"Bang goes another year...

...In and out of one ear."

Two days ago nongames.com turned into a two year-old blog. Instead of a retrospective, let me just punctuate this moment with some random comments:

a) My new day job is, so far, unrelated to games or interactivity. Is this affecting my posts in quantity and quality? Possibly. This same job could deal with simulation and serious/persuasive games in the future. My fingers are crossed.

b) On the other hand, I keep freelancing, making quick, simple webgames. I guess I need, apart from financial compensation, some contact with games and game design.

c) I feel I cannot even make my latest game project (flora), available, as I still wait for comments from the ones financing it.

d) My last article on game design/theory was written more than a year ago. This is something I would like to change at some point in the near future. Even medium-size observations are disappearing from this blog.

e) I haven´t played games, even some I really wanto to, in a while - who has the time?

f) Still, I must be doing something right, as I´ve noticed a link to us from Jeff Tunnel´s blog, Make It Big In Games - I must say I feel honored about it.

g) Although I haven´t noticed a significant increase in numbers of readers, this weblog still serves it´s function of helping me reflect on games (and, of course, make my ideas on the subject available to those who are interested in the subject), in great part thanks to the help of those who still make comments on that - specially Chris, Patrick, Corvus and Kevin.

i) Finally, for the third consecutive year, let me finish this post saying that "I am stil not sure how the website will evolve and how often it will be updated, but everyone is certainly welcome to keep coming back."

You certainly are.

Networking for Game Developers and Players

the Great Games Experiment is the name of the social networking community website made by people at GarageGames for game players, developers and publishers. Looks like a good place to promote indie content, discussions and team building. Check it out.

Another interesting virtual garden application

It´s Packet Garden!

"Packet Garden captures information about how you use the internet and uses this stored information to grow a private world you can later explore.


To do this, Packet Garden takes note of all the servers you visit, their geographical location and the kinds of data you access. Uploads make hills and downloads valleys, their location determined by numbers taken from internet address itself. The size of each hill or valley is based on how much data is sent or received. Plants are also grown for each protocol detected by the software; if you visit a website, an 'HTTP plant' is grown. If you share some files via eMule, a 'Peer to Peer plant' is grown, and so on."

(from their website)

Looks like Flora meets Darwinia :), and it´s available for Mac, PC and Linux.
(via Ludologia)

flora website preview

Still apprehensive from the lack of communication from sponsors, I´ve uploaded a website preview for the demo. No install downloads or press release material are available, but you can check promotional videos, screenshots and some info on the project. Here is the link. Comments are welcome.

Experimental / Free gameplay stories: LEGO and Jeff Minter

The World of Lego? Independent studio NetDevil has confirmed the development of a MMO based in the LEGO franchise. I must say I´m curious to see how it will turn out, and if they will privilege the freeform creatiity over the puzzle-solving. If they get the balance right, this could be a very interesting game. I also wonder, given traditional LEGO demographics, what kind of business model will they adopt. Can you imagine a 10 year-old paying monthly fees?
(Gamasutra original story here)

Jeff Minter keynoted GDC(!) I think this illustrates how independent, alternative gaming is trendy right now. A favourite quote:

“I can’t do this stuff where you write your design spec first,” (...) “It’s the feeling I’m going for when I’m making a game these days... there don’t even have to be any animals in it anymore!”

That´s the organic approach to game design I would love to adopt myself - only if I had Minter´s skills. Another interesting quote:

“[American publishers´] were going to follow the herd, and the herd didn’t include any of my beasties.”

I´m not sure about that. I think Minter´s creations could be hitting mainstream very, very soon. Just for the record (and personal sense of pride), I would like to point out that I was already celebrating his creations in this blog two years ago.
(Gamasutra original story here)

Flash API for Wiimote

Wiicade, a Flash/Wii games portal, has announced the Wiicade API, which allows flash game developers to access Wiimote functionalities.

For flash designers/developers, this could be huge. I still haven´t tried it, though (all I get are broken links).

Does anyone know if the DS browser also has Flash capabilities?

(via Man Bytes Blog)

Still waiting... (screenshots included)

Still waiting for responses on Flora demo. Until that happens, I won't even dare to setup a hot site for the game.

But I guess it's ok to show some screenshots (in English, this time):

Self-help game - play it now.

Mindhabits.com is a company that promises to deliver "Stress Relief through Simple, Daily Games". At first I thought this discourse could resemble my own intentions with non-games experimentation, but their purposes and methods are, in fact, quite different. From their website:

"MindHabits produces computer software designed to help people reduce their stress levels and boost their self-confidence, using games that automatically retrain the way the mind responds to social stress. This patent pending technology is the result of a decade of research by scientists at McGill University, one of the world’s top medical research centers. The software – based on the emerging science of social intelligence – helps you practice the mind habit of focusing on positive social feedback, which in turn reduces stress levels and improves self-confidence."

The best thing is: you can try the game for yourself right now. (I´m not sure the flash will be displayed on feeds readers):
Host this game on your own blog: Visit http://www.mindhabits.com

Any comments?

'backup' FILE

I've just been informed that Insular, my MA non-game project, will be present at the Rio de Janeiro edition of FILE (Electronic Language International Festival). So, if you couldn't figure out how to play it back in São Paulo, here's another chance for you :).

Some info on the event:

"The FILE electronic language international festival has the pleasure to inform that the second edition of FILE RIO will occur on March 2007. The content of the event will be a slice of the FILE 2006 realized in Sao Paulo, in August of 2006. (...) The opening of the event is going to happen in March 19th, 2007 and it will be on
screen until April 22nd-, at the Oi Futuro Cultural Center, at Dois de Dezembro Street, 63, Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil."

Games on gardening and flowers

Since I´ve previously posted some comments on Plantasia and Cultivation, here´s a list of gardening/flower-themed games I´ve found (most of them, today - which shows I might not researched competitors properly :)). Plus, some comments on how they relate or not to my own project.

Cultivation (experimental game)
What I like the most about Cultivation is how it uses procedurality (is that a word?) to create new plants. The social aspects are great too - but that's something I haven't planned at all for my game. They share the 'genetic thematic', though.

Plantasia (web / casual game)
Plantasia is more like a management game. Fun to play, good use of flower theme, but much more managerial than Flora. It made me think of including pests and bugs - which I didn't do. The game point of view is somewhat similar to Flora.

Enchanted Gardens (casual game).
Haven't played this one. Judging from the screenshots, seems to be a matching tile game.

Plant Tycoon (Pocket PC).
Also haven't played this one, but it sure looks interesting: It´s a gardening sim (tycoon-esque, as far as I could tell), but also invests in genetic manipulation, as flowers can be cross-pollinated.

Blooming Garden (webgame).
"Align rows of five" kind of game.

BBC Virtual Garden (not a game)
Non-game(?) for players to exercise their paisagistic abilities. Interesting. As in Flora, it tries to be a relaxing experience.

3D Garden Composer(gardening sim/encyclopedia - includes a game).
Much more of a learning tool (making use of games to do so) than the other titles on the list.

Flower Shop (casual game)
A sim/management, "keep customers happy" type of game, as far as I could tell. Looks very well done - great production value.

Cbeebies Gardening Webgame.
Using the arrow keys, make the character water the flowers.

US governamental/educational gardening webgame.
Very similar to Cbeebies. Using the arrow keys, make the character water the flowers.

Zen Puzzle Garden (casual game)
Not really on gardening, but I really liked this puzzle game. Zen gardens reminds me of my previous project, Insular.

Plant Maker (web activity).
Like in Flora, you can make your own flowers in this web activity. There are not too many possible combinations, though - just 4 options for each category (below ground, stem, leaves and flower).

Maggie the Gardener 2 (casual game).
Focused on garden decoration, another very well polished gardening game.

The Flower Garden Game (webgame).
Puzzle webgame.

Geffrye Museum Design a Garden (web activity).
Simplified garden design.

Garden with Insight (garden simulation).
Free garden simulator. This one is probably the more complex of them all - it looks very accurate. It can be used as a educational tool.

PlantStudio (2D/3D plant illustration tool)
From the same company that makes Garden with Insight, this is an illustrations tool where you can design your own flowers. Looks very interesting too.

Well, that´s it for now. You can expect more news on Flora any day!