Friday Flash: Areas

December 28, 2007 11:33 AM

After playing Areas, I now feel the world needs more no-click ambient shmups. [via]

I wrote a few sentences on how to play, and then I decided half of the fun of the game is figuring it out. So I deleted them. Jayisgames's review has a little information if you have no clue what's going on.

posted by Plutor (29 comments total)

I gave up after my second seizure. Or is getting nothing but a flashing screen a bug?
posted by noble_rot at 11:53 AM on December 28, 2007

gosh darnit, that is sweet.
posted by localhuman at 12:00 PM on December 28, 2007

The whole 'congrats you got a shotgun!' was sort of a letdown because it led immediately and directly to my death. Shotguns suck against growing white circles.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:04 PM on December 28, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

So wait...compressing multiple functions into one dimension is good now? Where do I redeem my extra mouse buttons?
posted by DU at 12:07 PM on December 28, 2007

Tried this yesterday. Got a screen that says "Update your player (here)". Clicked "here", updated my player, and got a screen that says "Update your player (here)". Maybe it's just me, but it wasn't all that much fun.
posted by qldaddy at 12:15 PM on December 28, 2007

That was like watching Akira with a soundtrack by Danny Elfman.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:15 PM on December 28, 2007

Meh..
posted by autodidact at 12:20 PM on December 28, 2007

So while i was playing this, a little window popped up saying "Kongregate is sending this to your facebook profile. "Brainy played Areas for a few minutes". Just thought I'd let you all know.
posted by Brainy at 12:24 PM on December 28, 2007

So while i was playing this, a little window popped up saying "Kongregate is sending this to your facebook profile. "Brainy played Areas for a few minutes". Just thought I'd let you all know.

I think there's a setting in Facebook that you can set wherein everything on the entire internet communicates with your Facebook profile: Amazon, eBay, iTunes, etc. You should be able to turn it off.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:41 PM on December 28, 2007

fun.
posted by nihlton at 1:23 PM on December 28, 2007

shakespeherian: That shotgun is definitely a punishment for playing, not a reward.
Also, I like clicking. It's effective. I kept accidently activating the menu by holding my mouse in the wrong place. And activating a button by hovering for several seconds instead of clicking is, I believe, a very poor piece of interface design.
posted by agentofselection at 1:57 PM on December 28, 2007

I'm having the same issue as qldaddy.
posted by cmgonzalez at 2:57 PM on December 28, 2007

Very cool. I had a lot of trouble playing it on my laptop's trackpad, but found it a lot more fun when I moved to an actual mouse.

However, the word "schmups" sounds like a 19th-century disease, probably of the scrotum. Spare us, please.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:59 PM on December 28, 2007

Thanks for posting this. I like being able to get beyond Level 1. :)
posted by kindalike at 3:01 PM on December 28, 2007

I can't make it past level 10...it seems that the shotgun is indeed a death sentence...
posted by schyler523 at 3:02 PM on December 28, 2007

I didn't like the no-clicking UI. I like to be the one who controls when things happen. That's why I got into this whole computer thing in the first place.
posted by jeffamaphone at 3:17 PM on December 28, 2007

I've been reading about games and playing games my entire life, and there is one thing of which I am certain. "Schmups" is a dumb word that will never catch on. Give up already.
posted by autodidact at 3:53 PM on December 28, 2007

There's no C. The word is shmup. It's at least 20 years old and has 300k Google hits. You can call them "shoot em ups" if you don't like the whole contraction thing.
posted by Plutor at 4:08 PM on December 28, 2007

this was cool until they gave me the silly shotgun.
posted by juv3nal at 5:02 PM on December 28, 2007

Thirding the "Update. Your. Player." bug. Yes, I do have flash installed, thx.
posted by yhbc at 5:20 PM on December 28, 2007

The shotgun isn't a death sentence. The circle that's made up a of a few thick perpendicular lines rotating around the center will transform any shot made from inside it into big 'ol lasers. With the shotgun it's hugely effective and can blast away the largest circles quickly.

Lots of this game seems to be figuring out which powerups to use and how. I'm a bit stuck at level 24 -- after a few tries I figured out how the new powerup works but I'm not yet using it effectively.
posted by Harkins_ at 6:06 PM on December 28, 2007

I got the "upgrade your player" message, so I upgraded my player. The message requires lots of scripting permissions to work, I think.

Maybe the game was screwed up for me because I'm on linux? This one was just really easy. Fly around, get close, shoot circles. If you don't get any areas (or productive areas) in the first 3 or so you're doomed. Quit mid-twenties. Note that you can combo the areas. If you're in a doubler and shoot into another doubler, you get 4x. Double+laser/heavy+accelerator, too. The "light saber" ones appear to rotate towards where you're shooting them from. I think that the black holes blow up faster if you shoot them, maybe not.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 7:27 PM on December 28, 2007

I've been reading about games and playing games my entire life, and there is one thing of which I am certain. "Schmups" is a dumb word that will never catch on. Give up already.

You are wrong (it's in common usage and has been for a long time) and your certainty in the face of being wrong makes you look like a fool. So fie on you, sir.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:48 AM on December 29, 2007

I seem unable to get it to work. It loads up fine in Firefox, then after I've hovered over what I assume is 'Play', I just get an empty white circle that does nothing. Didn't even load in Opera. Odd.
posted by 999 at 10:34 AM on December 29, 2007

Never trust anyone who uses the term "schmup". LOL.

Fantastic design, fanastic game. This is why I still play games on my PC. Thanks for the link. I love games where you have to learn how to play as you play.

999, after you hover over Play, you need to click.
posted by mrgrimm at 1:01 PM on December 29, 2007

"I've been reading about games and playing games my entire life, and there is one thing of which I am certain. "Schmups" is a dumb word that will never catch on. Give up already."

"People keep using this word all the time. Give up! This word will never become one which people keep using all the time!"
posted by Bugbread at 5:25 AM on December 31, 2007

What plutor said. Where are you fools getting the c from?
posted by juv3nal at 3:59 PM on December 31, 2007

Not to brag or anything, but the last level is #75.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 5:03 PM on January 2, 2008

Congrats!
posted by lifelock at 12:43 AM on January 22, 2008