For the past couple of days the web server of Kloonigames was down. My service provider shutdown Kloonigames, because it was using too much resources. So Kloonigames is becoming too popular of a website?
But now we’re back, hopefully permanently. I’m sorry for the inconvenience that downtime might have caused. I try to make sure nothing like this happens again. And thanks for everybody who informed me that my site was down.
When I started Kloonigames I promised myself that I’d do monthly games at least for one year. After that I’d decide if I wanted to continue or not. Now that year is almost complete (the birthday party of Kloonigames is 8th of September) and it’s time for me to make the decision. It’s not that difficult decision to make. Of course I to want continue making games. The real question is do I want to continue making them in such a hectic pace. Making a game a month is pretty tough. So I decided that I’ll keep a small break from the game making (two months) and return to the monthly games with a new enthusiasm.
To commemorate the first 12 games I decided to dub them the Season 1 of Kloonigames. That name also cleverly indicates that here will be more games to come.
The Season 2 of Kloonigames will begin in the couple of months, but in between I’ll try to release some updates to season 1 games or do something completely different. Maybe I’ll do a board game or I’ll collaborate with someone or something.
This might a good spot to go over the games, that I’ve created this far. So here they are.
Season 1 overview
Jimmy’s Lost His Marbles
Of all of the Kloonigames’ games this one is closest to my heart. Not because it’s the greatest in terms of gameplay, originality or fun, but because it’s the very first one I did. It was so great to notice that I can actually do games in under one week. It totally changed the way I great games and that’s why it has a special place in my heart.
Slimy Pete’s Singles Bar
Don’t download or play this game. Ever. It’s the worst of the bunch. Sure it has really nice graphics, but the gameplay is so rotten that it’s not fun. It isn’t even especially innovative. This game proved to me that crappy gameplay can’t be replaced with beautiful graphics.
Pluto Strikes Back
Pluto was my first game that I really feel has a great gameplay. Something just clicked with this one. It’s still one my favorite Kloonigames’ games. Definitely worth downloading. Unlike Slimy Pete.
Cacodemon’s Barbecue Party in Hell
Game about a Cacodemon and kittens. What else do I have to say. It’s a really fun game for something that was put together in such an extreme time limit. There are some design mistakes and the graphics could surely be much better, but even so it’s still amazingly fun game. And luckily for Cacodemon, it actually found an audience for itself.
Druid Soccer
I always felt that Druid Soccer never got the attention that it deserved. For me it’s one my games I’ve enjoyed most playing. And some people have told me that all my other games are total crap, but Druid Soccer is really fun. On the other hand there have been people who told me that it’s too simple and there is not much to it. Druid Soccer is definitely one of those games I’d love to do a remake of.
The Truth About Game Development
TAGD was a hit at the Experimental Gameplay Workshop at GDC 2007. It’s a game that began it’s life as a joke and that got me a little worried about the gameplay. But in the end the gameplay worked out pretty well also.
Moo at the Moon
One the games that was a complete pain to do. Mainly because of an extreme time limitation. Last day of the development I had to change the theme, because I couldn’t do the graphics for the original idea in one day. Also this was one of those games, where the original gameplay mechanism didn’t work at all, which meant I had to come up with something else. For such a hectic development progress the end result is OK.
Forbidden.exe
This one had a really cool idea behind it, but unfortunately I didn’t get the gameplay working as well as I had hoped. And I tried to compensate the sort comings of gameplay by doing a more elaborate story than was necessary. It’s a flawed game and if I had to do it now, I’d do with a completely different approach.
Daydreaming in the Oval Office
This game is as incompetent as it’s main character. Oval Office and Slimy Pete are two worst games I’ve ever created. Even the Divorce is better than this. I don’t know what I was thinking when I was doing this.
Crayon Physics
The game that caused my monthly traffic to go up ten times. It’s been an amazingly popular game. And I thought it would be one of those games that was just a little fun to play around with.
The Amazing Flying Brothers
I wasn’t so trilled about the initial idea of Flying Brothers. I seriously thought that the game wouldn’t work at all. But I didn’t have any better game ideas, so I went ahead and created an early prototype. And to much of my surprise the game turned out to be pretty fun. Lesson learned: Never discriminate your gameplay ideas (you never know which of them work).
A Tribute to the Rolling Boulder
My Assembly 2007 gamedev combo entry. It’s something that I have mixed feeling’s about. Even though lately it’s been getting some nice attention.
So that’s all the games I got done in a year (actually there’s one hidden extra game). At the same time I feel like I’ve accomplished awfully lot and also I feel I haven’t done all that much. Funny.
I’ll do a proper birthday party post after 8th of September, with cake, tears n shit.
Summer Assembly 2007 is over and I’m finally returning to my normal sleeping schedule. Assembly has the same effect on your body as a really bad jet-lag.
This year I participated in the gamedev combo with A Tribute to the Rolling Boulder. My first Assembly combo entry ever. And here are the top 5 of asm gamedev combo:
1 2844p Centripetality by Aroppuu, huamn, juhovh 2 2334p Zompie by Fingersoft 3 2099p Cinnamon Beats by tAAt 2007 4 2089p A Tribute to the Rolling Boulder by Kloonigames 5 1974p Sylph Wind by Pieslice Productions
As you can see I was fourth. I lost by mere 10 points to Cinnamon Beats by tAAt / Secret Exit / Skinflake. It’s a bit of a shame, but I’m happy that Cinnamon Beats got the prize because it’s much better and more innovative game than Rolling Boulder. You should actually download the game and try it out (You can download it from pouet.net).
Btw. I own a big thanks to Jetro Lauha (who is the other guy behind Cinnamon Beats) for making my Assembly gamedev presentation video (which unfortunately wasn’t shown on the big screen). And I’m not praising his game because he made my presentation video, but because it’s actually a great game. I hope Jetro and Jani continue the development of Cinnamon Beats.
And my congrats to Aroppuu, juhovh and huamn for winning the competition. And congrats to the guys of Fingersoft for the silver medal. I’m sure next year, we’ll have an even more fierce competition.
And now for some completely random links. This has nothing to do with Assembly what so ever, but it has something to do with Rolling Boulder. During the weekend I bumped into this youtube video. It demonstrates how to “cheat” in Rolling Boulder. It’s actually pretty fun to watch, but I recommend testing the game before watching this über technique. I found the video from fun-motion’s forums (thanks to Amynue for sharing his technique with us).
This week was supposed to be No-Crayon-Physics-Posts week, but apparently that’s just impossible.
Just today I received seven new levels to Crayon Physics. And here there are.
First off all we have a great level pack from Tracy. The level pack includes three new levels and a new end level. The levels are very much in the style of the original game (just check out screenshot). The level pack can be downloaded from here.
Then we have the Bros level pack from the veteran Crayon Physics level designer: logr. The level pack includes two new levels, very much in the style of Super Mario World. The level pack can be downloaded from here, but it requires a bit more engineering to get working.
Edit 6/6/2007: logr just released another level, called horizontal. It’s pretty cool and original. And turning your monitor 90 degrees helps a lot in completing the level. Horizontal can be downloaded from here.
And also Ichabod has created a new level for the game (his previous level being the blackboard -level). The new one is in the style of Donkey Kong and the object of the level is to get the barrel (ball) to hit Mario (star). Very clever. You can download Ichabod’s newest level from here.
And like that’s not enough I also bumped into a total conversion mod for Crayon Physics by Jak of X-Tray. It’s also a Super Mario themed conversion, and it’s pretty fun. There’s a custom title screen and Super Mario Bros music. It can be downloaded from here. It only has one level, which a bit of a shame, but I hope Jak continues to work on it.
And if I may be so radical, I suggest that logr, Ichabod and Jak should unite their powers and do a total conversion for Crayon Physics. I mean all of their levels are more or less Mario themed and when combined they would already have four or five different levels.
And as a very special treat we also have the first ever Crayon Physics speed run. Well I’m not really sure it’s a speed run, but there’s the solution to the original levels.
Anyone who reads this blog (that would be you) knows how bad I am at this rapid blogging thing. Actually I think that nobody really reads this blog, you all just came here for the games, but anyway. So in order to sharpen my blogging skills I present you some cool news I just bumped into.
Just little over a week ago Kyle Gabler (of Experimental Gameplay Project fame) started the 2D Boy -blog, which is a development blog about their game: World of Goo. Ever since I heard about Kyle’s new company I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about it. But since my blogging skills aren’t really known for their speed, it’s taken me a little while to get around to it. Now I finally have the perfect excuse to do it.
Even though it’s a really fresh blog, there’s already a bunch of interesting posts. I recommend you read his game design rant about the difficulties of trying to stay objective when creating something you love (a game or any other piece of art). And there’s also the nifty Human Brain Cloud -project, which is a MMOWAG (Massively Multiplayer Online Word Association Game).
So apparently Kyle’s blogging skills are as fast as his game creation skills. Which disproves my theory that rapid prototyping and rapid blogging skills cannot exist in the same physical body. If you want proof of that theory just look at my blog or Martin’s, or the Experimental Gameplay Project’s.
