Smartbomb

Ghettris is a deeply serious game about racial segregation. Players are given a sequence of randomly-shaped blocks of a particular colour; green, say. Once they have completed a solid, horizontal line, the line fuses together to form a ‘ghetto’. Then the player starts getting blocks of a different colour; say, indigo. Players must complete an [...]

Invader is a charming 2D adventure game by dessgeega. I chose it as the subject of a close textual analysis, written as part of my coursework this year. Rather than simply copy/paste the whole 3,000 word analysis here, I’ll summarise my findings. Invader is a delicately considered game based on the iconic interplanetary conflict of [...]

Puzzle Park is a fun little game I devised as part of the coursework for one of my game design modules. My original idea was to hybridise the tight spacial challenge of Tetris with the broad elemental planning of Sim City, to create a casual puzzle game in which players would create a patchwork landscape [...]

In Whalestrike, you play as a young boy who is friends with a cyborg whale from space. Your objective is to destroy modern society by assaulting a string of contemporary strongholds, with the help of your heavily-armed pal. Key to the game is that you must dodge your own attacks – the enemies are relatively [...]

The Weekly Game Idea feature is an attempt to get my brain ticking over by coming up with little nuggets of invention. They’re deliberately quite short and shallow, because I usually just want to get across a single idea; I have a separate category for actual, grown-up game design stuff. I will endeavour to come [...]