Touly's+Kongregate+Experience

Today marks the start of my Kongregate experience. I generally don't play many flash games since they seem like such time wasters and the games all seem so unsophisticated, plus my old roommate was hooked on them, so they kind annoyed me before I even gave them a chance. Any who, the site seemed pretty straight forward with its layout and links on where to go. I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of games that the site has compiled. It had a staggering amount of over 27,000 games! Impressive. So I register and use my usual game alias, BatmanTH, and continue on perusing the website.
 * FEBRUARY 20- "So it Begins"**





The first game I stumble upon is Gemcraft. I happened to click on it because I knew it was tower defense game, so it couldn't be too bad, but also it was one of the highest ranking games on the site according to the community. I started the game and was pleased by the neat little intro and the quick page of instruction for anyone that hasn't play flash games of this type before. I immediately notice that these flash games now have "achievements", which I believe was made popular by the Xbox Live service, a side chat bar to talk to people, and a comments section below the games description and achievement list. Very interesting how this site has combined a lot of nifty features I've seen from other sites.
 * FEBRUARY 27- "Gemcraft"**

The game itself is pretty good and typical for a tower defense game. Initially, the enemy horde is weak and slow and the type of defense "powers" you have are parallel. The beauty of these types of games are that they are all about anticipation and strategy, then basking in your awesome defense skill as you see your towers of defense decimate oncoming enemies. I played the game on the normal level, so it didnt get too difficult until later on when the fast, armored bugs invaded my home base. It was highly enjoyable and addictive accruing defense powers I could augment, plus the achievements were icing on the cake.



As a explore this site more and more during my downtime (aka homework/paper/exam studying time), I get a feeling that this site has a lot more to offer than just a compilation of any flash game a gamer would ever want to play. It intelligently designs itself (the website) to encourage feedback amongst the users to give feedback to the developers for a better experience. I agree with the idea of a star rating system, the ability to leave comments about the game or even the developer, report bugs or anything that impedes you having a good experience, and to add favorite games to your profile so you don't have to search for them again. Whats crazy is the site is still in beta form. I wonder if they'll change it or just refine it for the final build.
 * MARCH 14- "More Than Meets the Eye"**

Another noteworthy thing is how organized the site is for the amount of games it has. It neatly categorizes games per genre, features new games and top rated games, and also has a scrolling marquee for newly featured games. I like this because it gives all types of games exposure so they all have a chance of being played instead of being left in the dust. Pretty cool on Kongregate's part to my mindful of the starving indie developer.

When the Internet got popular with AOL in my day, everyone used AIM chat and partook in chat rooms, I was hooked and would go online to chat with friends right after school. Nowadays, aside from the occasional facebook chat, I typically dont really divulge in that type of online interaction. So it was interesting to see that Kongregate had a side chat bar to all of its games. The rooms were always around 100 plus, but not everyone was playing the same game, so it could be confusing to people as to what you talking about when talking about a game. Generally, people didnt chat much and played their games with out chatting, since it can be difficult to do both at the same time.
 * MARCH 17- "Gamer to Gamer Interaction"**

When I was play Gemcraft I introduced myself as new member to the site and asked other people in the chat room what they were playing. Some responded and some didnt, but the people that did were pretty welcoming. We sparked a good conversation about games in general and why they use the site. The two users I chatted with the most, [|EricPwns] and [|ilbabo2218](swell chums) are my "friends" on the site friend list, said that they usually play at night while surfing the web to wind down while doing homework, or to even use it as break from homework. When talking to the guys I was fairly inquisitive about their usage of the website, but they were happy to help with my asking of how to make a game and what the "kreds" were all about. Soon thereafter, I told them I was doing some research regarding the website and games. They didn't think much of it except for a reply, "cool". Then they asked where I went to school and told them which university I was attending. I soon discover that they are both in high school and that they both plan on going to college on the west coast.

I was quite satisfied with my interaction in the chat, and actually surprised. I was expecting random expletives and inappropriate comments (although those were thrown in randomly in our conversation by other users for attention), but I had a decent civilized conversation with two teenagers regarding the fun website, getting assistance from them, general gaming talk about consoles, and future colleges they wanted to attend since I mentioned I was a college student. In short, the Internet is not full of a-holes.

Like Xbox Live and PlayStation Network there is a achievement or ranking system for every user. This signifies the gamer's value/skill/time invested in playing games. Some of the achievement are simply time investments and some are actually determined by skill, I prefer the later, but either type achievement gets lumped into how many points are given to you and then in turn your level goes up. I like this system for Kongregate because it is nice to see how long and how much one has played on this site to gain status on the leaderboards. Its a good system for these types of games because it isn't take too seriously and none of them are that lengthy in order to achieve the points. The rank/status utilization on Kongregate works really well because it is great incentive to play more to get some community recognition for your dedication and skill, plus it helps that the games are free. Its the achievement system on Xbox that I'm not too really keen on since it people become obsessed over them and go after ones that arent even enjoyable. As long as people play for the fun of the game instead of the points, though some achievements can prolong the games last-ability, then the games integrity won't be compromised.
 * MARCH 24- Achievements: Internal Gamer Conflict**



These two games were some of the ones I spent the most time on. I found them on the top rated list and now I know why. They are fun to pick up and play whenever, since they save your progress automatically. I dig the fact that all of the games I've played have an autosave, which is really the right way to do it for the type of flash games today because of browser incidents or clicking out of tabs by accident. Very clutch. Since I was playing this over break my little brother got to watch me play these games and I also created a profile for him since he could'nt get enough of the Zombie killing game ( who can?).
 * MARCH 28- "Learn to Fly" and "Endless Zombie Rampage 2"**

Learn to Fly is a simple action game where you launch your penguin off an ice ramp to see how he/she goes. Simple, right? It is, but as you get money for every jump you can buy upgrades that can help the penguin fly further. For example, you can buy a run of the mill hang glider, which can also be upgraded, and rockets affixed to the penguin, also can be upgraded, and the ice ramps progressive get bigger as you acquire achievements to move on to the next level. In addition to the equipment upgrades, you also level up the penguin in an RPG style by giving it less air resistance and more acceleration. This game is simple fun in one of its purest forms for games. Highly recommend it for anyone wanting to not do homework.



Next was Endless Zombie Rampage 2. I've never played the first one, but I can imagine this one was the better of the two. Anyways, just like the names says the game doesn't really have an end since all you do is fight endless waves of zombies that get stronger as you get stronger through upgrading weapon and augmenting them with perks. The perks, much like Call of Duty Modern Warfare, enhance your gun abilities by either giving your character faster reloading or stronger ammunition, for example. The game is set in a parking lot full of zombies that you have to get rid of. The game offers you a few ways you can go about this, such as going out to rescue someone, getting supplies, or just choosing to kill zombies to level up and get more money in the process for ridding the parking lot of the undead. I think I enjoyed this game too much because of how ridiculous it gets later with the type of super fictional weapons you can acquire to kill the equally ridiculous evolution of zombies in the game (the zombies become alien/zombie/monster hybrid by the end of it..spoiler alert!) Definitely will give your mouse a workout. And for some reason I believe it is in every avid gamer that we have this insatiable need to erase the virtual world of zombies and nazis...and to smile during the process.



I'm now trying to pry myself away from those two aforementioned games and expand my flash gaming library. I take a jump into the puzzle genre, which I'm a fan of, but don't really feel like thinking too hard when playing flash games, but I give it a go anyways. It was also one of the top rated games on the site, so I knew it was good quality at least. I'll have to give the lower rated games a chance as a become a more prominent use on the site. When I start the game and get a feel for it I chuckle because this game is somewhat mocking another game I've played and adore, Braid ( an Xbox Live Arcade game). This game is pretty much a flash knock off of the other game, right down to the somber atmosphere, enigmatic clues, and narrative, although the clues in this game are pretty blatant, but worded in a fancy way. I get a kick out of it, nevertheless.
 * APRIL 8- "The Company of Myself"**

As I progress it downright copies the game time mechanic, where you can duplicate your self into a shadow and have it manipulate the environment for you. Oh yeah, the main objective in this game is to get to a door or get a key to get to that door to move on. Its the obstacles in the way that make your break a mental sweat along the way. This game was a good alternative to the previous instantly gratifying mindless action games I played before. The best part of this game is how it humorously takes a knock at a critically acclaimed artsy indie title that could be put on the pedestal as art in games.





This site has everything a social gamer needs: abundant amount of FREE quality flash games, which I was personally wasnt in to before due to me being more a console gamer, well organizes site that gives a fair amount of exposure to its numerous games, ability to chat on the fly as you game and talk to members through the boards as well for more extensive interaction, a friends list that helps you keep track of one another, an achievement system for those completionists out there and a ranking system for its members (i'm still a noob). This site kind of has it all to keep you playing and participating within the community, plus all gamers love to level up so that in itself is dangerous for the addictive personality types. Im excited to continue using this site and spreading the word to expand the community because this site is pretty much a one stop shop for gamers in need of a time diversion.
 * APRIL 18- "So it Ends?"**

What I especially respect from this website is that its gamers helping other gamers out by way of getting used to how the site is structured, or feedback from a game, just casually chatting about whatever while you game, helping out indie developers by "tipping" them with "kred" for their services, which is real money you can give to the developer if you so choose for letting people play their games. I like the vibe of the community and its laid back fun oriented environment. I believe that it stems from the lighter nature of flash games that dont get taken too seriously and competitively, since their design is to played for quick spurts of time, but that can easily equate to wasting hours on end due to how addictive they can also be.