Archive for April, 2008

Two more games, and some thoughts on Risk.

Published at April 21, 2008 in game design, joystiq, my games and travel. 0 Comments

Busy month. It feels like I just returned from France, and in two days I’m moving to San Francisco (that’s right, potential employers, moving to San Francisco). In between those major transitions, I completed two non-digital games and a pretty nifty Off the Grid. It’s probably why I haven’t started packing yet.

First up is Gygaxian, developed in response to Brenda Brathwaite’s challenge to design a game in memory of the late Gary Gygax. It’s an inverted game of Dungeons & Dragons, with multiple Dungeon Masters (here called GGs) battling for narratorial control.

May’s Escapist game (which actually went up a week early) is myNo, a fun, fast-paced dice game I promised myself I’d work on as a break from headier designs like Gygaxian and Petrol Panic. I’ve been using a lot of dice in my designs lately. Maybe next month I’ll do something a bit different.

Over at Joystiq, my latest Off the Grid column deals with Hasbro’s limited-edition Risk: Black Ops, which is ten times hotter than the commercial re-release of the title coming this Fall. As I write this, only five copies of the game are up for auction on eBay, and each is going for over $400. That has to send a pretty strong message to Hasbro re: the demand for the game.

I know why You Have to Burn the Rope is so satisfying!

Published at April 16, 2008 in game design. 0 Comments

I figured it out! All by myself!

If you’re confused, then you need to go play You Have to Burn the Rope. And read about it here and here. And watch a teaser trailer here. It’s a simple, super-short platforming game with one boss, and the secret to beating him is not-so-subtly embedded in the game’s title.

The indie gaming community has lovingly embraced this quirky flash game, and it’s even caught the attention of the mainstream gaming press, who liken the experience to 2007′s Portal (another game which I thoroughly approve of).

The developer created the game as a reaction to titles that are too long and too difficult, hence its simple premise and abbreviated play-time. But despite its tongue-in-cheek simplicity, You Have to Burn the Rope wins over gamers in the end, due largely to the stunningly uneven ratio of reward to challenge.

After burning the titular rope and defeating the Grinning Colossus, the game plays out its credits, coupled with a catchy tune clearly inspired by Portal‘s “Still Alive.” The song is obviously derivative, and a bit repetitive, but the community ate it up, declaring it as the perfect end to the perfect game, with varying levels of sarcasm and seriousness.

Of course, the reason the ending is deemed so satisfying is that it’s rather significantly awesome, relative to the length of the game. In fact, the ending song is as long (if not longer) than a standard gameplay session of You Have to Burn the Rope, meaning that players spend just as much time accomplishing the entertainingly simple task as they do reveling in it.

Regardless of this unbalance (and its affect on the critical reception of the game), I still love Rope. It says everything I believe in about the direction games should go in. Shorter, sweeter, funnier. More rewarding, less difficult, more rope.

Sharkrunners was nominated for a Webby!

Published at April 9, 2008 in Games and my games. 0 Comments

It’s time to get your vote on, because area/code’s Sharkrunners has been nominated for a Webby Award in the Games category!

Sharkrunners is a real-time, browser-based game developed for Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. Players take on the roles of daring shark researchers, and take their crews out on the open seas to risk life and life in the pursuit of great white sharks. In their browsers, players set their courses across the water, and are alerted via text message when their crew has spotted a shark. It’s cross-media in a very area/code way, and the game has a tension to it that makes the time-sensitive experience of tracking and observing sharks surprisingly potent.

I worked on Sharkrunners last summer while interning at area/code, composing a lot of the in-game copy, as well as QA-testing the title. The area/code crew deserves a lot of props for the work they did on this game. Show them some love by casting your vote.

As if that wasn’t cool enough on its own, The Escapist was also nominated for a Webby, in the “Games-Related” category. Congrats go out to all the nominees (but especially the ones I work/have worked for).

On republication rights and my Escapist games:

Published at April 7, 2008 in game design, general and my games. 0 Comments

I’ve been publishing non-digital games over at The Escapist since July of last year, and I thought it might be time to address the republication rights of those games.

My contract with The Escapist is not tailored to games, but rather is the same general contract offered to other freelance writers on the site. Because of this, The Escapist publishes my work under a 90-day, exclusive first-publication agreement, after which point the republication rights revert to me, the author/designer.

In other words, my Escapist games can be formally re-published as proper games, provided the actual publication occurs outside of the 90-day exclusivity period. Game publishers interested in working with any of my titles should feel free to contact me at my whole name with no spaces ÄT gmail DØT com.

Not all the features are conducive to proper publication, but games like Petrol Panic and 9am class definitely have that “star” potential.