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Brian @bcdefg123

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bcdefg123's News

Posted by bcdefg123 - April 22nd, 2012


I finished a Ludum Dare 23 game, check it out:

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/594297

The game has three challenges (hover over the small square buttons on the title screen). I wonder what happens when you complete all three...


Posted by bcdefg123 - December 10th, 2011


EDIT: AustinBreed posted the winners, along with the judge's comments for all games. Also, there are the winners for the Pipeline contest. At this point, you probably came here from that page, but if you didn't: http://austinbreed.newgrounds.com/news /post/666591
Once again, good job to all the participants!

Below are my reviews for each of the Game Jam 6 games currently in the collection (http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/
nggamejam6
). Unless noted, I was able to play until the end of all the games. All reviews were done within 24 hours of the end of the jam, with info on updates made to the game since then tacked on as necessary. Only now do I realize just how much content comes out of these jams - in the past, I've only tried each game, and I rarely played the games until the end. Reviewing these nine games took me about an hour or two - or at least, it seemed that way! Everyone who participated should be proud of themselves for taking on the challenge!

Jesus is Quadriplegic (pillowsurfermikko, blaker2000): This is a shooter game where you play as a hospitalized flying guy, presumably on a hallucination trip, while obstacles you need to avoid come at you, and people walk below you. You need to shoot the people and avoid the flying objects. Shoot by pressing X. Sometimes you won't shoot, and when you do, you slow down, and not just for half a second or anything either, it's either permanent or very, very slow in going away. And you can go up to the top. You'll stop controlling the person a bit below, but friction will carry you past the top of the screen. Which is a safe spot from (very nearly) all the dangers of the game. The art style is reminiscent of Super Meat Boy. There's a bit of trouble with the scrolling backgrounds lining up right. Also, when you're there too long (presumably by using the upper corner exploit noted earlier), the music seems to stop - it doesn't repeat. These two jammers were upset about not actually being assigned teams at the start (they teamed up on their own afterwards), but this was only a few minor steps away from being a solid jam game, and it should be nice to see what these two can do next time.
Updates: All bugs have been addressed. You can still get up into the corner, but you're not completely safe there anymore.

Strange Thoughts (XsakuX, FlashStorm, Rutger, TharosTheDragon): You control a guy on a bunch of pills, taking a trip that gets more psychedelic the longer you play and the more LSD, Shrooms, Cough Syrup, Water Bottles, and Pizza Slices you collect. You also have to watch out for monsters. The controls are hard to deal with when starting out, because you'll simply start falling if enough time has passed and you haven't collected anything good. When you fall off the screen, you'll die. Sometimes just chasing items will be enough to kill you. It'll take a couple times to get it. What doesn't help is the fact that sometimes something good will also be overlapping (or very near) something bad, so you'll have to take the hit if you want to stay afloat. Monsters are hard to avoid even in the best of circumstances - they quickly weave up and down the entire screen. Also, the frame rate is probably lower than it needs to be. Despite the issues, I rather like this game.

This Game Makes Sense (Manly-Chicken Adidaas, bakeroflongo, ReNaeNae): I can't say I completed this, but I did make it to level 18. Which I guess is a good thing, since many people in the reviews claim that level 19 is oh-so-tough. As you've probably guessed, this is a extremely tough platformer. Manly-Chicken says as much in the author comments (yes, someone does read them). And, as the reviewer Neophyte-Ronin tells us, its apparently based on 'parkour enthusiasts who imbibe hallucinogens'. Somehow. Anyway, the levels are designed to make you die. There's even a kill counter on the screen so you know they mean business. The deaths never feel cheap, though - once you've got the hang of the controls and all, you don't have anybody to blame but yourself. The backgrounds are all kinds of incomprehensive, and sometimes that carries over to the mechanics as well, such as the 'Tele-Porta' level, where one end of a teleporter is a phone booth, and the other is a port-a-potty. A few extra points for being imaginative like that. Overall, quite fun, but not for the faint of heart. Actually, I guess this could sum up the jam entirely, but whatever.

They're Chasing Me (c0rupt3d, Xionico, DJ-Jo): This is another platformer, this time with a twist: by pressing space, you can enter 'trip mode', where you can drag and drop elements in the environment to help you proceed. Unfortunately, this game had a handicap from the start: c0rupt3d, who was an artist, had to assume the role of programming because the team's programmer bailed on them. While the start of the game works well enough, it gets buggy the more you go on. The problems I had were with movement shortly after the first spring-box. Sometimes I was jumping lower than I was before, and collision detection isn't too great either. Also, the player started bouncing around on the floors. Even with that, though, I managed to finish it. The concept was good, but the execution leaves so much to be desired. Good effort, though, at taking up two roles at once, c0rupt. The only other thing is that the opening and closing animations seem to bear little relation to the game, but I suppose that given the theme of this jam, there could be a perfectly valid explanation for that. Good job, and I hope you all get better programmers next time.

Freigeist (Wallross, Cope2K, Kirbyfemur, MarkP0rter): Yet another platformer. This bears a resemblance to They're Chasing Me, except in this 'Trip Mode', no mouse is required. By entering and exiting the two modes, you can find a way onward, or even trap your enemies (don't know how that would work in real life, but whatever). No serious bugs got in the way of me finishing the game, but there was the problem of not being able to press left, up, and space at the same time (for those times where jumping between modes and platforms is needed). Right, up, and space works though, so I don't know what could be causing this. Besides that, you've got a decent Jam result.

Thoreau (3D-xelu, Archawn): Hey look, another platformer! 3D-xelu warns that this is tough. While I managed to complete this one, it definitely is hard. Memorization is the name of the game here. After Thoreau, that is. You're traveling through a cave, and there are traps that will kill you in a heartbeat if you're not careful. One power that you have is a sight ability. If you press space, you will be able to sense most of the traps and destroy them. For some traps (hidden spike pits, I'm looking at you), that's not enough. The traps come at you fast. So fast that you'll probably need a couple of runs through before you reach the next checkpoint. In the beginning of the game, it was frustrating for me, but once you got the hang of it, that disappears. The art is all black and white (think LIMBO and you're there), but special recognition should be given to some of the effects. The vanishing smoke effect and fire effects are extremely realistic, and trump anything I remember previously seeing in a flash game. The authors promise a forthcoming update with working signs and more music. It takes a bit of time to see past the heartless traps, but once you do, you'll have fun with it.
Updates: Music and a bit of tweaking to make the game a tad easier.

Devilish Differences (Ab9003, Captain-Carrion, Jonas, RealFaction): Didn't really expect a spot-the-differences game here. Hey, it's not a platformer! I really liked the 'classic movie' feel of the game, and the sudden style change in the middle was neat and unexpected, although it actually made it easier for me. The big qualm I have with this one is that you have unlimited hints, so you can cheat your way through the game, and all the medals associated with it. Using hints does not give you any penalty whatsoever. Besides that, this is nice polished game. As The Outsider proved in Game Jam 5, and this game reconfirms in Game Jam 6, sometimes an extremely polished simple game works as well as a complicated experimental one.

Trippin Kitchen (Mattster, MindChamber, RampantMusik, redminus): This brawler game features a granny that drinks expired milk and has to defend the cookie jar from the burgers, toasters, and other food-based evils that come to her. You have a frying pan as your weapon, and can string together a more powerful combo with the right timing. I never once felt that the game was being cheap with the enemy distribution, and that there was always a way in each level to minimize (if not completely eliminate) damage done to the cookie jar. The timings and the strategic (I assume) planning ensures that this is not just a simple button masher. Updates (including medals) are promised. Great job on this one!
Updates: Medals, adjustment of waves

Love's Cadence (RedHarvest, 4urentertainment, Intero, MihaP): It's a platformer, but this one's more of an adventure game. You are Cadence, walking through a frozen wasteland in search of Dirk, your love. You can use the mouse to manipulate a few objects and talk to people. There are two main puzzles here, both of which can be frustrating if you don't search for hints. If you pass them, there are two endings to this game. There are also other things to do, but they aren't required now because the programmer chose to sacrifice those requisites to fix a bug, but they are still there if you choose to find them. In the second main puzzle, I sometimes failed to jump when I needed to and fell into the wrong room. Also, after I got the first ending, I pressed play while at the title screen and landed in the last room. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I got the second ending from there easily. When I clicked play again, however, the screen went grey, effectively ending my game. That glitch aside, Love's Cadence is one of the more thoughtful games of the Jam.

I am Cube (revolverroach, BlackMist75, IaMI2002, SkyRiderX): And here we have a brawler. I am Cube is a game where you beat up other stick figures. You have a punch, grab, and kick at your disposal, as well as an uppercut (punch while ducking). Grabs require more timing than the other moves. The standard enemy requires little to beat, but the other two types of enemies require a bit of strategy. Let me just say right now that I hated the metal men, partially because I discovered the benefits of crouching only after I had died a fair amount of times on the level they were introduced. Unfortunately, the game seems to grind to a halt on that level - the door you use to advance to the next level is nowhere to be seen. One reviewer also seems to have had this problem. The music seems to stop after a while. The uppercut only works while S up or W is pressed. Pressing down in place of S will not work, which is probably unintentional. This probably would be better if that level-end glitch was fixed, so unless that is, this is nothing special.


Posted by bcdefg123 - November 5th, 2011


Tonight I'm going to participate in the North American run of the Zero Hour Game Jam: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2011/10 /25/0h-game-jam-make-a-game-in-zero-ho urs/ (Remove spaces from the link)

And for those of you who are NOT North American, remember that we change times tonight, instead of last week like the rest of you. The jam IS still on for us: http://www.ludumdare.com/compo/2011/10 /30/0h-game-jam-not-over-yet/

This is my first Jam working solo. My goal is to make something that passes judgment here. Judging by what actually makes it through, it shouldn't be too hard. I mean, all I have to do is put 'vote 5' in the title screen, right?... right? Anyway, if any other Newgrounders also want to take up the challenge later tonight, drop me a comment so I can play your zero hour game after it's done. :)

Oh... and the visual novel aspect of WTCC (perhaps you know it better as Project C) has been canceled. Since I am loathe to let hundreds of pages of scripts go down the drain, the plan is to finish them and release them eventually. Of a total of five parts, three are pretty much done and one other is almost fully drafted.

Other stuff for NG is still in the heavily clogged pipeline, including the newly possible restoration of a certain broken game...

EDIT: The Zero Hour game is up! http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
583283


Posted by bcdefg123 - August 31st, 2011


So, I figure I need something to replace the last post with. So, uh, how is everyone?


Posted by bcdefg123 - July 16th, 2011


Because every famous NG user needs a stupid first front page post. I read that somewhere.

So hands up, who else was laughing when this part came?

(Pic made by my friend Alex, who went above and beyond the call of duty by starting this meme after I said it was only a matter of time until it became such a meme)

So what do we call Draco x Voldemort again?


Posted by bcdefg123 - June 20th, 2011


Seriously. You guys are awesome. As of about an hour ago, our Game Jam entry is rated higher than FRICKIN' JAZZA STUDIOS'S ENTRY. Yeah. I can't believe it either. I'll probably write up a big post filled with love tomorrow, but for the time being, it suffices to say that I'm simply floored by the general reaction to The Outsider.

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN


Posted by bcdefg123 - June 20th, 2011



Posted by bcdefg123 - May 5th, 2011


So I acquired some screen capture software, and while messing around with it created a Mechanical Ice Apocalypse dev commentary video/video walkthrough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpKm56J _7zU

I will also be doing a series of videos for First Fantasy, although being much longer than MIA, it will take a while, especially with everything else I'm busy with right now. Although the first video may come tomorrow night.


Posted by bcdefg123 - April 3rd, 2011


I may be in need of a character artist for When The Crickets Cry (explained in my last blog post). The nature of the work is similar to that in First Fantasy (drawing static characters and various expressions for each one), except there will be roughly double the amount of characters (I think 13 at the last count). By the way, this is a visual novel we're working on.

All you need is some piece you can show me so I can verify you aren't completely horrible :P Having worked on reasonably big projects before is a plus.

If it turns out that everything works out with my existing character artist (and I hope it does!), or you don't want to commit nearly that much, I may still have an insidious use for you. Really, the more, the merrier (to a point, anyway).

Long, overdue EDIT: Artist found


Posted by bcdefg123 - March 29th, 2011


When The Crickets Cry, a visual novel series based on the When They Cry visual novels. You may recognize them as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Umineko no Naku Koro ni. However you refer to them, they are undeniably awesome. Four of us make up the core team.

Website: http://whenthecricketscry.webs.com/app s/blog/
There are also links to relevant Facebook and Twitter accounts, should you wish to follow us.

The first visual novel is expected in late Summer/early Fall. QA testers are needed. If you want to read the scripts and answer some questions about them, please get in touch with me and I'll tell you if we'll take you on as a tester or not.

Until then, I'm on the lookout for more stuff from the Audio Portal. If you think you can contribute in any way, get in touch with me and I'll hear you out.