I’m happy to announce that ‘Armor Games’ broke the 1,000 Alexa Mark this past weekend.
I know Alexa isn’t the defining standard when it comes to web stats, but they recently made changes to improve their overall ranking accuracy.
So I wanted to extend a BIG thank-you to everyone who visits Armor Games!!
-Armor Games Team
Before I get ahead of myself, I think it’s generally important to indicate that I’ve been an avid Burnout player since Burnout 2. Going into this game I felt like there was a lot to live up to. It’s not just matter of living up to its forefathers but moreso the ability to add something new to an already complex and branched formula. Luckily Burnout Paradise clears the bar with some room to spare.
Burnout Paradise is a racing, stunt-driving, free-for-all sort of game that banks on a player’s ability to deal with high-speed maneuvering coupled with traffic and obstacles. The game is made up of several different event-types that challenge the player to reach certain stunt scores or win a race in first place. Winning events advances the game into harder modes, just like any other racing game. But what is non-standard in the Burnout is the idea of boosting/taking down opponents. By taking risks in the game (such as driving down the wrong side of the road or weaving through traffic) you accumulate boost, which is a trigger-happy way to hurl yourself even faster down the road. The whole experience is exhilarating and over-the-top fun.
The game takes place in a giant city and country landscape called “Paradise City”, which has a very pleasant sandbox feel; the whole city is at your fingertips. Instead of waiting for a race to load in some random location, you drive to that location. All the events take place in the very world that you drove to, so everything becomes familiar over time. A huge plus to the game is that there is rarely a loading bar and the cityscape loads as you go. While this was a major pain for previous Burnout games, this game excels in keeping the game going at all times.
Multiplayer mode is also a great addition to the game. There are over 300 events to play with your friends, most of which are exciting and not offered in the single-player version. For example, one event-type requires you to simultaneously jump from different sides of a broken bridge and crash mid-air to win the event. I can’t imagine anything more awesome to include in a racing game.
Not to say that this Burnout experience was flawless, however. The game stripped a few mechanics from the previous games that made it somewhat frustrating to play. For example, one of my favorite now missing event-types was causing as much damage as possible to rack up dollars worth of damage. Also, the game’s general forced viewing of the slow-motion crashing without any sort of control over the crash was annoying, especially since the previous Burnout titles had the ability to score extra Takedowns while you were crashing in “bullet time.” Since crashing occurs a lot in Burnout and controlled crashes were nixed, I felt like I was wasting time.
The learning curve on this game was the toughest challenge of all. The game throws you on the street and expects you to have a grasp on mechanics and gameplay from the get-go. While I did have previous Burnout experience I was still caught up in trying to deal with speed and timing. I almost put down the game for good once because it was so hard to get used to the game. While racing the game gives you little time to react to the driving direction it gives you. I equate it to your GPS system screaming at you to turn right at the last minute while barreling down a city street in the far left lane. But after you get the hang of things (which is a good 10-15 events) things start to become clear.
Overall this a great game to get, especially if you like alternative racing games such as Mario Kart but don’t like to get dragged into “true” racing games such as Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport. It’s a tough ride at the beginning, but what you get the hang of it you’ll definitely be yearning for more. The game’s endless sandbox of jumps, billboard crashes, and fence smashing will keep you going even beyond the game events offered, dishing the game perfectionists a good challenge. Overall, Burnout Paradise is a tight package that definitely delivers.
90/100.
In case you haven’t heard of our AWESOME contest, link here. There’s still a ton of time to enter!
Wow, so we’ve been getting a LOT of entries… nearly 120 unique people have entered since last week! It’s been awesome to see everyone submitting the most elaborate and exciting level designs we have ever seen in Compulse, and you guys certainly seem to be getting better… some scores have improved by nearly 10-20 points in a few days. We haven’t OFFICIALLY checked any layouts, but I have to say that these scores I am getting are mind boggling.
We have several updates for you!
. Once or twice a day is fine but don’t spam my inbox!So thanks for playing thus far! I’ll give you a hint as to where you may or may not be at the moment: there are 40 entries that are at or below the score of 80! A bit vague for you in the lead, but now you know at least where you are…. a tiny bit.
Remember you got until May 7th to get your best score! The original contest page can be found here.
WHOH THERE. Yeah you thought we were just all about Flash games or Wii and Zebra-shaped birthday cakes or something…but I am here to talk about this extremely bizarre product we started consuming by the bagful, and sometimes the boxful.
There’s this weird product called “Crisps” we bought recently at Costco after our Admin Assistant Fil tipped us off to it’s existence. The product is several varieties of freeze-dried fruit. No, not dried fruit like you get in trail mix or whatever. Freeze-dried fruit, like the novelty astronaut food you might have eaten from a museum gift shop or somewhere like that. What they do is remove all the water from a piece of fruit so that it is only the meat of the fruit leftover.
This very stock-photoesque picture I found on the web is about what it looks like.
The fruit tastes like the normal fruit except it has a wafer-like texture and consistency when you eat it. You can easily eat a whole bag of these things in about two handfuls which means you don’t get many. But surprisingly the apple-version bag tells us is that there is 1.5 freeze-dried apples in each bag, meaning that days in which I eat three bags I am eating nearly 5 apples. These things are ridiculously good.
Anyway after our trial box of these things we decided the office needed more.
I think we have about 200 of these things now, which should at least hold us over until the end of next week. These things are delicious and yes this entire post seemed like a giant marketing ploy… but man we are addicted to these things. Our office stocks them as snack food now so that we stop eating other things that are horrible for us. Come work for us and you can eat them too.
We sure talk about food a lot on this blog… sigh.
What a day what a day what a day.
I’ve been busy all day finishing up the levels for the Assassin Bow Woman game, which should be ready soon, although a few snags have been hit, but this morning I decided to get the engine done for the other game I’d like out this month, a game that lends heavily from the “Match 3″ genre but then smashes it into the “Mouse Avoider” genre like there’s no tomorrow, it’s looking kind of nice, and more updates on that soon.
In slightly more infuriating news, my XBox decided to join the ranks of the other 33% failure rates of Microsoft’s PC/Console lovechild. Now I face the dilemma of Microsoft Customer Service or having a pop at repairing it myself. Time allowing, I’d prefer the latter.
And here is a pic of me, my Girlfriend Lucy, and daughter Ella showing off my Stylish Shift 2 Shirt I recieved for my 21st from my dear Mother. This is for those of you who would like to see behind the scenes for one of the Armor Staff, and chide him over how badly he needs a haircut.
I was also considering doing a proper Shift shirt design myself in high resolution, what would you guys think about something like that being available to purchase? Would you be interested? If not, suggest what *could* make you consider such a purchase.
-Tony
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Tournament Updates:
May 12 – Winners Announced!
May 6 – Update #2
April 28 – Update #1
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You think you are good at Compulse? Well we want to see just how good you are in the official Obsessive Compulse Tournament! Play through each level of the new tournament edition game. The players with the best score will win some awesome prizes!
Play the NEW 30 level set released today (it’s really, really hard) and try to get the lowest score possible.
Compulse is a game where you drop directional tiles on the screen to direct a ball through the level. As you advance through the game the levels get trickier and it becomes a game of using the least amount of tiles to get through each level. With the release of the Obsessive Compulse Tournament Pack, there are 30 new levels to enjoy and we’re going to give away prizes to those who are the swiftest and the strongest.
The tournament begins NOW and rolls through May 7th at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time!
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GRAND PRIZE
First Place (Runner-Up)
Second and Third Place
Fourth and Fifth Place
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HOW TO ENTER
1) Go play through the entire Obsessive Compulse Tournament Pack. Make sure you beat every level.
2) Go to the main menu and click “Generate Code.” Click the text box and hit CTRL-A to select all the text, and then CTRL-C to copy it.
3) Paste the text and your Armor Games user name into an email and send to john@armorgames.com by May 7th at 11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time. DO NOT PASTE IT INTO THIS BLOG POST.
PROTIP: You can enter as many times as you want but your best score will be the only score that counts. Please indicate if you are updating a score in your follow-up email. Please do not email me every day.
So there are some cool things we’ll be giving away, but of course you got to follow the rules:
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Official Rules
You must play using the “Obsessive Compulse” game found on armorgames.com, unmodified and in it’s current working condition.
Your score will be posted to the Armor Blog (armorblog.com) a few days after the contest is over, so that you can see how you did.
Any indication of cheating will be detected. Don’t do it. We have ways of finding out. We reserve the right to take away a prize in the case that cheating has a occurred (ask us if you are unsure what cheating is). We can verify your level designs via your code!
The player with the lowest score with all levels completed will be the winner. In the case of a tie between multiple players the player who submitted their final best score first will be considered the winner.
We will test your levels to ensure that they are actually legitimate.
If you are outside the United States we will send you the cash equivalent.
When copying your code make sure you select all and copy the entire code. If we do not receive an entire code we will email you back asking for one. A complete code is necessary to be officially entered (you can tell it’s the whole code because it begins with “<BEGIN CODE>” and ends with “<END CODE>”. Do not send us the codes generated on individual levels… send us the codes generated on the main menu screen!
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So like I said, contest ends May 7th at 11:59 PM PST. Go at it!
One of the hardest parts about making a Flash game is coming up with a name.
It’s amazing that so much is going to bank on the title of a game. It is probably the one thing the player is going to see before any other aspect of the game, so it must reflect the experience or at least excite the player beyond the average title. All the hard work put into characters, interactive objects, enemies and whatever else depend on the player choosing to play the game. On any given game website there are hundreds of games to choose from, so how will yours stand out? A good title is a way to start!
So how would you go about choosing a name? There’s a few different factors.
1) Short, but Not Too Short
People don’t want to read a sentence. 1-3 words should be all, and any more or less should find a way to cut it down. This also saves the issue of website optimization since longer titles result in broken website layouts. Website owners get fussy and abbreviate (or even rename) your games if they do not fit the standard game name size. On the contrary, a tiny game name is going to have trouble getting any exposure. If your game was named “Ak” then it will be dwarfed easily by other titles.
Good Examples: “Grow Cube”, “Modern Tactics”, or “Drunken Masters”
2) Make It Optimized for Searching
Naming a game “Flash Game Fun” is probably going to bury your game so far in the search results that anyone trying to search for it would fail. Use a single word or combination of words that are interesting together. My “Knights of Rock” game had two very different keywords involved and holds the first 11 Google results. On the contrary, my game “Ocean Explorer” could have probably held a better title and is hidden way down in the depths at search result #8.
Good Examples: “Unfair Platformer”, “Metro Siberia”, or “Doodle Defender”
3) Avoid Filler Words
Putting “Fun” or “Game” in your title is probably one of the most cliche things you can do unless your game explicitly targets one of these words (such as the game “The World’s Hardest Game”). These words are just filler… it’s something that makes any game go from “The Exciting Title” to “The Fun Exciting Title” or “The Exciting Title Game.” It looks unprofessional and sounds cheesy. Also, you should never use “My Title: The Game” unless your game was once a movie, book, or other media; “The Game” should only be used when you need to differentiate it from another media.
Examples: “Ultimate Gardening Game”, “Fun Traffic Jump”, or “Shutterbug Fun”
4) Watch for the Duplicate
Games should always get a quick search on the web to ensure that the game title is not already taken. Making a game then realizing that the title is taken just makes your job harder. Also, if your game shares a large portion of the name with another’s game (such as “Pencil Defense Wars” and “Pencil Defense Fighter”) then consider moving on to another title. Be wary that your game may also share a title with a popular book, film, or music album.
5) Use Awesome Words That You Know How to Use
Catch your audience off-guard with a catchy word. I am not saying use a word that no one would ever understand, but take the time to think of good words. Take the word “spin” for example. Other choices may include “swirl”, “whirl”, and so on. But always use words that you understand completely. Never use words that you have little knowledge of as this may lead to future grammatical embarrassment.
Good Examples: “Bowmaster Prelude”, “Monster Basement”, or “Pandemic”
6) Can You Spell It?
Assume your audience has a fourth grade spelling level when you make a game. People are not going to be able to spell “Agathokakological” if they decide to search for your game. If you have trouble spelling it from memory then skip it.
7) Make Your Own Word
“Indestructotank” is a good example of this. The word is obviously the combination of “Indestructible” and “Tank,” which allows a player searching to find it easily (correct me if I am wrong Tony). It is also clever and witty enough to stand out as a good title. If you choose to make your own word, make sure it’s easy to spell and only slightly modifies a word or group of words.
Good Examples: “Indestrutotank”, “Luminara”, or “Exorbis”
Make It Related to Your Game
It’s easy to get tied up in a title made of a bunch of cool words that have nothing to do with the game. Avoid this common problem by at least drawing to some element in the game. My game “TBA” draws a lot of confusion because of it’s lack of description, while games like “TwoThree” get the job done. A good title that builds a relationship with the game also builds a relationship with the player, which allows the player to remember the title in the future!
Good Examples: “Descent”, “Cube It”, or “Alpha Assualt”
9) Evolve Your Titles
Don’t make a game title and stick to it! Constantly change up the words to get different ideas flowing. Most likely your game will change throughout production, so do not worry about sticking to your guns until you release it.
here is one progression I recently made:
1) Aboleo Genesis – Aboleo is a confusing word to spell.
2) Anima – Found out it was not the right Latin word.
3) Animus – Found out it was the name of the computer from Assassin’s Creed.
4) Genesis – Too similar to the Bible book, when on it’s own.
5) Spectrum Genesis – There we go!
10) Be Careful Using Genre-Specific Words
Using the words “Tower Defense” in a game nowadays will get it easily lost to the “oh look just another tower defense game” crowd. This also goes for games that have the word “fighter” or “shooter” in them. Don’t evoke a sense of averageness when you can go for awesome. Just be careful how generalized you make your words. That’s not to say that good games haven’t come out of making genre-specific words; “Street Fighter” and “Desktop Tower Defense” were both splendid. But these game were genre-defining on their own so unless you game is helping make history it might be best to avoid common terms.
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That’s it for my examples of good game-naming. I’ve started to be more careful as I have began research into this topic, and stepping back I can see where I messed up at times. Game naming is an important task that shouldn’t be neglected by the game developer!
I arrived at my parents house today to see them for my birthday, I’m currently working out of my old bedroom which is very odd indeed. I booked tomorrow off with Dan to see my friends for my 21st birthday then its back to my house to avoid any further interruption to Armors busy schedule. This evening however, as they won’t actually get to see me on my real birthday (the 18th) They gave me a birthday cake. It’s probably the coolest cake I’ve ever been given – way better than the one shaped as Thunderbird 2 I got when I was 5.
Here is my Birthday Wiike in all it’s glory.
And how better to cut it than with a good old fashioned 10p CD-R :p
P.S. Thunderbird 3 was the best.
As a new feature to the blog, we will be reviewing games that we played and liked. We won’t really feature or talk about terrible games, because we don’t want to waste your time… but the ones that do something interesting or are exciting to play will merit a feature. We will cover all types of gaming, even Flash games!
I just got finished playing LOST: Via Domus last night. I have to say I was mildly impressed by the popular television show’s first (and probably not last) video game. Typically the quality level of film/television game adaptations are pretty horrific, but LOST: Via Domus manages to square away a good game with only a few setbacks.
You play the role of a survivor from Oceanic Flight 815, which has crashed down on a mysterious island. Your memory was lost from the impact, and to regain your memory you play through a series of flashbacks and quests. Talking to Jack, Sawyer, and other survivors leads to more memories being uncovered and the shroud of the island being pulled back. A large part of the game is spent traveling from location to location to interact with people and places. As you gain more information about the island, more areas unlock and more is learned about where you crashed and who the island’s other inhabitants are.
The storyline is similar but more of a parallel to the actual show. Many parts of the original show are playable as your character but the game’s plot has conflicts with the show’s plot, which make this game not a true sequel or addition to the show. But it does bring some very interesting points and solutions to many of the secrets and mysteries of the island, including a very viable explanation for why the island exists in the show.
The game relies on quests to be performed to move the plotline. Because each of the quests are different, the quality of gameplay seems to be all over the place, ranging from completely awesome to just okay. The quests that really excited me were the circuit puzzles which required fuses to be placed in the right order in different fuse outlets to correctly route power. The quests that irked me the most were the Metal Gear Solid style moments in which you have to sneak around the jungle while avoiding the security system, which was frustratingly difficult.
The gameplay is greatly enhanced by the beautiful environment design and detailed models of the characters from the show. The graphics were stellar for a game of this magnitude, and you can really tell quality went into the design. The jungle was especially remarkable, making the lush landscape so dense and detailed that I was actually getting lost in the map. The loading times between areas was short and sweet.
Quite frankly, I doubt you would like this game if you knew nothing about LOST. The game takes a lot of cues from the show which would make the game extremely awkward to play if you knew nothing about the characters. But if you are an avid-follower of LOST or you have experienced several shows before, then this game will be the frosting on the experience. It is nearly as cinematic and exciting as a decent episode of LOST. Sadly, the duration of the game is extremely short; I earned every achievement and beat the game in about 6-8 hours. That’s a hard sell for $60, so it’s probably best to rent or get used.
Overall, its a fun little game. It does what it sets out to do, which is make a really good television game. If you have been betrayed by terrible movie/television adaptations in the past, this is definitely a fresh new look into the future of commercial games.
LOST: Via Domus is available on Xbox360, PS3, and PC.
A few times a year our friends over @ MousePlanet put on Mouse Adventure @ Disneyland and California Adventures.
Mouse Adventure can best be described as part-scavenger hunt, part-road rally, part-trivia challenge—a team-based competition that guarantees you will never look at the Disneyland Resort in the same way again.
Team Skillz (Lisa, John, Jen & Me) will be competing this Sunday; April the 13th.
We’ll all be wearing green shirts, so if you see us (Before or After the competition) come up and say ‘Hi’ and we’ll give you a free Armor Games sticker! 
-Daniel
Related Sites: Phage Wars Live
We strive to deliver the best online games experience on the internet, with thousands of free online games for kids, access to free mmorpg games, free online games for girls, online rpg games, fun online flash games, and more. We offer free flash games in many different genres: online shooting games, online puzzle games, online war games, free online car games, free online hidden object games and dozens more. This is the best place on the web to play online games for free... play on Armor Games! No matter what game style you prefer, we've got it here.
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