[PREVIEW] Amat3ur Chess

Amat3ur Chess is an upcoming single-player chess simulation game. It has been my dream for a long time to create a chess game with a CPU opponent and finally this year I took on the challenge.

The game is about 85% finished and most work remains on enhancing the artificial "intelligence". One thing is for certain: this game will come to feature one of the stupidest chess CPU players in the history of chess.

[FINISHED] Amat3ur Winter Olympics 2010: Ski Jumping

Amat3ur Ski Jumping is a ski jumping game I made during the Vancouver Olympics earlier this year. It is a part of the infamous Amat3ur sports series and a follow-up to such epic early 2000s hits as Amat3ur Archery, Amat3ur Skateboarding and Amat3ur Run. Unfortunately it remains one of the few game projects I have ever finished. While not perfect, Amat3ur Ski Jumping is a very simple and fun ski jumping game to play.

The game features 24 unique jumpers from 24 countries (including such curiosities as Greater Finland, Nazi Germany and Mordor) and six unique hills from around the world: Kuopio, Oberstdorf, Rocky Mountain, Antarktis, North Korea and Mordor. Part of the jumpers and hills will be unlocked only after winning trophies, breaking records or gathering enough points.

In addition to the single competition the game features a Four Hills competition. Winning the big competition requires both skill and luck - and it doesn't hurt to choose a jumper with high balance, jump and luck attributes.

As for the jumping, first comes the set off screen. The player must look at the wind meter and choose a good moment to set off. Tailwind, naturally, is ideal but it is not always an option. Next the player must balance the jumper in mid-air: poor balance results in a shorter jump. Then comes the landing screen. The player needs to stop the landing meter in the right place. Missing the landing causes the jumper to fall down, significantly lowering the style points given by the referees. A perfect landing, then again, results in great style points as well as a few meters longer jump.

As in real ski jumping, one competition features two jumps. Both the jump length as well as the style points determine the maximum points given. With five challengers it is not an easy task to win a competition!

[FORSAKEN] Kalevala I: The Rise And Fall of Lemminkäinen

Kalevala I: The Rise And Fall of Lemminkäinen was a 2D RPG I was working on earlier this year. Due to unresolved memory bug issues I have dismissed the project, so I might as well put these screenshots out in the open.

[PREVIEW] Hour of the Dead

Hour of the Dead

Seth Ramirez, an ex-SWAT from New York, was one of the lucky ones. Over six years ago, just a few weeks after it started, Ramirez and his wife Sarah were able to find an abandoned shelter full of food and water. The safehouse was a double-edged sword: while the walls kept the zombies out, they also kept Seth and Sarah in.

When the TV broadcasts ended, it had already spread through the whole continent. There had been reports of outbrake in Ireland, Morocco, even Japan. Soon after the radio died. Four years they lived in the small safehouse. Past became present. Memories and hallucinations intermingled. Trapped inside, yet safe.

Half of the city was on fire and after a year the poisonous fumes started making their way indoors making breathing painful even for a person with no asthma. It was two years ago when Sarah's asthma started getting worse. One week later she was dead. For the first time in four years Seth Ramirez left his safehouse to bury his wife. On his way back he was surprised by a pack of undead and barely survived back to the safe haven. This was two years ago.

Now the day has come - the day Seth Ramirez has feared. He has run out of food and water and it is time to start looking for a new safehouse. Perhaps there are other survivors? Or is he the last man standing? Equipped with a shotgun and but five shells Seth Ramirez is about take a leap into the unknown. What lies ahead?

Hour of the Dead is a post-apocalyptical ASCII survival horror shooter. Mixing elements from the Resident Evil series as well as the Silent Hill series and applying them into the ASCII world, Hour of the Dead casts the player on a desolate journey across an urban wasteland inhabited by the dead.

Typical of the survival horror genre, there is a constant lack of shells, and thus playing an action hero won't get you far in this game. Cunning is required and often it is wiser to evade the zombies than to charge them full on. The brain-eating pack has a great sense of smell and every now and then the player might encounter a stronger and quicker zombie lord. Health packs are scarce.

Applying the combination of a chainsaw, blocks, a fire extinguisher and matches the player is able to alter his surroundings. Set fires or assign blocks to keep the zombies away. Use the chainsaw to cut through walls or the fire extinguisher to extinguish fires and open new paths. Some walls can also be shot to smithereens but saving shotgun shells is vital.

Walking through fire or barbed wire damages the player. Letting a zombie too near, however, is a guaranteed way of getting dead fast. In addition to health packs the player needs to locate fresh water on a regular basis to stay in shape: thirst causes a slow but painful death and makes you easier prey for the undead.

Hour of the Dead will be released in June 2010.