Museum of Science Fiction takes off!

This last Monday my new game Museum of Science Fiction took off big with a front page spot on Kongregate and a review by JayIsGames.com! It's being called scary, eerie, humorous, and action packed all at the same time. The game features blood-thirsty lab zombies, anti-technology Amish robots, and five sisters turned into electric demons after an experiment gone deadly right.

So what's cool and rare about this game? A lot of people "loved how you can break the walls" (NewGrounds user andvari3d). Firing your weapon leaves bullet holes in the floor and walls, shells on the ground, and blood... the blood is everywhere. You could probably go CSI on the game and find out exactly what happened if you came in late to a friend playing.

Another feature you'll notice is the team based AI. A scientist's primary objective is to kill the escaped test subject (you) but if a zombie charges him he will redirect his fire to annihilate the immediate danger. Same goes for robots versus scientists. As Kongregate user Riley_Rocks puts it, they'll "technically, be your 'frenemy'." Do note, however, that zombies can't eat metal and they don't use technology so the robots and zombies work together just fine.

The game's epic size is best described by Kongregate user Stickbabiga:

"This museum > Smithsonian"

The game features 14 levels of expansive hallways to explore with an increasing number of enemies as you reach the top. It'll be a fun play whether you're looking to get your action on or simply want to search and explore. Different kinds of enemies combined with an ever dropping timer make for an intense playing experience. However, if you lose all your lives or run out of time you can still continue playing to find all the hidden notes and secrets. The only consequence is a lower score for that level.

Kongregate user ischomachos asked, "how badly do you have to screw up to unleash zombies and evil Amish robots on the world in the same week?" Well, the answer is this badly. Get them zombies and hypocritical robots!

Twisted Military is Released

My newest game is finally out in the wild. Run free! Don't let anyone change who you are!

It's a great driving shooter so if you're interested in some action head over and check it out!

Play Twisted Military

Flash Game Summit Experience

This weekend I attended the Flash Game Summit in San Francisco. It wasn't exactly what I expected; in fact it was a little disappointing. There was a lot of tension in most of the panels, and those without tension felt somewhat uninformative. Many times tension can be helpful, but in this case the information shared became vague and useless. Through the whole thing I kept thinking, "I know that . . . but some numbers would be interesting." I admit the event may have been great for someone really new to the flash game environment, but shouldn't it be geared towards improving your knowledge rather than introducing the basics?

One of my least favorite would have to be session 5 talking about what makes a flash game a hit. The whole thing turned into a battle between the hard core gaming artist and the corporate formula maker. On one hand creativity is completely substituted with statistical analysis of consumers and trying to fool people into thinking it's fun by adding achievements/leaderboards/etc. On the other hand, audience seemed to have no influence on the game design and leaderboards/achievements were heavily bashed. Don't get me wrong, there was some level-headedness within the discussion, but it made me realize how divided and close-minded our community can be.

It bothers me that corporate approach is taking over, because it's creating extremists on both sides. This leaves corporations making money off heartless games and independent developers failing because they don't connect with their audience. This pattern is going to turn our gamers into stat harvesting zombies, which in the long run is going to hurt the flash game market severely.

Now that I've been caught up in the debate myself, lets get back on topic. Ultimately, I think it's great that we have a conference focusing on flash games. It's a step forward. However, in order for this to be successful there needs to be a lot of changes before next year. A level ground needs to be established before hand (more specific, better crafted topics) so that the average independent developer (that's the big majority) can come out with more information than when they entered. I don't feel like this was accomplished and I hope to see a change next year.

Just to end on a positive note, the mochi award show was a great addition. It was cool to see the best games in each category because you learn a lot about what people are really enjoying . . . even if the developers don't say much upon receiving the award :)