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.
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Score databases
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Exponentially increasing difficulty
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Various levels / changes of scenery
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Variations on user equipment/characters/weapons
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Upgrades / bonuses (not 100% true, but generally speaking)
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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
