Hey guys I just made a silly little game about Taylor Swift hitting Kanye West with her moonman award while he tries to grab the mic from her. You get to send him flying back to his seat which is pretty satisfying if the way he acted at the VMA's got you all riled up. Here's the game: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/
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Also, our Power of Three game is coming along nicely and should be wrapped up in the next couple weeks in time for the next free upcoming games calendar slot. If you haven't heard about it yet, it's called Paradox Embrace and it's a puzzle platformer. Zeebarf's art is really amazing and the levels are really pretty massive and organic. Caulder is also doing some pretty cool things with the audio. I can't wait to release this game as it's going to be the biggest game I've ever designed. You can read more about it and see a screenshot here: http://www.entropicorder.net/blog/para dox-embrace-preview/.

And now for a brand new screenshot of Paradox Embrace never before released. If you think it looks interesting check out the link above where I've got a different screenshot you can check out. Paradox Embrace will be out most likely sometime in October.

I'm looking to partner up with a talented artist to do paid work on Flash games with me. Initially I'm looking to publish polished yet relatively short-term projects like puzzle or platform games, but eventually I would like to find a partner that I can work with over the long term on bigger projects like multiplayer type games. I will do all the programming and can help with some art, and what I really need help with is character animation and level design. We can either collaborate on the game concept or I can provide the direction and you just provide the animation.

I do Flash games part-time only currently, so I'm not expecting a full-time partner just yet and will be happy to collaborate one time only if you'd like. However, ideally I am looking for someone pretty serious about finishing projects and making games professionally if possible.

Check out EntropicOrder.net if you're not familiar with my work. I'm an experienced programmer with years of Flash game making experience. Here's an example of my work:

My wife and I put together an animal themed game site called PlushQuest.com. If you have any family friendly animal games you would like to feature on it, you can send them to eo_com (at) hotmail.com.

I have a new animal game of my own started that I'm planning to feature on the site as well.

Feel free to let us know what you think of our new site.

Starting a project is easy. You've got Flash, a ton of ideas, and you know how to animate and code. Now for the hard part: finishing your project. Many developers (including myself) have tons of half finished projects sitting around that may never get finished, and here are some tips on how to see your ideas through to completion.

Start with something small. If you shoot for the sky on your first try, there's a good chance your project will not get done and will do nothing more than collect dust. Once you get some easy things done, you can put them out there which feels great, and you can use the community feedback to improve your next bigger project.

Write down your ideas. Many Flash creators are doing it for fun, so you probably want to just dive in and play with Flash. However, you're probably also doing it to get it done and out there for the world to enjoy. Putting your thoughts on paper or in a text file can keep you focused on what your goals are and how close you are to completion which can keep you motivated during those tough times when you can't seem to get that drawing to look just right or that bug seems to keep eluding you.

Keep the scope of the project under control. Coming up with interesting ideas is the easy part. Limiting your ideas to just a handful of the best and rejecting some of your cool ideas is hard. Developers frequently face a problem called scope creep where the brainstorming and prototyping phases never really end, the goals keep getting bigger and bigger, and the release date keeps getting pushed back further and further until it becomes known as vaporware. At some point you have to commit to a goal and a vital few of your ideas. Keep writing down your other ideas, as some of them might be able to get into this release or some of them you may be able to combine into a sequel.

Cost vs Benefit Try to evaluate possible features in terms of how much work it will take to implement versus how many people will enjoy that feature and by how much. In most cases quick and easy features that will polish the game in subtle but major ways are probably worth the effort, whereas massive undertakings that only you and your closest buddies will even get probably need to be tossed. This little formula can help you keep the scope fun and reasonable.

On a more personal note, I had tons of half finished projects that are all completely gone now because my computer was stolen. Now I have a renewed focus on getting my games out there with the realization that my time is valuable and finite, so when I'm staying up until 2am furiously coding away I know that my efforts will all be worth it when I get to click that upload button.
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EntropicOrder has been developing Flash games since 1998. Check out my latest game Buried Alive! It's a challenging Tetris-inspired action/puzzle game with 6 unique levels and bosses. I definitely had to use the techniques described above with this game as it would have taken twice as long to make otherwise. Here's a little preview of my next game in the works.

My site and games Rooftop Skater and Sik Trix BMX have moved to http://www.entropicorder.net/. I'm preparing to make some fun new games in 2008 and I've got a big new project 6 months in the making that I can't wait to tell everyone more about (but I'm going to wait anyway :-X).

Add me to your myspace at http://myspace.com/entropicordergames.