Freewheelin’
Platform : iOS and Android
Company : Arnold Clark / Chunk Games
My Role : Game Design, Level Design, Programming
Description : Part of the ‘Arnold Clark Schools Challenge’, which saw thousands of students try their hand at coming up with a game concept for mobile platforms. The entrants were whittled down from their thousands to a top ten, which were then voted for by the public, and then we turned the winning game into a reality!
Stay on the twisting, hurdling, tricky track for as long as you can, pick up boosters and pump up your tyre for exra strength, but look out for those nasty Totafaces who’ll stop you in your tracks. Riding the renegade Freewheelin’ tyre is just like a metaphor for life…
…sort of.
Show off with stunts and tricks for extra points and kudos, leap the gaps, cut the corners and roll your way into the big leagues with this addictive adrenaline-pumping roller-coaster.
App store link : Free
Android Version : Free
Sticky Sheep
Platform : iOS
My Role : Game Design, Level Design, Programming
Company : Chunk Games
Description : These sheep have been baaa-d and refuse to do as the sheepdog tells them, so now it’s time for drastic measures. Don your trusty canine crash helmet and get ready to ram some rams! Sticky Sheep combines the familiar gameplay style of mini-golf, with unique change-ups. Use bumpers, turbo-paths and more to bounce and bash the sheep around each stage to get them to their targets.
Get the sheep on target in each level, it sounds simple but it gets tricky quick! You’ll have to deal with all sorts of sheep and obstacles including black sheep, rams and even volatile radioactive sheep! Round up the sheep across a variety of different worlds, each one increasing the challenge as you go along. Collect all the coins scattered around each stage for maximum points and always be on the look out for ‘extra shot’ tokens.
App store link : Free Version
Scottish Game Jam 2012
I’m still coming down from this weekends Global Game Jam, Glasgow leg (Which is dubbed Scottish Game Jam). I was there last year as a judge. This year, because I wasn’t involved with any of the sponsorship, I could go as a participant.
It’s the same kind of feeling you get after being at a music festival. Lots of people come together and forget that the real world exists just for a few days, united in their love for a culture or scene. In this case, that’s the culture of the game developer, and the love of the craft, creativity and passion videogame creation. An opportunity to try something with no pressure, no need for ‘commercial success’, and a universal positivity that resonates through everyone involved, from the participants, to the industry vets, the media, and even the spectators. It’s hard to get back to normal.
The theme was a picture of a snake eating its tail (Ouroboros) Our game (or emag), which we called Game Over weP weP, was a traditional side scrolling shooter which you ‘un’play backwards. You start dead, you come back to life, travel backwards through a level sucking bullets out of enemies, gaining health and losing points, before arriving safely at the beginning. It’s an insane concept, we knew it wasn’t going to work, but the beauty of the Jam was that we could try it anyway, and take it as far as we could in 48 hours!
It presented more challenges than we’d first anticipated, but the ultimate test was when we took a video of the game and reversed it (so you’d be seeing it forwards). Lo and behold, it looked like a normal game! So we knew we’d achieved what we set out to do.
It actually ended up being shortlisted for a prize in the design category, probably simply for our audacity to try something so unique, regardless of the fact that it made little sense. And that’s the beauty of a jam. You can do this kind of thing, and this is perhaps the only criticism of the Scottish leg of GGJ. Unlike the other legs, it does introduce a competitive element, and this might discourage people from trying some of their more insane concepts in favor of safer ones, fearing it might jeopardize their chances of winning (Not that I’m suggesting for a second that anyone did think like this!).
Needless to say, it’s hard not to return to reality with a loud *thump* when it’s all over! But the experience is something that sticks with you afterwards, you carry it with you, and try and make the real world, and your real life, more like it was for those few days.
Kudos to my lovely team! Same time next year all. x
Link : Global Game Jam Page
Like this:
Get Billy to London 2012
Platform : Web
My Role : Game Design
Company : Chunk Games
Description : Billy and his sidekick Stan are desperate for tickets to the London Olympics. To get them Billy must pay his own way and learn lessons in earning, saving and sometimes losing cash!
You play Billy. You earn pocket money by taking Stan for a walk, delivering papers, running to the shops and helping with shopping. In Billy’s mind these aren’t mundane tasks though – these are Olympic events! Running to the shops is the 100m sprint, throwing a stick for Stan is the javelin, a paper round is hurdling and carrying shopping bags is weightlifting.
Of course birthday money for Aunt Maureen is going to help too but watch out, there are always unexpected costs in life and all that running’s going to mean new trainers!
Link : Play it online here
Link-Em Bamboo
Platform : PC and Web
My Role : Design, Programming, Art (Except the logo and the Panda!)
Company : Indie
Description :Link-Em Bamboo is a frantic, cute, and addictive puzzle game that’s impossible to put down. Link the bamboo pipes together to score big points, and appease the vicious panda boy. Bigger chains score more, but be careful not to get carried away. You’re under a tight time limit!
The entire game is controlled with the mouse. Click on the Bamboo pipes to rotate them, and form unbroken chains. Bigger chains score bigger points!
Link : Play it online here
Kaboodle
Platform : PC and iOS (Coming Soon, hopefully!)
My Role : Design, Programming, Additional Art
Company : Indie
Description :Kabodle is an original, cute, addictive puzzle game in which you must use your powers of perception to find the required clumps of blocks. Collect stars to advance through the levels, or see how many points you can gain in one of seven varied game modes. It will leave you, and anyone around you, screaming at the screen.
Incidentally, if you’re wondering why I’m re-posting my back catalog of games, it’s because I’ve decided to let my website lapse in favor of this blog, so I need to find alternative places to host them.
Interesting Fact : The person credited as ‘Lead Design’ is called ‘Tiffany McDonald.’ She was my cat at the time.
Link : Download from GamersHell
Cadbury’s Minute Games
Platform : iOS and Android
My Role : Design, Gameplay Programming (iOS version)
Client : Cadbury’s
Company : Chunk Games
Description :In Cadbury Spots v Stripes Minute Games you need skill, speed, timing and brains to succeed. Prove you are a Minute Games champion by winning a gold trophy in every game. Or challenge your friends, who can get the top score? By playing you could even win tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games!
Quarrel!
Platform : iOs / Xbox 360 (Coming Soon)
My Roles : Concept Design (Co) and prototype , Gameplay Programming (2D Version)
Company : Denki
Description : Use a cool combination of word power and strategic cunning to crush your opponents and reign supreme. Come settle your differences with wordplay rather than swordplay; make verbal not chemical weapons; load up with letters not bullets and use chatter to batter your enemies into submission and rule the world.
Compete to use your troops to make the highest-scoring word from the letters given then capture territories and conquer islands in this wholly original virtual board game.
Link : App Store
Where is the games industry’s ‘John Peel’?
“I just want to hear something I haven’t heard before” – John Peel
Legendary radio DJ John Peel was well loved for his welcoming, honest tone and having a taste in music which was constantly one step ahead of the times. But he’s most widely acknowledged as a man who discovered new bands and artists before they hit the mainstream (and in many cases, being the catalyst for their eventual breakthrough).
If you wanted to know what was going to be cool in six months time, this was your go-to man! He cared little for the politics and dealings of the mainstream music media, he cared far too much about the art. And because he cared so passionately, he made you, and the rest of his listeners, care too.
No such heroes exist in the games media. A majority of it only seems to be able to focus on one thing at a time. i.e., the last game which made a huge profit, or the last company to go under.
Everyone run over there!
So where is our ‘John Peel’ of the games industry? And if he (or she) exists, why are they struggling to be heard under a pile of Triple A FPS sequels?
In the music industry, there are still plenty of avenues to get discovered (Glastonbury now names a stage after Peel, which is specifically for new bands, and all major music publications feature sections on indie artists). This is still seen as a ‘cool thing’, and that’s probably in no small part down to Peel’s enduring legacy.
The same is true for movies. Large scale events in the movie world, such as Cannes, also showcase emerging talent, yet are still regarded as a ‘place to be’ for mainstream actors, directors (and investors!), and remain something which the public are interested in. And the winner of the Palme d’Or is always catapulted to fame as a result.
The large scale media events and publications in the games industry, however, are still dominated by the big budget franchises on their tenth sequel, or on whatever the last million selling iPhone app was. It only ever seems to react to what’s happening, rather than trying to discover it. There’s nobody out there really spotting teams and projects, and giving them coverage, largely because the mass market don’t seem to really care.
So my question is this…
Who will be the games industry’s John Peel, and how will they make news on underground projects interesting to the mainstream? Who can make them care?
Who can make then think…
“I just want to play something I haven’t played before.”
Like this:
Chunk Challenge Live Broadcast
It’s that time of the week again!
Chunk is one of 60 Digital Agencies from around the world who have been asked to take part in The FWA’s live TV broadcast. Each week from 12noon – 1pm we’ll broadcast Chunk Challenge live from our studio. 3 members of the team will take on the challenges, voted for by you!
This week it’s a celebrity special! The challengers are Donnie (Creative Director), Brian (Technical Director) and Sym (Project Manager)
A series of challenges have been set. You can vote for the person you want to see take on each challenge using the shoutbox on the FWA TV website. You’ll need to register ahead so login now!
http://www.thefwa.com/fwawebtv
This weeks challenges include:
- Eat Trifle Face
- Smirnoff Strawpedo
- Grape Gob
- Face Paint
- Hot Sauce Shot
- After Eight
- Peg Face
- Honey Skittle
See you all at 12noon!
PS: If you’d like to suggest a challenge for next week – just drop us a line. Tweet suggestions to @ChunkGames and @ChunkDigital
Stu xxx
