NEVERENDING in September

You have seven days out of the month of September to build a game that is “NEVERENDING”. Can you build a game that is infinitely playable, and always crowd pleasing?

There is a special reward this month for the best, most infinite games: The winner (or winners, as selected by the fine folks at Babycastles) will get their games displayed as an installation at the brand new Babycastles indie game arcade in Times Square, NYC at a yet to be determined event toward the end of the year.

Remember, your game will be shown in a loud, busy, public space. People will be walking by, their attention will be split between dozens of distractions. Some tips:

• 1. Look interesting even when not being played. Attract players!
• 2. Be instantly playable, understandable, intuitive. Assume your game will be left in any possible state, and must always be ready for one player to leave, and another player to pick up some time later.
• 3. Avoid a title screen, or any menu system at all. (Like Flow.)
• 4. Use sound, but don’t rely on it for gameplay.

Good luck constructing a NEVERENDING game! See you on the other side.

23 Comments | In: News, Theme | tags: NeverEnding | #

0 Buttons Game Roundup

August’s ZERO BUTTONS theme had a whole mess of quality games, 40 to be exact. While a few games broke the rules and opted to use a button or two most followed the theme creating a bunch of awesome mouse-only game, with some microphone and camera based games thrown in for good measure! Hopefully September will be as fruitful – we’ll have a fun announcement tomorrow for next month’s theme.

Until then, get to the gamin’:

Capz Machinery, by Harry Trautmann

A glimpse into the glamourous life of the bottle capper. An addictive, additive mouse-only game.

Jitter, by MDVD

Shake the whole world using the mouse to get the cube to the star. Sharp visuals, and a fun mechanic work together really well.

UFO on Tape, by Troshinsky

Keep the UFO on screen as long as possible. Love the grainy, retro look.

Avoidal, by Hybrid Mind Studios

Lure enemies into mines to destroy them – has a nice combo sytem and a good difficulty ramp. The retro aesthetic works very well.

Somnius ex Machina, by Nathan McCoy

Discovering the meaning is half the fun. The best I’ve managed is 13 dreams – anyone done any better?

Movie Theater, by Teijo Mursu

An interesting experience, and a literal example of why the games-to-movie comparison doesn’t work. Play the game once, then a second time after reading the spoiler.

Dragonflute (Microphone Only), by Tobias

A fly and collect game powered by the sound of your voice.

Balance, by Zink Interactive
Guide the blue cube to the green zone in this level-by-level physics based game. Lovely visuals and good song choice here.

No Buttons, by Piotrek Beska

Control the entire level with the mouse to guide the ball to its goal. Left and right movements control one set of items, while up and down control the others.

Legacy of Wisdom, by Jeremy Kang

Avoid trees, collect powerups in this metaphorical game with a strong Asian-calligraphy theme.

Shatter, by Katesw

A physics toy which has you shattering cubes until they’re completely destroyed. Pretty mesmerizing.

A Field of Beartraps (Microphone Only), by Mr. Alistair

Talk into the microphone to make your character jump over incoming beartraps. I really wish it recorded and used my scream when I died.

Stairs to Heaven, by Michalebe

Never ending vertical platformer – use the mouse to guide your character ever higher.

Bug Invaders (Webcam Only), by Marco

Crush bugs with your webcam and barehands. Man I look awkward playing this game.

Jigsaw, by HRJ

Auto-created jigsaw puzzles that get increasingly difficult as you proceed. Mouse-only, but does involve pressing some mouse buttons.

Zombie Breakdown, by JF

Story based, zombie-escape game. Use the mouse to guide your character and escape the cosmetics building.

I’m the Thunder, by MICMOC

Use the mouse to determine the amount of electricity you fire. Don’t let any of the clouds get past you.

Poin, by Daniel Rapp

Draw lines to protect the red ball from incoming enemies. A little buggy, but it strikes a good balance.

Old Tyme Bombers, by Abethke

Avoid enemies, while using them to explode each other.

Sinuous, by Hakim El Hattab

A dodge-and-destroy game pitting you against an endless field of evil red dots.

Mouse Fitness, by J Tremblay

Move the mouse back and forth quickly to reach the cone before time expires.

Smite the People, by Juan Bosquecillo

Presentation is nice, but it feels like there needs to be more variety/challenge. Scrubbing the screen with the mouse seems to be the best strategy.

Cube Dodger, by Roan Contreras

Navigate a field of evil cubes. Gets increasingly more difficult as new enemy types are added.

Hyperdodge, by Keeweed

Dodge meteors and try to survive as long as possible with your auto-shooting ship.

I Was Throwing Bubbles to the Sky, by Mark Skyzoid

Use the mouse to control the angle of your bubble canon. I would love to see this expanded further, and it feels like the bubbles shoot a little too slow.

Meteor Mash, by Kris

Dodge incoming meteors, which can come from either direction of the screen.

Don’t Die Fat Man, by Joe Gribbin

Guide the fat man to the flag without touching the walls.

Tug O War, by Built by Man

A 2-player fight over the mouse kinda game. Could get violent, don’t play with strangers.

Crazy Collector Boy, by Jacob

A simple grab and dodge game.

ZBame, by Alexander Chernov

A scrolling path-tracing game. Avoid touching the black parts of the screen.

Ultimate Ninja Attack, by Ben Brunton

Protect yourselves from ninjas with your ridiculously big sword.

Catch the Green Square, by Guhritta

Avoid the red squares while grabbing the green ones.

Cat & Mouse, by CHUNKYLOVER53

Dodge incoming evil mouse curors.

Banana Defense, by Scott Washington

Position canons to defend the banana from incoming enemies.

Suicidal Sojourn, by MisfitByte

A top-down dungeon tile-pushing game, inspired by Karoshi and the Final Fantasy series.

Man in Hat, by Pedro Sousa

Give umbrellas to men jumping off of buildings to save them. Like the idea, but it was a little hard to see the umbrellas.

Ultimate Bomb Escape, by Aizen Sousuke

Avoid squares with bombs as long as possible. An odd, odd game.

The Mouse Eats the Cheese, by Matt Perrin

It’s all in the title, really – and the sound effects are quite charming.

Deflect, by Roybie

Deflect projectiles back at enemy circles.

Cursor Defender, by James

Mouse over anything that moves to kill it.

Forest Fight, by Switchbreak

Use mouse gestures to defeat incoming tanks. Love the idea, but I had difficulty picking up trees.

20 Comments | In: Games | tags: Best of the Net, Games, Zero Buttons | #

There will be ZERO BUTTONS in August

Sure, you’ve seen plenty of 1-button game development challenges, but we’re upping the stakes this month with a ZERO BUTTON challenge.  There may be a ton of waggle-only games coming to a console near you, but it’s something PC developers have yet to really grapple with.

So what can you do with just a mouse (no clicking!), or a microphone for that matter?

104 Comments | In: Theme | tags: Theme, Zero Buttons | #

Best of the Net: Casual Addiction

The end of July means the end of the Casual Addiction theme. Games were all over the place especially in terms of theme interpretation, and a boatload of developers made multiple games with some really impressive results. Over all we had 30 games this month.

We’re back to a one month deadline for the last month of Summer starting to tomorrow, but until then check out the games!

Greedy Bankers, by Alistair Aitcheson

Super-polished puzzle game with a click-and-drag to merge mechanic. Also dug the soundtrack, and of course the theme is quite appropriate in this day and age.

Shellbreak, by Nathan McCoy

Shooter meets puzzle game. A lovely continuous experience, that only stops when your time runs out. Definitely worth a go.

Fifty Stars, by Nathan McCoy

Cause chain reactions in this nifty puzzle-ish game. Use your cursor to cause an explosion and propel stars into other stars.

Tilting is Fun, by Knut Arild Erstad

Very accurate title for a simple, fun game. Move your mouse left and right to tilt all of the paddles in a direction to guide the ball to its goal. Difficult, but addictive.

Apple e Apples, by Suvozit

Pretty, and pretty neat drawing game. Draw branches to drop apples and collect items to progress to the next level.

More Lovely and More Temperate, by Nathan McCoy

A chain game with an interesting, somewhat springy mechanic. I’d definitely love to see this one expanded upon.

Infinite Combat, by Darshell

A 1st Person Arena Shooter. I thought it was going to live up to its name…until I accidentally shot the nuke weapon.

Hindsight, by TURBORAMBLE

A really trippy platformer. Kind of a more surreal version of “This is the Only Level.” A little hard to control, but a fun time.

Glitcy Escape, by Roan Contreras

Quite fun platformer-with-crazy-physics styled game. The time limit and multiple deaths do make you replay it quite a bit.

Cells, by Abethke

A rotating puzzle game with a cellular twist.

Moolecule, by Suvozit

Man I wish I remembered Chemistry. Definitely pay attention to the instructions. Connecting, and disconnecting molecules was pretty juicy.

Ballsy, by Marcos

A more physics oriented version of Bust-a-Move. The fact that they can roll and move after being thrown definitely changes how you play.

Directional Pressure, by Nheenom

Type arrows in order as fast as possible. Has some addictive qualities, and the ascending scale is a nice touch. I can’t even place on that High Score board.

Enter to Admit Defeat, by Joaquim

Psychedelic platformer. Pressing arrow keys in addition to moving your character seems to do all sorts of funky things to environment. Pressing “ENTER” resets the level, changing the effect.

Super Addictorgz, by Chevreuil

This one tackles the subject of gaming addiction in the most literal way possible. Fly around as a businessman getting high off of gaming icons.

Fastest RPG Ever, by Remy Sohier

Not really addictive, but you will replay it multiple times without fail. An amusing title, for sure.

Undercurrent, by Zink Interactive

Comparisons will doubtlessly be made to SPORE and Flow. Control an upgradable creature and evolve to kill- love the ambiance.

Solar Takedown Redux, by Spunkmeyer

A free roaming, upgradable, space opera – if the shape from Asteroids had ever encountered fleets of aliens. Has a lot of promise, but it feels like your ship moves way too slow.

10,000 Ninjas: Pirate Edition, by Abethke

Run around killing pirates while filling your rage meter.

Archipelago Maze, by Ben
Explore randomly generated mazes. Also seems to create random treasure names. Would like to see where this could go given more time.

Straight 4 Shooting, by Roan Contreras

The most explanatory named game of the lot. An arena shooter using the arrow keys and WASD.

Bubbles, by Roybie

Playing as a jellyfish your goal is to pop as many bubbles as possible, while making sure none of your babies escapes to the surface. Cute, if a little odd.

Super Fun Time With Zombies, by NESSXX

Arena shooter with zombies. Really difficult game, but the music and presentation work well together. I wish I could switch weapons automatically.

Running from Red, by Turtle Soup

Actually dealt with addiction, metaphorically. The idea and execution work pretty well, though I wish it had music.

Raining Letters, by Mya

Type the letters before they fall off screen. Would have loved to have seen more of a penalty for mistyped letters – since I was able to spam the game by mashing on my keyboard.

Laser Shark, by Nathan Korth

Pretty much as it sounds. Shoot fish with lasers in 1st person.

Space Energy, by James

You play as an atom that stole energy from ghosts who want it back. Wait, what? Not quite sure how to play this one. Definitely the most random game to date.

Knockdown the Wall, by Jacob

Simple running & dodge game. Repeatedly walk over special tiles while dodge falling items to knock down the wall.

Shuffle, by Nheenom

Super simple card sorting game. Make piles out of red or blue cards using the arrow keys.

GT Paradise, by Ben Wilhelm

Don’t worry Mr. Wilhelm, we all have our fair share of crappy games. Do check out his postmortem to see where things went awry.

9 Comments | In: Games | tags: Best of the Net, Casual Addiction | #

Two Months of CASUAL ADDICTION

The recent proclamation that two hours of gaming is equivalent to doing a line of coke sure got us thinking.  Beyond the natural reaction that this was sensational quackery at its finest (and many fine sites agree), it made us thankful that our gaming hobby is oh-so-cheaper than those the seedier members of society pursue – apparently with the same results!

That’s the challenge then: can you make the most casually addictive game possible?

We’re giving you two months to find out!

110 Comments | In: Theme | tags: Casual Addiction, Theme | #

High Velocity Roundup

May was a busy, busy month for all of us here at EGP, and probably just as busy for everyone else out there – what with your schoolin’ finals and whatnot. Still, despite all of the overall busy-ness people managed to make 21 games this month. Probably because making games indoors beats the crap out of the rising temperatures outside.

Check ‘em out:

Starfall, by Alex Bethke

Collect dreams, while avoiding nightmare in this gorgeously tiled environment. A fun game that induces a trance-like state.

Lightspeed, by Zink Interactive

A beautifully polished flying game by the guys at Zink Interactive! Use the mouse to steer through rings and pick up speed and points.

Warped, by Nathan McCoy

A shooter where each level gradually ramps up in speed. Pretty neat, I just wish I could shoot faster!

High Velocity, by Darshell

A psychedelic, high score driving game – dodge skulls, and collect coins. Great aesthetics on this one.

Full Speed, by Reese

Extremely fast, cognitively intense challenge. Take control of 2 ships (WASD, Arrow keys) and dodge oncoming obstacles.

Fission, by Luke O’Connor

A simple, but addictive game. Split atoms with your shot, while dodging the resulting split atoms. My high score was 14, but my reflexes are admittedly slow these days.

Runout (Mac only), by Mark Sachs

A parody of Outrun, or so I gathered from his post. Does anyone have a Mac?

Circle Skydiver, by Roan Contreras

Use the arrow keys to collect powerups, and health while strafing to avoid helicopters, eagles, and other obstacles.

Orbital, by Katsew

Race around a giant distorted sphere. I’d love to see this one developed further, but it’s interesting to just watch it.

Freeway Fighter, by Rujo

A racing game, and tribute to Road Fighter.

Vanishing Road, by Bolin

A Spy Hunter style game. Avoid taxis, but destroy other cars.

Pill Bug, by Frank Force

A take on the sonic the hedgehog, with shooting and slow-motion capabilities.

veloCity, by Jorge Goyco

Following in the vein of Canabalt, except you’re running on a circular world. Press the left mouse button to jump.

Squigglies, by Nathan Korth

A pretty toy, but no game just yet. Reminds me of “Attack of the Killer Swarm” minus the people you fling up in the air.

Speedy Crash, by Suvozit

Speed up and crash into asteroids to destroy them. Fun, but it feels like the destruction could be a bit jucier.

Be Irresponsible!, by Joe Gribbin

A simple game with a fun art style, go as fast as possible while dodging upcoming walls.

Sonar, by turboRamble

Shoot and dodge enemies using the arrow keys. Z shoots, X heals.

Birdette, by Ed Scheindlin

Hold down the left mouse button mouse to direct your bird toward the cursor. A little twitchy, but an interesting experiment.

Recurring Nightmare, by Frugal Games

Press Z & X to pump those legs, and steer your guy to victory…or else crap yourself. Luckily I don’t have such nightmares.

High Velocity Typist, by MisfitByte

Type quickly to extend a platform for your character to walk on. I wish it had typing goals, since right now the best strategy is to spam “asd.”

Super Running Rescue, by Joaquim

A game about illegal immigration and running from the law in Arizona of all things. Use the arrow keys to run away and jump to avoid oncoming obstacles.

13 Comments | In: Games | tags: Best of the Net, Games, High Velocity | #