A game made for EGP's October 2009 theme "Numbers"

"Numbers" were great theme in October on EGP site! I did not want to end up doing a game like Sudoku, where numbers themselves or arithmetic operations would be the core of the gameplay. So I made this:

Be Brave Today!

(download Be Brave here)

Real Time Strategy genre, yet very simple and quick gameplay.
You control the King of Blue Soldiers. Ugly Red Enemies have captured many of your fellow soldiers, so you go to rescue them (those medieval times were great, you know, lots of battles, feasts and beer). Just like in any RTS, when two units meet, they fight. Numbers take the stage now: each unit has certain amount of BRAVERY. When two units fight, the one with higher bravery always win. Kind of like: the higher the bravery, the stronger sword swings.
The king is not only the "commanding unit", giving orders to direct his soldiers during fights, he can also transfer BRAVERY to his soldiers. As only his bravery regenerates over the time (soldiers' bravery does not), he is the carrier of a unique resource. If you do not completely understand, just play it :)
Two days before finishing this game I got an idea - I should have played Overlord before I created this game. Maybe it's the same mechanics (damn, it seems I was the second one to have an interesting idea). Right after I upload my game here, I am going to buy Overlord as I never played it before. It's a great game anyway :)

You are welcome to comment on Be Brave. That is the point of Experimental Gameplay - to see if the people will find the game interesting. Have fun :)

(download Be Brave here)

Bare minimum

In August 2009 the EGP blog challenged us to create EGP games in theme "Bare minimum". That tickled me...a lot...awfully lot! It was even hard for me to decide which idea to implement - I had like 10 ideas, later I will share them here on this blog.

So here lays what I created - three tiny games:

1. MoonHop - one-button control of an astronaut trying to save himself by getting to his base before he runs out of oxygen.

2. 1D platformer - how many dimensions do you need to play a platformer? I think that one is enough! So this one is played in one straight line. Otherwise, it's quite like Mario (just kidding).

3. Johnny the Bat - a game with no graphics. You have to orientate yourself only by sound. The goal is to lead a Bat through a tiny maze just by hearing where the obstacles are.

Here you can download Windows executables for all three.

I would love to read your comments about these microgames..be cruel, tell me the truth - did you have fun at all?

Experiment in blogging and games

Sometimes I create tiny experimental computer games. And I want to share my thought about that.

This blog is really "experimental" - on top of being about experimental games, I am experimenting with how long&often will I be able to be blogging. Usually I am far too lazy or overworked to be blogging. But I need a solid way to read feedbacks from anybody who played my tiny experimental games and wants to tell me their opinions. So guys, I created this blog for you to be able to comment, more than for me to express my thoughts on EGP.

By the way - what is an "Experimental Game-Play"? For me, it is:
1. anything beyond the mainstream-like gameplay
2. anything that is trying to reach for new possibilities in gameplay

And why is it interesting for me? Because I do work in computer game industry :) and I personally do find EGP fascinating.

I know - it is not for everyone. Many hardcore gamers would hate much of the existing EGP games or even ideas. But, once per 100 EGP games a real gem is found that emerges to a wonderful product - take World of Goo for example. It's like a digging for a gold nugget - lot of dirty work, but when you are persistent and a bit lucky, then it's all worth the effort.
Not to mention all that fun I had playing EGP games created by other people, for example at Experimental Gameplay Project. Many, many thanks for all that fun, guys - you sometimes made my head spin :) I only do hope my tiny games will occasionally do the same for you!