This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Pixle by Stellar-0!

Pixle is a creative take on the classic running genre, where your skill ultimately decides how far you go (and how high your score is).

You begin as a small and slow ink-blob pixel creature. The goal is to go as far as you can, but you have a limited amount of energy and obstacles to oversome. You can collect energy, but it is spread out so you need to increase your speed to get to them in time. How do you increase your speed? Why, by breaking crystals, of course!

Pixle is a fun short-form runnin-style game with great animation, sound, and enough intrigue to keep you playing. Congratulations Stellar-0!

Get To Know Stellar-0

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

We are a small team of game lovers, who end up making our own games with original graphic and audio. The location spans from Jakarta, Bandung, and Jogjakarta, all 3 cities are in Java island of Indonesia, and we work and connect thru internet only. For more complete info of our positions, names and skills please visit our site.

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

We started out with game development at around early 2008 under a different name and team (Blue Destiny Arts, trimutation) and started doing paid commissions of ingame graphics and music around mid 2009.

What was your inspiration for “Pixle”?

I think it’s NiGHTS : Journey of Dreams, Sonic, and Cannabalt. Before we started developing PIXLE, we were talking about NiGHTS alot, and then we came up with the game idea of “an endless run while collecting rings”, but in the end it turned out to be a really different game :) We have blogged about how we came up with this game though.

Did you encounter any major challenges or hurdles during development?

There were a few minor obstacles like number related balancing and formula, but no major problems.

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

Mix of Strategy/Sim/RPG. Something like Brigandine, Metal Marines, Yuyu Hakusho Tokubetsuhen, etc.

The genres I enjoy most are Strategy, Sim, RPG, and Versus, with nice graphic and audio.

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

From 2 years to 2-3 weeks only. As for PIXLE it was approx. 1 month.

Our process is usually like this:

1. Brainstorm ideas.

2. Create working/playable prototype.

3. Discussion and creation of GDD and the data tables, plus the resource list and schedule.

4. Implementation of new ideas, updates, or balance value.

5. Thorough testing and balancing, minor polishing and bug fixes.

6. Release alpha/beta to be tested by fellow gamedevs.

7. Final release.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

Each team member has their own “rock stars”, such as: KOEI for its deep simulation game, Treasure for its level design, Megaten for its myth/demonology and new age themed games, and Nintendo for its simplicity.

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

Like any other art form, we can inject our ideas, personality and taste into our creation. Whether it’s the story, gameplay, graphic or audio. With each creation of new games, we learn new things and enjoy great amount of creative ideas transformation.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

Yes, it’s an arena hack n’ slash/RPG mix called Grand Steam. The details of this project can be viewed here. It will be our biggest and most experimental game to date. Don’t miss out on this one lol! ;)

Thanks Stellar-0, good luck with Grand Steam!

© Colin Cupp for MochiLand, 2012. | Permalink | One comment

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This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Ivan Vs. Mutants by 3d4udovishe!

Ivan Vs. Mutants is a super-cool shooter (emphasis on the cool)!

You are Ivan, and you are surrounded by wintery mutant creatures. You have to take them out to pass each stage. As you progress, new gun types and baddies are introduced. They also get a little harder to kill.

As if blasting mutants weren’t enough, there is also a weapons store. You collect in-game currency and upgrade your weapons and armor so you can survive the stronger enemies.

Ivan Vs. Mutants is a great shooter with good polish, nice physics, deep gameplay, and good weapon variety. Congratulations 3d4udovishe!

Get To Know 3d4udovishe

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

We are based in the Ukraine, in the city of Kharkov. We are two brothers Denis and Silvester (Vyacheslav in russian) and we make up a developer team named 3d4udovishe. We also run a couple of portals: funnymonster.net & 3D4udovishe.com.

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

We started developing games when we were in school. At 14 years old I (Denis) wrote code (asm) for a Mortal Kombat clone game for 8-bit zx-spectrum computer. Since it was a clone our only intention was to play it, but not one my friends had a computer better than zx-specturm :(

It was a good experience, though. I finished it with my brother in 1996. After that we tried many times to make something with directx for windows, but we haven’t yet finished a good project.

We used to make video ads and 3d animations for TV to help pay the bills, as well as help us create a little studio in the Ukraine. But game development still had a grip on us and we got back into making games through a referral where we made 3d buildings for a fly simulator game.

In 2007 we got the idea to try Flash, and our first game was “Bubuka vs Grizle: Ice Cream Wars”, which was a fail. :(

But we didn’t stop, and eventually made Armored Fighter. The inspiration for this game came from “Walker”, an old game on Amiga. We decided to make something like this game, but try to somehow make it better- I can’t say whether we accomplished that, but the game continues to be popular today. That was our first successful game. Since then we haven’t had another “fail”. :).

As of today we about 5 years total experience in Flash game development and 4 years experience as game portal owners.

Our developer home page is 3d4udovishe.info, which has all of our fresh projects and announcements. Also all our games possible to download right there.

What was your inspiration for “Ivan vs. Mutants”?

Ivan vs Mutants was powered by the IsoLand engine. The engine was originally made for the game Inglourious Soldiers, which is currently in beta and playable on our portal funnymonster.net.

The idea of the Ivan vs Mutants project was try to make a game very fast and release it in time for the xmas holidays. The basic idea was to just create an arena game that used our IsoLand engine, and has wave-based gameplay with only a few varieties of locations and monsters, but with a premium for Mochi Coins. But as usual our appetite came while we were eating. We ended up being too fancy with this game and development took about 4 months. In the end we created: 16 monsters, 8 locations, and about 24 hours of gameplay. Now we are still thinking about making a premium version.

We wanted to make an animation intro with a story, but our file got too big so maybe we’ll release it on youtube at some point in the future.

Base story is: Ivan is an ex russian army soldier, living in Siberia. One day he sees a very strong light in the sky, and his building is engulfed by a ray of light. After that he woke up on a chair near his table with a bottle of russian drink (siberian hot water ;) . He thinks it was just a dream. When he comes outside he finds alien monsters made from snow, stones, and branches. That is where the gameplay starts.

Did you encounter any major challenges or hurdles during development?

Sometimes we see how groups of people are cheating ratings on big portals, which is disappointing.

Another problem we have is finding good sponsors for our projects. Sometimes we don’t make “typical games” and sponsors don’t understand how the game will play. Distribution is also not a simple thing. But I think these are the same problems as the majority of game developers out there…

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

We always make games that we would like to play. Sometimes this is a game from our childhood, but with our vision. We like to experiment with different types of gameplay and game mechanics. Most our games are action games or shooters, but we are open to trying to make a puzzle or something else. All of our games have 3d animated graphics, though sometimes we do pencil art for the game menus.

We are playing almost all new hits on PC, because don’t have Xbox or PS3. Sometimes we play Flash game hits and try to gain some experience from it. As publishers / portal owners we are monitoring all released games every day (30-60 sec per game).

These are some games we particularly enjoy: Witcher 2, NFS – the RUN, Warhammer 40000: March of Chaos, Stronghold 2, Battle Field 2-3, Call of Duty MW2-3, Dead Space 1-2….

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

This always varies, because we work without any bosses so everything is up to us. When we don’t have any problems that take our attention away from game development we can make a good game in about 2-3 months. Usually we make a game skeleton with gameplay and the engine in about 1 month. After that we are just growing details and features to make it playable and polish it up. From idea to a completed game, for example, for Ivan vs Mutants development took about 4 months. The basic engine was done before we got the idea to make this game, but the engine kept growing as we built out more features and optimizations.

We plan to have the next installation of Ivan done in about 1-1.5 months, because we have finished the engine for this game. We don’t need to write additional fundamental code, maybe just simple modifications. We plan to make new monsters, make new weapons, change location to tropics, etc…

Our process of creation is parallel work. We are making code and graphics in parallel processes.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

Of course, first of all Badim, Elite-games.net, gamenode.com (this is good portal and sponsor), armorgames.com (this might be the top level where we want to be, but it is a long way away…). Also many many developers from Russia and Ukraine who are making good games and were at Flashgamm 2011 in Kiev…

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

We want to try our skill in games like: tycoon, many tower defense, good RPG like Diablo, 2.5D Fighting like a Final Fight,  racing, shooter etc…

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

Our hottest project right now is “Inglourious Soldiers”. This game is finished and has been posted on funnymonster.net (site-locked version). But this game is not released and the future of this game is not clear. Before we were thinking about launching this game to iOS and Android, but we haven’t found a good sponsor for it.

Originally, we wanted to launch a series of these games with one sponsor for Flash. We thought that once we created 6 or more versions, we could make one big game with 100+ levels for mobile. Now we are just making new levels for this game and have 35+ levels. We will decide what to do with it in near future.

Now in progress: Jungle Treasures 3, new Armored Fighter.

Thanks 3d4udovishe, and congratulations again on winning Flash Game Friday!

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This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Bomb Diver by Hybrid Mind Studios!

Bomb Diver is a really fun, quick-play game that combines avoider and shooter mechanics. The game begins with descending to the ground in a jetpack. The thing is, you need to avoid the bombs floating in the air. You eventually eject from the jetpack, and have to continue avoiding the bombs as you parachute to the ground.

Once you hit the ground, the game becomes a shooter and your task is to shoot down as many bombs as you can before they destroy the buildings around you!

You collect money for each level based on your performance, which can buy you upgrades such as health, handling, etc.

Bomb Diver is a great retro-style pixel game that features fun mechanics, retro pixel art, good sound, and power-ups- congratulations Hybrid Mind Studios!

Get To Know Hybrid Mind Studios

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

Hey there! My name is David Wade Evans and I am the founder of Hybrid Mind Studios. I work out of my home office from deep within the woods of New Hampshire, USA. If you don’t count all the squirrels, coyotes, and bears running around this place, then my team is normally just me–though I have collaborated with a few others on some of my games.

I named my studio after the fact that I love all aspects of game development. I’ve been creating art since I could hold something that would leave a mark, I’ve been programming games since the days of the TRS-80–for you young-ins out there, that’s pronounced “trash 80″ and it was about as heavy as a dumpster and about as fast too–and I’ve been playing with various bands and writing music for about 20 years now with computers, keyboard, guitar, bass, and banjo.

I guess you could say I’m working very hard to become a Renaissance man in the context of game development.

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

I’ve been making games almost all my life! Though until fairly recently I was distracted by the boring yet profitable world of web programming. I discovered the Flash game industry as a way to get back into my childhood passion of game development.

Bomb Diver is the 20th game I’ve finished since I founded my studio in January of 2009 and together my games have been viewed over 15 million times so far.

What was your inspiration for “Bomb Diver”?

Most of the initial inspiration started with the name. The phrase got stuck in my head and I decided to think up the craziest scenario for what a bomb diver would be if it was an actual profession.

Then I worked to create a fast paced mash-up of the avoider, collector, and chain reaction genres with the shooting and city defense mechanics from Missile Command.

I’m fairly pleased with the insanity of the result.

Did you encounter any major challenges or hurdles during development?

Yes! The game actually went through three different revisions over the course of two years. I would shelve it for many months, but manage to pick it up again and revisit it with the fresh eyes of a player. After heavy editing, tuning, and polishing, it finally made it to the finish line.

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

I sometimes take a genre I don’t typically like and try to create a game in it that I would find appealing. It seems to be a great game design challenge and you can get some cool results. I try to remain fairly open and flexible though as to what genres I want to create games for. I do tend to find myself inexplicably drawn to both arcade highscore and agility/skill based games.

As far as what games I play the most, that really varies quite a bit too. I love both digital and non-digital games and try to play as many genres as I can when I have the time.

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

Average actual development time is 1-2 months, though some of my favorite games have been finished in one week of solid effort. My process is to try and find the fun as soon as possible, iterate based on player feedback and analytics, and then once the game design is solid I polish the graphics, sound, and music.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

I admire so many other developers that it’s really hard to list just a few. They all continue to inspire me and push me to work harder.

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

I sometimes joke that game development is the closest that we can get to making real magic. The power to create a unique type of fun and share it with players around the world–that’s a pretty special thing.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

Sure do! I’ve got a new game called Korrode that is currently looking for a primary sponsorship. I’ve also spent the past six months doing a new offbeat cartoon or comic every day as part of my Morbid Holiday project.

I’ve also got plenty of more games coming along as well, but those are under wraps!

Thanks David, and congratulations again!

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This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Escape from Robotron by Genetic Factory!

You are a peaceful green creature. Robots have crashed on your planet. You have to escape being captured by them!

In this fun escape game, you have to use items and strategy to get to safety. Watch out, because if you are seen by a robot it is game over!

With fantastic original artwork and cleverly constructed levels, this escape platformer is a well-deserving winner of this week’s Flash Game Friday- congratulations Genetic Factory!

Get To Know Genetic Factory

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

Hi, my name is Ramon Shchelkunov and I’m a freelance 2D\3D artist. This project was solely made by me. Currently I’m working with my friend on an unannounced mmo project in UDK, but we still continue developing games in Flash. We live in a small provincial town called Kursk, here in Russia.

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

I started making games in 2009. At first it was single models or custom made backgrounds, then I gained experience working with 3D graphics in a small company. Mainly it was unfinished projects or part time freelance work not involved with games.

What was your inspiration for “Escape from Robotron”?

Long before starting Escape from Robotron, I devised a character, which I named “Ptyan”. Then I started thinking how could I put this tiny creature into action. The first try, was a small racing Flash game with Ptyn riding a bike, although it was not a big success, it gave me a bunch of useful experience. Then I discovered a game called “Machinarium” by “Amanita Design” studio. It was like a revelation for me, and I decided to make something with similar visual style in flash, taking my Ptyans as main characters and angry robots as their usurpers.

Any major challenges or hurdles during development?

At first I planned to design it like a cooperative game, where you choose among 4 characters and use them in different situations. Each Ptyan on the team would have its own abilities and skills. I planned to make a bunch of physics-based and logical puzzles, which would prevent the team of Ptyans from easy entrance to the town of Robots, in their quest to save their compatriots. But it turned out that a serious project of such scale would take a lot of time and effort, while I have to make some money to live for, so I had to feature cut the content and shorten the game, to make it released sooner.

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

I like strategy games, quests and FPS the most. I usually play these games a lot but, I’m not opposed to other game genres.

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

It’s hard to estimate exactly, when you work solo you plan your deadlines by yourself. Sometimes I take long pauses when working on the project if I give in to laziness, or just run out of ideas and stamina. This project took about 2 months if we talk about the exact development time.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

I cannot tell for sure. There are a lot of marvelous game designers and game development groups, but I don’t try to mimic them, I would like to find my own way.

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

Along with simply being a good hobby I would say that game creation is the most wonderful thing you can devote your skills to, especially when you decide what you want to do and how you want to do it.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

Yes, currently I’m working on a sequel called “Return to Robotron”. This time it will be an action\platformer game made in neat pixelart style with dynamic gameplay like Contra.
Thanks Genetic Factory, can’t wait for the sequel!

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This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Space Survivors by Single Button!

Space Survivors is a really creative puzzle game, where you are a spaceman who needs to find the exit in each level.

As you float around, you’ll want to collect stars- try to collect them all before you exit! There are also fans that make things more difficult for you (a little wind from a fan can really take you off-course when you’re in space!).

The neat physics and high overall quality of graphics are what make this a Flash Game Friday winner- congratulations Single Button!

Get to know Single Button

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

I am based in Russia, in the beautiful city of St.Petersburg.

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

I have done my first game about 2 months ago. You can play my other game Armageddon here.

What was your inspiration for “SpaceSurvivors”?

This question made me think a lot, but I really don’t know what inspired me to create Space Survivors.

Any major challenges or hurdles during development?

I can’t say that it was hard, I just didn’t know a lot of things. So I had to learn, and that learning process seemed to solve all of my problems.

What types of games do you like to play the most?

I like to play my own games. :)

How long is your game creation cycle?

I made Space Survivors in about 2 months.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

There are blogs of independent developers that I read often, but that is quite a big list, and I can’t highlight someone specifically.

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

I like both programming and drawing, so I enjoy the whole process of game development.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

Right now I am back to my main job, but as soon as I get a new nice idea of the game I am definitely gonna do it again. :)

© Colin Cupp for MochiLand, 2012. | Permalink | One comment

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This Week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Hotel Baron by DigiCroc!

If you like resource management games, you will really enjoy Hotel Baron.

As the game name states, you are a hotel builder. You start by selecting your plot of land to build on (different plots have different characteristics). Once you do that, you have a lump sum of borrowed money that you can use to build out your hotel’s structure, staff, and amenities.

The fun in the game is raking in the cash. When you find the right balance between supply and demand, the cash is plentiful. But things like earthquakes can throw a wrench in the works, so you have to stay alert and respond to customer feedback.

Hotel Baron is a really fun resource management game with a lot of factors that you need to pay attention to, and you are rewarded as your hotel revenue improves and gains in popularity. Congratulations DigiCroc!

Get To Know DigiCroc

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

My name is Mikko and I run a small flash/mobile game dev studio called DigiCroc, which consists of myself doing various tasks from concept design to marketing, Miikka in pixel graphics design/programming and Neil in graphics design/animation. I’m based in Espoo, Finland, a town that is famous for Nokia and Angry Birds. (and soon Hotel Baron of course ;)

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

Making, releasing and marketing games has been a great hobby for me for a long time already, started somewhere in the mid-1990′s. Before that… well, I was a kid, didn’t do anything too meaningful. :D

What was your inspiration for “Hotel Baron”?

I actually made the first design of the concept back in 2005 and some half-working prototype of it, but it never saw the light of day back then. Now obviously the inspiration for this ’2nd coming’ was this original concept, but looking further back, I think it goes back to those old school classic simulation games like some of the sim series and tycoon games, which I enjoyed playing with my friends back in the 386/486 times.

Any major challenges or hurdles during development?

Hotel Baron was a “big” production for us, so naturally there were challenges on the way, but nothing we couldn’t overcome.

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

I don’t really have a favorite genre. I try to tackle many types of games and not restrict myself on just those which I may have succeeded with before. I mostly enjoy unique concepts and making something that hasn’t been done by anyone else like that before.

As for playing games, I don’t really have the time nowadays, unfortunately. I play mostly small casual games every now and then, as well as Kinect on the Xbox. But those crazily massive never-ending Civilization sessions of my youth are quite far in the past…

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

I’m aiming for 2-3 month (=part time) cycle from design to release, so we’re talking about relatively simple and small games here. Hotel Baron, on the other hand, was perhaps quadrupled in time, but anyway. The process is rather flexible, starting from the concept, initial design and prototyping and from there to graphics production, etc, etc, testing and release. I like to emphasize the importance of post-release activities like marketing in general or publishing deals to ensure that the game attracts the largest possible audience.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

Rock stars and game developers are two different animals… but there are so many skilled people and have been in the past, I don’t even know where to start…so I won’t. :D

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

To get it finished. :) To turn the question other way around; I absolutely hate to abandon any (half-serious) project. The releasing and marketing part is obviously the most rewarding part of game making. When you have the final game in your hands which you know is fun and has that uniqueness in it, but which the larger audience is yet to see and play, I think it’s just a superb feeling to let the world know about it.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

Sure, we’re working on a couple of very promising games which will be available both on Flash and iPad at least in the coming weeks and months. More about those later when you feature them here on Mochi. ;)

Thanks Mikko, best of luck to you and the team on your upcoming games!

© Colin Cupp for MochiLand, 2012. | Permalink | 4 comments

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This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is UMAG2 by DEVM-Games!

UMAG2 is great new multiplayer game by DEVM-Games!

In this real-time multiplayer game, you get to jump in the arena and take people out. There are many options, which range from 1v1 turn-based to 4vs4 sim (which tends to be a quicker match).

This game is all about customization (and shooting, of course). You can customize your badge and your tank. As you gain XP (through wins and playing time), more customization options become available.

This is a really robust game, with live chat, clans, and even a dedicated forum. More importantly, though, is that its fun- congratulations DEVM-Games!

Get To Know DEVM-Games

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

My name is Jan Rigerl, I’ve done the technical stuff and game design for UMAG2. The graphics and sound was done by Rik Nicol. I’m currently living in Malta, a small island in southern Europe, but I’m originally from Sweden.

In creating UMAG2, I had a lot of very helpful beta testers.

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

I’ve worked with games in one way or another for about 10 years, and before that I was in school. :)

I’ve been self-employed for just over 3 years now.

What was your inspiration for “UMAG2″?

The inspiration for the UMAG games has been the old classic artillery games such as Scorched Earth, but also newer variants such as Worms. When I started on UMAG1 there wasn’t many other online multiplayer artillery games around.

Any major challenges or hurdles during development?

Floating point numbers. It’s been a real problem to get physics to synchronize perfectly between clients since the rounding of the numbers rarely but sometimes differ depending on Flash Player version, browser, operating system or CPU. It’s a problem that’s also present in UMAG1.

It’s one of those bugs that I’ve never been able to reproduce myself but I can see happens every now and then in the logs. I’ve tried a lot of different ways to solve this, during most of the development of UMAG2 I thought I had solved it, but once I started getting a larger amount of traffic it appeared in the logs again. Luckily the difference very rarely is large enough to affect the game.

Other than that I’ve had a lot of threading bugs on the server, I’ve written my own multiplayer server but I’m not very good at writing threaded code. :(

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

I like to create games that differ from what I’ve created before, but I don’t have any favorite genre. It’s going to take a long time before I make another multiplayer game though, there’s just sooo much more work than single player games.

I like RPGs a lot, just completed Mass Effect 3, but I play almost all the major types of games.

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

Differs greatly, everything from a week to 8 months.

Often the project just starts with some sort of visual look or feel that interests me, and then the game idea comes later. I try to get a playable prototype early and then go over it in iterations to improve.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

If I start writing names of studios here I’ll just forget someone really important so I’ll pass on that question. :P

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

Doing something new, finding new problems and solving them, creating a “machine” that seemingly does things by itself. And it’s a great opportunity to create a product by yourself that can be enjoyed by others.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

I’m mainly working on projects for clients now.. But I did just start on a Stage3D project which I will be working on during weekends. I haven’t decided if it will be a racing game or maybe some sort of dune buggy shooter. It’s fun to finally be able to leverage the GPU in Flash.

A small video from it in it’s current (very early) state, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hruLkg7NXTk

Thanks and congratulations again DEVM-Games- good luck with your Stage3D project!

© Colin Cupp for MochiLand, 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments

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This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Sky Defender: Joe’s Story by NSBrotherhood & Lionwood Studios!

Sky Defender: Joe’s Story is a really well-made defender-platformer with a great (if not unique) story!

You are “Joe”, a gunner on an airship in a post-apocalyptic world where civilizations now live in the sky. You have been asked by the sleezy Fargo to keep the enemy invasions at bay.

Each level comes with new challenges, as well as an opportunity for the player to earn gold and purchase upgrades. Armor and weapons are included in the upgrades, as is maintenance and other sensible items a sky captain needs.

The gameplay, design, and artwork for Sky Defender: Joe’s Story are all masterfully done in this epic defender-platformer game from NSBrotherhood and Lionwood Studios- congratulations guys!

Get to know NSBrotherhood & Lionwood Studios

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

The project was developed by two independent studios. Lionwood Studios (further named LS) provided art, design, plot and music, and NSBrotherhood (NSB) provided the code. As it always happens in such cases, both studios contributed to gameplay, design, effects etc.

Staff:

LS : 3 developers, studio is based in St.Petersburg (Russia)

NSB : 2 developers based in Tyumen  (it’s in Siberia (Russia)- you know, where bears walking around the streets with samovars in their paws).

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

LS: Lionwood Studios staff all come from the big game industry with 12 years of total experience. Unfortunately, we have to admit we hadn’t created anything in this industry to be proud of before we founded Lionwood Studios. We realized it was time to change. It was time for children to leave the parents. We had accumulated enough experience in the big industry and decided to start our own business. And Lionwood Studios is the result of that.

NSB: We started about 4 years ago with dress up and girls’ games. But we got tired of them even though they generated a good amount of revenue. We started developing more complicated games, like MMOs, and now we mostly create action and defense games.

What was your inspiration for “Sky Defender: Joe’s Story”?

LS: Endless blue sky. Greediness of the modern people. This topic took shape in the generalized character of Fargo, a crook and flashman who is the King’s adviser. In the end of the game he has to make a choice. And of course everything we do is inspired by the Fallout series. All our projects have post-apocalyptic themes.

NSB: Well, I wanted to create something to get your attention and contact me at last. And it f-ing happened! Colin, when will you send me a T-shirt? :D I want a T-shirt from Mochimedia!

Any major challenges or hurdles during development?

LS: We are a bit cramped by Flash technology. We’d like to have more objects on screen, more exciting effects. Plus we made some mistakes in game design that made our players very angry. I know you all just hate the sheep! We promise to improve. Honestly.

NSB: Well, it was the first time for me to work with a different artist, this was our first mutual project that was developed in different cities and it kept getting delayed. This was a big challenge. And those rotten sheep! They annoyed us as much as they annoyed you!

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

LS: We dream of RPG and quests. But in fact, we’d like to try various genres. To experiment without looking back at risks and budgets. To create games for the sake of games and the players. Not for money. The latter is the approach of the big industry that we left. We’d like to outperform our parents. At least, in something.

NSB: We love to create action-defense games in different mechanic of gameplay. We also like to experiment.

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

LS & NSB: 6 months. Although, it took more time for this game to reach the players due to reasons beyond our control. It took over a year. This was our longest project. As for the process- it’s very simple: we wake up and work hard all day long. There is a Russian saying, “You cannot catch a fish without making an effort”. When making games, it’s not just a fish but the whole fish shoal.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

LS: A day won’t be enough to name all the game developers that are worth mentioning. Here are the ones that I remembered first – Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, Jason D. Anderson, André Rocques, Louis-Marie Rocques, Michel Pernot, Jakub Dvorski, Eric Chahi, Benoît Sokal, Harvey Smith. There are much more of them, but I realize that no one will be too excited to read the list of thousands of names.

NSB: Everyone knows these cool guys. Obviously, I’d say Shigeru Miyamoto, Gabe Newell, Tim Schafer, John Carmack and Markus “Notch” Persson. If we speak of Flash developers, these are: Johnny-K, Anton Karlov, Juicy Beast Studios, Adultswim, Berzerk Studio, Adam Atomic, Nitrome.

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

LS: To start. To create. To imagine the new world and build it brick by brick. Get to the first prototype and rejoice at first success. To crash on the bed exhausted at the end of the working day. To absorb tons of coffee. Our job is what we enjoy the most. The only drawback is that there are only 24 hours in a day, and you need to sleep for 6-8 hours of it.

NSB: We are keen on creating and inventing, that’s why we enjoy the first stages of game creation the most. To think up an idea, to implement it, and to see if it works out.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

LS: Yes, of course. Several projects are in development now.

NSB: Yes, we do!

Congratulations again NSBrotherhood and Lionwood Studios! T-shirts are coming to those who were promised them! :)

© Colin Cupp for MochiLand, 2012. | Permalink | One comment

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This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Hot Tub Heist by BeefJack Studio!

Hot Tub Heist is a deceptively fun game! Your character is a cheesy-cool guy with awesome hair hanging out in a hot tub on the roof…you know, as only cheesy cool guys with awesome hair can do.

The problem is, there is an alien invasion going on. You goal in each level is to evade the aliens coming down in their ships above by climbing down the building and running into the subway where they cannot follow.

Seems simple enough, right? Well, naturally, as you progress through each level the level of difficulty goes up. In their panic, as you get close to people they end up clinging on to you for dear life- so you have to kick them off. You can also collect coins as you descend to buy stuff.

Hot Tub Heist is fun game with a simple mechanic- just go down. The characters and themes make it stand out, with a nice mix of humor and fun gameplay. Congratulations BeefJack Studio!

Get To Know BeefJack Studio

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

I’m the Shaun the Producer who is also the Designer on some projects. Roland is our core Designer who is also a party animal on all projects. We have 5 people in the team at the moment with artists and coders filling the other spots. We’re based in lovely London, UK.

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

We’ve been making flash games for 2 years now, but we’d been working on various game projects before we jumped to flash. Some of our early projects never saw the light of day but it has all been a great learning experience of understanding what elements make a great game.

What was your inspiration for “Hot Tub”?

We got our inspiration from a LittleBigPlanet community level (Bomb Survival). We thought we could do something similar but with an interesting twist.

Any major challenges or hurdles during development?

Our first idea was called bomb survival where you had to drop bombs to lower yourself through the level. It turned out the game was a bit too heavy for flash (used radius and collision which was problematic)so we switched to a tower building to improve performance which was built using square. Sourcing some good background music was tricky as a finishing touch. We wanted to give the game a real 8-bit flavor whilst also making it feel very modern and relevant for today’s gamer tastes.

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

We enjoy the flexibility that flash offers us as you can concept games very quickly. This means we can spend time brainstorming trying new and crazy game ideas across a variety of genres. Half of the fun for us is understanding what makes a particular game fun to play and refining it. We are all pretty dedicated gamers at heart, so as long as the game idea has to have enough depth and scope to keep us engaged were happy. For online games, I’m pretty into strategy games, platformers and the odd Arthouse game. In terms of console gaming, Roland is on Dark Souls at the moment and I’ve currently got Skyrim in the Xbox.

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

Games can tend to take us around 4-6 months start to finish, sometimes with a lot of testing and re-tweaking along the way. We’ll first discuss ideas, once we have a few good ones, we’ll try to build on that core idea exploring where it could go. Once we’ve all happy on what type of game we’re building and explored possibilities, we’ll create a prototype as quickly as possible to get a feel for the game and check for flaws in design. After that we slowly build each key area of the game focused towards the gameplay. A lot time is spent playing the game, understanding what makes this fun (or what doesn’t) adapting our plan if necessary.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

Hmmm, rock stars maybe not quite yet, but we are all big fans of developers Longanimals and Juicy Beast Studios! On other platforms PixelJunk are pretty impressive they don’t seem to be able to make a bad game right now.

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

Creating the crazy ideas, concepts, and prototyping phase. It’s the time when everyone is buzzing with excitement and anticipation. It’s often swiftly followed by the crushing reality of technical limitations, flawed design, blown budgets and lots of problem solving to make things work. Ignorance is bliss though.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

Yes, yes we do. :)

Thanks Shaun and Roland, and congratulations again!

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This week’s Flash Game Friday winner is Hands of War Tower Defense by Axis Games!

Hands of War TD is a fun, well-made tower defense game!

You begin with a really in-depth backstory describing a bit of the history of Tempor and the state of things. Essentially, the kingdom has grown weak and susceptible to enemy attack. That is where you come in.

You are the last hero of Tempor, and it is your duty to fend off the enemy swarm. You use tower defense strategy to defeat your enemies and advance through the kingdom, re-uniting as you go. The more levels you complete, the more experience you gain. This helps you to unlock new towers as well as gain points that you can use to increase your skill levels.

Hands of War Tower Defense is a great tower defense game. For that reason alone it is deserving, but the story, game design, mechanics, and attention to detail make it an obvious choice for Flash Game Friday. Congratulations Axis Games!

Get To Know Danny of Axis Games

Tell me about yourself- how many people are on your team? Where are you based?

I am 27-years old and work as a high school programming teacher.  I’ve got a beautiful wife, two-year old son, and a new daughter due this July.  Axis Games is based out of Charlotte, NC and we’ve got a group of 6 members who participate in the design of a game in varying degrees.  What makes our development team so great is how close we are.  Most of us are either family or have been close friends for 20+ years.  We play MMOs together, eat together, and share a passion for great games and stories.  Broken down, I have a team of two fantastic writers who help with the creation of storylines and quests, and a group of three who aid in the design and development of ideas, characters, abilities and everything else that goes along with creating a game.  The actual programming and creating of the game in Flash falls to me.  The graphics, voice-acting and music are all done by outside companies.

How long have you been making games? What did you do before?

I made my first game my senior year of high school in 2003.  It was called Capture the Flag, and it was bad!  I had no formal programming or game design education and had to teach myself Flash and ActionScript from a book (Jobe Makar’s Flash Game Design Demystified). The book was fantastic and I couldn’t have gotten started without it.  I spent the next few years in college pursuing an education degree and making bad games. I finally got tired of making games that people hated and decided to take it more serious.  I scraped together some money, hired an artist, and made Hands of War in 2007.

What was your inspiration for “Hands of War Tower Defense”?

Players really wanted to know what happened after Hands of War 2.  Tempor was in ruins following the second civil war, and I felt like I could tell the story of what happened next through a Tower Defense game better than I could through an RPG.

Any major challenges or hurdles during development?

The major challenge in developing this game was trying to take the game features that players really liked from Hands of War RPG series and implement them into a different genre.  On top of that, because there are so many great tower defense games out there, I knew people would naturally compare this game to all the others.

What types of games do you like to create the most? What types of games do you like to play the most?

RPGs – especially ones based in Medieval/Fantasy worlds!  I love great stories, and RPGs allow them to be told in an interactive environment.

How long is your game creation cycle? What is your process?

It typically takes 6-9 months from inception to final product.  The process involves first brainstorming and creating a design document, then creating, testing and refining the game.

Are there any game developers that you admire or consider “rock stars”?

I love the GemCraft series, and got a lot of inspiration from those guys on Hands of War TD.  I’m also a big fan of John (jmtb02) over at Armor Games.  His elephant games are so creative.

What is it about making a new game that you enjoy most?

Taking a blank, white screen and making something that people can lose themselves in for hours.  I love telling stories of heroism and bravery, and think it’s really cool that players can actually take part in them through a game.

Do you have any hot projects you’re working on right now?

We’re currently in the process of designing Hands of War 3.  The Axis Games community put forth a lot of great ideas and we couldn’t resist continuing the story.  Players can follow the development of the game in the Beta Testing section of our forums here - www.axis-games.com/forums.

Thanks Danny, and congratulations on winning Flash Game Friday!

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