Kingdom Rush - a game that shook the genre

Now, while all the gaming community are waiting for the release of Kingdom Rush: Frontiers, let’s remind how back in 2011 the product of small Uruguay studio made a major breakthrough in the tower defense standards and became the best game of the year.

Since the very first seconds of the game its graphics catch the player’s attention. The main menu depicts the scene of epic battle. Orcs are trying to break through the human defenses, but they are facing brave paladins, barbarians and archers. At the same time gargoyles’ air strike is countered by the wizards battle spells and dwarven rockets. This all inspires us to get to the action quicker.

Continue

Age of War: Armies of all epochs

Since the dawn of the mankind, war is the eternal companion of the civilization. Just remember the Egyptian war chariots, Roman legions, Crusades, various conquests and revolutions. This fact is reflected in the Age of War strategy game.

This game is the representative of another strategy sub-genre, let’s call it linear combat. There are two bases on the opposite sides of the screen. They produce units, which then attack the enemy base and all the enemy units they meet on their way. The player doesn’t control the army since it’s in the field. His functions are to define the troops building order, to place the turrets on the base and to use the special weapon.

Continue

Tentaсle Wars: Capture the bacteria colonies

Another successful flash game in the micro-world setting is Tentacle Wars strategy. It somehow implements the principle of sending the troops from your bases to conquer the enemies, but creatively alters it.

The colony of bacteria can stretch a tentacle, the length of which is determined by the colony's population. When the tentacle touches the enemy colony, the battle begins. The enemy can counter-attack sending his tentacle to stop yours. Both sides then will steadily loose their population, and the one who can stand the higher attrition, wins.

Continue

Elite Forces: Clone Wars - spawn and command!

I clearly remember that evening before the new year 2010 when I read Badim's post bout flash game development and monetization. There he told about JohnnyK's successful cannon series and about his own achievements. As I learnt later, reading of this post became the starting point for many Russian-speaking flash developers.

Among other statements there was a link to Badim's game Elite Forces: Clone Wars, which, he claimed, was made in less than 14 hours. I visited the link and didn't stop until I finished the last level.

Continue

SteamBirds: turn-based air battles of the World Wars

Aerial dogfight is a very dynamic action where the positions of the opposing sides change constantly. As a rule the computer games featuring these battles are real-time, but Andy Moore and Daniel Cooh invented a turn-based gameplay which reflects the spirit of sky combat.

The game takes place in the steampunk setting of the alternate history in which in 1835 the cold fusion was invented and a nuclear hotbox was installed on an early airplane. All the systems of the plane are diven by the super-heated steam. The game’s first misson takes place in 1907, it is a testing of Mansfel intermittent steamgun. The following missions are the air battles of the Fist and the Second World Wars.

Continue

King of the Rocks: conquer the cloudy world!

Can a great game be made within a few weeks? The answer is definitely yes, and the game King of the Rocks proves it. Exactly two weeks spent indie developer Massagames to create this addictive strategy game.

The game takes place in the world where people live on the tops of the mountains, far above the clouds. Some of the mountains even float. To reach the nearby settlements the squadrons of baloons are used. He who builds the largest army and conquers the neighbours becomes the King of the Rocks.

Continue

Top Defense: orbital guardian

In the year 3012 the Galaxy is divided by two superpowers: The Final; Empire and The Eternal Tribes. Once the life on one of the boundary planets was wiped out by the neutron star flare, but all the military bases were left intact. The Tribes organized a raid to capture it.

The only force to stop the invaders if the orbital station with you the only survived crew member. Orbiting around the planet you can use various weapons to destroy the enemies. But be quick: if they manage to capture a base, the rocked aimed at your station will be launched. Of course, there’s always a hope of reinforcements, but who knows…

Continue

Bubble Tanks 2: warfare at micro-scale

Changing the scale of the ordinary objects and phenomena is the popular way in game-design to create an innovative and easy-to-learn game. This technique was used by Jared Riley and Eric Ottati (Hero Interactive) when they created Bubble Tanks. Later, after considering tons of players’ comments, they released Bubble Tanks 2, where, compared to the first version, multiple interface tweaks were made, various tanks and weapons were added.

The Bubble Tanks Series depicts the wars in the micro-scaled world. This world is inhabited by militant tank-like creatures, which consist of bubbles. The world itself is a grid of bigger bubbles and you can travel from one of them to another by moving through the membrane. You can strike the enemies with (guess, what? Right!) bubbles, of course! :) Being destroyed, they break into even smaller bubbles, which you can collect and upgrade your tank.

Continue

Trafalgar Origins: England expects that every man will do his duty

One of the first games I played on my own personal computer was Age of Sails, the game about the XVIII-XIX centuries naval battles. There were missions from Russian-Turkish, American-English and Napoleonic wars, the player controlled the manouvers and fire of his ship, and then – of the squadron. There were different types of ammo, with different damage characteristics. It was possible to tear the enemy’s sail with the chainshots, fire a grapeshot to reduce the crue, and start the boarding then.

Around that time TV series “Hornblower” was issued and I became a fan of maritime theme. So, I was glad to find the flash game Trafalgar Origins, as it depicts the same historical period. It is about the unsuccessfull Napoleon’s attempt to conquer naval superiority agains Britain. The game is much simplified compared to the PC ones, but nevertheless it keeps the spirit of the sailing age.

Continue