Kongregate - Shootorials

For my Kongregate post today, I will not be looking at a specific game, but rather one of the more community geared aspects of Konregate. Among the many game categories on the site (such as Action, Adventure, Puzzle etc) there is a Tutorial category. The category contains informational tutorials about how to make Flash games for yourself. I had always wanted to make a video game but I never really had the time. This was a great opportunity to get my feet wet in the topic.

The tutorial I was using was called Shootorial, which attempts to teach you how to build a basic spaceship shooter game. The tutorials are split into a few different parts, to keep things simple for the user. The first part deals with creating a spaceship that the player can control with the arrow keys. Part two deals with graphics, mainly creating a scrolling background to make it look like your ship is moving. Part 3 introduces bullets, your ship is now fully operational. Part 4 adds alien ships and finally in part 5 collision detection is put in place and we have something that almost resembles a game.

The tutorials weren't exactly fun, but they were informative. If you have a little programming experience you can make some simple modifications to make the game more personal. It's cool that people give back enough to the community to teach others how to make games. That's definitely one thing that puts this community above some of the 5-10 year olds I thought it was mostly comprised of.

Kongregate - PowerUp Rewards

Fuck Mifflin I'm writing blogs. So I'm chilling on Kongregate today, passing some time, playing some games. I found something new on Kongregate today that I wasn't aware of. Recently the site was bought by GameStop, the video game store. Because of this, they are trying to integrate some of their Flash games to get more people to buy games from GameStop. How can playing games on a website get you to buy games you ask? Easy, I've already looked into it for myself.

Like many retail stores, GameStop has a rewards program. The more games and stuff you buy you the points you get. You can spend points to get free shit. It's not really worth it. You can probably get better deals if you shop at Amazon or something, but some people like GameStop and points so whatever.

Anyway. Back to Kongregate. They have a different game each day that has a unique (often difficult) badge to acquire. Recall badges are awarded for achieving specific challenges within games. If you complete this unique badge you can get GameStop points!!!! So by playing Flash games you can get free video game merchandise!

Joking aside, it's actually a pretty good promotion. I don't usually go to GameStop but this would probably get me there more often. If I had more time to waste playing Flash games.

Kongregate - Portal (2!)

So I don't know about anyone else in the class, but I got real excited waiting for the release of Portal 2. I played the original game to death and the sequel looked even better. But what could I do to pass the time while I waited for the game? Fortunately Kongregate has the answer with Portal: The Flash Version. This game is a pretty great 2D flash port of Portal. In the game, you play a girl dressed in a orange jumpsuit. You can move around in the normal way and you are equipped with one weapon: the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device.

This gun is a very special gun. It doesn't shoot bullets, instead it shoots Portals. There are two flavors of Portals, blue and orange. You can shoot portals onto certain surfaces in the environment and you can only have one portal of each color at a time.

What do portals do you ask? They create portals of course! What goes in the blue portal comes out the orange portal and vice versa. You have to place your portals strategically to get to the exit within each level of the game.

This game was great while I waited for Portal 2 to come out. I encourage everyone to give it a try when you have some time!

Practicum Kongregate Questions

Presenting on Networked gaming on Tuesday and there were a few questions I had for the class on Kongregate.com

Kongregate.com offers many ways to interact with fellow players of Flash games (chat, forums, comments). Do you think these methods enhance or take away from the gaming experience?

Many games on Kongregate.com have advertisements, either presented before the game is played or within the game. Do you think advertisements in games have a positive or negative impact on gamers? How about game developers?

Kongregate Post 3

After a few sessions of gameplay on Kongregate, I finally decided to investigate into this points system. I had already accumulated 75 points on kongregate, which seemed like a lot to me. Little did I know, I was far from being a points leader. According to a mini-profile that's on the top of every page, I am currently at level 2. Apparently I am 35 points away from level 3. I went and looked at some of the frequently asked questions on the site and there were a few related to points. Apparently you can earn points in a variety of ways. You can complete achievements, rate games, refer friends or upload a game of your very own. So far I had only earned points from achievements.

Okay so now that I knew how to get points, I still wasn't sure what they were used for. Apparently points only affect your level on the site. Your level on the site just is a way to brag to other users. There doesn't seem to be any functional value. The FAQ states: "We're still working out the details of what kind of privileges and potential prizes that points and levels could be used to unlock." so I was a bit disappointed to learn that my control of these points may be meaningless for world domination. Until next time!

Kongregate Practicum Post 2

Taking another go at a game at Kongregate.com, this time I tried out a game simply called "Run 2". I assume there was an original "Run" at some point, but I can only imagine that it pales in comparison to this thrilling sequel. In the game you can play as one of two characters: the runner or the skater. The runner is better at quick turns while moving, while the skater can jump larger distances. In the game you have to navigate a series of platforms in 3D. You are trying to reach the end of the tunnel which seems to be somewhere far off in space. As you jump to and fro the gravity can switch around which adds to the challenge. Nevertheless within 10 minutes I had received my first badge for this game, the "Style Sampling Badge" worth a cool 5 points!

Now that I had 55 total points, I decided to find a game that was a little different. Platform games are pretty common in video games so I wanted to find something a bit more creative. Enter Music Catch 2.

Another riveting sequel, MC2 is a simple game that's quite serene. In it, music note icons are displayed on the screen and the player has to collect as many as possible by moving the mouse. There are blue notes which the player can get for points, yellow and purple which are power-ups and the red notes which the player must avoid. What makes this game so neat is that the notes are not just put are randomly. They are placed on screen to the tune of a song which is rather pleasant to listen to. It makes playing the game quite calming. On my first try of the game, I earned two badges! I earned the Flying Purple Power Eater badge as well as the Raking the Leaves badge.

That's two more badges in my pocket in my quest to dominate Kongregate!

Kongregate Practicum #1

Hey All,
For my practicum project I'm checking out the social gaming website Kongregate. Kongregate has hundreds of games that you can play right in your browser (using Flash) and a lot of them are really quite fun. A major thing that separates Kongergate from other Flash gaming websites, however, is the social components built into every game. There are achievements, high-score boards and chat alongside every game you play. It really makes the gaming experience a lot more personable.

Upon registering my account (went with the username BUCKY_BADGER) I received a welcome private message on the site. This had a two fold effect. First the content of the message had a few ways for me to get acquainted with the site. It suggested I should Build My Profile, Earn some points and finally go out and "Score my first badge". The other thing the message did for me, is it made me immediately aware that this site has a built in private message system. So if I were to make friends with people in chat, I could send them a message right on the site. Seems obvious when we have things like Facebook but it definitely helps cement Kongregate as a social network.

After that I was off to play my first game, and attempt to earn my first badge. The game I chose was called Learn To Fly. In it, you play as a penguin who desires nothing more than to flap his wings and fly. Throughout the game you launch the penguin of an icy ramp in an attempt to have him fly as far as he can. Using different powerups such as rockets and gliders you can really get some distance. Without too much difficulty I earned my first badge!

This was considered an "easy" badge so I received 5 Kongregate points for it. Not 100% sure what those are used for, but I'll figure it out by my next blog post!