Yeah, I know I should probably post more about progress on personal projects. Well there hasn't been any for a variety of reasons. Procrastination only accounting for about a quarter of the days I should've been working on making a game. Anyways, as I have with other blog posts, here's some thoughts on some flash games I've played over the past month.

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[size="5"]Watermelon Bomb
By: ArcadeTown.com
Played 2011-03-17 on Addictinggames.com
[sup]K. Helfenstein - 2011-03-18[/sup]

Something about fruit based games that gets my attention sometimes. Could be some sort of association with gambling maybe. No gambling in this game though. Launch an exploding watermelon, in a traditional cannon game style, at cherries, oranges, and coconuts to knock them down out of a tree and collect money for upgrades. Collecting $5000 in a single turn ends the game.

Will I play it again?
Maybe. It's just stupidly simple enough that if I want to kill some time I might play this again. A game only takes me about 5 minutes to play.

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[size="5"]Ovrshade
By: 4 Horsemen Studios
Played 2011-03-22 on Addictinggames.com
[sup]K. Helfenstein - 2011-03-22[/sup]

This is a puzzle platformer game where the objective is to get the main character to the goal. Actually, after the first few levels, there's two characters, one black and one white, and they both need to reach their goals. The catch is that the two characters pass through platforms that don't match their colour. Unless it's a grey platform in which case it acts as a barrier for both characters. Or unless it's a red platform in which case it will kill either character. Control is switched between each character to get them to their goal and the player can also toggle black and white platforms to their opposite state.

Will I play it again?
No. I think what turned me off for this game were the twitchy levels where you had to switch between characters and switch the platforms quickly. I did enjoy the levels that I could take my time on though. It probably comes down to a personal taste sort of thing but where this game could've hooked me with the more puzzley levels, I'd shortly after become unhooked by levels requiring more reflexes. Although, I kinda wonder if I'd feel the same if I was able to remap the buttons. I was having issues mixing them up. Like they weren't mapped to my brain quite right.
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[size="5"]Mad UFO
By: Vanya Gorenkov
Played 2011-03-23 on Addictinggames.com
[sup]K. Helfenstein - 2011-03-24[/sup]

I have to describe this game as Breakout meets Space Invaders. Though that's not quite right because the goal of each level is to destroy the buildings on the ground rather than the invading force and the invading force is only one ship. Anyways, destroying the building on the ground is achieved by bouncing one or more balls off of a UFO and onto the building in a traditional Breakout style. While doing so, ground and air defenses are deployed to shoot down the UFO. As levels progress, more defenses are deployed. Various upgrades can be purchased between levels.

Will I play it again?
It was fun, I wouldn't mind playing again, but I've already finished it twice and I have a feeling I won't come back to it. The one criticism I have is that the game is too short. In the past I've suggested that a shorter game can make for a better experience, but I think this is a kinda of game that could be allowed to proceed infinitely even if no further upgrades or unique levels were provided. After general mastery of the gameplay is achieved, a player's physical ability to continue playing becomes what he's competing against. I gotta say though that while playing I couldn't help but think, this is a game that could have been a hit back in the day of coin-op arcade games.

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[size="5"]Sugar, Sugar
By: BonteGames
Played 2011-04-01 on Addictinggames.com
[sup]K. Helfenstein - 2011-04-01[/sup]

A few years ago, I think around 2006ish, a project made its way onto the web simply called Sand. I guess you could call it a particle demonstration. It was a fun toy to play with, making sand fall this way and that by drawing lines that act as barriers, but there wasn't any real game aspect to it. But the developer of this game found one. Pretty simple too. Direct falling grains of sugar into cups on each level by drawing lines that act as barriers. Once a line is drawn, it can't be erased. For variation, some levels include colour change filters, a gravity switch, and some levels have a finite number of grains of sugar to work with.

Will I play it again?
I certainly intend on finishing this game. I got to level 16 when I ran out of play time. I think my one complaint is how long it can take to wait for sufficient sugar to build up so that other grains might roll down a hill. Even then, it could be attributed to just needing to find a better solution to the level. I'm looking forward to playing the rest of this game.