worth though, those extra hours will go a long way. The last reason I can think of to leave them out, is due to a players patience. Most players click through instructions because they just want to get in and play, cut scenes would delay how quick players could jump into the action. A solution to this however is to make a button that allows the player to skip the cut scene if they so choose, simple, yet effective solution.

There you have it, yet another way to increase the value of your flash games. It’s not rocket science, but I’m sure we can all name a few games that left out cut scenes that shouldn’t have. I remind you that this in fact a generalization, there have been games that follow my above thoughts in every possible way, Hero’s Arms being a perfect example of such a game. If you’re looking to add a bit of value to your games and haven’t been adding cut scenes, you know what to do, get on it.

Momentum Missile Mayhem 4

It’s not often I find a flash game that really draws me in, Momentum Missile Mayhem 4 is one of those rare exceptions. There has never been an action oriented defense game that has successfully drawn me in like this game. Everything shines with high production value, the music, the graphics, the interface, and most importantly, the gameplay. I’m constantly ranting about how flash games are ridiculously watered down in difficulty, this game pleases me even there, offering enough challenge to have stolen a few hours of my life, hours that I’m not about to ask to get back. I know a lot of players as well as developers hate hearing about high production value, but this is one of the cases where high production value really deserves to be pointed out. The amount of polish put into this game is intense, and I’m certain it paid off in the sponsorship deal.

The gameplay in Momentum Missile Mayhem 4 is awesome, very awesome. The physics are spot on, the enemies interesting, and variety of things to do immense. The RPG factors within the skill tree system alone are enough to hook most players, the intense heated battles finish it off for the rest. There are a number of special skills to help you on the battlefield, some unlocked from beating bonus missions in the campaign mode, others you start with. Your primary projectiles can be upgraded to shoot faster, deal more damage, and contain more mass, which sends enemies flying further and faster which feels quite rewarding. By applying points to the gravity launcher upgrade, you can also unlock 4 other types of projectiles, all with unique properties and uses, and of course, their own level. Some of the more intense attacks have cool down timers, but that’s all just part of the amazing balancing this game has to offer. Aside from the starting and four additional types of projectiles you can get via leveling up the gravity launcher upgrade, you can unlock a sixth type by clearing a bonus mission which is unlocked roughly half way through the game, and believe me, you don’t want to miss this one. In addition to the six different projectiles you can choose from, you can level up your max shield and shield recharge rate, max energy and energy recharge rate, as well as nine other useful skills to help you dominate the battlefield. Despite the insane ability to upgrade and customize your attack strategy, you’ll find yourself using good old fashioned skill more than anything to stay alive in this game. This game is hard, not so hard it’s unfair, but hard enough to give you a few hours of gameplay if you want to finish the entire campaign, not to mention the sandbox and Armageddon mode. Aside from a few minor issues that make the difficulty unfair, rather than hard, the gameplay is presented perfectly.

The graphics in Momentum Missile Mayhem 4 are definitely top notch. The explosions look excellent, the textures on background terrain superb, and the various effects during special attacks are flawless. The enemy designs are each unique, and well thought out as well. They all vary in size, shape, and color, where as many games recycle designs and just swap up color and size. The most unappreciated aspect related to the graphics and design is probably the user interface, which is amazing. There is a lot of information in this game, lots of upgrade menus, lots of instructions, it’s just loaded. This game organizes all of that information and presents it in a way that isn’t overwhelming, which I applaud seeing as there’s so much to do and learn. All around there isn’t a single graphical flaw in this game, it’s well presented, well polished, and it looks excellent.

I’ve explained time and time again about the importance of game music, I’m proud to say that this game follows absolutely everything I have to say on the matter. The title screen music is relaxing, much like the calm before a battle. The level selection menu is more pumped, it hints that things are about to heat up, it’s time to prepare. Lastly, the gameplay music, a mild rock tune with a lot of energy, perfectly fitting the mood of the action packed battles. The sound effects are excellent, and none are missing. There’s sounds for menu hover, menu select, firing, blowing up, specials, explosions, and so on, they’re all there. All the sounds are incredibly fitting, none are too high pitched and hurt with headphones, and all are crystal clear. This game is a fine example of how audio can add to the value of a game by being exceptionally fitting.

All in all I’m very pleased with this game. I rarely find a flash game that I hold on par with games outside of the industry, but this one definitely goes onto my list of great games in general. I really don’t have anything negative to say about this game, there are a few minor unfair situations that can occur that are out of the players control, but it happens, and when compared to the amount of superb balance this game offers, I really can’t complain. If you’re looking for some great action, or some more hands on strategic defense, Momentum Missile Mayhem 4 is definitely the game for you.

Scribblenauts

It’s not every day that I see a console game that could become a flash game, and even rarer that I find one that is almost screaming to be turned into one. Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS is one of those rare gems, and it’s just blessed the world with it’s presence today. Scribblenauts is not only an amazing game, but it’s the first game I’ve actually looked forward to and felt was truly original since Portal came out with the Orange Box. If you’re unfamiliar with Portal, log into your steam account now and check it out, you can also try Portal: The Flash Version which is basically the same concept, but in 2D.

First off, let’s take a look at what makes Scribblenauts such an amazing game. The point of the game is to solve various puzzles, or reach the goal, to receive the magical that is a starite. The way you solve these puzzles is where Scribblenauts really shines. You can move around using the DS’s stylus, look around using the D-Pad or ABXY buttons, and last but not least, click on the note pad and write in anything that comes to mind. What does writing in anything that comes to mind do for you exactly? It brings it to life, plops it into the world in front of you, and begs you to interact with it in whichever way possible. You can write so many things it’s unbelievable, the database of items is absolutely massive. I’ve only played the game a very short while since it just came out, but already I’ve ridden a whale, had that whale defeat an angry lion, and used a rocket to blow holes in the ground to navigate to new areas. When I say you can write anything, I mean it. Admittedly (and this is nearly impossible to avoid) you can stump the system and come up with something it doesn’t have, but you nearly have to try to do so which is quite impressive; on top of that, it gives you options that are close to whatever you typed that wasn’t found, so you really can’t complain. After you create various objects, you can ride them, throw them, shoot them, combine them, and so on. If this doesn’t sound at all amusing to you, you’re anhedonic, and I’m sorry for your loss.

So you may thinking that the above is quite impressive, well, it is. So how does this relate to the flash industry? How can such an impressive game be moved to a platform such as flash? Easily is how. The entire game, although amazing, is basically a giant database of words, tons of simple art and animation, basic platforming, and a fine dose of Box2D or your favorite physics engine. The art has it’s own style, but is certainly something that could be seen in a flash game. It’s colorful, simplistic, and almost looks as if someone drew it with a tablet. The biggest draw back I see is that the game is 32MB, which would be a massive flash game, but I’m sure a lot of the file size are files that pertain directly towards communication with the DS and stuff of that nature. If not, the database of items could be loaded externally to reduce the file size to something acceptable. Regardless of the solution picked, it’s definitely doable. The game would undeniably be a huge project, but it’s one that could definitely shine as one of the greatest flash games to this day. The game really is perfect for the flash platform, and I’m almost surprised the company didn’t launch a mini game flash version to build up some extra hype for the DS release. It’s creative, it’s the most intuitive game since Portal, and it’s amazingly casual and laid back, which is perfect for the flash industry.

The most impressive aspect of the game is that game developers have once again created something incredibly original. After thousands of clones of great games, another company has stepped forward, used some creativity, taken a risk, and is now reaping the rewards for their work on an original concept. The most inspiring thought I get from the above isthis, yes they developed the game for the DS, but it could just as easily been you or I developing this game for the DS. Creative ideas that have yet to be thought of are still out there; leave the tower defense games and physics clones for someone else, and embrace the importance of originality.

Interested in picking up Scribblenauts? Buy it here –

Becoming A Game Developer

As we’re all aware, or should be aware of, the path to becoming a game developer is not one that can be completed over night. Not only must you have certain mental abilities, but the skills that you must posses can not only exist, but must be refined. For example, I myself have a good eye for what elements in a game make the game more fun, and the elements that just make a game annoying. Despite my keen eye for this, I have a lot to learn, as all developers do. Certain activities should be done on a regular basis to refine the skills needed to be a successful developer, whether you’re a professional or just starting out. Playing games of all types on a regular basis is one of them.

It’s no mystery that playing games is something that all game developers should do. If you don’t play games that are successful, as well as unsuccessful, how can you possibly make a game that will come close to doing great itself? This may be common sense, but it goes a bit deeper. A common misconception floating around game developers and game testers is that when we play games, we’re just playing games. It’s not exactly like that, and if you think it is, I urge you to read on. When a developer or tester is playing games, they’re doing far more than laying back and enjoying some awesome games. As a developer, you must constantly analyze various aspects of games while playing them. Some of these include the length of the game, the fun factor, bugs, pacing, what’s annoying, difficulty, how easy is it to understand, and so on. Each of these aspects is just a main category as well, all can contain sub categories making the list larger than you would expect. It’s these game aspects that you need to pay attention to when playing a game.

Let’s take a deeper look into a specific game genre. Let’s go with any generic “Beat em up” game, Streets of rage, Captain Commando, Turtles in Time, take your pick. When thinking of these games, what important characteristics of the genre come to mind? First off, I would look into the move speed of the character. If the character is moving too slow, then those scrolling backgrounds better be damn pretty or the player is going to get bored fast. Second off, the amount of enemies the game throws at you per each area needs to be carefully thought out. If a game has too many enemies per small checkpoint, it may do one of two things. First off, it may be too hard. These games often aren’t too hard, that is, until one or more enemies decides to attack you at once like the little punks they usually are. Second off, it may make the pacing of the game drag, so it’s important that the number of enemies is too few rather than too many. Next, what makes this game stand out from the others? Almost every game out there has another game like it, if not many, so it’s important to have a few original features. In these games, that usually consisted of special moves (such as the cop car in streets of rage, or the different abilities for the 4 characters in Captain Commando). Although walking around and beating guys up is fun, the occasional destructible terrain such as boxes or phone booths is a very welcome addition. Looking back to difficulty, it’s important that there are enough items laying around to replenish your health (such as the infamous piece of meat on a place), but it’s also important not to have too many as this would decrease the difficulty dramatically. As far as level design goes, it’s important to keep the visuals new, and the way the level progresses interesting. For instance, most levels move left to right, the end resulting in a boss fight. It’s important that this isn’t the case in all levels. Elevators leading to new floors, holes in the floor to drop down into, getting on trains, hopping onto moving trucks, and many other forms of level navigation add to level design greatly and help mix things up. As you can see, I’ve gone into some pretty deep detail as to what should be examined in a “Beat em up” game. That said, there’s plenty more that could be examined; this is only a start, a nice start, but a start none the less.

Playing games doesn’t sound so fun now does it? Well it is, so don’t let the above get you down. Playing games as a developer is definitely hard work, but it’s one of the best activities you can do to get yourself to become a better game developer. In addition, a true game developer can analyze a game while enjoying it simultaneously. That said, if you’re a game developer in the works, or someone who’s just forgotten about how important it is to analyze games, make sure you really tear what makes a game what is apart next time you play.

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

Here are the Prince’s top picks of the month, these are the best of the best from August of 2009.

1.) Cyclomaniacs – CycloManiacs is an incredibly casual bike racing game that is in my opinion the best racing game flash has to offer. It’s incredibly casual and you can jump right in and play, whether it be for a few minutes, or an hour plus. It’s strongest points are simplicity, as well as straight up fun, it’s just an enjoyable game.

2.) Guardian Rock – I’ve always been a fan of puzzle games, especially those that are simple in solution, but really make you think. Guardian Rock offers incredibly awesome visuals, 48+ levels, and enough challenge to keep your mind busy for just the right amount of time. This is definitely the best sliding puzzle game to date, I’ll go as far as to put it above my own game in the same genre, Dominus Void.

3.) Another Small Favor – Another Small Favor is another one of Zeebarf’s finest creations to date. Excellent art and an enormous environment make this one of the best point and click adventures to date.

4.) Frantic 2 – Frantic 2 is another great arcade styled shooter with style. Tons of weapons and other upgrades make this a great game for action fans and RPG lovers alike. If bullet dodging wasn’t on your to do list, I suggest you add it and give this game a play.

5.) Pyro II – Pyro 2 offers more of the same great fun the first game had to offer, but includes an amazing level editor to create and share levels with the rest of the world. You can’t find better anywhere else, at least as far as physics and bouncing fire around goes.

If you haven’t checked out all of the above games, I strongly suggest you head over and give them a play, they’re all of excellent quality. Be sure to check back frequently to the greatest source of quality games on the net.

Perfection

One of the biggest issues I face as a flash game developer is the fact that I’m a perfectionist. I absolutely hate submitting a game to the world that isn’t absolutely polished to the best of my ability. This is both good and bad at times, depending on which way it’s looked at. I’ve been trying to look at both the negative and positives sides of being a perfectionist and have come up with a lot of content for both sides. The biggest matter to come to mind when thinking of this, is the importance of a brand. Is it really worth having a quality brand name? Do players recognize names such as Ninja Kiwi and Berzerk Studios studios and know that the game is going to be good? Such thoughts circle through my mind on a regular basis and keep me from releasing anything below my best efforts.

The negative side of being a perfectionist is a rather big one. On a regular basis I’m sliding by in life spending little money, usually saving up what I’ve earned from previous games for rent. I am admittedly still learning a lot and don’t work nearly as much as I should, but that’s irrelevant for the most part. My main issue is that I just can’t stand the idea of producing a quick mouse avoider or simple puzzle game in a few days, and then selling it for a couple hundred bucks, I just can’t get myself to do that. I feel that everything I do has to be some epic project, something that’s going to be a hit on the net to some extent and not just give me money to survive; I try to design games for fun, not for a living. This obsession goes so far that I’ve actually considered creating a “fake” brand that I would use for my smaller projects and I would literally make no association to my main brand. This is in fact a very simple solution that would indeed work, however I would morally hate myself for sinking so low as to feed sponsors a sub par game that wont’ go anywhere, but will give me my rent. The biggest conflict of working with bigger games is taking a risk, something I’ve been doing for some time now. Every time I get into a project that will take 1-3 months I risk not having rent money to pay my roommates, not a good feeling. If I dedicate that much time to a large project, and it somehow doesn’t pay off, I’m not going to be in a good position. I could go back to working a day job at Domino’s just to pay rent, but I truly do prefer dedicating my life to something I care about, rather than wasting my days away eating pepperoni on the line.

Aside from these complications, there really are a lot of positive aspects to being a perfectionist. Having a quality brand really does pay off. A single hit game will establish a relationship with sponsors and help build a good reputation. Players definitely take a liking to games produced by popular artists, and regardless of the game’s quality, the ratings show. I’m not saying a bad game from a big name will do wonders, but a good game under the right name may go above and beyond, even if it’s not necessarily deserving. One of the biggest issues sites such as Kongregate and Newgrounds suffer is user ratings. A great game can go under the radar on Newgrounds if the right people zero vote your game out of the “awesome score” range of 3.60 or higher. Every game receives it’s fair amount of zero votes, but having a good brand name among the public can easily counteract such assaults. Regardless of the perks with the public, there’s also a certain sense of fulfillment to having a pile of great games under your belt. I don’t mind experiment every now and then and making a game that doesn’t do so well, but having the majority of my games clearly be of great effort is something I hold highly.

Here are this week’s useful links posted by me, for you, check them out,

1.) Finite State Machines: A look into FSM (Finite State Machines) by the one and only Colby Cheese.
2.) Interview With Vortix Games Studios: An interesting interview with Vortix Game Studios.
3.) Concept First: A quick reminder of why you should plan your game fully before you build it.
4.) Sockets and IE7 Trouble: A look into some issues IE7 has with dealing with sockets.
5.) What would you pay for?: An interesting article that poses the question, what would you pay for when it comes to micro-transactions?

Check back with the Prince often, because I love you.

Plot

It’s no mystery that having a strong plot can make or break a game. For years Final Fantasy has stood out among RPG’s primarily for it’s amazing ability to tell a great story. Flash games may not be very story dependent, but that certainly doesn’t mean they should go without one. There are many ways to go about adding a story into your game, but regardless of your approach, you’ll find your players much more satisfied with your game as long as there is a some sort of plot present.

When developers build flash games, they often leave out story completely, or put little to no thought into what they do come up with. Having a satisfying story doesn’t exactly take a lot of effort in order for it to be enjoyable. Developers often get overwhelmed by the idea of creating a plot, they try to make it too serious, they want it to be some epic story, they just try to take it too far and get in over their heads. A simple plot will suffice, as well as add a great deal of value to your game. My first game produced entirely on my own was Dominus Void, I hadn’t originally planned on adding a plot, but after I did, the game felt far more complete and definitely increased the value. The plot was exposed to the players in the beginning of the game as a simple voice over reading a paragraph I had come up with in a few minutes, and again at the end in a second paragraph with the closing story; thanks again to Francine Louise for that, she did a great job. The message here is that the story you come up with doesn’t have to be complex or epic, it simply has to engage the player on some level, that’s it.

To further emphasize the minimal effort and/or lack of thought needed to be put into creating a story, let’s take a look at a few very popular titles. Hero’s Arms is a very popular Zelda styled top down adventure game with a plot of it’s own. This plot is far from serious, and probably not considered epic by most players, but it definitely adds to the game. Without the ridiculous story in the intro of the game to add both humor and some sort of objective, the game would drop a bit in value for sure. The story was clearly a joke that didn’t require too much effort to think of, but it worked as well. Asteroids Revenge 3 is another example of a game shining stronger because of it’s story. It’s incredibly simple, definitely a bit goofy, but all in all it works and adds value to the game. Castle Crashing the Beard is a game that is about destroying an overgrown crazed bearded man, that’s about all there is to it. The story is simple, but incredibly effective and is essentially what the entire game is based off of. Lastly, Dream Master on the NES. The game introduces you to a character named Flip who dishes you a few lines of story at the beginning of the first level. Flip tells you virtually nothing story wise, but regardless of the lack of information he provides, he still gives a feel of character to the world; he fills the void that would be empty plot without him.

The underlying message is that your game should never go without a story, whether it be an epic RPG or a casual puzzle game. A simple well written paragraph or two of text incorporated into your game can add a tremendous amount of value. The plot doesn’t have to be complex, funny, or amazingly thrilling, as long as there is something there and minimal effort was put in, you are certainly adding value to your game, value that could potentially be the game’s selling point.