 Posted by Nick on Mar 10 at 11:15
 Now this is the proof that quality games can be made in little time. The author inspired himself and created Paper Dreams in less than two days for the GameJolt Game Jam. The game consists purely out of hand-drawn graphics, an artistic trend that is becoming increasingly popular among indie games. You control a "wooden stick with a smiley face", and you have shoot enemies and dodge bullets that keep coming to you at increasing speeds and quantities.
Enemies consist of evil squares, circles and triangles with dynamic expressions, that surely add to the game's look and feel. The gameplay is fun and addicting, as you can upgrade your weapon by catching falling powerups to shoot more and farther, as seen in arcade games such as AeroFighter. As with many action games, this one gives you 5 lives in order to reach every next stage.
In the end this is a well-polished game, I wonder how the author managed to create this in such a short time. I hope he had some food and sleep while creating this beauty.
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Posted by Nick on Mar 09 at 16:02
 GDC 2010 is approaching, and it surely looks like there is a lot to be heard and done. The student pass only costs 75 bucks (compared to the full entrance fee of $2000 ), and it seems as if these just got available. So if this is the thing for you, now's your chance. Be warned though: you're going to be denied to many areas.
I will stay home, of course, as I am a student barely coming by and I can't really afford a plane ticket to go there for a few days  In a few months (August) GDC will be held in Europe as well, so there may be opportunity after all! Be sure to keep your eyes open, and tell me if you've found a conference/seminar related to game development worth noting.
For those people curious what it's like to be there (including me) there are some videos on youtube that give you a quick tour around the conference. This video in particular was really cool to watch!
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Posted by Nick on Mar 08 at 10:30
 While the internet is being overpopulated by MMORPG's, Gilles goes his own way and creates Businessgame, a browser-based simulation of economics with some cool additions. You are an investor running your own company, and must survive by creating your own strong selling points. The game time passes per hour in turns. Each turn every player receives their amount of winnings or losses, depending on how good their company was doing.
Businessgame offers many different features allowing you to pick a unique strategy in surviving on the online market. You manage a warehouse, buy units and must make sure those units get sold. In addition, you can hire staff to make sure everything runs smooth in your company.
The game offers a dynamic environment to bargain with other players, and features an instable market to try your strategies on. There is an interactive tutorial for new players allowing you start in the tough world immediately, so be sure to check it out now!
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Posted by Nick on Mar 04 at 17:03
 Roguelike games are usually known for their depth in adventure and gameplay possibilities. Nightfall is a well-made example of a roguelike game with a twist: everything happens real-time. What's also interesting, is that you can move your character by using the mouse, the same way modern mmorpg's work. There are a few problems because of these features however, as the program can only handle an action one at a time.
You can do all basic things such as exploring, killing monsters, looting, and even quests on a very basic level. In combination with the ability to move around with the mouse however, this gives interesting results. The battle system is turn-based and well worked out, although it gives you a hard time defeating your opponent.
Nightfall also features many different items and creatures to keep you going. You can visit other cities, enjoy colourful ASCII environments (in the good old days of DOS!), and level your way up in this simple yet innovative concept.
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Posted by Nick on Mar 03 at 15:04
 A game does not need great graphics to be a good game. 2Dimension Destruction is a strategy game that proves this fact once more. You control a command centre which you can use to recruit troops, tanks, airplanes and deploy weapons of mass destruction to help you defeat your rival base, the computer. This rival will apply the same tactics to conquer your base, much like you would be playing against a human opponent.
2DD is fun and addicting, although after a few rounds it becomes obvious what's the best tactic, and you are starting to use that same tactic over and over to win the game, even on hard mode. Some powerups are unnessecary and underpowered compared to other units. With that said, the game could use a lot more balancing.
The game also features destructible terrain, as guns and missiles really inflict damage everywhere. You are also able to build giant walls and defensive towers, which are also destructible by enemy weapons. In the end, 2DD is an interesting strategic toy which you can experiment with until you get the hang of it.
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Posted by Nick on Mar 02 at 12:16
 I love racing games, and this one is no exception. A Bug's Drive is a fast-paced racing game with bugs! And with bugs I mean, of course, the cars. With the bug you can hit the gas and opt for time trial, circuit race and even championships. The game offers many different circuits for you to drive on, even though the circuits are kept simple with a few decorative props.
The bug itself drives buggy yet it contributes to the gameplay. The car has some basic but effective physics that make it bounce all the way your crazy driving style. The game also includes terrain collision making you go on jumps and drive on walls. Another cool aspect is that even though the game features simple graphics the author managed to give the player that speed feeling which we love so much in racing games!
What's also awesome is that the menu has the good old racer feeling inside, the one we all know from playing Mario Kart and Speed Freaks. The only thing missing is the accompanying menu music. If this game had some technical facelifts, it would be in the shelves next to your favorite race games!
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Posted by Nick on Mar 01 at 09:44
 Biohard Warfare is one of those games which do a good job in preparing the player for action, but fail to deliver the gameplay needed for an action game. You are on a mission to stop the russian's evil plans and must collect pieces of intel. With a tank you drive through a forest with rocks and plants and must dodge hostile tanks and turrets which, strangely enough, don't seem to take damage from your tank's defensive measures.
Thanks to my brain's trial and error system I learned that the best way to overcome these annoyances is to drive around them and completely avoid the turrets in the first place. I don't understand what the goal of the author was, but it surely adds a lot of frustration to the gameplay experience.
Furthermore, the gameplay is simply dull and uninspired as you drive in a very low resolution screen even though the author claims to have created all graphics from 3D renders. If you did, why not show it out loud in a nice high-res window? Apart from these minor questions that pop up in my head the author did do a nice job into special effects, although they are rather distracting and unnessecary in the scope of the game.
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Posted by Nick on Feb 28 at 22:42
 Now this is something cool. It's a space adventure shooter which reminds me a lot of the Eve Online's type of gameplay (for the few I minutes I played that). You're a ship, and you're going into the vast outer space to mine some materials in order to pay back a super evil boss you pissed off some time ago. Once you gathered a few tons of the stuff, you can go sell it at your AI friends who gladly accept your generous offer and exchange it for a lot of spacedollars.
With the money you can upgrade various parts of your ship such as the capacity and bullet strengths and pay for your fuel and armor expenses. Interesting about SSR is the fact that the atmosphere is very satisfying. The author has done a lot of research from other games (which we all should do!) and managed to combine the best elements of all to create a great gameplay experience.
Even though the game is played from a top-down 2D perspective, it certainly gives you an involving feeling. The author made use of several special graphical and sound effects which add a lot to the experience. And if that were not enough, it includes a beautiful soundtrack!
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Posted by Nick on Jan 05 at 12:05
Yes, I know I'm late. Atleast some of you got my message by e-mail, despite a script malfunction 
So here goes: Happy new year! May all your best wishes come true.
2010 is a new year with new opportunities, so give everyone your
best shot when it comes to making games!
And when you have made them, come and show us what you did!
Best of luck!
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Posted by Nick on Dec 04 at 13:53
Although I study digital arts and entertainment on university, I have come to find that they don't teach us what makes a good game. At all! My university sponsors and maintains a lot of projects. They teach us the technical knowledge on how to create them. They help us promote them. But the most important factor of all, the game concept, gets very little attention. I am reading a game design book at this time, and I can't believe how the very basics are completely unheard of to me.
I am realising there is an actual difference between game "design" and game "development". Anyone can be a game designer. This game designer is the person behind the idea, he or she who has thought about the concept, and how fun and innovative that concept is. The person who takes action to actually create the game so that it can be played is called the game developer. A game developer can be a game designer, and vice versa. It doesn't mean they always fulfill the same role however.
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