The main concept is that the player’s actions effect the movement of the blocks to be avoided. This in essence makes the player their own worst enemy. I was experimenting around with nested spring feedback systems and this concept of player as AI when I stumbled upon a fun and playable prototype that went on to become this game.
I spent about 7 days developing the version I submitted to the Experimental Gameplay Project website and then I worked for a bit longer polishing it up to get it ready to seek sponsorship. I’m happy to report that Armor Games picked up the primary sponsorship on it and Contentric officially launched yesterday!
It was great to work with Dan from Armor Games and I definitely recommend them to any other flash developers out there who are looking for a good sponsor.
I’m really quite happy with how this game came together. I was able to get a ton of playtesting feedback early on which really helped me perfect the gameplay to where I wanted it. I also got to write the music for the game which people seem to be enjoying as well so that is always a treat.
Here is a gameplay trailer I put together with some rough edits that show me getting a little over 13,000 points.
As usual I welcome any feedback positive or negative and would love to hear from you.
The goal is to try and blow up as many robots as you can in ten fast paced rounds. There are six different robot types which all explode in different ways.
Here is a gameplay video of the iPhone version in action:
Help the atom on each level recover its lost electrons! You only have 60 seconds total to collect all 100 missing electrons from the different levels.
The screenshot above shows 4 of the 20 available levels. 10 levels are picked at random each time you play. The entire game only lasts 60 seconds (as per the contest rules.)
I created the background textures by cropping and filtering some lovely watercolor textures made by Hillary Luetkemeyer. The artist released them for use and remix under a CC Attribution license.
Feel free to leave any feedback below in the comments.
I like to use concept art as an alternative way to think up game design ideas. Here is a quick illustration I came up with today for a game I am creating.
I have done a few illustrations for this game working through various game mechanics, styles, and ideas.
This is a useful creative tool for me to rapidly try out different concepts and see what they might look like before I even write a single line of code or start creating any game assets.
Creating concept art becomes a way I can immerse myself in the world and atmosphere of the game ahead of time because as I am drawing these illustrations I am imagining the various aspects of the gameplay occurring. This can even include me making hand gestures and sound effects without me realizing it as I try out the game in my mind’s eye. As embarrassing as that might sound for some people it has been something I’ve done unashamedly since I first started drawing as a child. It makes the experience that much more involved and creatively useful for me.
I have just completed a new Flash game called Worderfall this month with my good friend and fellow game designer Jeremy P. Bushnell. This time around it is a word game that utilizes an extremely large database of valid English words.
The concept is a fairly simple one. You have three minutes to create as many high scoring words as you can. The game increases pace with each minute that passes. There are a ton of game statistics that are tracked as well for those who would like to improve their scores or at least measure their progress.
I like to use concept art as an alternative way to think up game design ideas. Here is a quick illustration I came up with today for a game I am creating.