Press Reset. Effect Games Goes Open Source

Gold Cartridge and Effect Games are the same two guys. They were two companies formed with arbitrary lines drawn between the technical and creative sides of building games. We thought of it like blue and red potions, magic and health, two needs for the goal of making games... and that's where we got lost on a (worthy) side quest.


1-1

Back in 2005 Joe showed me a build of Mario running in the browser. It was world 1, in it's entirety, running exactly as we'd remembered it on the NES. It set us off on the idea that we, without any sort of formal background in traditional games development, could build a console quality (albeit 8/16bit) game.

The two subsequent years leading to the launch of Effect Games was spent refining, testing and writing documentation for the engine and tools.

Now, a little over two years later, Effect Games is going open source. Effect Games was always meant to be free. We just needed a moment to make the necessary mistakes and learn from them. We needed some time to realize that Effect Games was meant to be open as well.

The Effect Engine, the tools and the tutorial games can be found on github, released under an MIT license.

 
Blue and Red Potions

There are a lot of HTML/CSS/JS based game development platforms out there now. The work some people have done is hugely impressive to say the least, and we've had the absolute privilege of having met a few of them.

While we still have an interest in browser games technology, it will now be tempered by some of the original games we'll be working on. Our game ideas will drive the development of the technology behind it.

Watch for a follow up post soon related to our open source efforts as well as an announcement about our next title.

Cheers!
Min & Joe

8 Bit Lives, When Games Take Over

The zombie is giving me a look that almost fools me into believing she's alive.

Almost.

She can blink all she wants. I still can't see any spark of life in those eyes. There might be air being sucked in or blown out through those parted lips, but it's not a sign that she's breathing.

I check to see if the soundtrack has gone silent, like it usually does before an attack. Putting the earphones on, I take the chance to peek behind me, see where the other ones are. The undead always travels in flocks, like sheep.

Silence, and then a wave of relief as the next song starts to play. It's a pop song, neutral and harmless, letting me know the next level is loading. The iPod was just in the middle of switching songs.

I lean against the doors of the train, and take two big slugs of coffee. The beeps of the song match my heart containers being replenished perfectly.

By the time I get to my station, I can already make out the stars in the sky. Traffic on the drive home from the station, and as usual someone's AI is glitching. An NPC tried to make the light but got stuck in the middle of the left turn, blocking the road, keeping the rest of us from advancing.

It's never fun spending the day at a 9-5 (often 9-6 or 7), but you can't level up or take care of your clan without gold mining a bit. Normally, I'd be looking forward to going home to my wife, but she's out of town. I hate it when my princess is in another castle.

absOrb beta

Revisiting the absOrb beta ahead of the Effect Games launch. This is a prototype of the first all original game built on an early version of the Effect Engine (a 2D game engine written in JavaScript).

Inspired by a random thought and a love of 2D vertical scrolling shoot-em-ups, the beta is a test of the game control scheme.

Edit:
The full Version 1 will be released in early 2010. More detailed write up to follow.

Play the absOrb beta.