Games by Tony Pa

August 5, 2006 2:26 PM

Games by Tony Pa.jayisgames just reviewed tony pa's new flash game, Geartaker. Geartaker has you leaping from cog to wheel to gear in a precise ballet of timing and angles, completed by an eclectic, interactive retro-synth soundtrack. After a good 30 minutes of that, I explored Tony's site more thoroughly, enjoying Trinks, Nelinurk (haunting soundtracks both), the othello like simplicity and complexity of Shooot. There's also the fiendish puzzler Gemsmith, the shocking anti-consumerist geometry of Save the Shoppers, and the fun is rounded out by the tiny retrolicious BoatRider. Unfortunately, there are no links straight to the games, and trying to link to them directly results in getting redirected to the home page. Suffer through the start page, and you'll be rewarded with a treasure trove of novel and engaging flash entertainment.
posted by boo_radley (21 comments total)

Woah, that music is triiiiippy.
posted by delmoi at 2:32 PM on August 5, 2006

Thank you, Macromedia/Adobe, for still not having Flash player 8 for teh Lunix.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 2:40 PM on August 5, 2006

I think Geartaker would be better if you followed curved paths, getting a tangential boost in speed from the gear's rotational velocity. I kept trying to jump just before I should have, thinking the gear would push me in a certain direction.
posted by nervestaple at 2:45 PM on August 5, 2006

I enjoy the way the music is integrated in play somewhat in the Geataker game. Great simplicity in gameplay and design, but a bit frustrating - maybe I just need to recalibrate my mind, but it always seems the angle of release is a little off, favouring premature jumping. Maybe I'm thinking of angular velocity or something.

On preview - snap.
posted by MetaMonkey at 2:47 PM on August 5, 2006

Right, so I'm playing Octoober, the "find the leaves" game, and I lose, and it takes me to the high score board. Who the hell plays little flash games until they get 2.6 million points?
posted by graventy at 3:05 PM on August 5, 2006

Fun stuff, boo_, thanks!
posted by jonson at 3:08 PM on August 5, 2006

Who the hell plays little flash games until they get 2.6 million points?

Cheaters.
posted by jonson at 3:08 PM on August 5, 2006

The music in Geartaker is incredibly annoying.
posted by Malor at 3:15 PM on August 5, 2006

I've found that Geartakers is easier if you use the edges of pieces of paper to determine correct release times.
posted by The Confessor at 3:49 PM on August 5, 2006

I've found that Geartakers is easier if you use the edges of pieces of paper to determine correct release times.

Doesn't that kind of make it not a game and more like homework? I found the music annoying, but totally awesome. When I was focusing on the game it was awesome, but if I paid attention to the music it was atrocious.
posted by Phantomx at 3:51 PM on August 5, 2006

The Confessor: A cheater who uses the edges of pieces of paper to determine correct release times.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:08 PM on August 5, 2006

his games are wonderful (i'm getting over a SHOOOOT addiction) : >
posted by amberglow at 5:03 PM on August 5, 2006

amberglow: yeah, Shooot is kinda taking over as my fave.
posted by boo_radley at 5:15 PM on August 5, 2006

Doesn't that kind of make it not a game and more like homework?

Pish posh! Allow yourself to consider games as things with which one interacts in general. Game design that manages to introduce ad hoc real-life props strikes me as a wonderful idea, in fact. Besides, how is calculating lines of trajectory in your head somehow less like homework?
posted by cortex at 5:16 PM on August 5, 2006

whoa!!! holy synchronicity! i found this site maybe a year ago and lost the link to it. ( I thought Save the Shoppers was really innovative)

Anyways, I was just on my way to doing an ask.mefi to ask people to help me find it and I see this FPP....so, thanks!
posted by vacapinta at 5:18 PM on August 5, 2006

Cool!
posted by ObscureReferenceMan at 8:30 PM on August 5, 2006

Ditto on the Linux / Flash 8. Adobe/Macromedia, quit farting around and get it released. I'm seeing Flash 9 stuff already, ferchrissakes.
posted by intermod at 8:34 PM on August 5, 2006

Smart Dalek

If I may paraphrase Jack Sparrow from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean...

Failure is hardly adequate incentive for me not to cheat.
posted by The Confessor at 9:03 PM on August 5, 2006

why no link for jayisgames?
posted by AloneOssifer at 10:23 PM on August 5, 2006

We've linked there tons, Alone--it's a great site : >
posted by amberglow at 7:27 AM on August 7, 2006

Byte Magazine (I think) ran a contest in the TRS-80 days for one line programs for the Model III. There was one we used to play in class all the time (after all it took 30 seconds to type in) that was the same as the boat rider game minus the islands.
posted by Mitheral at 8:48 AM on August 8, 2006