Warfare 1944 - Let the Battle Begin

Posted June 30, 2009 by Daniel Comments(18)

Go to ArmorGames.com and Play Warfare 1944 right now. The game features the US or German campaign along with many new features.

Play Warfare 1944

or

Play the original game Warfare 1917

Warfare 1944!

Gehen Sie Spiel es jetzt!

Wants Cake

Posted June 26, 2009 by John Comments(12)

I’m working on a simple concept right now. I’ll just leave you with this teaser image for the game upcoming (next week even!). Have a great weekend!

Westwood College Game Competition

Posted June 23, 2009 by Daniel Comments(194)

Calling all gamers! Westwood College where our very own Joey Betz went to college is in need of the gaming community.

They had a bunch of their students create flash games that are now available to be played online. All these game design students are beginner so please keep this in mind when you play the games.

All games can be seen here: http://landing.westwood.edu/gaming-public/

Please comment on this blog post and vote for your favorite 3-games. Make sure to put them in order. (1st, 2nd and 3rd)

This competition is time sensative so make sure to vote today.

Thanks for your help.

-Armor Games Team

Ps. If you have a passion for games and game development I highly recommend you check out this link.

Production Notes: Phage Wars 2

Posted June 22, 2009 by Joey Comments(11)

I just launched my latest game called Phage Wars 2, the sequel to Phage Wars. The game consists of genetically modifying a virus and competing against other viruses for total domination. The game is centered around fast paced strategy where you must take over as many cells as possible to eradicate all foreign life forms.

If you are unfamiliar with the original Phage Wars, here is a little bit of back story. When I was in college, I had to do a senior project before I graduated. After a doing a fair amount of research on what style game I wanted I came across this game called Galcon for the iPhone (also on the Mac). I loved the gameplay and found that I wanted to make something similar in Flash. I had previously built an AI engine from another project in college so I was already halfway there. The cellular life forms idea came from my professor wanting to see a game centered on microscopic life. Needless to say I got an “A” on the project and ended up collaborating with Armor as a sponsor for the game.

Phage Wars 1 was a huge technical challenge for me, as I really wanted to pit hundreds of viruses against each other. I ended up optimizing the game so much that I could get 500 viruses on screen and still have it run within a decent frame rate. I also found that the power of Flash 10 helped a little bit as well, which is why the original had such a large disclaimer for requiring Flash 10.

When I was tasked with Phage Wars 2, I wanted to do something different with the UI as well. Phage Wars 1 had hardly any UI, so I figured the sequel should have a lot. I also didn’t want to do the typical game menus that you see in every game either. Instead I wanted to create a testing environment where you run an experiment and see a bunch of data afterwards, kind of like a science lab. Going with that theme, I always remembered looking at the equipment scientists use and how old most of their computers were archaic and built on legacy software. I tried to replicate that as much as possible, harking back to the old Mac OS 6 and 7 for reference. I was lucky enough to collaborate with John on the UI, so that really helped a lot.

I also wanted to create new elements of gameplay that I wanted in the original, but never implemented. These are the new cell types and the Genome Sequencer. The sequencer came about from hearing Carlie talk about her biology classes and how the Genome is usually represented as a chart. This ended up being the perfect way to upgrade your virus over the course of the game. Using Gene Proteins to upgrade your virus, rather than the typical point based system.

Phage Wars 2 plays out more like a science experiment, than a typical game. I’ve added enough geeky things in it that I hope play to some internal geek in us all.

If you haven’t played Phage Wars 2 yet, check it out at Armor Games here. If you’ve played #2, but haven’t played the #1, check out the original here.

Warfare 1944

Posted June 10, 2009 by Con Comments(66)

Warfare 1944 the WW2 sequel to the original is in development and is scheduled to be released in late June. Here’s what to expect:

- New unit types
- 3 Flank Deployment System
- Strategic cover system
- New resource based unit production
- New mission types, such as Defence and Objective missions
- All new Campaigns and Skirmish Maps
- All new Upgrade trees

Rising out of the trenches and onto the battlefield of Normandy, Warfare 1944 sees the U.S Army take on the German Wermacht.

Gameplay has been overhauled giving a more strategic and in-depth experience than that of the first game. New unit types, support mechanics and the new cover system will dramatically change the way the Warfare series is played.

Here’s a few screenshots taken during the course of development at different stages:

Shift - #1 Puzzle Game on the App Store

Posted June 8, 2009 by Daniel Comments(6)

Just wanted to Thank everyone who bought a copy of Shift on the iPhone / iPod touch. With everyone’s support Shift became the #1 Puzzle game on the App store.

Make sure to congratulate Tony on his amazing game.

If you haven’t had a chance to try it, download it here.

Shift
Shift-Lite

I’d also recommend checking out these great games on the App Store as well.

Bloons
Defend Your Castle

Crush the Castle: Player Pack Levels

Posted June 1, 2009 by Joey Comments(47)

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! The King has ordered his people to build him as many castles as he desires.

Crush the Castle: Player Pack is coming and the king is looking for some more castles to crush. If you think you have what it takes or have the perfect castle, feel free to submit your castle here: Crush the Castle - Custom Castle Submission Form. Castles can only be submitted through this form, so no posting castles in the comments (The King will be very displeased). The final due date for castle submissions is 6/22/09 12:00AM PST. If you submit a castle and need to update it for whatever reason during that time, submit the changed castle code and put in the comments which castle this is an update for.

Feel free to check out Crush the Castle and Crush the Castle - Custom Castles Forum Post for some ideas on castles. However, you must be the sole creator of the castle you submit, as the King does not want plagiarized castles.

Some notes before you build your castle:

• There is no limit to the number of shots that can be fired.
• Castles must have at least one member of royalty.
• Castles cannot be impossible, as that makes the King very unhappy.

Happy Building!

Crush the Castle gets props on Tekzilla

Posted May 22, 2009 by Larry Comments(10)

Veronica Belmont gives kudos to Crush the Castle on the “Websites we cant get enough of” segment of Tekzilla. You can check out the whole episode below (our mention is at 14:30) or use this link to jump directly to our feature.

Shift Lands on iPhone/Touch

Posted May 19, 2009 by John Comments(13)

Like Shift? iPhone and iPod Touch users may now play Shift on their own devices wherever they go! We’ve setup two versions.

Shift Lite - FREE - You get the WHOLE Shift 1 game and all the tasty puzzle goodness. The game you play online is the same here!

Shift - $0.99 - An additional 25 never-before-seen levels to wet your appetite to the point that you’ll probably eat your phone. Plus you get to do a few more snazzy things.

And if you STILL yearn for more levels, well, we see a looming Shift 4 on the horizon…

Shift-4 & Shift on the iPhone/iPod Touch Coming May 19th

Posted May 13, 2009 by Tony Comments(31)

Remember that game I said I’d be releasing before Christmas? That small side project that you guys won’t have heard much about. Well it’s nearly done, and here is a trailer of sorts. I’ve included the title at the start, in case it’s a bit too obscure for you to remember.

Coming to a Computer Screen near you on May 19th!! Mark your Calendars.

AND THAT’S NOT ALL!

Because released at pretty much the same time for all you gadget junkies - SHIFT for iPhone/iPod Touch!
A rather brilliant remake of Shift 1 with tonnes (and I mean tonnes) of extra levels.
A free version will be available for you to give it a try, and it’s not one of those crummy free versions that last 2 seconds, either, it’s rather substantial (about the length of the original game itself!).

Here are some screenies!

So, what do you guys think?

Check the App-Store on May 19th to get your FREE copy of Shift on your iPhone/iPod touch.