Archmaille

In my quest for Viacom to find the most addicting and well ultimately for them profitable Flash Games I’ve run across quite  a few interesting picks.  One of them being Castle Wars, a very simple card based battle game.  Of course being card based there is a lot of luck that comes into play, but it also very much so boils down to skill.  Interpreting your opponents next move, playing the right cards at the right time to achieve ultimate victory.

Castle Wars Ultimate Vicotry

This was a screenshot of a game that I played that admittedly was very lucky, but also played in a lot of skill in defeating the computer.  I started the game off with a Curse on hand, a Wizard card, and two conjure crystals cards.  After conjuring the first set I summoned my new wizard giving me three to play with.  I soon after got another wizard card and summoned him as well giving me four wizards, and also had before hand summoned a builder and a soldier so it was already three builders to his two, three soldiers to his two, and four wizards to his two before he had even done 10 damage to my fence. This is a pretty rare case, but because I got even more conjure crystal cards within the first 12 moves of the game I was able to curse him dropping his stats down to two builders, one soldier, and one wizard where as I had four builders, four soldiers, and five wizards.  Soon after getting the chance to curse him again.  The reason I have so much stuff in the end is because I wanted to kill him off rather than win by way of building my castle too tall.  I kept getting building supplies, and after two dragons, a banshee, and a curse from him I decided that it was finally time to just finish the game.

You can play Castle Wars at it’s home on XGenStudios.com

written by Archmaille

Most of you probably don’t know, but one thing that I do besides blogging is freelance work for Viacom.  Recently they had me search out the best flash based mini games online.  They want to start putting flash games on some of their MTV websites and it was my job to come up with some proposals for games this is what I came up with:

Yard Golf Flash Game

I’ve noticed a few things in common when it comes to viral/sticky mini games online. They really come down to a few very basic elements.

1. Score databases

2. Exponentially increasing difficulty

3. Various levels / changes of scenery

4. Variations on user equipment/characters/weapons

5. Upgrades / bonuses (not 100% true, but generally speaking)

6. Very easy to learn / master controls

With these factors in mind I’d like to propose a game that we could create for IAmOnMTV that would be both addictive, and viral. The idea is simple starting with an already addictive, and time consuming game out there: yard golf. Yard Golf is a very simple game in which two opponents have three sets of golf balls strung together with about a one foot length of rope. You take your golf ball sets and throw them at a “goal” that has three tiers and you attempt to get the balls to wrap themselves around and stay in place. Points values are 2pts for bottom row, 1pt for middle row, and 3pts for top row, if the opponent gets one of their ball sets on the same tier as you no points are awarded for either player.

The game could be created very simply with a “Power” bar at the bottom, “Spin” bar on the side, and angle is gathered from how you move the mouse in relation to the balls. When it comes to the angle it could work something like how it does in this game:

http://www.neopets.com/games/play.phtml?game_id=648

Also a great feature of that game that we could very potentially use is the choice of characters. Not only could we let the player choose who they play as (various MTV personalities), but who they play against (A.I. Played by even more MTV personalities). Each character has special abilities based upon their personalities, and character played on whatever MTV show they are on (just as an example, maybe Tila Tequila’s description might be something like “Can handle any balls” or whatever). We can also offer the use of several different types of balls and could easily incorporate branding and marketing ploys in such idea as well.

In more challenging modes I’d also like to see “wind” which could be represented with an arrow at the top that said direction and speed of wind, which would change through the game to make it harder to hit the target exactly every time. Of course heavier balls would be an advantage in this scenario, but you’d also have to use a stronger character… which would make the game amazingly versatile and appealing to a wide range of players.

With both the power and spin bars I imagine them being controlled by the user either simultaneously, or one right after the other with the space bar similarly to how it is in this game:

http://www.neopets.com/games/play.phtml?game_id=903

Except the release of the balls would be with the mouse. Maybe we could set it up so that the spin bar is controlled with the space bar, and then the power bar is controlled by how far back the mouse is pulled (reference the first game).

Ideally it would be nice to see the game work in 3D with Shockwave as in this game:

http://www.neopets.com/games/play.phtml?game_id=430

However it is not necessary, and could work very easily much like the second game listed, with attributes of the first (ball movement, bounce, etc.) just with two balls strung together instead of just one.

Refer to the attached image for what some of my ideas might look like (granted made by someone who’s better at photoshop, and flash than myself).

written by Archmaille

Overwhelming the map

So I’ve fallen in love with this stupid little flash game called “Desktop Tower Defense”  It’s really a very simplistic game.  You have lines of “monsters” that cross your desktop, and you build towers to defend it.  And not desktop like computer desktop, it’s actually designed to be a desk top complete with change, keyboard, and a few bucks.  I really wish some of those things worked in your favor though and were used as blockades.  It’s still amazingly fun as is.  I’ve played a lot of different types of tower defense games, some based on Warcraft 3, Others you’ve got a pre-made maze… This one is by far my favorite though.

Desktop Tower Defense Map Overview

This picture shows the same thing as above, just after the game it lets you see how you’ve done.  This is one of my favorite features of the game, it lets you analyze how you built your map, and redo it better.  This map is designed to keep the monsters in for as long as possible.  Not always the best of ideas though, as you can see I didn’t even make it through the whole game, the next example I have is much more simple, but got me to the end of the game with 14 lives to spare.

Better Design Desktop TD

This design centers more around having a small concentrated area of fire, and making the monsters walk around it always close to the most powerful towers.  Even if they do make it further down the maze, they’re always close to more powerful towers, even if they’re not in the maze as long it kills them faster this way.  And less money is wasted on initial construction.  It is always better to upgrade towers, than to continue building new towers because they increase in power exponentially.  Anyways, go play yourself some Desktop Tower Defense and tell me what you think!  Credal and I had a whole huge battle going on for best score.  Add you score to the group “Archmaille” to see how you compare!

written by Archmaille