Archive for August, 2009

This wasn’t the game I originally had on the table for today’s release, but the MochiCoins approval process got wrapped up earlier than I expected, and I think that’s a sign that I should go ahead and make this update to Benevolence the first game-a-week release that’s based on an update to an existing game (this also frees up quite a bit of time for me to extend the work on the game that was planned for today — and I think that will be a good thing).

The new version of Benevolence includes the original 20 puzzles (10 of which are 3×3, and 10 are 4×4), but adds — as premium content you can purchase with MochiCoins — 10 5×5 levels, 10 6×6 levels, and a level editing tool so you can create and share your own levels. Anyone can play 3×3 or 4×4 custom levels for free, but you do need to purchase the 5×5 and 6×6 level packs to play custom levels in those sizes.

You can play Benevolence here at The Wasabi Project or on Newgrounds (if you login to your MochiGames account — even if you don’t purchase any premium content — your level times and fewest-move-counts for all the standard levels should follow you no matter where you play).

I’ve been doing this Game-A-Week deal for a while now, and the results are pretty well in line with what I was hoping for. I’ve finished a whole bunch of little games, each one reasonably different from all the others, and most of them, I think, have been of comfortably average quality (true — a few have been quick, sloppy, or unsatisfying — and a couple have been better than I expected them to be — but I think “average” is a fair assessment for the lot taken as a whole).

One thing I’m not so pleased with right now, however, is the schedule the games have been landing on. The original intention was to release a game every Friday… then things slipped to Saturdays, then Sundays, and now I’ve found my way into Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and that’s just silly.

So, I’m doing something of a two-step reset of the game-a-week schedule. Here’s the plan:

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