Slime Salad :: Game Design

Dragon Bustier (Shizuma)

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:54:41 +0000

Posted by Shizuma in Games

8-Bit Competition 2010.

This is a dungeon grinder, simply. Go through the floors and defeat the dragon, there are 4 heroes, many weapons and several spells, monsters, You know... things RPG's supposedly have.


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Bell of Chaos (James Paige)

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:52:03 +0000

Posted by James Paige in Games

Bell Of Chaos
(C) Copyright 2010 James Paige
Music by Nigel "Jabbercat" McBride

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Created for the OHRRPGCE 2010 8-bit contest.

1st Demo release. Approx. 30 minutes of gameplay.
The current demo ends when you learn the Ashnan's Flail ability.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having failed in his quest for immortality, King Gilgamesh has
declared war upon the gods and is building a Tower to Heaven on
the plain of Babel. The gods place a powerful curse in a bronze
bell, and entrust it to one young Demigoddess. She must carry
the Bell of Chaos to the top of the tower and ring it to complete
the curse and topple the tower.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source code and game data are GPL. See LICENSE.txt


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Crystal Chasers (Mogri)

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:51:55 +0000

Posted by Mogri in Games

Three young adventurers who seek the power of the crystals. One enemy with hidden motives who tries to stop them.

Crystal Chasers is an RPG unlike any you've played before.

Features:
- Customize your party with 16 unique job classes
- Explore dungeons filled with puzzles and treasure
- Save and shop anywhere
- No random encounters
- Auto-heal 50% after every battle


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Horse Game (Surlaw)

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:44:33 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Games

HORSE GAME

A Hamster Republic Engine Video Game released in the year of Lord God 2010. Visit superwalrusland.com for more worship schedules.

In this game you must find the horse. Hello! I am your host. I am Surlaw. I watch you as you play the Horse Game and make sure you do not get out of control. Control is the most important part of the plan. Control and obedience.

You will explore mazes and solve puzzles in pursuit of a wonderful horse. Can you find the horse?? Time will tell.

The game automatically saves your progress at the start of each level. If you are weak and tired, and can quit and come back later. If your situation becomes impossible, press that horrible ESC. key on your keyboard and select Retry.

Use the arrow keys to move your body to the groovy beat. Press the Enter key to connect with your fellow prisoners.

ENJOY HORSE GAME!!


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Carson and the Quest for Color (Puzzle)

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 01:06:30 +0000

Posted by Puzzle in Games

Our submission to the 8-bit contest.


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HamsterSpeak #35 Online (Surlaw)

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:49:52 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

http://superwalrusland.com/ohr/issue35/cover.html

Meatballsub helps provide a beefy issue this month, and puppets have their moment of glory. Three years down, X to go.


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Game of the Month - April voting/May nominations (Mogri)

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:05:21 +0000

Posted by Mogri in Front Page

March's winner

Congratulations to Spoonweaver! Slimes[/url] is March's Game of the Month.

April voting

Vote now for the April 2010 Game of the Month!

The following games have been omitted from voting at the author's request:
- Phantom Tactics
- Village People: The Video Game
- Tightfloss Maiden

You are free to re-nominate any of the above games, but they will not make the ballot unless circumstances change.

May nominations

If your favorite game isn't on the poll (or even if it is), nominate it for next month's! It only takes two nominations to put a game on the ballot. You can nominate up to three games.

Remember, any game is eligible -- it doesn't have to be new. The only restriction is that the game has to be hosted on Slime Salad and the game cannot have already been Game of the Month (even if it has been updated since).

Voting and nominations end on the 25th.


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OHR Magazine Memories (Surlaw)

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:22:16 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

MBS is writing a history of OHR magazines for the next HamsterSpeak, and I think it would be enhanced by some quotes from the community. So, let's hear some memories! Leave me some brief thoughts (a couple of paragraphs?) on the best, the worst, or the simply bizarre parts of OHR Monthly, Septaweekly, and OHR Weekly. Either e-mail or respond here, either works.


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Village People: The Video Game (Pepsi Ranger)

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:47:57 +0000

Posted by Pepsi Ranger in Reviews

Note: This is an extended edition of my review for the contest version last year. This will include comments about the second area.

What can be said about a game that was created for a contest that asked, �What is Love?� How can one fairly judge a game that stars the beloved heroes of the disco era, especially when a false opinion may jeopardize history as we know it? There�s really only one way to do this, and that�s to recognize what this game really is. It�s the game that gives the pertinent advice: �Young man, there�s no need to feel down.�

Yes, it�s a game not only about brotherly love, but also about having a good time. And thus it makes sense that the hero of our story, Police Chief, feels down when his brothers vanish. But never fear, for he will search to the ends of San Francisco and beyond to find them, and he will make darn sure to have a good time in the meantime.

He will explore the YMCA. He will speak with ducks. He will search trashcans and steal cars. He will do whatever he must to find those he considers comrades. And he�ll do it with style, baby.

What method of madness will Police Chief employ to ensure his victory? Well, he�ll talk to people, mostly. And in doing so, he will unlock various branches around San Francisco, leading either to the desert, into the sewers, or into places that Surlaw has yet to invent, but will hopefully do so soon. And whom will he find at the end of those branches? Well, he�ll find his brothers. Who else?

And herein lies the charm.

In most games, the hero has to beat the boss in order to rescue the damsel or Village Person in distress. But not so here, oh no. In Village People: The Video Game, Police Chief�s rescued buddy will take up a hatchet or a nightstick (or whatever the player may decide to give him), and help the Chief take down the boss. It�s a great, and somewhat realistic technique that many, if not most games fail to implement or experiment with. And the great thing about this method is that, regardless of the order that the player chooses to tackle a stage (like what one does in the Mega Man series, for example), the bosses will increase in strength after each completed level, ensuring that the player has a challenge ahead of him no matter how many brothers he saves. Again, most OHR games fail to accomplish or even attempt this.

The game captures Surlaw�s unique Walthrosian art style perfectly and it does a nice job tying itself into the Surlaw Armageddon story line. And battles have that same tolerable mix of random battle SPACEBAR-mashing and boss battles that force you to think about your choices.

But the music, naturally, is what makes this game what it is. It�s basically the RPG tribute video to the Village People�s anthology of classics. It actually goes a step beyond MTV, VH1, and other related visual media because you don�t have to watch the performance. You can play it. And you don�t need a fake guitar to do it. And it comes with a story. And there are ducks. And it�s an all around good time.

This game also rewards exploration and experimentation. Not sure whether you should talk to that duck? Talk to it anyway. What�s that thing hiding up in the tree? How about climbing up there and finding out? What happens if you equip that disco ball? Well, there�s only one way to find out. Yes, many things are there merely for flavor, but it�s the flavor that makes a game taste good, so why don�t you take a bite?

Hopefully Surlaw will finish it.

Village People: The Video Game�s Thought of the Day:

�If you dress to impress, you might find yourself on an album cover someday.�

Village People: The Video Game�s Yearbook Quote:

�Why waste your time at the gym when you could�ve spent class time at the YMCA, baby?�


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lol, games (Fieron)

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:30:32 +0000

Posted by Fieron in Games

just a couple of games i did in a single download yay!
some people i know wanted to play them cause they thought the games looked good so i'm just sharing this


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Scarlet demo (Fieron)

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:04:25 +0000

Posted by Fieron in Games

in this game you play as scarlet in this difficult "i want to be the guy" style game


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2010 OHR 8-Bit Contest! (Meatballsub)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:50:44 +0000

Posted by Meatballsub in Front Page

Ok guys, I know it is sudden, but I had to do it. I just thought about an idea for a game that needs to be done, now. I could have stewed on it for a couple of months, brewing over the ideas and figuring out the design, but that wouldn't be fair. I want the playing field to be level, which is why the contest is officially a GO.

CONTEST SUMMARY:

The 2010 OHR 8-bit contest has officially begun! This contest will last from Saturday, February 6th (12AM EST) until Friday, March 5th (11:59 PM EST). That is four weeks, which should be plenty of time for anyone to participate if they would like to do so.

Entries MUST be submitted before Saturday, March 6th or they will not be considered for the voting period and eligible for prizes.

CONTEST RULES:

- Each contestant will be able to make their own custom 16-color master palette.

- You may use four max colors per map tile and portrait graphics

- You may use three max colors per walkabout, hero and enemy sprites, attacks and weapon graphics.

- You may use 16 max colors per battle/cutscene/title backdrop

- All of these colors must come from your single 16-color master palette. Failure to do so will likely get you disqualified.

- Any sound effects or music, in any format, are accepted.

- You may work alone or with partner(s)

- There are no specific themes that you must implement in your game. Feel free to make a standard RPG, sidescroller, or whatever works best for your game and ideas.

- Lighting fade-in/out scripts are acceptable

- Stacking sprites are acceptable as long as they don't go over the four color sprite limit

- Layers are acceptable but should not exceed the four color max per tile limit. In other words, you can have three layers but you still can only use four colors per tile total.

- The use of npcs as inanimate objects or decor to exceed the four color per tile limit is not acceptable. Don't do it.

Follow the above rules, and create anything you would like. There are no bonus themes this year. I want the playing field to be as level as possible for everyone.

VOTING:

Voting will begin on Monday, March 8th and end on Monday, March 29th. The entire community is welcome to vote during this time. The entries will be posted in a thread on Slime Salad and Castle Paradox. Once you have decided on your vote, you should send it VIA PM to Meatballsub on CP or SS, or you may email me at mballsub@gmail.com. DO NOT post your votes in the voting thread. It's not hard sending them to me, and it keeps the scores confidential. Ignore this and I will ignore your votes.

VOTING RULES:

- Vote for your three most favorite games. You number one will equal three points, two = two, and third will be for one point.

- You MAY NOT vote for your own game

- Votes MUST be submitted via PM on Castle Paradox or Slime Salad. You
may also mail your votes to me at mballsub@gmail.com.

The results will be posted in the March issue of Hamsterspeak (#36).

PRIZES:

1st Place - $50 via check or Paypal

2nd Place - $25 via check or Paypal

3rd Place - $5 + a massive, multi-game review of all of your games. I will write this up and submit it for the next Hamsterspeak magazine.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Good luck!

Moderators/admins, if you would be so kind as to Front Page this sucker, that would be much appreciated.


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HamsterSpeak #34 Online (Surlaw)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:28:46 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

http://superwalrusland.com/ohr/issue34/cover.html

I'm sure there are errors. The House Heroes review came really last minute, so I had to rush things in order to get this online tonight. Lots of reviews. Lots of beef. Enjoy.


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Game of the Month - March voting/April nominations (Mogri)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:24:47 +0000

Posted by Mogri in Front Page

March voting

Vote now for the March 2010 Game of the Month!

The following games have been omitted from voting at the author's request:
- Phantom Tactics
- Village People: The Video Game

Sleepover received one nomination, but it is not on the Slime Salad game list.

You are free to re-nominate any of the above games, but they will not make the ballot unless circumstances change.

April nominations

If your favorite game isn't on the poll (or even if it is), nominate it for next month's! It only takes two nominations to put a game on the ballot. You can nominate up to three games.

Remember, any game is eligible -- it doesn't have to be new. The only restriction is that the game has to be hosted on Slime Salad and the game cannot have already been Game of the Month (even if it has been updated since).

Voting and nominations end on the 25th.


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Game of the Month - March nominations (Mogri)

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:23:06 +0000

Posted by Mogri in Front Page

The Game of the Month is a new feature that I'd like to start up here. Each month, the site will feature a game, to be selected by all of you, putting it on the front page and in a special announcement box on the gamelist. Basically, this is our way of saying, "Here is a game that you should play!"

How it will work
Each month, we'll take nominations for the next month's poll. Any game that receives a nomination from at least two people is eligible, and nominations are open for the entire voting period. Anyone can nominate up to 3 games.

The poll itself will decide what the next month's Game of the Month will be. It will close on the 25th of each month; at that point, the next month's Game of the Month and nominees have been decided and the new poll will be posted within a week.

Again, any game is eligible -- it doesn't have to be new. The only restriction is that the game has to be hosted on Slime Salad and the game cannot have already been Game of the Month (even if it has been updated since).

I realize this is late in the month to announce this, but I'd like to get nominations for March's Game of the Month (i.e. for a February poll). If we don't get at least three games on the poll, I'll extend nominations a few days, but I think we can manage that.

I will start by nominating Don't Eat Soap![/url], Slimes![/url], and Bob the Hamster in the Crypt of Baconthulhu[/url], the site's highest-rated games.


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HamsterSpeak #35 Collage (Surlaw)

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:20:13 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

Good evening pig people. As you may know, with the release of HS#35, we will be celebrating three full years of issues. I want to do something fun that everyone can contribute to, and I remembered that way back in like 2001, we had a community collage, where people drew characters from their games and all of the images were assembled into one massive collage.

I'd like to try to do something like this for the anniversary issue, as a big art insert.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to join in. All you have to do is submit your art before February 20th, so I have time to compile them into one image. Some sort of background will be added by me.

The rules:

-You may draw as many characters as you like. They do not need to be from your own game.
-Please let me know the names of the characters you drew and what game they're from.
-Your picture should have no background of its own. This will be filled in when they're all compiled. If you can, save your image with a transparent background.
-Pictures should be "work safe."
-Pictures can be hand drawn or digital, either way's fine. Sprites are fine. I'd prefer a mix of mediums.
-Don't use a format with image quality loss (compressed JPG).
-Images can be submitted in these threads, via PM, or via e-mail to me.
-Multiple people can draw the same characters.

Feel free to ask any questions here, and let's start the art!


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OHR Game of the Year 2009 (Surlaw)

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:55:11 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

WHAT
It's that time again; the time in which we gloat about how great the games we released this year were. My count is 76 released games this year, counting updates to games from previous years, but not counting multiple releases of the same games in one year. The goal here is to highlight the absolute best of 2009, in various categories.

WHEN
Voting begins now and goes until the last week of February, if I get enough responses. I want to be able to publish the results in the March HamsterSpeak.

GAMES?
"I haven't played any of these games yet!" Well, you've got about a month and a half to play some. How do you know which ones are worth playing? That's up to these threads. Even if you're not ready to officially vote yet, discuss and nominate your favorite games of the year. Let people know what's worth checking out.

HOW
Votes can be submitted either by PM or by responding to this thread. I think that posting in the thread is good, as it will help remind people of what was fun this year, and maybe inspire people to try a few new games. I will tally votes near the end of February.

Vote for your favorite five to ten games in the Game of the Year category. Vote for your favorite two to five in the sub-categories. Your first through third place picks in the main category will receive bonus points, first getting three extra, second getting two, and third getting one extra point in the overall standings. In the sub-category votes, only your first pick will receive bonus points.

You CAN vote for your own games, but those games will not receive bonus points. Bonus points will be given to the highest ranked games in your vote that weren't made by you. When voting, specify if you worked on the game in question. Use full titles when voting. Don't have tied votes in your submission. Votes can be changed up until the deadline if you play some new games and change your mind.

WHAT ARE THEY
These are the games released/updated in 2009:

[<3] by Twin Hamster
A Shot In The Dark by Kingston C. Rockwell
A Very Funkotronic X-mas by Spoon Weaver
Adventures of Astroman by Stewie
BABIES (vs) ROBOTS!!! by Spoonweaver
Blasted Earth by Blasted Earth
Bloodlust (Complete) by Only One in All
Bob the Hamster in the Crypt of Baconthulhu by James Paige
Buelle: The Lance's Tale, (0.5)* Tech Demo by Twin Hamster
Dawn by Blue Train
Don't Eat Soap by James Paige
Do You Want to be a Hero? by Mogri
Dragon Ball Z by Awful Waffle
Entrepreneur: The Beginning by Pepsi Ranger
Fall Be Kind by Blue Train and The Mad Cacti
Gato Sucio Special Edition by Paul Harrington
Genesis by Rebecca & Taylor Bair
Gohrillas by Mogri
House Escape by Spoon Weaver
Hydration 2: Oasis by Gizmog
Indigo by Blue Train
Kana Learning by Ysoft
KING OF GOURMET: FEAST FOR YOUR LIFE by Hachi-Roku and Gizmog
Legend of the Omni-sphere by Pastadevil
Legend of Zelda: Reptilian Warlord by Binoal
Legends Of Nedaria by NeoSpade
Light Fight by Spoonweaver
Loser Man by Spoon Weaver
Maces Wild by Rurouni Catholic
Mama by arpgme
Maze of the Red Mage by Mogri
Midorime by Buni Pickney
Moron Mission by Nathan Karr
Mr. Triangle's Maze by Red Maverick Zero
Necromancer by Deadmanintheocean
OHR House 3 Complete by JSH
OHR House Heroes: Complete by Red Maverick Zero
Ok�dok�! by Dark Blubber
Phantom Tactics by Mogri
Quest for the Bone by ringthehat
Qwerky Qwest by AcenMasterX
Resident Evil Infinity by Binoal
Sailor Moon: Another Dimension Version 6 by Buni Pickney
Santa Bang Bang! by rebobinar
SHiIDA by Baconlabs
Sleepover by Charbile
Slimes by Spoonweaver
somekindaninja (tech demo) by Spoonweaver
Sonic Trash by arpgme
Space InvadeOHRs by James Paige
Spooky Test by Twin Hamster
Spoonweaver by Spoonweaver
Stranded by New-Gen
Surlaw Armageddon (3/20/09 Update) by Paul Harrington
Techno Ship Funkotron by Spoonweaver
Test of Normality by Beau Rl
Tetris OHR by shakeyair
The KER-saders by Spoonweaver
The Long Journey Home by Camdog
The Pope's War on Science by Mr. 8-Bit
The Resurrection by DragonBlood
The Ritual (Spring 09 update) by Camdog
The Slime Wars by Camdog
The Wizard, The Thief, and the Lich by Momoka
The Wizard's Bomb by Camdog
Tightfloss Maiden (Update) by Pepsi Ranger
Tim-Tim "The Might Gnome" by SpoonWeaver
Timestream Saga - Arcadia Incident Report by Fenrir-Lunaris
Timpoline (Full release) by Adam Perry
Too Terrible! by Gizmog
Turkey Killer by Spoonweaver
Vampires History- War of Annihilation by Umbrella
Village People: The Videogame by Paul Harrington
Wage Slave by Gizmog
Wandering Hamster (Update) by James Paige
Wilthawiya by Gizmog

These are the categories:

Best Game of 2009: The overall best games. Vote for five to ten games.

Best Graphics: Best style, best pixelation, etc. Whatever made your eyes weep with joy. Vote for two to five games.

Best Design: This can be Plotscripting, map design, battle systems, or any other technical game aspects. Vote for two to five games.

Best Writing: Story, dialogue, world creation. Vote for two to five games.

Most Ridiculous: What games baffled your mind this year? The reasons don't matter. It could be an astonishingly confusing game, a shockingly funny one, whatever. Some sort of wild card category or something.

Most Anticipated 2010: What games would you most like to see updated this year, and which announced games are you most excited about? You'll have to do the digging on your own for this one, because we get dozens of proposed games that never come out and finding/listing them all would take forever.

Let's do this. Start discussing some highlights of 2009 and we can get moving. When voting, feel free to comment on the games you chose. Your comments may be used in the results article!


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OHRRPGCE ypsiliform stable release (James Paige)

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:07:54 +0000

Posted by James Paige in Front Page

The Ypsiliform stable release is official today! If you haven't been following the nightly wip builds, and want to know what is new and cool, whatsnew.txt has the glorious details.

Get it from the download page

What is your favorite new feature in this release?


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HamsterSpeak 33 Online (Surlaw)

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 02:42:56 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

http://superwalrusland.com/ohr/issue33/cover.html

After a brief delay, Issue 33 is here, full of more information on the 48 Hour Contest than you may be ready for, a look at The Slime King, and more.


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Tightfloss Maiden (Pepsi Ranger)

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:05:58 +0000

Posted by Pepsi Ranger in Games

The noon sun blazes over an unknown desert. Scorpions burrow, cacti stand tall, and restless hyenas hunt for prey. An amnesiac woman lies in the middle of a sand pit with a knife wound in her side and blood on the ground. With her strength fleeting, she must find a place to seek shelter, and hopefully to some avail find out who she is before the harsh environment claims its toll on yet another victim.

And thus the story begins...

This is the game I made for the 48 Hour contest in 2001. Since the day the contest ended the game has steadily evolved from being a bug-ridden graphical mess to something that's loaded with details otherwise overlooked in most other games today.

Does that mean it's fun?

Well, yeah.

Features:

Drama, despair, cool music, visual random battles, auto kills, a blonde chick, palm trees, coconuts, random nuts, caves, canyons, and a bunch of puzzles to make your head spin (okay, one really daunting map and a handful of interlinking smaller daunting maps), more NPC animation than a Bugs Bunny cartoon, and an author with an inflated head.

Download today!!!

Also comes with a stash of bonus materials like design documents, short stories, Gilbert's original poster, and the original 48 Hour Edition of the game.

Other Participants:

Blackhat Solaire -- Title screen; some battle background, enemy graphic, and attack graphic help

Specplosive -- Soundtrack (except title, intro--main theme, and endgame song)

Camdog -- Main Theme

Demo now available on Slime Salad. Please don't upload on another site without my permission (unless your name is Meatballsub and your website is the Hamster Wheel). If you're a robot for the Softpedia company, please don't upload this game there.

This version contains the completed Chapter 1.

Update History:

7/1/2001

First version released for the 2nd Annual 48 Hour Contest. On Operation:OHR for a month.

9/27/2007

Three-day release of latest incarnation. A "Candy Edition" of the original game, but very unpolished and somewhat incomplete.

2/28/2009

The first real release of "Tightfloss Maiden." Includes "Footprints in the Sand," "Dehydration," "Auto Kill," six new maps, and way too many new features to list.

3/15/2009

Repaired the wall in the Wingamabob's Chamber.

Fixed the broken ladder in Trans-Canyon Passage (after collecting the journal).

Restored functionality of random encounters in the passage and the valley.

Major graphic and gameplay improvements coming soon.

3/18/2009

Included some distribution files I forgot were missing. Thanks, Moogle.

4/1/2009

Included an "Intro Selection Screen" upon startup to appease players who fall without saving and wish not to watch the seven-minute opening again. May be very slightly buggy, but it's functional. I tried to model it after Wave Race: Blue Storm's selection screen (if it were based in a desert). Selection screen showcases the new graphics that'll soon be implemented throughout the rest of the game.

Set all textboxes to solid backgrounds. This should make them easier to read. Also adjusted placement of a number of textboxes to improve presentation.

Some error-checking.

12/26/2009

Fully updated Chapter 1, including:

Retrofitted all graphics to account for the new desert palette. Now it looks the way I intended. Also finished updating the walkabout sprites.

Added new statues to the Anthill Canyon for some extra variety.

Implemented "Item Cooking," which allows the player to mix loot items together (and cook them) to form status altering items. Only includes the "No Heat" option. "Levels 1-3" will be available in Chapter 3. Activate from Glass Bottle. (Still buggy if you try to get fancy with it.)

Implemented the Journal. Use to check progress or to verify known successful item mixtures.

Updated the end-of-journey report to include every important thing from the Anthill Canyon to the Forgotten Village. Also added two new status reports to the score evaluation, bringing the total number of possible ranks to seven.

Split conversational dialogue into individual text boxes and added portraits to each one.

Switched out the ripped intro music to the one made by Camdog for the composer contest.

Added widescreen to the majority of cut scenes.

Bugfixed the things that were broken in the last release.

Note: This will be the last Chapter 1 exclusive update. The next update (pending nothing is broken in this one) will feature the continuation of the storyline -- finally.


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SLIMES! review of the hour (Baconlabs)

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:11:05 +0000

Posted by Baconlabs in Reviews

Where to begin? This here's a nifty li'l puzzle game made in the same genre as Lemmings and March of the Minis. The gist is very basic: Using a limited assortment of tools, guide a bunch of (somewhat) powerless/mindless critters (Slimes) through an obstacle course to a designated exit (labeled EXIT for your convenience.)
Perhaps the beauty of this game is its simplicity. The above is pretty much all you need to know for the bulk of the game. Aside from new tools, obstacles, and Slime transformations, nothing about your mission changes until the absolute last level (which I'll explain later.)

Brief diversion: Slime Transformations are as such:
:D Green-flavored, the default.
:devil: Red-flavored, induced by the Red Food Coloring tool, which makes a Slime invincible and fast. Watch out for fire though.
:angel: Blue-flavored, induced by the Blue Food Coloring tool, which makes a Slime immune to fire and gives it healing abilities.
:o Fire-flavored; a slime that touches fire will FLAME ON and run around like mad until it is healed or hits an Oil drum.
:zombie: Dead-flavored, the result of a Fire-flavored slime that hit an Oil drum. Immobile until healed.

As I say, it's so simple, it's very easy to get hooked in the first half of the game. This game has a wonderful learning curve and most of the stages won't take too long to figure out, even the later ones. (Exception is Level 34, which I spent days on until Spoons released a special walkthrough video.[/url]) The game can also be very forgiving, where if you decide that the "correct" way of getting through a level is too tough, there's often an easier but tricky-to-discover alternate path to take. You'll learn how to make the most of your limited toolset and even your own reflexes very quickly. In this way, it sorta reminds me of Portal.

By the way, let's talk about story for a while. SLIMES! seems to have no story, it's very arcade-like in that you have a goal, now go and meet it. Get those slimes over there. But, surprisingly, it turns out there is an ulterior motive behind this simple task! And it's evil-flavored! But you won't find that out until the last level, so I'll stop before I make a [spoiler:aca724f143]Another name for this game might be REVENGE OF THE SLIMES![/spoiler:aca724f143]
Next up is music. It's awesome, and it's all original to this game. Every 10 levels, the music changes along with the environment, and I'd say at least 60% of the tracks are worthy of repeated listening. (I really wish the game had an option to play any music that you've uncovered by playing.)
It feels particularly awesome when you hear the last 10 levels, then the credits, and then hear the first level's music again when you're going to the level editor. You start to understand that all of this music is related, and then you just might find that SLIMES! has its own melody! That rarely happens in any sort of game, OHR or otherwise.
Maybe the composers will open up a soundtrack for download in the future?

That's about as far as I'll go, the reader here ought to get on his tuchus and play this game. It's short and sweet, won't take too long to beat, and then comes the Level Editor. As James put it, "Making a game-editor with a game-editor is deliciously meta" and it is. It's about as meta as the OHRRPGCE has ever gotten; as we all know, editors are the epitome of the metagame. Make a level, send your SAV file to Spoonweaver, and he might just add it into the next update of the game! Give it a shot!

WARNING: SLIMES is not part of a balanced meal and should not be played in lieu of one.


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Spoonweaver's 48 Hour Contest Entries! ( Happy Holidays! ) (Spoonweaver)

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:41:13 +0000

Posted by Spoonweaver in Games

Here we have 2 very well made games by Spoonweaver.

First, is a Thanksgiving game, based on the trials of the pilgrim.
Turkey Killer

Second, is a futuristic view of the magical meaning of Christmas.
A Very Funkotronic X-mas


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Maze of the Red Mage (Mogri)

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:11:38 +0000

Posted by Mogri in Games

The Red Mage has captured you! You have been taken to his lair in the north. He weaves a powerful spell to enslave you. You have only a little time to escape!

Maze of the Mage is a mini-roguelike produced for the 2009 48-hour contest; the source is included and the game is unpassworded. Based on the game by Christopher Brandon[/url].

This game is complete. Everything you need to know can be found in the in-game help, with one exception: The Oracle's "Aura" ability displays the number of "bad" tiles as well as the number of treasure tiles in the five surrounding spaces (including the one you're standing on).

Enjoy the game!


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Santa Bang Bang! (rebobinar)

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:01:55 +0000

Posted by rebobinar in Games

Santa Bang Bang!

This is for the 48 hour contest, its called "Santa Bang Bang!".

You are Santa Claus and it's up to you to take back Christmas for the elves! Go around smacking greedy children with your Candy Cane of Reckoning powered by the space bar.

Surprise Boss!


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Frankfurter's Quest for Soap (2006) (FnrrfYgmSchnish)

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:41:09 +0000

Posted by FnrrfYgmSchnish in Games

Three years after I entered Frankfurter's Quest for Soap in the 48-hour contest, I ended up going back to it and redoing the graphics, adding in things that the game badly needed (like healing items and breaks between the endless swarm of bosses), and expanding the game into something better than the original version.

I never actually finished the remake, but unlike most of the unfinished games I have sitting around in my OHRRPGCE folder, there's actually a decent-length demo here.


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KING OF GOURMET: FEAST FOR YOUR LIFE (Hachi)

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:25:56 +0000

Posted by Hachi in Games

KING OF GOURMET: FEAST FOR YOUR LIFE
by 86/TG
a.k.a. Hachi-Roku and TheGiz

Set in the United States' War of Independence, invoke the power of THANKSGIVING to fight of the British Empire!

Eat food before a fight to raise your stats! Stats are reset after each battle!
Beware, for eating -reduces- certain stats as well!

Gain more skills by eating exotic dishes!
If you eat enough, you can unlock even more skills!

Happy feasting,

Hachi-Roku
TheGiz

2009 48 hour contest
Phase I
Theme of "Thanksgiving"


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Final Rules for 2009 48 Hour Contest + Prizes (Meatballsub)

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:16:26 +0000

Posted by Meatballsub in Front Page

RULES AND DETAILS

So the holidays are coming up and it might be difficult for many to commit time to create a game, even in just 48 hours. That�s why there will be three different start dates throughout December where you can start and finish a game. It doesn�t matter if you choose the first, second, or last start date. In fact, you can participate in all three starting points if you choose to do so.

All entries will be voted on together at the end of the contest.

Saturday, December 5 - 12AM EST to Sunday, December 6 11:59PM EST

Saturday, December 12 - 12AM EST to Sunday, December 13 11:59PM EST

And Saturday, December 19 - 12AM EST to Sunday, December 20 11:59PM EST

THEME

The themes of the contest will be announced a few minutes before each starting period and will be found in new topics on CP and SS. There will be three themes that will correspond with the three starting periods.

To prevent excessive use of premade graphics and scripts, your entry must be heavily influenced by the theme else you will start with a negative amount of points going into the voting stage. For example, if the theme was about Thanksgiving and all you did was implement a turkey or pilgrim into your game, you will fail.

If it is extremely obvious that you did not bother with the theme, then you will be disqualified.

VOTING

Voting will start on Monday, December 21 and end on Wednesday, December 30 at 10PM EST.

PRIZES

In the event of a tie, the rewards will be split amongst the winners. Sorry, but my wife would laugh at/spit at/leave me if I spent more than $50 total on a game contest.

Payment will be made via check or Paypal. You can also ask me to purchase something online for equal or lesser value and that count as your prize.

RESULTS

The results will be tallied and published in January�s issue of Hamsterspeak.


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HamsterSpeak #32 Online (Surlaw)

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:42:36 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

http://superwalrusland.com/ohr/issue32/cover.html

With 20 minutes to spare, Issue 32 meets its December 1st deadline. Well done! We've got lots of reviews of new games this month, the further adventures of Surlaw, and gangsta rap. Be sure to vote on your favorite articles.


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SLIMES! (Spoonweaver)

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:12:13 +0000

Posted by Spoonweaver in Games

Slimes is a game where you guide a group of slimes from a starting point to an exit point. Things get in the way, but you have tools to help your slimes succeed.

Can you help the slimes fulfill their ultimate goal?


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Review: House Escape (Uncommon)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:50:23 +0000

Posted by Uncommon in Reviews

Get out before you die!

Spoonweaver's House Escape recently went through a major overall. Redesigned graphics, redesigned house, redesigned game mechanics. It's essentially a different game built on the same idea. The first major new feature you'll notice (aside from the sound byte intro) is the flashlight.

The flashlight actually serves three purposes. The first is, obviously, limiting visibility. But the thing is, it shrinks. It doubles as a timer and a health bar, getting smaller either as time goes on or you take a hit from a ghoul, making it rough to find your way through the house. An interesting design choice, since it means that the more mistakes a player makes, the more likely they'll be to continue making them. The odds are already stacked against you as you seek out another battery to charge your flashlight, and you'll be that much more likely not to notice that skeleton coming around the corner in time. It reminds me of Project C from a few years back, but without the horror-game moodiness, though it runs a lot smoother thanks to the advent of layers.

The game is further complicated with weird collectibles, coin that have no apparent use and have no count available to the player. I assume they keep some kind of score given upon completion, but a counter really wouldn't be too hard to implement. This game could benefit a lot from a Mario-style extra lives mechanic, especially since the game as is doesn't encourage much exploration or collection, given the limited time and visibility. If a reasonable amount of coins would net you an extra life that started you either at the same spot or at least the beginning of the floor, there'd be a lot more incentive for grabbing them.

An interesting game, all in all, and a huge improvement over the original version (though i can't say for sure if the ridiculous Screamer ending was kept or not), though the attempts at making it more challenging might've have unbalanced it in the other direction. Definitely worth a look.


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Review: Qwerky Quest Demo (Uncommon)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:39:05 +0000

Posted by Uncommon in Reviews

Initialization complete. Quintessential Working Error-free Robot for Kids and Youth online.

Qwerky Quest is a bizarre little game. Like Dawn, it leaves you hanging without any kind of indication of your motives, but with enough lineality that you won't feel lost so much as aimless. After spending nearly an hour with it, it's a little tough pinning down just what it's about or where the hell it's going. There are hints of magic, a failed genocide (halted by a fratricide, even), and a lot of talk about how digital concepts might exist in an analog world. But Qwerky's nominal "quest" is never actually outlined until the end of the demo, and only but hinted at before.

It's really only so bizarre because all of these plot elements are dumped in the third area, after you'd already worked through two others, complete with bosses, and they're treated like Qwerky's motives from the beginning were seeking out why humans had abandoned robots. In reality, the only reason the game had progressed up to that point was that there was a path before the player. It might've been a little less jarring if the E stood for Exploratory instead.

Which might work anyway, as the game up to that point is mainly a dungeon crawler, with a new one beginning at the end of the old one. The gameplay has a weird balance up to that point, too. You'll learn one special electric attack that everything's weak against, but it's obsolete soon after (seriously, you'll use the thing for just two battles) when you acquire a weapon that does the same thing, only stronger. A weapon that'll carry you all the way to the last boss of the demo, who absorbs it, despite the fact no viable alternative has appeared.

The really interesting thing about how the game balances out is that most of the enemies go down in one hit, so the battles will eventually try to compensate this by piling more enemies into each fight, which isn't terribly effective in the second area since they hardly do any damage, made more ineffective by the fact that refresh points are littered throughout to counteract the dungeons ever-present damage tiles. If they'd done more to widdle your HP so that the march to each refresh point were riskier, this could be a much more challenging game. The third area seems to learn from that mistake, but unmitigated by refresh points, and lacking the outrageous amounts of EXP handed out in the second area, it skews the game's difficulty curve heavily. Let's not get started on what you're expected to do with all the money and FishScales you'll collect through the demo, because it's a lot of work for nothing at present.

But that's Qwerky Quest in a nutshell. It'd prolly do better without a plot than with at this point, and could use some rebalancing, but it's an interesting, though certainly not integral, little use of an hour. It does carry its theme through in funny ways, so trying to figure out what stats are which can be a bit of a memory game, and batteries as healing items works for the theme. And the little meta-commentary on fighting monsters for loot by the second area's boss was fun. This could be a nice little gem when it's done.


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Vampires History- War of Annihilation (Umbrella)

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:46:11 +0000

Posted by Umbrella in Games

To prevent any sort of misunderstanding here:
I'm German and the game I am developing is, as for right now, German as well.
However since Decembre 23rd I have translated the Demo, but the translation is not the best in my opinion.
Anyway, a short summary:

-The game takes place in 18th century Europe, where a devastating war between the Dead and the Living has begun.
-The player controls an very old undead Hungarian, Ferenc, who wakes up at a graveyard without any memory of his former life
-Three sidequests as well as one mainquest are already completable; most of them can be solved in different ways
-Numerous weapons, items and pieces of clothing from the 18th century are purchasable at stores or to be found in crates or elsewhere
-About a dozen enemies are already to fight, however many battles can be avoided
-A system which punishes mindless killing is already included (I basically ripped off the "kill"-item every enemy has got as a reward from Fenrir's Vampire's Curse which also happens to be about vampires, but I built in a script using the kills counter which can even make you lose the game to make it original. But thanks to Fenrir for the nice idea, and shame on me for nicking it, I guess.)

The Demo is still very far from finished as it includes one city (Berlin) out of seven I still plan to create; the main reason for it's release is the debugging which can be done more efficiently by the general public, as well as playtesting, which can't be done sufficiently by my friends anymore, as they already know where to go and what to do.
Edit:
I have now updated the zip package and included the SDL dlls to make it playable for people without the O.H.R.R.P.G.C.E.


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The Top 30, Winter 2009 (JSH357)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:19:29 +0000

Posted by JSH357 in Front Page

Here we go again people.

First, here is the previous Top 30 List for reference:
http://www.jsh.illuminative.org/top_30/top30summer09.html

In order to make the list as COOL as possible, it's nice to get some comments from voters. Please, if you would, submit:
1) Something you like about the game
2) A short reason for why you chose it
3) A poem (haiku) or other short creative work
4) A screenshot of your favorite part of the game
5) A personal experience you had with the game that seems worth mentioning
6) Anything else appropriate
This is OPTIONAL, but it really makes the list look good, so do it if you have the time. The best comments will be published, and there usually isn't much competition so do submit.

BONUS QUESTION: Vote for the five most trippy/surreal/bizarre OHR games.

Rules:
1. Vote for your five-fifteen favorite OHR games/movies/whatever. Lowest number = highest on your favorite list.
2. You may NOT vote for your own game(s).
3. You may not vote for unreleased games. Demos are fine, though.
4. You may not vote twice, including by altnick.
5. Type out the entire name, just in case I don't know what the acronym is.
6. Airship 2600 is banned from this list. Sorry, it's just too good. Additionally, any other vaporware games shouldn't be voted for.
7. Vote for individual games, not entire series. (OHR House, Pitch Black, etc)
8. ALL VOTES ARE TO BE SUBMITTED BY PRIVATE MESSAGES (Slime Salad, Castle Paradox, AIM (JSHtice) only). Do not post your votes on the message board topic, but feel free to discuss games or the poll.

Some general guidelines:
No one cares what you vote for, so don't feel compelled to vote 'in the community's eyes' or for games that you think are good but don't actually like. I want this list to reflect the personal preferences of real OHR users; i.e. I want it to be largely subjective.

How scoring works:
Your number 1 choice gets the most points. The higher the number, the fewer the points. In addition, the number of users who actually voted for the game is taken into account.

I'll post an example vote soon.

Deadline: around NOVEMBER 26, 2009.

For reference, here is the previous Top 30:
Vikings of Midgard (2008)
OHR House 3: On the Plantation (2009)
Bob the Hamster in the Crypt of Baconthulhu (2009)
Wandering Hamster (2008)
Walthros (2002)
Sword of Jade: Parallel Dreams (2005)
Thanksgiving Quest (2004)
Timpoline (2008)
Village People: The Videogame (2009)
Tightfloss Maiden (2009)
The Wizard's Bomb (2009)
Walthrus: Return of the Crystals (2004)
Darkmoor Dungeon (2006)
Tim Tim the Mighty Gnome (2009)
Missing (2005)
Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth (2002)
Sheep Rancher (2001)
An I Made Dis Anthology (2001)
Boundless Ocean (2005)
Bloodlust (2008)
Escape from Darkavern (2008)
Surlaw: Armageddon (2009)
Mr. Triangle's Maze (2008)
The Adventures of Powerstick Man (2008)
Trailblazers (2003)
OHR House: Heroes (2009)
The Adventures of Mikey T (2008)
Tales of the New World (2008)
I Made Dis Too (2008)
Super Walrus Chef: War of the Food (2004)

For reference, games released SINCE the last poll:

� Bloodlust (Complete) by Only One in All
� Entrepreneur: The Beginning by Pepsi Ranger
� Hydration 2: Oasis by Gizmog
� Indigo by Blue Train
� Light Fight by Spoonweaver
� Maces Wild by Rurouni Catholic
� Mr. Triangle's Maze by Red Maverick Zero
� Ok�dok�! by Dark Blubber
� Resident Evil Infinity by Binoal
� The Slime Wars by Camdog
� Stranded by New-Gen
� The Wizard, The Thief, and the Lich by Momoka
� Adventures of Astroman by Stewie
� Legend of Zelda: Reptilian Warlord by Binoal
� Village People: The Videogame Demo 2 by Paul Harrington
� Gohrillas by Mogri
� Phantom Tactics by Mogri
� Qwerky Qwest by AcenMasterX
� Test of Normality by Beau Rl
� Dawn (25% release) by Blue Train
� Gohrillas by Mogri
� House Escape (Update) by Spoonweaver
� Kana Learning by Ysoft
� Maces Wild (Update) by Ronin Catholic
� Phantom Tactics by Mogri
� Qwerky Qwest by AcenMasterX
� Test of Normality by Beau Rl
� Wandering Hamster (Update) by James Paige
� Do You Want to be a Hero? by Mogri
� Dragon Ball Z by Awful Waffle
� Genesis by Rebecca & Taylor Bair
� Legends Of Nedaria by NeoSpade
� Necromancer by Deadmanintheocean
� OHR House Heroes: Complete by Red Maverick Zero
� Sailor Moon: Another Dimension Version 6 by Buni Pickney
� SHiIDA by Baconlabs
� Sleepover by Charbile
� Spooky Test by Twin Hamster
� Tetris OHR by shakeyair

EXAMPLE VOTE:
1. Dummy the happy face
It is the best game ever, I love the graphics, and JSH made my baby cry. Peace and love.

2. Timestream Saga: Arcadia Incident Report

3. OHR House over 9000
This game rox!

4. OMFG TIZ ROXORZ!!!1

5. The Wizard's Bomb

6-15. etc.

BONUS:

1. Don't Push the Button
Best battle for wits ever.
2. I Made Dis
3. Arfenhouse 4
4-5. etc

Note: Please try and have some depth in those comments, but you get the idea.


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HamsterSpeak #31 Online (Surlaw)

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:53:03 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

http://superwalrusland.com/ohr/issue31/cover.html

To the surprise of everyone, HamsterSpeak #31 is here! I suffered multiple hardware failures in the last week, so I apologize for the delay. We've got lots of reviews, new features, and the return of Ask Surlaw. Remember to vote for your favorite articles! You can select as many as you like.


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SHiIDA (Baconlabs)

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:36:03 +0000

Posted by Baconlabs in Games

Entry to the 2009 OHR Halloween contest.

(UPLOADED: 11/02/09)
A look into the troubled mind of Katrina.

This is an early release for the sake of entering the Halloween 2009 contest. It is far from complete, and will eventually have many more dungeons and features:
-Katrina portraits by Mr. Giovanni
-More music by masterjiji
-Field battle system
-Sprites that change based on your equipment
-Many new creatures and fatalities that come with them
-Four more wildly different dungeons to explore
-More pain and agony for our protagonist!
Stay tuned.


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Large Walkabout Script - v.1.2 (Newbie Newtype)

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:36:53 +0000

Posted by Newbie Newtype in Games

From the readme.txt...

Large walkabout script, using Hero Sprites, written by Kitten Master/Newbie Newtype.

This script allows one to use Hero frames as walkabout graphics on the map, averting the usual limitations of 20x20 and turning them into 32x40 walkabout graphics. These hero graphics are mapped to the on-map position, and imitate the direction and current frame of the hero/NPC. These "large walkabout" graphics are also affected by map layers, so there is no need to alter map design at all.

While this works for the most part, there are a couple of limitations.

- Right now it does not take account multiple copies of a single NPC
- Plotscripting cutscenes will be more tricky as manual checking to see if NPCs are moving are now required in order to keep updating the slice graphics (see the example script for an idea on what to do)
- This requires having a game loop running when the player is in control

Version 1.2 additions:

- Changed the system to use a 1-tick timer, so that there is no longer any need to have a game loop. You still need to use wait for large npc and wait for large hero, though.

Version 1.1 additions:

- Added "wait for large npc" and "wait for large hero" for easier assimilation into existing scripts


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Genesis (Lucier)

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:41:45 +0000

Posted by Lucier in Games

A game by Rebecca & Taylor Bair.

Same demo that was entered in the Indie Game Challenge. Please note, due to time constraints, this demo is shorter in length and missing content that the older version you may have played had in it. Check back in for a new update in the near future!

Please hold off on reviewing this until the next update. Thanks!

NOTE: if there appears to be no music playing when there ought to be, it's a bug. just save the game as soon as you find a save spot and completely exit the game, then reopen it again. the problem should then be corrected.


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The Adventures of Powerstick Man: Limited Extended Edition (Pepsi Ranger)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:36:40 +0000

Posted by Pepsi Ranger in Games

It's been two and a half years since I went full swing into the Powerstick Man update, and it looks like it'll be another year before I'll finally get the finished version up and running. But after months of thinking about it, I finally decided to post an early version of the upcoming Extended Edition. So for one week only, I'm providing a short demo of the new update.

There's about two hours' worth of gameplay here (or eight if you know how to hack the game's password). Forgive the size of the download, but there is a LOT of stuff in this game. However, you'll only see about a quarter of it for now (unless I give you the password) since I don't want to ruin too much of the surprise.

The README will tell you more about the game. For now, let the work speak for itself.

And I apologize for the plotscript lagging. I'm still waiting for TMC to implement script multitasking to get this thing working as intended. Also, some features will feel broken without the new save format. There's an explanation for this in the README.

Other than that, enjoy. This file will be online from October 25 - November 2, 2009.

EDIT: And...TIME!!!


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Do You Want to be a Hero? (Mogri)

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:44:14 +0000

Posted by Mogri in Games

Hey... curious player. Do you want to be a hero?

If The 7th Saga and The Wizard's Bomb[/url] got together and had a kid, it'd look a lot like this. It's not as hard as the former, though, and the latter has a lot more to do outside of battles. (I highly recommend both!)

This version contains worlds 1-6 and a lot of little bonuses since the first release. Highly recommended!


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Tower of Heaven - Review & Video First Impression (James Paige)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:18:13 +0000

Posted by James Paige in Reviews

godsavant's Tower of Heaven is a well-presented stylish and funny side-scrolling platform-jumper.

The game's color-scheme, art style, and music style strongly emulate the visuals of games for the original non-color Nintendo Gameboy.

As you can see in the video of my first play session, the difficulty progresses from very easy to very hard pretty fast. The premise is that god periodically adds new rules that you must follow to make the game harder. The rules accumulate until the game becomes insanely hard.

In spite of my apparent frustration at the end of the video, I did keep playing afterwards. You should have seen my face when god said "Thou Shalt Not Walk Left" one second before a buzz-saw coming from the right mowed me down. And where was the exit door? To my left!

Nevertheless, I figured out how to pass that level, and a few others. Its probably not audible in the video, but at one point I mumbled to myself "well, at least the butterflies don't murder you!" ... but later on, you know what? THEY DO! (or maybe it is better to say that the god of the tower murders you using butterflies as a sweet fluttery deathweapon)

Finally I reached a level that was so hard that I spent more than an hour solid trying to beat it. I know it was possible. I came tantalizingly close once, but perhaps my reflexes just aren't as sharp as they were when I was a young whippersnapper, and I ended up throwing my hands up in disgust and turning it off.

I say disgust, and I meant it. I was really angry with godsavant for a few hours afterwards too, but later on, when I had cooled down a bit, I remembered only enjoying the game. As I said before, the presentation is great. The game is as satisfying to play as it is frustrating. Even getting mowed down by buzz-saws and vertical surfaces had a grisly charm to it.

I couldn't help but be reminded of another game that used to give me the same frustrated-yet-satisfied, angry-yet-forgiving feeling. Yes, thatt's right... The Battletoads Turbo-Tunnel!

I think Tower of Heaven is actually harder than the Turbo Tunnel... but on the other hand, Battletoads didn't let you save your progress, and Tower of Heaven does (unless there is a stage past the last one I reached where god says "Thou shalt not save thy game"!)

I highly recommend this game to anyone who thinks they are hardcore. I know it put me in my place. I can't say how soon (or even if) I am going to feel brave enough to tackle this tower again, but I am glad that I tried.


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Tower of Heaven (godsavant)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:43:21 +0000

Posted by godsavant in Games

In askiisoft's debut title, join Eid, a tenacious silent protagonist, on his adventure within the Tower of God, a mysterious monolith that promises glory to those who scale it and death to those who cannot. Collect secrets and conquer obstacles under the jurisdiction of God, rumored to inhabit the tower, and his ever-growing list of rules, which directly govern gameplay and make progress increasingly difficult. Built from scraps of code and animated within three days, Tower of God has spawned a revamped retro graphic style (only 3 colors are ever used) and an epic soundtrack that pays homage to the classic tunes of the Game Boy era.


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TetrisOHR - Review & Video Impression (James Paige)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:48:08 +0000

Posted by James Paige in Reviews

This is great. It is missing "type b" mode, but it is really polished and cool. it manages to be both very retro and very flashy at the same time.

The first version of Tetris I ever played was the one for the NES. I wish that had looked half as nice as this.

I very much hope that shakeyair continues to add bells and whistles to this, but even if he doesn't he already has something to be proud of.

-----------------------------------------------------
EDIT: My video was inexplicably mangled. I will re-post it as soon as I figure out how to fix it!
-----------------------------------------------------

In the video, the warning I see on the title screen is caused by an attempt to change the frame of a sprite slice that has already been freed. This will probably be an easy fix for shakeyair if he switches to the latest nightly build, which is much better at spotting such errors and helping you find them.

Also, in the video I comment that the game was made wwith the stable release, but now I think that isn't true. it looks to me like it was made with some recent nightly build, but I can't guess which one.

Tetris always gets to me in an addictive way. It was hard to resist just continuing to play and play. Killing myself with that "Tetris Tower" at the end was harder to do than I made it sound.

=Things I would like to see=
* Keyboard controls for rotating on both directions (I like period and comma for this)
* Joystick/Gamepad control (actually, I didn't even plug in my gamepad. Maybe this is in there already?)
* Mouse control - this is a tricky one. Getting side-to-side motion just right for mouse-controlled tetris is hard to do in a way that keeps the difficulty level correct. But it would be nice.


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Tetris (DEMO) (shakeyair)

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:57:24 +0000

Posted by shakeyair in Games

What game does just about every engine have that the OHRRPGCE doesn't?

... ...

You already read the title of the post.

Anyway, here's a feature incomplete version, because I got tired of hacking around my messy plot-scripting for now, and its playable and fun and shows off something the OHR could not even do until recently (I believe cannot even do in the latest stable release)

Source code available upon request, and I will include it if I ever get it cleaned up and/or commented. (But honestly I've probably forgotten what half the functions even do)


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Phantom Tactics, Chapter 1: Video and Review (Momoka)

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:32:55 +0000

Posted by Momoka in Reviews

Warning! Videos contain blurry spoilers and silly voices!

Other warning! I totally neglected to mention that Twinhamster did all the art for this game during ANY of the videos, and thus accidentally imply it was a one-moogle job. Totally untrue!

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Momoka/videos/4/
(I'm using the wrong version in this video. OOPS)

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Momoka/videos/5/
(Since this game has LONG battles by genre, I had to lower the video quality for filesize reasons)

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Momoka/videos/6/

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Momoka/videos/7/

There's actually not a lot to say that I didn't say in 70 minutes. So, quick notes:

THE GOOD
* Animations are awesome
* Characters sound distinct and are well written (but Janus is kind of a twit, though I feel he's supposed to me)
* Technical Masterpiece

The Bad
* I felt the battles got a bit repetitive, and were too simple. Chapter 2 will presumably add things, and thus alleviate this somewhat. This is, after all, just the opening of the game.
* So...did my bandit permadie? Because that's rather unclear. He kind of fades in and out, and I don't know what the hell is going on with him.
* Except for the twist at the end, the plot is painfully generic.

Everything else is in the vidyas.


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Phantom Tactics Chapter 1 - Review & Video Impression (James Paige)

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:09:42 +0000

Posted by James Paige in Reviews

I am simply delighted with this game. The tactics gameplay is very clean, and it uses a team-mechanic that I have not (personally) seen in any other tactics game.

Moving your units around is simple, but the real depth comes from support units. By using your support units carefully, you can get your units to attack more than once in a round.

In the video, I ramble and mumble a lot, so forgive me.

The difficulty curve on this game seems pretty good. I played on normal, and the levels progressed in difficulty, teaching me new tricks as I went. Morgan(Garland?) was a great tank, thanks to his special ability to take hits for people in the front row. I kinda wish his being-hit animation involved him jumping in front of the intended target, but oh well. My strategy in the harder stages usually involved trying to position my units so that Morgan got as many attacks as possible.

Something about the theme and style of this game reminded me favorably of the open-source tactics game Battle for Wesnoth although I actually thought Phantom Tactics was more fun to play in spite of its much smaller scope, because Phantom tactics battles were intensely strategic, whereas Battle for Wesnoth is brutally luck-based.

I am looking forward eagerly to Chapter 2


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Uploads fixed (Mogri)

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:57:42 +0000

Posted by Mogri in Front Page

For the last I don't know how long, file uploads have been restricted to 7-8 MB. If your file uploads haven't been working lately, please try again. Sorry for the inconvenience!

If you notice a problem with uploads in the future, please bring it to my attention. This tends to happen when I shift PHP versions and it's easy to fix if I know it's going on, but I don't ever know it's happening unless someone says something.


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Top 30 Duty (JSH357)

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:18:17 +0000

Posted by JSH357 in Front Page

Hey all,
I've had a pretty good time running the Top 30 over the past few years, but I would really like to give somebody else the opportunity to run it. If we continue on the schedule I had going, December should be the next HamsterSpeak issue to feature a list.

Is anyone interested in taking the reigns? I would be happy to offer the formulas (and the spreadsheet) I use to keep track of the scores, or you'd be free to come up with your own method. Enter the wild and woolly world of Statistics!

The only thing I ask is that this list still remain what it is--that is, the Top 30 OHR Games of all time, as it originally was and how I kept it. Some users have expressed interest in focusing only on recent games; I'm not opposed to a separate listing for those statistics (I encourage it), but it seems more like a year-end deal to me.

Anyway, consider this an application thread. Please PM me or respond if you are interested. Naturally, anyone is free to start polling whenever and however they like, but if you want my official "baton pass," I'd be happy to give it.


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It's a boy (Mogri)

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:38:35 +0000

Posted by Mogri in Front Page

Weston Robert Perry, 8 lb 9 oz. Pour yourselves some champagne!


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Review: Dawn 25% (Uncommon)

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:25:13 +0000

Posted by Uncommon in Reviews

Nearly a year ago, the_dude257/Blue Train debuted teaser art for a new project he was working on to much fanfare, especially for the character designs. After finally receiving a name, Dawn went through a few wild revisions, including a stint as a pure-programmed sidescroller, before settling back in its original form for a demo release. As of the submissions deadline for the Finish Your Dang Game contest, the game is, at least in name, 25% finished, but a closer look reveals a good deal more may need to be done.

You begin the game as a catboy (or is it demon?) named Del sealed in some kind of graveyard. No explanation is ever given for this, but the possible implications are ominous.

Just what were they sealing? Because it really feels like it was Del.

After finding a dagger to break the door down with, we run into the game's first major problem, out in the bat-infested hallway. You see, battles are triggered by npcs. This wouldn't be a problem except that it does so through an invisible textbox, again, no explanation given, at least not until after you would've already had to figure it out. This means running into an enemy, to all appearances, makes the game freeze completely, until the player happens to hit ENTER. Why it would be a textbox instead of a script is beside the point, but an invisible textbox is just baffling! This would be the perfect opportunity for flavor text, but just anything to give the player some indication that the game's working as intended would be best. Not only that, but the swarmed hallway is empty after just the one battle, I assume because they're all the same one-time npc.

It just feels like the game's frozen.

Moving on from there, you'll find an unnamed town. It being the middle of the night, the only building open is the inn, though the innkeeper's sleeping at his desk. That doesn't matter, though.

Olmin is upon you.

Whatever you choose, he's gonna fight you, but he'll go down easy. There's no aftermath to the battle, Olmin just stands there fuming. At least, that's what it looks like, but if you try to talk to him from the right direction, he'll stop. He just, uh, stands there. You can try exiting the inn here, but the door doesn't connect anywhere. You can go upstairs, but the rooms are locked. But wasn't there a key on the innkeeper's desk? So you head back downstairs and--

Oh. H-hey Olmin.

Talk to him and he disappears. Is the inn haunted? The short answer is no, but the longer answer is yes; we'll get back to that, Del's too sleepy for these shenanigans. His sleep is luckily undisturbed, but stranger things happen after he wakes up, like the door out from his room leading directly outside. And everything becomes clear.

No, that isn't the kind of ghost I'm talking about.

The inn isn't haunted, it's the very game itself. But not by ghosts, sir or madam, nothing so simple. You see, Dawn is lousy with bugs.

This game is so outrageously broken it borders on unplayable. Not only is the progression so haphazard that your only hint at where you should be going is to pick a direction and start walking, but with so many incomplete door links, exploring will usually lead you into dead ends you can't get out of filled with interesting sights you can't interact with.

I'd really like to, guy, but the game's not letting me!

The only hint at any kind of direction is an npc mentioning how crazy a doctor to the south is. This not only hints at the person you're meant to find, it clues you in on the fact that there is such a place as South that can be explored. Here, along with a sign that finally tells you to press ENTER when a wandering enemy touches you to begin a battle, you'll find a winding path that eventually forks, sometimes blocked by weird plant-things.

Seriously, what is that thing?

At the fork, one side leads to a house, your obvious destination, but another path leads north. If you go that way first, you'll be able to hit a switch that opens the dam and floods the empty canal you crossed earlier, but why would you want to do that? It has no discernible effect on the game beyond some cosmetic changes, like the disappearance of the path-blocking plant-things, and that there are no longer any enemies in the one area in the entire game you would ever have a chance to gain money or experience. Heading from there to the house, you'll meet Mr. Doc, who congratulates you on opening the waterway and plays like he asked you to before getting into the basics of the plot.

It really does have the potential to be a good plot, but the game needs to really step up to match it.

One the one hand, this could have been an interesting take on how the game gives information to the player. Dawn, at the least, doesn't hold the player's hand while it guides it along. On the other, I don't think that was the intention, and I'm inclined to believe the game's biggest fault is that it doesn't take the player's perspective into account at all. There's no sense of direction because the author just hadn't considered that the player might go any direction other than the one intended. There's no reason the author would expect the player might enter the inn without sleeping on the bed, that they might visit the waterway controls before Mr. Doc, that the town's layout might lead the player to the western path first. The author knows how the game progresses, after all.

The cracks in Dawn's armor only get bigger and more noticeable as you get further in the game. You head to a town called Belton in order to recruit two other party members, but why do you need to do that? Because you have three tickets. Well, why do you have those?

But why? Huh, don't have an answer there. The first recruit is Olmin, who helps you against a boss so that he has more room on the bridge to take revenge on you for beating him up earlier, but once that boss fight is over he drops that whole line of thinking and joins your party instead. This is the bizarre thing about Del's mute status throughout the game, as people react to him as if he's talking, it's just the player who isn't catching what he's saying, but it must've been one hell of a line he fed Olmin here to change his mind.

Sure, Olmin, I'll be glad to help you!

(Psst, just between you and me, dear reader:

...Shhhhh!)

Once you arrive in Belton, you'll find half of the town is empty, filled with npcs that do nothing, including a few that appear to be shopkeepers, and the other half will send you to an empty, inescapable field.

That's right, the game just sent me to the cornfield.

The game does, to its credit, recognize that it doesn't matter who fills your third spot and gives you a choice between two characters: Vince the doctor, or Hurbit the gunsmith. You won't notice that you've been given this choice if you're not restarting multiple times, but considering this is Belton, where one wrong step will send you to the cornfield, I suppose that's fair enough. Unfortunately, due to other bugs that will come to light as we continue, choosing the wrong character can make the the demo impossible to beat. For this reason, let's say I chose Hurbit.

By the way, that boss on the bridge I mentioned earlier?

Well, at least the bugs are consistent.

If you're anything like me, you'll probably wander onto the train completely by accident, because it kind of looks like buildings, but there's no getting off this train. At the very least, you could probably have guessed from the town layout you were in the train station this time, and to the game's credit, you'll meet the other person you didn't recruit to your party among the passengers, which is a nice touch, though they're mixed in with more anti-social window-dressing npcs. You'll get roped into a game of hide-and-seek, which provides an interesting context for the next boss, a slug-thing that attacks the kid you're seeking.

Yeah, so I don't have Hurbit here, but I played this battle so many times I lost track of when I took the screenshot.

This is about the time you'll realize that two-thirds of your items do nothing, inside a battle or out, including restorative items. The two items that do anything, SmlKit and SmlMagi, for HP and MP respectively, only restore maybe two or three points per use, which means the only viable healing move other than sleeping is Vince's default attack, which is itself weak. Unfortunately, I've got Hurbit, so I'm in trouble. Moreover, this boss is unaffected by physical attacks, Hurbit's specialty, and is only properly damaged by one spell, which, due to what I assume is crossed wires in the hero editor, Hurbit can't even learn. Is this another case of the game being broken, or does the author really want to punish us for choosing Hurbit?

While we're on the subject, let's get into the magic system. There are two shops in the first town, one selling various overpriced weapons for Del, and another selling three spells of different elements. They are pricey, but more affordable than the weapons. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of battles, as I'd mentioned earlier, resources are extremely tight, so you'll only be able to afford a few, not quite two copies of each. This is assuming you have the foresight to know what you'll run into throughout the game and which spells you'll really need. The boss battle takes place on the train, which cannot be disembarked from, and you'll only be able to tell which you'll need by testing each one out, so if you saved on the train you may have to restart from the beginning in order to get past this battle. Marvelous.

If you're lucky enough to do so, the game of hide-and-seek continues with...

...a box puzzle. Mercy's sakes, Dawn.

Once you finally arrive in Newt Wig (or was that New Twig?), you'll find it's little more than a shack Mr. Doc (who somehow beat you here!) turned into a lab. What's more, you enter it on a teleporter, something we saw at Mr. Doc's other house, but still an entirely bizarre concept.

The issue is that it plays with things that don't even exist beyond abstract gaming concepts. In-game, you climb on a teleporter to access the overworld, but in reality (and most other games, including this one), you can do the same simply by walking outside, but that instead leads you to a completely different map. I don't know why it bothers me when the giant floating CD save points don't (maybe because saving your game is already a meta concept, rather than in-game), but it's really jarring.

You go from here to the underground ruins next door, which are full of enemies for once, but none of them have rewards set. Because the battles are inescapable, these serve absolutely no purpose but to widdle down your HP. Hurbit's heavy attack power, admittedly, comes in pretty handy here, but the only solution to the mess this puts you in is to make the trek to the entrance to rest on the bed there and hope the enemies aren't set to respawn. This is more trouble than a game should really ever ask.

The next segment include a frustrating pseudo-stealth puzzle filled with enemies and treasure chests that don't work, leading us to the demo's final boss battle, DogMa.

I'm supposed to beat this guy? Are you fucking serious?

As you can see, I fully met the culmination of all the game's more broken aspects by the time I got here, and had already given it more time than it really deserved, so this is where I stopped playing.

Dawn really does show a lot of potential, it's mostly very pretty (aside from the train station, which is just confusing), the sound, when there is any, is really great (I don't have words for how much I love the title theme), it has charming characters (though i'd like to see them interact more, they seem to be almost forgotten after they join you) and a very interesting story (the idea of taming God only gets better if Del in fact being some sealed devil that broke his bonds is more intention than interpretation), but what we actually have is a game that never should've been released in its current state. Between the lack of polish present and the game-breaking bugs, everything tangential to the main quest appears to be an afterthought. None of the bugs would be anything huge to fix, but left untouched each causes major issues.

The game is a perfect example of what happens when you don't use playtesters. If I had to make any kind of suggestions as to how to go about fixing it, I'd tell the author to have a friend play it while you sit back and observe. Take notes. Don't back-seat drive, but have them ask you what to do when they're completely stuck. Write down every question they ask and be prepared to find a way to make the game answer it. Every question that you're answering intead of the game should be considered unanswered. Eventually, you should have a to-do list that needs to be checked off before any kind of release should be considered. Better yet, get more than one friend to do this!

Also,

What even are these sparkles and why do they keep showing up? Are they supposed to do something?

There's a lot of potential here, but it's unrealized as of yet. With a little effort and a lot of thought, this could be a real winner, but it must be remembered that the game will be played, and considered how it will look when it is. I'm looking forward to seeing what the author does with this in the future, but, at present, there's very little to recommend Dawn to anyone, unfortunately.


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HamsterSpeak #30 Online (Surlaw)

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:22:39 +0000

Posted by Surlaw in Front Page

http://superwalrusland.com/ohr/issue30/cover.html

It's that time again! So, Mr 8-Bit and myself kind of fell behind on our reviews. Again. Sorry! There's lots of new content here, though, and we also have the return of our Art section! I like keeping the Art section alive, so let's keep submitting to it. Also, after reading, be sure to send questions to ASK SURLAW. Bob Surlaw. Not me, the user with the screen name Surlaw, but the character.


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