Archive for April, 2009

29 April, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Loom Blend

[Platform: Flash]
Loom Blend is another room escape game from Place of Light, who previously brought us Room Fake, Room Bath, Room Marine, and Loom Above. The game’s scenario is nothing new: you are in a room filled with diabolical puzzles and more than a few secrets, and must employ all of your wits to escape. A simple premise, but one that Place of Light does very well.

27 April, 2009 | No comments

GBGames: Thousander Club Update: April 27th

pFor this week#8217;s a title=The Thousander Club in 2009 href=http://gbgames.com/blog/2009/01/join-the-thousander-club-in-2009/Thousander Club/a update:/p
pbGame Hours:/b 576 (previous three years) + 116.5 (current year) = 692.5 / 1000br /
bGame Ideas:/b 775 (previous three years) + 10 (current year) = 785 / 1000/p
pBesides working on getting a Win32 build of my LD#14 entry, I spent some time working on standard, boilerplate code that I usually find myself needing. Having that code would have made some of my LD work move along much faster. The more code like this I can throw together in a unit-tested library, the better off I#8217;ll be. /p
psmallTags: a href=http://technorati.com/tag/game rel=taggame/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/game+design rel=tag game design/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/productivity rel=tag productivity/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/personal+development rel=tag personal development/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/video+game+development rel=tag video game development/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/indie rel=tag indie/a/small/p

24 April, 2009 | No comments

Game Producer: Levels Gaming Event On Jyvaskyla, Finland (25th - 26th)

pTomorrow I#8217;m heading to the a href=http://www.levels-jkl.com/Levels JKL/a event. The event is mainly about board and video games. I know this site#8217;s audience is mostly non-Finnish guys but I just wanted to bring this up. In case somebody wants to meet there, let me know. Would be fun to meet fellow developers, especially since the events here in Finland are quite scarce. (iPlease feel free to a href=http://www.gameproducer.net/contact/email me/a in case you are coming, so we might be able to arrange some sort of gathering there/i.)/p
pThe Levels Jyvaskyla event (conference or what you call it) lasts 2 days and the a href=http://batman.jamk.fi/~e0660/Levels/index.php?page=ohjelma.phpprogram/a is available on their website. I#8217;ll be checking out at least a href=http://isabout.wordpress.com/presentation by Eero Tuovinen/a (this guy is a genius in game design) at 10:40 and a href=http://www.kloonigames.comPetri#8217;s Crayon Deluxe presentation/a (awesome I#8217;d expect) at 15:30 so in case somebody is attending, you can spot me from there i(a href=http://www.gameproducer.net/about/I look like this/a)/i./p
pThe second day program didn#8217;t look so interesting to me, so I#8217;m attending just the first day on Saturday. I#8217;ll see if I manage to record or write down something useful and tell about the event here in my blog next week./p
pIn case you happen to be near Jyvaskyla, then join the event. It#8217;s free./p
bIf you liked this entry, feel free to a href=http://www.gameproducer.netvisit GameProducer.net/a to read more similar articles./b

22 April, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: G-Sensor

[Platform: Flash]
G-Sensor is a solid, well-plotted and very enjoyable escape-the-room game from Japanese developer HILG. You, as a nameless business-person, have checked into the mysterious Uncle Boo’s Hotel, and now you can’t get out!

20 April, 2009 | No comments

Game Producer: Why No Prison Bay?

pInterestingly enough, most of the readers of this blog voted ino/i for #8220;was it a good decision to find P.Bay owners guilty#8221;. Earlier, I had another poll where you could would whether you are making games for a living. Here#8217;s the polls (you can still vote)./p
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
pObviously these 2 polls were shown separately earlier, so basically it means that I don#8217;t know how many people voted to both polls, and unfortunately I have pretty no way to tell. Regardless of that, it#8217;s still quite interesting that majority who read about the pirate post voted #8220;bad decision#8221;. /p
pbI voted neutral - I don#8217;t know if it was a good thing to punish the owners of Bay. /b/p
pDon#8217;t get me wrong, I#8217;m 100% non-pirate and I dislike piracy and really think that anybody who currently pirates something, should really consider the consequences of his actions, and maybe if not stop piratism, perhaps (1) suggest how game companies should do things so that everybody wins and (2) meanwhile supporting some developers whenever they can. (Even though I was pirating quite a lot of stuff 10-15 whatnot years ago, I was also buying some stuff and arranging so that I bought some $40 video game together with a group of 4 kids, and each one paid $10, and the one who paid $10 postage got to keep the package and the real CD. The rest of us got a pirate copy. /p
pI know this was not the optimal solution, but for a group of 4 young kids who could have pirated the game, at least we bought one copy legally. /p
pToday I#8217;m not totally against that behavior from those who buy nothing, and if it#8217;s really consistent and as a stepping stone to pirate-free. Of course I#8217;d hope that people would become 100% non-pirates (I#8217;m kind of proud to be 100% #8220;clean#8221; today by the way), but meanwhile taking action and showing support is okay in my opinion. /p
pbSo, voted neutral#8230;/bbr /
Okay, got bit carried away. So anyway. I voted neutral for the reason that I don#8217;t know if it#8217;s good to find this guys guilty. I mean, they are now like #8220;martyrs#8221;. They#8217;ve become heroes. And when you get a hero, you get followers. My guess is that piratism might actually become more popular, and that the reason I didn#8217;t vote #8220;yes, was good#8221; is that#8230; I kind of feel that you can also turn the vote upside down. Those who voted #8220;no#8221; might actually be voting #8220;no, this was not good decision ibecause now pirates will have their leaders/i#8221; - and those who voted #8220;yes#8221; could be about #8220;yes, this was good reason ibecause now we got our leader/i#8220;. /p
pOr, it could be that #8220;no, this was bad because we (pirates) got punished#8221;. And #8220;yes, it was good because we (developers) got our target#8221;./p
pGame industry has grown this year (at least here in Finland) even though so called global #8216;recession#8217; (or #8216;bad times#8217; or whatever) is been going on, so that suggests to me that things have been pretty good even with the scale of piratism there might be. /p
pI have zero tolerance to piratism (see also above #8220;kid who wants to stop being a pirate#8221; exception), and I think everybody should aim to having pirate-free computers. With that being said, I think that lawsuits is not going to be the best route (well, of course lawyers will be happy#8230;) to deal with this. Attacking attackers might actually attract more interest, more pirates and lead to spreading of more illegal material. Instead of #8220;trying to fight pirates#8221;, I think we should be #8220;making our product so much better that pirates cannot compete with us or cooperating with them.#8221; /p
pI don#8217;t yet know how, but something tells me that there#8217;s untapped market potential among pirates. Maybe they aren#8217;t ready to pay pretty close to anything, but they sure seem to be interested in clicking ads for example. (Clicking ads alone as a monetization doesn#8217;t probably help much, but I think there#8217;s still room for something unseen innovation here.)/p
pOr, we can just continue fighting against each other and see how many casualties there will be./p
pbSo, why you voted yes/no?/bbr /
With all this being said#8230; I#8217;d wanna hear more reasons why you voted yes/no. /p
pDo you think this was bad because #8220;pirates should freely distribute everything?#8221; Or did you vote #8216;no#8217; because #8220;now pirates will get more popular#8221;? Did you vote #8216;yes#8217; because it was about time that pirates stop having excuses and hide behind laws when they aren#8217;t acting towards the spirit of the copyright laws? Or did you vote #8216;yes#8217; because #8220;now pirates have a heroes to follow#8221;? /p
pOr what was the reason? Why vote yes or no?/p
bIf you liked this entry, feel free to a href=http://www.gameproducer.netvisit GameProducer.net/a to read more similar articles./b

17 April, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Link Dump Friday

The following text was taken directly from the pages of my super-secret diary. Less of a diary, more of a journal. Not so much a journal, now that I think about it, sort of a captain’s log. Complete with stardates!

15 April, 2009 | No comments

GBGames: How to Violate Facebook’s Policy On App Usage Incentives

pOne of the things I wanted to do to help market my Facebook game ia href=http://apps.facebook.com/seafriendsSea Friends/a/i is get it in the Facebook Application Directory. This way, if people are searching for apps, they can add it. Until Facebook approves it for the directory, the only way people can add it is if people receive a challenge or if they go to the app#8217;s URL directly. /p
pWhen the app was submitted for inclusion in the directory, Facebook rejected it because it violated section 8.4 of the Platform Policy, which involves incentives for using or adding Application Integration Points. Basically, a Facebook application should not provide points, virtual or real currency, or any improved rankings just for sending out invites or sending out notifications. /p
pOk, that sounds pretty straightforward, but a huge part of iSea Friends/i is violating this part of the policy. The game allows you to protect real coral reefs, and while playing the game helps to do just that, sending out challenges to your friends also does so. That is, each time you challenge a friend, you protect 5 more square inches of coral reef. /p
pNow, wait a minute. There are TONS of apps in the Facebook Application Directory that are based on giving things to people and earning points or unlocking items in exchange, aren#8217;t there? Isn#8217;t iSea Friends/i doing essentially the same thing? /p
pIt turns out that there is a subtle difference, and this question has come up before. These other apps don#8217;t violate the policy because the points or unlocked items aren#8217;t awarded until the recipient accepts the invite or virtual item. So to fix this issue for iSea Friends/i, I would need to make sure that the extra square inches of protected coral reef only get added after the recipient of the challenge actually accepts the challenge. /p
pAnd there you have it. To violate the Platform Policy, your app needs to provide an incentive to send out invites. The proper way to do it, officially sanctioned by Facebook, is to only grant the benefit after the invitation has been accepted. /p
psmallTags: a href=http://technorati.com/tag/facebook rel=tag facebook/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/indie rel=tag indie/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/game+development rel=tag game development /a/small/p

13 April, 2009 | No comments

GBGames: Thousander Club Update: April 13th

pFor this week#8217;s a title=The Thousander Club in 2009 href=http://gbgames.com/blog/2009/01/join-the-thousander-club-in-2009/Thousander Club/a update:/p
pbGame Hours:/b 576 (previous three years) + 104.25 (current year) = 680.25 / 1000br /
bGame Ideas:/b 775 (previous three years) + 10 (current year) = 785 / 1000/p
pI spent some time getting acclimated to the PHP backend for my Facebook game, ia href=http://apps.facebook.com/seafriendsSea Friends/a/i. I needed to make a modification, but I first had to find out how I could make that modification. /p
pThe bad news is: my modification won#8217;t be good enough for what I wanted to do. The good news is: I know a lot more about how the backend works so that I can eventually make the modifications I need./p
pSee? It#8217;s nice to be able to modify your own code. I can#8217;t say the same about the Flash component of my game. If I want to change it, I have to pay someone else to do it, or I have to pay Adobe hundreds of dollars for a program to give me the ability to read MY .fla file, and that program only works on Windows or Mac OS X. I found an old blog post that claims a href=http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2008/03/flash_moving_to.htmlFlash source will be XML-based/a eventually, but the current .fla files are not well-documented and quite proprietary. /p
psmallTags: a href=http://technorati.com/tag/game rel=taggame/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/game+design rel=tag game design/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/productivity rel=tag productivity/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/personal+development rel=tag personal development/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/video+game+development rel=tag video game development/a, a href=http://technorati.com/tag/indie rel=tag indie/a/small/p

10 April, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: Link Dump Friday

Sort of a shooterey, retroish, trance music-like Link Dump Friday theme this week. Or is it an old school-style trancey shooter musical theme? Either way, most of these games kinda sorta lean against one or more of those concepts. I guess. Right? Well… hmm. Aah forget it, I’m going back to making music with Tone Matrix.

8 April, 2009 | No comments

Jay Is Games: The Wedding Anniversary

[Platform: Flash]
With just enough challenge to engage, but not overtax, the mind, The Wedding Anniversary is a perfectly mellow respite from the workday world. A simple piano tune floats through the air. Relax, kick back and indulge in a bit of sentimentality… a wonderful room escape game that’s more fun than a chick flick.

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