"It" Factor
I think the it factor involves one of these three things:
1) Game must be mindless
2) Game must require little or no learning curve
3) Game must allow user to feel free, whether it be convincing physics, large, diverse worlds, or a game like that line thing where you make the level and customize stuff. Think Pixel Monsters...

Mostly though, "It" is unpredictable, You just get lucky if you hit it.

RE: "it" factor
and this what some people were worried about. repeating ourselfes. we had a few pages of this convorsation already...but whatever. I think it depends on your audiance alot. like, newgrounds has alot of younger people. so, mindless violence, sex, simple gameplay seems to generate good scores.

RE: "it" Factor

The game has to be seamless. Think of playing a flash game like it was dating a girl. The dates over, your friends ask how it was and you say, it was all fun, but she has a funny looking nose. The nose is a pretty small part of the package, but since it was bugging you, it was fresh on your mind at the end.

Now taking that concept back to flash games. The helicopter game, perfect engine. There are no glitches, there is no room for complaining. Kitten cannon? Nope, I have never witnessed a glitch or even annoying lag when playing that game. Now the games I have created? The score directly varies with how bad the engine is. Defenseless stick has quite possibly the worst physics ever. Night of the Living Blam, if you are running it on a low end computer you can fall through the ground, smaller glitch, higher score. Dog Eat Dog only had annoying hit tests and it has the highest score.

Back to dates. When you go on a date with a girl and nothing bothers you, and you even had a good time (good reviews/ good score), you will be considering another date (replay value) and that right there is what I would consider the "It" factor.

RE: "it" factor

Haha, the dating metaphor was great. It fit perfectly. So which part is the reviews, and which is the score?

RE: Todays Daily Feature

So, Thats all settled then.
Is it a new rule here to use the reply thing.
Or just a thing to make them wanna keep the thread?

'It' Factor/Rammer's GA-ME

At 12/3/06 10:31 PM, Rammer wrote: RE: "It" factor
i think i'm a little bit of an example of the "it" factor. a game i made when i was 12 (Rammer - killer) was somewhat successful. i got a few fans and even several tributes. my game didn't have great graphics, replayability, high scores, indefinite levels, or any of that stuff. so why did i get a small amount of people in <3 with me from it? no fecking clue. someone play it and tell me plzkthx.

I have found a similar game to this, it's called Jazzy Jones in which the game play is similar but a bit easier. The graphics suck-arse and the coding is simple yet the gameplay is fun.
Same for you except yours is a bit more frustrating and I have been considering an attempt on making one of these games but with good graphics, this will make it noticeable and it is still fun yet simple to play and make.

The it factor seems to be mainly in the simplicity of a game yet it offers a challenge anyone can beat or obtain without trying too hard. Ever played Lego Star Wars or Alien Hominid on the console? They're both really fun games because they have a low learning curve, multi-player, humor,simple objectives and good gameplay. Lego Star Wars also has multiple characters with different abilities that are needed to accomplish certain tasks, you have to switch characters often but it's really simple to do and also has no back tracking. Alien Hominid has no back tracking too, it also has a bunch of multiplayer mini-games, one of the best replay values I've seen, fast but simple game-play and a high-score system to add to that.
That can all be achieved in a Flash game, you want the most minimal learning curve and challenges that anyone can beat yet still give hard-core gamers the feel of overcoming a challenge, you want the player to feel type of impact the player does when they shoot, collect or solve a puzzle while there is no vibration to give it to them. If you want the game to feel like your character is super strong or even the weakest weapons feel like they do something then you gotta have the impact noticeable and slow, maybe even add shaking to the screen or certain sound effects.
If you want it to be fast-paced then make the impact not noticeable but make the character run as fast as the player can keep-up with.
The best RPG system I have seen is the Ratchet and Clank one, shoot an enemy and you gain experience for your health and also for your weapon in which both level up. You can level up fast and it isn't turn based making the player not getting bored of shooting fireballs at chickens for 20+ hours.
Graphics don't matter too much but you want them to be something that fits to the style of the game and doesn't seem to be too distracting.
Sound needs to be something that the user doesn't hear too often nor gets annoyed by it too much.
You need to have the player/user feel they're in the game and doesn't get discouraged while making sure they don't get turned away from one minor thing. The objectives can be anything but you want them to be something everyone can do with ease while feeling they've accomplished something at it too. You don't want the player to accidentally make a bad decision in which they either don't have a good enough weapon or they aren't strong enough to accomplish the task at hand, you want the challenges to be beatable with the weakest weapons and with barely any strength.
The Legend of Zelda(original) can be beaten with some difficulty while only using the wooden sword and three hearts.
I think that's everything.

New Posting Style
Excellent idea Luis, looks like it's working so far and is making everything much easier for the readers and the posters. People won't have to double quote as much now.
Hopefully this'll save the thread.

Flash Contest with the same theme as the Art Contests
This would be really nice to see come along and also help people out a lot who do not submit flash often. Would it have similar prizes to the Art Contest? Or would they be much simpler things?

Today's Daily Feature
Seemed to only have done so 'well' because it had music in it, it didn't even get a good score. IMO it just got lucky today, especially with a score of about 3.8 in which the daily feature usually has a score of a 4.0 or better.

Thought I'd just randomly join the BBS.....Hi! :)

Re: The "it" Factor
Simplistic games that are quick to get into, and fun enough to stay in there are the go for me. A personal preference of mine are games that are fast paced - slow games always leave me bored and exiting it.

Line Rider
It's a fun game. Strangely addictive. I get bored of it at home - but it kills time at school for sure! :P

RE: New posting style

Just a odd question: do we have to follow the same style in other threads too?

RE: New posting style

At 12/4/06 09:42 AM, DarkMana wrote: New Posting Style

Great idea! It's much easier to skim now.

Pretty irritating to get used to at fisrst, though :P

Fingers frozen

Well, I walked home this afternoon in some pretty bad rain. And it was cold. Quite, quite cold. In summary, I can't type very much right now because my fingers are no longer capaple of doing anything more than prodding a key every second or so, which is why I'm not responding in a lot of detail right now, as much as I'd like to make my opinions of everything known.

RE : Line Rider

Yeah, it's got allot of publicity recently, it's even in my PC Zone magazine, alongside a demo. Another example of how a simple fun game can go a very long way.

Also, Game of disorientation was in there.

RE: New posting style

Just a odd question: do we have to follow the same style in other threads too?

No, its just meant for this thread right now, because of how many conversations there are going at once and how quickly posts are generated. atleast now people can quickly skim through posts and see topics that matter to them and what people have to say about em.

Need some Help

Okay, I'm working on my game at the moment, but i'm finding it really hard to concerntrate, especially with my new BF2142 Next to me, taunting me with it's gaming goodness. Anyway, anyone have any tips for stayign focused?

I feel at this rate i won't be finished before Christmas :(.

RE : Line Rider

Line Rider is a textbook definition of addictive game. The gameplay component is great enough that things like "objectives", "powerups", or any other sort of motivator is not required to make the game fun. The game itself generates enough fun that it requires no other logistics. I mean, there's a whole community dedicated to the single Line Rider game.

RE: Need some help
I don't know what a BF2142 is but there is one thing:
Turn off every single program besides Flash and your media player and have that player play some fast-paced music to you. It works quite often on me.

RE: Need some Help

my new BF2142 Next to me, taunting me

Is that like a futuristic Robot Boyfriend?
Anyway I concentrate with music as well, I'll use one of the many nano's I have laying around. Do you guys think its wierd to have nano's that you dont carry around? I was having dinner with this girl this weekend and she thought i was a wierdo because i have seperate ipods to keep in my car, keep at work, and to workout with.
PLEASE ACCEPT ME.

Re: Ipods

At 12/4/06 03:43 PM, SweetSkater wrote: I'd still bone you.

Right, but would you still get boned BY him?

RE: Why was my post deleted?

If you find your post mysteriously gone it likely has to do with the following:

1-Your post needs to have a bold title for what you are replying to. It will make it easier for people to skim through and keep this forum semi tidy

2-Your post was obscene and or had piracy or hot child porn in it.

3-A mean mod was in the area and decided to pick on you.

Most of the time itll be reason 1.

RE: why was my post deleted

indeed. its a bit weird that you used the word hot.
I have already seen an impovement in topics.

RE: Why was my post deleted?

Ah, sorry, i will use bold from know on.

RE: Need some Help

Anyone else have any ideas on how to concentrate?

BF2142 Is Battlefield 2142 :P.

I was gone for not even a day and now bold text?

Is this some new means of cleaning up this thread? And how exactly does it help?

Flash Question For All(seriously)

Have any of you been working on a flash very diligently(which is rare) and then flash has some gay error and just shuts down? Its happened to me enough to kind make me nervice at points during making a flash. When I was working on a sprite game(don't ask.. it never got finished so we'll leave it at that) and flash seemed to do that alot more, so much more I just ditched the project and deleted it, it would happen like at least once whilst working on it, but now it happens very rarely but enough to be kinda noticable. I dunno what that is but I'm thinking I just better keep saving...

At 12/4/06 05:54 PM, Shmelo wrote: Is this some new means of cleaning up this thread? And how exactly does it help?

RE: Now bold text?

Organization issues mostly.

RE: Bold Text?

the bold text are titles that help people stick with conversations, rather than jumping from one to the next.

RE: Flash Question

yeah, that happened to me a few times while working on a school project. most notably, just as i was doing two school projects, my hard-drive got corrupted and i had to use my mom's computer. "ctrl + s" is like a reflex for me, now. or more of an OCD thing. either way, i rarely lose things, now.

.net or .com?

sorry for my double post, but i was just wondering if i should renew my .com or buy a .net for Rammerzworld. i can't really decide. is a .net more expensive to buy?

5,000th post in this forum! :D

RE: I was gone for not even a day and now bold text?

It helps as people can see what each post is about, so you don't have to read massivly long posts only to realise it has nothing to do with you. The only problem is that <b> is being replaced with <strong> which means a lot more typing! =P

RE:Flash Question For All(seriously)

Yeah, I've has Flash crash on me before, normally because I was running AS that was quite CPU sensative whilst still running other programs such as as MSN, IE, FF, iTunes etc. When flash crashes on me when I haven't saved I'll just start a new porject.

RE: Everyone who responded so far, specific to Kirk.

Hmm, so maybe when using flash and your in the middle of something kinda important it would be best to not have any other programs running? I mean when I'm just making little mock flashes I have internet explorer up maybe fireworks or something. And also when you say CPU sensative AS, are you programming a game or some kind of application?

RE:Flash Question For All(seriously)

Yeah, it's probably best to just have flash running when you're making stuff, just so that memory isn't wasted else where. Also when flash crashed on me it's normally because I'm making a game, which I haven't done for a while, which leads me on nicely to my next question.

I'm in a slump. What to do?

Now I haven't made anything in Flash for a while, and only really open Flash when I'm helping other people, so it's kinda fair to say I'm in a slump when it comes to make Flash. Has anyone else gone through a patch like this? How do you motivate yourself out of it?

RE: .net or .com?

Well, I like .net much more than .com. I dunno, it makes it probably more professional. And I don't think it's more expensive really... I was gonna buy a domain with a .com with some money and i ended up buying a .net with the SAME money. :P

At 12/4/06 06:10 PM, Kirk-Cocaine wrote: Now I haven't made anything in Flash for a while, and only really open Flash when I'm helping other people, so it's kinda fair to say I'm in a slump when it comes to make Flash. Has anyone else gone through a patch like this? How do you motivate yourself out of it?

RE: I'm in a slump.

Most of my ideas were from years ago, before I got Flash even.

What made you start Flash?

It was originally game websites like Miniclip that motivated me to want to make games. But I realized when I saw Homestarrunner.com, that I should learn slowly and start some animation before I jump into games.

Now, 1 1/4 years later and I still haven't made a single complete game.

RE: I'm in a slump

It's happened to me before. I am never out of ideas, but sometimes I will stare at flash thinking to myself, I don't want to do this. My ideas are often too imposing. This is the main reason why I don't really have any animations in the portal; minigames are just easier to make.

RE: What made you start flash?

albinoblacksheep, yo. That's where I saw my first flash cartoons and it where I decided I wanted to get into. I clicked through a google ad like the computer inept n00b that I was and ended up downloading some crappy wannabe flash program. I didn't even use it, but later my uncle got me a copy of flash and I picked it up and never put it down.

Flash is school isn't what I thought it would be...

This year I am going to two high schools; my main high school and another one that focuses on certain career pathways. The pathway I am in is graphic design. In this course flash is part of the curriculum. All seems cool, right? But no, not cool. In my Intro to IT course, we have the simple task of making a flash navigation bar. Three buttons. The teacher assigned it and I finished in 10 minutes making my own button function and adding effects to the buttons (well, movie clips actually).

My teacher knows nothing about flash and he admits he, in fact he is an engineering and manufacturing teacher who took the place of my old teacher who is now working on the servers during that period. I know overwhelmingly more about flash than he does; today he asked me how to give text a fading effect. So know I am stuck teaching the entire class how to use flash, everything from the interface, to keyframes, to motion tweens, to symbols, to the color mixer, vector drawing, stroke and fill differences, actionscript, and much more all to just make some stupid buttons.

It wouldn't be too bad if I could instruct the whole class at once, but no. I have to go to each of them, one at a time and instruct them. Then I have to do it again because no one remembers. I can't blame them, it isn't all that easy to just start off and make some buttons, but it is oh so very agitating on my part.

But that isn't the end, I have them for the entire day. We are all in the same classes; Intro2IT, English, Graphic Design, and Design Lab. For all four classes today, all 6+ hours today, I got to help people make buttons. I don't mind helping, but this is just nuts.

Does anybody else have flash in their curriculum? And if so, do you have this same problem?

RE: Flash in school

I THINK I remember having warned you that THAT would happen xD or wasn't it you?

Well, I'm supposed to be taking flash on 9th or 10th grade, but im not sure. I had the experience with Dreamweaver already, it was lame. I was stuck teaching all the class like you were =| but most people were actually "smarter". They handed me their USB drives and they literally "stole" my work from my comp and changed names, then cash came for me. :P I am SO to blame for the kids' stupidity.