Thursday Appdate: Candymeleon

Thursday Appdate: Candymeleon

Recently on Gamasutra, BitMonster's Lee Perry wrote a very insightful blog on an often intangible facet of game design: player feedback, that bit of game "feel" that makes a game not just fun, but injects fun into the basic actions and events on-screen. Candymeleon, a selection by Bulkypix from the 'New ...

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Waiting for Superman: The Beauty of Virality

Waiting for Superman: The Beauty of Virality

One day in October 2012, I happened across this YouTube video with a top-down view of PSY’s concert in Seoul. Over 80,000 people were in attendance, with the crowd spanning entire city blocks. Every member of the audience was singing along in unison with PSY who was on stage addressing ...

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I Play SimCity Social for the Writing

I Play SimCity Social for the Writing

“SimCity Social?” they ask me. “Sure, it’s got the SimCity branding and all, but isn’t it just another click-and-wait Facebook game?” Though I know the look of skepticism it will produce, my reply is, “Oh, I play SimCity Social for the writing.” Since I can feel your dubious smirks already, let me ...

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User-Generated Content and Generating Contented Users

User-Generated Content and Generating Contented Users

We at Frisky Mongoose like to play a lot of location-based games; it’s kind of our thing. There have been a lot of them over the years, as designers and developers have tried to gamify locations, or localize games, or whichever approach they feel like taking. While there are some ...

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Nothing Unusual at All is Happening Today

Nothing Unusual at All is Happening Today

Just another regular day in the games industry! Dogfighting game War Thunder has a new set of combatants, there's a new contender in the console field, and SEGA's got a new sound engine. New DLC is out for Journey, which is nice, and Europa Universalis was announced for a new platform. Oh, and ...

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Goodbye, LucasArts, and Thank You

Goodbye, LucasArts, and Thank You

This is my Corley Motors keychain. Corley Motors is a fictional motorcycle manufacturer that the player, as gang leader Ben, must save from a hostile takeover in the classic LucasArts adventure Full Throttle.  Together with Grim Fandango and his work on the Monkey Island series and Day of the Tentacle (all also LucasArts games), Full Throttle ...

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8 Reasons I Quit Playing Facebook Games

8 Reasons I Quit Playing Facebook Games

Two years ago, I ranted about the need for more challenge and chance in social games. Since then, the entire gaming industry has drastically changed. If I sound like a broken record on that note, it’s because in a fast-paced, high-tech market, it’s always true (and thus worth reiteration). It seems ...

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How Not to Play Location-based Games like an Idiot

How Not to Play Location-based Games like an Idiot

Welcome to the wonderful world of location-based games! I see you’ve just downloaded a copy of Traveler’s Quest, or Dokobots, or CodeRunner, or perhaps you’ve got yourself on foursquare for the first time. That’s great! You’re about to discover what geotagging and GPS-enabled mobile devices can add to gaming and ...

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Thursday Appdate: Running with Friends

16. May 2013

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Thursday Appdate: Running with Friends

Tweet Friendship may or may not be magic, but it helps you accomplish an awful lot in the realm of gaming. In Zynga’s library alone, if you’ve got friends, you can match words, you can hang, maybe scramble a bit, share of game of chess; your friends are fairly versatile when it comes to recreation. [...]

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Puzzle & Dragons & $3.7M per Day

13. May 2013

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Puzzle & Dragons & $3.7M per Day

Tweet So, remember a couple of weeks ago when we checked out Puzzle & Dragons to see what was captivating the world into shelling out $2.5 million per day for the match-three-RPG-monster-collection-awesomeness game? Here’s another funny story — that number is now up to $3.75 million per day. Puzzle & Dragons, according to a story on GamesIndustry this [...]

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Wednesdroid: Angry Birds Friends

8. May 2013

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Wednesdroid: Angry Birds Friends

Tweet Are they angry, or are they friendly? I guess the two aren’t mutually exclusive, as demonstrated in today’s featured game for the Wednesday Google Play update: Angry Birds Friends, another healthy dose of pig-smashery from the rascals at Rovio. It’s a new title that easily lends itself to a quick try, since it’s free, and [...]

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Wednesdroid: Puzzle & Dragons

1. May 2013

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Wednesdroid: Puzzle & Dragons

Tweet So, here’s a funny story: I was checking out the titles on offer in today’s Google Play update, and one of the titles leapt out at me: Puzzle & Dragons. Yes, it’s very true that I love puzzles and I’m reasonably fond of dragons, but the title seemed familiar somehow. Probably because of all those [...]

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Pac-Man Eats the Last of Your Spare Time on Google Play

25. March 2013

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Pac-Man Eats the Last of Your Spare Time on Google Play

Tweet I’m not going to insult you by attempting to explain who PAC-MAN is, or his appeal, or make some joke about his appetite. Let’s cut right to the chase: the world’s leading consumer of dots is going free-to-play in a new mobile iteration, called PAC-MAN +Tournaments, and it’s out now on Google Play. If you’ve [...]

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Deepworld Crafts a Mobile Version

8. March 2013

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Deepworld Crafts a Mobile Version

Tweet Technically, the crafting/exploration/fighting game Deepworld, from TriplePoint client Bytebin, has had a mobile version for a little while, if you consider your iPad to be a mobile device. The jury may still be out on that last point, but Bytebin has decreed that their game is now truly mobile, thanks to the release of an iPhone-specific [...]

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Your Daily AppGratis: Marvel War of Heroes

19. February 2013

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Your Daily AppGratis: Marvel War of Heroes

Tweet Every day, TriplePoint client AppGratis locates an app that they think ought to be free for a day. We download and take a look for ourselves to let you know what awaits you – why not? It’s free. When I was but a lad – a mere stripling, really – I read comic books [...]

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Escape from Terrible Officiating in Big Win Football

3. October 2012

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Escape from Terrible Officiating in Big Win Football

Tweet “Hey, shut up, Frisky Mongoose,” I hear you complaining. “Big Win Football is already an existing game. Don’t go wasting my time telling me that Hothead Games just released Big Win Football when you just told me about that a few months ago.” Okay, first of all, straw-man reader I’m making up right now, that’s [...]

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Take a Minute to Kill Some Goddamned Aliens

20. September 2012

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Take a Minute to Kill Some Goddamned Aliens

Tweet Commander P. Jefferson isn’t a man we hear from terribly often, but that’s simply because the man has a very full schedule. When not killing aliens on handhelds, mobile devices, and tablets, the star of A Space Shooter from TriplePoint client Frima Studio is busy promising to kill aliens on browsers and social networks. Then, [...]

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100 Million Fishermen Experience Joy

6. September 2012

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100 Million Fishermen Experience Joy

Tweet Do you enjoy fishing? More specifically, does fishing provide you with joy? Even more specifically, do you experience Fishing Joy? Even even more narrowly specifically, have you downloaded and played Fishing Joy, a mobile game from TriplePoint client CocoaChina? 100 million people have, which is why I asked that series of questions. I guess I could have just [...]

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Free Game of the Day, 9/6/12: Grab Grabbity on iOS Today

6. September 2012

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Free Game of the Day, 9/6/12: Grab Grabbity on iOS Today

Tweet Ask any child what a rabbit does, and they’ll no doubt mention two things: long ears and jumping. Despite not speaking with any children lately, I can take both of those facts for granted. Bunnies are simple little things, after all. But Grabbity, a new free-to-play platformer from TriplePoint clients Efecto Studios and Televisa Home Entertainment, [...]

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Free Game of the Day, 9/5/12 — Treasure Adventure Game

5. September 2012

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Free Game of the Day, 9/5/12 — Treasure Adventure Game

Tweet Treasure Adventure Game is a title both descriptive and understated. Yes, it is a game, in which you seek out treasure, and in doing so, have yourself an adventure. It’s also the Frisky Mongoose free game of the day. Those are the basics. You should also know that you’re not just hunting down treasure in TAG; [...]

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