B&W to Color Rollover - so easy even I can do it!

If you've got Adobe Photoshop and Flash, you can complete this super easy tutorial from GoMediaZine. Make a sweet looking black & white picture/graphic with color rollover effect. Here's what I cooked up:


I'm not entirely confident in blogger's ability to embed this so you can also check it out here. If you've completed this tutorial, I'd love to see what you made. Please comment with your link!

Heinous Anus

One of JIG's Link Dump Friday games was Bloat, a cute puzzler from Canada-based Untold Entertainment. Bloat didn't too much for me, although I did like the casual-ness of it, but I did some digging around their website. They've got a few different games and works-in-progress that show great potential for the company, which seems small so far. I don't mean to suggest they are not already accomplished, just that I get the feeling that we're going to be seeing a lot of them in the casual gaming world.


I'm really having fun playing Interrupting Cow Trivia, even though it's at a very early Alpha stage. I'm pretty awful at trivia, but the Word Play Rhymes were hilarious, some even slightly PG-13. What is a rhyming phrase for a terrible rectum? Check it out!

Cute, unrelated cow from uhuru1701

Competiiii-shooonnn

/singsong voice from CuteOverload...
One of my favorite casual gaming sites JayIsGames.com is holding two competitions. My game design-prowess is still in it's infantile stage (okay, it's nonexistent at this point) so the 6th Casual Game Design Competition is way out of my league. I do enjoy playing/testing the submissions, though, so I will be sure to pass on the link when it is available. What has really perked my interest is the Casual Gameplay Art Design Competition. If you have a streak for graphic design, you can send in a logo, a banner and a "theme" image to potentially be used on their website during the competition. You can even win $300, no small beans! Good luck to those who enter! Now back to Illustrator for me...

Flash-y photography

I can't really say if this artist is using a flash camera, but his Flash website is a work of art in itself. Timothy Hogan is a New York photographer who deserves praise for his functional portfolio as well as his gorgeous pics. The women under the BEAUTY title are indeed beautiful but the STILL shots are very interesting. While the site is a teensy bit slow to load for me (probably not an issue for faster connections), the fade-in thumbnails are elegant and do not distract. Super simple navigation! Take a clicking stroll through Timothy Hogan Photography.

I've been in a strange land

It's called Gaia. I'm embarrassed, but completely addicted to zOMG!, Gaia Online's MMORPG. The avatars are a rather childish anime theme, but the surrounding world & monsters aren't so saccharine. I'm also still very new so maybe things will get less silly as my "CL" gets past 200? I had to stop for a few days because my wrist is sore.

This is my avatar, masked for privacy:



Yes, those are heels and a sword. Anyway, the important things...

zOMG! is fast to pick up and a gentle start for the most nervous beginner (like I was). You've given some pretty good direction on where to go next with the Quest(s) that each NPC would like to give you. The system seems to be very polished, I only had a glitch where I was stuck in place one time. The interface of your "PDA", chat screen, information bars, etc. are easy to understand. The rewards for completing tasks and killing the pesky "Animated" are plenty and fun to collect. Serious gamers might laugh at this game, but I find the storyline to be engaging.

It's not a red fedora

It's The Blue Beanie! This is my absolute favorite type of game, and here are a few reasons why:

• Gorgeous interactive, realistic but slightly fantastic landscapes
• Cute cartoon characters that somehow fit with the landscapes
• Elegant progression that's interesting but doesn't send me to a walkthrough
• Pleasant soundtrack that enhances the story but does not distract

I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I have!

Good flash, better message

There's a line in Lily Allen's song "The Fear" that I love because it is so true:

I am a weapon of massive consumption, and it's not my fault, it's how I'm programmed to function.

I love the song for it's catchy tune, but mostly how painfully honest it is. The website I would like to share today is relevant to the topic of consumption, and is also a lovely example of clean but useful flash. Whether you are interested in the flash or not, the message here is worth listening to. Check out the Story of Stuff.