FLASH THURSDAY!!!

January 3, 2008 3:21 PM

This may be the coolest flash game ever. Although it's graphics are nothing to write home about, the game play (which I will wisely follow kotaku's example in not spoiling for you) is quite simply incredible. It's a unique and quick little work break for you via kotaku.

Seriously. It's awesome.

posted by shmegegge (92 comments total)

If it's not entertaining from the get-go, I'm not about to sit through repetitious levels until it magically gets entertaining. Sorry.
posted by ZaneJ. at 3:28 PM on January 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

Ack. Heart attacks hurt.
posted by item at 3:29 PM on January 3, 2008

This is amazing and great.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:31 PM on January 3, 2008

Level 10 with the 100 clicks is killing me. Cool game though. Once my finger stops hurting, I'll give it another go.
posted by afx237vi at 3:32 PM on January 3, 2008

Really clever.
posted by stammer at 3:33 PM on January 3, 2008

Zane, I can appreciate where you're coming from, but you literally have to play 45 seconds or so for your next life to start to see why it's awesome. I'd say it's worth it, but it's up to you.
posted by shmegegge at 3:36 PM on January 3, 2008

zOMG that was amazing. I finished it with 13 'seconds' left on my last 'man' and my heart was literally pounding. I'm a huge nerd, yeah, but that was great! Thanks for posting this!
posted by Pecinpah at 3:40 PM on January 3, 2008

That was indeed great.
posted by danb at 3:43 PM on January 3, 2008

Yeah, once you die and start over, that "Cooperate by oneself" line on the start menu becomes much more than a bad translation.
posted by dogwalker at 3:43 PM on January 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

Who gets the bill for my wrist brace?
posted by uncleozzy at 3:48 PM on January 3, 2008

How do you finish it? I got to floor 15, held down the three buttons, clicked the cones and made them disappear... is there any more past 15?
posted by afx237vi at 3:48 PM on January 3, 2008

Truly amazing. Thanks!
posted by equalpants at 3:49 PM on January 3, 2008

yeah whats the key to get to 16 lol
posted by flyinghamster at 3:50 PM on January 3, 2008

Incredibly amusing.
posted by strangememes at 3:51 PM on January 3, 2008

hmm... any tips for level 15? I've got all the buttons held, but nothing appears?
posted by krakedhalo at 3:52 PM on January 3, 2008

for those who are interested, I started noticing that clicking, and thereby blowing up, the pyramids improves your score. Trying to budget your time between cursor lives blowing up pyramids without slowing your progress to the top too much has given the game decent replay value for me. also, afx237vi, check your mefimail.
posted by shmegegge at 3:52 PM on January 3, 2008

.....perhaps you missed a button?
posted by slapshot57 at 3:52 PM on January 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

you too, krakedhalo.
posted by shmegegge at 3:53 PM on January 3, 2008

The singularity is upon us.
posted by oh pollo! at 3:54 PM on January 3, 2008

This should be a full blown game, wonder how you could work it into a first person shooter concept.....
posted by dibblda at 3:55 PM on January 3, 2008

Will someone MeFi mail me too please? Someone with ... the answer?
posted by tepidmonkey at 3:55 PM on January 3, 2008

Ah, so cool! Kept getting to the end, going WTF, until I noticed something I hadn't before. And then I noticed that the triangles were not in fact spikes of dooom.
posted by Mister Cheese at 3:57 PM on January 3, 2008

Seriously awesome. Cheers shmegegge.
posted by Robot Rowboat at 3:58 PM on January 3, 2008

No that's teamwork! Or is it...?
posted by the other side at 4:02 PM on January 3, 2008

SPOILER ALERT!


On the sixth floor, there's a pad, as well as three on the fifteenth. All four need to be simultaneously depressed to get to the sixteenth floor.
posted by Oxydude at 4:03 PM on January 3, 2008

tepidmonkey, check yr mefimail.
posted by item at 4:04 PM on January 3, 2008

shmeg - BAD... ASS!
posted by not_on_display at 4:05 PM on January 3, 2008

...or, read the spoiler that Oxydude just posted. Kind of not cool, dude.
posted by item at 4:05 PM on January 3, 2008

Oh, that was very cool! It took me a few tries, but I figured it out eventually. Now I must ice my wrist...
posted by sarcasticah at 4:07 PM on January 3, 2008

nice.
posted by juv3nal at 4:11 PM on January 3, 2008

2008
A Happy New Year!

Hooray!
posted by chara at 4:17 PM on January 3, 2008

AM
posted by knapah at 4:18 PM on January 3, 2008

AM-AZING
posted by knapah at 4:19 PM on January 3, 2008

item, he did preface with 'SPOILER ALERT'.
posted by Edgewise at 4:29 PM on January 3, 2008

True, then two lines down came the spoiler, plain as day. Kind of a dickish thing to do, considering that several folks had requested help via mefimail as to not ruin the fun for everyone.
posted by item at 4:35 PM on January 3, 2008

Awesome. Not really a spoiler though, is it? Kind of the basic logic of the game?
posted by cell divide at 4:39 PM on January 3, 2008

Eh, he labeled it SPOILER. maybe he could have rot13'd it, but it's either that or suffer another 50 posts saying "HOW DO I SHOT PYRAMIDS" and the like.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 4:41 PM on January 3, 2008

This was quick but very entertaining. I wish there were other flash games like it. Or a longer version of the original.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 4:43 PM on January 3, 2008

This should be a full blown game, wonder how you could work it into a first person shooter concept.....
posted by dibblda at 5:55 PM

Great idea. Like Portal, but the theme could be reincarnation. Or like Portal, but instead of a Portal gun you have a Time Portal gun that sends you back 20 seconds into the past.

Hell, just take the above idea, combine with the original Portal gun for a royal mind-screw.
posted by sourwookie at 4:50 PM on January 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

utter shite
posted by mattoxic at 4:51 PM on January 3, 2008

I knew clicks from the past would come back to haunt me.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:55 PM on January 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

This should be a full blown game, wonder how you could work it into a first person shooter concept.....

I'm imagining a gameplay mechanic like this combined with portal. *head explodes*
posted by juv3nal at 4:56 PM on January 3, 2008

jinx, sourwookie.
posted by juv3nal at 4:57 PM on January 3, 2008

That's brilliant. I wish that things worked that way in real life.
posted by donkeymon at 5:03 PM on January 3, 2008

Clever - level 12 - need sleep, and a sedative
posted by mattr at 5:06 PM on January 3, 2008

Brilliant! The concept reminds me of some of the winners from Jayisgames' "Replay" contest.
posted by Durhey at 5:07 PM on January 3, 2008

Oh, very clever.
posted by Galvatron at 5:16 PM on January 3, 2008

If they really wanted to impress me, they would have made it so a past cursor could continue forward if the current one opened a stairway. Alas, my tests failed so it appears they did not take that into consideration.
posted by Green With You at 5:28 PM on January 3, 2008

Anyone gotten a perfect score yet? I gave it an attempt to maximize my score but only made 171. I missed a lot of pyramids.
posted by reishus at 5:30 PM on January 3, 2008

I don't understand this in the slightest.
posted by dobbs at 5:33 PM on January 3, 2008

Very clever, and elegant. There's definitely potential for a portal-length game with this mechanism or a variant thereof, but as it is, this is the perfect length for a break from work.
posted by aubilenon at 5:43 PM on January 3, 2008

Wake up, Dr. Freeman. You have fallen into a loop which only your cleverness, and, shall we say, timeliness? will let you escape. Don't get in your own way.
posted by maxwelton at 5:57 PM on January 3, 2008 [2 favorites]

186 reishus.. what's supposed to be perfect?
posted by xorry at 6:01 PM on January 3, 2008

Not sure, I just got 188. I don't know if I missed any or not.
posted by reishus at 6:11 PM on January 3, 2008

Oh. My. God. That was so fun.
posted by rhapsodie at 6:48 PM on January 3, 2008

very very clever. nice to see a new idea.
posted by Frasermoo at 6:49 PM on January 3, 2008

this game made me think of the star trek: the next generation season finale.

lots of fun, thanks!
posted by lord_wolf at 6:56 PM on January 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

err -- series finale, that is
posted by lord_wolf at 7:05 PM on January 3, 2008

Super find. Mostly a "fast click" game but enough puzzle and strategy required to win to take it a cut above the usual reaction time challenges.

utter shite
posted by mattoxic at 6:51 PM on January 3

Pfft, yeah, give up much?
posted by nanojath at 7:15 PM on January 3, 2008

I got 188 as well, and I'm 99 percent sure I got everything... so maybe that's the max?
posted by tittergrrl at 7:42 PM on January 3, 2008

Can't you get every single pyramid with every new cursor if you are fast enough? Shouldn't that mean there is a massive maximum score.
posted by scodger at 7:50 PM on January 3, 2008

Oh, nope you can't, nevermind.
posted by scodger at 7:51 PM on January 3, 2008

Also got 188, also pretty sure I got everything.

Next challenge: how many lives do you need to get 188? I used 9...
posted by equalpants at 7:58 PM on January 3, 2008

Impressive! I wasn't even going for score, but that was by far the most entertaining thing I've played in some time.
posted by Reth_Eldirood at 8:22 PM on January 3, 2008

Zane makes me angry. That was amazing.
posted by floam at 8:26 PM on January 3, 2008

Meh.
posted by bigskyguy at 8:34 PM on January 3, 2008

For some reason, after playing this game, my palms are growing hair.
posted by Malor at 9:21 PM on January 3, 2008

Excellent.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:52 PM on January 3, 2008

Whee! That's fun.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:27 PM on January 3, 2008

It is excellent.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:54 PM on January 3, 2008

Very clever game indeed
posted by chrisranjana.com at 1:25 AM on January 4, 2008

Great, great gameplay. I had a blast going through the "discovery" process, as to how the game worked, and how best to proceed.

Funny that Durhey mentions jayisgames. In looking up the designer's name (Yoshio Ishii), I saw that he had a few other games reviewed there as well.
posted by avoision at 4:26 AM on January 4, 2008

Great stuff. I love a game I can actually complete!
posted by MrMustard at 4:27 AM on January 4, 2008

Very much enjoyed this for a good few minutes. Thanks.
posted by pancreas at 5:37 AM on January 4, 2008

Genius.
posted by The Monkey at 5:47 AM on January 4, 2008

awesome game
posted by milestogo at 6:48 AM on January 4, 2008

@maxwelton: That makes me think this would be a cool game in the same vein as Portal. The Portal gun would probably make the game too complicated, but I could definitely see Aperture Science setting up a training center like this. Valve, if you're reading this, make it. Also, if it's possible to do this in a mod (I guess it is, you could convert your playthroughs into instructions for NPCs, right?) I'd like to see this as a source engine mod.

Funny that the cleverest idea in a while shows up in a flash game.
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:49 PM on January 4, 2008

I knew clicks from the past would come back to haunt me.

I think of it as the Holden method.
posted by ersatz at 1:49 PM on January 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

It wasn't me officer, I swear, it was a a different cursor that looked just like me that popped all those triangles. Honest!

He went up those stairs and then just disappeared.
posted by quin at 1:57 PM on January 4, 2008

Hot damn, glad everyone liked it. And yes, Valve should absolutely do this. If I can race against my best time in Wipeout, I should be able to do this.
posted by shmegegge at 2:05 PM on January 4, 2008

the triple post is pure brilliance!
posted by umbú at 8:29 PM on January 4, 2008

Flag it and move on (and post it again later, hahahahahahahaha).
posted by yeoz at 8:50 PM on January 4, 2008

I can't get past level 15, but I know that I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will.
posted by Pants! at 9:11 PM on January 4, 2008

those dupe posts are hysterical. I don't want to give the mods the headache of having to delete 7 more, but still that was funny as hell.
posted by shmegegge at 9:45 PM on January 4, 2008

What's the maximum possible score? I got 183 for an escape, and I THINK I cleared all pyramids.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 10:26 PM on January 4, 2008

188 is the max score, and I have done in in nine cursors. I think doing it in eight cursors is impossible, but I could be proven wrong on that point...
posted by Lokheed at 5:48 AM on January 5, 2008

Actually, I've just proven myself wrong. I got 188 with eight cursors, at it appears that seven cursors is within the realm of possibility.
posted by Lokheed at 7:01 AM on January 5, 2008

188 in seven cursors, with a split second to spare. Given that there are five pressure pads that need to be held down, I really do think six cursors is impossible.
posted by Lokheed at 12:05 PM on January 5, 2008

You can use the same cursor to hold down the pads on levels 8 and 6, so it's possible to win with only 5 cursors. But, man, getting 188 that way would be really hard. Might be possible, though:

1. find the staircase in the box, hold the pad on level 8 briefly, pick up pyramids on levels 1-8, hold the pad on level 6 as time runs out
2. race to the top and hold one of the triggers on level 15 (no time to get pyramids, since you have to get through the 99-click box by yourself)
3 and 4. head for level 15 and hold the other two triggers, but since you can get through the box earlier, use the spare time to grab pyramids
5. grab remaining pyramids, reach the top just in time
posted by equalpants at 4:24 PM on January 5, 2008

having one LMB on the mouse and two more on the laptop makes for the 100 clicker being three times quicker to destroy.
posted by damehex at 10:46 PM on January 7, 2008

It's like Groundhog Day the game.

You gotta be there to save that kid falling out of the tree every day, and still take piano lessons, learn to sculpt ice, and make Andie Macdowell fall in love with you.
posted by splatta at 4:04 PM on January 9, 2008 [3 favorites]

I just scored 188 in six cursors, with 44 left on the Cursor Life clock. I guess five cursors is theoretically possible. Who knows, a month from now I might pull it off. Why am I so addicted to this stupid game?
posted by Lokheed at 11:29 PM on January 29, 2008