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spooky-ghostwriter · 10 months

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Sentinels Deck Number 6 - Ol’ Inkwell Town

A while back, I posted some Sentinels stuff which included a set of 1920s cartoon promos for all of my heroes - except Silhouette, who I hadn’t made at the time, but she is not left out!

But I know what you’re thinking. What are these old-timey cartoon versions of my heroes? How do they fit into the flimsy made-up canon that my decks are retroactively based on?

Okay, you’re probably not asking those questions, but I made a whole deck to answer them. Welcome to Ol’ Inkwell Town...

The story behind this deck is basically that the heroes woke up one day and found that they were no longer in New Granwall City. They were in an alternate cartoon version of their hometown - and they had to find a way to get back.

Ol’ Inkwell Town is made up of three distinct locations. My heroes Gold Dragon and Skimmer, plus guest heroes Charade and Alius (by insomn and Mistillitain respectively), explored the main city. Various street corners looked familiar to Gold Dragon and Skimmer, though danger lurked in the skies.

The first cards to show off are pretty simple mechanically, so let’s talk thematics. Ol’ Inkwell Town is mostly based on black and white cartoons. I watched a lot of Popeye in particular, since Gold Dragon’s old timey cartoon version was heavily based on Popeye. The deck also includes some Loony Tunes clichés like falling pianos and anvils.

Instead of simply drawing a falling anvil, I turned it into a character. Living objects is a bizarre trend of those classic cartoons, so I put faces and white gloves on everything from lamp posts to other heroes’ equipment.

The deck is intended to be wacky but deceptively brutal. Making hero equipment cards “come alive” is an effect that already exists in Sentinels, and it’s a dangerous effect because it allows villains to destroy your cards simply by doing damage. Ol’ Inkwell Town’s version is even more brutal by having your equipment fight you when you try to use them. However, heroes whose equipment are mostly magical (denoted by the Relic keyword) are immune.

Bomby is a very destructive effect, but you have a whole round to try deal with him before he goes off.

The second location visited by heroes is the cartoon equivalent of the Alesia Circus. This is where Escarlata, Electrogeist, and Tsukiko ended up.

The Table of Pies is both a benefit and a negative. Playing the top card of the environment deck usually means another cartoon is coming into play, accelerating the deck’s nonsense. Then it increases the damage the cartoons are throwing around by giving them an arsenal of pies.

However, the heroes can use the pies too - either throwing them as well, or eating them to recover HP. Heroes typically have powers that are better than what Table of Pies offers, but in a pinch, those powers might be exactly what you need.

Past the pies and into the circus proper, Escarlata and Tsukiko discovered an old-timey version of Tsukiko herself, who cast a horrifying spell on our modern-day Escarlata...

When Escarlata was pulled into the box, a cartoon version of her appeared as well! Electrogeist and the modern-day Tsukiko were shocked!

The Enraged Escarlata isn’t really a card in the deck. At the start of a game of Sentinels, you choose one of the 2-5 variant character cards that each hero has available, play as that character card, and put the rest back. Only one card in the official game can switch variants mid-game, but I think it’s interesting design space, so I threw it on a card here in an intentionally wacky environment.

The “thematic” way to play this deck is to have my heroes switch into their cartoon selves when Forced Volunteer hits them, but you’re free to switch your hero into any variant you want.

The modern-day Escarlata wasn’t really gone forever, though, and she quickly found her way back to the stage from wherever the magic had put her. There, she met her own cartoon counterpart...

The deck has two copies of Cartoon Counterpart, and even though it took extra drawing, I was convinced to change the art for the second copy. This is an annoyingly wordy card, but the premise is simple. Cartoon Counterpart fights its “owner”, who thematically is the one the cartoon is a counterpart of, but if you beat it up enough, it helps you. Cartoon violence is the solution to all of cartoon life’s problems.

So, where was the original Tsukiko during all of this? Erm... occupied.

When I asked my friends on the Custom Sentinels Discord for things they wanted to see in an old-timey cartoon deck, I got lots of ideas for tropes and clichés (most of which I already had on my list). But someone (insomn?) reminded me of a saw I’d drawn chopping Tsukiko in half on the incap for her own cartoon version.

This inspired Choppy Sawington, who is once again harassing Tsukiko. He has a really nasty effect that I’ve toyed with before, of either chopping a hero’s hand in half or dealing some damage. (I would’ve liked it to chop the hero’s HP in half, but that’s way too strong.)

The icon on Choppy is Tsukiko’s nemesis icon, meaning that Tsukiko and Choppy deal extra damage to each other. Given Choppy’s ties to stage magic, and Choppy focusing on discarding cards compared to Tsukiko’s focus on handing out card draw, and the fact that Choppy’s only victim so far has been Tsukiko, I felt it was more than justified.

The third location in the environment is only touched on briefly, but it’s the haunted mansion where a devilish vampire lives.

Silhouette’s cartoon counterpart, The Zany Zywen mentioned right at the start, is a user of dark magic who offers power to those who seek her out. This is usually a monkey’s paw situation where the person who gains the power realizes they were better off without it.

Naturally, Silhouette herself is all about dark magic and cursed power, and envious of her cartoon self, so she charged right into the castle. A guest hero, Antiquarian by Gaist, joins her.

The gargoyles themselves are your typical prankster minions, and in the game they’re annoyingly hard to kill and annoyingly destroy the heroes’ stuff. I don’t have much to say on them in particular, so let me go off on an art tangent.

When I first started this deck, I’d been drawing simple backgrounds (or no backgrounds at all!) for the old-timey cartoon stuff. However, not only did I need some background art for the digital implementation of the deck, actual old-timey cartoons really did have nice background art.

The backgrounds are still fairly simple compared to what I usually do, but I used CSP’s pencil tool to shade and add a unique texture to everything. I wanted to give everything a grainy look to it and make the non-cartoon characters really pop.

Zany Bats is a card designed pretty much for Silhouette. The bats seek out the hero with the lowest HP, and Silhouette is likely to be lowest since she starts with such low HP. A hero bitten by the bats may deal themselves Infernal damage, which is Silhouette’s whole shtick. And finally - this one was accidental synergy - if Silhouette plays her own Form of the Bat card, she has enough damage reduction that the bats won’t hit her at all.

After the three groups of heroes escaped their perils, they all tried to meet up to share their findings. But there were still two obstacles...

As the various cartoons met up, they started a fight that escalated into a giant brawl.

The two in the center of Big Ball of Violence are Escarlata and The Zany Zywen. You can also see Tsukiko’s Tank Top sticking out of the cloud, as well as Gold Dragon’s tail, one of Charade’s now-sentient Stun Batons, Choppy Sawington’s... nose...?, and a foot. That foot belongs to Ampere, another guest hero by Mistillitain.

Finally, there was but a single obstacle...

Me!

Cartoons and their animator fighting is a classic cartoon trope - though admittedly it’s more of a Looney Tunes thing than a black-and-white cartoon thing.

I had some mixed thoughts about what the animator should look like. A giant hand from the sky? Should it even be a character, or just the reality-warping pencil itself? But I like where this settled.

The Animator has two abilities. It “erases” a cartoon and deals radiant damage, and it also plays the top card of each deck, essentially creating and rewriting the game every round.

In the art, we see a guest hero Chronan the Barbarian (made by Gaist) as The Animator draws a cartoon counterpart for him.

And that’s the deck! None of the cards represent how the heroes actually got home, but I think there are a few possible options. Maybe The Animator was the one responsible for bringing them there (I was) and sent them back. Maybe Silhouette managed to make a deal with her cartoon self and got sent back with dark magic. And maybe Tsukiko’s magic box was powerful enough to return them to the real world.

Whatever the case, I had a blast making this deck and I hope Sentinels custom content players have just as much fun playing it.

#sentinels of the multiverse #fan-made environment #new granwall guardians #tsukiko #silhouette #escarlata #gold dragon #my art

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punchbuggy · 4 years

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Anime Thoughts

1. What is your biggest influence in anime? Why?

I think currently the works of Masaaki Yuasa are my greatest influence, because he is seemingly incapable of creating uninteresting media. He has such a signature style, yet every project he takes on is completely fresh-- both when compared to other animated films in general, and his own body of work. He has such an incredible range-- from works like Kaiba, a meditative exploration of personhood and body ownership, to Mind Game, a film about rejecting society and living life to its absolute fullest, to Ride your Wave, a sweet and deceptively simple film about losing a loved one.

What's so unique about Yuasa to me, is that he speaks the language of animation so well that you could almost assume he's a cartoon character himself. Anytime I watch a new Yuasa project, I see something I've never seen before in filmmaking. I don't think a live action version of any of his works could be possible-- and if they somehow were, why on earth would you even want to see it? Even further, on top of his signature style, there's always an honest emotional core in his stories and adaptations that resonate deeply with me.

2. What do you consider to be some of the hallmarks or touchstones of anime? How do you see these elements translating in US animation? Any specific examples you can point to?

I think a lot of Americans as recent as 10 years ago would have referenced the popular anime stereotypes as hallmarks: big shiny eyes, poor English dubbing, cartoony sweat drops and burst veins as shorthand-- but now in 2020 you can tell just by watching American television that the collective perception of anime has completely changed.

We're seeing a lot of shows coming out now that are not only influenced by anime hallmarks, but at this point are open love-letters to the anime that showrunners grew up on. Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart uses anime sound-effects and is filled with designs directly referencing the works of Akira Toriyama. Ballmastrz 9009 on Adult Swim might as well be an anime unto itself: I believe it was originally conceived as a parody, but 100% of the show is not just referencing anime-- it's referencing every anime. And there are so many more, like Cannon Busters and Castlevania and Neo Yokio which are considered, by Netflix, anime-- yet they are not made in Japan.

And speaking specifically to background paint and design in TV animation: anime primarily uses backgrounds painted with brushes and poster paint. The skill that goes into making something as simple as a cloud-dotted blue is pretty astonishing already, but then you see an establishing background painting for Spirited Away, or Made in Abyss, or Tekkon Kinkreet-- the fact that they're so technically accurate as well as creative and fantastical-- I think that's super inspiring to look at and attempt to recreate, and not just for myself.

3. There was a time when people who studied animation in school were told to avoid anime, a genre that got stigmatized. Now that stigmatization is gone. What are some of the things, in your opinion, that have changed the perception of anime?

I don't actually think that stigmatization is gone, although it's been a long time since I was last in school. But I think most art academia loves to stigmatize the new, popular thing (especially if it's "not from around here"). Personally I think it's a mixture of universally-acclaimed works like those of Hayao Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon gaining traction and being "legitimized" by the American adult public, and the fact that filmmakers, showrunners, and cartoonists grew up on anime and now get to make art that pays respects to the works that they love. And of course-- compare renting one of the two obscure anime DVDs at your local video store, to the internet and streaming. Anime is finally globally accessible!

4. In what ways do you see anime continuing to change the landscape within US animation? Or will it?

I'm really hoping that the anime boom in the US will start to cater more to the adult animation market. It's been super exciting to see the upwards mobility of CrunchyRoll-- the fact that they've been able to go from an anime streaming platform to now being able to make their own shows is absolutely thrilling. Also, anime studios like Science Saru and Studio Trigger are collaborating more and more with US animation studios in small ways, and I hope bigger and better projects continue to come out of those partnerships. Either way, I don't think the American appetite for anime will be going away anytime soon.

#I was interviewed for Keyframe Magazine #my name did not make it into the article #but i really enjoyed writing this #so here it is #writing

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ramblesandmumblesofanerd · 5 years

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Rambling Reviews: Bumblebee [Spoiler-ish]

So, Bumblebee. The last time I talked about any Transformers movie was when I reviewed The Last Knight. To make a long story short, that film absolutely sucked. This had been a trend in the recent Transformers live action film, each new film seemed to be worst than the last in spite of any choices meant to spice up the film franchise. They felt too big, too rushed, too stupid, too...well, just too much. So, when a prequel for Bumblebee, a character whose presence has overshadowed Optimus Prime, was announced, you couldn’t blame me when I groaned. Then I noticed something: Michael Bay was not directing this film. Then the trailers came out and the characters had new forms reminiscent of the classic cartoon series. My interest was piqued, and would continue to be stimulated by everyone praising the film upon its release. So, is a prequel about a voiceless Autobot who turns into a Volkswagen Beetle really that great? Well, let’s find out.

The plot of this film is mercifully simple: Cybertron has fallen into chaos due to a civil war between the destructive Decepticons and the heroic renegade Autobots. Optimus Prime orders an evacuation of the planet, scattering his troops to random locations while assigning Bumblebee, known as B-127 on his homeworld, to head for Earth and establish a safe haven for his fellow troops. Bumblebee arrives only to discover the Decepticons have followed him and want the location of his Autobot brethren. So, the Autobot scout hides in the form of a Volkswagon, but gets discovered by a teenage girl named Charlie. Now, Bumblebee must protect her while she protects him from being discovered by Transformer and human threats alike.

The characters are definitely much more tolerable in this film. In previous live action Transformers films, their personalities were somewhat jaded, tired and angry even during the more comedic bits. In this film, while no character is always upbeat and positive all the time, their other emotions are not drowned by angst and anger. The human characters have significantly improved, which is funny to say considering this is the first time these characters have been used in these films. Charlie, while a teenager with obligatory teenage problems, is a go-getter who wants to be independent from her family. Unlike Sam Witwickey or Cade Yeager, she has skills which she fully utilizes within the plot of the film, and she feels like an active part of the film rather than something that gets in the way of what we all want: giant robots punching each other. That’s not to say all the characters are like this, as we have the obligatory parent(s) who know nothing about the robot in the garage and an obvious soon-to-be-boyfriend who kinda comes outta nowhere and sicks around for the remainder of the film. And then there’s John Cena. Yeah, his character has another name, but it’s just John Cena in a military uniform. He’s a serviceable character who gives a decent performance as the human villain who just doesn’t understand these aliens and how some are actually good.

Meanwhile, there’s the robots. Bumblebee, in spite of lack of voice, is actually quite a treat. He’s cute and round and full of innocence and good vibes. He’s a curious alien in a new world trying to adapt to it’s laws and people. However, he’s no coward on the battlefield, and certainly knows how to handle himself in a battle even against an enemy much bigger and more powerful than him. Meanwhile, the Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick are a great if not serviceable bad guy duo. Unlike previous films, these Decepticons have personalities beyond “RAWR!”. They are cunninng, snarky, sly, blunt, and, above all, deceptive. There are also bits on Cybertron, as seen in the trailers, which I love immensely because they feature more robots like Optimus Prime, Shockwave and Soundwave with wonderfully designed new bodies and exceptional voice acting from veterans like Peter Cullen (who sounds like he’s actually having fun for once) and newcomers like Jon Bailey (aka the Epic Voice Guy).

One more thing I must make a note about is the action. In previous Transformers films, the action was the most anticipated thing until everyone collectively realized those scenes were terribly written and shot. Prior to Bumblebee, ever action scene consisted of swirling metal masses, explosions, incoherent screaming and confusion. No one knew who was fighting or who was wining the fight, mainly because the movie would focus on the humans rather than the actual fight. In Bumblebee, however, you can clearly see the robots and how the fight is going even when the scene cuts to other events going on in the same area like the humans trying to turn the tide. Since Bumblebee is bright yellow and most of the Decepticons are darker colors, you can tell who is fighting who and who is winning, even if sometimes things seem to blur a little bit (though that’s probably just me).

All in all, I would say this film, while not exactly stellar, is a vast improvement over the steadily rising howling five headed monstrosity that is the Transformers film franchise. It’s honestly great to see this kind of movie even if it came a little bit late to the party. But, hey, with a decent plot reminiscent of Iron Giant, lovable robots, relatable human characters, and decent action scenes, better late than never.

#bumblebee movie #transformers #review

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retrowarriors · 7 years

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Cuphead: Don’t Deal with the Devil

A different kind of retro

By: Chris Saturn

Developer: StudioMDHR Entertainment Publisher: StudioMDHR Entertainment/Microsoft Game Studios Platform: Xbox One/PC

In the grand scheme of things, video games are a very recent form of media. Printed art, music, and oral storytelling have been around for millennia, and mass-printed stories and organized stage productions have survived many centuries. Prior to the introduction of our hobby of choice, the youngest form of media was photography and film. At the dawn of the 20th century, theaters sprung up across the landscape, giving people a new way to escape reality for an hour or two. In addition to filmed motion pictures, hand-drawn animated shorts and films were a common and welcome attraction.

It feels quaint and silly to spell all of that out now. As amazing as it must have been at the time, film and animation have been around so long now that they pre-date everyone alive today. It’s how today’s kids will no doubt feel about picking up a controller. It’s just something that’s always been there.

When we talk about “retro,” we’re typically looking back only a handful of years, a few decades at most. But when speaking to animation and film buffs, looking back at the classics can span a period many times that. And, yet, there are certainly parallels. The humble beginnings of characters like Pac-Man and Mario can be compared to the early shorts of Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny.

It is, perhaps, because of this similarity that something like Cuphead feels so natural. I was fortunate enough to have grown up with classic Looney Tunes and Disney cartoons readily available on cable TV and NES games en masse at the local rental store. Cuphead feels like those two memories compressed into a high-density nostalgia machine.

At its core, Cuphead is a simple run-and-gun platformer. The controls are sophisticated enough to have required a six-button controller, and precise enough to show off modern design sensibilities, but still feel like something that could have come from the NES era. The graphics give the illusion of being from a century-old cartoon, but require complex modern hardware tricks to flow so seamlessly. The music and sound effects sound like they were ripped straight out of an old Popeye or Betty Boop cartoon. It’s a deception pulled off by modern hardware that pulls at the nostalgia strings harder than most actual classic games.

The story certainly feels like it’d be at home in a classic animated short or series. Cuphead and his brother Mugman are conned by the Devil into betting away their souls at a casino, and must pay back their debt by collecting the souls of others who’ve been similarly duped. It’s not incredibly deep, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s merely there to propel the action.

The gameplay feels basic, but has some hidden depth. From the world map, you can select between various platforming stages, side-scrolling shmup style stages, challenge stages, or boss battles. Completing these stages unlocks more of the world map, and more stages to be played. At the end of each stage, you’ll receive a letter rank, as well as a breakdown of tasks completed and items collected.

The platform stages play like something out of Contra or Metal Slug. Enemies and projectiles flood into the arena as you navigate basic platforms to reach the end of the level. Mario-esque coins are interspersed, which can be collected and used to buy power-ups at the in-game shop. Challenge stages and boss battles are typically single screen affairs, with boss fights being broken down into multiple, increasingly difficult phases. Shmup stages consist of Cuphead boarding a tiny bi-plane and taking out aerial enemies.

Aside from the shmup levels, controls remain the same in all arenas. In addition to basic movement, you have buttons to jump, fire, and dodge. Pressing jump again when in contact with certain objects or projectiles causes your character to parry via a basic double-jump. Holding the R Button will allow you to stay stationary while aiming in all directions. Otherwise, Cuphead’s finger-bullets go in the direction he’s moving at all times. When in shmup mode, the dodge button changes from a basic dash to a miniaturization effect, allowing you to squeeze between obstacles. The parry ability remains consistent throughout all game modes.

Aside from the obvious discussion around the unique aesthetic, most online discussion of the game seems to be around its difficulty, which many people are referring to as brutal. Having spent some time with the game, I just don’t see it. It’s tough, sure, but it’s also pretty forgiving. Compared to many of the classic games it’s hoping to emulate, there are a lot of modern amenities here that allow players to resume from failures with almost no consequence.

Infinite lives mean no desperation to preserve credits and multiple hit points mean no instant-deaths, ala Contra. Being able to purchase and equip different weapons from the world map mean you won’t have to hope that the power-up you want drops from an enemy or object mid-level. Death is followed by a short “retry/quit” screen that is fortunately accompanied by minimal loading to get you back into the action. Most stages and bosses can be quickly learned and completed with some practice, and attack patterns seem no less fair than in many of the games Cuphead has obviously drawn inspiration from. Modern games less and less appeal to retro gamers. And, yet, here’s a game that embraces its classic charm, both in appearances and in gameplay.

On a personal note, it’s just so refreshing to see a faux-retro game that isn’t going for pixel art. This attempt to look like an interactive cartoon is exactly what I’d been hoping for in games since I was a kid. This is what I saw in my head when I played classic Mickey Mouse games.

If you’re a fan of classic games or classic animation, don’t let this one pass you by.

#cuphead #xbox #video games #steam #gaming

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gamerszone2019-blog · 5 years

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Rad Review - Welcome To The New Age

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/rad-review-welcome-to-the-new-age/

Rad Review - Welcome To The New Age

It’s a tale as old as time: The maniacs have blown it all up, and the few unlucky survivors are forced to pick up the pieces and begin civilization anew. Double Fine’s Rad, however, takes it one step further. A second apocalypse has happened, and according to the omnipresent narrator, the survivors’ one-word reaction is actually the correct and logical one: “Seriously?”

From the second pile of ashes, however, a new hero arises. You, the Remade, a blunt weapon-wielding child of the endtimes who has been tasked by the Menders–the new architects of the age–with going forth into the treacherous radioactive hellscape armed with nothing more than a baseball bat and a host of ungodly but powerful bodily mutations to find a new source of power for humankind.

On paper, that sounds dreadfully serious. In practice, however, it’s Double Fine, a developer that seems physically incapable of making a game that’s a downer. The Menders give the Remade their powers using a magical keytar, for crying out loud. Indeed, right off the bat, the most striking and engaging thing about Rad is the look of the apocalypse. Earth is most certainly ruined, nuclear-blasted several times over, but it’s reached a point of being overgrown with luminescent plants, snaking, sentient vines, and neon shocks of pinks, greens, and purples. This is less the dead worlds of Fallout or Rage and more like a bizarre Saturday morning cartoon of Alex Garland’s Annihilation.

Rad, however, is a double entendre of a title for the game referring not just to the irradiated nuclear landscape, but to the overwhelming 1980s nostalgia. The booming narrator could be ripped out of any number of classic action movies. The hub world where the last humans make their home is an oddball microcosm of early ’80s bric-a-brac, right down to the humorous, smart-alecky characters all bearing the names of famous characters from ’80s movies (Biff, Lorraine, Sloan, etc.). The soundtrack is full of incredibly catchy off-brand riffs on famous tunes like Van Halen’s Jump, Michael Jackson’s Beat It, and Stan Bush’s The Touch. You can push the ’80s vibe even further with some of the CRT filters in options, but It makes an already busy aesthetic look nearly indiscernible.

And best you believe, you need all the advantages and awareness you can get. As cool and fun and inviting as Rad appears on the surface, it becomes clear very early on that Rad is, above all else, aggravatingly hard. It’s a roguelike, so the levels are all randomly laid out, but it’s otherwise a deceptively simple old-school, top-down action game. When you first make your way into the wasteland, you can jump, hit stuff with a bat, and dodge. There are some unique tricks you can employ that can help, like a jump kick, an aerial smash attack, and a distance-closing lunge, but the game doesn’t tell you about any of this at the outset. There’s no real tutorial or in-game hint system. Instead it just drops occasional new tips during its extensive loading screens. It was hours into my playthrough before the tip came up informing me about the lunge attack, and it felt like hours prior had been wasted not knowing it was there.

A mild learning curve would be fine if the wastelands weren’t so unforgiving, but despite a wide variety of enemies, with fairly predictable attack patterns, you’re just far too fragile for far too long in this game. When things kick off, you get three hearts. Enemy hits strip away half a heart generally, and once they’re gone, you’re starting over. There are power-ups you get after every boss that grant extra hearts and/or split one of your hearts into thirds instead of a half, but you’ll be surprised how little a difference that makes. If there’s more than one enemy onscreen at any given moment, cheap hits are a constant danger, and no matter how well you’re doing on your run, walking into the wrong area and into the wrong group of enemies all striking at the wrong time means it could be game over in seconds. In the instances where it’s not, health is such a frustratingly rare commodity that even taking extra care from then on means possibly going for quite some time with only half a heart, bleeding to death all over the cracked pavement. Yes, that’s a staple of the genre at this point, but in the best examples of it there’s a level of preparation you’re able to have where you at least feel like you have a fighting chance. That doesn’t happen often in Rad.

What you do get is this: Every enemy you kill generates a certain amount of radiation that you can soak up, essentially acting as XP. Once you’ve leveled up, your body gains a random new freaky mutant power. This is Rad’s biggest hook. The powers themselves are wildly imaginative and wonderfully animated. You could wind up with something as simple as a set of bat wings, allowing you to essentially gain a double jump and glide ability, or being able to throw your arm like a boomerang. Or you could end up with something just bonkers, like having a deformed twin grow out of your weapon arm to extend your range and attack power or the ability to give birth to two spider-baby versions of you who’ll run into combat and attack enemies. When you go back to the hub world with them, the NPCs’ reactions are some of the most hilarious dialogue in the game. As conceptually imaginative as those powers are, some are vastly more useful than others, and given how swift death comes for you in this game, getting a lame one at the outset basically means your entire run is doomed.

That’s generally the case for just about everything meant to help you in Rad: A bit too much of your success is dependent on sheer luck more than skill. You can collect cassette tapes–the game’s currency–and either deposit them at the bank between stages or spend them on items with some of the scattered merchants around, but not knowing what new creatures to expect in an area or what attacks the boss will throw at you means running the risk of spending money on a powerup that’s essentially worthless during your current run. There are on-the-fly powerups called exo-mutations you can find in some of the underground areas of the game, and while they’re generally helpful at first, you can wind up drawing a handicap like extra vulnerability to attacks or a distorted screen, and that, too, can spell the end of a good run faster than it should.

The good news is that the longer you play, the better your chances of finally earning permanent upgrades that make the early stages more of a breeze. There’s a completely separate pool of permanent XP that you earn after you die that unlocks new characters, game variants, and upgrades. You earn the ability to buy items on credit after you’ve deposited enough tapes into the bank, and the local shopkeep gets better and better stuff the more you buy. There are just so many blind, stupid, aggravating deaths to be had to get to that point, though, and it’s not hard to imagine throwing in the towel long before then.

There are certainly things that make fighting the good fight worth it. The story does take some subtle twists and turns as the largely teenage population of the hub world starts wondering about the point of all these legends. The boss fights get increasingly audacious in design as you go along. I’m still discovering new mutations even on the first upgrade after playing for hours. And despite an element of visual clutter, this is a compellingly colorful world to hang out in for a while. It’s just that the joys of Rad require more work than necessary to obtain, and that work can feel awfully thankless at times. Double Fine’s hyper-colorful take on an ’80s synthpop apocalypse makes for some gratifying nostalgia at the best of times, but there’s a reason why, eventually, we all moved on to grunge.

Source : Gamesport

#Game Reviews

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waynekelton · 5 years

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Review: Evolution: The Video Game

Charles Darwin claimed, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Now you have the opportunity to put this theory to test in this adaptation of the popular board game, Evolution.

In Evolution, players adapt their species to compete against their opponents in a world where food is scarce and predators are on the hunt for a tasty snack. The board game has been featured in Nature magazines and used as a learning aid within universities. Don’t be too intimidated because you don’t need a PhD to understand the rules, and the tutorial does an excellent job of teaching you the game as you play. This is also a very excellent digital adaptation of a game.

Each player begins the game with a single species and a hand of cards. The cards have multiple uses and deciding how and when to use them is a key element to success. At the beginning of each round, all players will secretly place a card in the watering hole. Cards have different values and the total of all the cards played will determine how much plant-based food will be available. You are then free to use the rest of your cards as you wish. Cards can be discarded to increase the population or the physical size of an established species. You can also use a card to start developing a new creature. These will initially be weak but if it manages to survive then your diversity will increase, which means that in future turns you will be able to draw extra cards.

The real fun starts when you use cards to add traits to a species. Each species has the potential to evolve three of these and you can even replace traits with new ones. One of the key traits is carnivorous, which will turn a peace-loving herbivore into a slavering ball of fangs and teeth. To combat this there are traits that will help prevent your animals from becoming fast food. An animal with the altruistic warning call trait will protect those to its left and right unless the predator has the ambush trait. Adding a hard shell to an animal adds a bonus of four to its body size. This is a great form of protection since carnivores can only attack creatures with a smaller body size than their own. Other traits will enhance an animal’s ability to gather food; a species with the cooperation trait will share its food with a neighbour, foraging enables an animal to take extra food, whilst having a long neck allows them to grab food before any other species gets a chance. In total, there are seventeen different traits, which means that players can create over 25,000 different species. The interplay between the traits is balanced, thought-provoking and makes perfect thematic sense.

Once all of the players have finished using their cards then it’s time to ring the dinner gong. The food cards placed in the watering hole at the beginning of the turn are revealed; their total represents the amount of plant-based food available. Each animal’s food requirement depends upon its population size. Obviously, carnivores aren’t interested in waiting in line at the salad bar. Instead, they can attack any other unprotected species that are of a smaller size. Doing so will reduce the population size of the unwitting meal and may even completely decimate the species. Be careful though; if you have a hungry carnivore that is short of meat it is possible that it will chow down on your own animals.

The game ends when the deck of cards runs out. Points are scored for the amount of food gathered throughout the game. Extra points are awarded for the population size and remaining traits of each of your surviving species. The watercolour style graphics are nicely done. The card illustrations are distinctive and colourful and even the cartoon characters are likable. I love the way that the environment blooms into life whenever feeding time arrives. The primal backing music, complete with additional ambient sounds makes a fine accompaniment. My only real niggle is that there appears to be a lot of dead space on the screen. The watering hole takes up a large chunk of space, maybe at the expense of larger, easier to read cards.

The best feature of the digital version is the introduction of a terrific campaign mode. This pits you against a range of challenges like surviving in a harsh desert environment. This mode introduces new traits at a gradual rate and is the perfect place to refine your skills. With twenty-four challenges and two levels of difficulty, it should keep you entertained for quite some time. You can also set up a local game against AI opponents, but sadly there is no pass-and-play option at the moment. The asynchronous online mode is also still being worked on, but the simultaneous online mode works well, and with games only taking ten minutes it will not tie up too much of your time.

Evolution is all about the constant battle for food and competing for survival against the opposition. You need to not only focus on your own cards but also keep a constant eye on what your opponents are up to. It is no use developing a huge and fearsome killing machine if your perspective dinner has the ability to escape by climbing trees. Since some cards are played in secret whilst others are public knowledge, which results in the mind games growing in complexity. The current start player gets to visit the watering hole first so may not have to donate a high value food card. However, a player pursuing a carnivore strategy may not be interested in visiting the watering hole at all. They may even play a negative value food card, further increasing the food scarcity.

It may sound deceptively simple, but start playing and you will soon realise just how clever the design is. The multiuse cards lead to many tantalising decisions. Do I sacrifice a valuable trait to the watering hole in order to ensure a good supply of food? Shall I be greedy and rapidly increase the population size of a species in order to gobble-up more valuable food points? Or, should I play it safe and introduce traits that will enhance a creature’s chance of survival?

Evolution is a game in a state of constant flux. Some years there will be food aplenty, enabling your animals to develop and prosper. At other times, food will be in short supply and all but the best-adapted creatures will dwindle and die, becoming just another footnote in the fossil timeline. Fortunately, the game never feels too harsh. Players are never eliminated, when a player loses a species, they get to draw extra cards and if they have no species left then they will get a new one for free. Whatever the situation, Evolution invariably reaches a satisfying climax as the players add more species and the deck begins to thin at an alarming rate.

Let us finish with a final observation from Mr Darwin: “An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.”

Review: Evolution: The Video Game published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

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recentnews18-blog · 6 years

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New Post has been published on https://shovelnews.com/the-gang-confronts-me-too-in-one-of-the-most-explosively-funny-sunnys-in-years/

The Gang confronts Me Too in one of the most explosively funny Sunnys in years

Kaitlin Olson, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Danny DeVitoPhoto: Patrick McElhenney/FXX

“I feel like we should clap.”

Okay, let’s talk about one of the funniest moments in It’s Always Sunny history.

First a word about spoilers. Hey—don’t read a review unless you’ve seen the thing that’s being reviewed. And, if you do, don’t complain about the review needing to discuss things that would have been great to see without being “spoiled” by you making the inexplicable choice to read a review before seeing the thing being reviewed.

Okay.

It’s Always Sunny In PhiladelphiaSeason 13

So “Time’s Up For The Gang” sees Mac, Dee, Charlie, Dennis (returning after being MIA last week), and Frank attending a sexual harassment seminar because Paddy’s has been put on an internet “shitty bar list” of Philly establishments hostile to women. The intrepid and unsuspecting moderators (Marypat Farrell and Humphrey Ker), after enduring a barrage of inappropriate, profane, and otherwise point-missing interruptions, separate the Gang for some breakout sessions, perhaps thinking to dilute their charges’ obvious awfulness with a little distance.

That . . . does not work.

The male moderator, Alan, tries out a little roleplaying to address Mac and Dee’s clear lack of comprehension about appropriate workplace behavior. Asking Mac what his function is at Paddy’s elicits Mac’s traditional inflated sense of himself as the bar’s badass peacekeeping resident Swayze, although Dee and Charlie (also in the session) note that he’s just supposed to check IDs, which he doesn’t do. (Continuing the ongoing meta-jokes about Mac’s evolving—or devolving—role, Charlie muses, “He’s just, like, our gay guy now.”) Dee, being Dee, peppers the patiently befuddled Alan with questions about her motivation for playing someone going into a bar (“To get a drink?,” he suggests), settling finally and inexplicably on “revenge.” Alan, to get things rolling, says fine, and then the seemingly simple scene begins.

Rob McElhenneyPhoto: Patrick McElhenney/FXX

Now—and just to prolong the lead-up to the gag for one more delicious moment—one might imagine that one knows where this is going. Dee and Mac are deeply into their roles here, and those roles are informed by the characters’ deep-rooted delusions about how they’re seen and who they are. Dee is a great actress. Mac is the “Sheriff of Paddy’s.” They’re both awful people. The episode, written by Megan Ganz, is about how awful people either deliberately or through societal conditioning turn any discussion of sexual harassment, consent, and rape culture into a boorish, facile intellectual shitshow. So Dee—seen entering the seminar singing a gloating “Time’s Up!” chant at the guys’ being called out in public—will (ineptly) play at being superior, while Mac will say something inappropriate under the guise of trying to score the “points” he thinks Paddy’s needs in order to get off the internet’s shit list.

Instead, Mac greets Dee’s opening line by hoisting Dee fully into the air by her vagina.

Now, there’s a lot going on here, and all of it works to produce the biggest out-loud laugh I’ve gotten from a TV show in a long time. There’s the way in which Mac’s action echoes a phrase Donald Trump cemented into the American lexicon and elevates it (along with Dee) to shocking, absurdist heights. There’s the execution of the gag, which would have fallen flat if it didn’t look so seamlessly, impossibly actual. There’s the joke of Mac’s ridiculously buff new body, yet another physical transformation whose obvious offscreen effort on the part of Rob McElhenney is tossed off along with the Gang’s perpetual dismissal of Mac. There’s Dee’s awestruck reaction to Alan’s horrified assessment about Mac’s grab being designed to make Dee feel small, where she marvels, “It made me feel tiny, like Thumbelina!” There’s the abruptness, seizing the joke (and Dee) before we have a chance to imagine what’s coming.

Kaitlin Olson, Charlie Day, Danny DeVito, Rob McElhenney, Glenn HowertonPhoto: Patrick McElhenney/FXX

And the thing is, that’s only the first great, lunatic surprise of “Time’s Up For The Gang,” as, in yet another classic example of Dennis Reynolds’ meticulous hyper-masculine madness, it’s finally revealed that the entire exercise—involving two professional moderators, a viral awareness campaign, a Bond villain-worthy PowerPoint presentation, and dozens of Philadelphia business owners dragged to the Hyatt—is all Dennis’ doing. Throughout the episode, we see each member of the Gang but Dennis having their own particular sexual creepiness brought out into the open, leaving them each, in turn, suddenly drenched in panic-sweat. Frank (who returns from a hasty call to his lawyer in a dry, inadequately belted bathrobe) has a long history of hiring attractive women, sleeping with them, and then promoting them to shut them up. (“It’s a win-win,” he protests, “Except for the wives.”) Mac’s embrace of his long-repressed homosexuality has left him finally expressing his lust for Dennis and other men in very unwanted handsiness. Charlie’s fifteen years of stalking the Waitress is thoroughly deconstructed by Dennis, not as the actions of a “hopeless romantic” that Charlie would have it be, but as those of “a sad, pathetic wretch of a man so desperate to be loved that [he’ll] actually go rifling through somebody’s garbage.” And Dee, it’s revealed, isn’t as off the hook as her head-nodding female smugness would have her be, since Charlie explains that their one sexual encounter had enough distressing consent issues to lead him to think of it as “molestation.” (Charlie’s still in deep denial about Uncle Jack, though, The Nightman Cometh notwithstanding.)

Charlie DayPhoto: Patrick McElhenney/FXX

Delivered with the maniacal precision of a supervillain, Dennis’ unveiling of his complex scheme is the culmination of the episode’s smartly subversive dissection of the issue at hand. I’ve said it before, but looking to Sunny for social commentary is a tricky proposition. For every feint toward flat-out pronouncements on cultural issues (gun control, abortion, racism, ableism, homophobia), It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is, at its tarry black heart, a character study of human weakness. The Gang forms five points of the same Vonnegut-esque cartoon anus in their various embodiments of the bottom-scraping worst in all of us. So here, while there are passing shots at mens’ rights talking points and male panic about the Me Too movement (“I don’t know if you noticed but women are on a little bit of a rampage right now and anyone could be taken down at any moment,” lectures Dennis), the episode functions most eloquently in its takedown of the base self-interest that drags man-woman interactions down to the Philly mud. We don’t need Sunny to come out and say rape culture is insidious, that men have serious issues when it comes to women, and that Mac’s idea of the cosy coolness of “locker room talk” is self-justifying misogyny, because Sunny—for all its gleeful and skillful comic scandalousness—operates on the principle that basic human decency is a good thing.

But the Gang is us at our venal, cruel, human decency-eschewing worst. So when Frank’s old school, underling-banging behavior is aired out, or when Mac perks up when female moderator Kate gives way to Alan (“Oh, here comes the boss man.”), or when Charlie’s squirmy obsessions are shown to stem from incel-style male entitlement, or when Dee gloats while ignoring her own abuse of sexual power dynamics, their sweat-soaked comeuppance indicts the “just saying what everybody’s thinking” crowd without itself breaking a sweat. (Dennis’s presentation also trots out the whole “women only report ugly harassers” argument as part of his mission to include every rape-apologist cliché.) That’s what Sunny does at its best.

Glenn HowertonPhoto: Patrick McElhenney/FXX

As for Dennis—the Gang member most in need of this particular moral correction—the fact that he engineered the whole enterprise as part of his ongoing campaign to skirt the law while continuing to indulge his truly unsettling fetish for questionable consent play is a masterstroke worthy of the evil genius he is at such moments. When the rest of the Gang, outed by Dennis’ plan, object that Dennis has “Dennis-ed” more women than any of them, Dennis’ smug response comes wrapped in his layers of self-insulating preparation. As his culminating presentation goes on, Dennis reveals that he—unlike the rest of the Gang—keeps his life “tight,” complete with congratulatory and legally binding exonerating texts from his conquests. “Their phones did,” responds Dennis to objections that no woman would write a sexual partner that “I am saying YES to everything that happened last night,” Glenn Howerton expertly switching off whatever light exists behind Dennis Reynolds’ eyes. When Kate, informed that her well-intentioned expertise was merely a part of Dennis’ ploy to preemptively solidify alibis for his life of deception and abuse, shouts “You’re a monster,” Dennis Reynolds, tossing the PowerPoint remote aside in triumph, fixes her with a snakelike gaze and says, “Prove it.” It’s chilling, it’s masterful, and, as Charlie—anticipating the response of those all too willing to latch onto any powerful man’s excuses for accusations of sexual misconduct—puts it, “I gotta be honest, I didn’t follow most of it, but so cool, man.”

Stray observations

Frank to his lawyer, after his robe pops open in front of Kate: “How soon can you get to the Hyatt? My dong fell out.”

Mac defends his obsession with scoring points, rebutting, “Everything is graded by points, otherwise, how did the Eagles win the Super Bowl?”

Dennis’ intimate knowledge of pending statute of limitations laws and legal definitions of consent and harassment (he even knows who Carmita Wood is) recall nothing so much as how the manager of Alec Baldwin’s jailbait-chasing movie star in State And Main keeps a copy of statutory rape precedent in his car.

Another huge director-crafted laugh: After Alan rightly defines what Mac just did as actual sexual assault, Mac looks to Charlie for backup, only to see Charlie’s empty seat and the closing conference room door. Well done, Kat Coiro.

Dee uses Me Too paranoia to clear all of the men out of the buffet line.

Illustrating his “ugly men don’t get accused of harassment” point, Dennis flashes a picture of Cricket, punctuating the truly horrifying evidence of the Gang’s decades of abuse on the poor guy’s face by assuring his audience, “He was born this way.”

Source: https://tv.avclub.com/the-gang-confronts-me-too-in-one-of-the-most-explosivel-1829270618

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myongfisher · 6 years

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18 amazing designers to follow on Instagram

Instagram is no longer just the social platform for sharing your brunch pics or cute pet photos (like Pinterest, but with a little less wedding). Now it’s an actual tool for anyone in the creative arts to share their portfolio and a place where anyone can find creative inspiration. Here’s your list of the hottest Instagram designers that’ll bring beauty, drama and creativity to your day.

Tania Samoshkina —

Tania Samoshkina is a New York-based professional artist and illustrator with more than six years of experience. She creates one-of-a-kind designs for clients that showcase her playful aesthetic and sense of joy.

Samoshkina specializes in character design, print design, surface patterns and logotypes—all of which you can find in her feed along with fun posts that mix her cartoon-y characters into real world settings.

Her simple, unusual details bring her characters to life, and it’s fun to watch her feed to see what they’ll do. You’ll even spot her popping up occasionally, too!

Work with Tania on 99designs or follow Tania on Instagram

Ashwin Kandan—aka Shwin —

For a unique, colorful blend of pop art, branding, illustration, typography and editorial design, Ashwin Kandan (aka Shwin), is the person to follow.

Inspiringly bold visuals and interesting color palettes are Shwin’s MO. And his sense of humor. His portraits of people range from fun and sexy to touchingly sweet, and he’s got a way of delivering a brand concept with a single visual that hits hard.

Work with Shwin on 99designs or follow Shwin on Instagram

Neil Stevens —

Neil Stevens is an awesome follow if you’re interested in vintage, nostalgic illustrations that still retain a modern feel.

In his illustrations which are mostly flat, Stevens manages to instill depth, life, and motion. You’ll see a range of work here, from the very detailed to the very abstract.

Follow Neil Stevens on Instagram

Razvan Vezeteu—aka RazvanV —

Razvan Vezeteu’s Instagram feed reveals an artist with a respect for both the nostalgic and a modern aesthetic.

The self-taught illustrator and icon designer blends trendy design elements like flat design with just a few eye-catching colors. It all comes to life with different textures to create volume and depth. For inspiration in your logo game, this is a great feed to follow.

Work with RazvanV on 99designs or follow RazvanV on Instagram

Natalia Maca —

Natalia Maca is a UK-based digital illustrator and graphic designer. She is a storytelling artist who expresses key messages visually in her work. Natalia specializes in editorial illustration, publishing, advertising and T-shirt design.

She uses a similar color palette for most of her work, so her IG profile looks very consistent and pleasing to scroll through. Many of her illustrations are flat and often have very delicate textures.

Using a slightly more subdued color palette, Maca allows the detail in her work to tell the story with illustrations that have their own unique, surrealistic style.

Work with Natalia Maca on 99designs or follow Natalia Maca on Instagram

Eli Hyder —

You like Star Wars, right? Of course you do, who doesn’t?! Eli Hyder’s work features high comic-like style Sci-Fi concepts, including lots of Star Wars inspired designs.

These digital illustrations have a watercolor and occasionally an ink feel, which connects to the comic genre.

Follow Eli Hyder on Instagram

Zombijana Bones —

Zombijana Bones (Andrijana to her friends) is a visual artist from Montenegro full of colorful and quirky humor.

She is a traditional pen and ink illustrator with a funny, unorthodox style, which produces humorous hand-drawn illustrations that are cute and unexpected all at once. Her handwritten notes add a genuine feeling, and the overall effect of her comics is a perfect balance of sweet and dark.

Work with Zombijana Bones on 99designs or follow Zombijana Bones on Instagram

Steven Harrington —

Follow Steven Harrington for his bright and iconic style or his wacky sense of humor. Either way, you’ll be rewarded.

Harrington’s style is very psychedelic-pop, with a distinct aesthetic, cartoonish characters, and loads of humor.

Follow Steven Harrington on Instagram

Pablo Gerardo Camacho —

Surreal and hypnotic, Venezuelan graphic designer Pablo Camacho’s Instagram feed will satisfy your appetite for the unusual.

It’s easy to see that illustration is among Camacho’s main interests. But motion graphics, typography and editorial design are up there, too. In this feed, you’ll find carefully placed details in illustrations that change their meaning significantly—the work of a creative trickster.

Work with Pablo Gerardo Camacho on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Thomas Burden —

Thomas Burden is the right IG to follow if you’re intrigued by the idea of claymation meets graphic design in a flurry of bright colors and 3D.

The work here features playful, fun, and engaging imagery influenced by toys, fairgrounds, and neon signage. Their designs have a very colorful, cheerful look and a three-dimensional feel.

Follow Thomas Burden on Instagram

Andrea Stan—aka Mky —

Romanian designer Andrea Stan (or Mky on 99designs) specializes in logo design and lettering, along with all things colorful, cute and quirky.

Stan plays with typography a lot in her work, offering up loads of flowery patterns and unusually shaped letters. Her very colorful creations will add a boost of energy to your feed.

Work with Mky on 99designs or follow her on Instagram

June Digan —

June Digan loves colorful, detailed watercolor illustrations and hand-lettering, and many of her creations feature both of those elements.

Recently June Digan has been creating a series with an illustration of a different city in the background for every letter of the alphabet. Each creation is limited to 80 minutes, which is incredible given the results.

Follow June Digan on Instagram

Dhamas Adhitya—aka Demonic —

Indonesian artist Dhamas Adhitya (aka Demonic) creates stunning brand identities, illustrations, product labels, t-shirt designs, and emblem logos.

Dhamas’ work is very detailed and typically has a vintage, yet epic feel. Although his illustrations are digital, he achieves a classical ink style with his designs.

Work with Demonic on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Yukai Du —

Yukai Du creates both still images and animations using brilliant blocks of colors and interesting patterns.

The designs can come off as deceptively simple at first—drawing the viewer in only to slowly reveal their complexity. For a boost of inspiration on how colors and patterns can work together in a holistic way, check out this feed.

Follow Yukai Du on Instagram

Marko Matović—aka LittleFox —

Serbian graphic designer Marko Matovic (or LittleFox on 99designs) loves working on anything connected to illustrations—from simple icons to complicated infographics.

Matovic has a playful style that is bright and colorful with lots of attention to detail. His cheerful and detailed illustrations and infographics make use of the interplay between flat design and exciting colors.

Work with LittleFox on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Maja Säfström —

For pen and ink illustrations of unique, cute characters, follow Maja Säfström.

Säfström prints many of her illustrations on fabrics as well as papers, and eventually uses watercolors to add color to some of them. These are “warm and fuzzy” illustrations without being cloying or silly, which is an art in itself.

Follow Maja Säfström on Instagram

Steven Mink —

Steven Mink, an Indonesian designer and artist, specializes in creative typography design and hand lettering.

For Mink, typography is a passion. Type isn’t something that should merely be readable. It should be beautiful and inspiring. Most of the original fonts they create have vintage and nostalgic flavors, and they overlay them onto photographs or within illustrations.

Work with Steven Mink on 99designs or follow Steven Mink on Instagram

Josh Emrich —

If Mad Men was a comedy, it would look like Josh Emrich’s work. Emrich has a vintage look and a very nostalgic late 50s and early 60s feel—with the occasional surreal nature illustration thrown in.

His detailed characters have a lot of personality. This is a great follow for anyone who simply loves art and design and wants to look at something beautiful or amazing every day.

Follow Josh Emrich on Instagram

Follow these Instagram designers for daily inspiration —

Are you itching to get back to your Instagram feed and follow some new and fantastic artists and designers? Which of these artists speaks to you? Tell us your favorites in the comments!

Wanna become part of an amazing designer community?

Let’s go

The post 18 amazing designers to follow on Instagram appeared first on 99designs.

18 amazing designers to follow on Instagram published first on https://www.lilpackaging.com/

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susaanrogers · 6 years

Text

18 amazing designers to follow on Instagram

Tania Samoshkina —

Her simple, unusual details bring her characters to life, and it’s fun to watch her feed to see what they’ll do. You’ll even spot her popping up occasionally, too!

Work with Tania on 99designs or follow Tania on Instagram

Ashwin Kandan—aka Shwin —

For a unique, colorful blend of pop art, branding, illustration, typography and editorial design, Ashwin Kandan (aka Shwin), is the person to follow.

Work with Shwin on 99designs or follow Shwin on Instagram

Neil Stevens —

Neil Stevens is an awesome follow if you’re interested in vintage, nostalgic illustrations that still retain a modern feel.

In his illustrations which are mostly flat, Stevens manages to instill depth, life, and motion. You’ll see a range of work here, from the very detailed to the very abstract.

Follow Neil Stevens on Instagram

Razvan Vezeteu—aka RazvanV —

Razvan Vezeteu’s Instagram feed reveals an artist with a respect for both the nostalgic and a modern aesthetic.

Work with RazvanV on 99designs or follow RazvanV on Instagram

Natalia Maca —

Using a slightly more subdued color palette, Maca allows the detail in her work to tell the story with illustrations that have their own unique, surrealistic style.

Work with Natalia Maca on 99designs or follow Natalia Maca on Instagram

Eli Hyder —

You like Star Wars, right? Of course you do, who doesn’t?! Eli Hyder’s work features high comic-like style Sci-Fi concepts, including lots of Star Wars inspired designs.

These digital illustrations have a watercolor and occasionally an ink feel, which connects to the comic genre.

Follow Eli Hyder on Instagram

Zombijana Bones —

Zombijana Bones (Andrijana to her friends) is a visual artist from Montenegro full of colorful and quirky humor.

Work with Zombijana Bones on 99designs or follow Zombijana Bones on Instagram

Steven Harrington —

Follow Steven Harrington for his bright and iconic style or his wacky sense of humor. Either way, you’ll be rewarded.

Harrington’s style is very psychedelic-pop, with a distinct aesthetic, cartoonish characters, and loads of humor.

Follow Steven Harrington on Instagram

Pablo Gerardo Camacho —

Surreal and hypnotic, Venezuelan graphic designer Pablo Camacho’s Instagram feed will satisfy your appetite for the unusual.

Work with Pablo Gerardo Camacho on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Thomas Burden —

Thomas Burden is the right IG to follow if you’re intrigued by the idea of claymation meets graphic design in a flurry of bright colors and 3D.

The work here features playful, fun, and engaging imagery influenced by toys, fairgrounds, and neon signage. Their designs have a very colorful, cheerful look and a three-dimensional feel.

Follow Thomas Burden on Instagram

Andrea Stan—aka Mky —

Romanian designer Andrea Stan (or Mky on 99designs) specializes in logo design and lettering, along with all things colorful, cute and quirky.

Stan plays with typography a lot in her work, offering up loads of flowery patterns and unusually shaped letters. Her very colorful creations will add a boost of energy to your feed.

Work with Mky on 99designs or follow her on Instagram

June Digan —

June Digan loves colorful, detailed watercolor illustrations and hand-lettering, and many of her creations feature both of those elements.

Follow June Digan on Instagram

Dhamas Adhitya—aka Demonic —

Indonesian artist Dhamas Adhitya (aka Demonic) creates stunning brand identities, illustrations, product labels, t-shirt designs, and emblem logos.

Dhamas’ work is very detailed and typically has a vintage, yet epic feel. Although his illustrations are digital, he achieves a classical ink style with his designs.

Work with Demonic on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Yukai Du —

Yukai Du creates both still images and animations using brilliant blocks of colors and interesting patterns.

Follow Yukai Du on Instagram

Marko Matović—aka LittleFox —

Serbian graphic designer Marko Matovic (or LittleFox on 99designs) loves working on anything connected to illustrations—from simple icons to complicated infographics.

Work with LittleFox on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Maja Säfström —

For pen and ink illustrations of unique, cute characters, follow Maja Säfström.

Follow Maja Säfström on Instagram

Steven Mink —

Steven Mink, an Indonesian designer and artist, specializes in creative typography design and hand lettering.

Work with Steven Mink on 99designs or follow Steven Mink on Instagram

Josh Emrich —

His detailed characters have a lot of personality. This is a great follow for anyone who simply loves art and design and wants to look at something beautiful or amazing every day.

Follow Josh Emrich on Instagram

Follow these Instagram designers for daily inspiration —

Are you itching to get back to your Instagram feed and follow some new and fantastic artists and designers? Which of these artists speaks to you? Tell us your favorites in the comments!

Wanna become part of an amazing designer community?

Let's go

The post 18 amazing designers to follow on Instagram appeared first on 99designs.

0 notes

pamelahetrick · 6 years

Text

18 amazing designers to follow on Instagram

Tania Samoshkina —

Her simple, unusual details bring her characters to life, and it’s fun to watch her feed to see what they’ll do. You’ll even spot her popping up occasionally, too!

Work with Tania on 99designs or follow Tania on Instagram

Ashwin Kandan—aka Shwin —

For a unique, colorful blend of pop art, branding, illustration, typography and editorial design, Ashwin Kandan (aka Shwin), is the person to follow.

Work with Shwin on 99designs or follow Shwin on Instagram

Neil Stevens —

Neil Stevens is an awesome follow if you’re interested in vintage, nostalgic illustrations that still retain a modern feel.

In his illustrations which are mostly flat, Stevens manages to instill depth, life, and motion. You’ll see a range of work here, from the very detailed to the very abstract.

Follow Neil Stevens on Instagram

Razvan Vezeteu—aka RazvanV —

Razvan Vezeteu’s Instagram feed reveals an artist with a respect for both the nostalgic and a modern aesthetic.

Work with RazvanV on 99designs or follow RazvanV on Instagram

Natalia Maca —

Using a slightly more subdued color palette, Maca allows the detail in her work to tell the story with illustrations that have their own unique, surrealistic style.

Work with Natalia Maca on 99designs or follow Natalia Maca on Instagram

Eli Hyder —

You like Star Wars, right? Of course you do, who doesn’t?! Eli Hyder’s work features high comic-like style Sci-Fi concepts, including lots of Star Wars inspired designs.

These digital illustrations have a watercolor and occasionally an ink feel, which connects to the comic genre.

Follow Eli Hyder on Instagram

Zombijana Bones —

Zombijana Bones (Andrijana to her friends) is a visual artist from Montenegro full of colorful and quirky humor.

Work with Zombijana Bones on 99designs or follow Zombijana Bones on Instagram

Steven Harrington —

Follow Steven Harrington for his bright and iconic style or his wacky sense of humor. Either way, you’ll be rewarded.

Harrington’s style is very psychedelic-pop, with a distinct aesthetic, cartoonish characters, and loads of humor.

Follow Steven Harrington on Instagram

Pablo Gerardo Camacho —

Surreal and hypnotic, Venezuelan graphic designer Pablo Camacho’s Instagram feed will satisfy your appetite for the unusual.

Work with Pablo Gerardo Camacho on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Thomas Burden —

Thomas Burden is the right IG to follow if you’re intrigued by the idea of claymation meets graphic design in a flurry of bright colors and 3D.

The work here features playful, fun, and engaging imagery influenced by toys, fairgrounds, and neon signage. Their designs have a very colorful, cheerful look and a three-dimensional feel.

Follow Thomas Burden on Instagram

Andrea Stan—aka Mky —

Romanian designer Andrea Stan (or Mky on 99designs) specializes in logo design and lettering, along with all things colorful, cute and quirky.

Stan plays with typography a lot in her work, offering up loads of flowery patterns and unusually shaped letters. Her very colorful creations will add a boost of energy to your feed.

Work with Mky on 99designs or follow her on Instagram

June Digan —

June Digan loves colorful, detailed watercolor illustrations and hand-lettering, and many of her creations feature both of those elements.

Follow June Digan on Instagram

Dhamas Adhitya—aka Demonic —

Indonesian artist Dhamas Adhitya (aka Demonic) creates stunning brand identities, illustrations, product labels, t-shirt designs, and emblem logos.

Dhamas’ work is very detailed and typically has a vintage, yet epic feel. Although his illustrations are digital, he achieves a classical ink style with his designs.

Work with Demonic on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Yukai Du —

Yukai Du creates both still images and animations using brilliant blocks of colors and interesting patterns.

Follow Yukai Du on Instagram

Marko Matović—aka LittleFox —

Serbian graphic designer Marko Matovic (or LittleFox on 99designs) loves working on anything connected to illustrations—from simple icons to complicated infographics.

Work with LittleFox on 99designs or follow him on Instagram

Maja Säfström —

For pen and ink illustrations of unique, cute characters, follow Maja Säfström.

Follow Maja Säfström on Instagram

Steven Mink —

Steven Mink, an Indonesian designer and artist, specializes in creative typography design and hand lettering.

Work with Steven Mink on 99designs or follow Steven Mink on Instagram

Josh Emrich —

His detailed characters have a lot of personality. This is a great follow for anyone who simply loves art and design and wants to look at something beautiful or amazing every day.

Follow Josh Emrich on Instagram

Follow these Instagram designers for daily inspiration —

Are you itching to get back to your Instagram feed and follow some new and fantastic artists and designers? Which of these artists speaks to you? Tell us your favorites in the comments!

Wanna become part of an amazing designer community?

Let's go

The post 18 amazing designers to follow on Instagram appeared first on 99designs.

via 99designs https://99designs.co.uk/blog/creative-inspiration-en-gb/designers-to-follow-on-instagram/

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marianneltd294-blog · 7 years

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Play A Small Amount Of Bike Video Game On Your Family Free Time

The Transformers 2 movie has been released in the UK over the last few weeks and is attracting significant attention. There is much interest in the Transformers 2 characters with introduction of a number of new elements to the Transformers story and some excellent graphics. You will find a list of the main characters below to give you a feel for what you can expect from the new movie. Sam Witwicky Sam Witwicky is the youngster who killed Megatron in the last movie and is looking for peace and a normal life in Transformers two. However, the character becomes central to the plot of the new Transformers movie as he begins to have flashbacks and hallucinations about various symbols, making him a target for the Deceptions. Mikaele Banes Played by Megan Fox, Mikaele Banes is the girlfriend of Sam Witwicky who takes a job in a motorcycle repair shop in order to fund her future education. Major William Lennox Major William Lennox plays a very central role in the new Transformers two movie as he is a great ally of the Autobots and a vital element of the fight against the Deceptions. Robert Epps Robert Epps is a colleague of Major William Lennox and yet another vital element in the fight against the Deceptions. Promoted to Chief Master Sergeant the role of Robert Epps has grown as the Transformers series has expanded. Seymour Simmons While Seymour Simmons was formerly part of a group who monitor the activity of the Transformers on earth he has now been brought into the fold by Sam to help in the fight to save the world. Even though he effectively retired from his earlier role he jumps at the chance to become more involved in the future. Ron Witwicky and Judy Witwicky Sam's parents Ron Witwicky and Judy Witwicky were oblivious to the activities of their son although now they are well aware of his position and his role. Unfortunately on a trip to Paris they become involved in their own particular battle which is covered in the movie. Leo Spitz Leo Spitz is another of Sam's team whom he roomed with at college and has vast knowledge of so-called conspiracy theories. Leo joins Sam and Mikaela in their journey to Egypt. These are in effect the main Transformers 2 Characters who will dominate our screens for the weeks and months to come and appear in various PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo games. The delight is the most important same like with a live performance, only those these dirt bike riding games in which can constitute played on the net at unquestionably the players consolation. Do you like cycle games, video game titles in which you produce to bicycle a biking as safe as that you can but also dodge many people obstacles and in addition opponents concerning the road? You can love any backdrops which often are specifically thrilling. Even though each at the online casino games offered by- the choices of terrain bike bicycling is different, the rate of event packed invigorating bike revving comes totally free of fees and could certainly be guaranteed to mostly who accomplish the casino game. Wheelers are extra kind while video-game understanding that is undoubtedly addictive due to many. So seeing as a dad or mom you will want to to find in that games the fact that to all that type they may are locating gaming a lot of fun.

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If so, then Dirt Bike 2 is probably the style for you. Or are you the kind of gamer, who just likes to let loose and let her rip? If pedal-to-the-metal action and death-defying stunts are your things, then Dirt Bike Stunts is probably the game for you. Both are free and offer their own brand of realism, but which of these will you enjoy more? Read on for a side-by-side review: Game-Play In Dirt Bike 2, it is often hard to negotiate between the sensitive controls of your bike and the rugged terrain of the environments. It is not a great game for being allowed to really fly. You must treat the bumps and hills with constant TLC from the opening level to the end. On the other hand, Dirt Bike Stunts loosens things up a bit. With each level, you get a brief section of terrain that you can quickly become familiar with. It is not about making it from one end to the other. Rather, it is about obtaining a minimum score in about 90 seconds. Plenty of time for you to learn the terrain and experiment with your jumps, yet a short enough amount that the game is ever-challenging despite its 6 short levels. Graphics The graphics on these two side-scroll games are nothing short of spectacular, especially considering what it costs you (nothing). In this area, Dirt Bike 2 gets the nod, but not by a long shot. The thing that really punches up the beauty of the game is its stark juxtaposition of animation and realism. The trees and streams and bumps and hills look like they could have been photographed, while the lone rider has a clearly cartoonish distinction that makes for a pleasing aesthetic experience. On the other hand, Dirt Bike Stunts delivers a more consistent look. The graphics share some of the realism of Dirt Bike 2, but with a slightly more animated feel, and the rider actually fits his surroundings more. Not a thing wrong with either rendering. Environments When it comes to the environments, Dirt Bike Stunts may not be quite as varied, but what it lacks in this area, it more than makes up for in layout. With sweeping slopes and expertly placed obstacles whether those obstacles are rock walls, cars, or steep hills it is designed in a way from beginning to end that allows you to take off, reach maximum speed, and fly through the air with the greatest of ease. Those landings are another story, but still much more manageable than what you will experience in Dirt Bike 2. The Winner Keeping in mind that this is strictly a matter of taste and point-of-view, I felt Dirt Bike Stunts delivered more of what I was looking for in online motorbike games. Of all the dirt bike games and stunt bike games, it is the one that more skillfully crafts both aspects into one piece of mega-entertainment. Still, it is all up to you. 180's, 360's, and even 720's abound, but does so at the price of realism. One thing neither game sacrifices, however, is fun.

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davidegbert · 7 years

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40 fantastic free Android games

Byline

Craig Grannell

The best free games for Android | Stuff

There are hundreds of fantastic games available for Android, and a lot of them are available for absolutely nothing.

Whether ad-supported or based on a (boo and indeed hiss) “freemium” model, these titles are free – and guaranteed to make your morning commute a little less painful.

To help you find just the sort of thing you're after, we've grouped the games into sections. First up is racing games, then sports, followed by platformers and endless runners, then shooters and strategy and word games, next up is puzzle and match games, and finally arcade games. Phew!

If you can't find something you like in all that lot you must already be dead.

Fun doesn’t have to require funding. Got an Android phone or tablet? Then these are the greatest games… gratis!

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Racing and sports games • Platform games and endless runners • Strategy, word and shooting games • Puzzle, match and arcade games

Racing games

Best free racing game for Android: Ridge Racer Slipstream

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Namco’s racer sits at the midpoint between Asphalt 8’s demented arcade larks and Real Racing’s overly earnest simulation leanings. Like its coin-op ancestors, though, Ridge Racer is still all about barreling along at insane speeds, and having fun — you just have to work at success a bit more than in Asphalt.

Here, driving like a total idiot will likely mean you’ll lose a race. Instead, you should only drive like a part-time maniac, slipstreaming the opposition, drifting through bends, and boosting past rivals. It looks great, sounds suitably meaty, controls really well, and even the IAP’s subdued enough that the game won’t constantly be doing wheelspins on your bank account.

Download Ridge Racer Accelerated

Asphalt 8: Airborne

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Given that this is the eighth title in the Asphalt series, it probably comes as no surprise Gameloft's got a bit bored having sports cars merely zoom along at breakneck speeds and drift for ludicrous distances.

As this game's name suggests, Asphalt 8 now also regularly finds your vehicle catapulted into the air, whereupon it can perform crazy aerial stunts that are entirely not covered by your insurance plan. As ever, the hyper-real tracks are faintly barmy too.

Download Asphalt 8: Airborne here

Big Bang Racing

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All those sci-fi thrillers about aliens invading on receiving our telly broadcasts, and it turns out they were thirsting for danger of the trials kind all along.

And so it goes in Big Bang Racing, your little green man tackling hazard-laden courses, trying very hard not to get electrocuted or crushed. It’s all rather jolly, with colourful visuals and smart controls.

Once you tire of solo play, you can pit your skills against other racers, battling their ghosts to the finish line. And once you tire of that, you can make your own courses and share them online.

Download Big Bang Racing

Final Freeway 2R

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In the 1980s, cars gleamed red, and everyone belted along multi-lane sunlit highways — oddly always in the same direction, while listening to cheesy rock music. At least if you were playing OutRun.

Final Freeway 2R is a modern take on Sega’s classic arcade racer. You get all the good bits — insane speeds, road forks, car flips on crashing — but also modern tilt controls and a pause button for when some idiot calls when you’re about to zoom away from a rival.

This is breezy no-nonsense fun of the kind that’ll smear a grin across your face (unless you’re dead inside); and if you can’t stand being a cheapskate, there’s a paid ad-free version for 79p.

Download Final Freeway 2R here

Real Racing 3

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Real Racing 3’s console-level visuals look so good that we’re still amazed we can play it on our smartphones. Throw in the easy-to-use motion-controlled steering (which actually works and doesn’t make us want to throw our phones at the wall in frustration) and you’ve got yourself one of the most polished racers in the Google Play Store.

Its freemium model, which involves having to take large breaks between races unless you pay to speed things up, got plenty of criticism on its release, but once you've got a few cars in your garage it's not a big problem. Besides, it's well deserving of a little of your cash.

Download Real Racing 3 here

Sports games

Best free sports game for Android: Super Stickman Golf 3

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Super Stickman Golf 3’s ancestor is the same Apple II Artillery game Angry Birds has at its core, but Noodlecake’s title is a lot more fun than catapulting birds around.

It’s a larger-than-life side-on mini-golf extravaganza, with you thwacking balls about giant forests, moon bases, and metal-clad courses with a suspiciously high deadly saw-blade and laser count. The single-player game’s fun, but SSMG 3 really comes into its own in multiplayer, whether you’re taking the more sedate turn-by-turn route or ball-smacking at speed in the frenetic race mode.

Download Super Stickman Golf 3 here

Flappy Golf 2

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Given that it was conceived as a joke, riffing off Flappy Bird, Flappy Golf was a surprise hit. Despite being utterly stupid, it proved a compelling experience as you tapped to flap a winged ball around courses from Super Stickman Golf 2.

Flappy Bird 2 is a moderately more serious affair, in the sense it has a bit more polish. This time, you’re flitting about courses from Super Stickman Golf 3. As ever, sinking the ball in relatively few shots nets you stars, used to unlock more courses. The best bit, though: the absurd, fast and furious multiplayer race mode.

Download Flappy Golf 2

Dunkers - Basketball Madness

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The clue’s in the title with Dunkers, in that it’s unhinged – although it does at least bear some resemblance to basketball. Cartoon characters face off, and you must score as many points as possible before your opponent dunks for glory.

The nuttiness mostly comes by way of weirdly floaty physics and oddball controls – you get a button for moving backwards and another for leaping forwards. Also, the players never stop maniacally spinning their arms, and there’s – for some reason – occasionally a trampoline on court. It’s a far cry from the likes of NBK, but a lot more silly, and loads of fun – especially in same-device two-player mode.

Download Dunkers - Basketball Madness

Score! World Goals

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At the dawn of smartphone gaming, path-drawing titles became hugely popular, the most famous having you land planes. Score! World Goals is more grounded, and also immerses you in a little history: you attempt to reproduce the path of balls during some of the greatest goals of all time.

It sounds like a mundane task, but it's compelling to work your way through so many dazzling moments, and the game's smart enough to realistically scupper any attempt to go off-plan and do your own thing.

Download Score! World Goals

New Star Soccer

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New Star Soccer reimagines the beautiful game in an abstract and not entirely realistic fashion that owes a lot to ancient management games for the C64 and ZX Spectrum.

There's no FIFA-style TV-like action here; instead, you get a selection of mini-games, giving you chances to score and pass during matches and increase your skills during training. The remainder of the game is about balancing life, keeping your boss, team and partner happy, while occasionally sneaking out to the casino and buying the odd fighter jet. Hey, we said 'not entirely realistic'.

Download New Star Soccer here

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Racing and sports games • Platform games and endless runners • Strategy, word and shooting games • Puzzle, match and arcade games

Platformers

Best free platform game for Android: Super Cat Bros

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There’s more than a whiff of classic platform-game action in this moggie-infused title, what with its leapy gameplay, varied settings, coin collection, secret areas, and chunky graphics. But the big win in Super Cat Bros is the controls, which are specifically designed for touchscreens.

Two thumbs are all you need, to have your cat run, jump (double tap off a platform’s edge), and wall-jump (tap the opposite direction to the wall you’re clinging from). At first, your brain will argue with your thumbs; before long, you’ll want all virtual joysticks banned in favour of systems as smart as this one.

Download Super Cat Bros

Swordigo

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Before all games had to be 3D by law, the 2D adventure-platformer reigned supreme. On touchscreens, these games are usually a bit rubbish, due to iffy design and even worse controls, but Swordigo bucks the trend.

You get a huge magical realm of monsters to fight, treasures to find, and towns to explore. Any whiff of nostalgia is rapidly expunged as you become engrossed in the plot, give giant spiders a serious kicking, and do your best Harry Potter impersonation with the aid of enemy-troubling spells.

Download Swordigo here

Bean Dreams

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This deceptively simple platform game strips the genre right back, placing a firm emphasis on learning levels, timing, and exploration. Your jumping bean never stops bouncing, and you simply guide it left or right.

The usual platform-game tropes are evident: monsters to jump on; fruit and gems to gather. But Bean Dreams cleverly adds replay value by way of missions that can’t all be completed on a single run: sticking to a bounce count; finding hidden pet axolotls; and collecting all the fruit.

What first seems simple and reductive is really a big challenge, but the straightforward controls are perfect for touchscreens, rather than you spending most of your time battling a hideous virtual D-pad.

Download Bean Dreams

Beneath The Lighthouse

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Nitrome has a habit of unleashing ostensibly ‘casual’ titles that hide a ferocious underbelly. Beneath The Lighthouse is perhaps the developer’s finest, largely through doing something different and being a perfect fit for mobile.

The conceit is the lighthouse has failed, forcing you to search the caverns beneath for your lost grandpa. Each room is a circular death trap, rotated by turning an on-screen wheel. Your rotund character then moves by way of the magic of gravity. With luck, he’ll make the exit; if not, he’ll probably be nastily impaled.

The level design is smart and rapidly becomes challenging, especially if you want to win speedrun medals. The game’s freemium nature is fair, too. You get three lives per stage, which can be refreshed by watching an ad; £3.59 removes ads and life limits forever.

Download Beneath The Lighthouse

Mos Speedrun

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Mos Speedrun is a platform game with the need for speed. It’s a kind of stripped-back Mario, where you leg it left and right, leaping about, trying to find the exit before a strict timer runs down. Beat the clock and you win a badge. Badges are also awarded for grabbing all the coins littered about the place and finding a hidden skull.

Cunningly, you can’t do all these things at once. You’re therefore properly rewarded for repeat play, carefully picking through levels rather than belting along. At least until the final few, where Mos Speedrun merrily bludgeons your confidence to a bloody pulp while wearing a manic toothy grin.

There are minor niggles on Android — the controls are (very) occasionally a touch suspect — but Mos’s retro charms, fast pace, and smart level design win it a place on our best-of list. And there’s a sequel too, which is more expansive (albeit less focussed) and, if anything, even more likely to leave you a gibbering wreck, due to its brutal nature.

Download Mos Speedrun here

Endless runners

Best free endless runner for Android: Disney Crossy Road

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Endless Frogger meets Disney in a rare example of an indie dev/movie house tie-up that works perfectly.

The mechanics will be familiar to anyone who’s played the excellent original — tap and swipe to have a blocky protagonist weave through traffic and deftly jump across rivers. But the addition of Disney characters finds you battling your way through retro versions of famous animated worlds, dodging tumbling blocks in Toy Story, filing memories for bonuses in Inside Out, and avoiding a psychotic suit of armour in Haunted House.

Download Disney Crossy Road

Alto’s Adventure

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Having made a graceful leap from iOS to Android, Alto’s Adventures now enables many millions more to enjoy the escapades of the titular Alto.

In theory, he’s supposed to be catching escaped llamas. But mostly, this is a game about messing around on snowy slopes, blazing through mountain villages, performing stunts, collecting hovering coins, and trying to stay ahead of spoilsport elders with sticks, angry at Alto’s maverick nature and distaste at sitting in a pen that smells of llama poop.

Download Alto’s Adventure

Tomb of the Mask

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This one feels like someone tried to recreate an endless Pac-Man starring a hyperactive flea trapped inside a ZX Spectrum. As you swipe, your little tomb-raider leaps from surface to surface, trying to outrun an encroaching wall of doom, avoid spikes, and grab all the bling.

The colours might be eye-searing, but they also provide a great sense of clarity regarding what you should and shouldn’t collide with. And, although the speedy gameplay might irk when you end up getting regularly impaled, Tomb of the Mask has plenty of replay value, whether high-score chasing in the endless arcade version or working through fixed challenges in the newer map mode.

Download Tomb of the Mask

Barrier X

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There’s fast and there’s fast, Barrier X is blink-and-you-die gaming, rather like if someone took ALONE…, remade it in 3D, and then strapped a rocket-booster to its already blazing along frame.

The aim is simply survival, avoiding the many barriers some idiot’s left dotted about the sparse landscape. You move left or right, avoiding death by a whisker, and wonder whether your rapidly drying eyes will blink when you finally come a cropper.

Manage 30 seconds and you’ll feel like a gaming giant, at which point Barrier X wryly adds to the challenge by way of new rules and enemy craft that you somehow have to shoot – all while avoiding slamming into an endless number of walls heading your way at stupid m.p.h.

Download Barrier X here

Looty Dungeon

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Yes, we know – this one looks an awful lot like another Crossy Road, only in a dungeon. But while the visuals are as chunky as a Lego Yorkie bar, the floor keeps falling into the void to urge you onwards, and the controls are the same old swipe-y business, Looty Dungeon is a very different beast.

In this game, the aim’s always to escape the current tiny dungeon. Mostly, you avoid traps. Sometimes, you have to kill all of the things. Occasionally, you battle mean, blocky bosses. It’s like a retro-infused and brutally stripped-back Diablo on fast-forward – and for that, it’s an essential download.

Looty Dungeon

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Racing and sports games • Platform games and endless runners • Strategy, word and shooting games • Puzzle, match and arcade games

Strategy and word games

Best free strategy or word game for Android: Clash Royale

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This mash-up of RTS and card collecting has you battle opponents online in single-screen arenas. Individual, varied units are plonked on the battlefield from your deck, each costing elixir that refills as you fight. Wins come by clocking an opponent’s strategy, and countering with cunning combos.

Clash Royale’s freemium, so obviously designed to mug your wallet, but canny players can progress for free; and it’s hugely compelling, so although your bank balance might be safe, your free time won’t be.

Download Clash Royale

The Battle for Polytopia

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Essentially a miniature Civilization, Polytopia has you command a tiny tribe, aiming to discover new technologies, expand your empire, and duff up anyone who gets in your way.

The visuals are bright, the little isometric worlds are suitably claustrophobic, and the simplifications over Civ are smart, keeping things fluid without robbing Polytopia of strategy and depth.

One of the best bits: although there is a standard ‘kill everyone else’ mode, Polytopia also offers a ‘be the best within just 30 moves’ option. On the easiest settings, this is a cinch – but crank up the difficulty level and such limitations prove to be a stern challenge.

Download The Battle for Polytopia

Solitairica

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Evil Emperor Stuck has nicked all the hearts from the land of Myriodd, and it’s your job to get them back. In your way: quite a few enemies to defeat using… solitaire. No, really.

In this oddball world, you try to remove chains of cards from the wall before you, through matching those higher or lower than whatever you currently hold. Some cards unleash energies, which can be used to cast spells. In return, your enemies give you a kicking using spells and attacks of their own.

This might sound baffling, but Solitairica proves an immediate, entertaining and compelling card game with a dash of fantasy RPG.

Download Solitairica

Alphabear

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This strange word game is about making the biggest bears. Every turn, letters spring up from the ground, with countdown timers that decrease during subsequent moves. Space cleared by using letters is filled with grumbling bears. But when a letter hits zero, it turns to stone, thwarting any truly mega-bear expansion that’d net maximum points.

The game’s underpinned by a slightly irksome freemium model (although you can permanently remove the timers with an IAP) and a baffling power-up based on a collection of bears. Said bears can be activated to adjust letter counts or scores in your next game. Some players will probably coo at the adorable bear in the duck costume before catching themselves and frantically trying to find a game with guns and explosions. (But you’d be best off playing more Alphabear, because it’s really good.)

Download Alphabear

Plague Inc.

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There aren’t many games where you get to play the bad guy, and in Plague Inc you get to play the baddest guy of them all: a virus that kills off (if you play your cards right) the entire human race.

Choose where your plague starts and develop it to spread at the correct rate – all the while keeping one step ahead of those working on a cure – and chuckle to yourself as the world descends into absolute chaos and awfulness. The apocalypse has never been so much fun.

Download Plague Inc here

Shooting games

Best free shooting game for Android: Galaxy On Fire 2 HD

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A spaceship shooter with a 20-hour campaign and some of the best visuals Android has to offer, Galaxy On Fire 2 is about as close to Elite as you can get in a modern mobile game. Yes, there are ads and in-app purchases, but neither spoils the experience of making your way through this grand space opera.

Download Galaxy On Fire 2 HD here

Time Locker

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If you thought vertical shooters would be a mite easier if you could freeze the action, Time Locker suggests otherwise. In this dazzling low-poly world of heavily armed critters, everything moves only when you do – bar a relentlessly encroaching all-devouring darkness.

This is initially disorienting, but the action nonetheless feels fresh from the off. And Time Locker really grabs hold as you learn to play with time, slowing down to weave between swarms of enemies, carefully manoeuvring to pick off gun emplacements, and risking blazing ahead when bosses and the deadly abyss are in hot pursuit.

Download Time Locker

PewPew

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We’ll forever be grateful to Geometry Wars for bringing back the magic of twin-stick classic Robotron and dressing it in neon. And, indeed, the superb Geometry Wars 3 is available for Android.

But if you’re determined to spend no money whatsoever, PewPew is excellent for scratching your SHOOT ALL OF THE THINGS itch. Your little ship is plonked in tiny arenas, fending off all manner of vector nasties. You dodge with your left thumb, aim with your right, and blame them both when inevitably getting killed.

The frame rate is silky smooth, the music’s head-noddingly good, and there are four additional and very different modes (Dodge! Chromatic Conflict! Pandemonium! Asteroids!) should you tire of the original.

Download PewPew here

Pixel Craft - Space Shooter

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There’s a pleasingly silly vibe at the heart of this shooter: the soundtrack is absurdly urgent, while the dinky pixel graphics look like they’ve escaped from 1980s arcade games and are desperate for a scrap. Your aim, as ever, is to SHOOT ALL OF THE THINGS – until one of them shoots you.

Actually, Pixel Craft isn’t quite that unforgiving. It’s three-hits-and-you’re-dead rather than one-shot-to-kill, and you can continue your go by agreeing to watch an ad (which neatly doesn’t start until your game is over).

If our experience is anything to go by, the oddball foes (including a boss that appears to be an ancient console spitting Tetris blocks) will tear your face off again and again - but Pixel Craft has such manic energy that you’ll immediately clamour for another go.

Download Pixel Craft - Space Shooter

Hectic Space 2

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The visuals in Hectic Space 2 might evoke retro-gaming, in all their lurid and chunky single-colour glory, but this side-on shooter is a far cry from the fare you got on steam-powered consoles and computers. Instead, this is modern-day bullet-hell, with you weaving a ship between a spray of projectiles.

You start off with a few lives. They won’t last long. But over time you’ll learn when best to use power-ups against the semi-randomised waves of foes, before inevitably getting blown to pieces by bosses such as a massive skull that spews fire.

Hectic Space 2

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Racing and sports games • Platform games and endless runners • Strategy, word and shooting games • Puzzle, match and arcade games

Puzzle and match game

Best free puzzle or match game for Android: Threes! Free

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In Threes!, you move cards around a four-by-four board, merging pairs, which then double in value. The snag? Every time you slide your finger, all cards on the board move in that direction, assuming they’re not blocked. The other snag: after every move, a new card shows up in a random empty spot on the board edge you dragged from.

Threes! therefore becomes a delicate balancing act: you must think several moves ahead, because your game’s done when no more moves are available.

Cloned like crazy shortly after release, Threes! nonetheless shone compared to the countless cheap rip-offs, through its breezy personality and tighter rules.

This free version is identical to the paid release, bar having to watch video ads to get extra goes. And, yes, you can queue up a load if you’re going to be offline for a while.

Download Threes! Free

Imago

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This one initially comes across like a Threes! rip-off, given that you’re sliding tiles around a board. But the mechanics are unique enough to make for a very different — yet equally compelling — experience.

The aim here is to merge tiles of the same size and colour to form large blocks (four by four or, later, eight by four). These then ‘explode’ back into individual squares, each retaining the score of its parent. Savvy planning and chain reactions can quickly see your score leap into the many millions.

There’s some weird IAP lurking (such as the game begging you to pay for extra moves once you run out), but ignore that and Imago’s one of the finest puzzlers around.

Download Imago

Perchang

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Perchang is a great game for making you feel like a colossal idiot. In theory, it’s brain-numbingly simple – all you need to do is get some marbles into a hole. This is done by prodding red and/or blue buttons to activate bits of machinery (ramps, fans, magnets, and the like) dotted about the place, which can help get the metal folks home.

The reality is somewhat different. Although early levels lead you gently by the hand, the single-screen challenges soon use said hand to give you a slap. The contraptions you face become alarmingly complex, requiring some deft timing and juggling for you to not end up losing your marbles (figuratively and literally).

Download Perchang

Sage Solitaire

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This effort from the developer behind the excellent SpellTower rethinks solitaire for portrait mobile devices. Out goes tedious filing by suit. In comes a fast-paced match effort heavily influenced by poker.

Extra depth is found in varying heights of card piles, a rule stating you must use cards from at least two rows in every hand, a multiplier suit for double points, and two trashes that replenish after successful turns.

For free, you get the entire standard game. The single IAP unlocks further modes, stats tracking, wallpapers and card backs.

Download Sage Solitaire

Moveless Chess

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It turns out wizards are massive cheats at chess. Rather than thinking several moves ahead, they use their magical powers to change pieces already on the board. Checkmatio! Or something.

Only, in Moveless Chess, this comes back to bite you, when it turns out your magical energies are severely limited, but your opponent will merrily carry on playing. And in some kind of universal karma, you’re restricted from moving pieces in the usual manner, too. Serves you right.

What we have here, then, is essentially 64 puzzles with a distinctly chess-y flavour, providing a wizard spin on an old favourite. And, no, we won’t apologise for that pun.

Download Moveless Chess

Arcade games

Best free arcade game for Android: PinOut!

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Pinball on smartphones always feels cramped, like someone tried to squeeze a house into a shoebox. PinOut! is different. Its single, massive table stretches far into the distance, challenging you with belting a ball along against the clock.

The table’s divided into short sections, which you get past by successfully hitting ramps. If the ball drops between the flippers, you don’t lose lives, but time.

The entire game’s drenched in neon and synth-pop, like you’ve been hurled into a fusion of Tron, pinball and a 1980s disco. It works brilliantly even on the smallest screen, ramping up the tension as the clock ticks down and your sausage fingers prevent you from reaching the bonuses that temporarily reset the timer.

Download PinOut!

Badland 2

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The original Badland chronicled something of a bad day for a bat-like creature hurled through nightmarish hazard-filled tests. In this sequel, things haven’t got any better for our winged chum, bar his newfound ability to move in both directions.

Yep – whereas Badland was ‘tap to flap’, Badland 2 demands two thumbs, with you directing the doomed critter left or right. That might not sound like much of a change, but it makes for a radically different play experience as the poor protagonist is hurled about dizzying multidirectional roller-coasters before being impaled, fried, or sawn in half.

This bat needs a better agent.

Download Badland 2

Frisbee Forever

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If someone bounded up to you and enthused about an officially licensed Frisbee® game, you’d probably consider them some kind of lunatic, but Frisbee Forever somehow manages to be really good.

It’s essentially a series of on-rails rollercoasters, and you nudge your plastic disc left or right, to collect stars along the way. The scenery is all cartoonish pirate ships and snowy landscapes, more bringing to mind Nintendo than a freebie Android game; and although IAP lurks, it’s not really necessary, since every attempt at a level (including those that end in failure) rewards you with XP for unlocking new worlds.

Download Frisbee Forever here

Silly Sausage: Doggy Dessert

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Doggy Dessert features a stretchy canine attempting to inch his way through a surprisingly deadly landscape of sugary treats. Instead of walking, he expands until reaching another platform. Clinging on, his backside then snaps back into place. A Marvel superhero movie’s surely due any day now.

Until then, you’ll have to figure out the best way to work past spikes and saw blades, grabbing gems along the way that can be used to buy access to kennels that act as restart points. Not got a sweet tooth? Predecessor Silly Sausage in Meatland is equally tasty.

Download Silly Sausage: Doggy Dessert

Spaceteam

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Multi-device party games are usually a bit glib, but Spaceteam bucks the trend with a quirky and oddball take on co-op gameplay. Between two and four players are part of the Spaceteam (red jerseys optional), and must give orders, to try and stop your ship exploding, a ship – naturally – that happens to be attempting to outrun an exploding star.

It's a very silly game, and you can't help but love anything on Google Play that has 'Beveled Nanobuzzers' as an item in its feature list.

Download Spaceteam here

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