Written by Christian Reshoeft: Senior Producer, 8 Ball Pool

Five years ago online games hub Miniclip released a game called 8 Ball Quick Fire Pool. The game is a simple variation of the classic 8 Ball Pool: pot as many balls as you can before the timer runs out. Every time you sink a ball, it adds extra time to the clock. The game’s simple and highly addictive, and shortly after launch it quickly became one of the most played games on Miniclip, with over a million people playing every month.

With a successful game on their hands, Miniclip started looking for ways to develop the idea further, and so in 2010, work started on a multiplayer version of the game. This multiplayer version is now known as 8 Ball Pool, and since its launch in October 2010, the game has reached 18 million monthly active players. This is the story behind the game.

Initial development

The main goal with 8 Ball Pool was to create a clean and simple-to-understand game which was completely accessible from the start. The best way to make people want to play is to get them playing straight away, so we made 8 Ball Pool as easy as possible. It only takes a couple of clicks once it’s loaded; press the big “play” button and in an instant you’re matched with an opponent.

It’s this simplicity which is one of the main reasons for 8 Ball Pool’s success: there’s nothing you need to “get”; you can just jump into a game and start playing straight away.

One of the main things the team focused on was making sure the physics in the game were perfect, so that when someone played a shot, the balls moved the same way they would as if they were on a real-life Pool table. The team went to Pool halls to see how the balls moved, even filming the whole sequence for reference. I am really happy now that the physics in 8 Ball Pool are pretty much perfect. I’ve even had emails from professional Pool and Snooker players telling me how accurate the game is!

This mix of simplicity and realism creates a game where we have thousands of new users trying out the game every day, and our regular players coming back to experience new challenges.

Growth from day 1

8 Ball Multiplayer Pool was launched in October 2010 on Miniclip.com and like its predecessor, the game was an immediate success, hitting the top of our games charts.

Growth came far quicker than anyone expected and it was around half past four in the morning mid-March when I realised how big this game was. I was woken up by a phone call from one of our server team in Miami who told me the game had just hit 30,000 concurrent users, the game had subsequently crashed, and I had to get up to help them fix it.

Getting the game back online at half four in the morning was a significant point. 30,000 concurrent users was a huge number to hit within the first couple of months, a number which put 8 Ball Pool ahead of many of the games on Steam’s most-played games list. People really cared about the game, and in those first few months we kept thinking that the new user numbers would level off, but that day never came so we started looking for ways to get the game in front of more people straight away.

A truly social experience

The obvious next step was to take Pool to Facebook. Miniclip had experimented with putting some of its titles on Facebook with mixed results, so to reduce risk initially we just directly ported the game. The Facebook version launched in early Summer and as on Miniclip.com the game very quickly caught on, so we started work on Facebook-specific features.

The obvious feature for us to migrate was the challenge feature, which allows players to challenge their friends and then play against them 1-on-1. On Miniclip.com, players add their friends and then wait for them to be online before they can play, but Facebook provides the perfect platform for challenges as players already have all their friends and can just use the game to send them a message, challenging them to a game. If someone’s not online, they will pick up the message when they next visit Facebook.

Adding this feature really kick-started growth of Pool on Facebook. Current players wanted to share the experience with their friends, who then joined, played for a couple of games, got hooked and invited their friends too. We accidentally built a viral game.

It sounds simple — and it is — but it works. We’ve not had to spend a penny on user acquisition because our retention rate is sky high and by allowing players to connect with their friends the game is fundamentally viral. The total number of players playing Pool on Facebook recently overtook the number of players playing the game on Miniclip.com, and the Facebook challenge feature is a major contributor to that.

The big update

It’d be wrong to give you the impression that 8 Ball Pool has spent the last two years experiencing unprecedented growth; early last year growth of the game was starting to level off and so we drew up a plan to revitalise the game. We set out a simple aim: add an extra layer of challenge to keep the game fresh for frequent players, but keep the barrier to entry low by retaining that simplicity.

The main way that we did this was by introducing a revamped ranking system, which we coupled with tiered matches (and tournaments), and an all-new virtual currency system built specifically for the game, Pool Coins.

By requiring players to pay a varying amount of Pool Coins to enter each game — from 25 to 50,000 — which then creates a prize pot ranging from 50 to 250,000 Coins, overnight Pool became a lot more competitive as there was a huge incentive for each player to win every game. Not only does a win now get you experience points to level up, but it now unlocks new challenges and you get a bunch of Pool Coins too.

To give players something to spend their new Pool Coins on, we vastly expanded the game’s store, the Pool Shop. Players can purchase cues, tables and power-ups which allow them to customise their game. There are 39 cues available in the Pool Shop at a variety of prices, ranging from the simple Cow Hide Cue, priced at 750 Pool Coins to the Millionaire Cue which is priced at 1,000,000 Pool Coins. My personal favourite’s the futuristic Blue Hope cue .

The update launched in December 2012, and in the two months since, we’ve doubled the number of people playing 8 Ball Pool. We expected the update to bring some new players to Pool, but nobody predicted it would happen so quickly. This initially lead to the game becoming quite unstable as we were racing to increase the game’s capacity in line with the increase in players, but with some big efficiency improvements just before Christmas and help from some of the other Miniclip teams, we managed to get the game running smoothly again. Crisis averted!

Going mobile

In July 2010 Miniclip opened a new office in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. The new office was opened for one purpose: to house a new Mobile Team. In just over two and a half years, Team Mobile’s iOS, Android and Windows Mobile games have had hundreds of millions of downloads, and they’ve been responsible for some of the most successful mobile titles in recent years: Rail Rush, Fragger, iStunt and the Android port of Plague Inc to name but a few.

With the infrastructure to create great mobile games already in place, it made sense to bring 8 Ball Pool to mobile. We started seriously thinking about creating a mobile version of the game at the start of 2012, but it was only in the Summer we were able to start working seriously with Team Mobile on the mobile version of the game.

We had previously released a mobile version of 8 Ball Quick Fire Pool, but we were never entirely happy with it and it was pulled from the App Store in early 2012. It was quite clear from the start that if we we were going to do it again, we had to make sure the multiplayer game was brought to mobile properly.

With such a dedicated following of the web version of the game, I was acutely aware it would be very easy to get the mobile version wrong. We thus set out to create a mobile game which shared the same ecosystem as the web, so when players logged in for the first time on mobile, they’d find that all of their data — their stats, levels and items — were as they left them in the web version of the game.

On a more practical level, it was quite difficult making a web game fit on a smaller mobile screen. We tried various different control mechanisms, trying to find something  which “just worked” and retained the simplicity of the web. The main trouble was Pool requires immense accuracy, and large fingers on a small screen make that difficult. We persevered though, and to see how it turned out… well, you’ll just have to play it. The Android version of the game is available worldwide for free in the Google Play store, and an iOS version is coming very shortly.

Onward, upward!

So what advice would I share about making online games? Keep everything simple, keep your players coming back and make it as easy as possible to share the game. That way people want to come back and want to share the whole experience with their friends. It’s a winning combination. The future for us? We have some exciting new features we’re working on, but we’re not quite ready to announce them yet

I’d like to very quickly thank everyone involved in making Pool a success – from from my team, to the Miniclip Tech Team, Team Binary, Team Mobile and everyone else involved in the project. I also have to thank everyone who’s played the game; we wouldn’t be here without you!

The only thing left to do, then, is to have a quick game yourself and make sure you follow us on Twitter and like 8 Ball Pool on Facebook. If you’re trying out the game for the first time, let me know what you think in the comments

Download 8 Ball Pool from the App Store | Download 8 Ball Pool on Google Play

Do you step away from your computer wishing you could take your game of 8 Ball Pool with you?

If so, you’re now in luck! Miniclip has released a version of its hit online multiplayer game, 8 Ball Pool for iOS devices including iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, as well as for Android phones and tablets, meaning you can now play the world’s best Pool game wherever you go.

The mobile version of the game connects with the web version, meaning once you’re logged in you’ll find all your hard earned Pool Coins, your rank and purchased cues as you left them in the web version. If you’ve leveled up on the web version, you’ll find the locations you’ve unlocked are available for you to play immediately, so you can jump right into the the Downtown London Pub or Tokyo Warrior Hall.

Play with friends! Play with Legends. Play the huge online hit 8 Ball Pool by Miniclip wherever you go. Compete 1 on 1 and in tournaments as you strive to become a Pool God!

You can download the game using the links below or by going to PoolByMiniclip.com on your device.

Download 8 Ball Pool from the App Store | Download 8 Ball Pool on Google Play

Have you downloaded Pool onto your device? What do you think of it? Let us know by leaving a comment below! You can also keep up with all of the latest Pool news by liking the 8 Ball Pool Facebook Page or following Miniclip on Twitter. See you at the table!

Goodgame Big Farm has become one of the most popular games on Miniclip.com over the last couple of months, and people keep asking us to give them some pointers on becoming the best farmer around. How could we refuse? These are our top tips to becoming the best at Goodgame Big Farm, a game you can play for free on Miniclip.com.

The most important thing to remember when playing Goodgame Big Farm is that farming is a business, and thus your approach to the game needs to be business orientated. You’re going to need to use your business skills — along with the help of your neighbours, family and friends — in order to turn your overgrown barnyard into a beautiful and prosperous centre of farming excellence again.

What does “use your business skills” mean? In a farming environment, it means you’ve got to be savvy and make sure you plant the right crops at the right time, process them properly, care for your animals and make sure the people working on your farm are happy. A combination of these is going to ensure your farm grows successfully.

Getting started

If you’re just starting out on your farming adventure, the game’s built-in help system is pretty handy at getting you started, but we’ve got a couple of tricks to give you a bit of a boost once you’re out of the help system.

The main advice we’d give to players who are just getting started is keep tabs on your tasks, as these are the things which are going to show you how to properly manage your farm. You also get the added bonus that doing tasks helps you level up, getting you free rewards.

However, whilst you’re doing the tasks, don’t become fixated with them: remember you’ve got the rest of your farm to run! You’ll need to carry on collecting and producing, otherwise your farm won’t have any output! And when you’re not producing anything, you can’t make any money! Speaking of money…

Earning more money

Having more cash to splash on your farm means is always handy — bigger investments can yield bigger returns! So how should you earn more money in the game? Our big tip is play every day. You get a “daily bonus” by logging in on consecutive days, and the rewards vary from cash to gold to crops and feed for your farm. Making sure you play every day also means none of your farm is going to get neglected… handy, right?

You can also bump up your earnings by starting and then completing missions; you’ll earn experience points, farm dollars and reputation points from doing the game’s missions. When you choose a mission from the menu on the left hand side, hover over the “reward box” to see what the reward you will get for completing it.

After finishing a mission, make sure you claim your reward — and don’t forget you can also get rewards for leveling up! Goodgame Big Farm rewards you for playing

Get farming!

Goodgame Big Farm has flown up the Miniclip charts, becoming one of our favourite games in only a couple of months. There’s good reason for it to — you can really make your farm your own and running your business can get addictive!

Hopefully those farming tips will be helpful for everyone playing… if you’ve got any tips of your own you want to share, then feel free to leave a comment below

Earlier today, 18th March, we released an update to 8 Ball Pool by Miniclip. As well as introducing a new tier and some fixes, we also briefly tested something we’d like your feedback on. More information on that later, though. First off, these are the changes:

Let’s go Cairo!

One of the first things you’ll notice in the update is a new location is now available for both 1-on-1 matches and eight-player-tournaments: Cairo Kasbah.

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had a lot of requests to introduce a new tier to the game which has a lower entry fee, and the Cairo Kasbah fits this description: with an entry fee of 250 Pool Coins for both 1-on-1 matches and tournaments, the Cairo tier slots in between the Sydney and Moscow locations. As with all other tournaments, if you win the Cairo tournament, you’ll unlock a unique new cue.

“Freeze hack” progress

A number of Pool players have been reporting issues with Pool where, especially in higher-tiered matches, the game “freezes” and their opponent is able to take advantage of this. We’ve been looking into this over the last couple of weeks and today’s update includes a fix for this “freeze hack”.

We’ll be continuing to monitor reports from players of the game freezing, so if you experience this, please let us know in the comments.

Guidelines change: what do you think?

We’re looking at changing the guidelines in 8 Ball Pool in order to add an extra layer of challenge to the game, and we’d like to hear your thoughts on doing this. A small number of players may have seen this change live on 8 Ball Pool earlier today, but currently there are no changes to the guidelines.

We’d like to change the guidelines for two reasons:

• In order to address another “hack” we’ve seen reports of, where players are able to extend the guidelines permanently.
• In order to address the problem of a high number of Denials at high-level play.

Changing the guidelines is potentially a huge change to the game so before we send out any changes, we’d like your feedback!

We’ve set up a survey, so tell us what you think here. We’ll take all feedback into account when deciding how to proceed with these changes, if at all.

Thank you for playing Pool, and make sure you follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be kept up-to-date with all the details.

Here at Miniclip we are sad to announce that on April 16th 2013, Sketch Star will be closing and will no longer be available to users after this date.

To ensure that you don’t lose any of your work, we recommend that you download your animations as soon as possible from the animation watching page. All you need to do to save it is click on the Download button below the animation! If you have any problems doing this, please let us know by contacting support@miniclip.com.

Sketch Star has been a wonderful part of the Miniclip site for several years now. We have had over 1 million animations published in the past two years; however, it is a huge product that requires a lot of maintenance, constant moderation and lots of care that, unfortunately, we are no longer able to provide.

Despite continued development and innovation the Sketch Star fan base has been decreasing slowly for the last year. It has been a hard decision but it’s time for us to put Sketchy to bed.

We’re very attached to Sketchy and the community that has built around him. However currently there are no plans to bring Sketch Star back in any form. That said, we will be keeping the code in a safe place and, if the right idea or opportunity comes along, then he may be woken up once again.

Miniclip’s focus has always been games – and whilst Sketch Star is a fantastic tool and has been a wonderful experience for us (and hopefully you) – we now want to focus on our core strengths, the things that make us great! We’re really sorry about any disappointment, and hope that you stick around to see our future projects.

We’ve put together this video with some of our favourite Sketch Star animations over the last couple of years. We hope you enjoy:

Update 3/4/13: further to the news above, we would like to announce that on 8th April 2013 Sketch Star creator is going to be removed so that we can process any pending animations. Please ensure that all animations are completed before this date.

In order to keep you better informed about what we’re doing with 8 Ball Pool, we’re going to be giving you regular updates on what we are working on and what’s coming soon. They are going to be published every month, or even more frequently if we’ve got lots of news!

In this, update number one, we are going to tell you what’s been going on behind the scenes at Miniclip HQ: read on!

Introducing the Daily Spin

The new Daily Spin, soon to be introduced to 8 Ball Pool! The design is subject to change

We’ll kick off with the next big feature we’re going to be bringing to Pool: we’re going to be replacing the Daily Bonus with the “Daily Spin”.

As you can see from this draft design of the Daily Spin, instead of getting a standard 125 Pool Coins every day, you’ll get a spin of the wheel and have the chance to win a huge range of prizes, ranging from Pool Coins to power-ups to the “Lucky 8 Cue”, which will be exclusive to the Daily Spin.

And — don’t worry — you’ll always walk away from the Daily Spin with something

Everyone is going to get one free spin per day, but you’ll also be able to purchase additional spins from the Pool Shop.

We’re hoping the Daily Spin is going to mix things up a bit and add a bit of fun to the game. You can expect to see it coming to 8 Ball Pool in around the next month or so.

Offline mode coming to mobile

You’ll be able to play Pool literally anywhere with the new offline mode.

One of the most — if not the most requested features for 8 Ball Pool on iOS and Android is the ability to play offline — both in single-player mode and with two people sharing one device.

We’ve listened to your feedback, and now I’m very pleased to be able to announce both of these features are coming to the iOS and Android versions of 8 Ball Pool.

The offline “Quick Fire” single player mode will let you play solo in a similar style to 8 Ball Quick Fire Pool, allowing you to play Pool wherever you’ve got an iOS or Android device. This will be available as an in-app purchase for a small fee.

The “Pass ‘n’ Play” offline two-player mode will let you play against a friend, on the same device. As this is an extension of the multiplayer game, this game-mode will be available as a free update to 8 Ball Pool.

Offline mode is going to be the next big feature we release to 8 Ball Pool on mobile, so you should expect to see this available in a couple of weeks.

Additional updates

The Cairo Kasbah tournament will shortly be available on mobile!

The Daily Spin and offline mode are the next two big features you will notice when you’re playing Pool, but there are lots of other tweaks we’re introducing to the game which will improve your Pool experience that are worth mentioning:

• The Cairo Kasbah tournament which is currently only available on the web, will be available on mobile shortly.
• The friends-matching on mobile is undergoing serious improvements, allowing for a significantly better experience when playing with friends on mobile.
• We’ll be looking at the results of the survey we ran recently and taking your comments into account when considering what changes, if any, to make to the guidelines in Pool on the web. Currently, no changes are imminent.
• We’re looking into how playing friends for Pool Coins can be introduced in a way which ensures players are not able to take advantage of the system.

Keep updated!

This concludes our first 8 Ball Pool Community Update. We, of course, would love to hear your feedback on the new features, so let us know what you think in the comments below.

Until the next update, make sure you like 8 Ball Pool on Facebook and follow us on Twitter! Don’t stop Poolin’

One of the top games on Miniclip recently has been, Wartune, a super-awesome turn-based strategy MMO which featuring epic boss battles, a huge skill customisation system and daily events and rewards. Sounds good, huh?

To get you started with Wartune, we’ve got a bunch of free codes for the Newcomer Pack to give away!

The Newcomer Pack includes a bunch of awesome stuff:

• Moderate HP Pack x1: Provides 100,000 HP when used
• Bullhorn (Small) x3 Level 2 : allows you to send messages in world chat
• Luck Stone x4 : this item improves your chance to enchant an item
• Skeleton Key x1: Used to open Mystery Boxes
• Manaso Band x2 : gear item
• Mithril Necklace x1: gear item

We want to give you a free code, so to get yours, just send Miniclip a message on Facebook which says “I WANT ONE!” and we’ll message you back with a code! Only one code can be used per account, and the giveaway expires 10/4/13, so get messaging Miniclip!

How to redeem your code

Once you’ve got your code for the Wartune Newcomer Pack, you just need to redeem the code in-game.

You’ll need to finish the tutorial before you can redeem the code, so after that, just click “Event Prizes” in the top right, enter in your code and then click “Exchange”.

Your code will then get mailed to you.

And then, all you need to do is enjoy your awesome new Wartune gear! Have fun playing

We’re very excited to be able to tell you that you can currently get three awesome Miniclip games for Windows 8 for free, and four Miniclip games on Windows Phone for free!

The offer expires on 15th April, so you’ll have to act quick if you want those free Windows 8 and Windows Phone games! These are the games you can get:

Gravity Guy

In a world where gravity laws were broken, a brave guy, was held captive for defying the rules. Not happy, he decided to escape, being the first one to run for his life flipping gravity at will.

He became known as the Gravity Guy.

This fast paced and frustratingly addictive adventure features 30 challenging levels, and 3 different worlds, and guarantees you many long hours of fun!

Free on: Windows Phone, Windows 8

Monster Island

Monster thugs are on the loose harassing the inhabitants of the colorful world of Monster Island. Now, it’s up to you and your arsenal of mini-monster bombs to get rid of this plague of unwanted visitors. Can you stand against such mischievous foes?

Unlock five different monster bombs, each with its own abilities: Rocko, Sticky, Xplode, Blui and the fearsome Don Tonator! Toss them at enemies over 3 worlds and 200 reactive puzzles which will dazzle you for many hours of unparalleled fun.

Free on: Windows Phone, Windows 8

iStunt 2

Hit the slopes for some serious shredding in the most fun snowboarding game ever created! To survive you will have to perform impossible stunts, dodge deadly saws and do incredible jumps in a world where gravity laws have been broken!

Free your mind in this mind-blowing action-packed adventure pushing the adrenaline to the limit!

Free on: Windows Phone, Windows 8

Fragger

The world of Fragger is at risk, and he needs your help to explode all enemies! Unleash your shooting abilities to kill all the enemies and unlock 3 different perks!

Featuring 310 challenging levels, and 10 different worlds, Fragger guarantees you many long hours of exploding fun!

Free on: Windows Phone

These games are only available for free until 15th April 2013, so you’ll have to be quick to get them! Make sure you follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook so you don’t miss out on awesome games in the future.

We love seeing the things 8 Ball Pool players create when playing, whether it’s an awesome trickshot or artwork created with Pool balls, and we love sharing those creations on the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page!

A creation Pool player Ina recently sent us!

We’ve had some awesome stuff sent to us recently, and we share as much as we can, but we want to open up the process and give everyone the opportunity to create something worthy of being shared with the 5+ million fans of the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page!

What you need to do

We want you to play with a friend by either using the “Play Friends” mode on Miniclip.com or “Challenge Friends” on Facebook, and then work together to arrange the balls so that they create a figure-of-eight.

Once you’ve created your figure-of-eight, take a screenshot and send it to us using the form below! We’ll then take the best four creations and ask 8 Ball Pool fans to vote for which one they think is the best. The creators of the winning image will both receive 100,000 Pool Coins and a real life Pool cue each.

The shortlist of the four best creations will be judged on difficulty of set up, artistic flair and overall merit.

Rules

• All images must be created by playing against a friend using the “Play Friends”/”Challenge Friends” modes, not in for-Coins 1-on-1 or tournament play.
• The use of “alt” accounts is permitted, but this may negatively affect “difficulty of set up”, and only one prize will be awarded should an image created by one person win.
• Creations may not be manipulated or edited.
• The decision of the Miniclip Team is final.

Send us your entries!

Submit your screenshots using this form! You’ve got until 23rd April to send us entries, so be quick! Please also note the rules above; all entries and entrants must adhere to the rules.

Reminder: your entries must be creating a figure of eight with the Pool balls!

Good luck! Keep an eye on the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page to see if you make it onto the shortlist

One of the top games on Miniclip recently has been Wartune, a super-awesome turn-based strategy MMO which featuring epic boss battles, a huge skill customisation system and daily events and rewards. Sounds good, huh?

A new server is available for Wartune! Check it out on Miniclip.com

Players have been asking us how they can improve their gameplay so we’ve put together this short tips and tricks guide to help you get started and refine your game.

So you’ve started playing, set up your character, but now you want to turn your Wartune character from an everyday hero into a superhero? Wartune’s Astral system offers a unique way for you to customise your stats and your gameplay. Here are all the details you’ll need:

The Astro System

The Astro system is available to characters level 25 and above. Gathered Astrals allow you to selectively boost your character’s stats and customize your character’s stat focus. Every 10 levels an Astral equipment slot is unlocked. You cannot equip two Astrals that have the same stat boost.

Each Astral you gather also carries a chance of unlocking the next Astro formation, allowing for a greater chance to unlock a rare Astral. Each Astral that is gathered will grant you Star Points, which may be exchanged to purchase rare Astrals for your character.

Astral Rarity:

• Orange Astral – The rarest Astrals, these sell for 10,800 gold and can be converted to 70 EXP when synthesized.
• Purple Astral – These sell for 8,400 gold and can be converted to 50 EXP when synthesized.
• Blue Astral -These sell for 6,000 gold and can be converted to 30 EXP when synthesized
• Green Astral – These sell for 3,600 gold and can be converted to 10 EXP when synthesized.
• White Astral – Misfortune signifies a “bad result”; it sells for 1,200 gold.

Synthesizing Astrals

There are two ways to synthesize Astrals, by using a drag and drop method or utilizing One-click Synthesis.  With the drag and drop method, you simply drag and drop the Astral you wish to use, onto the Astral you wish to keep. This will synthesize the selected astral into the Astral you wish to keep, increasing its EXP.

The One-click Synthesis will synthesize all Astrals in your collection into the one Astral in the upper-left slot on your collection plate.  Select which Astral you would like to keep by placing it in the upper-left collection slot and click One- click Synthesis to add all the other Astrals as EXP.

Playing, improving

The best way to improve your Wartune skill is to get in to the game and start playing, so what are you waiting for? Take the things you’ve learned in this tips and tricks guide and get playing Wartune now!

Robots are awesome. The robots in our awesome new game Robot Rage are awesome!

So awesome, in fact, that we’ve made three beautiful renders of Crash, Bite and Wrecker available as desktop and mobile backgrounds and each robot has a version of the background in full HD for desktop as well as unique versions to fit iPhone 5s, iPhone 4s and Android devices.

A sneaky peak at the three wallpapers!

If you want to grab these awesome downloads (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a robot in their life), you can download by sharing this post with your friends on Facebook or Twitter; just use the button below.

Share to download!

TOP SECRET DIARY ENTRIES FROM THE GRAVITY GUY

In a world where the laws of gravity were broken, one brave guy was held captive for defying gravity’s rules. Held on a space ship, his DNA was collected and he was cloned as part of an evil plan to organize dangerous races across his once-free world. He was cloned so the race could always be restarted.

The following is a selection of diary entries recovered from one of the Guys.

Dear diary…

Year 2314, April 23rd, 11:59am – Lunch Break

The other scientists have left already. I don’t blame them. Today we had a bit of a… problem.

One of the test subjects went on a crazed rant. “You are the real subjects!”, he shouted.

He then turned his pants into a hat and passed out.

Even though the rest of the team didn’t think much of it, I felt uneasy.

Somehow I feel like we shouldn’t all look the same.

Don’t over-rate cleanliness.

Year 2314, April 29th, 10:12pm – Brushing My Teeth

There I was, in the bathroom, wearing my Standard Issued Pyjamas, brushing my Standard Issued Teeth with my Standard Issued Toothbrush, when it hit me…

None of them were mine! They all belonged to the Guy next door. I wouldn’t even have noticed if it wasn’t for the weird flavour in my mouth.

This is all getting too suspicious for my taste!

…cake?

Year 2314, May 2nd, 8:30am – Wake Up Call

This morning I got a call from the cafeteria Girl. She was a bit edgy and sounded awfully nervous. I told her to cut back on the coffee, it’s clearly doing her no good!

She kept mentioning how special I was. How I was nothing like the other Guys. How I smiled.

Then… she paused, and said:

“There’s no time to explain! I’ve sent you a cake with something inside. Use it!”

She hung up.

How am I supposed to use cake?

Nooo!

Year 2314, May 8nd, 14:31pm – Turn Of Events

I had never seen such a delicious looking cake in my life! Now that I think of it, I didn’t even know what cake looked like…

Can you imagine my surprise when, while devouring that godly cake, I bite down on a Gravity Switch and my whole room gets turned upside down? It’s not fun when you have an indoor bathroom!

I really do not understand the gravity of this situation. However, I will try to make a run for it!

P.S.: Thank you for all the cake.

Guy.

Gravity Guy 2 is out now on Windows Phone, and coming very soon to iOS. Like Gravity Guy on Facebook to be kept up to date with all the details.

Welcome to the second of your monthly updates for what’s going on in 8 Ball Pool! Update number 1 was a huge success, and it was great to get some feedback on some of the stuff we’re working on, so we’ll get straight into the details of what we’ve been working on over the last month and what’s coming next.

Nominating pockets now live

You now have to “call” which pocket you’re going to pot the 8 Ball in.

Last week we launched “calling”/”nominating” of pockets on the 8 Ball in the Cairo tier and above, for both tournaments and 1-on-1 matches. “Calling” which pocket you’re going to pot the 8 Ball in is a common rule in real-life Pool, and thus adds an extra layer of realism to the game, as well as making the game slightly more difficult; no longer will you be able to “fluke” and pot the 8 Ball somewhere you didn’t intend to!

Those of you who follow the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page will know we ran a survey to gauge feedback on this feature before introducing it. 88.1% of respondents were in favour of introducing calling pockets, and of those in favour three quarters wanted calling pockets in both tournaments and 1-on-1 matches. Votes were split on which shots should be called, with 55.1% wanting calling shots on the 8 Ball only, and the remaining 44.9% requesting calling all shots.

On new features designed to improve the game experience, it’s great being able to get feedback before a feature is introduced, and with calling pockets we’ve been able to use that feedback to ensure the feature works as best it can. We’ve had some comments about the notification being too distracting; the current implementation has been designed to ensure colour blind players are able to use the feature, but we’ll be experimenting with some more subtle options over the next couple of weeks.

Spin & Win on mobile

Update on “Spin & Win”

Last month we introduced to you the new “Daily Spin”, which is now called “Spin & Win”. We had hoped to have the Spin & Win launched by the end of April, but the release has been pushed back to make sure the feature works as best it can.

Spin & Win is first going to be introduced to mobile, after which it’ll make its way to the web version of the game. We’re currently finishing up work on the mobile version, and it’ll be submitted to Apple and Google for review once it’s complete. As soon as it’s approved, you’ll be able to download and play!

Once the mobile version is available, we’ll start implementing Spin & Win on the web version of 8 Ball Pool.

Mobile improvements

We’re working non-stop on improving Pool on mobile!

As well as working on the Spin & Win feature, our mobile team have also been working on a series of bug fixes and improvements to the game. Bugs such as not being able to move the cue ball before break are being fixed, the stability of the servers is being improved and work is being done to make the matching of opponents more effective.

In addition, a series of anti-hack measures for the mobile game are being rolled out over the next couple of weeks. These will fix all current instances of players abusing the game and will go a long way to ensure future exploits cannot be abused.

There are a lot of behind-the-scenes changes being made, but the main noticeable difference will be if you play against someone who we detect is cheating, the player’s session will be terminated (meaning they get disconnected from the game) and you will automatically win the match.

Additional updates

We’ve been redoubling our efforts to eliminate hacking from 8 Ball Pool and continue to take the issue extremely seriously. Our banning system was recently overhauled, and work is going to ensure it works as effectively as possible across both web and mobile.

Congratulations to Kilkiju, who won our first Pool Community Challenge!

Today we released a minor update to the game which adds players’ IDs to the stats page. This will allow us to more easily identify players who have been abusing the game. We are also working on some fundamental-level changes to the game which will stop any Cheat Engine hacks from working. At this time there is no ETA of this project, but we will keep everyone updated as much as possible.

In Pool Shop news, we’re continuing to add new cues! New cues are being released every Friday, so look out for those. As requested by many, many players, we’re also going to be introducing country cues for all countries in the next couple of months.

Since the last update we held our first Community Chalenge! We invited Pool players to send in their creations, and were overwhelmed with the quantity and quality of responses. Congratulations again to Kilkiju, who was voted the winner.

And finally

To finish up this month’s update… 8 Ball Pool is now on Twitter! To keep absolutely up-to-date with the latest Pool news, updates and content, make sure you’re following @poolbyminiclip!

Let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments! Thanks for playing

Bow Master Japan, the latest in the highly popular Bow Master series, takes you to Japan, on the eve of the country’s Great War. This adds a newfound sense of urgency to the game; you’ll need to hone your kyudo archery skills before they’re needed in battle.

Bow Master is tough, so to help you out we’ve put together some tips and tricks. Let’s get going!

1. Take aim… shoot!

You’ll score highest by hitting the red centers of the targets, so always try and hit the middle. You’ll also gain either a 500, 200 or  100 point Fast Shot bonus if you shoot quick (depending how quick you are), so take aim and shoot right away!

2. Keep your cool

Each level needs to be completed before the timer runs out, so make sure you work out your shots so that you don’t run out of time. If you get down to the last fifteen seconds, a “Hurry Up!!” message will show.

Don’t let this put you off; keep your cool and make those last seconds count so that you complete the round.

3. Red dots unlock

Can’t see where you need to shoot next? Look out for the small red dots. Hit them, and an event will be triggered which will give you access to the rest of the targets in the level.

4. Shoot for the sky… with care

Take particular care when shooting at floating targets which are some distance away. Watch the flight of the target and track its movements, and shoot when you’re confident you’re going to hit. You may need to aim higher to compensate for the pull of gravity.

5. Hit the fan

In some levels you’ll need to shoot a red target which will then open up a second fanned target. You need to be very quick when shooting the second target as it closes almost immediately, so be quick!

6. Watch the target

The moving targets can be especially difficult to hit if you’re not careful. The trick to hitting these is to watch for patterns in the targets’ movements and only shoot when you’re sure you’re going to hit. It’s better to take extra time and care hitting with one shot than losing the round after missing five.

7. Watch out for obstacles

And finally… even if you’re watching the movement of the target, your shot could be scuppered by an obstacle sticking itself in the way. Make sure  you’re looking out for anything that could get in the way of your shot!

High scores; get awards

Now that you know all of the tricks you’re going to need to beat all the levels in Bow Master Japan, get playing and see if you can get all three of the game’s awards! You’ll need over 110,000 points to earn the gold award, so make sure you hit the centers of those targets! If you’re in need of further help, check out this video.

Good luck, and share any tips you know with us in the comments

Today we’re very excited to announce the release of a long-awaited update to 8 Ball Pool on iOS and Android, which brings the mobile versions of Pool up to versions 1.1 on iOS and 1.2 on Android. The update is the latest in a series of updates we’ve introduced since the game launched at the end of February.

We’ve got details on what’s in the update, as well as what you can look forward to in the future. Let’s get to it!

Spin & Win

The big new feature you’re going to notice is the introduction of “Spin & Win”, which replaces the Daily Bonus. You’ll get one free spin every day, and as the name suggests, you’re guaranteed to win something. Prizes range from varying amounts of Pool Coins (the highest number you can win is 50,000!) to an exclusive Lucky 8 Cue (which can’t be purchased) to powerups.

Should you wish to, you’re able to purchase extra spins of the Spin & Win wheel as in-app purchases.

Also introducing…

The update also has some other new features and bug fixes. As well as introducing Spin & Win, we’ve also added Twitter integration, so you’ll be able to share your Pool achievements with your followers.

On the bug fixes front, the issue where the cue ball could not be moved before breaking has been fixed (sorry about that!), and we’ve also made some general performance improvements which improve the efficiency with which the game runs on your device.

Tournaments coming next

Behind the scenes we’ve been working away on some improvements to our servers to ensure they’ll be able to handle running more matches, and with that work nearing completion, we can now confirm that the next big update to 8 Ball Pool on mobile is going to introduce tournaments to the game.

We’re still going to need some time to work out the technical side of this, so there’s no ETA yet, but if you like the 8 Ball Pool Facebook page or follow @poolbyminiclip on Twitter we’ll make sure you’re kept up to date.

Thanks for playing 8 Ball Pool — just a reminder that the game is available to play on Miniclip.com, Facebook, iOS and Android. Happy playing, and take to the comments if you have any questions!

Welcome! This is the third edition of your monthly 8 Ball Pool update, and as always we’ve got all the details about what has been added to the game in the last month, as well as insight into what’s coming up in the future.

The Lucky 8 Cue is the rarest in the game!

There’s lots to tell you about this month, so let’s get to it!

Improvements coming to Spin & Win

The much anticipated Spin & Win feature debuted at the start of this month, first on mobile and then on web versions of 8 Ball Pool. In place of the Daily Bonus, you now get one free spin of the wheel every day, with prizes ranging from 1 to 50,000 Pool Coins to an exclusive cue and powerups.

The Spin & Win has thus far been well received and adds a bit of excitement the first time you load up the game every day. There’s room for improvement, though: in order to make sure a larger variety of prizes are given out, we’ll be adding some extra values of Pool Coins to the prize pot, and we’re also working on some new cues which will be exclusive to the Spin & Win.

We’d love to get your feedback on the Spin & Win and how we can improve it further; let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Share your achievements!

Server-side fixes

As mentioned last month, putting a stop to exploits which allow players to unfairly advantage themselves has been a huge priority for us recently. We’re very pleased to announce this week a number of changes have been introduced which will go a long way to ensuring honest players are able to enjoy a fair playing environment.

We’ve tightened security of the game both server side and client side; the measures we’ve taken are going to either eliminate current hacks or make them vastly harder to carry out. We’ll be continuing to monitor the situation, and further action will be taken as and when necessary.

Share the Pool love… get Pool Coins!

If you play 8 Ball Pool on Facebook you’ll have noticed you’re offered the opportunity to share your achievements with your friends after reaching certain milestones (such as reaching 50,000 Pool Coins or leveling up), buying something in the Pool Shop or winning something on the Spin & Win.

Share your achievements and your friends can get free Pool Coins!

This feature is a great way for you to share the best 8 Ball Pool game around with your friends, and to add a little extra incentive for them to play, we’re soon going to be offering Pool Coins to the first five of your friends who click on the link and start playing.

You get to impress your friends with your Pool achievements, and they get some free Pool Coins! Everybody wins with this one

Also in the works

• Work is continuing on bringing tournaments to the mobile version of 8 Ball Pool! We’re close to finishing up development and now need to test everything thoroughly, so look out for an update to the mobile game in around a month.
• With Facebook Credits being discontinued, we’re going to be replacing the use of both Miniclip Credits and Facebook Credits with a new currency, Pool Cash. You should see the new currency in the near future.
• A frequent request has been to add “free chat” to Pool. This isn’t currently on the roadmap; it’d be extremely challenging to ensure the game offered a safe playing environment, and we feel we can improve the game better elsewhere. We are exploring other options, however, including adding additional sayings to the current chat. We’ll keep you updated.

That’s it for this month’s update! For up-to-the-minute Pool news, make sure you’re following @poolbyminiclip on Twitter and like our Facebook page. Thanks for playing

Last week, Shoreditch Park played host to an incredible blend of skill, strength and style as the finely-tuned athletes of Miniclip UK turned out for a game of rounders!

Under the steely-grey skies of a typical British summer, we played out an epic battle between bat and ball in front of a huge crowd of fans. Well, a moderate-sized crowd. Okay, a man walking his dog. The dog was huge, anyway.

After dividing into four teams, all players displayed a brilliant lack of understanding for the basic rules of rounders – what is a no-ball? Are you allowed to wrestle runners to the floor? Is it okay if someone hides the ball in their bag? And most importantly… how do you score, exactly? We also demonstrated mixed ability in throwing, catching and hitting.

Some were admittedly better than others. A one-handed catch in the deep was given a standing ovation, particularly as the catcher was listening to his iPod and not really paying attention at the time. Various big hits resulted in some shameless showboating as the batter ran, danced and occasionally moonwalked around the bases as the fielders tried to recover the ball from a dog that clearly wanted to join the game.

The standard noticeably improved after my team had been somewhat humiliated in the first game (the pressure got to us), before we merged sides to have a giant game between two teams.

Despite some slightly dubious time-keeping, things were getting tense as Team A posted a huge score of 25. When it came to Team B’s turn to bat, they seemed to be chasing down their target with ease before Team A’s agile fielders, displaying cat-like reactions, were able to get back in the game. Then, with time running out, the last batter reached home base to score a run which meant that the final score was…

Team A: 25
Team B: 25

Everybody’s a winner! Well played, Miniclip UK!

Be careful with how much power you apply!

A common question we get asked on Facebook and Twitter is: “how can I get better at 8 Ball Pool?” To answer that question, we’ve put together some tips which will transform you from a beginner to professional potter in no time at all.

Watch your power

The amount of power you use on your shots is almost as important as how accurately you aim them. This is especially true if the object ball is a long way from the pocket. The harder you hit a shot, the more likely it is that it will stay out.

In many cases a soft touch will give the ball a better chance of dropping into the hole. This is particularly vital information when trying to pot in those tricky middle pockets.

Be careful not to use too little power, though! You don’t want to miss a straightforward shot because you hit it too gently. Don’t “hit and hope”; judge how much power is needed for each shot and adjust as appropriate.

Use spin

Use of back-spin will ensure there are no mis-haps with the cueball here.

The world’s finest 8 Ball players have learned to master the art of putting spin on the cueball. Clever use of spin can avoid those dreaded “oops, I sank the cueball” moments, or, better yet, get you in a good position for the next pot.

You put spin on your shots using the arrow keys or by clicking on the cueball in the corner and dragging the dot into position. The dot represents where the cue will strike the ball: if you want backspin, move the dot to the bottom of the cueball and for topspin, move the dot to the top of the cueball.

Pay attention to the guidelines when lining up your shot – as well as showing where the object ball will go, it also gives you an indication of where the white will end up. Is it heading straight towards a pocket? Add some backspin to the cueball and it should stop in its tracks. Need to get a better angle for your next shot? Think about adding side spin to the cueball and forcing it into an easier position.

The harder you hit your shot, the more spin will be added to the cueball. But be careful, as too much power and spin can send it out of control and into a pocket!

Plan ahead

Top-spin can line up the shot after this!

The pros don’t just think about the shot that they’re lining up – they’re thinking one, two, or even three shots ahead. This means that they already know which ball they’d like to pot next, after the one they’re about to pot.

With that in mind, you can start to think about what kind of spin or how much power you need to put on your shot. If you need to get all the way down the table to make your next shot easier, try and leave a good angle and use plenty of spin and power to get the white into position. Don’t leave yourself a longer, tougher shot than necessary!

Know the rules

There are a few basic rules that all 8 Ball players should know if they want to succeed – make sure you’re not making it harder for yourself!

• If you pot a ball with your break-off shot, you can still choose whether you want to be stripes or solids! You might think “great, that’s a solid already potted”, but then realise that the stripes are in a much better position. The choice is still yours, until the next ball is potted.
• If a ball doesn’t hit the rail around the table, that shot is a foul. Lots of players make this mistake: it lets your opponent move the cueball to wherever they want on the table.
• If you pot the black but the cueball also goes down, you lose the game. Don’t forget about the cueball’s guideline when you’re lining up that last shot!
• If you’re playing in the Cairo tier or above, you need to “call” which pocket you’re going to pot the eight ball in. If you call a pocket and then pot the eight ball in a different pocket, you’ll lose the game.

Practice makes perfect!

Play lots!

Our final tip is the most important one: make sure you play lots!

The very top players, who have levels in the hundreds and countless tournament wins have become the best because they’ve simply played a lot of 8 Ball Pool and refined their skills. They know how much power to put on their shots, which spin to use and how to plan series of shots.

The best way to join them is to keep playing, practicing and learning! Remember, you can practice 8 Ball Pool offline on your mobile. That way you can be prepared before taking on the rest of the world.

Got some tips to share? Share them with the world in the comments down below.

Dear internet, here is a crazy challenge for you. Design a game prototype where the rules fit in <=128 characters, tweet it w/ #128CharGame—
Zach Gage (@helvetica) July 09, 2013

When we saw the hashtag #128CharGame on Twitter, we had to get involved. The challenge, started by game designer Zach Gage, was to design a game prototype where the rules can be written out in 128 characters or less. There were tons of great ideas tweeted, so we decided to give five of them a playtest!

Ready for round one?

1. Google street view your hometown (or a random town) and who finds a dog first wins #128CharGame

@helvetica Google street view your hometown (or a random town) and who finds a dog first wins #128CharGame—
Alex (@h_a_l_e_x) July 09, 2013

Four players, four suburban hometowns – surely only a matter of time before a dog was found! We set a time limit of five minutes, and naturally all four of us dived for the biggest park on Streetview. Problem: Streetview generally won’t let you enter parks. Ah.

After a few minutes of zipping around the streets, we began to think that dogs were afraid of the Google Cars and had all fled at the first sight of them. But then I struck gold, quite literally with what looks like a lovely Golden Retriever sat in a park in my hometown. Thanks, Dronfield, I knew I could count on you.

My winning dog.

Alex at this point was trying to claim “a picture of a dog that I’ve found on Google” as a legitimate answer, before eventually spotting a nice Beagle taking a stroll. Ben took significantly longer (around 30 minutes, we’d moved on to other games) but finally found probably the best-looking dog, crossing a road in Sidcup.

2. Google image pictionary. Form teams. 1 player sends pics to teammates based on opposing teams clue. Time limit Play for points. #128CharGame

Google image pictionary. Form teams. 1 player sends pics to teammates based on opposing teams clue. Time limit Play for points. #128CharGame—
Jake Sones (@jakesones) July 09, 2013

This one took a little while to set up as we discussed the logistics of doing this over Skype and email (despite the fact we were all sat next to each other). Eventually, Team A embarked on the word “bleak” while Team B tried to find images of “intangible”.

We strongly recommend you take a moment to try this for yourselves, for these two words. You’ll get a good idea of how hard it was. Team A resorted to breaking “intangible” down into small chunks, with pictures of a man in a box, a tanned woman, and finally a gerbil – in+tan+gerbil.

Sadly, it didn’t work.

Team B had the same idea, somewhat better executed: a bee and a leek left them with bleak. 1-0.

Team B had clearly hit their stride by this point; it took them a mere 30 seconds or so to get “concept” (mainly using pictures of concept cars, and the Comic Con logo). Meanwhile, Team A were scratching their head over “San Marino” before finally realising that “sand” plus a picture of a Marine / underwater scene and a national flag added up to the name of the tiny state.

3. Draw 9 dots on paper. One-handed, alternate putting fingers on dots. First player who loses grip on a dot or cant play loses#128CharGame

2p) Draw 9 dots on paper. One-handed, alternate putting fingers on dots. First player who loses grip on a dot or cant play loses#128CharGame—
Zach Gage (@helvetica) July 09, 2013

This one rewards long fingers and those who don’t mind getting somewhat intimate with their colleagues’ hands.

Ben and Alex go head to head.

Surprisingly, it actually seemed to be better to go second: in a best-of-three, the player who went first lost each time as fingers were threaded and twisted into a strange squid-like creation. There is a definite tactical element in trying to work out which dot your opponent would most like to use next. Of course, you steal that dot before they can use it.

This game captivated us so much that our Head of Games even stopped by and insisted on having a go. He did raise an interesting question: is this a contact sport? He promptly knocked his opponent’s hand out of the way for the win. Perhaps that could be an Extreme version…

4. Players set their iPhones next to one another and try to call one another using Siri simultaneously. Caller wins, called loses. #128CharGame

Players set their iPhones next to one another and try to call one another using Siri simultaneously. Caller wins, called loses. #128CharGame—
Takashi S. Omoto (@takashioomoto) July 09, 2013

iPhone 5 vs Galaxy S3 vs Nexus 4, voice commands only.

First up was the Galaxy vs the Nexus’ Google Now. Sadly for Alex, my name translated rather ineffectively as Ben Meeting, and he started trying to create an appointment while my Galaxy dialled me to victory.

Alex didn’t fare much better against Ben’s iPhone – even when given a headstart. So it came down to the battle of the Bens, iPhone vs Galaxy – and Siri wiped the floor with it. Siri, we bow to your excellent voice recognition software.

5. Player 1 & 2 co-op. Both put on pirate eye patches, count consecutive hi-5′s. #128CharGame

Player 1 & 2 co-op. Both put on pirate eye patches, count consecutive hi-5's. #128CharGame—
Little Wins, LLC (@lilwins) July 09, 2013

The final game in our playtest proved very easy – too easy in fact (at Miniclip, we are awesome pirates). So we tried it with both eyes shut. Again, this is easier than you might think. Ben G and Ronak lined up their hands before starting and so were able to string together high-fives as though they were clapping. They would probably still be going now if Big Rob hadn’t strolled in wondering what was happening.

Alex and I tried for the even-more-ambitious approach, starting with our hands down by our side. We are clearly skilled with high-fives: we managed four or five before slipping off target.

Wrapping up

As it turns out, a lot of fun can be had with 128 characters! We really had great fun playing the games suggested by the good people of Twitter. If you’ve got half an hour to spare, we’d thoroughly recommend trying them out!

You can keep up with the latest Miniclip news by following us here.

“What’s that? Judge a selection of super-intelligent Swiss indie games, you say? Well, if you insist…”

Last week, we took part in the Swiss Games 2012/2013 Awards, as part of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland. Our mission? Play a load of games and pick the one we liked best.

It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.

All of the games that were nominated for the award were very heavily influenced by fine art, both in their look and content. It’s not every day that you get to play games that base their style on Cubism, Surrealism and traditional Central European design – luckily, the Miniclip team are true culture vultures.

Here are the finalists!

ANTYZ (iPhone / iPad / Android) – DNA Studios

Fun and fast, Antyz stands out for its slightly unusual premise: an invisible fossilised micro-organism turns into an insect. We loved this game’s plot, which we won’t spoil, but it’s superbly written. And, naturally, contains more palaeontology references than all the Jurassic Park movies put together.

DON’T KILL HER (Mac/PC, browser game) - Jérémy “Wuthrer” Cuany

A game designed to provide a unique experience to every player, Don’t Kill Her has a strong visual style with nods to the French painter Jean Dubuffet and the traditions of Swiss and Central European design. As for the game itself, on the surface it appears to be a simple platformer, but underneath is a mystery waiting to be unravelled.

Don’t Kill Her

DREI (iPad/desktop browser) – Etter Studio

Three builders have to work together to build a tower – that’s Drei. Sounds simple, and that’s its strength: an easy concept with universal appeal. Yet, as with many of the finalists, Drei wraps this simple concept in a wonderfully artistic style, combining quotes from a variety of cultures with abstract geometry and a minimalist look.

Drei

JOURNEY OF A ROACH (Mac/PC) – Koboldgames GmbH

A comic adventure game, in Journey Of A Roach you play… a cockroach. It tells the story of Jim, a naive but friendly roach, living in a world where humans have become extinct as a result of nuclear war. Puzzle-solving and exploration are at the game’s core.

Journey of a Roach

MIRAGE (Mac/PC/iPad) – Mario von Rickenbach, Andi Bissig

In Mirage, you play an underwater top hat that has partnered up with a human foot. Yes, this is a game steeped in Surrealism, and takes place in some very odd imaginary worlds. With quotes from movies such as A Clockwork Orange  and Blow-Up, Mirage’s influences include film as well as fine art.

Mirage

NED&TED (Mac/PC) – Simon Kovatsch, Marc Gruber

A co-op game, Ned&Ted’s loony look matches its subject matter as the player helps the two heroes – a pair of lunatics – escape to freedom. Packed with pop culture references as well as nods to Cubism and Dadaism, Ned&Ted also evokes classic silent movie double-acts in its frenetic action.

UNMEM (iPad / iPhone) – CAUSE (Karian Foehr)

Humans have always depended on signs and words to communicate. Unmem takes this as its core idea and inverts it: a shapeshifting game where everything is changing and nothing is permanent. The composer of Unmem’s sound composition, Elliot Vaucher, was honoured by an international jury at NIFFF for its innovation.

Unmem

The Winner

After many hours playtesting – and brushing up on their fine art – the Miniclip judges sat down to deliberate over their favourites. After much discussion, the verdict was delivered… and DREI was announced as our winner!

We particularly liked Drei’s crisp, clear-cut design, as well as the quality of its multiplayer mode – a feature that is very much in line with the Miniclip gaming philosophy. As well as receiving the award, Drei will also be published on Miniclip.com in the near future – look out for it soon!

What do you think?

Do you like the look of these games? Tell us which ones you’d like to play in the Comments below!