The Bytten Write Up: Andrew Williams

Darkwind: War On Wheels

2010-04-14T20:40:00.000+01:00

Remember Darkwind? I awarded it "Most Addictive Game" in the 2009 Bytten Ernie Awards. The multiplayer on-line turn based strategy war game now features Factions and Squad Combat Leagues which offer a completely new dimension to the game with an emphasis on consensual PvP play.

The game design team have created a system of inter-related Factions, including major factions such as the Merchants and the Anarchists, as well as minor ones such as the Mutants and the Evan Reds. Players' in-game actions now have consequences in terms of how members of these factions will treat them, as well as how the towns themselves will perceive their gang in terms of fame and reputation. In-game consequences will be far-reaching: will an arena gang adhere to your resignation or try to kill you? Will a town provide protection for you if you're fleeing from a pursuing enemy - or will they hate you to such a degree that they actually mobilise the local Militia to attack you as you arrive?

An entirely new style of league has been added to the game, with an emphasis on consensual PvP action. The Squad Combat Leagues are conducted between player-run teams, and are organised into 5 divisions. Each team competes in one combat per week. After each season, the top three teams in each division are promoted while the bottom three are relegated. Unique prizes are offered for these leagues, including camp production bonuses and top-tier character training.

"We are very pleased by the enthusiastic feedback the new features are receiving from players," game creator Sam Redfern commented. "Additionally it is a great achievement to receive positive reviews in the mainstream media as well as the indie media. The full-page review with a very positive 80% overall score in the UK edition of the world’s number one PC Gamer Magazine shows that main-stream reviewers are open-minded enough to recognise a top quality indie game when they see it."

Additional recent features to the game include mutant characters who tend to be stronger and faster than 'norms', yet they suffer from aging effects faster. The addition of mutants also ties in with the factions system, which provides a more subtle social model than a 'good versus bad' system.

Psionic powers have also been implemented, allowing the lucky few who possess these post-apocalyptic skills to perform a variety of mind-control and telekinetic effects.

The in-game tutorial has been totally overhauled, so any players who found Darkwind to be confusing the first time around should stop by and have a go at the new tutorial, which will get you driving and shooting in no time.

On-demand races, deathraces and arena combats can now be launched straight from the game lobby. These are 'proper' funded events, which will let your gang earn prize money and gain skills - so no more waiting around for the next event to spawn if you're a new player who hasn't yet ventured into the wilderness.

If you have not already signed up, go to www.dark-wind.com and find out what all the fuss is about!

Braaaaiiiiins!

2010-04-02T11:26:00.004+01:00

Between the rest of my life and my work for Bytten, I rarely buy computer games. I receive review copies of games on average every fortnight and work on a computer all day at my office job, so understandably I don't really have much time for my own pursuits.

So it's a rare game that manages to slip into my life and extract cash from me at the same time. Even in this case, I took advantage of my Paypal account (useful tip, developers - many people have Paypal and any money in that account is often not considered "real" money, so offer Paypal as a payment method... it'll boost sales!).

This is "Plants vs Zombies", a tower defence style game available from Popcap. It was my partner that first located it, buying it for a new iPhone, and I was hooked. It's fun, it's easy to get into, the difficulty curve is pitched perfectly, it is FULL of little features, bonus games and so on, and it's utterly insane. So I bought it for the desktop machine.

The premise is simple enough. Zombies are attacking your house (no, we don't know why). The only thing between them and your delicious brains is your garden, in which you plant a variety of defensive flora to fend off the attack. These vary from the pea-shooter (a basic gun emplacement of sorts) and the cherry bomb (one-shot explosive, good for large numbers of zombies) to cabbage-pults, wall-nuts, mushrooms, potato mines, garlic... there are about fifty! Zombies too vary - from the garden-variety (ahem...) to tougher zombies in football gear, pole-vaulters, snorkel zombies in the swimming pool, dancing zombies, zombies with balloons, insane exploding zombies, zombies on bungee cords... and the terrifying Zomboss!

As you unlock more features in the main adventure mode, you'll gain access to puzzles - smashing vases which contain plants or zombies, or taking command of the zombies and getting past an army of plantlife - and a range of bizarre minigames, including a Bejeweled homage, a Zombiequarium and many more besides. You also have access to a Zen Garden, where you can grow your own plants from seedlings and gain coins for keeping them fed, watered and happy.

This is what I'd consider a good example of a gold star game. The attention to detail is astonishing, the range of features is incredible and even when you've completed the main game there is plenty more for you to do. Why stop at a simple match-three puzzler? You don't need ray-traced graphics and tons of content generation to produce a top game; all you need is plenty of imagination and a new take on an existing genre.

UFO: Alien Invasion

2009-10-27T19:34:00.004Z

Since this is a game that has rather absorbed my attention for the last few days, it seems only fair to give it a mention here.

Older games players may remember the X-Com Series (starting with "UFO: Enemy Unknown" here in the UK) in which aliens are surrepticiously visiting Earth, mutilating people and abducting cattle - or was it the other way around? X-Com is set up as a united defence against the alien threat and your role is to manage your bases, research and production in one half of the game and to lead your teams of warriors into battle in the other half.

UFO: Alien Invasion takes this old game and reinvents it. This is no straight port with flashier graphics but a new game altogether. The aliens are different. The combat is more clever. The weapons are vastly more numerous. The research tree makes a modicum of sense! It's a rather different beast to the original and I love it.

Opensource, this is a game still constantly in development. X-Com fans, you'll love this. Developers, you're welcome to pitch in and help with the latest version. Visit them at http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/ and see why I've been out of contact with the human race for the last few days.

Blowing In The (Dark)Wind

2009-10-06T20:31:00.003+01:00

A lone tumbleweed spins across the dusty ground. Outside, the normally chill October air is strangely stuffy, filled with slow-baked desert heat and the distant rumble of over-revved engines.

That's right, folks - everyone's favourite post-apocalyptic vehicular carve-up is back in town. Darkwind, winner of a "Most Addictive Game" Ernie, is celebrating the opening of two new towns and a number of new features by offering all currently registered players two free weeks of full-access mayhem. If you haven't been visiting lately, here's a chance to see what you've been missing.

Aside from a new website and the two new towns (along with new maps and new arenas), Darkwind now boasts Town Attack Combat events - a consensual PvP gameplay method that allows players to duke it out with each other for special rewards whilst avoiding the "griefing" that regular PvP can cause.

Just remember - it won "Most Addictive Game 2009" for a good reason. You have been warned. Now I'd better let this tumbleweed back out before it starts clawing at the furniture...

Sign up at: http://www.dark-wind.com

The Magic Toy Chest - New Graphics

2009-04-25T15:55:00.008+01:00

Some time ago I reviewed a game called "The Magic Toy Chest". One of the many aspects I commented on included some issues with the graphics.

The developers listened to these comments.

The Magic Toy Chest has thus been revamped, with all-new graphics! We were thus faced with a dilemma - as it is still the same game, a new review seemed unnecessary (not to mention likely to set an awkward precedent - every update to any game would warrant new reviews!) but a mere news posting seemed insufficient. And so I've dusted off my old blog, somewhere I really don't post to enough.

Here we have a screenshot from the previous version, and the new version. Note how much clearer the foreground is - you can now tell much more easily when something is foreground and something is background.

Here is another comparison - the character art has also been much improved:

Well done on your efforts! But a note of caution to all developers - try to ensure your graphics are finished before you release your game. It is very difficult to improve them afterwards.

Holy Street Fighter, Batman!

2008-02-07T19:50:00.000Z

I've recently encountered a very strange little game: http://onemorelevel.com/game/faith_fighter

Having rather irreligious tendencies I rather liked the idea - select a divinity, then battle against all the others in turn. Each deity has a selection of special moves, as well as the normal collection of punches, kicks and so on. It plays like a demented, sacrilegious Street Fighter.

Those of you with devout beliefs may wish to stay away. Those of you with a playful streak may want to see if "your" god can vanquish all the others! As a means of choosing the one true faith this is probably not the best option - as a bit of fun, it's a hoot. And it's free!

An Epic Work In Progress...

2007-11-27T18:52:00.000Z

I am always pleased to hear about new and ambitious projects in the indie world, and here is just such a project. New developer Probability Space are launching Warrior Epic, an online RPG that aims to be small to download and free to play. Players after new equipment and special features can pay for this as they wish, but this is not required.

Though Probability Space is new, the team comprising it are anything but - previous work includes input on StarCraft, Age of Mythology, Gears of War, Command and Conquer III, Battle for MiddleEarth, and more besides. While a public beta is not yet available there are several screenshots on their website and what they have put together so far is impressive.

You can find out more about Warrior Epic at www.warriorepic.com.

Brass Tacks

2007-11-18T19:19:00.000Z

News of a curious game in development has reached the Bytten offices. Described as having "a noir-crime-mobster atmosphere", the story features one Albert Swick, a man of dubious moral standing. His ex-partner has just had an accident, falling down the stairs and breaking his neck. Albert should be pretty pleased, since said ex-partner has been blackmailing him. Problem is, who's going to believe he wasn't involved?

Thus follows a curious game that isn't quite like any other. Your task is to exhonerate Albert - as the police will be able to finger him on such minor evidence as a single fingerprint or the most circumstantial of evidence, the best way to do this is make it look like someone else did it. After all, if it's obvious enough, who'll look for any other clues?

No demo was available at the time of writing this but we're hoping one will become available soon. Meantime, take a look at the development screenshots for an idea of just how good this game is looking: http://www.beware.co.nr/

Welcome to the newcomer!

2007-11-13T20:30:00.000Z

Having moved house, settled in and so on, I've rather fallen out of touch with blogging. Bytten continues as ever, with a steady rate of new submissions, and reviews go well. So I thought it high time I made some other comment here and I have the perfect topic.

There's a newcomer at Bytten. I don't mean another reviewer, but a new laptop. My old faithful companion is struggling now for space and, after some years of use, the performance is also starting to chug. Couple this with the ever increasing demands of computer software and it is plainly time to upgrade.

The new laptop, for the technophiles out there, is a Dell Inspiron 1521. It's running Windows Vista, another new arrival (and a slightly less enjoyable one, though doubtless I will adapt - the new Office suite is, however, much harder to use).

So welcome, new laptop, and may you stay with myself and Bytten for many years.

Fizzwizzle returns!

2007-05-19T11:53:00.000+01:00

AT LAST!

Grubby Games have finally announced their latest game featuring the absent-minded Professor Fizzwizzle. A sequel to the original, "Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery" introduces new puzzles, new objects and new enemies.

Currently undergoing final testing, I personally cannot wait for the chance to review this one. It looks like it could be hot stuff.

News! At long last, news!

2007-05-12T16:53:00.000+01:00

Ahem.

I've been rather remiss at updating this blog of late. In fact, I've been rather remiss at all manner of internet-related things - you can blame this on the combination of the loss of my car (leading to long days at work and pickups by arrangement) and the high stress of buying a first house. Hopefully that will all work out well, at which point I'll be near a half-decent bus route and trips to work will be much shorter.

Amidst all this I've been both reviewing for Bytten and proofreading, so the remaining free time I have is being put to constant use. So it's high time I took a few moments to do something useful, and here it is - a blog posting!

So what is the purpose of this ramble? Well, strangely, there is one. I spotted something of interest to developers during a scan over the indiegamer forums - a new website designed to help developers after some work. Need an artist? Need a musician? Need beta testing? Sign up for free at http://www.indiegamejobs.com and put the details in.

Even if you aren't shopping for contractors, please give this site some traffic if you can. It can only succeed if people know about it.

It's Oh So Quiet...

2007-02-21T17:38:00.000Z

So sang Bjork, and so I think at the moment. Since Bytten underwent its fundamental redesign, making submissions and administration both much simpler in the process, game submissions have suffered a bit of a dent. A few teething troubles are to blame, perhaps - one bug unearthed a couple of weeks ago only allowed developers to submit games if they already had a published review! - but things are a little quiet of late.

This means either one of two things. Either there's another bug chomping away at the bracken of the new system, in which case PLEASE tell us about it, or developers simply aren't popping by like they used to. Why not? Is it the new submission system? The colour scheme? Bytten has been providing a valued and professional service for several years now and we would value some feedback.

Of course, this could all simply be a lull in submissions and next week I could be complaining that we have too many. I hope so.

What is it about space travel...?

2007-01-26T18:00:00.000Z

As some of you may be aware, I've been involved in several projects outside of my Bytten reviewing. The Flatspace games (www.lostinflatspace.com) are among my proudest - and check out the fan fiction!

It then occurred to me how many of the games I love have been linked to space. I was a tad too young to catch Elite, but I spent far too much time playing Frontier - Elite II. I loved Gremlin's K240. Flatspace took up a lot of my time - and I've been involved in the design of that one!

Currently my addiction is a frankly bizarre game I've been reviewing for Bytten from the deliciously strange Ska Software. ZSX3 - Ninjastarmageddon is a bit of a mouthful but the game itself is fantastic in every sense of the word. Zombies and Ninjas in space. In cars rather than spaceships. There are pirates. There are cyborgs. There are pterodactyls. There's trade, plundering derelicts, combat, missions, simple exploration and lots of ships and upgrades to play with. And all of it utterly mental.

The review will be published in the next few weeks, but for now, go take a look:

http://zsx3.skasoftware.com/

Introducing - FizzBall!

2006-10-28T15:39:00.000+01:00

After the success of gold star game Professor Fizzwizzle, Grubby Games have not been idle. Their latest creation is the Arkanoid-like FizzBall, which (while very different in style) features the star of their previous game, the titular Professor himself. Still aimed at kids and big kids alike, this game is too good to just sit on the Bytten Review Queue without some mention now.

The premise is simple enough - the Professor and his FriendBots are visiting the islands when they notice that the animals are all going hungry. The Professor decides to collect them all up and look after them in his animal sanctuary, using his new invention, the FizzBall. Along the way the mystery deepens!

I said earlier that this game is Arkanoid-like. This is not entirely accurate - yes, the main aspect of the game is that you break through boxes and fences and so on by bashing the FizzBall against them, but there is much more to it than that. In order to collect all the animals, you need to first make the FizzBall bigger - and to do this, you need to start by collecting *small* things, like acorns. There are too many other features to mention here!

A full review of FizzBall will appear in the course of time, but in the meantime, take my word for it - this game is amazing, addictive and a sure winner with young and old alike.

Find out more at the Grubby Games website - http://grubbygames.com/fizzball/

Back 2 The Roots - Uprooted?

2006-09-29T22:58:00.000+01:00

While meandering through my Favourites menu, I recently tried to visit "Back 2 The Roots", a site dedicated to Amiga games and utilities with many disk images and a wealth of information - http://www.back2roots.org/ - only to hit a "not found" error.

Whatever happened to this site? Does anyone know? Have they moved, or simply gone under due to lack of funds?

Counter Clockwise

2006-09-09T14:51:00.000+01:00

Dizzying turns, Tron-like trails and high-speed action. Another freeware offering has reached us here at Bytten and it's... compulsive, addictive, frantic. The name of the game is Counter Clockwise and the aim is to survive.

Older players may remember a curious game on the Spectrum (!) called "Knot in 3D". A strange game that many who saw it probably didn't "get", it basically was a 3D version of Tron's lightcycle race. The Spectrum's limited graphics capabilities didn't exactly make the game clear!

You are in a wraparound 3D cube, constantly moving forward. You can turn (using the arrow keys) in right angles, in order to avoid the trails you and other occupants ("Chasers") in the cube are leaving behind. One quickly loses track of which way is "down" but given the absence of any landmarks or gravity the concept of a universal "down" is pretty meaningless! Score points for surviving, and bonuses for tricks.

It may sound simple, and it is - but it is far from easy. At first you're confronted with an empty cube, but soon it becomes snaked with so many trails that you're flying about an ever changing 3D maze! To this end you have three things to help you - shields that protect you from bumps into trails (but only so many times), a gun that blasts both trails and other chasers and best of all, an EMP that demolishes the entire surrounding area!

Of course, ammo, shields and EMPs are all limited. You can gain more by performing combos of tricks (the bigger the combo, the greater the reward) and destroying chasers will drop pickups that can offer points, ammo, shields etc. If you feel fast enough, you can activate the boosters - this means more points, but avoiding obstacles is harder.

With numerous options, a trick training mode and some subtle but effective backing music, Counter Clockwise is something that's weird enough to attract your attention and then rather difficult to stop playing. And it's free!

Andrew Attempts Alphasix

2006-08-28T14:43:00.000+01:00

Radical Poesis Games & Creations, http://studioeres.com/games/

Another freeware game has passed over the Bytten desk recently, and once more I take up the call to climb inside it and see what happens when I try prodding various bits. What result did I obtain? Pain or pleasure? Is this the opening to a grand love affair, or a quick bit of fun on dull afternoons, or just a slap in the face and a court order?

Alphasix is a fast paced deathmatch between two heavily armed warriors. Pick one of five such warriors, then battle the other four one after the other. Shoot guns, throw grenades, or get in close with a knife to damage your opponent. Charge up your tension to unleash deadly special attacks.

Graphics consist of a top-down view with tiny but well animated warriors. Bullets leave clear trails that aid tracking. Sound is plentiful and having stereo speakers can really help with hunting down your enemy.

It takes a little practice to get used to the controls but you'll soon be zipping around like crazy. Be sure to play the tutorials first as they'll teach you all the basics. Beware of exploding barrels!

So, am I forever smitten? Well, no - but there's a certain guilty pleasure in firing up Alphasix for a quick blast. Liven things up more by involving a friend - there's a two player option. There are options to choose from three game modes as well as adjust things such as timers and the number of health bars.

In Production: "The Exchange Student"

2006-07-19T20:49:00.000+01:00

News of an intriguing game recently floated across the Bytten desk (or would have done if Bytten had an actual desk instead of a virtual one) - a point-and-clic graphic adventure! Following the adventures of Emilio, a student joining an exchange programme in order to meet Swedish girls, it is referred to as an "interactive sitcom" - the flow of the story and the humour being more important than complex puzzles.

Being rather fond of the point-and-click adventure game genre, I was pleased to take a look at Emilio's adventures, which are entirely in Shockwave Flash format, and my immediate thought was of a similarly hapless hero with a similar quest - Leisure Suit Larry. However, The Exchange Student is more subtle than Larry's adventures, and has more in common with the Carry On films than your typical adult-themed game.

The "Amore" control system is similar to such games as Curse of Monkey Island - clickable objects are highlighted and, when clicked, allow you to look at, use or talk to that item. Your inventory is accessed by moving the mouse to the top of the screen. Other elements of note include voice-overs by "real people" (some with notable professional experience) and "no 'h' sounds in any Italian speech"!

At this moment in time, Emilio's adventures are limited to a demo of his pre-trip preparations (finding his passport, getting rid of his porn magazines and a special gift from his father) and even this demo is still in development (and thus not for public consumption), but what I've seen has been stylish and very promising. I'm looking forward to more news about The Exchange Student - and hope that more indie developers attempt this highly under-represented genre.

Find out more at http://www.theexchangestudent.com.

Apocalypse RPG

2006-07-09T11:56:00.000+01:00

I've recently been led to an online RPG - still under beta as I do so, but functional none the less. Boasting a population of over a thousand characters, it's free to join up and you can pop by whenever you have the spare time.

Find it at - http://www.apocrpg.com.

Gameplay is very simple - move your character around town (or the main map) with the arrow keys. You can enter buildings or perform actions by clicking on the option on the main part of the screen. There are also buttons to access your skills and your inventory.

A neat approach to the game is to limit the player to one valley. In this region the enemies are a little easier and you are only allowed out when your equipment has "cleared customs" - at which time you get your first armour and your exit visa to the rest of the world. This happens when you reach level 6 - and when you're battling weedy wasps and scorpions, that could take a while.

Like many online games, the graphics are simplistic to facilitate download speed. Likewise sound is minimal but there is some battle sequence music when you're attacked. The game plays in most internet browsers.

With zero cost to join up, there's no reason not to take a peek at Apocalypse RPG. Though it's still early days, the game is geared towards an adult audience and so (eventually, if not yet) there may be some elements unsuitable for under-18s.

What's in a name?

2006-06-16T22:13:00.000+01:00

Good grief, has it really been this long since my last post? I have been busy, that's all I can say.

I've been inspired to put fingers to keyboard after a posting on Hayden's blog about my review of Laser Dolphin. First, sorry for not mentioning Ecco (it was in my head throughout reviewing so I'm astonished it didn't end up in the text). Second, Hayden is quite right about the title. It's brilliant! It encapsulates the entire game in two words that you don't normally see together.

This has made me think about game names in general - how important is a name to your game? Actually, quite a lot. A game name has two main objectives - it tells people what the game is (marketing) and it gives them something to search for. For instance:

* It should be short, but not too short. "Blip" is a bad name for a game, since not only is www.blip.com probably already taken, but anyone putting "blip" in Google will give up long before they find your site. Similarly "The Adventures Of Harvey The Invisible Rabbit As He Escapes The Evil Purveyors Of Snack Foods and Dynamite" is a silly title in many ways, not least the unlikelihood that anyone will bother typing all that into a search engine. Try aiming for 2-3 words, though a one-word title is excellent if it's an unusual word.

* See if you can secure the domain name for that title. If I'm searching for a game called "Dynamite Dandruff" then my first guess would be www.dynamitedandruff.com, so make sure that site takes me to your game.

* Avoid non-letter characters in your name. Discussion in development forums led to a game called "Maggie's Garden" being renamed to "Maggie the Gardener" - because previous developers had encountered problems with customers searching for titles with apostrophies. If you release "Sixteen Soldiers", how many people are going to look for "16 Soldiers"?

* Similarly, make your game title easy to spell. "Flatspace" is good. "Zygoxicypher" is not.

* Make your title reflect not only the aim of the game but also the genre. "Caverns of [wherever]" instantly sounds like an RPG. "The Strategist" is a good name for a war sim, but would sell poorly as a shoot-em-up.

* Try to be unique. A Risk-style simulation of the First World War would have sold well five years ago if you named it after the Arch-Duke of Austria-Hungary, but now there's a popular group in the public domain called Franz Ferdinand and your game would get somewhat lost!

People will make their first judgement about whether they'll like your game based on your title - that's before they even glimpse a screenshot or read a review.

Bounty - The Taste of Paradise?

2006-05-28T19:05:00.000+01:00

Splice the mainbrace, unfurl the sails and set course for piratey adventure! I promise you that's the last of my nautical metaphors... Bounty, a game still in development as I type these words, sees you helping Mirabelle and her crew in a good old-fashioned treasure hunt. Can you help her find the lost riches of Captain Black Jack?

Bounty is a puzzle game with 140 levels of tile-pushing action. Help Mirabelle in her hunt for treasure by kicking and nudging objects into matching lines of three. Collect special tiles to swap tiles, freeze the timer and many more.

Graphically this game looks fantastic. Comic-book characters of a style very like those of "Curse of Monkey Island" instantly grab the attention and carry a lot of charm. There's also plenty of sound effects and ingame music.

Oooh, I can't resist it. Hoist the decks! Keelhaul the parrots! Et cetera, et cetera...

Visit Total Eclipse Games for more details and a trial download.

www.indieproofing.co.uk

2006-05-12T20:36:00.000+01:00

Good evening folks. I am now full of pizza and catching up on some rather overdue updating. My 9-5 work is tiring.

I'm taking a little time here to blow my own trumpet (stop giggling at the back there!) and want to mention my own indie company, www.indieproofing.co.uk. I set this up at the beginning of the year and have really not been promoting it as hard as I should be. So what is it?

Basically, as a Bytten reviewer I have encountered a lot of games where the quality of English is... variable. This is largely due to the number of indie developers for whom English is a second language - I know full well how complex and illogical English can be! Since poor text can adversely affect your sales pitch - be that in the demo, the documentation or especially the website - I offer a proofreading service for any or all of these. Since professional proofreaders usually cost an absolute fortune and indie developers cannot afford their outrageous prices, I offer an affordable service targeted at those developers.

I have recently relaunched the site as, while my spelling/grammer are excellent, my webdesign skills are a bit rubbish. Helpful people, reeling from the blinding purple of my site (it looked blue on my laptop, honest!) suggested improvements and tried to teach me CSS. As a result I now have nifty buttons that light up when you hover over them. I like those. The website is less painful to look at and best of all, I can now accept payments for work through ShareIt as well as Paypal.

See http://www.indieproofing.co.uk for details of my services, prices and contact details.

Bytten Ernies 2006

2006-04-29T18:25:00.000+01:00

It's that time of year again, a time when we at Bytten look back over a year of reviews and choose those games that had some particular appeal for us. These are the second Bytten Ernies and I'm pleased to say that the quality has anything but dipped since our first outing.

I'll do much the same as last year and announce categories and winners, but this year I'm no longer nominating a runner-up. Choosing one great game is hard enough - picking a second is even tougher. I will however give mention to all those games that were in my thoughts at the time.

Most Involved Plot
Shadow Stars by Spellcaster Studios

The clear winner here was "Shadow Stars: The Ventrui Belt", a bold attempt at a 3D space shooter that saw you taking the surviving fighter of a Warfyr attack fleet, cruelly tricked into exiting hyperspace bang on top of a minefield, against hordes of Tarwyne spacecraft. We don't see many 3D combat games at Bytten, a genre more commonly found in the commercial sector.

Runners up in this category included "Finlay's Fathoms", in which a brave magical dolphin fights toxic waste, fishing boats and insane sealife; and the frankly bizarre Zombie Smashers, which defies plot summarising.

Most Unusual Idea
Battles of Norghan by Mitorah Games

This was a rather difficult category to fill this year, with many original yet sensible ideas. After some thought it became obvious - "Battles of Norghan" is an unusual yet highly effective cross between a dungeon hack'n'slash and a football management sim. Having kept this reviewer entertained both during and after the review, it well deserves praise. More like this, please!

Most Ambitious Game
Gumshoe Online by Hiding Buffalo
Professor Fizzwizzle by Grubby Games

Perhaps the most difficult category to fill of them all, we've had a number of high quality games this year and I've been unable to choose a clear winner. I have therefore gone with a joint award to two games that both impressed me a great deal.

First up, I have to mention "Gumshoe Online". This atmospheric online adventure saw me hunting for clues and cracking cases, and was quite compulsive. It is nominated for this award due to the sheer number of locations, clues and red herrings that go into each case.

My other offering here is "Professor Fizzwizzle", a platform puzzler that's a winner with children and adults alike. A wealth of objects and interactions led to over a hundred puzzles, a number that ever increases with the inclusion of a level editor. While not obviously ambitious in terms of graphics, sound or size it is clear that nothing but the best would do for Grubby Games in every area of the game.

Most Addictive Game
Zombie Smashers by Ska Software
Battles of Norghan by Mitorah Games
Professor Fizzwizzle by Grubby Games

Here I again have a tie - between three games! My qualifier for this award is that a game brings me back over and over, even past the publication of the review, and these three games all did that to me.

The first of these, "Zombie Smashers", features some double-dragon style combat with RPG elements against a variety of nasties and a series of missions that ranged from the bizarre to the downright bonkers. I played this one through to the end - the very end!

Otherwise we have two familiar entries - "Battles of Norghan" reappears with my long-running efforts to win the entire league (eventually successful), and "Professor Fizzwizzle" gets an extra mention. I've created a number of my own levels for the benefit of my (normally) non-games playing partner.

Strangest Game Experience
50 Castles by Rusty Axe Games

This was rather difficult to judge but I eventually settled for "50 Castles". While the game itself was a fairly normal puzzle game, involving fitting parts into a castle, there is a certain level of oddity within. Few games involve you shooting snakes with your cannon in order to stop them eating your chickens.

Rivals to this title included "Zombie Smashers", which was bonkers but clever about it, and "Laser Dolphin", summed up by the title - however, "50 Castles" outweirded the pair of them.

Special Award
Magic Match by Codeminion Dev Studios

This year's special award goes to "Magic Match", a game that never quite fitted any of the other categories and yet deserves a mention for all-round excellence. Mad songs, a rather sweet helper imp and chaining rather than simply lining up matching items all enhanced the smooth look and feel of a solid game. Well done Codeminion!

And that's it for another year. Here's to the next, and to all the great games we hope to experience over the coming twelve months!

Bytten Ernies 2005

2006-04-23T10:40:00.000+01:00

As a prelude to the upcoming 2006 Bytten Ernie awards, here are my Ernies from last year. Other articles are being appraised for transfer to blog form but they tend to be a little on the long side!

Most Involved Plot
Awarded to I of the Enemy by Enemy Technology
Runner-up Starscape by Moonpod

A host of alien names aside, I of the Enemy is by far the most well-plotted of games I have reviewed. Independent gamers seldom flesh their plots out much, which made this game a refreshing and entertaining change. The storyline revealing the truth behind the enigmatic Y'dray and the mysterious Unath has echoes of an
M Night Shyalaman plot twist.

Though I couldn't easily think of a runner-up for this category, Starscape just beats nearest rivals The Last Sorceror and Outpost Kaloki as it incorporates the plot more into the game itself, rather than as a bit of background between levels.

Most Unusual Idea
Awarded to Pac Doom 2 by Absolutist
Runner-up Basegolf by Alitius Software

Though the game style itself is far from unique, the idea behind it was quite bizarre. Take two popular and very different games - Pacman and Doom II - and merge them into one of the oddest games I've seen in some time. The resulting game is remarkably playable.

Basegolf is my second choice, joining together two sports I have never been much good at to produce a game I'm still not much good at. But then again, how many sports can you play on the moon?

Most Ambitious Game
Awarded to Taren by Purple Toe Multimedia
Runner-up Hellhog XP by StateVector Games

This category is aimed at those games that tried especially hard despite a lack of experience or manpower. As such the likes of Starscape and I of the Enemy, while definitely ambitious, didn't face the impossible in quite the same way as Taren did. This was a game put together by a game construction engine and, while not the most playable or professional of games, it is one of very few attempts at a Doom-style 3D environment that we have had the pleasure of reviewing.

The runner-up for this category is the graphically beautiful but hopelessly impossible Hellhog XP, which only ran on one of the computers accessible to Bytten at that time. It is a prime example of how you can be overly ambitious in one field, to the cost of the others.

Most Addictive Game
Awarded to Warblade by Edgar M Vigdal
Runner-up Super Groovy by Insane Play

My main measurement here is how much time disappeared before, during and after reviewing these games. To that extent, Warblade is the clear winner. Finally getting to try out those laser beams took a lot of play but was very enjoyable.

The second most addictive game I've played was the very different Super Groovy, probably because it was very simple and yet very easy to make a mistake. Even my non-games-playing partner found Super Groovy irresistible for a time.

Strangest Game Experience
Awarded to Sim Gangster by NetGangsters
Runner-up Cactus Bruce and the Corporate Monkeys by Blue Tea Games

The strangest game I have played for Bytten has to be SimGangster. Expecting a cheap version of Grand Theft Auto, I was startled to find a game which saw you planning your criminal day - muggin' grannies, vandalism, or just chillin' (with either gender!) - before playing it out with some hilarious commentary.

A close contender for this award is the bizarrely titled Cactus Bruce and the Corporate Monkeys. Few games feature a pirate cactus, an exploding snowman and flowerpot throwing at simian adversaries with a one-ton extending claw.

Special Award
Briefcase by Fallout Software

I wanted to give a special mention to this game, a puzzler that featured packing a briefcase with an assortment of odd items. I do not know why you'd want to take three alan keys, a screwdriver, a single trainer and four tennis balls anywhere. Briefcase was simple, addictive and fun - bizarre as packing usually isn't (having just moved house, I know this for a fact).

Kicking off...

2006-04-01T18:50:00.000+01:00

Good day, oh wanderers. Welcome to Andrew's Bytten Blog.

I confess first of all that this is my first ever blog, and I fear I will end up either posting little or wittering on so much that I never get anything done. Hopefully Mark, Hayden and company will keep me on track with some brilliantly written and insightful, incisive invective.

At the moment I am approaching a mild panic stage over my review of "Gumshoe Online", which is due up in just under two weeks and I haven't written it yet. While some may consider this normal, I generally get my reviews done many weeks in advance. This delay is due to a succession of disasters in my personal life that I will not go into.

I'm also debating whether to relaunch my proofreading service, www.indieproofing.co.uk - or am I just too busy with everything else?

Right, time to stop jabbering and go do something else. My review awaits, as does a short story I'm writing for the Flatspace website (though it laughs scornfully at the word short). And there's a rumoured trailer for Doctor Who about to start on BBC1...