List of years

NEWS ARCHIVE 2004

Next Year (2005)

January 4 , 2004

Happy New Year's everyone! What better way to start the new year than with the first episode of the third volume (making it the 25th game) of the Ultimate Retro Project. This is a dice game that is based around eight sided dice. This week we are also releasing the first chapter of Part 3 of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development. This happens to be chapter 10, which is the start of our card games section.

The news has finally been archived so the news page is much smaller now. So far the only response to the Preview Adventure has been positive. If you haven't played through the preview adventure please do so and let us know if you want to see it becoming an annual event.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

January 10 , 2004

The fifth episode of One of those Weeks is this weeks game. You arrive at work only to realize that you have lost your wallet. Now the pesky security guard, who should know you after all these years, won't let you into the elevator because you do not have your security pass. Did I mention that you have to be at a meeting by 9:00? Have fun.

Preview Adventure will not be permanently archived, so if you want to play the game, you will have to do so before it disappears from this title page in a few weeks. So far the response has been positive (other than complaints about the user interface or requests for additional features in future versions) so unless I get a lot of complaints, it appears that the preview adventure will become an annual event.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc

January 18 , 2004

This week we have the final episode of the tower of hanoi trilogy. When putting together the configuration file for this game, I discovered that I had accidentally overwritten the source code for this game with an older version of the source code. While this would not have had any consequence on this weeks update, it would have caused lots of problems and distress when I release an open source version of this game. Thankfully I backup my work directories frequently, so it was not that much work to go to an older backup and retrieve the correct version of the source code. The point of all this? Just that regularly backing up your work (and keeping the older backups) is always a good idea.

April is approaching way too rapidly. As regular readers know, in April the site is going to be going through an overhaul. In fact, we are thinking of making April an annual overhaul month. April is the month that we chose primarily as the Blazing Games site was originally launched in that month. This year's overhaul is especially necessary, as the ownership of the site (and all contents on the site) has been transferred from Spelchan Software to Blazing Games Inc. In addition to keeping the site running, Blazing Games Inc. is going to be developing a larger scaled (commercial quality) game. More information about this game will be made available once the game is well under development.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

January 25 , 2004

Before I start on this weeks game, I should give you a warning that THIS IS THE LAST WEEK THAT PREVIEW ADVENTURE 2004 WILL BE ON THIS SITE! If you want to play preview adventure do it before the 31st! While I normally don't retire games, preview adventure is a kind of different beast.

String Along, which is a game that is created in the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development book that is slowly being released on this site is this week's game. While the game is fairly simple, and I am sure that most visitors have played games that are similar to this one, I think it is a fun game. To add to the game's challenge, there are five different levels in this game, with each level having a progressively more difficult layout. We have also created two additional sets of levels which we will be revealing in upcoming months (April and June I believe, but that is subject to change).

Speaking of Schedules, I have updated the schedule page to reflect February's games (well, four of them. There are actually 5 sunday's in february - quite a rarity as it only happens 1 in every 28 years). You will notice that half of the month is Open Source releases. Don't worry, while the Doors OSR won't have too much new added, Coffee Quest OSR will have a new map so you will be able to play something new!

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc

January 27, 2004

While I normally don't have mid week updates, today is kind of different. When I checked the Blazing Games email this afternoon I noticed a large number (about 80) of bounced emails. The thing is, I never sent any emails! Some a**hole spammer has undoubtedly spoofed my email address to send their junk email. Here I am trying to get a business off the ground (granted, our real title won't be ready for a couple of years, but you get my drift) and some low life has to do this. With a virus being in today's headlines, I fear that this could be worse than some spammer. For the record, here is Blazing Games Mail policy:

1. We NEVER send unsolicited emails. If you get an email from Blazing Games that is not a reply to an email you sent or a mailing list you asked to be on (or confirmation thereof), we never sent the email!

2. When we send an email it is always plain text and never has any attachments!

If you do get an email from us that does not meet the above 2 criteria, delete it without reading it! If you want to let us know about it, that's fine but I don't think we are in any position to do anything about it. This has not been a pleasant day (well, my Backgammon game is finished and able to beat me occasionally so not every thing is gloomy) and I have a Huge amount of work to do before April, so let's hope you have a better day then me!

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

February 1, 2004

The modern version of my 5D8 dice game has been posted. The point and click interface makes playing the game much nicer then the text version. Also posted today is the 11th chapter of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development. In this chapter you learn how to build a card class that can be used with various card games. Java programmers could also make some use out of this chapter as some of the code for handling the deck could easily be ported to java.

Now that Preview Adventure has finished it's run, I will quickly go over the currently planned release schedule for this year. People who missed playing preview adventure missed out on a fun way of finding out this information (and had to wait a month).

As those of you following the Flash Game Development book already know, within the book two arcade games are going to be developed. As is the tradition, those games are going to also be released on the site. The String Along game features 3 sets of levels while the Lights Out game completes the set. The April Fool 2 OSR is obvious, but in addition we will have Boomerang Battle, Anvil Drop, Castle Guard (working title) and for Halloween Zombie Attack! While we would like to do full fledged team sports games, for now the sport titles are going to be limited to some simpler sports. Look forward to Spinning Plates (well, it's sort of like a sport), Bowling and Boxing!

After the third episode of Tower of Hanoi we will start releasing the Ultimate Retro Project Volume 1 as Open Source! Volume 1 consisted of Doors, Hide and Seek, Nuclear Terrorism, Artillery, Tank, and Tanks for the Memory in classic and modern versions.

There will be four. In fact, the story will start to really get interesting in episode seven! Preview Adventure proved to be popular, so it will be an annual event! Not only will the enhanced version of Coffee Quest 4 be released next year, it will have its story extended into three episodes. If that is not enough coffee quest for you, Blazing Games will be releasing the first two coffee quest games as open source and will even be releasing a construction set program for both!

Finally, Ultimate Retro Volume 3: Bored? So Board! will feature 5D8, Checkers, Pyramid Solitaire, Backgammon, Reversal, and Cribbage. As Ultimate Retro fans already know, the games have a classic and a modern version.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

February 8, 2004

This week's game is the open source release of Classic Doors. The entire first volume of the Ultimate Retro Project will be released as Open Source. This also happens to be the first time that I have released a java game as open source. The zip file was created with a different zip utility, so if you have had problems with my zip files please let me know if this solves your problems.

We have been working long hours trying to finish up everything that needs to be done before our April update so I really don't have much other news at this time.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

February 15, 2004

I hope everyone had a good Valentines Day. While this game has nothing to do with Valentines Day, those of you who had a poor one will probably enjoy this game as it is a good way of releasing tension. The game is Lights Out, and your goal in the game is to smash all the rows of lights with your ball and paddle. The game is part of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development book. It is created in Chapter 32 of the book.

We have been busy working on the site overhaul and games for the site as well as some of the design work for our larger commercial quality project. We are hoping to have the commercial project fully underway in April, though there is a lot of design work to do on the project so full production may not start until May. Even after we have gone into full production on our real product, information about what we are doing will probably not be released until the project is well underway. Our commercial project is separate from this web site. We will probably release some CD collections to help support the web site, but that has nothing to do with our commercial game!

Another thing I would like to get off my chest. While there are many gaming web sites on the internet, many of them are made up of games that were created by other people or companies. Blazing Games does NOT do this. All the games on the Blazing Games Site were created by Blazing Games Inc. or were acquired from my former "Spelchan Software" company. While some of the games have been made Open Source (and we have plans to open source many more games), not all the games on this site are open source nor can the games that are not downloadable or open source be copied and distributed without our permission. Blazing Games will license or develop games for third party use, so if you want a game developed for your site, email us through our contact page and we will gladly bid on the project.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

February 22, 2004

While I am sure that many of you were expecting a Story game this week, remember that there are 5 sundays this month (a very rare occurrence for february, happening on average only 1 in every 28 february's). For that reason I have an extra game and have decided to release that game this week. As I am going to be releasing chapters about the creation of my Pent Up Anger game in a five months, it only makes sense that the game being created is on the site. This board game allows one to five human or computer players to play a game where they must get all five of their pieces around the game board. Landing on an opponent sends that opponent back home.

Some of you who have emailed me may have noticed that I have been slow in responding to emails that require a response. This is largely because I am very busy trying to get everything done before the April overhaul of the site. If you have sent an email that requires a response, don't worry if I don't respond immediately. It may take me two or three days before I get to it. If I haven't responded after a few days, please resend the message as I may have accidentally erased it as I have been getting a lot of spam lately. I try to answer all emails that require a response (though do tend to show preference to people who regularly email me).

Finally, you will notice that there are new links in my featured links section. Starting next week I will be giving some preview information about the changes that are going to be happening to the site in April. The content will continue to be updated weekly so regular visitors don't have to worry about that change.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

February 29, 2004

What better way is there to celebrate the leap year then to release the source code to the first of one of our most popular games. This week we release the Coffee Quest 1 OSR, and for those of you who are not interested in downloading games, a new map (sort of) has been prepared for the release. Next week, another new map will be released, as will a simple (very simple) construction set program.

Speaking of next month, the schedule for next month has been released. There is a lot of open source releases (most of the month), but the CQ1 Construction Set will feature an extra map (playable online) and April Fools 2 OSR will feature enhanced graphics (also in the online version). I do hope that people will download the games, if only so they can be played offline. We would like to know if people like our having open source releases or if in future years we should cut back on the amount of open source materials. Feel free to email us on this matter, though do be aware that due to my current workload, I will only respond to emails that warrant a reply and may take a while to do so.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

March 7 , 2004

Last week Coffee Quest Open Source Release (OSR) was released. This week, we release a simple (partially because it's in a very early stage of development) construction set. For those of you who are not interested in downloading stuff, the sample map (a fairly large map) is being released as well. Likewise a new chapter from the "Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development" has been released. This month we go over the creation of Video Poker. While the game has not been released as Open Source yet, I will release the source code for this game in May. Finally, I added a couple more featured links.

April is quickly approaching. Too quickly. While we plan on posting the overhauled site all at once, there is nothing wrong with giving our regular visitors some small (very small) preview of some of the changes. With this in mind, every week this month I am going to update the banner for each of the 4 categories of games on this site. The banner that is updated will be the one for the game category that the current game is in.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

March 14, 2004

This week's game is the the twenty seventh episode of the Ultimate Retro project. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this ongoing series of games, what we are doing is creating new games based on old text games that I have seen. Each of the games created will be created twice. The first of the two versions is a text version, while the second is a modernized version using a graphical user interface. This week's episode is the text version of the popular board game known as checkers.

April is still quickly approaching so this week will we will be revealing the second game category banner. If you go to the table games index page, you can see the new banner that we will be using for this category of games.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

March 21, 2004

This week's game is the the Open Source release of the second episode of the Ultimate Retro project. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this ongoing series of games, what we are doing is creating new games based on old text games that I have seen. Each of the games created will be created twice. The first of the two versions is a text version, while the second is a modernized version using a graphical user interface. This week is the modern episode of Doors.

Only a week and a half until April arrives so this week will we will be revealing the third game category banner. If you go to the brain games index page, you can see the new banner that we will be using for this category of games.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

March 28, 2004

This week's game is the the Open Source release of the second episode of April Fool 2. The graphics have been enhanced so those of you who are not interested in downloading the game may still want to grab the game. One thing I did notice while making changes to the game is that Flash MX 2004 is a bit more stricter with label and variable naming. This resulted in a bug in the game that took hours to find (even though the game would run flawlessly if compiled using the older Flash MX). I would recommend that everyone who is moving from Flash MX to Flash MX 2004 test any older code thoroughly to make sure it still runs properly.

Only half a week until April arrives so this week will we will be revealing the final game category banner. If you go to the action games index page, you can see the new banner that we will be using for this category of games. April 1st will be when the overhauled site will be posted. A lot has changed (the look and navigation system, new areas, and I think the game index layouts are much nicer) and it will take a while to post everything so in the time that things are being posted, things may be acting weird. I will update the home page with a message when I start the update and will only post the new home page once all the other files have been copied. If things are weird (games not running, link broken, etc.) check the home page or just come back to the site in a few hours.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

April 4, 2004

Well, this is the first new game to be posted on the overhauled site. What better game to post than an episode of one of my favorite series of games. This week we have a modernized (gui) version of checkers. We have also posted an article that I wrote which takes a look at the last five months and why only 1/3 of my plans for April 1st became a reality. Okay, that last line is not quite true, but it should get some of you to read my article (I hope).

There are still a few smaller games that I haven't re-posted. Not to worry, though, as I will be posting them eventually. The reason they have been delayed is because they require some changes to the code, which means that I have to dig out the source code from an archive cd, make the changes to the code, compile the games, and then test the games. As my current energy level is low and the games in question don't have that many people playing them, I'm in no big rush to do this work. I am also trying to decide if Coffee Quest 4 should be posted. An updated version is only a couple of months off and most people who have played the Coffee Quest series probably already have it. If anyone has an opinion on this issue, let me know.

Billy D. Spelchan
President, Blazing Games Inc.

April 5, 2004

The few remaining games that needed to be posted have now been posted .

April 11, 2004

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates that holiday. This week we are posting the Open Source Release of the third episode of the Ultimate Retro Series, better known as Classic Hide and Seek. In this game you are both hiding and seeking at the same time! As this is a holiday weekend, I will leave my update news short.

April 18, 2004

The second episode of String Along has been released. This episode features the 6 dice levels. I haven't decided when the final level set for this game will be released (it will either be in May or in June). If there are any fans of this trilogy, email me and I will release the next set next month, otherwise you will have to wait until June. And for those of you who didn't already know this, the String Along game was created as part of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development ebook which is slowly being released on this site. Check out the books and articles section of this site if you want to see the book, though the game is not created in the book until chapter 30.

We have finally decided what our big project will be. It will be a smaller game than I would like, but will be developed entirely in house. We had thoughts about working on a larger game which would have required outside people to be involved in the game, but after seeing our lawyer, the partners decided that a smaller game was the wiser choice. I apologize to those of you who expressed some interest in working with us. Though do keep an eye on our job page as this decision could change if the right circumstances presented themselves. Keep reading this news section for more information about our first large project.

April 25, 2004

This week we continue the One of those Weeks series by releasing the sixth installment. This adventure game series consists of a series of simple episodes that combine together to form a much longer story. As the story starts to pick up, the episodes will start to get longer and more complex. It is recommended that you play the episodes in order.

This paragraph was originally going to be a brief explanation of what Blazing Games Inc. is up to with our big project, but that will have to wait until next month. Instead I will point out that I have finally gotten around to putting up a proper coming soon section for the site. Things are going to work a bit different from the schedule page that the site use to have. Each category will have it's own list of games (all on the same page). This list may contain more than one game. The games in the lists may not be in order, and it is always possible that a game that has not been listed will appear on the site when that game category is released. The goal of the page is to give visitors an idea of what we are going to be releasing on the site in the upcoming months. I like having the release schedule a bit of a surprise and in all truth, sometimes our plans to change due to unforeseen events.

May 2, 2004

This week we release the open source version of Modern Hide and Seek. This means that you can download the game and make changes to the game or post the game on your own web site (or just be able to play the game when you are not online). In addition to this release, the thirteenth chapter of my Flash Game Development book has been posted. In this chapter we go over the creation of the Cribbage Square game.

This is the first of five sunday's this month. As regular visitors know, we officially release new content every sunday, with each week being one of our four categories. When there are five weeks, there is an extra game released. This week, I am giving my visitors the chance to choose the extra game. The choice is between the open source release of Video Poker or the release of a new table game category game. Email me and let me know which of these two choices you would prefer.

May 9, 2004

Happy mother's day to all mothers out there. This weeks game is one that my mother particularly likes (though she does prefer the modern version), namely Pyramid Solitaire. Those familiar with my Ultimate Retro series already know that this series takes classic text games that were created before most computers had graphics and presents a text only version of the game followed by a more modernized version of the game.

For Blazing Games larger project, I will reveal that we are in a prototyping phase where we are trying to decide which platform the game will be for. The decision is between C++ (which would initially be done for Windows), Java 1.1 (all platforms, with the possibility of a simplified applet version of the game), Java 2 using the latest jdk (most platforms, though Mac OS9 probably would not be supported), or Flash (all platforms). The prototype will provide us with a performance benchmark while giving us some idea of how much work will be required.

May 16, 2004

If you recall (or feel like scrolling down a bit), on May 2nd I gave my visitors a chance to decide what the extra game this month was. Well, a whopping 4 people actually had an opinion on this subject. Two of the people wanted a new game, while the other two were fans of my Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development book and wanted the source code for video poker released (one of them also thought I should release the source code to cribbage squares as well, which I will during the next month with five sundays). This got me thinking that as I released new maps when I open sourced Coffee Quest, why couldn't I do the same thing with Video Poker and Cribbage Squares? For the EBook CD I have created 4 extra video poker machines and 3 other square games so why not release one of those extra games?

So, this week I have decided to release both a new video poker machine and the open source version to the video poker machine created in chapter 12 of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development EBook! As for those of you who were wondering if I had planned to release both all along I can honestly say that no I wasn't and that had the vote been lopsided I probably would have gone that direction, even though this double release solution is obvious.

May 23, 2004

My cousin is getting married today (Sunday may 23rd) so it is only appropriate that today's game reflect the joining of two separate entities into one greater whole. As it happens, the third and final episode of the String Along game fits this description. String Along is part of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development ebook which is slowly being freely released on this site. The game is developed in chapters 30 and 31, so it is a while before the ebook reaches the development of the game.

May 30, 2004

I was hoping to have the enhanced version of Coffee Quest 4 ready for this week but just haven't had much time to work on it. In it's place, this month and next month will consist of the open source release of Coffee Quest 2 (this week) and the construction set for it (next week/month). I hope to have Coffee Quest 4 ready for July.

Just so that regular visitors understand what is happening, I am now only working on the site in my spare time, with the bulk of my time being spent on Blazing Games' larger project. Obviously, if someone wants to hire us to develop a game (web or commercial) we would put our project on hold to accommodate paying customers but we are not actively seeking out such work. If you have a project to hire us for, feel free to send us information about the project and we will bid on it.

June 6, 2004

As I mentioned last week, this week we are releasing the construction set. As I forgot to mention last week, the bonus map that was included in the Open Source release is available online for people who just want to play the game and don't want to download it. Likewise, the construction set comes with a map and that map is also available for play online.

I have added a link to Free Online Games to my link section. I know that the link section needs an overhaul, but at the moment my link page is a fairly low priority.

June 13, 2004

I am running really late today so lets hope I don't have too many errors in this week's posting. This weeks game is one that, as I said in a previous news article, my mother particularly likes. It is the modern version of Pyramid Solitaire. Those familiar with my Ultimate Retro series already know that this series takes classic text games that were created before most computers had graphics and presents a text only version of the game followed by a more modernized version of the game.

I should also quickly take time to point out another link that has been added to our link section. I have added a link to Slime Athlete (featuring Slime Volleyball) to my link section. I know that the link section STILL needs an overhaul, but at the moment my link page is a fairly low priority.

June 20, 2004

This weeks game is the Open Source Release of Episode 5 of the Ultimate Retro series, Classic Nuclear Terrorism. In this game you try to find a nuclear bomb hidden in a multi-floor building before it explodes. Looking at the site logs, it appears that the open source releases are not very popular. For that reason, we are only going to release open source versions of a game once a month, with a possible exception being made for months with five sundays. I am releasing stuff as open source so that the games will live on even if Blazing Games Inc. dies.

Speaking of the death of Blazing Games Inc., it seems that the company is in a bit of a turmoil. Developing new content for the site while also working on a larger scale game is a bit of a strain. Adding to this is the fact that our artist hasn’t done any work for the last few months (other than some creative excuses) it would seem that my dreams for Blazing Games are quickly burning up. I, however, am not the type of person to give up and will continue to work with the hope that my efforts will allow the company – like the mythical phoenix – to rise up out of it’s ashes and be reborn into something far greater.

On that positive note, I would like to thank William Kassian for the kind donation of Coffee Quest 1 and Coffee Quest 2 file format explanation documents. I have updated the CQ1 and CQ2 OSR zip files as well as added links to these files for those of you who have already downloaded the releases and don’t wish to have to re-download them.

June 28, 2004

July 1st is Canada Day. To celebrate, I have created a simple game where you try to assemble the Canadian Flag as quick as you can. Not much else to say at this time, so enjoy this weeks game!

July 4, 2004

July 4th is Independence Day in the US. While I am not an American, a large number of the visitors to the site are. What's more important is the fact that a lot of the bug reports have been made by Americans. As I have created a flag game to celebrate Canada Day (as I am a Canadian), I figured that it would be a nice gesture to create a similar game for my southern neighbors.

In other news, this month's article has been released. It is chapter 15 of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development. If you look at the schedule page (which is updated frequently), you will notice that I have planned a new series of Arcade Games. While to my knowledge the title for the series is original and doesn't interfere with any one else's copyrights, if I am mistaken about the originality of my fictitious organization, please email me and let me know.

July 11, 2004

This week I am going to have to ask my visitors a question about content preferences, but first lets introduce this weeks game. The Ultimate Retro Project is a series of thirty games based on old text based games that I have seen. Each of these thirty games is broken into two separate games (for a total of sixty episodes). A classic version which is text only, and a modern version which has a proper graphical interface. This week's game is the Open Source Release of the sixth episode of this series, Modern Nuclear Terrorism, where you have to find a bomb before it explodes.

For some reason, Open Source Releases (which allow you to download a game and use it on your own site or offline. You can even make changes to the source code as long as you follow the GPL rules) don't seem to be popular. For this reason, I am thinking of halting the release of the first volume of the ultimate retro series in favor of other newer games. While the series would still eventually be released, I would in the future limit all Open Source releases to months which have five sunday's in them. If you think this would be the best thing to do, email me and let me know why. If you disagree with this decision, make sure you email me before the 18th as I will be finalizing my release plans for the rest of the year at that time. While number of responses will be a factor in this decision, a larger factor will be reasons for deciding to go one way or another.

July 18, 2004

This week's episode is another episode of my Ultimate Retro series. For an explanation of the series, please read the July 11th news entry as it describes the series quite well. Backgammon is an interesting board game as it is a game that requires both skill and luck. While an unskilled player still has a chance of winning (making the game much more enjoyable by novice players), the skilled player will win more frequently. If you don't like the classic versions of games, don't worry as the modern version will be released in a couple of weeks.

On the development side of things, I am working on a few larger game projects that will have a large number of episodes. One thing that I am thinking about doing, at least with the games that have an applet version, is releasing earlier alpha and beta versions of the games. This would allow visitors a chance to see the games as they develop while also allowing for better feedback and less-buggy final versions. While I am not going to tell you much about these projects right now, people who play episode 7 of One of those Weeks (scheduled for next sunday) will get a hint of two of the games. I will provide further information on these games in future news report.

July 25, 2004

The One of those Weeks series starts to pick up it's with episode 7 and in upcoming episodes things get real dramatic real quick. This episode potentially has quite a bit of background story to it, and with both a score and par number of moves, those perfectionists out there will have a lot of challenge trying to master this episode of the game.

While the majority of the people who emailed me about the question I asked on July 11th were for having less frequent Open Source releases, the margin wasn't as large as I expected. This could be statistical error due to the few number of responses, but one of the emails did point out that my Java book is on hiatus and that the game that was going to be developed in that book was an enhanced version of Artillery Battle. This was a very valid point, and more importantly, the only brain games that I have 100% finished are for the fourth volume of the Ultimate Retro Project, and I don't really want to rush any games (the weekly updates already rush games enough) so I am thinking that I will release episodes 7 and 8 of the Ultimate Retro Project before cutting down to strictly quarterly open source releases.

August 1, 2004

It seems like only a couple of weeks ago that the classic version of Backgammon was released. The game of backgammon is certainly much more enjoyable when you have a graphical user interface. And that is exactly what the modern version of the game adds. For those of you who are new to the site, the Ultimate Retro Project is a series of thirty games based on old text based games that I have seen. Each of these thirty games is broken into two separate games (for a total of sixty episodes). A classic version which is text only, and a modern version which has a proper graphical interface.

I should also point out that on the first update of each month, in addition to the weekly game I also release an article. This month's article is chapter 16 of the Blazing Games guide to Flash Game Development ebook. This chapter covers the first half of the creation of the Pent Up Anger game.

Finally, I should point out that ArcadeNut has been added to my links page. I was going to add this link last week, but forgot (sorry).

August 8, 2004

This weeks game is the first game in a series of Action games called Association of Colonies Space Cadets. This is the overview to a series of games that take place in the Blazing Games Future History (Blazing Future). While this overview is not an action games, the other games in this collection are so this game is being classified as an action game.

While the space cadet games are action oriented (and I have 12 episodes planned out, with possible other games in the series if I come up with them before finishing one of the 2 larger multi-episode action games I have planned) I should also point out that I have updated the schedule page, though never bothered with a proper screen shot for OOTW#8. If anyone actually emails me to complain then I will add a proper screen shot next week. As it is, I am running late right now.

August 15, 2004

As this month has an extra sunday in it, I am going to have an extra release this month. This week's game is that extra release and is the Open Source release of the Cribbage Square game that I released last year. This game was developed as part of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development ebook that is available on this site. Even if you are not interested in the Flash source code, you can download the release and use the game on your own site or play the game offline.

I am considering making a major change to this site starting next month. I don't want to go into details now, but instead I will leave it as a surprise for the beginning of September. I have talked with the other two owners of the company and both of them think that it is probably a good idea, even if some of the regular visitors to the site will be disappointed. In the long term, the decision would be best for both the site and the company.

August 22, 2004

This weeks game is the eighth episode of the One of those Weeks adventure game. This episode is much shorter than I originally planned for due to time constraints. Games take time to make, and with my efforts focusing on a larger project or two, there simply is not as much time to work on the games for this site as I would like. While I have a lot of table games finished and ready for release on the site, the only brain and story games I have finished are episodes of my Ultimate Retro Project, which of course have specific release times planned out.

Last week I hinted at a big change for september. I didn't want to go into detail because I was still looking at alternative options. While I am still trying to figure out alternative options, I figure it wouldn't hurt to start telling my visitors about my plans. As I mentioned in the above paragraph, Blazing Games Inc. is working on a larger scale game (which would be distributed by a third party publisher or released as shareware). This takes time, but keeping new content on the site every week also takes time. I don't want to drop the site and I don't want to revert back to a monthly schedule. So far, the only reasonable compromise that I have though of is the fortnight. But more on that next week.

August 29, 2004

The final game for this month is the Open Source Release of Classic Artillery. This (and the upcoming Modern Artillery OSR) are being released for the people who are waiting for my Java Game Development book to come out of hiatus. All I can say at this time about the status of this book is that I personally want to finish this book, but won't know for sure what it's status is until April of 2005.

Anybody who has been following my news section for the past few weeks knows that I am planning a temporary change to the format of the site. This is to provide me with more time to finish some of the larger site related projects that I have on the go. These games are more elaborate than the material currently on my site (with the possible exception of the later Coffee Quest and Holeman games) and will be divided into a large number of episodes. In addition to site related content, there is other things Blazing Games Inc. may be working on (though paying work will always take precedence over Blazing Games projects). The site will continue to be updated on a weekly bases, but only every other week is going to be a game release. I am already running late, so I will leave the specific details until next week's first posting in the new format (and hope my regular visitors aren't too upset about the new format, but I hope things will be back to normal or perhaps even better in April).

September 5, 2004

It is interesting how things seem to change in a circular pattern. Long time visitors to this site may remember when I first added the idea of a game development book. Back then the book releases were the only content released that week. I am going to be going back to that system, except instead of replacing one game a month with a chapter from my Flash Game Development book, I will be releasing two chapters a month. This will continue until April. What will happen in April will depend on where I am project-wise in March.

This week's chapter, we add a computer opponent to the Pent Up Anger game that was developed last chapter. Due to the random nature of the game, the AI uses a decision tree to make it's moves. One final note: I have finally gotten around to updating the coming soon page. I'd like to tell you what my projects are, but more on why I am not going to (at least not for a while) next week.

September 12, 2004

The classic board game "Go" is a game where the goal is to win by surrounding your opponent. It is a fairly complex game. Reversi uses a similar, though simplified, playing style and while not as challenging as Reversi, it is a fun game so clearly belongs in this collection. Those who are familiar with my Ultimate Retro Project may now skip the rest of this paragraph. For those of you who are new to the site, the Ultimate Retro Project is a series of thirty games based on old text based games that I have seen. Each of these thirty games is broken into two separate games (for a total of sixty episodes). A classic version which is text only, and a modern version which has a proper graphical interface. This month is a text version, next month will be the modernized version.

In a television interview, author Douglas Adams was once asked to describe the book he was working on. His response was that he couldn't because telling people about his writing steals energy from that work and as a result he is unable to finish that work. I have noticed that when I tell people about a project before it is significantly far along, that project seems to stall or other problems develop that prevent that project from ever being finished. For that reason, I am going to avoid talking about projects until they are far enough along that I could release them in their rough state.

September 19, 2004

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, until April I will be releasing two chapters a month from my Flash game development book. The week's chapter is the first half of the creation of the Three Dimensional Tic Tac Toe game. This half actually results in a playable two player version of the game. Next chapter will cover the creation of the computer opponent.

Now that I am no longer going to describe what I am working on until it is almost ready for release, you may be wondering what I am going to talk about in my weekly news section. Obviously the news section is going to describe the game released this week, beyond that, perhaps I should kill two birds with one stone by starting to actually fill in some of the other sections of this site, such as the FAQ. But that will be next week. This week, I plan on complaining about the expression I just used.

I am not a vegetarian as I feel that plants are also living organisms so don't buy any of that killing animals reasoning. Still, killing a bird, or two, should not be done unless you plan on eating the birds or the birds are attacking you. Well, maybe if the birds were attacking your pet cat, that would also be acceptable. Some of you may argue that a cat that lets birds get the best of them deserves it, but have you seen the cost of a veterinarian? Still, the point I am trying to make is that if you are trying to kill birds, you should be able to find a better weapon than a stone. Even if you can't, stones are free so who cares if you need to use two of them?

September 26, 2004

This week's game is a new game in the Brain Game category. There are doors, and going through some of them is deadly. What else needs to be said? Well, I guess I should point out that having a good memory will help you get through this challenge!

Here is the first question that will be added to my FAQ section.
Q: Where do you get your games? / Will you add my game to your site?
A: All the games that appear on the Blazing Games site were developed by Blazing Games Inc. or were developed by Spelchan Software (my old consulting company) and were transferred to Blazing Games when I formed the new company with two other people (see the About section for more information about this). Blazing Games does not host third party games.

October 3, 2004

The classic board game "Go" is a game where the goal is to win by surrounding your opponent. It is a fairly complex game. Reversi uses a similar, though simplified, playing style and while not as challenging as Reversi, it is a fun game so clearly belongs in this collection. Those who are familiar with my Ultimate Retro Project may now skip the rest of this paragraph. For those of you who are new to the site, the Ultimate Retro Project is a series of thirty games based on old text based games that I have seen. Each of these thirty games is broken into two separate games (for a total of sixty episodes). A classic version which is text only, and a modern version which has a proper graphical interface. This month is the modernized version of the game that was released last month.

I'm already running late, so I will just say that I added a new link to my link section: www.computer-game.us

October 10, 2004

In Canada it is the thanksgiving long weekend, yet as always I am posting another weekly update. This week's entry is another chapter of the Guide to Flash Game Development ebook. This chapter finishes off the Three Dimensional Tic Tac Toe game by adding a computer opponent. If you are a programmer, you may be interested in the chapter even if you are not using Flash as covers the use of recursion in AI design while also showing how you can sometimes dramatically speed up the recursion by finding a way of pre-computing it.

This weeks question for the FAQ is: Do you create games for other people or sites? If so how much does it cost?

Answer: I wish the people who asked me this question were people with money and able to hire me. Yes, Blazing Games does do third party game development. How much a game costs, however, is a hard question to answer. The cost of developing a game depends on a huge number of factors with the biggest of these being time. There is a lot of work that goes into the creation of a game. While my partners and I enjoy creating games, food still needs to be put on the table. The more complex a game, the more time will be needed to make the game. In addition, if the schedule for the completion of the game is short, then the cost will go up as putting in long hours to meet short deadlines deserves more money.As a rough guideline, Blazing Games generally charges $1000 per person-week, though based on other considerations, this amount may be reduced by as much as 75% (if there are factors in Blazing Games interest, or if the project is really interesting). Development time can also be reduced by using existing components, though this would probably require licensing which is a huge issue in itself.

October 17, 2004

This week’s update is being postponed until Tuesday as I have decided to make some changes to how this site will be updated.

As those of you who have read the about section of the site already know, the site has evolved quite a bit from my original Game of the Month homepage. Now that Blazing Games is focussing on larger projects, the topic of what to do with the site has become a more prevalent topic. While I want to keep new content constantly appearing on the site (keeping the site alive), one question is what form do I have this content?

Right now Blazing Games releases three distinct types of content. The foundation of the site was built on web based games. Articles and books on making games have started making an important part of the site. Finally, open source releases and other game downloads are important to me (though not overly popular).

On the surface, the three types of content seem to be unrelated. One thought I had was to focus on only releasing games on the site and dropping the articles and open source releases. My gut instinct tells me that this is a bad idea.

After looking at my competitors, I found that there were a lot of game sites. Most of these sites seemed to take games that other people have created and put them up in the form of collections. While I did find a few sites on creating games (and plan on adding the good ones to my links page if I ever get around to properly putting together the link page), I think there is a lot more room for more game creation sites. Then I realized that I already had a game creation site.

The ideal game creation site, at least in my opinion, should have decent games, followed by articles explaining how that game was created, finally followed by the open source release of the game if applicable. To make sure there is enough gaming content, having extra episodes of the game between articles and source releases can be done. That is exactly what my site is going to start doing.

The problem with this route is that the articles and source releases cut into new game content. Though, articles and source releases do take less time to put together. Perhaps if there were more releases? Daily updates? This is a bit too big of a transition, so I will first start with updating the site every four business days, and whenever I get far enough ahead to drop a day (so eventually a switch to new content every third business days and then content every other business day).

The other problem I have is that there are four different broad categories of games that I should be releasing games for. To even out releases, I am going to be designating the day that the update is in as the dictating factor in the type of content that will be released. The format for doing this is as follows:

Mondays. Mondays are Manic. For that reason, Manic Monday releases will be Action games. The Action category covers both arcade games and (to a hopefully greater extent in the future) sports games.

I think of Tuesday as a traditional family night where board games are played. For that reason, Table Tuesday will feature board, card and casino games.

Wednesdays are the middle of the week, and for that reason should be open ended. Whatever Wednesday will be whatever I want to release. Most likely articles that don’t directly relate to any of the other four categories. Another use will be for when a holiday postpones the release of a game from another category.

Thursdays will become Thinking Thursday. The category is obviously Brain Games. This category covers puzzle games and strategy games.

This leaves the Story category for Friday. Fictional Friday will have Adventure games and Role-Playing Games.

October 19, 2004

The new format means that more articles and open source releases will be done, though I will try to have new games or episodes for all the sites categories. New banners are also in the works. To start off this new format, this weeks game is going to be the Open Source Release (OSR) of the Table Game Pent Up Anger. If you haven't played Pent Up Anger, it is quite a fun board game. While you can still play the game on the site, the downloadable zip file includes the source code as well as the executable (swf) file and sample html file so that you can post the game to your own site or play it offline.

To clarify the new release schedule, the site will only be updated on business days (Monday through Friday) so the releases will be Monday, Friday, Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday and then repeat. This means that once every four weeks there will be two releases (on the Monday and then again on the Friday). While I hope to slowly increase the content to every other business day, this probably won't happen for a few years - if ever. A lot of this will depend on the completion of the large multi-part project that I am currently working on. Details about this project will not be released until the project is close to being finished.

Monday October 25, 2004

Today's Action game, which is called Vampire Attack, is a halloween themed game. The goal of the game is to shoot all the vampires before they get you. There are thirteen levels, with the number and re spawn rate of the bats being based on the level you are on.

One of the advantages of the new site release format is that I have my saturdays free. Unfortunately, because I post the site the day before (as B.C. is in on Pacific Standard Time so most of the world is already a day ahead when I post the site in the evening), my Sunday evening is no longer going to be free (at least when Monday has content being released). The new release format also means that this Friday will also have something released.

Friday October 29, 2004

I am skipping over chapter 20 (which will be made available soon) and skipping to 21 which is the first chapter of the Adventure Games section of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development ebook. I also plan on running the Arcade part of the book during mondays. My goal is to try and finish releasing all the chapters from the Flash ebook while the material in the book is still relatively useful. I will also be trying to release new material in both categories between chapter releases (though that may not always be possible).

Speaking of releases, I am planning on a rather unique release soon. This release is a bit different from anything I have released on the site, and will only be useable by a portion of my audience. I know that in the past I have avoided platform depended material, but I think the release will be interesting and will at least give some of the regular visitors an idea about what one of our larger projects is. I'm not quite ready to make a more specific announcement, but I hope to be making the release before the end of the year.

Thursday November 4, 2004

I had a bit of a tough decision to make with this week's release. If you have been following the news, you know that with my new release format that this is Thinking Thursday. That means that today's release is within the Brain Category. I had a few choices of what to release today. As I have a huge surplus of open source releases and articles, and we had an article last week, I have decided to release the Open Source version of Modern Artillery. Modern Artillery is an artillery game that can be considered a simpler version of the game that was going to be developed in my Java Game Development ebook that is currently in hiatus (more about that next week).

When I took an inventory of material that is available and that is close to finished, I found that I had a huge amount of releases. Sadly, most of these are in the form of articles and source code releases. Now, I know that the Source Code releases aren't as popular as I would like. At the same time, with other projects in progress, I don't waist time creating small games. Instead I want to focus on the larger projects and get them ready. Life is always full of hard to make choices. While there is going to be a lot more articles and source releases, I am still going to TRY to make sure that there is also a regular supply of new episodes and games. Please try to bear with me over the next while. If I can finish some of the larger projects I am working on then the new format of the site and more frequent releases will make the site much better.

Wednesday November 10, 2004

In the new format, Wednesday's are known as Whatever Wednesdays. This obviously means that I can release whatever the heck I want when the Wednesday release date comes. As you can see by the featured game today, I am posting a table game, even though next update is also going to be a table game. I've got good reasons for this, but you will have to wait until next week to find out what those are. For those unfamiliar with Poker Squares, you must place cards in a five by five grid to form the best 12 (rows, columns and diagonals) poker hands that you can.

I was hoping to release chapters from the Blazing Games Guide to Java Game Development ebook that is currently on hiatus. I am not because the book is still being written. I am going to wait until at least the first draft is finished before removing the hiatus status from the book. Of course, being overloaded with projects the number of hours that I am able to devote to writing the book is not as many as I would like. Still, as Flash's Action Script is similar to Java, Java programmers can still learn quite a bit by reading the Flash Game Development chapters that are being increasingly released.

Tuesday November 16, 2004

The table game category has a lot of material ready to be released. Many people were expecting my Ultimate Retro Project release of Classic Cribbage, but that is going to have to wait until next year. This week I am going to focus on getting the Open Source Release for Three-Dimensional Tic Tac Toe (3DTTT) out. The reason for doing this so urgently is due to the obvious fact that the chapters about the creation of this game have already been released, so not having the source code available does not make sense. My next Table Tuesday update will be December 14th and is a holiday themed game (sort of).

I am considering shifting the release schedule to a 3 business day format in January. This decision has not been finalized yet. The reason behind the shift is that while the current 4 business day format increases the content, it is not quite enough to justify increasing the number of articles and guides that I would like to release. The 3 day format would allow me to release a game and an article 2 out of every 3 weeks, with the third week being a whatever wednesday week! The downside is that this site, and it's content, is being created only in the evenings and weekends. My day's are spend either working on Blazing Game's larger projects or doing third party work.

Monday November 22

As I have said earlier, I am trying to get all of the Blazing Games Guide to Flash Game Development ebook released while the material in the book is still relevant. For that reason, this update will be the first chapter of the arcade chapters, which covers what is going to be in the Arcade part of the book. As there is a release this friday, I will have a game entry.

I know that I should have some news about my plans or have an entry for my FAQ page here, but I have such a bad headache today (it started before the CFL Grey Cup game, so I can't blame the headache on the BC Lions) so I am going to be lazy today.

Friday November 26

As I said on Monday, today's release would be a game release. This week's game is, of course, episode 9 of One of those Weeks. If you haven't played the earlier episodes of this series, please play them first. The episodes are not very long and together form a larger story. For those of you who have already played the other episodes, this episode is a bit different as you have to drive a vehicle. Don't worry, it's not in real time (though I bet if I ever open source this episode, someone will modify it so that it is real time).

The year is rapidly coming to an end. I have been trying to decide if I am going to do some type of preview of what I hope (key word being hope) to do with the site over the next year. My previews don't seem to be as accurate as I would like. Still, I think some people enjoy reading them and it never hurts to have a written plan to attempt to set the course for the year. So, on Wednesday December 8th I will release my 2005 plans. Consider them to be slightly more accurate New Years resolutions.

Thursday December 2

For those that put off playing my Deadly Door's game, I highly recommend trying it. Especially now that the second game play mode has been added. The second mode takes the memorization aspects of the game to a new level by making the location of the correct door randomly shift to the left or right. An arrow indicates if a shift has taken place. This means that now you have to not only remember the correct sequence, but must now also be able to mentally modify this information (unless you cheat by writing down this information, but if you are going to do that then you are missing the point of this game).

The third part of the game will add another game mode (you will have to wait until the release to get specifics) and most interesting of all will add sound to the game. I don't know how good the sound will be as I will be obtaining the sounds myself using my palm. And be sure to tune in next wednesday when I will be releasing my 2005 plans.

Wednesday December 8

Today is the big day. My plans for 2005 are revealed to the entire universe! Granted, looking at the accuracy of my predictions in the past, these plans only represent what I would like to accomplish over the next year, not what will happen. I am half tempted to say that any resemblance between the plans and what actually happens is purely coincidental, but I am going to try to fulfill the plans.

One thing that I haven't mentioned in the plans, is the fact that there are still some sections of the site that need much more work (such as the absent profiles in the about section, the rather sparse FAQ, and a few other details). I do plan on improving the site, but have no timeline for the work. The work will happen when I have time to do it (as I most my spare time is spent finishing games and articles for the site, I'm not sure when that will happen).

Tuesday December 14

It is now time to start putting out all my holiday themed games. A holiday themed slot machine may not be politically correct (though for some reason, holiday themed scratch and win tickets are okay, even though scratch and win tickets tend to have even worse odds than evil slot machines) but then again, this game doesn't cost you anything but time. Today's game is Candy Cane Slots, a themed slot machine.

The holiday themed games don't end there! Tune in next monday to see what events are taking place at the north pole in an action game that you don't want to miss. And while I am filled with holiday spirit, I may just release a second game that friday (actually, time has more to do with the decision but spirit sounds better).

Monday December 20

Surprisingly, I never got any email (positive or negative) about last Tuesday's game. Today's release is much more politically correct as you are now helping Santa save his workshop from toy stealing Gnomes (which look a lot like elves). If you don't like the look of the toy stealing gnomes, feel free to email me and I will forward the emails to the artist (who will almost certainly ignore them).

I hope to have another holiday game on the 24th, and am even using existing flash code as a quick way of developing the game, but as the site is run in my spare time, I may not be able to finish the work in time. Tune in Friday to find out the results. Worst case, you get an article. Best case, a quick game to play before the 25th.

Friday December 24

The game planned for today was finished, though I simply did not have the time to add the automap feature that I wanted. The toy stealing gnomes were unable to steal Santa's toys so instead hid the reindeer from Santa. You must help Santa recover the reindeer!

For those who absolutly must have a map, part of the game that will be released on thursday will feature an image that contains the map for today's game will be released.

Thursday December 30

Not wanting to take a week off, but also not wanting to do too much work, I decided that I would compromise and release a new set of images for use with my older picture puzzle game. One of the pictures is a map. The map represents the maze from Santa's Search (with only the sleigh being marked on the map) so those of you who did not finish Santa's Search due to the required mapping, can now simply solve the puzzle, take a snapshot of the screen, paste the screen shot into a paint program, and print a copy of the map.

I'm not sure what I am going to do with the 2005 Preview but will leave the link here until I decide what to do with it. I will probably revisit the preview some time next year to see what is happening. The preview is structured loose enough that I should be able to implement some of the plans we (my partners and I) have been discussing without actually breaking the plans outlined in the preview.