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winter

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elYsiun Horror Contest

elYsiun are hosting another contest and this time it's all about Horror! The contest begins on the 10th September and entries can be either games, screensavers, walkthroughs or movies as long as they are horrific! For more info check out the elYsiun post by friedbrain.

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Email Reviews to Friends!

spBlended now includes the ability to send posts to a friend via Email! Just click the email icon at the bottom of a post and enter your friend's email address along with an optional message! Cool, but don't thank us, thank Blogger!

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spBlended Updates

I hate posting messages like this, but I thought it important to reassure readers that spBlended is alive and kicking! I know many Blenderheads have been revisiting the site over the last few weeks only to find no changes whatsoever. I apologize for this and will try to get on top of things from now on!

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Winnie The Poo Eater Review

Winnie the Pooh Eater is absolutely full of shite... Literally! Let me explain :)

It's difficult to describe this game without feeling a little silly but for the sake of journalism, I shall give it a try! The aim is simple - Pooh falls out of four bums and you must position Winnie under the pooh in order to eat it. Hmmmm...

It's all very tongue-in-cheek and very simple stuff. The overall objective is to achieve the high-score before the time runs out. Throughout the game you are forced to listen to very annoying music but the sound effects are comical - lots of farting basically!

The pooh (ahem) falls in a totally random fashion so in many cases, your score can depend on whether you are standing in the right place at the right time. But then, that is the point. It's all about reflexes, and you will find yourself improving after continued play.

There's not much else to say really. That's all there is to it! It's fun to play, it wastes a good few minutes of your lunch break, and it's the only game that warrants shouting, "I ate far more shit than you!" to your mates during a gaming session!

There aren't really any problems with WTPE to speak of due to it's simplicity (except it should be noted that sometimes you can't select a menu item but that's nit-picking !), but there is plenty of scope for improvement...

First and foremost, there is no difficulty curve. The introduction of "levels" like in Tetris - where after a certain amount of play time has passed, the stakes are raised and the game becomes more difficult (i.e pooh falls faster!) - would be a welcome addition.

Also, lets have some power-ups eh? [Pause while reviewer becomes lost in a frenzy of ideas]... A Speed power-up to make Winnie move faster for a while, or maybe a "Shoot" power-up to allow Winnie to shoot that excrement into oblivion! Sorry, I'm getting carried away, but you get my drift - there is plenty of scope for improvement, basically.

Summary

WTPE was always going to be a simple game but with a few tweaks it could be transformed into one of Blender's most addictive (and hilarious) mini-games! As it stands, WTPE is a funny mini-game worth downloading for, literally, lots of shits and giggles!

spBlended judgment

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Graphics : 6/10
Very crisp and cartoony, they suit the simplicity of the game perfectly

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Sound : 4/10
Annoying music but funny sound effects.

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Potential: 7/10
Simple modifications such as Power-ups and difficulty levels would improve this game dramatically

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Longevity: 5/10
A single session lasts 3 minutes but there is plenty of replay value in beating your mate's score

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spBlended Rating: 5/10

A simple, fun mini-game with the potential to be far more addictive given a few simple improvements

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HellStation Review

How to begin a review for a game like HellStation... Hmmmm. Well, the phrase, "Great things come in small doses" springs to mind. HellStation was produced by Peter Rylander over a period of five months and was an entry in the 2002 Blender Game Contest. Developing the game in time for the contest deadline meant there was very little time from conception to completion so Peter made the wise decision to keep it small and manageable. Therefore, HellStation is more like a single level than a complete game, but what you get in this small demo is extremely impressive.


HellStation is first and foremost a First Person Shooter but in fact this description, although correct, doesn't quite cut it. You see, there are only two occasions in the game where you actually shoot! The reason for this is obviously due to time restrictions (in fact, Peter originally intended to include a large selection of enemies), but as a result the game is more of an adventure than a shooter.

The theme is horror and it's obvious where the inspiration came from. As soon as you walk through a door into a new room a familiar door opening sequence appears just like in Resident Evil. The structure of the game is very similar to RE also, with the player being required to tread back and forth collecting items and solving puzzles.

The graphics are like nothing you've ever seen in a Blender game. It's not the textures (in fact, they are quite bland), it's the sheer level of detail evident throughout. For example, when you enter the large office, you can hear sound effects of rain drops hitting the roof above you. If you look up, the ceiling is actually made from glass and you can see the rain drops hitting it. When you return to this room later, some of the glass has been broken and the rain actually falls through and patters onto the desk. This is attention to detail that most players will never notice, but it gives the game that extra feel of professionalism.

So far this review has been very positive but there are a few, albeit small issues that warrant a mention. By far the most concerning is an error in the structure of the game. In one of the first rooms - the Interrogation Room - there are two objects: a flashlight and a screw driver. You can pick up the flashlight but not the screw driver. Later in the game, once a scripted set of events has occurred, you are able to pick up the screw driver. Obviously, it should've been placed in a locked room until these scripted events have been completed, and the developer will no doubt argue that this omission is due to time constraints, but nevertheless this is a glaring oversight and very confusing.

The other issue to consider is the length - it's very short, even for a single level it's relatively short. Also, once complete there is little incentive to play again, other than to replay through the same experience (which I have done, three times!).

Summary

HellStation is by far the most impressive Blender game to date, which is an achievement considering it's over a year old! Although there are a few niggling problems, it's nothing that detracts from the experience. When the biggest disappointment of playing a game is simply the fact that it ends, you know you are dealing with something special. We should all start a petition to convince Peter Rylander to continue developing HellStation into a complete game!

spBlended judgment

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Graphics: 7/10
Textures are average but everything looks amazingly detailed.

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Sound: 8/10
Sets the mood perfectly.

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Potential: 10/10
If developed into a complete product this could compete with commercial games.

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Longevity: 1/10
No more than an hour from start to finish.

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spBlended Rating: 8/10

A fantastic piece of work - it's just a shame it ends so soon.

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Developer: Peter Rylander ProductionsAuthor : Peter Rylander Download:file1 file2

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The Game List

A complete list of every single blender game in existence. This page is continually updated and also acts as an index page for this site providing links to all the reviews and previews.

To include your game in this list, click here. Games do not need to be finished to appear in the list. If you wish to provide a download of your game, demo or preview, please only submit executable files.

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Hell Station by Peter Rylander info
A first person shooter inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

spBlended Judgment: 8/10

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Winne The Poo Eater by Jonas.K.F.Raael info
Winne The Poo Eater is a funny mini-game about Winnie the pooh. Nuf said!

spBlended Judgment: 5/10

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Dr. Doom by Philip Tam info
A First Person Shooter including the first level of a mission-based game and an arena for death-match style play. Review Imminent

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Indian Joe by UnKnown
Description coming soon! Review Imminent

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Tron Tank by Flexible Front info
Description Coming soon.

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shoot em by Unknown
Description coming soon!

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Moonlight by Kellen Morimoto info
Moonlight is a FPS with a story, and was created in 2 1/2 weeks for the minigame contest at Elysiun.

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spBlended Review Policy

How does one go about reviewing a Blender game? They come in many different shapes and sizes and most are in only half complete. But that doesn't mean they aren't worth playing. And if they are worth playing then they must be worth reviewing...



The process of judging a Blender game and awarding it a rating is not an easy task. Blender games are developed by a variety of different breeds of developer. At one end of the spectrum you have the amateur, learning Blender through trail and error and producing impressive work in the process. At the other end you have the professional Blender guru able to push Blender to the limits and produce some truly playable and impressive games.

In almost all cases, whether an amateur or professional, the games are far shorter than commercial games due to the sheer amount of work involved. Therefore, most games are labeled as "demos" or "works in progress" and are never really fully completed.

The spBlended Review Policy bears all of these issues in mind. Our readers are gamers who just want to know whether a certain game is worth playing and where to find the best gaming experiences. If a game is not worth playing then we say so; if it's crap then we say so; If it's excellent but very short then we say so. Get the idea?

There are 5 ratings awarded to each game, with the most important being the spBlended judgment Rating - a value between 1 to 10 which indicates how much we enjoyed playing the game. More on this later. Then there are the following specific ratings:

• Graphics


• Sound


• Potential


• Longevity

Most of these are self-explanatory. The Longevity rating is an important one. Many blender games are brilliantly designed and great fun to play so they deserve a high score, but they remain very short ( HellStation springs to mind :) ). The longevity rating takes into account not only the length of a game but also the replay value.

The Potential rating also deserves some further discussion. In many respects, this is self-explanatory, such as for games like HellStation where the potential would be realised by simply developing more of the same. But in other situations, where a game receives a low overall score but we can see what the developer is trying to do, a high Potential rating may give him/her the motivation to return to the game and realize the original goals.

The spBlended judgment Rating

When we award a score to a Blender game, we hope you all understand that our reasons are purely fair and objective. However, unless you are a reader of Edge magazine (for the unaware, it's a popular cutting-edge videogames mag), you may find some scores very harsh and offensive. It's all down to the to mainstream video game magazines who have popularized the concept that a game scoring 70% is crap and only games scoring above 90% are worth buying. What about the rest of the scale?

Here at spBlended, a game scoring 5/10 is average. This means it's a good game worth playing, but it offers nothing new or interesting enough to keep a player's attention for very long. But a score of 5 certainly doesn't mean the game is unplayable. Totally Unplayable games will receive a score of 0. Get it?

Summary

So there you have it - the spBlended Review Policy in all it's glory. What do you think? A pile of sh**te or a good way to review games? Have your say and write a comment below...

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Game Tutorial List

A complete and well organised list of game-related tutorials to help new commers begin writing quality games as quickly as possible.

!!!This list will be gradually compiled over the coming weeks!!!

The Basics

Notes: Includes non-game tutorials that a gamer would need to learn anyway, such as user-interface tutorials, etc.

Animation

Level/Stage/Landscape Design

Logic

Notes:Logic brick tutorials, etc.

Game Mechanics

Notes: i.e. providing multiple levels and moving from one the the
other. Or a tutorial on how to write menu system. Or an in-game control
panel/dash board.

Python

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Welcome

Welcome to spBlended, the new online magazine dedicated to Blender Games. As a blenderhead have you ever asked yourself any of the following questions:

• Where can I find an up-to-date games list?


• Which blender game best illustrates the current potential of the Blender Games Engine?


• What is the best Blender driving game?


• etc, etc, etc.

If you don't really care about the answers to these questions then this site is not for you. Otherwise, you've definitely come to the right place!



spBlended will keep you in touch with news and information about all the up-coming games. However, the main focus of the site is the reviews. Games are reviewed from a player perspective which means we may sometimes have some harsh words to say about developer's beloved projects if there are too many bugs or a lack of playability. For more information, read the spBlended Review Policy.

Who reviews the games then? Well, anyone can but you must register first - check out the contribution section in the sidebar for details about registering.

Due to the nature of many Blender projects, spBlended will only review games that have been explicitly submitted by the author. Games are not reviewed without permission because many games are not very playable from a gamers perspective but they are still impressive pieces of work in their own right and worth downloading. These types games of games will still be featured on spBlended, but they won't be rated or judged.

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