BYOND Casual

Super Stick Skirmish of Superb Scrappers Review

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:19:09 GMT

Super Stick Skirmish of Superb Scrappers is a great speed typing game which really tests your skills against the computer or even with your friends! The game was originally for the 4k contest from what I've seen.

When you first go onto the game, you will see a simply made interface with a few buttons at the top and a blank white map with a few labels at the top of the screen. If you are new to the game, I would reccommend looking through the helpfile which is shown as soon as the game is booted up.

If you don't want to play with anyone just click "Join" straight away without hosting and you will now be asked a series of questions which will determine: player mode, CPU mode and whether spectators can speak and enter words. Yes, that's right, as far as I'm aware spectators (I have not been a spectator) can enter words for the other players to use, sounds fun, right?! Now when you get to the "Mode" window stating what mode you want the CPU to be, if your a first timer, I'd strongly recommend not going for Insane (even I haven't won on Insane!). I'd personally recommend Random as it'd be more of a challenge.

The game is alot more fun on twoplayer mode, I haven't lost a single match on that mode yet, hahah (Yes- that is a challenge).

The game itself doesnt have any flaws at all, I'd just suggest Mecha Destroyer add more updates to it, one thing that would be cool is to make "Chain Attacks": Each time a word is entered correctly, your chain goes up, there is a time interval of course until the chain ends, but each time you enter a word before the chain timer ends, your chains will go up and the damage you inflict will go up! I'm not quite sure if this is in or not. (I havent noticed anything myself). This is just one of my suggestions to help improve the game, I'm sure there are tons more I could think of.

There really isn't anything to say about originality since there are only about 2-3 icons (stickmen FTW!). But overall, the presentation is Average (Anything can be improved) and same goes for gameplay, anything can be improved! I hope Mecha decides to continue to update this great game.

The DOs and DON'Ts of Casual Games

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:03:37 GMT

Although these rules by nature apply to single player casual games, they also work well with BYOND's online casual games. One thing to keep in mind though is that you don't want to keep a casual player waiting. If they log into your game and find that there are no other players and thus nothing to do, they'll leave. Many of BYOND's casual games suffer from this problem. A good casual game needs to have something fun for players to do even if there are no other players around yet.

The DOs and DON'Ts of Casual Games:

DON'T- Make Your Game Hard
If your game is so hard to master that your players will tend to fail a lot before they can progress, you're not making a casual game. Also, don't punish players until they've had time to experiment a little. A lot of people play casual games to relax, and forcing them into a challenging situation doesn't encourage that.

DON'T- Provide Too Many Choices
Casual players don't want to have to decide how to play the game, they just want to play it. Its better to not have the player choose the difficulty level, and if you must have multiple game modes, then be as straightforward as possible in explaining them. Instead of giving players choices, its better to design the game to adjust to the player.

DON'T- Pick A Bad Theme
People who play casual games stereotypically don't gravitate toward dark, violent themes. That means no swords, blood, death or fighting. That probably ruined half your ideas right there, didn't it? Bright, upbuilding themes are preferable, just make sure that your theme fits well with your game's design.

DON'T- Make Your Players Read
Casual players don't want to read instruction manuals. They want to play the game. So make sure that your game's instructions can be glanced over and understood within a few moments. If possible, instead of text, use illustrations to explain how the game works, or provide a short, interactive tutorial. If you're absolutely forced to use text in your game, make sure that its big and readable.

DO- Make The Controls Simple
If casual players find that it takes too long to master your game's controls, they'll go find something else to do instead. Simple mouse controls are best. Even though BYOND now supports it, don't use the right mouse button. Keyboard controls are okay if your game requires it, but keep them simple, and never require players to use both the mouse and the keyboard at the same time.

DO- Give Players Nice Rewards
In a casual game, you want to reward the player as much as possible. Giving them lots of points is the best way to do this. Everyone feels good when they're awarded 10,000 points for doing something right. Its also good if you put emphasis on their rewards with flashy graphics and fanfare sound effects. When your players are doing badly, don't chastise them, show them how to do better! Make your players feel good! If you discourage them, they'll leave.

DO- Make Your Game Addicting And Replayable
Remember that your goal is not to provide the player with extreme challenges. If you, at any point, lock the player into a spot where it becomes too difficult for them to progress, you'll lose them. So make sure that the player always has plenty to work with to keep them going, even if that means giving them more "free lives" than they will ever need or showering them with hints for solving the next puzzle. A casual gamer's goal is to relax while playing the game, so make sure that you're not requiring them to think too much -or- put out a lot of effort.

DO- Listen To What Others Say
Feedback from players is the best way to find out whether they're enjoying your game properly or not. Use a variety of testers, because its hard to find out people's impressions with your game when the only people playing it are veterans. Also note that, as far as casual games are concerned, the people who don't normally play games will probably be offering you the best advice.

Casual Game Design

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:18:43 GMT

I stumbled on a site called Casual Game Design the other day and bookmarked it. Just now I've been poking through some of the articles and I think there is a lot of useful information there for aspiring game designers.

I'm not sure if the site's name is intended to refer to designing Casual games, or just casually designing games, but whatever the case, I'm sure the ideas there can be put to good use in designing games of any genre.

More Games Join The Ranks!

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:46:14 GMT

I was recently scrounging around the BYOND member's area when I came upon the late BYOND Puzzle guild. Although personally I like the idea of that guild, apparently Tom and Mike didn't think it was worthwhile to have it around anymore and so the guild lies in ruins. Oh well.

Still, aside from the BIKE GOD movie, there were a few interesting puzzle games that I'd never seen before lying around. Actually I realized that some of them were good candidates for BYOND Casual and, yet, were not listed here. So you know what that means: more games for us!

Here are some games that I've stolen from BYOND Puzzle:

Googly Eyes Advanced by Googly Eyes Admin. Although the game is about 4 years old and doesn't have the best of presentations, I do like the concept a lot. It reminds me of Theseus and the Minotaur in real-time. Your goal in this game is to collect all of the little pellets, whatever they are, and avoid the Googly Eyes while you're at it. The Googly Eyes aren't very smart, and they'll stop when they bump into a wall, but if they see a clearing they'll make a mad dash toward you in an effort to turn you into dinner. Stick around long enough and you'll find that more pairs of Googly Eyes show up to join the fun. Game is available in four hardness modes.

Doodle by Flick.

"Put your artistic skills to the test, or just doodle away the time, alone or with your friends."

Doodle isn't a "game", so to speak, but its definitely a good time waster. On a similar vein to Flick's other game, Coloring Book and XxdohxX's game Paint, the whole point of Doodle is to draw pictures. With or without friends.

StainedGlass by Shadowdarke. Unfortunately I was never really able to get into this game, since it just plain confuses and intimidates me. Because of that, I can't really say much about it, so I'll just quote the game's hub:

"Stained Glass is a unique colorful single player puzzle game. The object is to remove the colored glass tiles from the playing field. The game ends when there are no more legal moves or there is only one tile left."

If that sounds fun to you, then give it a try!

Traffic Jam by Crispy. I write about this game fondly as I played it this afternoon not for the first time. Don't remember how far I got though. The goal of the game, as the hub says, is to move the green car to the exit. However, in order to accomplish this you must first clear a path to the exit by rearranging all the other cars, which makes this about as simple as untieing a 5-year-olds shoelaces. The game was submitted as part of Lummox JR's Cartridge Classic 8k competition, so the source code is available for download (not that you can read it!), and the game also comes with its own lever editor. Cool!

Towers Of Brahma by Rothchild. A fairly well-known puzzle game that somehow didn't manage to get listed here before (I had it listed in my other guild though), the goal is to move the tower from one place to another using only three different locations, which can prove to be very difficult. The game comes with several different hardness modes.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

Match'em Up Review

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:36:47 GMT

I did not write a review since the start of February, so I think I'll finish off my reviews for February with one of BYOND Casual's new games.

The game of course is Xogre's Match'em Up which was added at the start of 2008. Match'em Up is a matching game where at the start you can choose to play with a player, or AI. There are 3 different sorts of AI to choose from to match your skill. The AI is fun to play with since he/she will talk to the players watching/you inside the lobby you are in. There are 5 lobbies so many players can play. It is only 2 player compatible, but like I said has additional lobbies to choose from. The game is played like any matching game, there are different cards and you click them to show what's under them, if you click two cards that are the same color(red or blue) + shape(triangle, square, circle) you get points(2 for red, 4 for blue. The player who has the most points at the end of the game wins. It also has nice small additions to the game such as changing your color, a nice ranking system, and a help file.

Graphic Rating: 7.5/10
The graphics are general, but fit nicely. There are different card sets that are randomly chosen and a special member icon for the BYOND members. The graphics are not really what makes a game like this, but they still look nice.

Sound - Music Rating: 6.5/10
Their is currently no music inside the game, but there are some sounds such as when the card is flipped. The sounds fit in the game and are nice to listen to, some music would be nice too, but oh well.

Game play Rating: 8.5/10
The gameplay is like most matching games, and is nicely done. Playing with AI or players is a very nice addition, and I do enjoy them talking to you. They compliment you on how you are doing, or say how awesome they just did. They sometimes ask the players in the audience if they are enjoying the game, and more. The AI also can be tricky if you are playing it on hard. The interface is user friendly, and looks pretty nice. It shows you what is happening inside the different lobbies, has an info output that says what's happening in the current lobby you are in. It also has buttons such as options which allows you to access the high scores, help file, managing your icon, etc.

Multi-player Rating: 8/10
The Multi-player is not a necessity inside this game, but it is more fun to play with a real player, since they are smarter than the AI. Something that makes me want to play with players other than the AI would be that the AI don't use their memory a lot unless they are on a higher difficulty, which sometimes they won't even remember. The Multi-player in the game I actually find a lot more fun not just since you have a real person to talk to, and they're smarter. But the ranking system makes it more fun I find. If you lose, you're rank goes down which can make new players better than you in the ranking making which makes you have to work to get better.

Fun over time Rating: 7/10
The game is fun to play with AI when no one is on, which happens a lot. And is fun to play with some players. I find it may get a bit boring once you played a bunch of matches, but it's still a good game. It has pretty much everything you could ask for in a matching game, but after you play it for awhile, get inside the rankings. There is not much more for you to want to try to achieve and make you want to play the game a lot more. It's fun to play every once in awhile, just not addictive since players like a goal to reach.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10
The game is very fun for a bit of games, has graphics that suit the title. It could use some music, but the sounds that are used fit the game. There is three different AI levels to play against if you have no one to match with, and up to 10 players can be matching up cards at the same time within the 5 lobbies.

Game of the Week: Lexiconomy

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:44:12 GMT

This is just a reminder that this week's Game of the Week for BYOND Casual is Lexiconomy by Zilal. Hosting hours are 7:00pm PST and onward. The only trouble is that we need a host! Hopefully someone will volunteer to do this, but if no one else is hosting already, then I'd encourage you to start up a game!

In other news, we've added F_People by Flick to the games listing, since it sort of qualifies as a casual game if you think its fun to play dress-up with little Flick dolls. :)

A few visual updates to the site's CSS and that's about it for now!

Reviewing Tetris

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:03:45 GMT

Screenshots: 1 | 2

SuperAntx's take on Tetris is similar to your standard clone. You get a random block which falls and, while its falling, you have to rotate it to fall into the proper position so that it fills in an entire row. Once an entire row has been filled in, the row is eliminated and you get points.

Gameplay:
As a recreation of the classic Tetris game, this game was well made. All the game mechanics work properly and there is nothing to complain about, aside from occasionally pressing the wrong button and getting unexpected results - but that's inexperience speaking.

According to the "Tips" section on the hub page, your score depends on how quickly you get the blocks into position (using the Quick Fall command to get them there instantly once they're in position), how many lines you eliminate at once, and the current level you're on.

Only down side is that, regardless of your score, the High Scores server is currently down. But failing that I can tell you that I achieved just over 10k on my first try.

Presentation:
Modeled after the standard Tetris game, it is of course rather blocky - but there's nothing to be done about that! The graphics are simple, and unfortunately the game is too old to have acquired a 4.0 interface, although it could certainly benefit from one.

The controls are reasonable: Left and right on the number pad moves the shape around, up rotates it, center drops it more quickly and down is the Quick Fall command which puts the piece in place instantly.

Another nice touch is the "shadow" effect which shows you where your shape will end up when it reaches the bottom.

There were several other controls shown on the hub page: Settings, Toggle Sound, Toggle Shadow and Pause. However, the only one that appears to work is the Pause command. And while its possible that my settings may be to blame, I didn't notice any sound or music with either toggle setting.

Overall:
This is a good representation of the classic Tetris game and is perfectly suitable for any casual gamer looking to make an (unofficial) high score. There are a lot of things which could have been done to a game like this to make it better, but this is a simple, true to the original version.

BYOND Casual: Game of the Week!

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:16:15 GMT

Latest updates, Snow War by Asielen has been added to our games listing. In the words of the author, Snow War is "A small snowball fight game created for Lummox Jr's contest." While I can't vouch for the quality of gameplay, I can say that Asielen did a good job of making the game look professional and clean-cut, taking advantage of 4.0's new interface features.

BYOND Casual will be hosting its Game of the Week this Friday at 7:00PM Pacific Time and onward into the night. The game for this week will be Flick's Boxed. Instructions are posted on the main page, but I'll quote them here: "If you'd like to participate, show up anytime after 7:00PM and check to see if the game is currently hosted. If no one is hosted it, and you have the ability to do so, we'd encourage you to host the game so that others can join. The Game of the Week session continues all Friday night, so its never too late to come visit and join or host a session of this week's game!"

If there's anyone out there who'd like to volunteer to be a regular host for Game of the Week games, I've got a special rank set aside just for you.

One game has been removed, that being 10000 by Dragyn. Evidently there were some notable problems with the current version that was making the game unplayable, and since Dragyn doesn't seem to be available to fix things, the game has been removed until further notice.

BYOND's server issues have finally been tackled, so it seems. That means all you folks who signed up to be reviewers and moderators need to come back here and get to work!

Maddness Ball Review

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 18:01:01 GMT

Since I have not written a review for over 2 weeks, and there are has been none since February, I felt like writing up the first review for February.

Well, to start off February, let's goto one of Calus CoRPS's classics. This may not be one of his finest games to date but it is still a pretty fun game. The name is "Maddness Ball", Quote"When Madness and sports mix"(Calus CoRPS, Maddness Ball hub) Now to get going to the review. The game is played with 2-8 players. The first player that joins gets to choose the map. Once the map is chosen, the other players can join and the game can be started. You need atleast 1 player in each team. Once you start the game, the red and blue team run out to get the ball, and take it down a long path. Once they reach the end of the path, there is a net. If you get the ball in the net, your team wins and the game is ended.

Graphic Rating: 7/10
The character icons are not that bad, and there is 6 stages which all contain different graphics. They are not all amazing at some points, but it is nice to look between the 6 different stages.

Sound - Music Rating: 5/10
There are no current sounds in the game, but the game does not really demand sounds but it would be nice to have some intense music to get you inside the madness that is Maddness Ball!

Game play Rating: 6/10
The game play in Maddness Ball needs to be tweaked. The point of the game is to get your team to take the ball from pushing it from the start to the net at the end, which may take a good amount of time. The problem is that you could have the red team push the ball the entire way, and than have the blue team just take it at the very end and put it in the net. There is no reason at all for you to want to take the ball, you could just wait at the end instead. Now, a good thing about this game is hat there are 6 different unique maps. This is nice to go around in them, I find them fun that they are all different.

Multi-player Rating: 8/10
The multi-player is needed when playing Maddness Ball, since there are no AI. You can have up to 8 players(4 on each team) going mad while trying to get the ball to the net, I find that it is very fun to join up and fight each other.

Fun over time Rating: 6/10
There is 6 maps inside the game which adds some game play, although after playing them for a bunch of times, it begins to get a bit boring. If there was some kind of reason to keep on playing such as the custom map editor that the owner Calus CoRPS mentioned, the game would be a lot more fun. It would than all you to make your own maps and let your friends test them. The 6 maps are fun in all, but it would be nice to make your own.

Overall Rating: 6.5/10
The game is kind of fun at times, but it could use tweaking such as maybe items, or the map editor to make it a lot more fun. It has 6 unique maps to chose from at the moment which are all fun, but lacks reason for you to move the ball on your own. In conclusion, I give Maddness Ball by Calus CoRPS a 6.5/10

BYOND Casual: What's New?

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:20:42 GMT

Not a whole lot new right now since for the most part the whole guild was knocked back into the realm of inactivity because of BYOND's site overhaul and the server issues associated with it. Still, here's some of the updates which took place within the last week and a half:

Several games were removed from the site, mostly because there was no way to check them out via logging in or downloading, and none of them had hosting schedules or any hint that they would be hosted again any time soon. These games are: Breakthrough, Blasphemy, Cow Platformer 3, Chatiness, Project Movie, AChat and Chatty. If the owners of any of these games feel that they were removed in error, please drop us a line on the forums.

We have a new moderator, Crashed, who should start writing some reviews here along with the rest of the bunch sometime soon.

And finally, we've added a new game, Match'em Up by Xogre which, according to the author, "will be hosted for most days between: 4:00 - 10:00 PM EST". However, I've yet to actually be around while the game is hosted so I can't provide a screenshot.

Aside from that, I've made a few minor adjustments to get the CSS working properly again, and Tom says it might be possible to get the guild's games listing back under the guild's CSS again, so there won't be any shocking change in layout whenever you visit the games section.

I've also been considering the possibility of having a "Game of the week" each week where a specific game will be chosen. On Friday evenings, at a currently unspecified time, people can gather here to host/play each week's game. Hopefully this will make it easier to find other people to play with, and will encourage people to try out new games.