EDIT: Man, you can tell I wrote this without any thought as to where I was going, and that I wrote this late at night. Whatever!

Making games is awesome, it’s one of the few things I enjoy and never want to stop doing. You know, something as good as having a tea party with a large, fluffy, grizzly bear that doesn’t want to eat you. It’s a form of art, a way to express feelings and ideas in an interactive way. It’s a bunch of art mediums all mashed together, from movies, to paintings, to stories.

I can’t say I like most of the games that big corporations such as Nintendo or Sony make. They’re unable to switch up the pace of things, and their games become redundant and repetitive. The independent games are way cooler because people are willing to go out on a limb and make up some random stuff and call it a game, which is awesome. I can’t say I’ve done very much of this, I’ve made platformers that have already been done, and I’m not always that creative with my ideas (I think?). I want to change this in the future, start to make games that are a little more random, and stop with the platform games that are like a fast-paced mario all over again. Not to say those games aren’t awesome, they are… they’ve just been done a lot.

I also like the community around indie games. Sure, they can be a bit crazy sometimes, and “unprofessional” (but hey, who said a group of people making art has to be professional!?), but that’s what makes it an awesome place to hang around. I’m looking forward to meeting some of these guys in the Winnipeg TIGJam that’s coming up in just two weeks!

I think the indie game scene is an awesome place to hang out right now, and I’m really happy to be a part of it, even if it’s a small one. It’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea (with a friendly grizzly bear?), but it’s definitely one of the most creative and inspiring places to be right now.


Bllaaaa… probably said “awesome” about 25 times in this.

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That is the sole design document for my new collab game with rotten_tater. It’s going to be this really cool rocket game created in the newest version of Flash Punk. We’ve already got it started – he’s doing graphics and I’m doing music, and he got Heatex to do the music as well, so it should turn out pretty awesome.

I’ll keep updates as the game progresses with screenshots and maybe gameplay videos

Cheers,

Noel.

As some of you may know, I’ve been diving into the world of Flash, using Chevy Ray’s great Flash Punk Library, which I’ve already wrote several tutorials on.

Anyways, I recently finished my first flash game a few weeks ago, called Pixel Runner 2, which is basically a sequel to one of my games from 2008, Pixel Runner. If you’re interested in playing it, you can do so on Kongregate, or here on my site.

Since then, I’ve also started work on a new flash game with my brother, called Can’t Swim which is essentially a platformer about a guy who can’t swim, and has to escape the climbing water, by reaching the door (later to be replaced by a floating barrel). Currently all the sprites are place holders, until Liam redoes them later.
Play Can’t Swim. Give it a try. Any feedback is welcome.

Cheers,
Noel. 

Hey everyone. AndyWiltshire and I have been working on a game for the last few weeks (2, I guess), for the gamejolt competition. It’s not actually done yet, as there are a fair amount of bugs I have to fix (going to recode the engine. It got a bit messy after we kept adding more and more features), but this demo should give you a pretty good idea of how the final game will work. I’m pretty pleased with it over all.

You can check it out here:

http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/platformer/no-pants-pedro-in-under-plunder/1458/

I’ve been working on a new game the last few days for the YYGs competition entry. Still going to finish EggLegg, but after the competition is over.

Over The Edge is a game similar to one that I made 3 years ago, called BlasterBall. BlasterBall was never really finished, though it did contain about 10 levels, and lots of obstacles.

The original BlasterBall

I always felt that the game was reasonably fun, except looking back I realize I didn’t really understand how to make a game work well.

So, when the YYGs competition came around, I thought it was a good time to try and recreate this old game, into something completely new.

You can download a version of the game here. It only has 10 levels at the moment, and there are a few bugs, but most things are in working order.

The goal is to get to the finish line in each level. Oh, and the “I.H.A.N.I. Corporation” stands for “I Have Absolutely No Idea Corporation”. I’m not sure if that will be included in the final version. It’s kind of weird.

Controls… Arrow keys to move.. X to start level, and X to restart a level (in some levels, you will probably need to restart). Also note that any scores/time runs saved in the game will not be saved after you close it.

Finally, only the first 10 levels work. I would play them in the correct order as well…

And.. I think that’s it. ANY feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I recently downloaded and bought Game Maker 8, and wanted to try out some of the new features. So, I thought I’d make a little game using .png support, and a few other nice features GM 8 provides.

This project turned into EggLegg. I decided I wanted to make this game using photoshop graphics, rather then my usual pixel art. I’ve got some practice in this style of art, through my drawing and constant messing around with the program, so I was quite pleased with the way the game is coming out, visually. I’m not a great pixel artist, but I seem to be able to make these high res graphics (well, kinda high res) relatively well.

I don’t have enough for a demo, so here’s some screenshots

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Oh, and, to those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas. I’m not Christian (Atheist), but my family does celebrate Christmas to an extent.

In all honesty, I’m rather disapointed with my entry. I only got about 5 hours to work on it in the end, and that made things rather rushed. Still, it’s playable and somewhat interesting, so give it a try. Should only take 10 minutes to beat (assuming you die a few times).

http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-16/?action=rate&uid=1527

I’ve been posting blog entries too frequently. Oh well.

Ludum Dare is hosting another competition that starts in just a few hours! For those of you that have no idea what Ludum Dare is, it’s a competition where you just have 48 hours to build a game based on the chosen theme. After the competition ends, the voting begins and the winner is later announced. Lots of fun.

I’m definitely going to enter. I need inspiration, so 48 hours and a theme should hopefully get me in that game making mood again. Don’t expect anything spectacular from me, but definitely expect something.

The competition starts at about 9:00 PM for me, so I should actually be able to get a bit done on Friday, and then have all Saturday+Sunday to finish it up.

Anyone else planning on entering? Has anyone entered before?