Flash Games with Design  Daymare Town 2. integrating excellent illustrations into a puzzle game

By Ko Maruyama

There are plenty of games that you can play through simple browsers.  Some of them are created with beautiful illustrations and artistry that takes advantage of the small file sizes for these games.  This month, I took a look at the sequel game: Daymare Town 2.  The simple puzzles (although sometimes tricky) are packaged with the great looking rough drawings.

I had a chance to talk with Designer, Illustrator, Programmer Mateusz Skutnik in Gdansk, Poland.  A traditionally skilled architect, Mateusz now called himself an architect because of his construction skills in game design.  His skills however, aren’t merely about flash animation.  He also creates some comics which he continues in Rewolucje.

Daymare Town is a story that takes you through a creepy, illustrated world that you can navigate with simple clicks of a mouse.  The tasks necessary to get through the maze are logical steps that aren’t always as easy as clicking the mouse.  Some tasks involve combining elements in your inventory while others require you to perform an action while an animation occurs onscreen (and those are some of the easy ones).

Did you go to art school in addition to traditional architectural school at the Technical University in Gdansk?

No, I didn’t go to any art school thank god. I started drawing about 20 years ago, and after 15 years of drawing crap I finally learned how to do it.  That’s the way it goes.  There’s no way around it – that’s a kind of advice for someone that would like to learn how to draw fast.

You work as a flash animation artist now, but how did you develop your programming skills after architectural school?

Watching the tutorials, going through countless trials back and forth and some small help of my fellow programmers that were kind enough to share the knowledge.

What was the first flash game that you made?

Funky Forest. This maybe not totally the first game ever made, but I don’t think that earlier attempts are online. We can assume Funky Forest is the first publicly released game.

What was the most difficult part about learning to program that game?

Understanding the basics. After this – it’s all very simple. To some level naturally, I’m not a programmer per se, so I’ve got my limitations.

What kinds of books do you read?  What kind of television or film do you watch?  What type of fine art do you like? As an illustrator, how do these influence your work?

If you ask me about my inspirations – I cant name that.  Everything is an constant inspiration I guess.

The strongest inspiration would be music, I like to visualize what I hear. Ambients, separate short sounds, etc. When I hear something I usually see it. Then draw it.

Probably the most popular puzzle games you’ve made are still the deeply layered Submachine Series and the fun 10 Gnomes Project.  What is the new project you’re working on?

I’m working on Covert Front 3 right now. After that Submachine #6. And I’m also working on 10 Gnomes series – one game per month, and also I program games for PastelGames.com.

Do you think that web delivery of flash games is a good thing for you entering the market?

Yes, most definietly.

What is the next part of flash / scripting that you want to learn?

Honestly don’t know. What I learn is determined by problems and obstacles that I encounter during development of a game. Finding solution is learning in my case. Can’t predict future programming problems ;)

If people want to find out more games that you like that other people have created, what would you suggest?

They should visit amanita design for their amazing samorost games and wada che nanahiro for his sheer absurd.

Thanks for fun and wonderfully illustrated games.

Thank you!

Trzeci “blaki” to paski znane chociażby z internetowego konkursu na paski, czy łam naszego “Chichotu”. Mateusz zebrał je, posegregował na trzy kupki, przerobił z pasków w kwadraty (to akurat moim zdaniem pomysł taki sobie) i wydał (właśnie u tego gościa, co się tak strasznie śmieje). To zdecydowanie najlżejszy blaki, czyli i najbardziej dla mnie – co nie znaczy jednak, że całkowicie pozbawiony refleksji. Momentami jest refleksyjnie, ale tak nienachalnie jak to tylko możliwe. Kilkanaście pasków absolutnie powala, kilka jest na granicy mojego rozumienia żartu (znaczy, że je nie do końca rozumiem). W sumie świetny tomik, na który bardzo czekałem i z radością postawię na półce choć w ogole nie pasuje do poprzednich z serii. A Mateusz narysował mi na stronie tytułowej małego czarnego blakiego i mam. Co prawda KoLeC dostał znacznie większy i bardziej skomplikowany rysunek (choć niebieski), ale Skutnik robił go w sobotę podczas rozdania nagród, gdzie mu się wyraźnie nudziło. Mam przynajmniej satysfakcję, że moim długopisem rysował.

napisał: Kamil Smiałkowski

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October the 1st is the time when polish universities start new learning year. So the time is right to show you gnomes hidden on my alma mater campus. The technical University of Gdansk, which I graduated from… like… 7 years ago. o_0 Jeez the time flies.  It’s not my department though, it’s chemistry, while i was studying architecture. but this spot, right outside the chemistry department was much nicer. :D

have fun.

…that’s the theme of a cover I’ve created for an icelandic magazine. That was a hard one and I spent entire month trying to come up with a decent idea for that cover, and finally couple days ago I finally found one.

Hope the resemblance is visible and you won’t have problems with indentifying the connection.

You can see full cover after the jump.

(more…)

Holy crap I totally missed my new comic book release. That’s probably because I was away on vacation in Greece last week when this happened :D. Anyway – here it is, the third from the Blaki series. The last one. Sad thing is that it’s in polish only, but I promise – my next comic book will contain no words, so all of you will be able to finally see what’s up with those graphic novels of mine. ;)

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sample pages / przykładowe plansze

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Blaki. Paski to nie tylko trzeci – po Blakim i Panu Blakim – album z “niewielkim, wiecznie czymś zatroskanym faceciku” w roli głównej. To również trzy opowieści o tytułowym bohaterze, z których każda pokazuje go w zupełnie innych okolicznościach. W pierwszym rozdziale obserwujemy Blakiego pozostawionego samemu sobie – walczącego z fobiami (pająki!) i nieznośnym dniem codziennym. Blaki na urlopie to z kolei komiksowa wersja słynnych Wakacji pana Hulot Jacquesa Tati, czyli wyjazd na wakacje = koszmar. A jednak ciągle nam mało. Natomiast Pan i pani Blaki to chyba najcelniejszy obraz damsko męskich relacji, jaki pojawił się w polskim komiksie ostatnich lat. I najzabawniejszy. Jak zresztą wszystkie przypadki Blakiego, prawdziwego everymana naszych zwariowanych czasów.

• Wydawnictwo: Kultura Gniewu
• Rok wydania polskiego: 9/2008
• Liczba stron: 72
• Format: 165×165 mm
• Oprawa: miękka
• Druk: cz.-b.
• Dystrybucja: księgarnie, internet
• ISBN-13: 978-83-60915-19-6
• Wydanie: I
• Cena z okładki: 21,90 zł

recenzje:

• motyw drogi
• slowem
• Gazeta Wyborcza
• E-Splot

Znacie “niewielkiego, wiecznie czymś zatroskanego facecika”? Blaki z “Pasków” nim nie jest. “Blaki. Paski” jest kolejnym komiksem o zabawnym zwolenniku mody Wujka Festera i kolejny raz ta postać ma inny charakter. Jaki? Ciężko powiedzieć – okazało się, że przy pomocy pasków trudno jest nadać wyrazistość, do której jesteśmy przyzwyczajeni, najbardziej charakterystycznemu polskiemu bohaterowi komiksowemu ostatnich lat. Paski zostały podzielone na trzy części: “Blaki”, “Blaki na urlopie”, “Pan i pani Blaki”. Najtrudniej jest się doszukać osobowości postaci w tym pierwszym rozdzialiku. Składa się on z pasków, które powstały dość dawno temu, z myślą o nieodżałowanym wrakowym konkursie. W związku z tym, nie uzyskujemy pewnej spójności, która pojawia się w dwóch następnych częściach. Paski z części “Blaki” są pozbawione pewnego lejtmotywu i choć wydawca we wstępie napisał, że tutaj Blaki “pozostawiony jest sam sobie”, tworząc niejako dla nich wspólny mianownik, to niczego więcej się z nich nie wyciśnie. Są to luźne, z założenia (i czasem) zabawne historyjki konkursowe, którym nie potrzeba dorabiania tematyki poza już istniejącą. Z tego powodu uważam, że możnaby zostawić tytuły poszczególnych pasków, co korzystnie wpłynęłoby na ich odbiór (mam tu na myśli chociażby “Wiosnę”).

Najlepszą częścią z “Pasków” jest dla mnie “Blaki na urlopie” i opowiada dokładnie o tym, na co wskazuje jej tytuł. Nie są to już nieskładnie powiązane stripy, lecz zgrabna historyjka opowiadająca o niezbyt udanych wakacjach. To samo tyczy się się “Pana i pani Blaki”, z tą różnicą, że jest to zbiór anegdotek o relacjach damsko-męskich, w którym każdy dostrzeże kawałek swojego związku. Nie jest to jakaś dogłębna analiza, której możnaby się spodziewać po wstępowym “chyba najcelniejszy obraz damsko męskich relacji jaki pojawił się w polskim komiksie ostatnich lat” (pisownia oryginalna), ale nie można odmówić temu rozdzialikowi dużej dozy sympatyczności.

“Blaki. Paski” jest komiksem zupełnie innym niż “Blaki” i “Pan Blaki” – nie ma tego jesiennego, melancholijnego nastroju, Blaki nie filozofuje i nie jest zatroskany. “Paski” nie są ani wybitne, ani najśmieszniejsze, są chyba po prostu rozrywkowe i sympatyczne. Ten bardzo poręczny, w formacie dwóch tabliczek czekolady, album będzie wywoływał podobny dysonans poznawczy jak druga część “Na Szybko Spisane”. “Blaki. Paski” mimo że nie jest tak mocną pozycją jak inne wrześniowe premiery – “Niczym aksamitna rękawica odlana z żelaza” czy “Prosto z piekła” – warto kupić. Nie dlatego żeby przekonać się, że Blaki nie musi być “wiecznie czymś zatroskany”, ale chociażby dla niekwestionowanego magnetyzmu samej postaci. Ale o czym ja mówię? Przez ten magnetyzm i tak kupicie ten album, nieważne jak dobry, bądź nie, by nie był.

autor: lukaszb

play | watch video from location

This one was a tough one. I know, I say that almost everytime, but these particular gnomes were really hardest to create. So, this place – it’s in the woods, about 30 min walk from nearest transportation. One day i was around and thought – to hell with it, I’m going there to shoot some gnomes pics. Why did I say ‘to hell with it’ – you might ask. The answer is simple as – because it was raining. So I’m going there on foot, the atmosphere around me is fine, except for that raining part – walk in the woods can be quite nice. As I arrive there – the first big unanswered question vanishes – yes, it is open. I met the guy in charge at the forge door, and I ask him if it’s ok for me to take some pictures. he said – for what purposes – and right there I knew I was screwed. Didn’t want to lie, as it’s not my style ;) I said that I want to create a game situated in the forge. And so it begun. It was drawn to my attention that I cannot just go in, make some pics and post them on the web. No, no, no. And that I have to fill in some departamental papers, describing the project, and then they would send it to Warsaw (the capital of Poland), and then get back to me with the decision.

o_0

If you made that face right now feel no shame as it’s exact expression I made back then. Remember the illegal adventures? This one had to be LEGALIZED. Fortunately we agreed that this can be resolved via email, and so I went back home (it was still raining) and wrote an email about what 10 Gnomes are. The decision arrived shortly after – that it’s all god if I put their logo somewhere in the game. No problem. It’s there.

So, one week later, it was 25th to be exact – usual gnome releasing date – I went there for the second time and was able to shoot the material. No rain this time. Phew. And that’s why these gnomes are bit off schedual.

Anyway, enough of talking, the task was difficult, but mission accomplished.

Enjoy.

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and this is a gem that I found on jayisgames.com:

Gnome Infestation Envelops City

Miniature white gnomes have been spotted all over the city for half a year now, and their number only appears to grow. Their presence seems permanent, and there is no apparent end to them.

It all started on February 5th, when well-known artist Mile Godnia was heading for the grocery store to buy some milk and dog biscuits for her pets, and spotted a small white gnome sitting on a rooftop. She thought her eyes were playing tricks on her, but she saw it again on the way back.

“It was the strangest thing you’d ever seen,” Godnia told the press. “It didn’t do anything, and it just turned its head when it noticed me. Then it was there again several minutes later, in exactly the same place.”

Discussion with her neighbors revealed that other people had seen the gnome as well. It had turned up all over the rooftops, in ten different places. In fact, there appeared to be ten different gnomes.

Weeks later, gnomes began turning up in other locations, from the city park to the the local shipyard to a large warehouse. Sightings grew as rapidly as their numbers did. Reports showed interesting phenomena: they always turned up in groups of ten spread out around an area, and they always behaved the same, never moving from their locations. Attempts to shoo them away were always in vain, as they remained obediently in their spots.

“It’s the darndest thing,” businessman Matthew Mothball commented. “They don’t do anything but loaf there, but they’re driving me nuts! It’s ruining my concentration just thinking about them!”

“We’d like to classify them as pests,” city official Myrtle Auggh explained, “but they don’t do anything. All they do is sit around. They don’t spread disease, they don’t steal anything, they don’t even make noise. They don’t fit the definition of a pest, end of story.”

Whether or not the gnomes will ever go away, or whether their behavior will become any peskier, both remain to be seen.

written By SonicLover

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The squirrel goes scuba in this underwater fish hunt. Watch out for falling snails and the octopus. This one is a simple reload. No changes made to the actual gameplay, changed just graphics and main api, so the game is pausable, quittable and saveable scorable.

This time it’s from Czech Republik – Mnisek pod Brdy – the picture was taken by Katerina Vojkuvkova and reported by Olga Pavlickova. Gnome on the roof. I think I’ve seen that before…

Long story short:

• The incoming traffic gets greater everyday.
• The server couldn’t handle that amount of players.
• And that wasn’t a bandwidth issue, for I had plenty.
• I had to change the server.

Let’s see how long this one lasts. :D

(still looking good… [add. Mat XI.2014])
(looking better than ever, after moving to ssd :D [add.Mat.VII.2015]).

Anyway – since I had to move the wordpress database from one server to another – all in-post links are screwed.

I’ll be able to rebuilt the site’s inside linkage, but that will take some time, so please be patient and forgiving if some links to walkthroughs, reviews, or even games themselves won’t work. All games are linked in the top menu anyway, you can always dig there.