flora - play online demo version now!

Here´s the link to the website:

http://www.flora-game.com

No downloadable install program available. Instead, a playable flash demo.

Thanks a lot to everyone of you who helped me making this demo.

48 hour research - game addiction

Ok, here´s my problem: I have (less than) 48 hours to learn more about game addiction. Apparently, I will be taking part in a debate about it. Not sure if that´s about online-gaming only. I have found:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_addiction
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070105/clark_01.shtml
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060228/clark_01.shtml

Edit:
http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/round-table/#1105
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/27

Overall, my current position is that game addiction is a reality and, although overinflated, exageratted by sensationalist media, is not taken seriously by part of the industry and researchers - something that actually harms the reputation of this field.

I know about the de-tox clinics, death cases (mostly in Asia for some reason). I also know about the positive effects of online gaming - or most gaming for that matter - socialization, participation, development of cognitive skills, etc.

What else can be said? What kind of clarification can anyone give me?

Thanks a lot!

Slowly coming back...

After (close to) a month without posting, I´m trying to get back to nongames.com. I´ve got a thinking blogger award (a courtesy from Pensar Videojogos´ André Carita), but that will have to wait for a future post.

I could have news on Flora this week. Fingers crossed.

And since I haven´t got much time to develop any interesting idea, I´ll just comment some interesting things I´ve seen in blogs I follow.

a) A discussion that seems perfect for nongames.com is going on at the round table this month: "How crucial to game play are goals?". A first submission is already online - Marcus Riedner, from Inverse, has a nice, critical post on the dark side of the lack of goals, and the importance of achieving balance.

b) I would love to see Bateman´s Nine Basic Players applied to that discussion, by the way.

c) King Lud IC´s Dugan has created a MySpace account for his creation CuttleCandy (check it), featuring a playable flash demo. So far, its gameplay feels to me like a mix of fl0w and Zuma. I´m curious to see how it develops.

More DS non-games, new blog around

As reported by ComputerAndVideogames.com, there is a new batch of DS nongame software approaching. The list includes (not sure about the titles) DS Yoga Lessons You Can Start Today, Why Not Listen To Classical Music On DS and (ouch!) Flower-Blooming DS Gardening Lite. A series of travel guides for the handheld is also planned.

Personally, I think this kind of software explains why the DS user base is so broad - and why it could een expand a little bit more.

Although I can see how they could fit some game-ish look and feel to Yoga and Gardening, I´m curious about the music listening one. Some kind of "Wii Maestro" mode?

(via comment by Kevin (also check out his new blog))

"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)