2<b3<b0<r0<r0<r0<t2<t4>b3<b0<r0<r0<r0<t2<r2<t4<l4<t3<r3<t3<l3<l3>r3>>>>>b0<r0>>>>>>>>>>>b1<b1>>>>

You can grab the EXE and start tweeting your creations right now! Just press control+c to copy the selected structure to the clip board and send it to your friends however you want. If you’ve copied some brick code to the clip board, press the middle mouse button to recreate the bricks on your desktop. You can delete stuff by mouse hovering and pressing the delete key. Also remember that the esc key closes the program.

If you’ll be at GDC look for us at the IGF pavilion.

Just from USC there was some fun stuff like Mike Rossmassler’s Flora, Andre Clark’s multi-screened Minor Battle, and Jamie Antonisse’s Spectre which offers some real innovations in interactive storytelling.

I’m still trying to process it all. I just hope we can have a strong showing at GDC.

Enjoy!

The results offered by swarm also led to a conference paper that is accessable from Michael Scott’s website.

You can grab the game here. Left click to drag the bricks, and right click to detach them. Escape will clear them and end the program.

Of course the game could use a bit of polish, but I think it demonstrates the concept. If you are really interested in the design choices behind the demo, you can grab the writeup in pdf form here.

In all seriousness, the game really does a nice job of moving all that civ goodness to consoles. Its still got that “just one more turn” feeling that makes the series so compelling. Keep in mind that the main man Sid Meier was at the helm, so you know its good.

His newest game is called Mazer Mayhem and while the gameplay is different from his previous works, visually it still has that unique Kenta Cho style.

He does a lot of interesting stuff with polygon alpha values which gives a very technological feel that is interesting to look at. I recommend checking the game out, its a fun time killer.

Beyond the gameplay differences, it seems this is also the first ABA Game developed for XNA, Microsoft’s new game creation system. Unfortunately as a result its necessary to install the XNA Game Studio to play the game on a PC. On the plus side, XNA allows for playing the game on the Xbox. All in all its an interesting development platform and part of Microsoft’s push to “democratize” game development. I’m not sure if it will achieve that goal, but it is certainly a big part of the indie game scene currently.

Once I figured out how to jump (Shift key) I was on my way. After dying many times I finally made it to the box at the end and I couldn’t help but laugh when I realized that the switch, rather than leading to the next level, only opens the door back on the other side.

The game reminds me a lot of Mega Man. (I never played Lode Runner, which is supposedly even more similar.) The style is very different, but that die then try again gameplay has an old school platformer feel. Unfortunately I don’t have the time to spend being killed, altering my plan, and then being killed again. Still I like both the style and the gameplay.

Basically everything about the game is based around simplicity. Some would say that this is “the easy way out.” They didn’t have to make complex art assets and the gameplay consists of only a timer, gold, platforms, and various ninja killing devices. I’ll grant that constructing N was probably not a great undertaking. However, coming up with something so simple that is fun and unique is quite a task.

I still haven’t remedied my not getting into the game though. Hopefully I’ll find the time to die thousands more times.