The FlashCanon

So my first full project with Blockdot has launched and it’s a bit of a puzzle for the DVD release of Saw IV. My quick explanation of the game is that you are using a video monitor to watch two people who are trapped in two different rooms. You have 6 items that you can use to free them either before time runs out or before they die from other (not-so-natural) causes. However, keep in mind that you have to use each item in the correct room AND in the correct order or you will surely be the cause of the prisoners’ untimely demise.

So when you get a few minutes to “kill”, go check out Saw IV: Trapped on our game portal, Kewlbox.

By the way, here are the actual rules from the game:

Time to stare death in the face with Trapped, a torture test as horrifying as anything you’ll see in the upcoming Saw IV DVD release.

•Begin play by checking out the blood-splattered video monitor.
•Click the Room 1 button — a camera reveals a man trapped in a dank storage room.
•Click the Room 2 button — a camera reveals another man trapped in a utility room.
•Your goal: Try to free both men by selecting the correct objects for the correct room in the correct order. Make the proper move and Jigsaw will inform you that you’re on the right track to cracking this sadistic set-up…but choose the wrong step and the captives will be killed in unbearably painful ways.
•Nervous? Get over it — and don’t waste time! If the game clock ticks down to zero before your work is done, no one will make it out alive.

Detective Hoffman’s Investigative Tip:
Be sure to toggle between the two rooms and alternate the placement of objects.

Well, I’ve been with Blockdot a little over a month now and I thought I’d post a quick update for those that may care for one reason or another so here are some quick bullets:

• First off, I love games… this is awesome
• I’ve been working on some pretty cool games and I’ll post about some of them individually as they launch (much like I did with sites I worked on while I was with Click Here).
• The Flash team here is great and I have to admit that I’ve found myself humbled more than once by a few of the guys when it has come to coding.
• The type of development and processes that I’ve been used to while working at an agency for the past 4 years is a slight bit different than it is here so I’ve actually felt a little bit of culture shock (but it’s been a good shock).
• My title is “Game Developer”… this is awesome

Ok, I’m going to get back to work now but I’ll post more another time. Keep an eye out for my posts about our games and in the meantime check out our game site: Kewlbox

The last Flex project I was working on before I left Click Here to join Blockdot was a site for GameStop known as the Smack Talk Generator. While the site was originally due to launch before my departure, there were unforeseen events that pushed that date out and I didn’t get to finish it up. Since that was the case, the project was handed over to a couple of my (now former) coworkers for completion and I was told that it launched yesterday.

Ok, so what exactly is this Smack Talk Generator? Well, the short version of it is this: Since gamers like to talk smack to each other, they can now do it via email (linking out of course) with voice and animation. To talk smack with someone, you simply drag words you want to use from an available “word bank” and drop them in the smack sentence area. Your chosen words can then be removed or rearranged as you see fit and then you can choose an animation to play along with your smack, preview it and then send it all out to your friends. That’s it in a nutshell.

So get over there to check it out and then come back here because I’d love to hear what you think.

One more thing for Chris, Scott and Charlie (and anyone else involved in the project): GREAT JOB GUYS!

The Escapist magazine interviews Dan Ferguson of Blockdot.

Here’s the link to the interview.
And here’s the lead-in:

Office managers can thank Dan Ferguson for helping reduce their workers’ productivity. He pioneered the concept of the “advergame”: easy-to-play, casual videogames that pitch a product, service or company’s brand. Often played within a web browser and running in Flash, these innocuous looking games can suck up a lot of hours during one’s workday - and that’s how they are intentionally devised.

Ferguson began making such time-wasters when he, along with his business partner Mike Bielinski, created Elf Bowling as a promotional tool for their design company. Released in November 1999, it capitalized on the holiday season and served over 7 million downloads. Buoyed by this success, Ferguson and Bielinski sold their company and formed a new one in 2001, which would marry their ad design experience and newfound game design skills: Blockdot.

Since then, Blockdot has made over 800 games hawking its clients’ wares and names. Blockdot cranks out one to two games per week. This modest-sized company (they employ just over 50 employees at their Dallas office) could likely be considered the most prolific game developer in history.

I spotted this post over at Beedigital and just had to click on the link to check out Adobe flash on. After spending just a few minutes on it, I wanted to help spread the word so here I am writing this post. I’m going to dig deeper, but it looks like the short explanation of it (my own explanation anyway) is that it’s a video portal where you can choose different categories of videos to watch. With categories like horror, animation, lifestyle, hd, action, comedy and several others, there’s plenty of video there to keep you entertained for a good while. Check it out when you have a few minutes.

Thanks for the post Mário.