Computer Games – The Dreams of Gerontius

Triskelion and the minimax algorithm

2021-01-18 Computer Games, My Computer Games

A couple of years back I wrote about a game called Trippples.

This patented strategy game requires you to move your transparent marker from one corner of the game board to the other before your opponent. The games unique feature is that your available moves are determined by arrows under your opponent’s marker.

The patent expired long ago, so I started working on a digital version of the game at the end of last year. I thought I’d lost the data in a hard drive failure, but managed to salvage the C# classes from the Unity project and finished v1 of the game a couple of months ago.

You can play my version, called Triskelion, on newgrounds.com.

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A Christmas Adventure point-and-click for Xmas

2021-01-11 Computer Games, Computer Puzzles, My Computer Games

A little later than intended, I’ve published this year’s Christmas game: “A Christmas Adventure” on Newgrounds.com. You can play it here.

It’s a point and click adventure game where you play a helpful Elf delivering a present for Santa.

I’ve wanted to write my own point-and-click adventure for some time, but it’s a lot of work! There are plenty of tools and game engines out there to help, but none of them did quite what I wanted.

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Outer Wilds: an exploration game to be surprised by

2020-10-24 Computer Games

Some games are made to be experienced from a place of total ignorance. They drop you into their world with almost no knowledge of what’s happening and just say “Off you go!” If they’re successful, every step on your journey offers a revelation that expands your understanding and reveals new avenues to explore.

Outer Wilds is a success from this perspective in that even the most basic description of the game spoils vital story points that are best discovered for yourself.

So, if you know literally nothing about the game, this review is as spolier-free as is humanly possible. I provide some backstory that you can learn or easily deduce in the first minute of the game, but that’s about it. I then talk about the pros and cons of gameplay without revealing the key mechanics. If you think it sounds like your sort of game, don’t read anything else – not even the two lines of blurb on the Steam or Epic Games stores. Just buy it blind and play it for yourself.

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Beneath a Steel Sky Review and Analysis

2020-08-03 Computer Games, Computer Puzzles, Puzzle Dependency Charts

Beneath a Steel Sky PDCs

This was supposed to be an analysis of Beyond a Steel Sky, Revolution Software’s newly released sequel to their 1990s cyberpunk thriller Beneath a Steel Sky. But BeyASS is a buggy mess. And though it has now been patched enough that I could play it beginning to end, it’s not yet sufficiently fixed to warrant playing a second time or do a full analysis. I’ll wait for a few more patches come out.

In the meantime, I went back to BenASS to see how it compares. Is Beneath a Steel Sky really the classic it’s held up to be? I’ll be analysing its structure using four Puzzle Dependency Charts that map out the whole game.

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Xmas Matchup

2019-12-19 Computer Games, My Computer Games

And so this is Christmas!

Another year, another Christmas game to enjoy. For 2019 it’s “Xmas Matchup“, a Match Three Blast style game.

Click on groups of matching symbols to clear them and to collect the stars shining overhead. Collect enough stars to reveal the hidden image and unlock the next level.

The trick is that there aren’t enough stars on the screen to win the level. You have to collect large groups of stars in a single click so you get bonus stars. As the levels get harder, you’ll need to select symbols carefully to create large areas of stars. Good luck with all 9 levels!

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Detective Di: Review and Analysis

2019-06-03 Computer Games, Puzzle Dependency Charts

Detective Di PDC — Detective Di with Puzzle Dependency Chart

Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders is a Kickstarter-backed point-and-click adventure game. After reaching its funding target in March 2015, the game was finally released in May 2019.

Unusually for me, I picked up a copy almost immediately after release. It was on offer on Steam and looked interesting, with the promise of a detective adventure requiring the player to deduce the identity of the killer.

I didn’t get what I was promised, the deduction mechanic obviously being shaved down to almost nothing over the 5-year production cycle. But Detective Di is an otherwise well-polished game, with engaging story and characters, and a few interesting puzzles to while away a couple of long evenings. Overall: 3 out of 5.

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Puzzle Dependency Charts

2019-06-01 Computer Games, Computer Puzzles, Escape Rooms, Puzzle Dependency Charts

Shame on me for failing to post anything for over a year. I’ve been working on some puzzles and ideas of my own, but have nothing to reveal yet. As part of that work, I’ve been expanding my knowledge of Puzzle Dependency Charts so will instead share some information about them, including two full charts for LucasArts flawed masterpiece, The Dig.

Puzzle Dependency Charts (or Graphs, or Diagrams) are an excellent tool for designing and refining interconnected puzzles. Online discussions usually focus on their use in the classic LucasArts adventure games since Ron Gilbert of Monkey Island fame developed them to help design his games. But they are not limited to computer games and would be helpful for designing physical Escape Rooms or any multi-stage puzzle.

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Elvenar and Guest Races

2018-05-23 Computer Games

Human or Elf in Elvenar

Every once in a while I try a new free-to-play, massively multiplayer online Flash game. You know, those games advertised by clickbait, starring Kate Upton’s cleavage. Games that are free to play, but offer endless opportunities to buy in-game currency to speed things along or get a fancy orange shield.

Many of these MMOs are completely interchangeable. They feature inconsequential, badly translated plots and throw in random mini-games to keep you occupied as you wait for your stamina to recover so you can click through another encounter. All in the hope that the incoherent story might, one day, come to an end. The sheer quantity of artwork some of these games contain is astounding, with thousands of weapons and individual pieces of armour available to buff your chosen warrior.

Once in a while, though, a game is interesting enough to capture my attention for a year or more. At the moment, that game is Elvenar by InnoGames. This is fitting since InnoGames’ Tribal Wars was my first MMO back in the early noughties.
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The Bus Game app for Android

2018-01-30 Computer Games, My Board Games, My Computer Games

the Bus Game

I’m delighted to report that I’ve just released The Bus Game as an Android app to the Google Play Store.

I first developed The Bus Game back in 2016 as a prototype for my nephew. You can read about its development here: The Bus Game.

There’s also a print and play version that you can test out here: The Bus Game: Print out and Play.

And, finally, you can get all the graphics, resources and code for the app from the Unity Asset Store for $5, here: The Bus Game – Asset Store.

I hope you have as much fun playing it as I did creating it. I’d love to receive some feedback and suggestions for improvements.

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Xmas eXcavation – a game for Christmas

2017-12-11 Computer Games, My Computer Games

Xmas eXcavation

A merry Christmas to all, and to all a good 2018.

In celebration, and to give everyone a fun, indoor activity away from the cold, I present Xmas eXcavation (click to play). There’s also a quick Javascript tutorial below!

The game will be familiar to any Minesweeper players, but with one key difference: you’re trying to locate and uncover presents hidden under the snow, while avoiding the dirty lumps of coal. Double click (or double tap) to uncover a patch of snow. Single click to mark a suspected piece of coal. Good luck!
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