I hate having cold feet. Once in a while it helps to put on an extra pair of socks. But what about those days when it's 6 degrees Celsius? That's when I put on a third pair of socks. What about 6 degrees Fahrenheit? I'll try throwing on an electric blanket. If that doesn't work, I'll go for some thick boots. And what about 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon? Well, as you can tell, I'm now stretching for a joke, so we'll heat up some hot chocolate, throw another log on the fire, and enjoy this week's Link Dump Friday!
Rigby - Grand prize winner in the recent MochiAds competition, Rigby is a game of ball physics where your only goal is to bounce and hit (or avoid) the squares without touching the ground. Kind of like one of those games you play arranging leaves on the sidewalk while waiting for the bus.
Juggle Trouble - Hitting a target with a ball is a cinch. Hitting a target with a ball while juggling more balls? That's where it gets a smidge more difficult.
Yali - Because I know that there's gotta be someone out there who still believes in the power of Java, here's a nice online version of the weight-shifting board game.
Shape Wars - Circles, squares, and triangles? Oh my! (Let's not even mention the pentagon, that's where things get ridiculous.)
Scribble States - Remember that episode of "Friends" where they tried to write down the names of all 50 US states within six minutes? Well, how about drawing them?
Slap the Nerd - See the nerd? Slap the nerd! See the non-nerd? Don't slap! It's as easy and non-politically correct as that. Note: We here at JayIsGames do not condone nerd slapping. Mostly because we'd be the ones getting slapped. (Thanks, jbeaver!)
I can't help but imagine how much more fascinating Rigby would be as a minimalist, abstract, textless game that took one from level to level without so much as a fade-out.
The physics on Rigby are appalling. It seems to be fairly random on where the ball ends up going, and keyboard input is apparently ignored, for the most part. And I don't even want to talk about jump responses.
Finally! The 42nd Link Dump Friday! Is this the answer to flash gaming?
I am a teacher - so Slap The Nerd is obviously the Game of The Year to me :DDD
Ball physics in Rigby are, indeed somewhat peculiar...
Take, for example bouncing. You hold down the up arrow, the ball bounces one and then a higher one and then a shorter one... Hmmm...
oops. i think i just removed something from my dock on juggle touble
284 on juggle touble!!! (using an ibook too!!)
I don't know how rigby could win any kind of competition, the physics kinda stunk and it was way too easy and short.
It's possible to stalemate YALi -- if you march your marbles along in a block, keeping it two deep, a few of the opposing marbles will get through, but you can wind up with a situation where the opposing marbles are up aganist your "wall", and so can't jump anyone, but due to the "center-of-balance" rule, it remains your opponent's turn.
I thought that was interesting.
About the ball physics in Rigby, yes they are a bit wonky. But that was meant to make it more enjoyable, but obviously didn't work out as well as it should.
I really don't get what's wrong with the keyboard input. Maybe the instructions aren't straightforward enough, but the only thing you need to do to jump is hold down the up key or spacebar at any time before Rigby reaches the ground (or block) and he'll jump.
If you think it's too easy, you're probably right. It was designed with people like my girlfriend, and my dad, in mind. People who've pretty much never played games in their life, so having them just hold the up key to jump and rather focus on steering the ball left or right felt a lot more logical. At least when considering the player group I was going for.
Jon,
for me, at least, there were two problems with the keyboard input. First, sometimes - a couple of times - there was a very definite lag between the keystroke and the response and second, two times the ball kept moving to the right as if I was holding the right arrow key down - although i didn't.
These were not, however, a big deal, did not really spoil the gameplay for me for they occurred not really often.
Ah, I think the delay and moving to the right without pressing the right key is a result of the fact that the ball keeps its momentum. This was meant to make it a bit more physics based, and originally I had some ideas about rewarding the player for hitting all the blocks with as few keystrokes as possible, by gaining the precise momentum on the first jump so that he automatically jumps on the rest of the blocks. Hope that made sense..
But anyway, I never actually acted on that idea so I should've either toned the momentum down or made it clear to the player from the start.
Thanks for the feedback bioLarzen, it really helps me understand a lot of the more unclear "he controls poorly!" feedback I got back when I released the game.
I think they're being a bit harsh on you Jon. I play a lot of games and found yours easy to play and I would guess that was the point. No it's not hard, but I found it entertaining never the less.
My apologies to Jon Kristinsson(who I assume is the creator of Rigby). I did not intend for my post to come off as harsh as it did, and I applaud those who spend their time creating games for the rest of us to enjoy.
This game controls like my nerdy friend trying to hit on my mom....
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