Firday Flash Addiction

July 20, 2007 6:09 AM

Jay is Games is holding its 3rd Casual Gameplay Design Competition. I love short games (the kind one can play in the course of a conference call) and there's a couple of goodies in here. My favorite is Gimme Friction Baby and my current high score is 16.
posted by qldaddy (15 comments total)

And yes, "Firday" was intentional. (no it wasn't. I shouldn't post before finishing coffee. Maybe someone can fix that and spare me prolonged humiliation????)
posted by qldaddy at 6:11 AM on July 20, 2007

Gimme Friction is pretty neat now that I get it, but I had to play it literally N times before I figured out what I was supposed to do.

Timebot is the cleverest and implements the theme best, but I only played a couple levels because that's not my kind of game. (And I don't see how Replay 2: The Sequel isn't a direct ripoff of Timebot.)

I really liked Speck Oppression and played the whole thing, but I don't see how it fits the theme.

EOT
posted by DU at 6:17 AM on July 20, 2007

I read Viacom is committing something like $100 million to "Casual Game" development. Is this the next dot com? I understand the premise but can't understand why you need to spend anything more than twenty or thirty thousand to make several casual games since they are in fact short and sweet by nature?

Maybe if $98 million of it is going to the game designers...?
posted by cavalier at 6:22 AM on July 20, 2007

THe friction game was a neat idea, but it lacks combo scoring, which ruins it for me.
posted by empath at 6:46 AM on July 20, 2007

Also, I think they need to be pickier about what entries they allow. A lot of them don't seem to match the theme at all. Or it's really tacked on.
posted by empath at 6:47 AM on July 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

I read Viacom is committing something like $100 million to "Casual Game" development. Is this the next dot com? I understand the premise but can't understand why you need to spend anything more than twenty or thirty thousand to make several casual games since they are in fact short and sweet by nature?

I read that while casual games are cheap, you need to advertise them a lot more to reach non-hardcore gamers. It probably costs a lot to get Nicole Kidman to do a Brain Training commercial. On the other hand companies that aim at hardcore gamers like id Software and Crytek can rely on word of mouth.
posted by bobo123 at 7:03 AM on July 20, 2007

Oh, this Gimme Friction Baby game is fun! Thanks for the post. Now I have a good time waster for my Friday.
posted by bristolcat at 7:35 AM on July 20, 2007

I got a 32 in your little game! I officially retire because I am confident I will never be able to top that again. My previous high score was a 9.
posted by bristolcat at 8:39 AM on July 20, 2007

James is Gay!?!
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:56 AM on July 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

43 as a high score, bristolcat. I think I'm supposed to say "eat it" or something.
posted by maxwelton at 9:58 AM on July 20, 2007

I think I'm supposed to shake my fist or something.
posted by bristolcat at 10:24 AM on July 20, 2007

The Speck Opression games is probably the best and most enjoyable thermodynamics / osmosis / critical mass demonstration ever invented.
posted by noble_rot at 1:28 PM on July 20, 2007

Gimme Friction Baby is driving me nuts as it seems such a simple game that scoring highly should be trivial and yet 13 is the best I've managed.
posted by electricinca at 2:50 AM on July 22, 2007

32 is my best...damnit I lose again.
posted by inigo2 at 6:41 AM on August 7, 2007

Gimme Friction is cool. Thanks MetaMonkey.
posted by Mitheral at 10:20 AM on August 7, 2007