86 Words

Spooky-Cool Online Game with NO FLASH REQUIRED!!!

Built to show off the company’s GameMaker:HTML5 product capabilities, the game, called GraveMaker (cute, huh?) is a Plants vs Zombies style game (kindasorta).

You need friends, so you make undead ones.

This annoys the villagers who’s compatriots they happen to be, and the fight is on.

As you advance, you can grow better monsters, and face stronger villagers.

Good atmosphere, great sound, and interesting play!

Your monsters and the villagers are facing off. You now have to choose the order in which your monsters will fight (the villagers are lined up in their order).

Based on the number of unlocks, power-ups, secrets, etc in the game, it could take quite a while to complete it! Fortunately, the first time you play, you enter a user name and password and your game is saved under that (no other signup is necessary).

When the game starts, you have only the lowly, pathetic skeleton that you can grow, but that changes quickly enough! (well, you do get some plants & animals, but I cant figure out what they’re for).

- GraveMaker Game done w/ GameMaker:HTML5 -

Tags: Virtual, Just Cool, Weird, Scary, Reference, Net Life, Video Gaming, Geek Stuff, Software, HowTo, Gaming, General by Jai
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Shadow Era virtual CCG expanding into the physical world!

We’ve covered the computer CCG Shadow Era before - it’s my favorite computerized card game ever!

Wulven Game Studios, the publisher, is now printing real cards for non-computer play!

One cool side effect of this is that the game has been heavily played and they’ve already tweaked the cards for play, balance, etc, so it’ll release with the bugs already fixed!

The cards are shipping in March, so I have to go start practicing!

The cards are the same ones in the computer game, and the release will include all 10 factions.

There will be starter decks for all ten factions, as well as standard, 15-card boosters.

And of course I have to show a screen shot of the computer version! Note that it’s available to play in your browser, or on Mac, PC, or iOS (iPhone / iPod / iPad).

- Preorder Page with Release Details -
(Note that they aren’t accepting any more pre-orders, the page is now for-info only)

Tags: Virtual, Current Events, Collections, Reference, Net Life, Video Gaming, Geek Stuff, Software, Gaming, General by Jai
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Anybody need Ten Thousand Bucks?

Apple is about to give $10,000 to whoever downloads the 25 billionth app from the app store.

That’s about double the number of downloads in one year!

I did some rough calculations and it looks like the magic app download will occur on Wednesday, 29 Feb.

Realistically, I expect the day before because people will probably race for the final app.

You can check the countdown HERE.

Good Luck #25,000,000,000!

This is the countdown as of 3:00 today (Feb 18, 2012). Based on timing 100,000,000 downloads (which showed 689.65 apps/second), that puts us at completion of around 11:00 on Wed. the 29th, but I think the timing will accelerate as the magic number gets closer.

You can also enter HERE without a purchase (up to 25 times/day).

- Original Announcement (and Countdown) Here -

Tags: Net Life, Current Events, Reference, Video Gaming, Gaming, Geek Stuff, Software, Links, General by Jai
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Finally, a new game for the Atari 2600!

Yes, there really is a new game coming out in "early 2012" for the venerable Atari 2600 video game system.

Actually, new games aren’t really uncommon on the forums, but this one was recently featured on Retro Thing, so I owed them the link!

This particular game is a sequel to the massively popular A2600 game from the 70’s, Adventure!

I now present, Epic Adventure for the A2600!

This is the "legend" of the game characters (this was a common thing back in the day)!

One of the, presumably early, game screens - it’s very reminiscent of the original Adventure!

And here is the requisite picture of the inevitable (for those who knew the original game) maze scene!

- Epic Adventure Forum Post on Atari Age -

- Original Post on Retro Thing -

Tags: Just Cool, Retro, Reference, Video Gaming, Gaming, Geek Stuff, Software, Links, General by Jai
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Christmas decorating with the help of a Portal Gun!

The picture says it all - more pictures (and info) at the original story!

Luckily, the whole tree wouldn’t fit into the portal or it would just fall straight through!

- Full Article on BoingBoing -

Tags: Current Events, Weird, Humor, Virtual, Art / Visual, Geek Stuff, Software, Video Gaming, General by Jai
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Realm of the Mad God : a VERY COOL, 8-Bit, browser based, massively multiplayer, action oriented Diablo(ish) !

Make no mistake, this is an action game! You get a bit of adjustment time to start, but after that, it’s massive scramble!

There are a lot of cool things about this game, including very cool, 8-bit style graphics (I don’t know why that’s cool, but it is!).

Let me ’splain.

No, it’s too much; let me sum up.

CHECK THIS GAME OUT!!!

As I mentioned in the write-up, the graphics are styled after 8-bit graphics; they add a lot to the feel of the game. It works, man!

One unusual feature is that playing other character types beyond your starting wizard are rewards you earn through play. It sounds limiting, but like everything else in this game, it adds to the quick-play aspect (you’re in and playing in under a minute - including registration!).

While there are (many) other players in the game, the play style almost discourages being part of a group. The one place you’ll see A LOT of people is in "The Nexus" - the starting area (city) where you choose which realm you want to explore (the gray/black portals in the screens hot).

- Realm of the Mad God -

Tags: Virtual, Just Cool, Weird, Retro, Reference, Net Life, Art / Visual, Geek Stuff, Software, Gaming, Video Gaming, General by Jai
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Kingdom Rush - Very cool, browser based Tower Defense game (Free, of course)

Since I played my first Tower Defense game (called, oddly enough, "Tower Defense"), I have pretty much liked them. They’ve never really gripped me, but I’ve always thought they were pretty cool for a casual game category.

Kingdom Rush is one of the better one’s I’ve come across (with some neat twists on the standard recipe), and it’s free!

One negative though, it does require Flash.

Each level / map / step along the path through your kingdom starts out empty (in this case, I’ve added a single archer bunker). Each of the small signs are a location that you can place one of your defenses.

Each game level is a different piece of the path through your kingdom. Sometimes the enemy has multiple routes that you have to protect…

Whenever a new enemy becomes involved, you can click on a popup icon to see details (this also goes for "Tips" in play).

- Play Kingdom Rush on Armorgames.com -

Tags: Just Cool, Virtual, Reference, Net Life, Video Gaming, Geek Stuff, Software, Gaming, General by Jai
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Desktop Dungeons (Quick, but not-so-easy Gaming Fix

I’ve always liked "Roguelike" games. If you don’t know what that is, look it up - you’re in for a treat!

The problem with most Roguelikes is that they take a lot of time, both to learn and to play.

Desktop Dungeons is the exception - it gives you the coolness of a Roguelike with an investment of about 10 minutes of time per game.

Note that this does NOT mean it’s easy!

Enjoy!

Simple character creation, with plenty of unlocks as you get better!

Here’s a game in the early stages (maybe a minute in). The game actually takes a good bit of skill (NO TWITCH skill, however).

This is a site you’ll see a lot, at least until you master some of the game mechanics and learn enough stuff to survive…

- Download Desktop Dungeons for Windows or Mac -

Powered by Qumana

Tags: Virtual, Just Cool, Humor, Retro, Reference, Art / Visual, Video Gaming, Geek Stuff, Software, Cool Sites, Gaming, General by Jai
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Alganon: A different kind of review (for 86Words)

Alganon is another Free to Play, Micro Transaction MMO.

You should totally play it if:

* Your time is worthless
* You’ve never played a fantasy game (and have no comparison)
* You adore cliches in story and language

You’re a schmutz.

For everyone else, thank me for taking one on the chin for you - I’ve saved you hours of download time!

At least the graphics are pretty.

Here’s a view of some of the interface elements. They work, but look at the pretty colors!

I don’t know what this is - I didn’t get this far due to my low tolerance for horribleness.

This is actually from World of Warcraft. I included it in case you’ve ALREADY tried Alganon and were in danger of having a traumatic flashback episode.