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I really love the too cute for words Grow games — nothing complicated, but cute and fun to play. There's a new game from the same creator — while not a grow game, it's a cute and quick little puzzle. And if you haven't experienced such classics as Grow Island, there's even more to go and click.
Meet In ver.0 [Eyezmaze]
indie games
Told you we'd have another Hot Flash. And here's a sweet one right in your hot little hands: Compulse, which excels as only a flash game can: stupid-simple premise, a thought-provoking challenge, addictive replay and best of all, entrancing Asian-theme music. Best of all, it will save your progress (specific to your IP address). And when you start, it tells you "A game has been created in your honour." It's like being pampered at a gamer's day spa.
Compulse [jmtb02 Studios]
Remember the hand-holding satire "You Have to Burn the Rope" from last week? If the game play was a little ... unsophisticated, then at least the soundtrack got a solid thumbs up from the peanut gallery here. "It's like Still Alive epic!" said commenter Bokusatsu_Tenshi. t0yrobo called it "better than the Portal song."
Well, now it's online under creative commons license, which means you can do as you please with it. There are three tracks: "Cave," "Lethal Intro" and "Busta Buss." If anyone cuts a ringtone from any of these, let me know.
(Also, this is not the Flash Game Cookie Break. There will be a regular one of those later on.)
You Have to Burn the Rope - Behind the Music[Reachground]
flash games
The deadline for the Life Love Game Design Challenge, which we first announced back in February, has been extended by a month.
The new deadline for the Flash game design contest, which challenges designers to create a game about teen dating violence prevention without violent content or a violent theme, is May 15.
First prize is $1,000 and judges, besides myself, include Simon Carless, director of the Independent Games Festival; Stephen Totilo, of MTV and huge brain fame, Dr. Ian Bogost, Ph.D., co-founder, Persuasive Games, and Dr. Elizabeth Richeson, a psychologist, Texas Psychological Association Board member, and my mom.
2008 Game Contest [Life. Love.]
Sure, it may borrow wholesale from Independent Games Festival finalist Crayon Physics by Petri Purho, but Magic Pen is much more multi-platform friendly, requiring but a short download via your web browser of choice. Perfect for those of us not willing to walk from our Macs to our Windows boxes. You'll draw primitive shapes—circles, triangles and rectangles—as well as pins, hinges and swing-arms to move a red ball to each level's flags. It's fun and physics accurate and has a very soothing looping guitar ditty.
Magic Pen [Fizzlebot via Jay Is Games]
OK, time for a flash-game cookie break! Know what I like about this one? Even though you get the joke, even though you follow the instructions, even though you do it right with complete and total hand-holding the first time ...
You're still proud of yourself for figuring it out.
Someone stick a walkthrough on Gamefaqs, please. I'm busy posting.
Flash game coders have a shot at some loot and a developer gig in a contest UGOPlayer.com is running beginning April 8. So if you think you've got the next killer office time waster, it could net up to a $5,000 first-place prize and, potentially, a job writing games.
For those of us who don't know how to program, the monthlong UGOPlayer.com Online Game Fest is another useful site for goofing off at work.
timewaster
Jay is Games' Casual Gameplay Design Competition #5 is now up with twenty one entries. I always like spending some time with the contest entries when they're finally up; even though there's always an overarching theme (this go around, it's 'upgrade'), the games are usually a pretty diverse and interesting bunch.
Unlike previous competitions, all the games are available for perusal right now, and they're not doing individual blog entries to introduce the titles. Still, there's a nice spread and variety, so if you've got some time to waste, wander over and check them out.
Casual Gameplay Design Competition #5 [Jay is Games]
I don't remember learning modules being this good when I was a munchkin: Samorost creators Amanita have put together a lovely game for the BBC, designed for 11 year olds. Questionaut is point and click, very pretty, and is tripping up adults left and right (that's what happens when you get far removed from your junior high school years and the concepts contained within, I guess). It's short and worth taking for a spin for the lovely environment alone, even if finding 20% of 140 is a bit below your intellectual level.
Questionaut [BBC via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]
Stolen video games are nothing new in China, but it reaches a disturbing new level when the official website of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games does it. Several of the flash games located on the website seem to have been lifted and modified from already existing games. As Ars Techinca reports, developer Cadin Batrack has noticed that the game resembled a modified version of his own game, Snow Day, as if someone had downloaded the SWF file and modified it. That game has been taken down, but more remain. My favorite flash game creator, Ferry Halim of Orisinal, looks to have been ripped off twice, first with Obstacle Race, which closely mirrors Halim's Arctic Blue, and then Leap and Leap, a modified version of Winter Bells. Batrack has emailed officials in Beijing about the Orisinal copies, but has so far received no response. It's no wonder that piracy is so rampant in the country when incidents like this are allowed to occur. Very bad form indeed.
New Beijing Summer Olympics event: software piracy [Ars Technica]
It's not everyday that we get to play a flash game set in mid-1700's Georgian London, where early policing tactics were introduced by the Bow Street magistrates. It's not everyday that we get to play a flash game made by Alice over at Wonderland! Dubbed Bow Street Runner, it's set in Covent Garden, which was overrun with prostitutes, booze and crime. (And we're trying to STOP this?!) It's a point and click detective game — and a really great one at that! 
Fancy Pants Adventures is one of my favorite flash games of all time, so ever since March of last year when Flynn posted about the demo level for World 2 of Fancy Pants, I've been eagerly awaiting the full release. Now Armor Games has the mostly complete version of World 2 online, featuring Mr. Fancy Pants in a life or death struggle with the vile...bunny thing. Mr. Pants must retrieve the mystical...ice cream cone before the rabbit uses it to fill his stomach with creamy goodness. Okay, so the plot is thin and the music - my favorite part of the first game - doesn't quite exist yet. You can't play music while you're playing flash games on your employer's time anyway.
Fancy Pants Adventure World 2 [Armor Games]
While browsing my feeds during the inevitable mid-holiday news slump, I was pointed to some fascinating little Japanese point-and-click (or 'point-and-kick ass,' as Leigh Alexander described them over at Sexy Videogameland) puzzlers, lumped under the heading of 'room escape games.' Guest House is the latest in the series, and I spent quite a while clicking my way through all the frustrating (but not too sadistic) puzzles. It's a good way to spend a few hours on a lazy weekend. Terminal House [via Sexy Videogameland]
Gaming brainiac, and one-time Kotaku Editor fill-in, Ian Bogost points out that Scholastic, now in deep withdrawls from the Harry Potter series, has been casting about looking for new was to make billions of dollars. Their latest idea? A series called The 39 Clues which will feature ten books and be written by different authors including Gordon Korman and Rock Riordan.
The series seems to hint at the fact that it will include mention of video games and in fact have flash-based video game tie-ins.
An online game will allow readers to search for the 39 clues themselves, while solving puzzles and playing mini-games that will be refreshed daily. Mr. Levithan said the site would include blogs written from the points of view of characters, and maps, treasure hunts and videos, many with historical and geographical content.Each book will come with six collectors' cards that can be used to find further clues in the online game. Players can also win cash and other prizes.
The publisher hopes that reluctant readers will be drawn to the books by the game. "Reading the books will make you better at the games, so that is the incentive," said Suzanne Murphy, publisher of Scholastic's trade division.
More interesting, though, is Scholastic's seeming disapproval of an author (and maybe a developer) retaining the rights to their hard work:
The series is also Scholastic's attempt to create a branded franchise for which it owns all the rights. Ms. Rowling retained the rights to the Harry Potter series, which meant that she could pursue separate deals for film and other licensed products, effectively cutting out Scholastic.
Damn Rowling and her clingy desire to own the product of the life time of work, damn her to hell.
Scholastic Defiles Self, World with Game-Book Tie-ins [Watercooler Games]
NetDevil, the guys behind Auto Assault and currently working on LEGO Universe MMO, announced today that they are working on a remake of LEGO Racers, based on the toy of the same name. The web-based flash game is being developed under a new Web Games division at the company and will be rolled out with several other casual web-based games in 2008.
"NetDevil has proven a valuable partner that truly understands what the LEGO play experience is all about," said Kelly J. McKiernan, Internet Content Manager on LEGO Racers. "The company's high-quality work on the LEGO Universe MMO made them an easy choice for LEGO Racers, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them to give fans of LEGO a whole new way to interact with some of our most popular franchises."
LEGO Racers will have kids trying to beat out other LEGO Racers to become the best LEGO racer and will allow players to own up to five cards from ten teams, each with unique attributes. Players can modify and upgrade their car with parts and the racers will be shown live online. The game will also support offline racing.
"Having a dedicated focus on casual game content is something that we've thought about for a long time and we see it as a natural extension of our team's experience and capabilities," said Scott Brown, President of NetDevil. "We see casual game content as a key growth driver moving forward, and feel we are in a great position to bring some the world's most recognized brands and entertainment properties to new audiences."
It's cool to see a Colorado developer growing so quickly. Now we just need to get a couple of studios from EA, Ubi and Activision. Then I'll launch my plans to have E3 moved here. :)
flash games
Kongregate.com is one of the several companies taking a swing at the "YouTube for Games" idea that makes Silicon Valley VC's grin as they stare into their iPhones.
In a new interview with Kongregate games director Chris Pasley, who moved over to Kongregate from Turner's game group, says their goal is to "make Flash games a legitimate business, by letting developers make a living off of [them]."
Sounds good, but I'm just not sure that what games — or anything else — needs is another upload-your-content-plus-community-features ghetto. Especially the community features.
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timewasters
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