Yes I've been very busy in the past Week. Right now I managed to get a little time just to post up some random stuff while on my trip out of town. I haven't had a chance to play any game because I'd been running up and down from the Exhibition and back to other Work and so on and so on in the previous week, while doing a lot of other work during this week. I did however play a bit of Pokemon Tower Defense, but I'll get to talking about that later on because it isn't what I expected it to be. But for now, check out that stall that ACHE has... it's a work of art. Ok fine it isn't that exciting but it took quite a while to write all the measurements down before they could construct it. Go check the M.E. Arts Blog to see what was built based on what I designed for the Exhibition.
I played a game at 3 in the morning randomly, and I didn't like it that much. I played another and that too I wasn't keen on playing either. Then I played this game, called Scuba. By the name, I guessed it had a diver doing something that wouldn't be that interesting. But playing it through, I realized how familiar I'm with this kind of game and what about it I liked. If you've ever played "MotherLoad" by XGen Studios, then this game falls right into that feeling. Except this time instead of digging and traveling against gravity in the depths of the planet, you got to go swimming while digging and traveling against the underwater pressure while worrying about your oxygen. Am I making no sense?
Well the plot of the game is that you have to build an engine, and to do that you must 'craft' the various items needed by digging bits of dirt using a very useful Mining Lazer to collect wood, mushrooms, sea weed, blue bacteria looking thing, rocks, more rocks, coal, gold, diamonds, screws, and energy. Along the way you run into the usual dangers of deep sea diving... ok there's barely anything there that could kill you. The only hazards swimming around are Jellyfish and some under water critters, which when you blow them up provide the valuable Energy item you need to collect. Also you have to check your oxygen every now and then or you will die because you could not swim to the surface in time, although it does not seem to result with a game over. The pressure does kill you also, but I don't think anyone is dumb enough to dive so far down without upgrading. Even if you do go too far, a red bulb starts flashing away. Apart from that, bumping into rocks and walls don't seem to do any damage.
Just like with MotherLoad and any other digging games, the further down you go, the more valuable the resources you find are. I found that I've reached the bottom and all I found was everything that I had taken the time & trouble to craft. As is with most game, there are additional tools as well that do help you to reach the depts safely which you must also craft, like building a Crafting Station, Air Cabinet, Lanterns, and Light Energy Charger. Without these you would not be able to stay deep down very long.
A Unique thing about this game is that it generates randomly the entire world map you play in at the beginning, and you can see a small preview, so the game is never the same. A bit more on this later.
This game has been upgraded, and I'm sure by the time anyone reads this that it will be upgraded further. So I did find my share of bugs and a glitch in the game. The first of which is Upgrading to lv2 Helmet does not consume the lv1 helmet. It is annoying because you have to throw away that old helmet in the end. Its the same thing when Upgrading to a lv4 Oxygen tank, it does not consume both lv3 oxygen tanks, so now you have two more slots taken up and the only solution is to throw away the two lv3 oxygen tanks. Now for the glitch, simply put is that you cannot fail. That's right, you cannot fail the game. It's not a God mode glitch either, it's just that even if you run out of oxygen or go too deep, you will just re-spawn back at your space ship (Did I mention it's a game with a Diver flying in space who had to stop on a watery cube planet?). So there is no risk in the game. At least it was for me when I played.
I enjoyed mostly the music of the game, it has this nice calm relaxing feel to it while playing. It's not an endless annoying loop of a single song either. The music does change constantly, but there isn't that much music. BUT it does have some very annoying bits. Crafting items is one thing, crafting so many at once is annoying because you have to keep on clicking to pick up the crafted item. So when I need like 300 Rocks crafted from the 1200 dirt, I have to click over 300 times. Another annoying thing is that items are grouped into a maximum of 64 per slot. Its a small annoyance but it would have given more space to carry dirt. Running and Swimming is also very annoying when your character runs to the edge of the screen, sometimes going beyond the edge so you cannot see him at all. Since it's possible to use the dirt to make bridges and walls, I make a long platform running horizontally from one end of the map to the other, because swimming takes longer, so I run, and end up falling through some of the gaps I made, because I cannot see them ahead. While swimming also, if I'm too close to the edge, I take damage because I cannot see the underwater sea critters that I bump into.
There were a few things this game could seriously do with. Remember when I said that you get to see the entire world generated? Well you see it only when you start playing the game, after that you cannot see this mini preview. It would have been nice to have a kind of map to see where you are going or where you are. Another thing is I would have liked to see a Depth meter so then it's known how deep it is while swimming and how far it is to the surface when rushing to get that oxygen tank filled again. Finally since there's no map, an option to place a beacon (like the Lantern) to help locate your randomly placed Air Cabinet would have helped just before running out of oxygen. But these are all little minor things.
Overall this game is VERY VERY good to sit back and play to. It's not that fast paced action, it doesn't require you to keep button mashing except when crafting. But I like it overall for the fact I had a very laid back early morning before the sun came up. Give this game a try if you have not yet.
This post was originally posted on Janime.eu Is it really worth putting this up as a blog? YES IT IS... So just an hour ago I finished a 4 hour stretch of work on the latest Yugioh 3D Model. SADLY ITS NOTHING SPECIAL, I'm pretty sure anyone who knows this kind of stuff can do it in a much shorter time. But the solution was much simpler than I had previously thought of, so in the End I was able to complete it with ease. It took me a total of 3 tries over the file's lifetime. The first attempt took over several days because I did the line drawing manually in order to get that shape... this was because I had not gotten used to polygon editing, so I was still using the same methods I did when I drew Skull Servant. The 2nd attempt was a start over from scratch disaster at using polygon editing, that the model actually would break into little bits here and there. I tried working with that model further but didn't make much progress. What that looked like you can see below in one of the images that shows 3 models. The 3rd attempt worked like a charm. And it has helped me understand how to smooth my objects as well... when I say helped to understand, I mean I barely can understand it but at least I have a rough idea how to fix it. Anyway, other than my thread on Janime, which shows only 2 Pics... to see some of the screenshots taken over the 4 hour period of this not so interesting model, you have to go visit the blog page I posted them on. Nope, my photobucket account only has 2 of the 10 images.
IN OTHER... um... news...? I'm kind of sad that my friend left for Australia last week. He'll be back, but not soon enough. I had a new project, but since my own funds are low, I cannot build some of the props for it. The plan was for him to play a part in one of the episodes of this project since he was one of the key people at the time that "Burn of the..." took place. But the project will go on as far as it can. I am determined to get this project completed even if it's extremely short and contains a very lame-too-quick-fast-but-not-so-interesting plot.
So Many of years (ok so maybe like a year or two) ago I found this flash game. Again it's another quick to play 2 player flash game that is quite enjoyable ONLY if either player does not spam the infinite supply of creates and barrels.
Mutiny is a Pirate Themed aim and hope gravity is on your side when you jump kind of game... which is where you really must think about where to try and move to and then what weapon to use in order to defeat the opposing team. It has both skill and a bit of luck thrown into the game where even if you seem to be winning, the game could turn around horribly.
How the game goes is that you have a certain number of Pirates on your team. Using them you must take turns to move and or attack the opposing team of Pirates with one of your limited projectiles. When moving you click on the Pirate on your team and then drag to aim the team member so that he will fly off until gravity brings him back down to either a safer platform or closer to impending doom... I find myself sending my own pirates flying just to the edge where they happen to slip and fall into the watery grave. And when firing off one of your weapons, it's the same exact thing, although a few of them either require just random clicking, thoughtful clicking or a single click.
It's interesting to know that the Captain usually has one or two extra weapon choices while the rest of your team (shouldn't I call them crew?) has less or a limited number. That's why it's usually a good idea to eliminate the opposing Captain first to prevent a loss. Most of the time I find that I cannot distinguish which opposing character is the Captain/Leader/Chief (as is with the level with the Monkeys, Crabs and... Hammerhead Sharks that throw bombs at you?), but it may be safe to assume the AI levels does not have a Captain like so.
Well it's safe to say that the weapons are fun to use. There are 15 selectable weapons that depends on which level you are currently playing on. Some will instantly kill a pirate if used at the right moment or in the right way by either knocking them into the watery depths or after they've taken a little bit of damage. I've never seen any weapon kill a pirate with full health, but I think it's possible for the "Bolder" to keep on rolling into a pirate long enough to do 100% damage. It's just something I haven't tried yet. Some of the weapons like the Banana are fun when used in caves and where there's a walls for it to bounce off from. While Seamines thrown onto land provide good trap or can force a 2nd player to move their pirate within a few seconds. I personally love the "Tsunami" and "Seagull" since they both can damage a good multiple number of opposing pirates (and your own also) over the entire width of the the map. Any crew that's on low ground is at risk from the Tsunami and will be eliminated if a 2nd one is used, while no one can avoid the Seagull since it can pass through walls and bomb anyone without cover. Some of the weapons just take some getting used to, like the "Dynamite" which I seem to have difficulty in using.
I found that the most annoying factor comes from playing in 2 Player where both players spam each other with "Barrels" and "Crates". This is a very useful strategy in 1 Player when you want to keep the AI trapped, but in 2 player it's just BARNACLES. It serves no purpose other than to annoy each other. I however find it acceptable if both players draw a Line and build a Castle and then take turns trying to beat each other by either seeing who can blow the other first... or the "Cursh the Castle" way.
Anyway if you have not played this game, I doubt you will ever do so unless you have someone to play it with. Even I didn't bother playing it again until I found someone to blast me with a "Cherry Bomb". Go ahead and give it a try mates.
My first impression of this game was... well lets just say I didn't like the game. The first two levels I completed didn't appeal to me, they were pretty easy, and the fact that there were only 4 towers for the entire game made it feel like it was missing something. By the time I started playing the 3rd level, I had lost interest.
So if I had to say anything about the game at that time, I'd have said it's just another not that exciting tower defense game although I did like the way the art is done for it.
That is where I was wrong. I had not played the game far enough.
After a while I noticed that Kingdom Rush was popping up here and there, and then it was recommended that I play it.
I gave it another shot after someone told me there was a StarWars reference for one of the towers.
And so, this is Kingdom Rush...
A simple tower defense game, but a lot more entertaining that I had expected.
12 Different Missions, each having 3 different game modes with set rules, and the option to set the difficulty to easy or normal for each mission.
4 different towers that are required to be upgraded up to 4 levels in order to be effective. The player has a choice between 8 types of level 4 towers.
Two spells are available for use in damaging and slowing the enemy forces.
An upgrade page also allows the player to choose which towers or spells to improve.
Anytime before a mission the upgrade points can be reset so a player can adjust as needed at anytime.
There's also the Premium Content that a player can buy. I have not tried this out (I don't buy/pay for stuff online) so I only know what it has from what I've heard or read. The Premium content gives the player an extra spell to use, 15 more stars that can be used in the upgrade page, some extra gold for each mission, an additional reinforcement for the reinforcements spell, and... costumes for the reinforcements.
The costumes do sound cute because one set are StarWars characters. The other two sets are said to be Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.
Now the game play is simple place your towers and let the enemy come marching in. But only one tower, the Barracks (*maybe I should call it a building?*), automatically trains troops that come out onto the path, and you can control where they stand within the limits of the tower. This is where the game differs from other TD games. There are many times you have to move these troops to a key point to either slow or trap the enemies that come marching in. One of the Mage towers, when upgrade, also works just like the Barracks.
The part I love about building and upgrading towers are the random audio comments each tower says. Some I felt are plain and expected. But later upgraded audio comments I found hilarious. One of the mage towers has a StarWars Reference to Yoda's "Do or Do Not, there is no Try", although that mage tower did not sound anything like Yoda. One of the Dwarfs in the Artillery tower swears when you upgrade, hence why I like using the Artillery a lot.
The third StarWars reference I found was written on the description for one of the upgrades, the famous "It's a Trap".
To aid the towers are the two main spells that come in handy always. I find myself spamming the Reinforcements spell just to slow down the horde rush of enemies, while using the Rain of Fire spell just to reduce or damage the enemies that have swarmed my troops. I'm not sure but it maybe possible to play every mission without using both these spells, which could be a worthwhile private challenge for any player.
The early missions I found rather uninteresting... This is due to the tower upgrade limit. It wouldn't be much fun if you could have a level 4 tower cleaning up enemies like nothing on the very first mission, but I guess I find that kind fun. But the later missions are well worth playing. Some maps have an added extra tower that is unique to the selected missions. I only found 3 of such on 3 different mission. The first is just a powerful barracks type with Elves, that I almost never used because I felt the cost was too high (for this reason I must play this mission again, I'm sure I'm missing something) just to both repair and buy troops. The second is a powerful Sasquatch unit that can be unlocked by using the Rain of Fire spell on it's cave and then spending 500 gold to call it out. The third is my favorite tower that I spam and the only tower that does not automatically attack but requires the player to manually target enemies for each charged up shot. These little extras in the game made it fun to play, but I was disappointed that I couldn't find any others towards the end.
The Enemies themselves are not that hard to destroy once you have the essential towers put in place and provided that they can damage enemies in key spots. The early waves and the number of enemies that come out at once are what the player would have to worry about. If there are not enough barracks but too many enemies then they will just run past without a scratch, while if some towers are not upgraded early enough then the stronger enemies will just take little or no damage. The bosses interest me the most, the later two can actually prevent towers from working by freezing or locking them. The player gets the chance to unblock by clicking on the affected towers.
At the time I started writing about Kingdom Rush, I had not played the final mission but since I've been experiencing some Internet related issues it gave me more time to play. Frankly I was disappointed in the final mission because it was... just too easy to complete. I think only a single enemy got close to the end of the path, but the rest were blocked off by only 6 troops from my barracks. The number of waves were also very short and I expected more from that mission.
I think I have the upgrade page to blame, as it makes the towers a lot better.
In a way, without the upgrade page, it may not be possible to complete the game. Cannot say for sure unless someone tries.
The game also has some replay value for each map with the additional game modes that contain some rules. I found that those rounds having forcing me to give up on using my fav towers was annoying but an interesting challenge. One map allows you to use nothing but Barracks, while another does not allow you to use any mages and archers, especially when that map contains hordes of flying enemies and you are forced to find out a way to beat that round. That really is the fun in replaying the map with some set rules.
A bonus to this game is that you can save your progress online or locally. By saving it online, I was able to play it while on my trip & at work & at home. It also has the option to import the locally saved game to online, but not the other way around.
I've gone on too much about this game. The only thing I currently really really did not like was at the end we get a small illustrated comic. It somehow made me feel odd. But it's the way the developers wish to express the ending, so it's fine with me... although I wouldn't play just to see that ending.
I read up somewhere about the game would be having an expansion, and I look forward to when it comes out.
If you have not played it, then I recommend that you do play Kingdom Rush either on this page below this post, or on the Armor Games site.
So the past week we've been having a lot of Internet problems. On top of that, even the power kept going on and off many times. And I went on a little trip out of town also.
That is all. You may go back to reading something else now.
Yes I've been very busy in the past Week. Right now I managed to get a little time just to post up some random stuff while on my trip out of town. I haven't had a chance to play any game because I'd been running up and down from the Exhibition and back to other Work and so on and so on in the previous week, while doing a lot of other work during this week.
