Picture courtesy of Flash Gaming Summit, Mochi Media

The Flash game community, regardless of whether their work is Flash, Unity, or wherever they make games now, is a community full of incredible people.  I am proud to be part of it.

Flash Gaming Summit and GDC happened a few weeks ago and I’ve been putting off the recap of what happened there.  I’m not going to speak much to the conference itself or GDC talks (both were great and speak for themselves, go to them!), but more about what was realized and confirmed there.

The Talk

I did have a solo presentation about my work at a Flash Gaming Summit… I called it, “A Personal Retrospect: A Decade of Flash Game Design.”  It was the most I’ve ever talked about myself and it took a lot for me to even get up there on stage.  Not out of stage fright or any normal speaking role discomfort, but because I am generally someone who doesn’t talk about their career; I am usually far more interested in what others have to say.  Nonetheless, the talk went really well, was fueled by coffee (I finished the talk about 5 minutes early!) and was a fun journey.  You can watch it here if you like.

The major points…

1)  Flash developers are some of the most, if not most, creative game developers from this decade

Over the last decade we have seen some amazing content come out of the community.  Innovative, personal, and creative, these games continue to get better and seriously push the envelope for game design.  Flash devs take risk, aren’t afraid to try new things.

2)  Flash developers are getting better treatment, but it could still be better

A lot of Flash devs get pushed into bad contracts, shady sponsorship terms, and have their content stolen.  While it has gotten better we still have a ways to go.  Content continues to be ripped off, ripped apart, and even rebranded without developers permission.  Its frustrating to watch but at least its improving, and we should continue to encourage Flash Dev love.

3)  Flash had growing pains for mobile.  But its getting better.

When Flash first came to mobile it was a bit frustrating to work with.  But exporting from Flash/Flex to iOS and Android is getting way better each and every year.  We’re seeing successful cross-platform games coming out and they look great!  It can only get better.

4)  Game quality continues to increase year after year

Flash games continue to get better.  There is no slowing down, each and every year there seems to be some new major releases from some of the top devs in the industry.

5)  A decade later, Flash is still the best platform for making games for the web and beyond

Flash continues to be the place to make online games right now.  Sure, there is blooming technologies that could upset this throne (I’m looking at you HTML5 and Unity!) but for now the top games still continue to use Flash as the technology of choice.  Facebook, MMO, single-player, and beyond… games continue to thrive under Flash’s wing.  Its far too early to rule it out… its not dead yet.

The Community

Flash Peops: Thirsty Bear at 5pm, if they are too busy we’ll find somewhere else nearby

— John Cooney (@jmtb02) March 28, 2013

During GDC week I met for a random lunch with Joey Betz, Chris Jeffrey, Jay Armstrong, and James Pearmain.  Talking to them, we all realized we had nothing going on that evening.  We decided we should all meet up later, so I tweeted out that Tweet you just read.  And low and behold, this happened:

26 Flash game developers showed up to our impromptu Flash game meetup.Holy crap.

— John Cooney (@jmtb02) March 29, 2013

Holy crap is right.  If you wanted to see one of the most amazing meetups of Flash Devs this was it:

John Cooney – That’s me!
ConArtists Team – Last Stand, Last Stand: Dead Zone, Warfare 1914
Jimp – Elephant Quest, Sushi Cat, Super Duck Punch, Penguinz
Joey Betz – Sushi Cat, Crush the Castle
Chris Jeffrey – Space is Key, Platcore
Jay Armstrong – Super Adventure Pals
Toge Productions Team – Infectonator
Jared Riley – Hero Interactive, Bubble Tanks, Paint the Fence
Daniel Stradwick – Monsters Den
Brad Bourne – Fancy Pants Adventures
Greg McClanahan – Kongregate
Andrew P – Game Dev, Kongregate
Emily Greer – Cofounder, Kongregate
Anya C – Developer Relations, Addicting Games
John D – Founder, Kongregate
Colin C – Product, Mochi Media
David Fox – Flash Mindmeld

There was more and I’m sorry I didn’t get you down.

This group of devs more or less saw each other all week.  We had drinks, we had dinner, we had fun.  It was great to see everyone.

What was realized from seeing these wonderful people all week is that this really is an amazing community.  Coming from all over the world these developers met and connected as if they’ve been longtime friends.  Everyone seemed to be Friend Level 1,000… genuine people who love to make games and who are extremely supportive of each other’s work.  We joked, we enjoyed each others company, and most of all we celebrated; that just for a week we could all be under one roof and enjoy a beer together.

I took a funny picture with Jimp before the presentation

There’s something to be said for that.  This is not the Indie game scene.  This is something different; a wavelength that resonates with very unique people.  While it might overlap with that Indie vibe I think its different.  A microcosm of game developers who make games, or at least came from making games, on the Flash game platform, and grew together sharing a different mentality about games.

On a fun sidenote, I opened up a tab at the bar and asked anyone who came in to use my tab.  For 26 people, I ended up with 2 beers beyond my own on the tab.  I have to give it to Flash devs, they are extremely self-reliant.

So that is that.  I can keep going about how great these people are and how honored it was to spend a week with them, but my babbles need to end somewhere.  I can’t wait for next year to see everyone again and to meet other developers.  There were so many others I met and so many more I hope to meet.

Back to the game I’m working on… we’re days from launch on my newest game, developed at Kongregate and almost ready for the masses.  It’s a doozy.

Achievement Unlocked 3 ended up winning that JayIsGames.com Puzzle Platformer of the Year award.  Hooray!  Thanks for your votes!  Also, it is nominated for a Mochi Award at Flash Gaming Summit.  Glad to hear that game is getting some recognition.

Will post the new game once it releases.  Happy Tuesday!

They have nominated Achievement Unlocked 3 for Puzzle Platformer of the Year!  And its up to a user vote, so if you want to cast one, feel free!  Here is the link to vote!

And if you haven’t played it yet, go play Achievement Unlocked 3.

For the first time in a long time I’m on a high for game development and the road ahead. Large projects, bigger ideas, great success and room for failure… all these things are culminating in an energy that I haven’t had in a long time. I’m really quite excited about whats to come.

I’ve been building a project in my mind for about two years now that I have not found the energy to start on. It would be something to create in my own time and write at my own pace. But its been hard… my energy for the past year has been really low, and the project will be an effort unlike that I’ve ever taken on. It has a strong platforming narrative, many worlds, clean gameplay, and an overall vision that I feel fairly solid on. Now that I have the time and energy I’m going to try to give it a go.

At Kongregate I’ve started on a hybrid fighting game/boss battle/strangeness that will make you duke it out within really ridiculous scenarios. It’s well into production and will probably see the light in a few weeks.

As far as photography, I’ve embarked on a 365 project, to take a photo every day until 2014. Here are the results so far:

2012 was a kickass year, and 2013 is looking incredible. I can’t wait to see what happens.

Its been a hard month.  Life is shifting in a big way right now, many life-changing events are hitting on all cylinders.

First, the big news.  About a month ago I resigned my post at Armor Games to take on a new adventure at Kongregate.  I will be producing games for Kongregate in San Francisco and will be moving up from Orange County in the next week or so.  This is a big change for me, I’ve been producing content for Armor Games for over eight years and have made many friends and colleagues at Armor.  Armor Games was an amazing company to work for, full of talented and amazing people.  During my time there I produced somewhere around 50-60 games.  I am very thankful for the time I had at Armor and leaving was not an easy choice.  I am taking up a new role (still making games!) at Kongregate and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future.

That said, I am moving!  I’ve lived in Southern California now for a while, but I’m moving back up to Northern California again.  They actually get rain so that’s a bit exciting.  I’ll miss the warm, sunny beaches and always-awesome weather here.  And I’ll miss my friends, but Minecraft servers make it hard to stay too far apart.

Game release!  There is a new game out called Loot! The Game.  It’s currently available on Armor Games.  It features elephant and guns and a trains.  Everything you need for an action-packed, gear-whoring game!  I hope you enjoy it.

I was really happy and surprised to see so many nice thoughts.  I typically imagine that my games are found on Flash game sites and only those who frequent there have played my content.  Alas, I found many responders and many of them had interesting things to ask, especially cool for a site where all walks of life visit.  Among my favorite, “Would you rather fight 100 hamster-sized elephants or one elephant-sized hamster?”  Seemed fairly simple to answer.

Thanks Reddit!

Its been a fun adventure with Blue so far.  Elephant Rave was just a small, self-produced (and very obscure!) project that exploded into full-fledged Flash games, from Achievement Unlocked to Elephant Quest.

So keep an eye out, I’ll post links as soon as there’s word that these things are hitting the online store!

Gee I wonder why the name of this game is “Give Up.”  The name of this game should be, “Go F*ck Yourself.”  Because that’s whoever made this is saying to every single person that has ever f*cking played it.  Go f*ck yourself thanks for playing my game I f*cking hate you and I hope you f*cking die.

Rage Quit, Rooster Teeth

A few weeks ago I launched a small game called Give Up, which is a game that progressively gets more difficult as each level builds upon the other.  Its a lot of fun to see the reactions of people playing it, but most notable was a wonderful video put out by Rooster Teeth.

Language warning on this video:

Its stuff like this that makes ass-kicking games so fun to make.  While a lot of my games are fairly easy this one we set out to kick your ass on.  Tasselfoot is to thank on the epic level design that ultimate has lead to this video (and of course, the premise of the game, which he envisioned on a bus with me in San Francisco and so lovingly let me pursue).