I’ve been cranking along on one of my biggest games and I recently finished a complete graphics overhaul!  The game had lasted a long time in the prototype art stage and it is really fun to have it finally in a highly polished state.

This game is my most ambitious so far containing 40 levels arranged into 4 different difficulty groups.  This is also the first level design I’ve done for a game as most of my previous games have been more on the procedural or arcade side of things where game variables just sort of change over time to introduce new enemies or difficulties but there aren’t distinct levels. The gameplay combines aspects of puzzles, agility, and time trials.

I wanted to post some composite before/after screenshots I made of the new graphics overhaul:

Level 2-5

Level 2-8

Level 3-6

Level 4-3

I’m now getting into the “last 10%” stage of this game. There are still many miscellaneous tasks for me to complete like sound effects, music soundtrack, social features, menu features, further testing and polish.  It is getting close though to the point where I’ll be able to present it to sponsors. Always an exciting stage for a game to be at. I can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel on this game and I can’t wait for the day when I can let the players in!

I wanted to pass along some information about a multiplayer Flash game contest in the works that could even be of interest to Flash game developers with finished games.

Come2Play and the Linkedin Flash Game Developers Group are launching the 2nd ‘Games that Challenge the World Contest’ for multiplayer games. Cash prizes totaling $10,000 will be awarded to contest winners.

Developers keep all rights to the games they submit and even previously released games can be entered.

There was only a handful of entries to last years contest, so the chance of winning a serious cash prize is very high. Check out the winning entries of the 1st ‘Games that Challenge the World Contest.’

If you’ve got a multiplayer game and you think you stand a chance of winning, why not submit your game?

Prizes:

• 1st Place – $5,000
• 2nd Place – $3,000
• 3rd Place – $1,250
• 4th Place – $750

Contest Genre & Judging:

The contest genre is Casual Games and submissions will be judged on the following criteria:

• Multiplayer playability for new and return players
• Replay ability of the game
• Design, sound and effects
• Concept and execution

Deadline:

All games must be integrated with the Come2Play multiplayer API in order to be officially accepted into the contest. All games must be submitted by April 15th, 2011 at 23:59 est. Games submitted on this date must be the final version of all games.

The full details are available at the official contest page.

My latest game AVOIDAL just launched today over on Newgrounds!

This one is a very challenging mouse skills game with a mechanic I find to be quite fun.

Don’t take my word for it though–check it out!

For those of you logged in with a Newgrounds account there are 23 medals (some very tough) to win.

Here is a gameplay trailer.

You can also play the game on AVOIDAL.COM

AVOIDAL was originally made for the most recent Ludum Dare 48hr game competition. I then worked on it further for the Experimental Gameplay Project theme of “Zero Buttons.” AVOIDAL was also my entry into the Ludum Dare “October Challenge” where you try and sell a game. It ended up getting a sponsorship from Newgrounds.

My latest game For The Twin has finally been released!

It features seven original chiptunes I composed for the game and countless animating backgrounds and alien creatures.

The basic gameplay is one of finding the identical twin to match the goal but it isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Their are six different challenges with highscores and medals to win.

The alien twins dance to the music as you attempt to identify the correct match.

My goal was to make a game that would have appeal to more than just teenage boys–I wanted both women and children to enjoy the game as well–hoping that each would be able to take something different away from it. So far feedback from all demographics has been really good!

For The Twin was originally developed for the TIGSource “A Game By It’s Cover” competition. The artwork in the game was inspired by this fake Famicase game cover by artist Kayo Tamura.

I even kept a complete development diary for the game.

After the competition was finished I put my game up over at Flash Game License to find a primary sponsorship.

I was pleased to secure a nice sponsorship from Spil Games for their Family Portal Group. I handed a massive translation file over to them and they had my game localized into 13 different languages for distribution across their 50 or so arcade portals worldwide.  The exposure potential is huge to say the least.  The game has already received almost 200K views since it started being published by them yesterday.

I have also put the game up over at Newgrounds so feel free to stop by and rate and review it over there if you feel like helping out.

All told I’m quite pleased with the game.  I decided to take a genre I didn’t really like (find the match) and make a game that tried to explore it the best I could given the 1 month competition time limit.  I am also very thankful that I was then able to successfully monetize the game as well which is critical to my small game studio.  Besides the primary sponsorship I have already begun lining up secondary non-exclusive licenses which is quite exciting to see so much interest so soon.

Give For The Twin a play and I’d love to hear any feedback–thanks!

The results for Ludum Dare 18 were posted last night and I’m excited to report that my latest Flash game AVOIDAL was in the top 20!

AVOIDAL placed 14th out of the 172 game entries submitted to the the competition.

Ludum Dare is a solo game making event where participants have 48 hours to create an entire game with all content from scratch after the theme is announced. This time the theme was “Enemies As Weapons.”

I wrote up a detailed post mortem about my experience creating AVOIDAL and created a timelapse video of the entire process.

This was my most successful Ludum Dare yet and I am happy to continue to meet my goals when I participate as I try to raise my personal bar for success with each event I enter. I wanted to get a top 10% finish again and I was able to get top 8% so my goal was met.

I’ve been able to predict pretty well how my games will place each time which I think is a good exercise in trying to be self-aware about your game and the potential audience for it. This can matter when you are trying to make a Flash game that you want to stand a chance of being enjoyed by millions of players rather than thousands.

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