Oh, I think I'm the wrong level. Hmm.

I bought a short bow but I couldn't figure out how to get it equipped. I went to the item menu, I hit A and W. I don't know how it works.

For example, there's this level with three floating blue guys and a couple of red ninjas, and you're supposed to get two or three of the blue guy and avoid the ninja fire before coming down to flip the gravity, but it's very easy if you're coming down diagonally on a blue guy to get killed by him. It makes it very difficult, which is fine, but maybe it's not a fun difficult.

Xp yeah, you gotta jump on of them like in Mario. This reminds me of one of my complaints: it's too easy to get killed when jumping on the corner of an enemy. Maybe the hitbox could be adjusted a bit in the player's favor.

Man, I got my ass kicked in Masjin today. I've been on losing teams before, and generally get killed a bit more than I kill, but playing against a couple of experts wasn't that fun. Actually it was stressful. They were nice enough about it, though.

How do you pronounce Masjin?

Since no one's replied yet, I'll say that I played this yesterday and enjoyed it, although I haven't finished yet. If I have more energy later (today? this week?) I'll try to say more.

I downloaded this and Direct X today. I have a new HP laptop with Windows 7 and an Intel Pentium P6200 @ 2.13 Ghz and I got the invisible map tiles that a few people talked about on this thread. Everything was gray except the homebase or hut or whatever it is and whenever I walked near a tree or started chopping at an invisible tree. I tried in windowed and fullscreen mode and I think I tried a couple of other things but I was feeling tired and gave up.

For what it's worth, I also tried to run Soldat but it would never recognize that I had Direct X installed.

Hey, Hempuli, I thought of a bonafide suggestion. It'd be cool if, after a map hoster leaves a game, someone else could be assigned, or if the map hoster could have a chance to assign someone. Also, I think I pressed a button that made a game I hosted close? Or it just closed randomly. I'm not sure. And maybe a map hoster could make adjustments so that everyone wasn't booted to the lobby for a new map. Some people get collectively bored doing one thing (like hold the center point) and want to switch to a new game style.

The right click that changes your ability makes your playing seem more methodical. It didn't feel slow. Instead, I think the controls are built into the challenge, and that the design accounts for all the clicking to switch functions and the stopping while you shoot. So far I've beaten the first boss and I didn't get much farthur, but I was playing pretty sloppily.

I loved Factorium, by the way.

I played a bit tonight (as "Bryce"). The game could use a manual of some kind, although I know this could be a problem since the game is a work in progress. It was fun and pretty addicting; it reminded me of Anamaton.

Could there be a pick-up that would give a gun upgrade? I kept feeling overpowered when I wasn't a fighter.

Things that happened to me that are not necessarily bad or good:

- I had trouble climbing out of the mines or I had trouble going across the overland.
- I frantically jumped around a lot shooting in close quarters.
- My team ran out of money.
- I didn't use any bombs or bomb-like things.
- My lifespan was fairly short.
- Sometimes I was confused about how to win, except in the last game which was a King of the Hill game.
- I found a robot but it was stuck somewhere.
- I got in the builder and built things, but I don't know if they were useful.
- I became invisible and hid from people.
- I had a standoff with a ninja.
- I was talked to in a foreign language that showed up as gibberish characters.
- I used a jetpack a lot.
- I found it easier to get to an enemy base through the tunnels.
- I wasn't sure what to do when I got to the enemy base.
- I shot a lot of ships down with the turret.
- I didn't really fly planes because it felt selfish.
- I played a doctor but only healed myself.
- I played an engineer but I didn't build much.
- I played a miner and got killed a lot.
- Can you shoot down your own vehicles or was someone using that cloak thing on me?
- I built walls around enemy vehicles, but I think it wouldn't have been a big deal to use a change loyalty thing on them.

That's all I remember now. I played for about an hour.

Aw, this is cute. I like funny girl games.

Cute emoticons for your game:       

I didn't get bored once watching that whole video, even though he's just looking around. You've got a pretty good feel of what is compulsively explorable.

Said this in the voting thread and want to say it here: your game is cool.  I agree with the above comment.

Yeah, xoters is clever and Super Apes Battles is ace.

I didn't even try any game that required the internet or weird special installs, because I don't have the internet.  I was hoping this competition would leave us with fifty new hotseat games to play, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

This game is great and it's a hit with my friends. As soon as you've captured all the flags, it's hard not to win in a few seconds, so I think I prefer the kill-all-the-men win state because it gives an illusion of a comeback possibility.

I like the graphics. The gorillas are big and the other guys are small. Simple. Also, people are pink or blue.

Right now I think the game is really well balanced. I like that bullets go down so you can't camp on flags. I like the tension of raising your flag versus defending yourself or going after someone. Flying in jetpacks can be finicky, maybe, but they work.

Do you start producing more apes if you have fewer flags? I kind of like that idea but I couldn't confirm that it was happening. Maybe you could have an adjustable slider for apes dropped per flags hoisted, or you could have different game modes. New weapons and power ups would be cool, and more levels I think is a must, but I like the balance of the game exactly as it is now and wouldn't want that experience to go away. Sorry, my comments kind of contradict each other. I'm writing from my phone and can't really edit my post.

For instance, if kids are playing make believe and you ask them what they're playing, they might say, "Make believe," or they might say, "A game," (or "vampires" or whatever else the subject of play is).  They might also say, "We're just playing."  I guess it's not quite right for me to want to distinguish certain software without win states or goals from Legos or dolls, but for some reason I have that impulse.  Again, it might only be because of the derision some people have for software without goals (the non-"games").

I have resisted that definition of "game," although it's functional.  Like when people complained about Minecraft not being a game, as if that were a bad thing.  I wouldn't mind so much if there weren't an implicitly greater value held for "games" over "toys" or what-have-you.  I think "toy" is problematic for this kind of thing.  Kids can play imaginative games without goals and call them games, although I don't know if an anthropologist would agree.

"Art game" is a useless term.  Serious film criticism about popular film arose really quickly, and film studies since its inception has embraced the popular.  In other words, the Hollywood non-"art films" were regarded as if they were art films.  Games should be treated the same way in discourse, and I think they will be in the long run.  This whole debate about increpare's short sketches and experiments and how "art games" are shit will be completely irrelevant in twenty years, and certain games and developers will be part of a canon for the games studies classroom.

Googling "flytrap game" doesn't bring up anything that looks, uh, self-published.

I don't know for certain, Derek!

I was over at Hamumu's website because of an interesting looking ludum dare entry by him.  His games have a real ugly aesthetic that I'm on the border of liking.  I think I ultimately dislike it, though.  1,000 levels, he says, however!  I'm impressed.  Anyway, I found his forums and they're very active, with a lot of participation coming from kids.  He has a forum section devoted to game development, and kids are cutting their teeth on game maker and other development tools.  It was a down-the-rabbit hole experience and I said to myself, Here is a new thing to explore.

What are your favorite games by children?  Do you know where else besides Hamumu's forums where kids are posting their games?  Probably over at yoyo, but where else?

Games by possibly fake children are all right, too, I guess (like The Adventures of D. Duck).