I have a new game out, a sequel to the mildly-popular but largely-unnoticed puzzle game, Exorbis.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
483862

Over a year in the making, and it's starting to seem like time wasted. So much hard work, and this has so far gotten .3 points fewer than the original despite being so much better! WWWWHHHHHYYYY?!?!?

Please Newgrounds, I need your help! Play and vote! But please don't vote without giving it a fair chance first - at least play the first 10 levels!

I've been thinking about all the Flash stuff I want to do by the end of this year... this is a list of things I am currently in the process of making and things I want to do which haven't yet been conceived.

1) Pirate game
Currently about half-way programmed, but I have no decent graphics for it yet. I have a glimmer of hope that this may be one of the 5% of projects that I actually complete. (My "unfinished flash files" folder is 2Gb). The premise of the game is you control a pirate ship, collecting coins whilst shooting down enemy ships, avoiding mines and whirlpools, and buying upgrades. Ultimately it's just a highscore game with a bit of depth to it.

2) Collab with CrazyChihuahua
I'm coding, he's doing everything else. It's a sequal to one of his previous games and I don't know if I'm supposed to be talking about it, so I wont. I'm confident it'll get finished eventually :)

3) Collab with Crushy
Again, me coding, Crushy doing everything else, I think. Looking at how fast it's progressing, it could be out by the end of the month :o

4) Rocketcat 2 (or at least 1.5)
I want to use a better control scheme with more depth to the gameplay... it will probably involve actual enemies and upgrades. I like upgrades.

5)Exorbis 2
I've been attempting to make this for a long time but I keep losing interest. All I need is a solid day's work on it to get a good basic gameplay scheme down, and then I should be able to work on it casually when I feel like it. I'm having problems with the level editor... doh :(

6)The Spacebar Experiment
Ooh, that sounds interesting doesn't it. Again, as much as I want to get this done, I'm finding it difficult to stick to.

7)An animation of some variety
What it will be about, I haven't decided yet.

Also for this year, I want to participate in at least 3 group collabs and make all my new games Wii-compatiable.

What are your aims, general public?

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Vital Stats
Players: 1 to 4
Released: 2007
Core gameplay hours: don't know, haven't finished it yet. I'm guessing 20
Addtl. Gameplay hours: again, haven't finished it yet. but I wouldn't say more than 5
Genre: Sports
Controller: Wiimote + Nunchuk
Cost: £35 on it's own, £20 when bundled with a Wii (Virgin Megastores) (as of October 2007)

Story
There is no story. As far as I can tell. The campaign-style mode has your chosen character making his/her way up the leagues, competing for different cups against opponents of increasing difficulty.

LOL THIS REVIEW SUCKS.

Review coming soon. Be patient.

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I have tried to make this review as spoiler-free as possible.

Vital Stats
Players: 1
Released: 2006
Core gameplay hours: 40 (How long it takes to complete the main story of the game)
Addtl. Gameplay hours: 15 (How long extra it takes for 100% completion)
Genre: Action-adventure
Controller: Wiimote + Nunchuk
Cost: £40 on it's own, £20 when bundled with a Wii (Virgin Megastores) (as of October 2007)

Story
You play as Link - obviously - a farmhand in a small forest village in the south of Hyrule. Link is very popular with all of the residents of the village (all 13 of them), especially the children, who see him almost like their leader. The mayor of the village wants you to run a small errand to Hyrule Castle, as you are the only person with a horse - but alas, monsters invade the village and steal all the children. Why this happens is never properly explained. So now you set off to find them. One problem though: there's a massive wall of darkness by the only exit from the village, and Link gets sucked into it. The darkness causes him to morph into a wolf. He is then knocked out and imprisoned by dark monsters - all the time being watched by a dark elf thing.

Link, in wolf form, wakes up in a jail cell, and the elf thing just happens to be there. She's called Midna and there's someone she wants you to meet. She leads you to the top of the tallest tower of what turns out to be Hyrule Castle, and surprise surprise, Zelda is there, expecting you. She's got a little problem - twilight is engulfing Hyrule, and you are the only one who can stop it. So, you have to revive the four guardian spirits of Hyrule by returning their light to them, and defeating the boss which resides in the nearby temples.

At this point, I felt a wave of disappointment as I thought there would only be 4 temples altogether - but don't worry, this game has 8, just like every Zelda game before it, so you won't be disappointed; you're in for one hell of an adventure.

There are lots of little side-plots too, and I felt really involved with characters. The compelling story really motivated me to finish the game.

GENERAL IMPRESSIONS
First Impressions
Graphics are awesome. I love the details on the characters - you really get a good idea of their personalities and emotions. The controls are exactly what I expect, and am used to, in a Zelda game (the last Zelda game I played was Majora's Mask on the N64), so it was easy to pick up and play without much hassle. Within ten minutes I'm already on easy-training-type missions, eagerly awaiting the real plot to appear - when it does, at just the right time (an hour in), I am not disappointed. There is an awesome atmosphere - the colours, the effects, the sounds, dialogue, and characters all combine perfectly. The game is so far living up to what I expect of a Zelda game.

Mid-game impressions
After having wandered around Hyrule Field for hours (deliberately, for the fun of exploration), I'm starting to realise that the graphics aren't so great, on the scenery at least. The walls (cliffs?) surrounding the field do seem very blocky at times, and I've spotted several 2D graphics, where I've come to expect 3D. Don't get me wrong though - the graphics are great compared to previous titles, just not quite up to the standard of other next-gen games. All of this is trivial to me, though, as I much prefer gameplay over graphics, and I am not dissatisfied; the dungeons are challenging, interesting, and varied, with many a perplexing puzzle to stall me for a few hours total.

SPECIFICS
Gameplay
The gameplay, in my opinion, was perfect; perfect learning curve, perfectly placed puzzles and dungeons, perfect controls. There isn't much new, gameplay-wise, compared to it's predecessors; but that's not a problem, it still didnt take away the feeling of playing something completely new and exciting.

The gameplay wasn't only consistantly paced and of high quality, but it varied in styler greatly throughout the game; one scene, your following a monkey as he leads you through poisonous fog; another, you're fighting off a horde of giant warthogs on horseback; another, you're calmly working your way through a tasty test of logic; another, and you're in an epic struggle with an epicer boss. That's something I truly love in this game, which sets it apart from others - the epic boss battles. There wasn't a single boss which was less than 10 times the size of Link - the boss of the water temple is a giant see monster at least 300 feet long, which makes them really satisfying to beat. You'll have to think on your toes to beat the bosses too - it's not always obvious how to expose their weak spot. One thing the game lacks, in this respect, is the ability to replay bosses; I'd love to have a rematch with the boss of the Arbiters Grounds level, just because it's fun and innovative.

A nice addition to the game is the secret skills that are scattered throughout Hyrule - 7 in total. While only one of them is compulsory to learn, they will make you just that little bit stronger in battles against the cleverer enemies, allowing you to jump over their heads, or knock them down to decapitate them, or roll around to get behind them.

There are of course plenty of sidequests to do and secrets to find when you don't feel like completing dungeons, along with numerous mini-games. Most of these will reward you with large amounts of rupees, or pieces of heart, which you now need 5 of to complete a new heart container. Initially, I was slightly put-off by needing 5, but then I realised that it meant more minigames!

Hyrule is enormous in this game - the field area is split into 4 areas, and each of those is at least twice as big as the field in Ocarina of Time. The usual domains make an appearance - Castle town, Kakariko Village, Zora's Domain, and Death Mountain are all there, which fans of the series will appreciate, along with the colourful races one expects to see, each, of course, having their own problems and dungeons to solve.

The controls are very easy to get used to if you've played previous games - up to 4 items can be assigned to the d-pad and B button, with the A button performing actions like talking and rolling. Pressing up on the d-pad calls Midna, your mysterious sidekick for this adventure. Holding Z will target enemies so you don't lose sight of them, and also raises your shield, C takes you into a first person view, and the + and - buttons go to inventory menus. So, what about the sword, I hear you ask? Nintendo have ingeniously used the Wiimote's motion sensors for that, and while I was sceptical at first, it actually works really well. You shake the Nunchuck to perform a spin attack, and swipe the Wiimote to do simple slashes. The pointing function of the Wiimote is also used to pinpoint-aim arrows and slingshot pellets.

My only complaint, gameplay-wise, is that the dungeons, and in particular, the bosses, seemed much easier than their Ocarina-of-Time counterparts; most boss battles didn't last longer than 2 minutes, which was a shame, because they were the most fun parts. The puzzles were quite satisfying though, making you smack your head, thinking "Why did I not see that before?!".
Gameplay: 9.5/10Absoloutely perfect except for being slightly on the easy side

Graphics
The graphics on the characters, enemies, and weapons are amazing, definately the best out of all the game I've played. You get a good feel for their personalties and emotions, really making you feel "in the game". However, the scenery and backgrounds aren't as great. They are still awesome, and you don't really notice if you're not looking closely - I just expect them to be better.
There are some stunning visual effects, especially with water and explosions, amongst other particle-oriented effects.
The landscape is stunning from a distance - the view over Lake Hylia is definately erection-worthy, as is the waterfall basin in the Zora's area.
I think it's the little details in the graphics which help make this game be so enjoyable to play - the way Link's hair darkens when wet, the realistic movements of the Wolf Link's chain, the expressions on the faces of the neighbourhood brats. Things you don't notice often, but when you do, it's like OMFG PREEEEETTY.
Graphics: 8/10 Awesome details, OK close-ups

Sounds
As in previous Zelda games, the background music is very cinematic and orchestral, which I love; I also enjoyed how the music on Hyrule Field changes pace depending on how you're moving - the music picks up and becomes more epic as you speed along on Epona (or Gherkin, Pete, Knobber, whatever you decide to name your horse - you can choose a name at the start!), and it calms down to a more relaxing pace when you're strolling slowly. The ambience in the dungeons, in my opinion, wasn't so great though; sure, it set the atmosphere well, but I would have preferred some actual music, something more audible anyway; all the dungeons sounded the same.
As for the other sound effects, I was initially slightly disappointed that the characters still had no actual voices other than the occasional "Heyyy" or "Awwwrrghh", but in the long term, I suppose it would have ruined the Zelda style if there were voiceovers. I felt that there could also have been more variation in the noises made by the enemies - three different grunts for each enemy is not enough in this age of technology. Not to say the current sounds don't work well, tohugh - they do. The sounds are altogether quite good; it's what I expect, but nothing more... although still fantastic anyway.
Sounds: 8/10 Great overworld music but nothing out of the usual elsewhere

OVERALL
This is the best game I've played in a long time - possibly the best game I've ever played. The graphics are beautiful, and work well with the ambient sounds and orchestral soundtrack. The gameplay is varied and involving, with very nice transitions from one mini-adventure to the next. The sotry is deep, and is nicely amplified by the detailed and lovable characters, and emotional side-plots. The bosses are huge, but short-lived.

This is a must-have game for every Wii owner, and a worthy sequel to Ocarina of Time.

Summary
Gameplay: 9.5
Graphics: 8
Sound and Music: 8
Overall: 9.5 - LOVE IT.

- Scott Griffiths

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As a spur-of-the-moment thing, I've decided to dedicate this space of mine on Newgrounds to reviewing console games. This particular post will form the front-page, or contents page, when enough articles have been made for a contents page to be needed.

I will not neccessarily be reviewing the most recent, new-releases, but I'll try to at least review games that can still be bought in the shops. Expect to see mainly DS and Wii games here, as those are the current-generation consoles that I own.

This is more of an experiment than anything... with time, I think it'd be great if several Newgrounds members contributed on their own blogs with game-reviews and other game-related articles, so they'd all link together, via this contents page, to form a funky user-created games magazine.

I may review movies too. Depends what I feel like.

CONTENTS
Contents page

Review - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Coming soon:
Review - Mario Strikers Charged Football (Wii)
Diddy Kong Racing (DS)
Super Monkey Ball (DS)
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)

IF YOU'RE READING, OR WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE, COMMENT!!!!!!!!

I'm can fairly happily say that rocketcat is now 100% complete. I'm just waiting to hear back from Kongregate about sponsorship. The point in this post is that I want to get a few opinions, suggestions, feedback etc. So go nuts.

http://editundo.bravehost.com/rocket%2 0cat%200902.swf

If you play it fullscreen you'll probably experience a lot of lag. I recommend 600x600.

How to play:
Use the left and right arrow keys to use the respective rocket boots, unless you've reversed the controls in the options. Use one rocket at a time to turn, use them both to go fowards, or to 'hover' if you're pointing staight upwards. Collect stars and avoid comets. If any stars pass the right-side of the screen, your combo will be reset. Collect purple powerups to affect gameplay, this can be good or bad.

Advice:
Stay away from the top of the screen, as you'll have less time to react to comets.
Keep yourself upright for easier control.
Turn off trail effects to reduce lag.

Changes:
Rocketcat now has a tail
Particle effect on the main menu
Option to reverse controls added
Numbers pop up to say how many points you're getting

So, let me know what you think, thanks :D:D:D

http://editundo.bravehost.com/rocket%2 0cat%200902.swf

Kongregate

Also, cockjoke?

From now on, I will post about my games in this blog thing a WHOLE 3 WEEKS before I actually release them into the wild. A few reasons:
1 - beta testing, user feedback, etc
2 - more visitors and comments to feed my ego :D
Ok, so two reasons.

Anyways, without further ado, I present to you, in full resizeable glory, ROCKETCAT.

A bit about the game:
There are 8 powerups
CrazyChihuahua suggested the idea when I was bored and I asked him for a random theme.
It only took a few days to make, maybe 7 or 8 hours total, which isn't at all long for me.
It may or may not be the first of a series of games starring rocketcat.
Rocketcat has no face.
Girls seem to be unable to play this game.
I like to think I made good use of the blur filter.
The 2 sound effects were generated with Audacity.
The real reason why I'm showing it 3 weeks in advance is that I'm going on holiday and dont want to release it until I'm back so I can watch it's progress along the inter-highway.

Here's a pretty picture.

A quick summary of all the projects I have going right now:

The Spacebar Experiment
20 microgames where the only user input is the spacebar. I have 18 games planned out, and I've finished about 3 of them, along with the spacebar-controlled menu system and preloader. It's very green. Hopefully I'll finish it before school starts again in September.

Bunneh's Ascention (tentative)
Make bunneh jump from platform to platform to rise higher and higher up into space. There are lots of obstacles like Birds of Prey, Helicopters, and UFO's, and I hope to have at least 10 different fully-animated ways of dying. It's about half done. I'm quite proud of the graphics so far, considering graphics aren't really my thing. Hopefully done by the end of the year.

Sketcher
A drawing applet made entirely in API. I'm trying to cram as many features in it as possible, and by the end of next month, I'll just be submitting whatever I have of it.

Exorbis 2
I haven't really started this much yet. I'm trying to make a level designer for it, and I'm failing miserably. Dont expect to see any sign of it for at least 12 months from now.

WiggiWorld contest entry
Which I'm keeping quiet about for now.

That's about it. Keep nudging me to make me do things faster :)

COMMENTS PLZ