BADGE RSS!!1!

Woot! Kongregate user tehniobium made us the Kongregates Badges RSS that we've all been updating!! It runs on his servers, updates every 10 MINUTES, and shows the 20 latest badges so you don't miss them! I've added the RSS to the sidebar, and you can add this to your personal toolbar by visiting here!

Thanks tehnobium! :D

BoomsticK review

Yes, we finally got a review! Done by SuitedCriminal over at GIFlux.

This shooter, developed by innercircus, from Abduction Studios Inc., is one of my personal favourites – not only because I like saying “boomstick” (I like doing redneck impressions: “Martha! GIT ME MAH BOOMSTICK!!! Etc). Its gameplay is very simple; control your character (who to me looks like a sort of astronaut/ninja), shoot your shotgun’s glowing squares at the floating, and also glowing, shapes, and collect the ammo they drop. Each kill drops much needed ammo – quickly grab it before it disappears and your ammo runs out or it will be game over for you. The art style on this game is very simple, yet very professional – the glowing effects on the enemies and the bullets is like a miniature light show, and you can’t help but try to create the best display while playing the game.

The game is very addictive; the simple controls, the amazing graphics and the brilliant music and sound effects all combine to form an enjoyable experience, blasting the evil floating shapes. The accuracy and rank you attain, displayed after every round, make you want to improve your ranking, if only to brag that you managed to get over 200% accuracy (which I have done! Check the screenshot!). Although the shapes can’t hurt you until later in the game when they sometimes fire red lasers at you (getting hit by these lasers makes you lose 5 of your precious ammo) or the purple balls try to squash you, your main problem is the lack of ammo. Blasting away at the shapes in the sky, you tend to forget you have limited ammunition and run out, losing the game.

The music’s electronic sounds are futuristic – techno music suits the game perfectly – the whole art style and the music go together very well making the game a visual and aural treat.

Now for the criticisms: the lack of ammo offers a challenge but if you blast away in the first tier, you have ruined the game for yourself, ensuring a game over in the next few levels, for new players this may seem “stupid” and they may just change games because it is too hard for them. Also, the fact that you have to click the menu button to pause instead of just pressing P is very annoying, especially when you click to shoot; accidentally miss the menu button by the tiniest gap and you have wasted your ammo – the same goes for the level select and unpausing the game – a possible solution could be a delay before allowing the player to shoot when choosing the level, and pressing P to pause instead of clicking. The game could also have more variety; there could be options to change your character, change the colour of the bullets you fire, change the background… but these do not make the game any less brilliant. The repetitiveness of the game is also an issue, it is just a case of shooting and moving around to pick up the ammo the enemies drop, more powerups could change this however.

Overall - 11/15

New badges!

Badges overload recently with 11 BADGES in 2/3 days! 7 were ranked EASY, 1 MEDIUM, and the last 3 HARD

Games that got badges:

'You Have to Burn The Rope': 1 badge (Easy)
'Mardek RPG: Chapter 2': 4 badges (1 Easy, 3 Hard)
'Understanding Games Episodes 1, 2, 3, and 4': 1 badge each (All Easy)
'Warlords: Call to Arms': 2 badges (1 easy, 1 medium)

Any comments, ideas/suggestions, remember to comment! :D

Art forumz

OK, after my other failing art thread until recently revived (here) - I made another one, made purely with MSPaint! I done 2 wimminz and a set of smilies so far. See here for the thread - Remember to post (and comment here ;D)!

Interviewzorz w/ smigbob

Woot! My first interview! XD Thanks again, Wizky, for letting me post here! Our interview for today is with Kongregate's very own smigbob!

smigbob: You're running the show, start interviewing!

kirbyviper93: Alright, first question: When did you first sign up on Kongregate?

smigbob: In July, Yahoo had a feature about free indie games. DTD was featured, along with Dark Cut, Dwarven Fortress, and a few others, but DTD got me hooked. I accidentally clicked the "Play More Games!" link. The rest, as they say, is history.

kirbyviper93: you pretty much answered my next question, which was gonna be, "What brought you to Kongregate?" What chat room do you originally hail from?

smigbob: Digg Mark 1, born and raised. However, during my "teenage" years, I joined the high and mighty in teh Van, and was immediately made into one of the Kong 31337.

kirbyviper93: do you remember some of your first friends?

smigbob: Renny141 was my very first friend. Many of the other DM1 residents soon followed, such as Dragoness188, spartakips, and ItBeNickYo.

kirbyviper93: sorry if I take so long to respond, I'm trying to juggle an interview and a conversation with my girlfriend at the same time

smigbob: OMFG! A KONGREGANT HAS A GIRLFRIEND!?!?!?!

kirbyviper93: I know, it's unheard of, right? >.<

smigbob: lol, jk. I've got one too.

kirbyviper93: haha anyways... What are some of your favorite games?

smigbob: Well, not DTD! After using it to find Kong, I started to hate it. But I love Streamline, and a lot of the adventure and RPG's.

kirbyviper93: how many impossible badges do you have?

smigbob: Right now, 5 or 6. Line Game, Streamline, SCGMD2, Orbular, Gravitee, and Fold.

kirbyviper93: wow, you've got me beat, I only have the Streamline and SCGMD2 impossibles...

smigbob: Next up: Hexiom

kirbyviper93: Next question: You frequent the forums, yes?

smigbob: I used to a lot more than I do now, but I'm starting to come back.

kirbyviper93: what annoys you most on the forums, other than the obvious? (trolls, flamers, spammers, etc.)

smigbob: Bad spelling and grammar. 1337speak is one thing, but just typing everything like you only have three seconds to write it is frickadickulous.

kirbyviper93: agreed. now then, next topic: real life

smigbob: Arrg. IRL, I R Cookie! Not really.

kirbyviper93: I want a cookie now... ANYWAYS When you're not on Kong, what can you most often be found doing?

smigbob: Sleeping. I have a real exciting life outside school and Kong.

kirbyviper93: as indicated by your answer >.<

smigbob: But at school, I'm in the musical, so that takes up a lot of my time.

kirbyviper93: awesome, what's the musical?

smigbob: The Music Man. Takes place in Iowa in 1912. That's right, I'm a song-and-dance guy. Call me gay for it, I'll Web-kick your ass.

kirbyviper93: dude, the guys that get into theater are the smart ones. great place to meet girls

smigbob: I know! There's 42 girls to 12 guys.

kirbyviper93: exactly!

smigbob: Including more than half the cheerleading squad.

kirbyviper93: of course. we should get back on topic

smigbob: Right.

kirbyviper93: What's the most exciting thing that's happened to you?

smigbob: Ever? I dunno. I shook the President's hand at a campaign rally in '04...

kirbyviper93: that's pretty cool

smigbob: I really haven't had anything special happen to me, I have a fairly ordinary life. But not necessarily boring...

kirbyviper93: yeah, that's always the case, I think. What else do you do, outside of school and Kong?

smigbob: I have lots of animals to take care of, I enjoy a good book, movie, and most importantly, METAL!

kirbyviper93: \\m//

smigbob: lol

kirbyviper93: Alright, last section is just whatever I feel like asking

smigbob: Mkay, shoot.

kirbyviper93: True or false: there are no wimmenz on teh intarwebz.

smigbob: False. I know of a few...

kirbyviper93: good answer. What other games do you play, other than things on Kong?

smigbob: Ancient Domains of Mystery. It's a rougelike RPG, meaning no graphics, but the gameplay is as good as it gets. And a few others, but that's by far my favorite.

kirbyviper93: what can you not stand to see happen?

smigbob: A girl get put down by her "boyfriend". It just sickens me watching "lovers" hurt eachother.

kirbyviper93: agreed. to everyone reading: if you really love your bf/gf, don't put them down

smigbob: But that doesn't mean be creepily complimentary. Just treat others how you would like to be treated. It's amazing how that first grade golden rule comes to bite us in the ass later on in life.

kirbyviper93: This has been a public service announcement from kirbyviper93 and smigbob. What's the longest you've ever gone without sleep, and why were you up?

smigbob: I'm going on it right now. I haven't slept since Friday night, and won't until Wednesday.

kirbyviper93: just trying to set a personal record, huh?

smigbob: No, that's just the way things go. In AAA-AAA-AAA-AAAL-BUQUERQUE!

kirbyviper93: haha

smigbob: Weird Al FTW! They see me rollin', they laughin', and rollin' their eyes 'cuz I'm so White and Nerdy...

kirbyviper93: haha I used to know all the words to that

smigbob: My ergonomic keyboard never leaves me bored...

kirbyviper93: I memorized Holy Grail really well, I can recite it right now, and have you ROTFLOL

smigbob: I got a business doin' yadda-yadda, can we get back on topic?

kirbyviper93: yeah, that's probably a good idea. speaking of music, name a couple of your favorite bands (like how I tied that in there? ;-D)

smigbob: Iron Maiden (hence the avatar), Iron Maiden, Iron Maiden, and did I mention Iron Maiden?

kirbyviper93: uhh, you might have =P

smigbob: And Metallica, Black Tide, Avenged Sevenfold, Anthrax, etc.

kirbyviper93: A7X FTW

smigbob: Beast and the Harlot the the best metal song so far this millenium. By far.

kirbyviper93: for sure. now then, to wrap this interview up, is there anything you'd like to say to people reading this?

smigbob: I am a paranoid schizophrenic, and you're fly's down.

kirbyviper93: nice way to wrap that up there

smigbob: I know. Actually, I want to say one thing to all Kong users: QUIT THE STUPID CHATROOM ROLEPLAYING! IT'S ANNOYING AS HELL SOMETIMES, AND NOBODY CAN GET HALF AN INTELLIGENT REMARK IN! Sorry. /rant

kirbyviper93: and with that... [/interview]

smigbob: Thanks kirby! Bye now!

kirbyviper93: thanks for putting up with me =D

smigbob: Barely...I mean, it was a pleasure!

April Fools!

Heh, happy (or not so happy) April Fools' Day. :p

Also, KONGREGATE RELEASED KONGAI!! CHECK - here - and a news post here about it!!



Please comment as usual btw!