Or, fun ways to waste your lunch break.
And this is fun for the upcoming snow, though it’s technically not a web application. Unless you’re in Australia, then you have to wait a bit longer than us Northies.
I’m sure there are plenty of other great toys and games, but these are the ones that have caught my attention of late. Game design isn’t all about the gears of war or worlds of warcraft.
Game design isn’t all about the gears of war or worlds of warcraft
So true. In fact, often the best games are the little ones. Often the simpler the design, the better the game.
If you like flash games, I recommend checking out Rock Solid Arcade. Robokill is my favourite.
WTF IS QWOP?!
Ok, that one is going to take some practice. Yes, I know what I’m supposed to do, but it’s all about achieving B-A-L-A-N-C-E between calves and thighs…and learning to walk all over again
Got to learn to walk before you can run
I like the idea behind SHIFT, too. Very clever.
QWOP is really wonky. It’s fun to tinker, but I have no idea how to actually make the guy function properly. Shift is brilliant. The Portal-flavored humor is even a nice touch, if a bit derivative.
Thanks for the link, CS! I’ll be tinkering with that tonight when I get home…
I really do like checking out these things for game design principles. There is a certain… purity and clarity that comes from making something so tightly focused. There’s little or no feature bloat, no graphics card upgrade required, no forty hour time commitment, no subscription. Designing games to work at that scope is almost Zen-like. It’s also great for rapid prototyping and nailing down the sense of fun in your game before taking scads of time making the eye candy and advanced features. (That may not even prove necessary.)
A friend pointed me to QWOP and I haven’t figured it out yet. Driving me nuts! 2.3m is my best, and I basically crawled there (admittedly, I only spent about 15 minutes tinkering with it.)
Now I have to go back. Shift was super sweet too, thanks for the links =)
Oh yeah! I took a couple of good strides, passed 5 metres…then fell backwards and finished up with 4.9. Bah!
There needs to be a timer on that thing too, coz I’ve been reading about people gaming it by doing the splits then bouncing on one knee all the way down the track.
Yup, I’ve done that. It’s pretty painful looking:
There’s a hurdle there
Using the hurdle as a sled
The big jump
I got about 13 metres. That’s running, not hopping/sliding on one knee or doing the splits.
To start, press O for just a 1/4 of a second or so, then quickly press W as well (so W&O). Do it correctly and your guy should take a forward step. Now as his front foot is coming down, but before it hits the ground (very important), switch keys to press Q&P.
The trick is (obviously) getting the timing of the key-change.
Like the first key change, you need to switch back to W&O as your guy brings his front foot down but before it hits the ground.
Think of it this way, once you’ve begun extending your rear leg and pushed off from it, there’s little to no more forward momentum to be gained from that rear leg.
Sustaining forward momentum requires you to drive your front leg down to the ground to begin pushing off with it.
While QWOP is a very frustrating game, it’s also extremely satisfying when it all comes together and you’re watching your guy take not just one or two steps, but several steps in a row.
This is the ultimate game to be playing when a friend comes around. Bwah hah ha!
“Dude! WTF are you playing? Are you…making a guy run???”
“Yeah, it’s pretty hard. My record so far is 22 metres.”
“Hard? You’re making a guy run! How hard can it be?”
“You want to try?”
“Sure, get outta that seat. Ok…so…W&O and Q&P huh? Easy stuff. Hmph. Ok…wait…no! Nooo! Stop! Not backwards! WTF? Ok, let’s try again. No! Noooo! Dude! This is stupid!”
“Ok, my turn then.”
“Sure, it’s a stupid game anyway. DUDE! WTF? You just made him run 20 metres! How’d you do that? Get outta that chair!”
My record for QWOP was like 2m. Lol.