A viary nice move

It seems like I own apologies of sorts to Aviary in general and to Avi Muchnick in particular. Not sure what I am babbling about? Well, long time ago I was in a bad mood of sorts and wrote this post. Avi replied below it, I replied to him, the discussion stopped.


But a few days back I have found an email in my inbox that states:

We decided to make Aviary's entire suite of editing tools available to everyone at NO COST. Now you have access to the following features that used to be paid only:
- Private Files - Save your creations privately
- Watermark - Remove our watermark or add your own
- Tutorials - Access all tutorials on the site

Now I have no choice but to back up from the previous statements. So, Avi, if your Google Alert is still listening for any buzz on Aviary, here goes: thanks a lot for this move and my apologies I didn't have more faith in Aviary.

There, I said it. Now it's up to you, dear readers: go and give the full Aviary suite a try. It is well worth it.

Flixel Fun

Remember Flixel? That's the free Flash/Flex framework created by Adam Atomic, which he used for his famous Canabalt and then gentlemanly shared with the rest of us so that we could make cool games too. And people did in fact make cool games, quite a pack of them actually - I like some more than others, but heck, they are varied bunch and I think there is something out there for everyone.

However, other than just pointing my readers out to a slew of flash games, I wanted to bring to their attention a few select titles that I find particularly interesting. Since I have been browsing Flixel development forum for last two or three weeks, I have dug out a couple of promising work in progress. Other than that, some finished games also drew me in, so here goes the list:

Where We Remain [Completed]

A young man finds himself on an empty island, searching for a girl he once loved. Following her notes scattered around the land, he is exploring abandoned caves where the ghosts that look like him wander around and on the surface he is evading powerful wind deamons roaming the island. Strange, mysterious and very retro exploring game that incredibly well conveys the emotion of being alone and lost. Where We Remain is just oozing melancholic atmosphere but it's also got decent game mechanics and a twist in the form of three endings, each showing a broader picture of what really is happening with the hero. A must!

Dog and Bone are friends [Completed]

A simple platforming game, but with a nice twist and totally cute characters. Dog is, well, a dog, but Bone is actually a skeleton. And they are friends. And it's sweet. I don't know how and why, but this game touches me and I have spent far more time playing it than I would be willing to admit. Excellent for kids and adults alike! Click here to visit the development thread.

That Thing I Lost [Work in progress]

A game starring a cat is all you should need. I have a soft spot for these creatures. Still, if for you it is not enough, then here's more information to fuel your curiosity. This game contains: black and white retro graphics, oniric setting and weird eyeball things waking up from their slumber to follow feline protagonist. Spooky! It is still in very early phase of development, but it's got a lot of potential.

On the Shoulders of Ancestors [Work in progress]

Also a game in making, I fear that this one may never get completed, because I see no development going on. Still, the idea behind it is refreshingly original: for each level player is assigned control of a limited amount of cute beings that have a very short life span. Once they die of age, and they tend to do that in the matter of seconds, they become little stone statuettes. As such, they can be used by the following generations to reach high places and so on. The execution is not perfect yet, but it is a brave little game - definitely worth checking.

Rune Hunt [Work in progress]

When I first gave it a try, my first thought was that Bitmap Brothers has come back from the dead and you probably know how huge a compliment this is in my book. Delightful pixel-perfect graphics, interesting mechanics, excellent execution - mark my words, when it's completed, we will all be in awe. The gameplay is a little too slow for my taste, but this is also something reminiscent of some Amiga titles where things happened at a less frantic pace. Very promising!

Particle Blast [Complete]

This game might not be as much fun as some others on the list (which does not mean it is without merit, oh no), but in the looks'n'sounds department it is close to being perfect, as well as quite retro, too. Somehow it reminds me of Amiga demoscene and I can't quite shake off that feeling. There are references to popular culture in the levels (you can see one above and if you don't recognize it, shame on you), there are some nice beats and if it's not enough for you, then there are some other interesting titles on the author's website. Very well done!

Goblin Wars: Kung Fu Attack [Work in progress]

Cheesy kung-fu paraphernalia, ass-kicking protagonists, old Chinese master with wacky sayings, old-school jump-and-beat'em-up gameplay, raising lava level and goblins - this game has everything to make me happy. It is charming, it is evoking memories of arcade cabinets and games of old, it simply is fun in that over the top way. A little rough around the edges, but hey, it is still in development.


Of course, the above list is not complete. During the time of writing of this post there was a number of cool games that popped up. I have added one or two, but if I kept adding, I would not be able to finish it. Hence, I will soon be coming back with some more Flixel fun in unspecified near future and for now you have this selection of games to keep you busy. Enjoy!

Organic Software Visualisation

Software development. Data visualization. Blender. I just had to.

This post stems from me watching the above video that presents the visualization of Blender 2.5 development. In the movie we can see organic structure of files within SVN repository with its branches and developers swarming around it like bees or ants. It is just beautiful to watch (trancey music does help), but it also carries a ton of information with it, which makes me appreciate for more than just its beauty.

Gource

As it often happens, it triggered me to go and check how it was done. The software used for the purpose of this visualization is Gource. On the project page you can see other video of a smaller project and a bunch of very tasty screenshots presenting repositories of other software (Linux kernel, VLC player, Drupal). It is very neat!

code_swarm

Some more Google-Fu revealed that there is also other software that can be used for the same purpose, called code_swarm. The interesting thing about it that its philosophy differs from its counterpart: Gource is more oriented towards repository structure, code_swarm is more developer-centric. Watch this video showing Eclipse commit history to compare one approach with the other.

Incredible. Just incredible. After replaying these movies on and on, I am now tempted to use these tools to visualize code repository in the project at work. Might turn out pretty, although, unfortunately, even if it does, I will not be able to showcase it here

[ via BlenderNation ]

SFXR - fun with retro sounds

I have gotten back to learning Flex / ActionScript - maybe this time I will at least get to creating a prototype of that game I would like to make. Maybe. But as a side effect of that, I have also played with a couple of tools that can help with creation of simple retro games. That is how I found SFXR, a small tool that randomly produces oldschool sound effects. And I tell you - I've had more fun with it than many full games.


I am a little ashamed to admit this publicly, yet there is no denying it: not only was it fun to create my own retro blips and bangs, but also to play random sounds, trying to associate them with 8bit classics of old. Heck, even my girlfriend spend good quarter just toying with the tool.

Dwonload SFXR here and try it yourself - if you like oldies then odds are you are going to have as much fun with it as I did. Plus, it might also be useful, should you ever need a few retro sounds for your game

The name's Shepard, Barts Shepard.

As the advertising campaign for Mass Effect 2 was reaching its peak, the first part of the game got heavily discounted on Steam, so for the price of a small meal (3 Euro) I took the opportunity to catch up on this rather well received sci-fi opera rpg. I bought it and then forgot about it, mainly because digital download of almost nine gigabytes was a little scary on my crappy internet connection. I left the download on and moved on to do other things.

I recalled about Mass Effect when Luke Plunkett asked Kotaku readers to share their in-game avatars in public. I sat down and created a digital clone of myself, partially to show everyone, but also because I like my rpg characters to resemble me at least in some aspects. This time the result, Commander Barts Shepard, looked very similar to me - actually from some angles so similar that it was almost unsettling:

Comparative mugshot - not my best photo ever, but shows the likeness well.

Nevertheless, it is incredibly cool to have my virtual alter ego running in space opera setting, doing heroic stuff and romancing alien girls. Reeeaally cool. Also, it turned out that Luke thought my creation was worth showing to the world in a separate post, which you can find here.

As for the game itself, the beginning was a blast, but when I got my own ship and went on to the explore the space, well, the experienced became somewhat dull. Some ten or so hours into the game I left it and since then haven't felt the need to go back. I might do that, because judging by reviews and other people telling me fun bits of story, there's still plenty of coolness in there, but so far I just don't feel like it. Therefore, I wouldn't like to review the game just yet, because I might be unfair to it - but there are chances that it will happen at some point in future. For now, though, I felt like sharing the story of my digital twin.

PS. Of course later on, I realized that I should have remade Shepherd Book from Firefly in Mass Effect and call him Shepard Book. Damn. Now I have to wait until third part comes out.

Pacifist Asteroids

Don't you just love when game premise can be described in two short sentences? "Your engines are down. Use your tractor beams to move." et voila, suddenly player knows everything. Okay, maybe there's a bit more to it, so let me fill in the blanks. Tractor Beam is an iPhone / iPod Touch game available on Apple Store. It sports simple monochrome looks that makes me think of really old games and oozes retro charm.


The game mechanic is somewhat similar to the "grappling hook" subgenre of platforming games, except there are no platforms and player controls a spaceship. You can watch it in action in this YouTube movie. If you have iPhone or iPod Touch, do give it a try. Unfortunately, I don't have either and this is one of the few occasions when I slightly regret it.

Free ZX Spectrum book

If you have been reading Barts News for some time, you might have noticed that I have a soft spot for ZX Spectrum and I write about it from time to time. Also, I wrote a review of Montezuma's Revenge for ZX Spectrum Games Bible and I am mentioning it because that project was, in a sense, response to this particular book: The ZX Spectrum Book 1982-199x. I remember reading about it some time ago, but I missed the Limited Edition and was left unhappy.


Fortunately, a recent post on Gnome's Lair drew my attention that kind gentlemen from Hive Books have released PDF version of this excellent title for free. That is a very nice move indeed, for which I will definitely repay them once they publish The Amiga Book one day. For now, though, whether you are a Speccy aficionado or just have an inclination towards retro gaming, do yourself a favour and download the book from here.

[ via Gnome's Lair ]