The very first graphical MMORPG I played was Everquest, way back when the premise — a game with thousands of people playing together — was something most people had no idea existed in video games. Everquest wasn’t really the first to do what it did, so why does every MMO since still feel like Everquest?
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Why have I not raved about this game yet?
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A conversation on 2D, as discussed by Kangaroo, DoomRater, and Dacapo.
There is something about flash games that catches my eye. Maybe it’s the ease of which it can produce a silly or entertaining game, or sometimes it’s the quality and effort put forth by what often is a single man project, with maybe a few free music resources here and there. Either way, I’ve found that as the quality of Flash has improved over the years, so has the amount of endless entertainment for me at Newgrounds.
Before I begin the review, I feel I need to mention a mistake I made in my last blog entry. In Pitfall II, you don’t have to get all the gold bricks to beat the game. However, getting the bricks is good for getting more points and possibly achieving a perfect score. If you just want to win the game, all you need to do is find Rhonda(Harry’s niece), Quick-Claw the cowardly mountain lion, and the diamond ring.
Now on to the review of Jill of the Jungle.
Released in 1992 by Epic Megagames, Jill of the Jungle was a sensation in the growing shareware market. The way companies used to market their games was to release the first part or ‘episode’ of a series for free distribution, as sort of a demo or teaser, and charge a fairly cheap price for the full package which generally consisted of three episodes. It was a hit due to the amazing(in that day) graphics and soundblaster midi music, some cool puzzles, and possibly fan service.
It was several years ago when I came across the website of a bitter, former player of Asheron’s Call 2. He was condemning a patch which he swore ruined its solid PvP system and any further reason to play. Betrayed by the game that he’d invested so much effort in, but still devoted to the genre and potential of MMORPGS, he had no choice but to migrate to any number of other games, one of which was a promising title on the horizon called World of Warcraft.
Searching Google now, I can’t find that old site, but there are still vestigial diaries about Asheron’s Call 2, written by scorned ex-players who clearly felt cheated out of something. And shouldn’t they?
Making small games for promotional material is pretty common these days: Simple Flash games seem to accompany almost every major movie whose budget allows it. Being that Flash games are an easy and cheap means for engaging viral marketing, they’re a practical part of the promotion engines of many upcoming releases. Obviously, elementary Flash games won’t have much appeal for hardcore gamers, especially since they’re games promoting another game. But would something with more substance do the trick?
In 1982, Activision programmer David Crane made a masterpiece known as Pitfall, a simple sidescrolling adventure game with the object of collecting all the treasure within a time limit(twenty minutes). The enemies were mostly static, except for a menacing white scorpion which lurked in the underground caves and followed ‘Harry’s every move whether he was above or below ground(Psychic scorpions, anybody?). The game was very popular and raised the bar for video games of the future. Two most notable games which readily used and expanded upon elements from Pitfall are Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog. A sequel to Pitfall would introduce several other features, some of them good, some bad, and at least one that would leave you bald from sheer aggravation.
With the market for video games growing, Atari decided to capitalize on a growing demographic of gamers: young children. Unfortunately, these games did not always give the buyers their money’s worth. In this article, two childrens’ games, Strawberry Shortcake and Big Bird’s Egg Catch, will be compared for design and replayability.
The newest — yet, the oldest — psychological need in video games, as stated by the PENS model, is relatedness. All three needs (competence, autonomy, and relatedness) arguably had a place in all games, long before we were playing Pac-man or Asteroids.
Multiplayer wasn’t always a top priority in game design. We should thank arcades (which are now a dying tradition) for pioneering the idea of playing a game not by yourself, but with some company.
In a way, it’s strange to think that despite years of arcade get-togethers, multiplayer didn’t truly thrive until it could be done in the convenience of our own homes…alone. We interact together virtually, never knowing the faces of our teammates and opponents.
So, through services like Xbox Live, The Playstation Network, Wii’s online services, and Kaillera, we have the easiest ways to meet and play, and less socialization than when we hovered around the machines at the arcades. Arcade or not, anybody who’s played a game with friends in the same room can attest to one thing: internet multiplayer lacks a little something that no online service will ever be able to simulate.
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