LEISURE GAME CREATION EXPERIENCE

moving

2009-05-19T01:05:00.001-07:00

I started using wordpress so I can have everything in the same place. From now on the blog type stuff will just go on messhof.com

If you want the new rss link, it's http://messhof.com/?feed=rss2
comments are at http://messhof.com/?feed=comments-rss2

I have a flash game up there.

Recent Stuff

2009-04-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Flywrench at the New Museum. I think it's working pretty well. I went a couple times to spy on people and they seemed to be getting the hang of it. I'll get better pictures of this soon.

(Photo by Danielle)

Petri Purho and me wearing diapers at GDC, the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco earlier in April. Awesome week, great to meet everyone.

(Photo by David Waldman)

This was the space I had at MOCCA Toronto, The Thrill of Combat was on one wall, Scrap Collector on the other. TTOC is a two player coop game that uses a steering wheel+pedal and a joystick. I'm working on an at-home version of this that should be done in a few weeks.

A short hurdling flash game I made for Amusement/Nike. You need to get a copy of the magazine to play it for the next couple months..

This is a flash game I'm finishing up. It's called "Party Boat" and you have to flip your helicopter around for multipliers while avoiding homing missiles. Party music by GDFX (Scrap Collector, The Thrill of Combat). Currently looking for a sponsor for this-- http://www.flashgamelicense.com/view_game.php?game_id=5417

Welcome to the Terrordome

2009-03-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

Come check out this exhibit if you're in Toronto next week!

from MOCCA--

April 3 - 12, 2009

Exhibition open everday 11 - 6 p.m.
Opening reception: April 3, 7 - 10 p.m.

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and the 22nd Images Festival are pleased to present the exhibition Welcome to the Terrordome, featuring video-based, multi-media installations by Wafaa Bilal, Jubal Brown and Mark Essen.

As the momentum of the Iraq War in the US began to blur the lines of entertainment, marketing and propaganda, a US game designer published Quest for Saddam, a first-person shooter-style game that puts the player on the hunt for Saddam Hussein. This game was quickly appropriated by Al Qaeda as The Night of Bush Capturing to reverse the roles of the hunter and the hunted. In Virtual Jihadi, Wafaa Bilal reworks the narrative yet again, casting himself as a suicide bomber, recently recruited by Al Qaeda to join the hunt. This fully playable hacked version of the game further breaks down the use of stereotypes and propaganda on both sides of the war on terror.

Jubal Brown consistently challenges boundaries of watch-ability, pushing the limits of spectatorship, manifesting an amoral barrage of mindless directionless energy, often a tragic and beautiful collision of despair and longing. Premiering three new installations, Brown promises there will be blood, fire, and his signature rapid fire machine-gun flicker editing thrill-ride. Also featured is a video and sculptural installation in collaboration with Josh Avery.

Using a more indirect engagement with the culture of terror and war, the games of Mark Essen break open the conventional mechanics and aesthetics of gaming. Distilled to their most basic elements and set amidst flat, low-resolution colour forms, Essen's games recall the formalist and structural sentiments of avant-garde cinema. The Thrill of Combat presents a challenge with stripped down militaristic missions aboard a helicopter, vertically and horizontally scrolling through a maze of two-dimensional obstacles and mechanized foe. In Scrap Collector the mission is to "collect scrap, build planes, shoot planes." Or as Essen describes it in another statement about the game, "Scrap Collector is about making money." The combative goals become expanded in a surrealist adventure within the military industrial complex.

Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal has exhibited worldwide including in Baghdad, the Netherlands, Thailand and Croatia. He has travelled and lectured extensively to inform audiences of the situation of the Iraqi people, and the importance of peaceful conflict resolution.

Jubal Brown is a video maker, multi-media artist, organizer and writer based in Toronto. He has shown extensively in Europe and North America. Past projects include The Cult of PO-PO, Toronto's legendary WASTELAND event series, ART SYSTEM Cultural centre, FAMEFAME, FAMEFAME's VIDEODROME series, UNKNOWN UNKNOWN and THE LAND OF THE LOST.

Mark Essen is a game artist living in Los Angeles and he recently received his B.A. from Bard College. His games have been shown at music venues and arts festivals around the world. His games are known for their odd control schemes, masochistic difficulty and nonsensical humour.

A MAZE

2009-02-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

Thorsten Wiedemann interviewed me on the A MAZE blog. A MAZE organizes more or less monthly game shows in Berlin's Club 103.

A MAZE. celebrates the convergence of computer games and art. Computer games are based on more than new technologies, they present a way of life surpassing the basics of fun and gameplay. Our ambition is to present and support playful and creative experimentations with this multi-dimensional medium.
“Spielen ist Experimentieren mit dem Zufall”, - to play is to experiment with chance, as the poet Novalis formulated - it can be as easy as that!

Group Show at the New museum

2009-02-07T06:25:00.000-08:00

4/8/09 - 6/14/09
New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002

from Rhizome--

For a little over a year now, our affiliate, the New Museum, has been busy organizing the exhibition "The Generational: Younger Than Jesus." With periodization used as the default lens through which to understand art history, the exhibition raises the idea of generations in art as a question and a problem. The first edition looks at artists born after 1976 to coincide with the demographic that is popularly labeled Generation Y. Each installment of this ongoing triennial exhibition will approach the subject differently. The curators Massimiliano Gioni, Laura Hoptman, and Rhizome's own Lauren Cornell called on over 150 professionals in the field, artists, teachers, critics, curators, bloggers, to recommend artists--material which became the core research for the exhibition.

Rhizome post, List of Artists

Come check this out!

Update v1.2

2008-12-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

Scrap Collector was kind of buggy. This update should fix the collision issues and speed the game up.

SCRAP COLLECTOR

2008-12-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Scrap Collector is about making money

DOWNLOAD (v1.15)
Music by GDFX

There's two parts to the game:

INSIDE THE VOLCANO
move around with the arrow keys, jump with z.

OUTSIDE THE VOLCANO
turn your ship with the left and right arrow keys,
up and down control your throttle, as indicated by the amount of exhaust
z shoots, x ejects (useful for commandeering ships)

Press ctrl-D at any point in the game to submit your scrap to the scrap bank (though it will reset your scrap count afterward)

I'm also selling these 8x10" hand carved linoleum block prints with a graphic of the volcano from the game. Archival quality ink on various materials. Every piece of scrap comes with its own number as well as a cd with bonus content. $10

MESSHOF/CACTUS SPLIT

2008-12-01T11:15:00.000-08:00

Cactus and I are uploading a split game release on ~~Friday~~ Saturday. It will have a game made by each of us individually, but using the same general design. I can't post any images because the idea is that neither of us will see the others game until the split is online.

Screensaver

2008-12-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

get it here

unzip it, right click "install"

you can also set up custom messages to spin around so people know where you are when you walk away from your desk

Media Dump

2008-12-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

MAN, LOOK AT THESE GAMES. LOOK AT THESE GAMES COMING SOON.

FLYWRENCH Update (1.6)

2008-10-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working on Flywrench a lot the past week or so, and I think it's bug free enough to let people try making some levels. There are some graphical changes too. This isn't ultimately what the game is going to end up like-- there are a few more objects and modes I want to add, and the new levels will eventually be integrated into the story mode of the game, but I've been pretty slow about doing all that so here's a mid release--

DOWNLOAD

The levels are saved as text files, so you can share them pretty easily. If you email me your level, I'll bundle it in with the next release. I'm really looking forward to seeing what people come up with. Hopefully the interface isn't too awkward.

RANDY BALMA: MUNICIPAL ABORTIONIST at the Tokyo Game Show

2008-10-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

SENSE OF WONDER NIGHT 2008 (SOWN 2008) is a new event that will be held at the Tokyo Game Show 2008. SOWN 2008 will shine the spotlight on game developers who are seeking new possibilities of expression through the medium of games and will serve as a vehicle for a new style of presentation that broadens the possibilities of games.
The objective of SOWN 2008 is to unleash on the world new games that can give people a "sense of wonder" a feeling that something will change in their world and make them gasp at the moment they lay eyes on the games or hear the game concepts.

TGS SENSE OF WONDER

Cowboyana at A MAZE. Berlin

2008-10-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

http://amaze-festival.de/2008/10/03/review-a-maze-jumpn-run-01-kim-021008/

I would have posted about this before, but I didn't hear about it until today.

Cowboyana Update (1.1)

2008-09-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

I fixed a few things in Cowboyana, mostly usability tweaks that I should have done a while ago. If you've played it with gamepads then not much has changed. The download link is the same.

Next Level

2008-09-28T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be on a panel on indie games with Jason Rohrer and Greg Costikyan at the New Museum in Manhattan.

Friday Oct. 10th at 7:30pm
New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002

from Rhizome--

Bringing together prominent game designers, artists and critics, Next Level takes a look at the recent rise of indie gaming: a vibrant new culture of individually made and self-distributed video games that blur the line between digital art and creative entertainment.

Featuring artist and game designers Mark Essen, Jason Rohrer and Greg Costikyan. Moderated by Rhizome staff writer Ed Halter, an author, critic, and curator whose book From Sun Tzu to Xbox: War and Video Games was published in 2006.

Pictures from the Silent Barn

2008-09-27T13:10:00.001-07:00

Marten Elder took a couple of pictures from the Silent Barn show--

8-BIT Bands at the Barn

2008-09-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY SEP 26
Adventure / Future Islands / GDFX [SD]
and some cooperative punishment in the basement
all ages

Silent Barn
915 Wyckoff Ave, Ridgewood, NY

Exit L train at Halsey and take a left on Wyckoff walking towards the Manhattan skyline (past the gas station which should be at your back). Silent Barn will be on your right about two blocks down.

AveCom 2008 - "It's all in the game..."

2008-09-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

’Interactivity’ is a word that seems to gain more importance and magic everyday. In 2008 AveCom focusses on an audiovisual phenomenon that is indisputable connected to interactivity; AveCom and Square Eyes Festival are organizing an event based on the interactivity between art and games entitled: “It’s all in the game…”. This 3-day festival will take place in early October and will consist of digital movies, installations, performances and live-cinema. This festival will kick off a 4-week exhibition in which all imaginable fields of art that were inspired by the game-world for the last 40 years and vice versa, will be shown.

One of my games will be here, most likely Cowboyana. If you live in The Netherlands, you'll understand this address--

Square Eyes Fesival
October 3 - 5 2008
CBKArnhem, Kortestraat 27, 6811 EP Arnhem
Friday Oct. 3: 20:00 - 01:00 uur
Saturday Oct.4: 20:00 - 01:00 uur
Sunday Oct.5: 15:00 - 20:00

IndieCade

2008-09-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

An updated version of Flywrench will be shown at two upcoming IndieCade events--

IndieCade @ Open Satellite - Bellevue, Washington
October 10 - 17

IndieCade @ E for All - Los Angeles, California
October 3 - 5

FILE Photos

2008-09-21T09:43:00.001-07:00

Festival of Electronic Language- FILE was up in Brazil from August 4th-31st. They had a large game section and included Punishment: The Punishing and Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist.

These are some videos of the festival--

http://video.globo.com/Videos/Player/Noticias/0,,GIM865293-7823-FESTIVAL+INTERNACIONAL+DE+LINGUAGEM+ELETRONICA+COMECA+HOJE,00.html
http://diversao.uol.com.br/ultnot/2008/08/05/ult4326u1024.jhtm
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/videocasts/ult10038u429810.shtml
http://int.limao.com.br/mm/tvlimao!getPlayerVideoLimao.action?destaque.idGuidSelect=D630AF339F8546F6967469C71797403A
http://www.rollingstone.com.br/resultado_busca.aspx?txt=File&session=0

New Bike Game Trailers

2008-09-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3600896356154503669&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8413621906685650009&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3089345118800905781&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2003624715642814159&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4376235032257528799&hl=en

East Village Radio Music Festival (NYC)

2008-09-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

East Village Radio is having their anniversary festival down at Pier 17 in the South Street Seaport all day this Saturday (1-9pm). There's going to be a bunch of bands including Boris, High Places, Vivian Girls, Awesome Color, KRS-One, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Flying Lotus, and more.

And then there's a side stage near in an abandoned Liz Claiborne outlet store with some more bands-- Aa, Crystal Stilts, Woods, Bunnybrains, Hex Message, more. There will be a bunch of videos and different installations in other parts of the store, and you might even see Punishment: The Punishing.

You can also listen live.

Death By Audio Arcade

2008-08-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

There's a new arcade going up in the back room of Death By Audio in Brooklyn featuring indie games. Flywrench and Calamity Annie by Auntiepixelante are going to be there, dunno what else. It starts tonight--

$6
Realicide, Cathode Terror Secretion, Mark Morgan, plus More!
Death By Audio
49 S. 2nd, Brooklyn near the Bedford stop on the L

UPDATE - I guess the machine Flywrench was going to be on broke, so it wont be there.

Bike Game Video

2008-08-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

I'm making this 3d motorcycle racing game with Cactus. We don't have a name for it yet, but it's looking pretty cool. It has a two player mode, split screen as well as online. The music in the trailer is John Marwin.

Light Industry

2008-07-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Here's some photos from the show at Light Industry. A lot of people came out and I think everyone had a god time. I was having some technical problems with Stenography Hero, so it wasn't running anywhere. I uploaded the game as is, but it's really just a tech demo at this point and I'd like to work on it more.

I've also started working on another violent game.

"the thrill of combat"

Download

2008-07-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Cowboyana

stenography hero

Cowboyana Trailer

2008-07-13T20:12:00.001-07:00

Hard to kill your buddy

2008-07-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Blow uploaded Nicewrench, which is a remake of Flywrench minus the instant death and with an added collecting aspect. I know that he didn't give himself a lot of time to make the game ("This game was written in 2 days or so, during February 2008, while jetlagged on a trip to Copenhagen") so the movement isn't very finely tuned, but I found the game to be much more frustrating than Flywrench. Death in Flywrench isn't supposed to be punishing, it's just an affirmation of failure after which you are instantly thrown back into the level. Nicewrench deals with failure in a way similar to Punishment, in that you're bounced backwards and forced into a situation that often makes it more difficult to overcome the obstacle. You end up facing the wrong direction and you've lost all momentum. In some cases, the positions of the lines have changed so that you're forced to retrace your steps through a different configuration of lines to get to a point where you can fly through the original setup at an adequate speed. The addition of the collecting aspect doesn't really make sense to me either, although in some games collecting things can be rewarding. There actually were collectibles in an earlier version of Flywrench. It also allowed you to bounce off the yellow walls whether you were rolling or not, and you were given a rank based on how many orbs you picked up, how fast you completed the level, and how many times you died. I eventually found all of these to be pretty obnoxious additions that left you with a game you never really mastered, since you only replayed sections if you reloaded the game. In terms of movement in Flywrench, you only control subtle changes to your ship's momentum so the open ended nature of checkpoints and bouncy walls accentuated this lack of control. Anyway, it was cool to finally play Nicewrench and I'd be interested to see how it would evolve if it were developed further.

Cowboyana is pretty much done. I'm going to upload it on the 15th, and if you're in Brooklyn you can play it with my gamepads. It's two player, and can't really be played otherwise. Jordan Stone and Evan Pritts did the music, which is primarily acoustic.

Brooklyn

2008-06-19T08:56:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have a show at the recently formed Light Industry in Brooklyn--

Light Industry is a new venue for film and electronic art in Brooklyn, New York. Developed and overseen by Thomas Beard and Ed Halter, the project has
begun as a series of weekly events at Industry City in Sunset Park, each organized by a different artist, critic, or curator. Conceptually, Light Industry draws equal inspiration from the long history of alternative art spaces in New York as well its storied tradition of cinematheques and other intrepid film exhibitors. Through a regular program of screenings, performances, and lectures, its goal is to explore new models for the presentation of time-based media and foster a complex dialogue amongst a wide range of artists and audiences within the city.

I'll have a couple new games-- one about cowboys, the other about stenographers. Jordan Stone, who did the music for a bunch of the games, is going to perform some stuff live.

Date:	Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Time:	8:00pm - 9:30pm
Location:	Light Industry
Street:	55 33rd Street, 3rd Floor
City/Town:	Brooklyn, NY

You can read more about the show at the Light Industry page.

RANDY BALMA: MUNICIPAL ABORTIONIST

2008-05-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here's the game-- DOWNLOAD

GAMES

2008-05-12T22:27:00.001-07:00

I set up an installation with a bunch of my games for my senior show at Bard. All the games were wired up to SNES controllers. Punishment was on a big flatscreen, Punishment 2 was on a rear projection screen with pillows in front of it to sit on, Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist was on a large wall projection, and the same with Flywrench. You Found the Grappling Hook normal and pro editions were played on the same laptop with a short typed explanation. It was a lot of fun, and I think I'm going to try and set up similar shows this summer.

Here's some photos of the show, thanks to Marten Elder--

and even more on flickr

Quick Question

2008-04-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to figure out what parts I should buy to get the cheapest system possible that can play my game "you found the grappling hook". Has anyone played it on an older system with any success? What kind of graphics card, cpu, etc do you have?

YFTGH -- PRO EDITION

2008-03-28T19:55:00.001-07:00

I released a "Pro Edition" of YOU FOUND THE GRAPPLING HOOK, featured exclusively on Businessweek.

DOWNLOAD PRO EDITION

Make sure the title screen says "PRO"

THE FUTURE OF SPACE

2008-03-05T09:31:00.001-08:00

I've been working on this game, which started as a couple things-- Punishment 3, that Big Ben game, and a newer car physics engine I've been experimenting with. It's the most narrative game I've made, so I don't want to reveal too much. Here's the working title and a screenshot that wont make any sense:

RANDY BALMA
MUNICIPAL ABORTIONIST

Flywrench 2 is on hold, but I'm learning how to code all this multiplayer stuff when I have time. Ralph Radio has its fourth show tomorrow, and it should be an abnormally splendid one. We're working on getting a podcast set up so you can listen to previous episodes while you tone your thighs on the elliptical.

nicewrench

2008-02-23T05:31:00.000-08:00

Jonathan Blow talked about Flywrench in his "Nuances of Game Design" session at the Game Developers Conference yesterday. He also made a game of his own based on similar (but easier) mechanics called "Nicewrench". I'll link that when he uploads it. Here's Destructiod's coverage:

http://www.destructoid.com/gdc-08-nuances-of-design-71829.phtml

In other news, I'm working on porfolio-izing my main page, messhof.com. In games, Punishment 3 has been taking nearly all my time since I'm using it as my senior project for college. I'll probably have to finish Flywrench 2 now, though. Maybe I should call it Meanwrench.

Ralph Radio

2008-02-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

I have a weekly radio show starting tomorrow night-- Thursdays 6-8pm EST on WXBC (Bard College Radio). The show is called Ralph Radio and I host it with Theodore Rex King, but most of the talking is done by robots. I also composed some original music. In summary, the show will be splendid. Join us.

high quality stream - http://192.76.239.213:8000/listen.pls

low quality - http://192.76.239.213:8500/listen.pls

And you can contact the booth at wxbcdj over AIM or call in to 845 752 5300.
There will also be some new FLYWRENCH style music by Jordan Stone. Maybe we will break a keyboard on the air.

flywrenching

2008-02-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

The game is not done... but I made a stupid video anyway

YFTGH 1.5 Update

2008-02-06T22:33:00.000-08:00

I updated YOU FOUND THE GRAPPLING HOOK to 1.5-- HERE'S WHAT'S NEW

-changed the music
-added an automatic save
-added new sections to the cave
-added spirits of the cave
-added two new items
-added an ending
-added online highscores
-improved collisions

This is News

2008-01-31T17:28:00.000-08:00

I finished the update to You Found The Grappling Hook, and I'm just waiting for the music for that. Expect a release next week. It includes a new section of the cave as well as an exciting final challenge, along with two new tools to find along the way.

I've finished most of an update to Bool. It's largely cosmetic. That should be done this week.

Punishment 3 has a couple new animations.

Ghost Forest has come along quite a bit and will probably be finished soon. It will feature a dynamic soundtrack by A.A.Kurtz.

I've started working on a long term (3-4 month) game based on Bloglantis. I'm pretty excited about this one.

messhof.com out of bandwidth

2008-01-20T00:27:00.000-08:00

I used up my bandwidth for this month, or rather you all did. Bastards. Anyway I'm working on getting that back up. Here's what else is up--

Flywrench 2 - I'm still making levels, and I'll start working on the music next.
Punishment 3 - I'm working with some new effects that will hopefully drive you crazy. Most of the core platforming stuff and graphics are done.

And I have a couple other smaller projects. "You Found The Grappling Hook" is getting an expansion, and that airplane game I posted about a while ago will probably come out pretty soon. Also "Ghost Forest" could come out any day now. Who knows? I don't.

Also Cactus and I are trying to make a game and it's like totally exciting.

You Found The Grappling Hook!

2008-01-17T04:07:00.000-08:00

I made a short game today called "You Found The Grappling Hook!"

It's only 10 levels, but I think it's pretty fun. I recommend using a gamepad with it.

Size: 4.86mb
Download it Now

More Trailers (for old games)

2008-01-14T17:17:00.000-08:00

Videos are pretty nice sometimes, and here are a couple I made just for you!
(Note: watching either of these could spoil a bit of Bool...)

So here is Bool--

And this is Booloid--

Punishment 3 in Zero G

2008-01-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

So sometimes there is gravity, but at other times...

At other times there is NOT...!!

Punishment 3 Screenshot

2008-01-02T17:44:00.000-08:00

Without giving too much away-- the game will be nauseating. And hard.

I Am Pumped

2007-12-22T01:40:00.000-08:00

Future France contacted me about including Flywrench and possibly some of my other games in the various magazines they publish. Awesome!

I am pumped about the new Flywrench and Punishment games. Here is a quick top 10 list of things I am pumped about:

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1 - Games that I am making

Also only ONE DAY LEFT to vote for Flywrench at YoYoGames! Tell your friends!

Time to Vote!

2007-12-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

There's only about 5 days left to play and rate Flywrench for the YoYo Games Winter competition! They are basing a lot of the judging on how many people play the game with the YoYo Games "Play Now" feature, as well as how people rate it and what they write in the comments!

Situation Critical

2007-12-17T23:15:00.000-08:00

So this is another punishment type game. Think punishment in space. DEEP SPACE.

Flywrench Update

2007-12-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

I'm just about done with the level editor and I've started making actual levels. Expect a lot more levels in the final game, the level editor, a new soundtrack, continuation of the story... I want to finish it before Jan 15th.

Punishment: The Punishing in PC Zone

2007-12-13T13:28:00.000-08:00

I guess the magazine PC Zone had an article on Punishment: The Punishing in their last issue, #187. They didn't send me a copy, but cactus was nice enough to send some pictures:

Punishment 2: The Punishing
The return of the Punisher returns

dev: Messhof Games
www.messhof.com/games

This platformer, the sequel to Punishment, feels a bit like N
to begin with, but then quickly stops feeling like that.
Your little sprite of a character moves with the eerie motion-
captured grace of the original Prince of Persia, and runs and
jumps with satisfying velocity, but never quite reaches the
agility found in N.

With the reminder that N is brilliant safely out of the way,
let me tell you how Punishment 2 is unique. In it, you have
to backtrack to the first level each time you beat a level.
You must drag yourself back over all the impossible jumps,
perfectly timed moving platforms and ball-achingly wide pools
of acid, just to flick a switch. That's why the game's called
Punishment: because it's punishing you - like sticking razor
blades under your fingernails. The fact that I enjoyed the
game just goes to show what a masochistic moron I am.

Captions

Blue big pic: "Flicking the switch ends the level. At which
point it all starts again..."

Left dark green pic: "Graphics are a bit Spectrum."

Middle green pic: "Shows gameplay mechanics means more than
graphics."

Right purple pic: "Levels demand split-second timing."

The magazine also came with a dvd, which included the game.

So that's cool.

eh, you know, stuff.

2007-12-13T11:39:00.001-08:00

I'm still working on getting levels in Flywrench 2.0 to load correctly. What's up with that?

While that's been slow, I've worked more on Ghost Forest. The soundtrack will be new compositions by the excellent AA Kurtz !

The castle is your home. Venture into the forest and untold mystery and adventure awaits!

Ghost Forest

2007-12-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

I started another project. It will be pretty short and arcadey. It's inspired largely by the classic Crystal Quest.

Stale

2007-12-10T21:35:00.000-08:00

And as long as I'm showing things that are coming along, why don't I show you some projects that aren't really going anywhere anytime soon--

This was a joint project between me, Cosmind, and Darthlupi that was never finished. It's a contra type sidescroller/shooter. I'd really like to return to some of the mechanics of this game, but in a much simpler form.

This one is still pretty early in development. It involves a lot of time travel paradoxes. I'm not really set on how it will play, but hey-- it has Big Ben. And look at him go!

I'm pretty excited about this one. If you liked either of my Bool games you should be too. It involves flying a red plane around!

Progress

2007-12-10T19:52:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd share some Flywrench 2.0 screenshots. These are from the level editor--

Seeking Flash Developer

2007-12-10T10:44:00.001-08:00

I'm looking for someone pretty competent in Macromedia Flash to help create some games. The games will be featured exclusively on messhof.com and we will split the profits 50/50. I have a lot of ideas, a couple of them being games already on my site-- Punishment and Flywrench.

I'd prefer if we could meet face to face at some point-- I live in New York and sometimes Los Angeles-- but anyone seriously interested should contact me. Please include some sort of sample work.

YoYo Games Winter Contest

2007-12-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

YoYo Games (the company that bought Game Maker) is holding a winter competition, and I entered Flywrench. I know the game isn't very wintery, but I changed the story for the competition version of the game so it fits a little better.
Anyway, first prize is $1000 so I'd really appreciate it if you could play the game here (at least just load it up), rate it, and leave a comment. They are basing the winners partly on popularity, so this is pretty important.

Indygamer Interview

2007-12-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

Tim from indygamer did a short interview with me.

There are some pictures of projects I'm working on near the end.

PUNISHMENT: THE PUNISHING v1.16

2007-12-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

I fixed up Punishment 2 a lot--

-smaller filesize
-faster loading
-automatic saving
-online highscores
-no more broken platforms

Have fun!

flywrench 2.0

2007-12-06T20:23:00.001-08:00

Just when you thought it was over--!!

2001-01-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

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