To promote Colorific’s “Woodworx Racers” paint and race kits, they wanted a driving game that was as fun to play as their kits are to build and paint. After brainstorming a number of ideas we decided to go for a head 2 head topdown arcade racer, based on the classic Micro Machines games.

Single player mode is a 3 lap time trial against the clock. Subsequent attempts are raced against a “ghost car” which drives the player’s previous best.

Two player mode is where the game get’s interesting though, with the players jostling for points.

The game features a large scrollable map, 1 and 2 player modes, highscore submission, local best times and “ghost car” saving, on track obstacles and lots more.

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Our latest game for Hasbro, to promote the new “Ultimate Prime” toy is a side scrolling shooter, loosely based on the classic Amiga game of the early 1990’s – Walker.

The game has a dark and atmospheric theme, with the player taking control of Optimus Prime in an effort to protect Bumblebee and progress through the level. Optimus is controlled by using the keyboard to walk, and the mouse to aim and shoot.

Click here to play Transformers – Ultimate Prime

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Every now and again I take on a project that I get really excited about, and this was one of them.  Hasbro’s latest range of toys, Kre-o, are Lego style construction kits based on the Transformers toys and characters.  Both full kits and “mini figs” called Kreons are available, and Hasbro wanted a game to show off the Kreons and the kits.

What we developed was a platform/puzzle game called Kreon Chaos where the player takes control of a number of Kreons.  All your favorite Transformers characters are in there, like Bumblebee, Jazz and of course Optimus Prime.  Each Kreon has a different special skill, so they have to work as a team to get through each level on their quest to collect the kit parts and defeat Megatron.

Kreon Chaos launched with the first 5 levels, set on Cybertron, with a further 10 levels (5 on earth, and 5 on the moon) to follow.  Hidden Kreons and extra levels are unlockable by playing the game, and also by entering secret codes on the level select screen.

The game was built using the FlashPunk framework which keeps the performance up even with hundreds of assets on each level, many of them animated.  It was our first game developed using FlashPunk, and we will definitely be using it in the future (check out my article/tutorial on the framework soon to be published at Flash Games Classroom)  The game was another collaboration with the awesome Ash Nicholls who handled the graphics for the game, leaving the game code and level designs to me.

The game saves user data such as scores and the time taken to complete each level, and includes online highscore submission and lead capture.  Look out for the world 2 and 3 updates later in the year!

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This was an interesting project, and another collaboration with an overseas team. The concept was for an arcade style game for promoting the benefits of a new car battery technology from Malaysian manufacturers Century Battery. We were approached by Malaysian developers Fuse Creative to design and develop a game which to be used as part of a promotional web site.

We took inspiration from an existing iPhone/iPad game called Pig Shot but completely reworked it to create a very different style of game, using a space theme where the player continuously runs out of energy and had to keep topping it up with jump leads and energy balls while avoiding dangers such as flaming asteroids!

The end result was a simple but fun and fast paced action game, which linked in seamlessly with Century Battery’s glossy new web site. The end result was The Tahan Megalama Challenge which launched today, with Century offering a range of prizes to the to scorers during launch week.

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We were approached by a client in the US who wanted realistic looking graphics with one game hunting deer with a bow, and a second arcade style game shooting a variety of targets with a shotgun. The result was 2 very different games but both with a similar look and feel.

The first game uses a bow and arrow so timing is critical, and the user needs to pay close attention to the wind conditions.

The second game has more of an arcade feel and a faster pace.

These were the first iPhone games we developed, and have now started developing for iOS and Android under our new Frosty Pixel Games brand. Read here for more details, or contact us for a quote for iPhone/Android development.

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Bop It is an electronic audio toy produced by Hasbro.  If you’re not familiar with the toy, it’s essentially a game of skill and reaction where the toy gives a series of verbal commands (”Twist It”, “Pull It” etc.) in time to a beat and you have to perform the task without hesitating or getting it wrong.  It’s been one of the most successful toys of the past few years, and lots of fun for kids and adults alike.  We were asked to implement the online version of the new “XT” version of the toy, as part of a launch promotion.

The online version was built around the visuals of the toy, but using mouse gestures to handle the input such as holding the mouse button and drawing a circle for “Twist it” or shaking the mouse left and right for “Shake it”.  The amount of time allowed to make the input decreases as time passes making it increasingly difficult to win each round.

Apart from the game itself, the project involved backend coding to allow social media integration with Twitter and Facebook, and lead capture for collecting names and email addresses for marketing purposes, incentivised with a competition and separate highscore leaderboards for each country to add a healthy amount of competition and encourage people to share the game with their friends.

Play Bop It Online

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This was in interesting project to work on.  It was another collaboration with Ash Nicholls in Australia who handled the graphic design, but this time we developed 2 versions – a normal 2D version, and a 3D anaglyph version where the user wears red/blue glasses to get the 3D effect.

Built as a promotional tool for a new range of Transformer toys from Hasbro, and as part of a larger 2D/3D website, the game had to look great, play well, and be competitive.  We went for a first person shooting game, where the charcter (Bumblebee) ducked behind cover to reload like in the Namco arcade game Time Crisis.

Hasbro didn’t want Bumblebee to be able to die in the game, so to prevent the decepticons shooting back we made it a “training simulator” where the player shoots at holograms of the decepticons.  With 3 weapons to choose from, a number of decepticon enemies including Starscream, Soundwave and of course the mightly Megatron, plus bonuses and the 3D graphics the game looks and plays great.

A suitably pumping soundtrack, and sound effects to match the on screen action, and a built in high score system give the final touches to a game which is sure to be a great success in promoting the new toys.

Play Bumblebee Blast in 2D

Play Bumblebee Blast in 3D

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We were asked to develop the online version of a unique ethics based board game used as a business training and certification tool.  The end result is an interesting blend of a multi-player board game and online chat system.

The game is based on question cards which are drawn at random based on a dice roll and which board squares are landed on.  The players discuss the ethical dilemmas on the cards, and points are awarded or deducted along the way.   Our first job was to build a database for the card data, making changes where necessary to allow for the subtle differences between online and offline play.

Next we set up a socket server to handle the data transfer and real time gameplay and chat.  While we did consder SmartFox as an option, we eventually decided on Electroserver as the right choice, and hosted it on the excellent Joyent cloud based virtual servers.

As the game play relies so heavily on discussion of the scenarios, we built the online version around a real time chat system.  Players can chat in the lobby as if it were a regular chat room, but once they set up or enter a game room they take on the persona of one of the game’s characters (with names like Ms.Gossipmonger, and Mr. Snitch!) and the game is played with users rolling the dice in turn, discussing the scenarios, and voting on whether to award of deduct points.

Finally, there is a debriefing period at the end of the game where players are asked to answer questions about the game and how they performed, before being given the option of printing a certificate of completion, and the chat log of the entire exercise.

The client was extremely happy with the game, and we are already in dicussion on future upgrades and added features.

Click the link below to see the game yourself!

Visit the E-factor Game website

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We collaborated with Australian artist Ash Nicholls to produce this childrens action arcade game to promote a new range of Star Wars toys from Hasbro.

Working on a project for clients as big as Hasbro and Lucasarts obviously means restrictions on creative input and tight deadlines, but with the talented Ash Nicholls handling all of the graphics and dealing direct with the clients, that left us to design and program the game.  The game is written in Flash Actionscript, with beautifully drawn graphics, high impact audio, and all the classic Star Wars touches.

It’s a simple side scrolling slash and blast arcade game.  The player takes control of Obiwan and through force attacks and his lightsaber they have to fend off the attacking droid army.  Battledroids, blasters and mines are all in there and Yoda even makes a cameo appearance in the background on a dropship taking off near the start of the game (and maybe hints at a future game…?)

A built in highscore system allows the kids to compete.

Click the link below to try the game yourself!

Visit the Jedi Attack website and play Jahjing! online

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We were asked to develop a modern version of the classic “Shut the box” game with a betting element (for play money only) which would allow players to compete with one another for the high score.  What we developed was a Flash based game, and a website where users could register as members, save their scores, and keep a rolling credit of play money which could be used to bet in the game.

The game was built from the ground up with custom 3D style graphics and designed to be extendible, with a view to adding a real money betting element and multi-player support later on.  Users can play as guests, or register and log in to keep track of their winnings.

The website is built on a customised CMS and includes the registration system, highscore leaderboards and blog, and the possibility to expand with forums and e-commerce at a later date by request of the client.

Click the link below to try the game yourself!

Visit the Jahjing website and play Jahjing! online

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