Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Coffee Break Games 2

Here are a few more coffee break games that are short enough to play on breaks.

Wish Upon a Star
Wish Upon a Star
In Wish Upon a Star, by CuriousGaming, the player's task is to collect a thousand stars.

The player controls a character that runs and jumps in order to collect stars. Stars collected may be spent on upgrades to make it easier to collect more stars. More stars may be spent on more upgrades until the player has achieve the thousand-star goal.

I discovered while writing this that unfortunately, the game does not seem to have a save function. So the player would have to keep the game window open and play a little during each coffee break. Or just play in one long session (it would no longer be a coffee break game then).

Love
Love
Love by Contrebasse_'s won third place in the Project Eden contest.

The player controls a spinning white square. The closer the white square gets to other squares, the faster points are scored. However, any contract with other squares ends the game.

It is a balance between risk and reward. Getting closer to more characters increases the score faster but with higher risk of the game ending.

There is also an Infidelity mode where the player controls two white squares on two separate screens. This means that there are more dangers for the player to keep track of, making it more challenging. And to make it even more difficult, the controls for the square on the other screen is reversed. It is a very good chance for the player to show off his or her ability to keep track of multiple opportunities and threats.

Run From the Sun!
Run From the Sun!
Of the games introduced in this article, Run From the Sun! by Anthony Gowland is probably the most addictive. The story is that the sun is exploding and the player launches a cute little spaceship on a planet-hopping survival trip. However, it looks more to me that the sun has a vendetta against the player and is relentlessly in pursuit.

The basic gameplay is simply clicking the mouse to launch said cute spaceship from planet to planet in an attempt to stay ahead of the approaching sun. Each planet rotates at different speeds and directions, affecting the spaceship's heading while the latter is on the former's surface. When the spaceship is facing the desired heading, a mouse-click would launch the spaceship.

The spaceship travels until it runs out of oxygen, goes out of the screen, hits an object or lands safely on another planet. Planets have gravity that affect the path of the spaceship, drawing it closer to land or altering its course. Going out of the screen or hitting an object sends the spaceship back to its launch planet. The game only ends when the sun hits the spaceship.

Points are scored for safe landings and achieving feats such as narrowly avoiding disaster and landing on faraway planets. There are awards for scoring and performing feats of skill and stupidity. Achieving certain awards unlocks new spaceship types with special abilities.

The basic gameplay is already addictive. There is that constant need to flee from an unstoppable celestial body. Also, a bad mistake in aiming the ship could suddenly end the game. Add in ego-boosting awards and the game is even harder to put away (even if it is just clicking the 'x' in the browser window).
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That is it for coffee break games this time. Look forward to more as I discover them.

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