We chose Zombie Exploder by Javi Hernandez this week as the Flash Game Friday Winner!

We chose this game because it has great graphics, good game mechanics, and hey- its got zombies!  We will feature Zombie Exploder on the MochiGames homepage for the next week, as well as feature it in our publisher feed.  This is a really fun game and we suggest you give it a try- you’ll get hooked!  Congrats Javi!

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Make sure to check out Adult Swim’s newest release on the Mochi Network: Mountain Maniac! You take the role of a man on top of a mountain with a hammer, showering the town below with boulders in hopes of causing mass destruction while building up your multiplier. A fun mix of retro graphics and sounds, this humorous romp of pure rage brings a good time.

Publishers, I’m sure your players will love this gem on your site. This game is Mochi Leaderboard Enabled!

Play the Game: Mountain Maniac

© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments

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The reason why this game has piqued the interest of Mr. Shen is that it is very different from many of the other Flash games we see everyday. It has taken the addictive gameplay of stat building and PvP interactions we have seen in social games like Mafia Wars or Mobsters and brought it to Flash. In addition to that, the game is also available for your iPhone and you can link the accounts (MochiGames and iPhone) together! Play in your browser or play on the go, it’s your choice.

It’s truly a new experience that we haven’t seen much of and I truly hope it’s the start of further broadening the Flash game experience to all audiences.

If you’ll excuse me, I have a nearby kingdom to spy on.

Play the Game: Kingdoms at War

© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments

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I’m sure you’ve all been speculating about what the newest monthly contest theme was going to be. Well, here it is: Fairytale Nights. This month’s theme is more of a theme-theme as opposed to a game mechanic theme. It is a bit less conformed in terms of game mechanic structure, but it should hopefully allow those to tap into fairytale stories and reimagine them in a game setting.

Theme: Fairytale / Nursery Rhyme Game

Your game must use some kind of fairytale or nursery rhyme character as the main focus. The goal in this is to provide a very common launchpad in terms of getting over writer’s block. I also hope it will push a developer to creatively think about how to make something we all know into an actual gaming experience, without falling into the pits of what we’ve come to know as “licensed game shoddiness”. Also, it encourages people to go and read again, looking back at the things that sparked our imaginations as children.

Resources:

It is very important that you do not misinterpret this theme as remaking your favorite Disney movie or creating a Flash fighting game of all the Disney Princesses (though that would be fun to see). Many of these stories are passed down as folk tales, verbally and so on and these are the ones you should be referencing. Many stories are currently in the public domain and that is where I emphasize you to take your inspiration from.

• Free Public Domain – Online versions of works by the Brothers Grimm as well as Hans Christian Andersen.
• Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes – Online versions of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.
• Fairytale Fights – Warning for violent content within. This is the game that really sparked the idea. I felt some of the ideas were executed quite well and would love to see what you can come up with.
• Fables – One of the best comic series out there that has also used this tactic of creating a world with fairytale characters as the main protagonists and antagonists.

Rules

• Fairytale Theme – Your game must have some kind of fairy tale character as its main focus.
• Version Control – The game must use the Mochimedia Version Control system.
• Distribution Enabled – We want these games to be played by everyone, so the game has to be Distribution Enabled.
• Tag/Keyword Your Game – In order to properly find your game, you must tag it “jan2010-contest” without the quotes.

Prizes

• Grand Prize Winner: $350
• Runner Up: $100
• Most Creative Use of Fairytale Character(s): $50

Deadline: January 29th, 2010 – 11:59PM PST

If you have any questions, comments, or would like to discuss the “WHY, MR. SHEN?” of it, please feel free to contact me on the forums or via e-mail.

© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments

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Without further ado, here are your winners!

Winner and Runner Up (x2)

Winner: Sixty Seconds to Live

I remember experiencing this game for the first time. It was an “escape the room” type game, but with a time limit and an actual sense of urgency. The different elements within the game and how you were required to interact with them felt refreshing. I found myself playing the game over and over again, getting just a little further, hoping to figure out a way to make it out alive. The execution was also well done, especially the sound. It’s the careful balance of these things that emphasized the theme, making a good game great.

Runner Up: Ononmin

Ononmin is a game that doesn’t test you on how fast you can frantically move the mouse or how fast you can click. Actually, it ultimately hurts your score to do this. Having the game weigh speed with careful decisions of where to shoot made it for a very rewarding experience. What was even more rewarding was getting a shot to bounce off multiple ways, barely missing an obstacle. The minimalistic graphics suited the game well and didn’t distract.

Runner Up: Slash ‘Em All

Slash ‘Em All is a game that has some very technically impressive controls and interactive pieces. The actual feeling of the slashing as well as the steady increase of difficulty over time made it all a very fun game to play. It never got frustrating. After the 60 seconds were up, I really was ready to play again.

I’d like to congratulate all the winners and all the developers who participated in this month’s contest! It was a fantastic experiment and I’m glad that it turned out so well. Due to its positive reception, we will be running a contest for December and I will have this theme up very soon! Oh, and before I forget! I wanted to give special recognition to a few games in the contest!

Other Games to Note!

Best use of MC Hammer Award: Hammertime in 60 Seconds

This game had me and the rest of the company rolling in laughter. Why the heck is MC Hammer riding a golf cart? Why is the last boss (I won’t say as to not spoil anything), well, the last boss? The proper answer to those questions is: why not? Stop. Hammertime.

Most Inadvertently Funny Rendering of a Person Award: Doodle Bugs

Look at this guy! He’s so happy! Look at the Doodle Bug you have to squish too! There’s so much to take in that it’ll likely set your eyes on fire.

Best Use of Moldy Produce: You’re A Pig

I have yet to see a game that uses a walking, eating and vomiting mechanic as good as this one. Avoid the moldy produce! What also is quite funny is the original game name: “Eat Hurl Eat”. It’s like “Home Sweet Home”, but better.

© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments

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With the advent of the new monthly contest, Flash Game Friday went away. I decided, instead, to at least use these Fridays to showcase a few games of note that caught my fancy.

Gazzoline Deluxe

Cerebral Games brings this fantastic resource management game into the system where you take the role of a gas station attendant, filling up tanks, processing money and getting refreshments for customers. The “Deluxe” essentially refers to a somewhat expanded version of the original Gazzoline.

The game does seem slightly strange to me, but only because I live in California. I pump my own gas and get my own cheap coffee. I hear that in Oregon there are full-service gas stations, which makes me feel slightly greener with jealousy (on top of their lack of sales tax).

Play: Gazzoline Deluxe

RIFT

Here you have a great platforming puzzle game where you take the role of a robot in search of cake for its master. It has a nice tinge of humor and pixel graphical goodness that makes this another game of note. I just like how everything was presented and the puzzles challenge both the brain and dexterity of those fingers of yours.

I particularly liked the speech bubbles too. It’s like playing an 8-bit comic.

Play: RIFT

Side Effect

If you take the production value of a highly polished casual game, combine it with the look of Blokus (a fantastic board game) and then shake it all up in a tumbler of solitaire puzzle game, you’d get Side Effect. It’s one of those experiences that grabs your attention because of how pretty it looks, but keeps you there because the rules are quick to pick up.

There’s a lot going on in this game and I really can’t emphasize that enough. Definitely check it out.

Play: Side Effect

© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2009. | Permalink | One comment

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I’m sure you’ve all been speculating about what the new monthly contest theme was going to be. Well, here it is: 60 Seconds to Fame. More specifically, I want you to create a game that lasts no more than 60 seconds long. Let me explain and provide some examples that range many genres of why I decided on this theme.

Theme: 60-Second Game

Your game must be over/finished and ready for a score submission in 60 seconds or less. It does not matter how good you are in the game, it will still end in 60 seconds or less. The goal in these types of games is to push a user to get better, not so they can last longer, but rather get more points within that same time limit. It’s to spark the “oh, I get it,” or, “Maybe if I tried this…” in the player. Also, it’s to force a developer to stick to their idea without the fear of feature creep, which is often times a key factor in causing your game to not be completed. Here are some examples of games and game series that utilize this theme very well:

• Bejeweled Blitz – You have 60 seconds to get as many points as possible in the classic Match-3 setting. The frantic pace and balancing “best combo” vs. “blast some gems because you have 15 seconds left” is addictive, urging someone to try again.
• Wario Ware Series – This series is from Nintendo. It’s a console/handheld title that essentially has you playing microgame after microgame where each game lasts roughly 3-5 seconds a piece. You try to get through as many as you can before time is up or you run out of lives.
• Cursor Chaos – Similar to the Wario Ware games, you try to finish as many games as you can. The limitation in this game is lives, but you often don’t see yourself playing for more than a minute anyway. It’s a concept that follows in the essence of 60 seconds, but not exactly.
• Vending Machine Champ – You have 20 seconds a round to rough up a vending machine as much as possible, breaking its front window to get at the delicious innards. An example of fast gameplay, humor and aesthetic appeal.
• Bokorin – This PC indie title was created by Ikiki, which essentially places you as an individual who must damage other individuals as much as possible within 60 seconds. Simple graphics, yet an engaging experience of “Ha! Ha! What’s going on?”, makes this one a great example. After you give it a go, refer to this video to show you how it’s really done.
• Half-Minute Hero – This PSP game essentially jams an entire RPG into 30 seconds. The humor, style and gameplay are all fantastic, making an amazingly memorable experience. This would actually be the game that inspired me the most to choose this theme.

Rules

• 60 Second Time Limit – Your game, not including menus/cut-scenes/help dialogue boxes/etc., cannot last longer than 60 seconds. I have mentioned “60 seconds or less”. This is for those games that also want to incorporate lives. If you choose this path, it’s a 60 second game or lose all your lives, whichever comes first.
• Version Control – The game must use the Mochimedia Version Control system.
• Distribution Enabled – We want these games to be played by everyone, so the game has to be Distribution Enabled.
• Leaderboards – Your game must use the Mochimedia Leaderboards and it must auto-submit when the game is over. You want to show off to your friends how much better you are at this game anyway, right?
• Tag Your Game – In order to properly find your game, you must tag it “nov2009-contest” without the quotes.

Prizes

• Grand Prize Winner: $400
• Honorable Mention (x2): $50 each

Deadline: December 4th, 2009 – 11:59PM PST

If you have any questions, comments, or would like to discuss the “WHY, MR. SHEN?” of it, please feel free to contact me on the forums or via e-mail.

© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2009. | Permalink | 21 comments

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What was Flash Game Friday?

For those who have floated around the Mochimedia forums for some time, you are probably familiar with Flash Game Friday. It was a little thing we ran in the office where we awarded one game a week a $100 prize for being awesome. There were no other rules. It was simply the staff choosing something they really enjoyed. We’ve decided to change this into something different.

What has FGF changed into?

The original Flash Game Friday has now become a monthly contest! Developers will have one month to develop a game based on the theme and any other rules that we have applied, such as using Leaderboards. There will be no “opt in” rules or anything else that may confuse someone when trying to enter the competition (a few developers had trouble in the past).

What do I win?

Since the monthly contest is four weeks of development time coupled with the fact that we like nice round numbers, the monthly prize is $500. There will only be one winner. The winner will be chosen from the eligible games by the Mochi staff.

Why is this happening to me? Is this real life?

Indeed, it is very real. I thought about what we could do as a company to continue to fuel your creativity. I figured that if we were able to provide a theme and a deadline, then that would be a nice motivator to get you guys developing during the lulls of “my next big project”. In the end, what you’ll have on your hands, regardless of winning, is another game that you created to be put in your portfolio. Hopefully you’ll have fun and you can use this opportunity to challenge yourself as a developer and try something new. And if you do win, you can put a payment down on a new Sleep Number bed for your room. I hear those things are great.

I’m game. How do I start?

Wait for details to come out this Friday, November 6th, 2009. We will run the month contest to first Friday of December. I’ll have a new post here as well as on the forum to remind everyone very soon.

Any hints on the theme?

I can tell you that it’s not going to be dress-up game… yet. Initiate collective groan and my maniacal laughter.

© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments

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© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments

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Play the Game: The Wizard’s Notebook
Developer: Turtlesoup

© Alexander Shen for MochiLand, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments

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