The Greatest Story Never Told

When your looking around the world wide web for Flash, sometimes you come across Flash that have something to do with contests. There are many Flash contests hosted by many different sites, most of these being game sites. Flash game design is a huge part of the Internet with hundreds of popular showcase sites. Most of these sites sponsor these games to have their site advertised and they get more money. In short, people are very rich off of Flash now, without having made any Flash themselves.

Now I will get straight to the point; one of these contests has cought my attention, mostly because it is an animation contest. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Greatest Story Never Told. The 1st competition was in 2004 and is currently on its 4th run. It is the biggest Flash story telling comptetion and by far the best (have not really seen any others myself…) the submissions are of the best quality from the best Flash authors.

Here is a list of the grand prize winners the past 3 years.

2004- Shopping At the BigMart by StinkyToons

2005- Prowlies At the River by Adam Phillips

2006- Manage Frej by Dyrdee Media

 I’d have to say though my personal favourite out of all 3 years is The Mustache Contest by Baby Bird Comics. I like that kind of humour. And here are the lists of submissions for all 3 years; 2004, 2005 and 2006.

I think thats enough Flash to keep you busy for at least a week. I would like to go into some depth on some of the authors though. Check out all the Flash in tgsnt and always keep checking back for the 2007 lineup!

P.S I changed my email address over at the About page.

- P.G

Gaijin Tail of a Warrior

Flash animations about cute animals using kung-fu are quite popular. Good ones are also hard to come by (unless viewing FlashTV). Gaijin The Tail of a Warrior is an amazing, and I say amazing as in blow your mind amazing, animated series about a Raccoon who wanders the land aimlessly until the Rabbit Army takes over the land.

When the Rabbit Army confronts Gaijin, an epic battle of good versus evil ensumes. Gaijin is cool, calm and collected when it comes to fighting because he is always sure he will win. Using taunts to provoke the enemy he tricks them into a battle they cannot win. And when he is clearly out-matched by a much larger enemy, he uses his wit to defeat it.

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The actual files to watch the episodes are in quicktime format, even though they are obviously created in Flash. The animation quality is superb and professional. The sound recording is flawless with excellent voice acting that does not sound too cheesy. There is not really anything to complain about accept the same problems with Teddi, there have been no new epsiodes or significant updates in over a year. The episodes are like trailers but not like Teddi, these have some kind of story in them rather then straight to the action. For having a bad viewing method Gaijin loses points, but for having a slightly more compelling plot then Teddi; they both tie, I give Gaijin an 8/10

-P.G

Little Loki

Sorry for not posting yesterday, took a day off from the computer and went up to Orillia and got some Lemon Loaf and stuff. Mmm mmm, lemon loaf is good : ) 

Ready for some platforming fun? If your not then look away, but if you are then Little Loki is here to stay! Sorry, need to keep thinking up catchy first lines for games. Anyways Little Loki is a great platform game, that gives you a great little story and a little boost to keep you going. You play as a little demon who wants to escape from hell (how cute). And you must reach the top flag of each level while there is lava rising, giving you a boost to keep going.

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You use the arrow keys to move left and right and press space to jump. You cannot destroy the enemies, and they slow you down. In the instructions they forgot to mention the little puff of smoke things give you a jump boost, which I thought was an enemy, but no, they are very important to use!

While running from the lava is fun, its annoying being slowed down by the enemies and without the option to stomp on them or mow through them with a sword or an axe (preferably a a sub-machine gun) it gets really annoying, and at points it becomes hard to dodge the enemies.

The controls are good, graphic style is unique, the music accents the gameplay and concept (although making hell a cute little game is a bit weird) and there are a bunch of levels to keep you busy! I give Little Loki a 6/10.

-P.G

P.O.D

Planetary Orbital Defence. That is a catchy title, the title of an excellent defense game! POD is like all other defence games, you use the mouse to aim and shoot down the enemys trying to destroy your base (in this case the whole planet).

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The difference with POD that makes it so great, is the quality of every detail in this game. The graphics are colourful with nice special affects. The sound FX suit the graphics and the music goes well with the gameplay.

The gameplay itself is not that revolutionary, defense games in Flash are dime a dozen, and there are a few very well made ones out there, but POD has a certain style and quality that just makes it shine out of the group. You shoot down the enemies, if you don’t they will destroy your planet. There are the generic power ups and there are lots of levels to keep you busy. You will want to play on as the style is addicting and new types of enemies come over time and over each level.

In no way is this completely original but it has style and is very good quality, I give POD an 8/10.

-P.G

Apple Farm

Today must be Game Pure day, because I’m writing about a couple of their games. Game Pure has made a really cool take of the break away genre in flash games, this game is called Apple Farm. Apple Farm is a fun little game where you play as a bear (might be wrong) who must hit a bird up into the tree to knock down apples, as the apples fall you must catch them then go either left or right to deposit the apples you are holding to hold more. Whilst catching the apples you must also keep the bird up! This is called multi-tasking, and is pulled off very well as the apples do fall slower then the bird at times and the hit test for catching items and bouncing the bird is the whole bear so it is a very fun game to play.

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You will lose a life if you miss the bird and you have 3 lives. Missing apples simply means less points. You move the mouse around to move the bear left and right and then click to jump, which can help grab apples or push the bird faster.

The graphics are simple yet imaginative, in that the tree has a mustache and a bear is throwing a bird at apples! The somewhat blocky style is nice, and the sound effects are fantastic! The music creates an excellent mood that accents the gameplay and the graphics.

This game is in Japanese only (unlike Oshidama with minor english) but once again its easy to figure out what to click and what to do. This game is worth while playing as it is original and is very fun to play with an assortment of levels and mayhem! I give Apple Farm an 8/10.

-P.G

Oshidama

The folks over at Game Pure have some nifty games, one of them being Oshidama. Oshidama is a really addicting game, with a very simple concept. You use the mouse the push a circle to an end destination (a cool animated circular thing) but there are of course obstacles in the way. Every slight push makes the circle lunge forward so its not a game where you simply guide the circle through, you must align it properly to not hit some obstacles which will cause you to repeat the level from the start. The graphics are as simple as the gameplay but have some neat affects when when pushing the circle along. The sound effects are very well done, the music is good and theres a cool echoey noise made when you hit the circle. It feels like a professionally made mini-game for a larger game.

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One of the main problems, which is easily overcome is the fact that its a Japanese game, and thus the text is Japanese. It is easy to see where to click though as some english titles have been put in to help out. Once again though, I feel that the clean style of graphics is nice, but with this concept the developers could have been more imaginative in creating the graphics.

There are plenty of levels and sub-stages to keep you busy and the obstacles become increasingly harder over each level. This is a good example of an excellent Flash game. I give Oshidama a 7/10!

-P.G