MakeUseOf » challenge

Engage Your Friends With Fun Challenges At GameMaki

Saikat Basu — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 15:31:01 +0000

GameMaki (Beta) is a relatively fresh site that tweaks the concept of social gaming. On GameWiki, members recommend fun activities and turn them into challenges which their friends have to complete. Users can compete across each other’s challenges.

I would call it the gamification of friendship…if friendship ever requires one. Social games are all about doing things together. It started with sharing everything from webpages to photos and videos. Now, it has moved on to exhorting your friends to get up from the couch and take up little challenges and complete them all for the sake of fun. Of course, it could get potentially “serious” too as GameMaki is also about putting your ego out there and racking up points and badges.

5 Key Features Of GameMaki

GameMaki is more than a fun way to do activities. It is also a social recommendation engine to discover (and share) new places and new things to do.
Recommendations can be turned into challenges at GameMaki. GameMaki tries to turn those challenges into new experiences for us and our friends.
GameMaki can be optionally tagged with a location. It helps you discover places near yours to engage with your friends.
You can group challenges into a set and turn it into a personal game for your network of friends. This mini-game (‘Maki’) makes it more fun for you to vie with people of similar interests.
GameMaki also is about sharing your personal experiences through photos and comments.

Truth Or Dare – Socially Connect & Start The Challenge

Sign-in and connect with your friends on Facebook. You can straightaway challenge your friends with a suggestion of an activity. It could be anything – from a place to visit to tasting a dish you stick your tongue out at. You can allow GameMaki to retrieve your location so that friends who live nearby can hop on and play. Also, challenges need to be put in a category so that others can view it or join in.

Your challenge is visible to the world. You can accept the challenge yourself and claim it so that others also have an idea what you are talking about. Comments and photos help to illustrate the challenge better.

Remember, accepting a challenge just places it in your to-do list on GameMaki. Claiming a challenge means that you have done it…and you earn points for that. You also need to ‘prove’ that you have done it with either a photo or a comment.

Setting up your own challenges is fun, but what’s more fun is discovering and taking part in challenges set up by friends. You can go through the same cycle of accepting a challenge and claiming it with cool photos or comments.

The Maki – Your Very Own Challenge Spot

A ‘Maki’ is like your own page for challenges you have set up and other favorites. It rings similar to ‘wiki’ and functions similarly. You can create a Maki around a certain theme or topic. It’s your very own mini-game site and you are lord and master of this personal section. So, you can allow or disallow others from participating by adding their own challenges. Collect your followers on your Maki and challenge them to compete in the activities you have thought up.

Use Makis For Personal Or Company Branding

The potential of self-created Makis is immense that takes it beyond the element of fun because individuals can use it for personal branding. There are quite a few featured Makis on GameMaki that show how business can take advantage of fun gaming and create there brand stories around it.

Check out this screenshot of a Maki created around Echelon 2011, Asia’s biggest tech event. Challenges include fun acts like Planking yourself here and there!

GameMaki is a whole lot of fun. It’s another popular do you can add to your list of social games. Give us your take on GameMaki. Tell us some creative ways you can use GameMaki to make life a challenge for your friends.

Not Tetris 2 Is Tetris For Anarchists [Cross-Platform]

Justin Pot — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:01:27 +0000

Ever wonder what Tetris would be like without structure? You should try Not Tetris 2. This fan-made version of Tetris features full 360 degree rotation and all the potential messes that come with that. Created in Soviet Russia during the final years of the USSR, the original Tetris is nothing if not structured. Every piece is made of four squares, and ninety degrees is the only possible angle in the game. Put pieces into the right place and you can keep the board clear.

Not so in Tetris 2. This fan remake is truly chaotic, a post-modern spin on a structured classic. It’s Tetris under anarchy. Pieces can be rotated freely instead of on a grid, making it fiendishly difficult to fit pieces together perfectly. There’s even a physics engine added to the game, meaning your piece might rebound off another and end up out of place.

Prepare For Frustration!

Start up Not Tetris and nothing looks that weird. In fact, it’s almost a perfect recreation of the Nintendo Game Boy version of Tetris:

The title screen is familiar, and the menus look about right. Even the music is a nostalgia-inducing Gameboy replica. The chaos begins when you start playing:

Like I said, pieces are not rotated on a grid, as in most versions of Tetris, Instead, they can rotate freely 360 degrees. The result is almost always a chaotic mess, which makes for an interesting spin on a classic video game.

Are you certain you won’t be able to get a complete row of squares with such chaos? The game designers were too. As such, lines disappear whenever a certain line is mostly full of substance. This will leave pieces of squares behind, of course, adding to the chaos.

Not sure what I mean? Check out this video:

Play this variation of Tetris and your goal quickly becomes apparent. You need to exert pressure on your mess of pieces in order to cause a collapse and (hopefully) make some sort of row happen down below. All the while, you must try to keep the pieces on top more or less aligned (in my case, mostly less). If this all sounds overwhelming to you, give it a shot. It’s worth it for the novelty alone, but is also actually a pretty fun game.

Oh, and there are some options you can configure in the game:

The color screen is superfluous, but depending on your computer’s resolution you’re going to want to adjust the scale – it can make a tiny window into a reasonably sized one.

Download Not Tetris 2

Ready to play? Go ahead and download Not Tetris 2. You’ll find downloads for Mac, Linux and Windows. Linux users, you’ll need to install a package in order to open the game “love”. Search your package manager for the program, then open the file you download with it.

Conclusion & Coming Attractions

I love it when fans do twists on classic games. Super Mario Crossover brings Link, Samus and Megaman into Super Mario Bros, and is a whole lot of fun. The company behind Not Tetris 2 is working on something like this: a crossover between Portal and Super Mario Bros. Check it out:

Like Not Tetris 2, this game makes something new out of something old. I cannot wait for it to be released, and will be watching for it and other ideas like it.

Do you know of any other twists on classic games? Share them in the comments below, along with any thoughts about Not Tetris 2.

Three Free Brain Teaser Games For Your Android Phone

Simon Slangen — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:31:09 +0000

There are a lot of games on the Android. Not all of them are worth a download, but you’ll find enough of them to waste a few months of your time.

If you’re going to spend your time gaming, why not invest in something useful? By playing brain teasers and riddles, you can train your brain, vocabulary and logical insight “” all that while having fun!

Below are three fun brain teaser games for the Android phone that you should definitely check out.

Wordfeud

Wordfeud is a Scrabble-like crossword puzzle game. Make words vertically or horizontally with the letters you are given. Each letter has a numeric value. The cumulative value of your word is added to your score. The game is played in turns. By constructing long words with difficult letters, you can add a lot of points to your score. When the game ends, the player with the highest score wins.

You aren’t limited to playing against the computer. Wordfeud allows you to play against friends, or random players. The game’s designed to play at a slow pace. You can participate in up to 30 games simultaneously, without having to leave the other boards. Wordfeud can be played in English, Dutch and Norwegian.

Search for Wordfeud on the Android Market, or use your phone to scan the above QR code.

Brain Genius Deluxe

Brain Genius Deluxe is a free brain trainer for the Android. It hosts a number of fun, engaging brain teasers and riddles. Some of these will be familiar, like Sudoku and mazes, supplemented by a wide variety of numerical games and puzzles.

This free game includes 24 original games and additional puzzle games, like Sudoku, controlled by motion and touch gestures. Most of these games are rather simple, and if you’re used to puzzle games, they won’t be too much of a challenge, others will require a bit more effort on your side. Brain Genius Deluxe is recommended as a fun game for novice puzzlers.

Search for Brain Genius Deluxe on the Android Market, or use your phone to scan the above QR code.

Craniati Enigma

Craniati Enigma is a self-proclaimed Android implementation of those popular browser-based riddle games. You know the lot. The game consists of a number of successive pages. You’ll be able to proceed from one level to the next by solving a riddle. It’s often right in front of you, but very easy to miss. If you don’t like a frustratingly challenging game, turn back now. Otherwise, you’ll find more than a match in Craniati Enigma.

One of the fun things about Craniati Enigma is how well it integrates with your Android phone. The levels require you to know your Android inside and out. You’ll have to venture off inside the darkest depths of your Android menus and browse the settings to succeed in some levels.

Search for Craniati Enigma on the Android Market, or use your phone to scan the above QR code.

What do you think of these games? Let us know in the comments!

Image source: Shutterstock

JulNoWriMo – Write A Novel In 30 Days With The July Novel Writing Month

Joel Jordon — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:30:38 +0000

You may have heard of NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. In fact, MakeUseOf has mentioned it before.

The challenge is to write a 50,000-word novel in just one month, with no real reward other than your own personal satisfaction of completing it. But whereas NaNoWriMo takes place in November, JulNoWriMo takes place in July.

If July happens to be a less busy month for you, JulNoWriMo is an alternative that you might want to consider. After all, attempting to write a whole novel in a month is a pretty big commitment.

Tens of thousands of people participate in NaNoWriMo, which might make JulNoWriMo seem a somewhat meager event by comparison. But the number of people setting out to write a novel in July is growing quickly. In 2008, less than two hundred people participated, but in 2009, the number of participants nearly tripled to well over five hundred. Why not join in on the action this year?

All you have to do to sign up is head over to the JulNoWriMo forums and register a username. Then you might want to start planning your novel, because July’s going to hit sooner than you know it.

Tips and Resources

One of the advantages that JulNoWriMo has over NaNoWriMo is that July has one more day in it than November. That means you have just a little bit more time to accomplish the challenge. Take a look at the numbers: NaNoWriMo writers have to write 1666 words per day, but JulNoWriMo writers have to write slightly less, just 1613 words per day. If you want to follow a strict schedule of 1613 words per day, check out this page, which tells you the cumulative total words you have to have written each day to keep up.

Another advantage to JulNoWriMo is that, unlike during NaNoWriMo, you’re not required to start a new novel. If you’ve got some writing in progress, you can pick it up again for JulNoWriMo. You just have to write 50,000 new words during the month of July.

When you start writing, you’ll probably want to show off how much you’ve written by updating your word count on the JulNoWriMo site. The word count system isn’t activated yet, but you’ll need to know how to update it when July comes. First, go to the forums and make sure you’re logged in. Then go to your User Control Panel.

In your user control panel, select Edit Profile.

You’ll see where you can edit your word count on the Edit Profile page come July.

JulNoWriMo’s forums, while not nearly as active as NaNoWriMo’s, are a great place to socialize with others who have also committed to this crazy challenge. You can just have some fun discussion there to take a break from writing, and you can ask your fellow writers for help.

I also highly recommend checking out JulNoWriMo’s collection of links. There’s a huge variety of links to helpful writing resources, and there are also links to all of the different writing challenges throughout the year if you don’t think you’re up for this in July.

Helpful Programs

One of the biggest challenges to getting 50,000 words down is suppressing the desire to go back and edit your work. It just isn’t possible to go back and fix all of your grammatical mistakes now, when you should instead be focusing on writing as much as possible as quickly as possible.

Typewriter is a program that will make it impossible to edit yourself. This unique minimalist text editor is meant to emulate a typewriter. To that end, it offers none of the features common to word processors and really doesn’t let you do much besides write, save, and print. Most importantly for our purposes, it doesn’t let you use backspace.

Just as if you were using a typewriter, any mistakes you make you’re stuck with, which will require you to just keep on writing and not look back.

If you want a program suited more to creative writing, yWriter might be your best bet. It can help you organize your writing and perhaps make your 50,000 words a little less chaotic.

To get more details on yWriter, check out this article.

Conclusion

If you think you’re up for the challenge, be sure to try out JulNoWriMo. Don’t worry if you don’t make 50,000 words this year. I’ve been doing JulNoWriMo for three years and haven’t quite made it once. But it’s worth coming back each year regardless because it’s a good way to encourage yourself to write. And, who knows, you might find out you’re a creative genius and manage to churn out 50,000 words.

What do you think? Will you participate this year?

3 Cool Tetris Spin-Off Online Games

Simon Slangen — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 17:31:33 +0000

Tetris is, together with Mario, Pong and Pacman, one of the retro classics. Henceforth, it’s hardly surprising to see spin-offs of the game.

Most of those spin-offs, however, stay incredibly close to the original. If it ain’t broken, why fix it – right? So the game’s ported to yet another device, donned in a new shiny interface and let be.

The other developers don’t waste time wondering ‘why?’, but think ‘why not?’.

Looking aside from the inevitable failures, here are some of the more original and innovating spin-offs. Three very different Tetris online games that grew from the same retro classic.

First-Person Tetris Online Game

At first glance, First-Person Tetris looks pretty regular, aside from the double screen interface. However, once you start playing this Tetris online game, you’ll notice that this game embeds ‘First-Person’ with another meaning.

Turning your block is not possible. Rotating everything else, is. You can spin the room in the right position, and slide it around your block. All the while, your block attracts the ‘bottom’ of the TV set. Almost as if it were falling.

Besides being fun, original, and very much addicting, First-Person Tetris really gets your head spinning. You probably won’t be able to finish the game without hugging the ground. Or the first few levels.

Tetris vs Triangle

No, there’s nothing wrong with that screenshot. Tetris vs Triangle was created in response to a ‘create a game with a stage smaller than or equal to 100Ã—100 pixels‘ challenge. If you don’t feel you’re up for the job, always remember that your browser has a built in zoom function.

The real challenge, however, lies not in the game’s size. As you can see in the screenshot of this Tetris online game, there are a few new elements in the screen; purple blocks and a little triangle.

Your objective is to clear the playing field of these purple, static blocks. Get rid of them by vanishing the whole line. Just filling up those blanks. Sounds easy, right?

No, that little triangle has a gun, and he/she is not afraid to use it. If you can’t avoid the bullets soaring past, you’ll turn purple yourself. You’ve got an infinite supply of lives, but getting shot still makes the game a lot harder, and once you hit the top, it’s still game over.

Tetoris (Tetris HD)

This Tetris online game went viral some time ago. The concept is simple, and actually very similar to the original Tetris. The only difference is an upgrade of the resolution and size of the playing field. Often dubbed ‘Tetris HD’, this game makes retro available for the HD-crazed masses.

The screenshot above no doubt shows that the high resolution can offer quite a challenge. Not necessarily due to difficulty, but because of the time you spend trying to fill a line. One gamer commented: “It took me 15 minutes, just to lose on purpose.” Another cried out his dramatic tale of messing up the final block in a line.

As I’m sure you understand, Tetris is not the most satisfying game to play. It gets either frustrating or boring. The game is probably most praised for its arty concept, and for the joke that this game’s developer intended it to be.

What do you think of the games above? Which do you deem the most interesting, or the most addictive? Let us know about any other Tetris spin-offs that we’ve missed!

Three Challenging Puzzle Games To Rack Your Brain

Simon Slangen — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:00:08 +0000

With the start of a new week comes, once again, the countdown to the weekend. Not the most imaginative way to live your live, but then again, time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time ~ T.S. Eliot.

However, if we are to be killing time at work, what better way of doing so than to give our brains a good mental work-out?

Today, we’ll take a break from all those first person shooters and online multiplayer fantasies. Instead, MakeUseOf brings you an assorted compilation of three wonderful, yet challenging puzzle games.

Stopple

A desktop recreation of the ever so popular Bloxorz flash game. The concept is simple: get your moving block to land vertically on the circular pad. Proceeding to do this is another matter – as special tiles, buttons and hatches will make your life miserable for the effort.

This game is guaranteed to bring you tons of fun, as you work your way through the 32 levels of the original game. However, you can now enjoy it in full screen without any distractions and play it offline as well.

Supported Operating Systems
Windows 95 to Vista

Known System Requirements
Pentium II® 400
64 MB RAM
5 MB Free Hard Drive Space
16 MB or Greater DirectX 7.0 Compatible 3D Graphics Accelerator

DUOtris

The creator of addictive arcade shooter mono surprises us again with DUOtris. Don’t get misguided by the title and looks of the game, because the concept couldn’t differ more from Tetris.

Your objective in the game is to piece together at least three blocks of the same color to eliminate them. Not only that, you’ve got mirrored zones with different colouring. That means, different coloured blocks moving dependently on both sides of the screens.

The only way you’re going to get through this is through a masterful combination of agility and compositional thinking. And of course, by deploying the various powerups, which are mixed with the other blocks.

Supported Operating Systems
Windows

Known System Requirements
DirectX 9.0b or higher (Download DX10/DX9)

Floating Islands Game

FIG, or Floating Islands Game, can best be described as an innovative solo Lemmings adventure. The game features code and artwork by Arvu Teikari (Hempuli) and has been praised already by innumerably on the web.

In the game, you guide a brain-dead guy through a series of floating islands, while collecting all the stars. However, direct interaction with the character is impossible and the only way of manipulating him is through the environment. So pull the switch, burn the rope, do whatever you can to get your little guy from one side to another.

There’s also a secret blue star in each level. You’ll need all of these blue stars to unlock and play the last five levels. It won’t be an easy task, but it’s sure as hell worth it.

FIG is an incredibly imaginative and addictive game, so prepare to loose complete track of time. The artwork won’t hold up to the Mona Lisa, but it’s a fun and playful style to depict the craziest of worlds.

Supported Operating Systems
Windows

If you liked these games, you might also like 4 Flash Games To Kick-Start Your Brain, or James Withers’ article about GWAP Brain Games.

If you’ve got any other suggestions or comments, don’t be shy to share them below.

The 5 Hardest Games in the Online World

Simon Slangen — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:01:36 +0000

I’ve played a wide variety of games throughout my life so far, ranging from Spyro the (cute little) Dragon and Crash Bandicoot to the more controversial Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt series.

During my search for new games, I encountered some games that were more – special.

Frankly, some of these games made you pull out all of your hair before you were done.

For this article, I’ve searched for the hardest (free) games in the world. Believe me when I say it will be frustrating. It will seem impossible. And if you don’t die and fail a few hundred times before succeeding, you’re just not trying hard enough.

If this seems too much for you, please turn back now. Failure will be an option – nearly a necessity before succeeding. If you can find the courage, follow me into the gaming pit of doom.

5. La Mulana

You’re an adventurer, and armed with nothing but a whip, you choose to invade the tomb of La Mulana. Like always, these tombs are far from empty, and trespassers are not particulary celebrated.

There are many items to be found in the game, many of which will contribute to the story, and some that will grant you additional abilities and weapons.

Remarkable for this 2D platformer, is that the story is non-linear. Yes, the ending will always be the same – if you manage to reach it – but there are tons of different ways to get there.

The game was originally released in Japanese, but an English patch was made available by Ian Kelley of AGTP. So you’ll need to download and install both the original game and the English patch.

4. World’s Hardest Game #2

The fourth place is taken by a flash game – the World’s Hardest Game 2 (talking about paradoxes).

The game looks ridiculously simple, but don’t be fooled; many brave men and women went down because of carelessness.

You play with the red square. Your objective is to grab all the coins and return to one of the green patches. There’s only one obstacle; the little blue balls. Touch those and you’re done for.

Easy, right?

The problem is that these little blue balls constantly move around, which creates a deadly maze that you need to get through.

Instead of showing you the number of lives you’ve got left, the game chooses to mock you with the number of lives you’ve lost so far. Play through all fifty insane levels, and you’ll hold a name of honor.

If you enjoyed playing this game, you should also check out the first game of the series.

3. Japanese Mario Kitten (dl)

Our bronze medal goes to this Japanese Mario-like game.

The game has a high degree of randomness, which takes the difficulty to a whole new level, so don’t be surprised when you hit invisible bricks or get killed by the clouds from time to time.

Many people claim that because of this, completing it is more a matter of memory than of skill. But whatever the cause, the difficulty of this game is undeniable.

The game can be played out of your browser on this page, or you can download it here.

2. FLaiL

Being the second hardest game available, FLaiL receives the silver medal.

FLaiL is an acrobatic 2D platformer, in which you need to hike, jump and even fly accross the level to reach a red beam. The difficulty of this game lies not in any randomness, but – as you can see in the screenshot below – in the insanity of the level designs. Even the tutorials are pretty hard, and it doesn’t get any easier.

Play through the 80 available stages by yourself or in co-operation mode. It’s also possible to add a third player, who then occupies himself with dropping bombs to make it even more difficult!

1. I Wanna Be The Guy

By far the hardest game ever made, I Wanna Be The Guy.

I admit, if you manage to finish this game, you’ll be one hell of a guy.

You’re playing the role of Kid, who’s on the dangerous quest of becoming a guy. The game is frustrating at times, but wonderfully designed and hosts several cool references to old school classics – like the tetris level.

This game manages to combine utterly insane level designs with bits of randomness. You see the screenshot above? Chances are pretty good that a few of those spikes will try to attack you in mid-air.

Similar to Japanese Mario Kitten, remembering the oddities of each level plays at least as big of a role as your skill. However, if you manage to beat this game, you will be amongst the elite few.

If there are any games which you consider to be the hardest games in the whole world, please let us know in the comments what they are.